Bygdabok for Vik i Sogn - Le Farm - Part 2

Here is page 207.

Starting at the 3rd line and continuing for only 2 paragraphs:

Kristoffer Hansson Le was born in 1712 and married in 1735 to Turid Ellendsdotter Holstad. They leased the farm inn 1746. The rent was 1 laup 6 merker of butter (about 39 pounds of butter). Kristoffer and Turid had 3 children who grew to adulthood: Ellend who went to Tryti, Hans who got the farm at Le, and Ingeborg who was married to Kristen Torsteinson Nese, they had a place in Holum.

According to our database, they had 6 children, one that died at age 8. There may be some confusion, because two men named "Hans Kristoffersson Lee" are listed, one living till he is 102 and one living to 79. Also, Ingeborg was married first to Anders Person Tenål, then she married K. T. Nese.

Note:  Norwegian units of measurement

• laup – used for butter, 17.93 kg. 1 laup is 36 pounds.
• mark (pl. merker) –, 1/2 pound, 249.4 g, 218.7 g before 1683.

Usually tax or rent was paid in butter. The butter was put in an oval flat bottomed birch bark container that held 33 pounds.

Hans Kristoffereson Le (son of the above Kristoffer Hansson Le) was born in 1746 and married in 1772 to Synneva Endresdotter Le from farm #2. They had 7 children: Eric who got the farm, Ola had a place at Valsvik, Brita who married to Ola Inebriktson Dale, they had a place under Ola Sjurson Dale, Endre (our ancestor whose name is Endre Hansen Lee Nissestad in our database) had a place at Nistad and Ingeborg was not married in the district.

Our database lists 9 children, one who died before 1 year. 

This page continues with farmers who were in that area but who are not in our line.... so I will not translate the rest.

Bygdabok for Vik i Sogn - Le Farm - Part 1

by Olav Hoprekstad, 1957

WO says that there are 2 volumes to this bygdabok. She has sent me 4 pages, 206-209 in September, 2011. This is page 206.

There are 2 volumes to this bygdabok. This one is labeled III Fyrste Halvband and it contains the Arnafjord parish, and the Kvamsoy parish which is in Balestrand side across the Sognefjord. It has 329 pages. 

The other volume in the set is larger, 817 pages, same title and author, but published in 1958, and the title is III Andre Halvband. It covers Vik and the Vik main area farms. 

Fyrst = first; andre = other or second.

The bygdebok doesn't list exact dates, and sometimes doesn't list all children. 

Page 206 of the Vik i Sogn bygdabok has the farm Le (in Arnafjord) and says something like: 

The marks at the top were used on tools, most likely NOT used as a brand on animals. In 1666, the farm had 4 "tons" of corn (meaning grain - most likely barley, the unit "ton" is not the same as ours), 26 cattle and 2 horses. 

After the black death, the chuch at Flete owned part of Le and the pastor the other part, and there may have been other owners. 

The first farmer here that I know of is Johannes in 1603, then Lasse in 1611 and 1620s; in 1645 there were 2 farmers here: Kristoffer Kristofferson with wife Asa Amundsdatter, and Ivar with wife Dorte Knutsdotter. 

(that was more or less my a translation with my self taught Norwegian. Note it has Kristofferson in this paragrah but the next paragraph has Kristenson. WO)

Note: Kristoffer Kristofferson with wife Asa Amundsdatter are our ancestors.

Le farm # 1: Kristoffer Kristenson (our line) is on this farm in 1645 and he was here until 1701. He was born in 1610. He had many sons, but I don't know of all of them: Kristen went to Dalsvaer, Gunnar had a part of Le for a time; Sjur died unmarried; Hans got the farm after his father; Amund got farm 2 on Le. 

