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.)

Vangsness, Vangsnes, Wangsness Family Group

John G. Vangsness found a group on Facebook for the Vangsness Family Name. People with that name or are related to the Vangsness family are joining the group. I sent a friend request too.

One person, Norman M. Wangsness mentioned that his ancestor was
Markus Hallvardson Vangsness. Norman says that Markus came to America about 1841 and that he had 13 children. In our family tree, we have some relatives named Hallvardson as well, but that does not form a family relation, it just means that one of our relatives had a father named Hallvard.... None-the-less,  I contacted Wilda Obey and she did some research and came up the with following information.

Markus Hallvardson Vangsness

Norman's ancestor is on page 692 -3 of the Balestrand Bygdebok, farm 15 of Vangsnes, in Sognefjord area of Norway.

(See the links in the blog to find out what a Bygdebok is and where Sognefjord is.)

In 1803 Hallvard Samuelson Lunde bought this farm. He was the son of Samuel Hallvardson Lunde and son's son of Hallvard Person of Lundsviki. The father, Samuel, had married Gurid Andersdtr Valsvik of Arnefjord and they lived there some years. Hallvard was born in 1775 in Lidal and in 1800 married Anna Markusdtr Dale of Svaerefjorden. Hallvard was a boat owner and had enough money to buy the Vangsnes farm. 

Hallvard died in 1838 and his wife in 1857. They had 6 children who grew up: Markus got the farm; Gurid married Sjovat Anderson Vangsnes (see p. 685); Anna married Sjur Olson Berrekvam and they left Vangsnes. Brita, Anna and Gjertrud must have left the area also. (WO says Brita Halvorsdtr Vangsnes is on p. 606 of the Leikanger book; Anna Sjovatsdtr Vangsnes married Arnfinn E. Husabo Leikanger book; someone came to MN in 1875. Apparently 2 daughters named Anna.) Probably they went to America. The only one buried in Vangsnes is Gurid who died 1871.

Markus Hallvardson who got the farm was born in 1804 and in 1841 married Brita Sjursdtr Vangsnes (p. 688 ) They had the farm 6 years until 1844 they sold it to Jon Erikson Ramsoy from Aurland. After that I don't know more of Markus and his family. (WO says: They left for America 12 April 1844 with Markus's in-laws. They were among the first from this area to go.)

Wilda says:

The above is more or less my translation from the author, and my thoughts are in ( )s. I could probably trace the family back from Markus and his wife - some from the Arnafjord area of Vik, and Lunde, Lundsviki, and Svaerefjord are in Balestrand. My guess is that they would probably be related to you somewhere back on the line.

Wilda also says:

I just started making a pedigree chart for Norman's ancestry and so far haven't seen any connection between his family and yours. He is related to me, and his ancestor Markus Hallvardson's wife Brita Sjursdtr Vangsnes's mother is Inger Persdtr Mundal born 1797 and Inger's brother is Walter Mondale's ancestor.

Bygdaboks

What are Bygdaboks

We are receiving help in looking for our relatives from Wilda Obey, a member of the Genealogical Society in her part of Minnesota. She has 3 bygdeboks for the Sognefjord area of Norway; Leikanger Vik and Balestrand. She was first in contact with Dave Vangsness and I was able to contact her with Dave's help. She has copies of several other important resources from the Vik area.

Thank you so much, Wilda!!

Wilda Obey says:

Bygdbok is bok = book and bygd = a rural community.

These books list all of the farms in one area of Norway, by farm. They usually start at about 1600 and mention the name of the farmers there then. They mention his wife and children and usually give some dates, by year only. They tell where the children went or who they married if they left the farm. It continues on with who lived at the farm down to the early 1900s.

Arkivvet is the Norwegian spelling of archive. (That is v v not w) This is online and has actual church pages and these are of baptisms, marriages, burials and also vaccination, confirmation, and those coming into and leaving the parish. It also has some censuses, not the actual page, but a transcription, and emigration information.

Names

Our first ancestor to come to America is named Iver Endreson, Nistad, his wife is Unni Andersdattor.

Wilda always tell everyone not to worry about spelling. There are several different ways to spell almost every personal name and the farm names. In Norway a child was usually named for a grandparent, sibling of the parents or first spouse who had died of either parent.

The patronym, Endreson, means he is the son of Endre. Endre's daughters would be Endresdatter, and they kept this name for life, as even after marriage, they are still Endre's daughter. The last name, Vangsnes, Lie, Nistad is the farm name. This should be thought of more as an address than as a permanent name. 

Iver/Ivar Endreson may have been born at Nistad, married and lived at Lie/Lee/Le (which is the Le in Arnafjord, Vik) and then moved to Vangsnes and taken that name. 

In the U.S. they could use the farm name, or the patronym, usually choosing a name that Yanks could pronounce and not make fun of. Or they might take a more Anglicized name, often starting with the same first letter as the original name.