Month: July 2022
-
Live from Oslo – a photo update
I am taking a little detour (again) from family history to share a few sights with you. Greetings from Oslo! This first photo is from the suburb of Sandvika, just south of Oslo. Behind me is Løkke Bridge, which was the subject of an 1895 painting of Monet’s that I like. If you go to…
-
Echoes of home: visiting Greibesland and the Øvrebø Church
(This post is a continuation from yesterday’s post about the Greibesland family of Øvrebø in Southern Norway.) Back in June, I wrote about having a sense of place, a sense of origin. And even though my family left Wisconsin when I was five years old (and even though I have no plans to live there…
-
A reunion with the Greibeslands
My grandpa Eugene Smith’s mother, Elvina Anderson Smith (1898-1983), was born in Wisconsin to Norwegian immigrants Marie Alfsdatter Greibesland (1867-1950) and Anton Andreasen (1875-1931). Elvina never visited Norway, but she felt a close connection to her parents’ homeland. In her later years she jotted down notes about the family’s history and passed those along to…
-
“Proceed to the route”: a detour from family history
“Well, the Earth Mark Two in fact,” said Slartibartfast cheerfully. “We’re making a copy from our original blueprints.” There was a pause. “Are you trying to tell me,” said Arthur, slowly and with control, “that you originally…made the Earth?” “Oh yes,” said Slartibartfast. “Did you ever go to a place…I think it was called Norway?”…
-
The Torblå farm
(This post is a continuation from yesterday’s post about Anders Andersen Torblaa and Anna Nilsdatter Skeie of Ulvik) The Torblå farm (also spelled Torblao or Torblaa) is – like many Norwegian farms – actually a collection of several farmsteads rather than a single entity. The breaking up of farms into smaller and smaller parcels occurred…
-
Trading fjords for prairies: the Torblå-Skeie family of Ulvik
My great-grandma Jessie Johnson Reiner’s mother was Julia Torbleau Johnson (1855-1940). Like her husband Albert Jens Johnson (1853-1934), Julia was born soon after her parents arrived in Wisconsin from Norway. Julia (who was called Guri in Norwegian) was the third of seven children born to Anna Nilsdatter Skeie (1824-1891) and Anders Andersen Torblaa (1826-1902). It’s…
-
A visit to Ulvik kyrkje
I came to Ulvik to try to imagine how my ancestors might have worked, prayed, lived and died. And the town does not disappoint in this regard. There is clearly a certain reverence for the past here, and many old houses and farm buildings have been lovingly preserved and restored. And yet, Ulvik is not…
-
Reflections on the preservation of memory
The colonization of North America is so relatively recent that our notions of what’s “old” and “worth preserving” are a little different from those of our European counterparts. Similarly, a fascination with family history, while not unique to Americans, takes on an oddly obsessive quality among some in the U.S. (ahem…. guilty as charged). Any…
-
Norway’s Wild West – the origins of the Johnson-Hauge family
When you fly into Bergen, you are treated to glimpses through the clouds of an almost surreal landscape. Mountains rise straight up from the fjords with brightly colored buildings perched at intervals. Here and there a waterfall gushes down the steep slopes. One branch of my mom’s family, the branch we call “the Johnsons”, hails…
Deep Roots 