(This is the author saying I don't know, etc. Next is something about these brothers but I don't quite understand it. I think it may say these brothers weren't getting along with each other. If you printed this page from the bygdabok, perhaps you could get someone from Sons of Norway - in Indiana or MN that is, to read it for you. WO)

(I entered that text into the Google translation site and it seems to be saying that Gunnar and Sjur were fighting because one of them, I believe Gunnar, had been doing unseeingly things with someone.  It says he was found "hugging and stroking someone..." They fought with Gunnar drawing blood. Later he had to pay damages of 3 x 6 vertical silver units (must be some kind of silver unit), the equivalent of 9 riksdalar and to give 4 cows. This is kind of garbled in the Google translation, so I am not 100% sure. Nor does it say for sure that it was Sjur's wife or who it was....)

Then the next paragraph continues: Hans Kristoffereson Lee (our line), who was born in 1666 (being 2 years old in 1668), got the farm after his father. He married Ingebjorg Larsdotter. Gunner, his brother, was holding the farm for a while but died in 1710 - in fact his whole family, wife and children died. He got a lease in 1720 and died in 1745 (note that John G's research has him dying in 1751) and his wife died in 1750 (which is the same as John G. ) Of his children, Christopher (Kristoffer Hansson Lee - our line) got the farm, Lars died old and married, Brita was married to Anders Person Hellen, and Gertrude was married to Endre Amundson Valsvik. 

(some of the above text is on page 207, but I have included it here because it is clearly connected.)

Vangsnes, Le, Nistad

Vangsness, Le, Nistad

These are the 3 farms associated with our family.

Wilda Obey continues,
All 3 farms you mention are in Vik. Vangsnes is a peninsula near the main part of Vik, which is called Vik, Vik. Vangsnes is now the main ferry terminal to cross the Sognefjord from Vik to Balestrand and Leikanger. It is a very large farm with many sub farms = many different families living there. Le and Nistad are in the Arnafjord part of Vik. This is a remote, mountainous, beautiful area with small farms with only one or a few families living at each farm.

Go to Vikjavev.no for more complete listing of all farms, history, and other interesting material.

The Le Farm

Lie/Lee is a very common name, meaning meadow or pasture, and possibly the Lee in question is a sub farm of a larger farm.

 © Torstein Hønsi

To quote from the Vikjavev.no site:
Le (ON *Liðin from lið 'field gate' and vin 'meadow, pasture') is one of the oldest farms in Arnafjorden, and before machines became common in agriculture, the steep fields at Le were considered very good farmlands. The Le farms have got their mountain farms at Bjergane.

 © Torstein Hønsi

The Nistad Farm

© Torstein Hønsi.

To quote from the Vikjavev.no site:
Nistad (not interpreted) must be populated about viking age, according to the 'stad'-ending. Nistad's summer farm is Skoddesete and the spring farm is Dragsbotnen.

The Vangsnes Farm

 © Torstein Hønsi.

 © Torstein Hønsi.

To quote from the Vikjavev.no site:

Vangsnes has probably got it's name fromVangsen 'the ploughshare', a sunken rock in the fjord off Vangsnes. Nes is 'point'. In the older days there were three distinct house clusters at Vangsnes: Indreneset, Midtun and Ytreneset. The summer farms belonging to the Vangsnes farms are Kallbakk, Kleivadalen, Endresete, Godstøl and Gjelet.

New Map of Vik and Area

If you click on the maps, I believe they will open in your browser and one more click will enlarge it. These two maps show all the farms in the Vik - Sognafjord area.

Wilda Obey says:
The Map #1 with Vik at the south edge and Balestrand across - shows Vangsnes and its ferry routes. The Berge farm in Balestrand is further north and not on this map page. It is on the Fjaerlandsfjord and is fairly close to Mundal where U. S. VP and ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale had ancestors.

The Map #2 is of the southern part of Vik and shows the Lee (here spelled Lee but it must be your Le) and Nissestad farms.

Map #1

Kartbok for Vest Landet Copyright Bergens Tidende, 1985

Click here for PDF version of Map #1 that can be enlarged to see farms more clearly.

Map #2

Kartbok for Vest Landet Copyright Bergens Tidende, 1985

Click here for a PDF version of Map #2 that can be enlarged to see farms more clearly.