"Sigdal Og Eggedal" - Sigdal Parish, Buskerud County, Norway

The Sigdal bygdebok, "Sigdal Og Eggedal", written in 1953 by Andreas Mørch, contains history of farms within Sigdal Parish. The farms reviewed on this webpage are Bjørndalen farm, Haslebråtan farm (which was part of Bjørndalen) and Vik farm.

Bjørndalen

The Sigdal bygdebok includes nine pages referencing the history of the Bjørndalen farm in Sigdal parish, Buskerud County, Norway. Excerpts are translated here. On page 92, Bjørndalen is introduced as farm #11. 

Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 193 Page 613

Bjørndalen is first mentioned in written records around 1370. "Bjørn" in Norwegian means "bear" and "dal" means "valley". "Bjørn" is also commonly used as a man`s name. Therefore Bjørndalen could mean "the bear valley" or "Bjørn`s valley" (after a man named Bjørn). Bjørndalen was one large farm divided into smaller plots as time went on and families grew.

Referenced on page 98, on the left side, is Bruk (farm) #7 "Bjørndalsplassen".  It states here: "The first part of Bjørndalen to be sold off was Bjørndalsplassen. Nils Klausson gave the deed to Kristoffer Kjetilsson for 5/12 Lispund in 1778. There was no house here at that time, just a piece of land along the community borderline." (1 Lispund = about 17.6 pounds). The payment system is not explained. It is not clear what the currency would have been.

The history next provides information regarding the family births, marriages, etc. It states: Kristoffer Kjetilsson from Haslebråtan was here, born 1750, married 1777 to Kari Aslesdotter Solum, born 1750. Children:

1. Kjetil b. 1777, lived on Daler in Eiker (parish)
2. Asle b. 1779, was handicapped, died here in 1810
3. Helge b. 1781, married 1816 to Sigrid Gudbrandsdotter Hauganeie. (Helge) was a tailor and Sergeant (H. C. Dahl), lived on Viksbråtan (More about Helge and Viksbråtan.)
4. Nils b. 1785, died 1792

Kari Aslesdotter died in 1783. Kristoffer Kjetilsson married a second time in 1789 to Marit Larsdotter, b. about 1754. The children of Kristoffer Kjetilsson and Marit Larsdotter were:

5. Lars b. 1790, married 1815 to Ingebjørg Andersdotter Øverby. Lars ran the farm here. He died 1819, a daughter Marit was born in 1816. Lars was a Quartermaster Sergeant. His widow was married in 1820 to Anders Samuelsson. It is certain they moved out of the community (parish).
6. Kari b. 1793, married to Ola Toreson Hallerdallen at Snarum (parish).
7. Ingebjørg b. 1796, married Hans Audunsson Støverneie, they moved to Modum (parish) with two children in 1823.
8. Nils b. 1800, married 1826 to Hella Petersdotter Jelstad from Modum (parish), and they lived here.

Kristoffer Kjetilsson died in 1823. He worked a considerable amount of time in the mines at Blåfargeverket. Blåfargeverket (Cobalt Mines) are featured at www.blaa.no and at no.wikipedia.org.

Kristoffer's wife, Marit, died in 1847. Kristoffer sold the farm just before he died to the youngest son for 200 speciedaler and "føllaug" (an agreement that the previous owners would be provided for in exchange for the farm. It was most often used when the parents were passing the farm to their children similar to a life estate).

Next listed as acquiring ownership of the farm are Nils Kristoffersson and his wife Hella Petersdotter. To Nils Kristoffersson and Hella Petersdotter were born the following children:

Past or present day photos of the area of Sigdal parish, Buskerud County, Norway would be greatly appreciated!!

1. Maren b. 1827, married 1856 to Anders Kristoffersson Ristvet, living in Lier (parish)
2. Kristoffer b. 1830, had the farm
3. Peter 1833, died 1834
4. Randi b. 1835, died 1839
5. Peter b. 1838, died 1839
6. Randi b. 1841
7. Larine b. 1842

Nils Kristoffersson died in 1861. Hella Petersdotter moved in 1872 to Eiker (parish) together with the two youngest daughters.

Bråtan, farm #8, was separated from here in 1862 to Steffen Halvorsson Sandåkereie. He was from Modum parish. He received the deed from the estate of Nils Kristoffersson in 1863, at the same time as Kristoffer Nilsson took over the main farm (his father`s and grandfather`s farm) for 800 speciedaler and "føllaug" to his mother. Then a part of Tanberg (farm) from Modum (parish) was included in with (Bjørndalen). Kristoffer Nilsson was not married. He died in 1888. At an auction here in 1867 the farm went to Johan A. Næss for 500 speciedaler. The year before Bjørndalsplassen had an estimated 38 mål (1 mål = 0.2471 acres). It fed 2 cows and 4 sheep, had forest (wood) for household use, total value of the land, forest and pasture 260 speciedaler.

Kristoffer Nilsson therefore was the last family member to live on Bjørndalsplassen and then it was sold out of the family in 1867. His grandfather Kristoffer Kjetilsson first moved there in 1778. This matches our previous findings which indicate that Kjetil, the first son of Kristoffer Kjetilsson, was born 1777 on Kvisle and the next child, Asle was born 1779 here on Bjørndalen.

Haslebråtan

On page 98, regarding Bjørndalsplassen, it states that Kristoffer Kjetilsson from Haslebråtan was here. Haslebråtan was a part of the Bjørndalen farm. On page 100 within the right hand column the following is written about the Haslebråtan farm:

In 1780 Ola Klausson Bjørndalen contracted out in 1780 the piece of land (cotter's farm) Haslebråtan to Kjetil Torkildsson (who was from the Støvern farm), married 1749 to Ingebjørg Larsdotter Kroken, born 1725 and she was raised on the Kolsrud farm, their children:

1. Kristoffer, born 1750, married 1777 to Kari Aslesdotter, they lived on Bjørndalsplassen.
2. Lars, born 1752, died on Bjørnsdalseie in 1804.
3. Gunnhild, born 1753.
4. Torkild, born 1756, married 1789 to Ragnhild Olsdotter Kvislebråtan, and they lived on Kvisleeie.
5. Reidar, born 1759, was a bachelor and a mine worker in the 1801 census.
6. Jakob, born 1762

Ingebjørg died in 1809.

One cannot say for sure where on Bjørndalen Haslebråtan was situated. This is all that is written about the family on Haslebråtan of Bjørndalen. From the information herein, it appears that they were the first and last family to live on the Haslebråtan farm. The history mentions to see the nordre Skatvet farm and Vik farm. When we look there (Skatvet farm page 193) on the left column of the page near top it states:

Ola Olson, married 1747 to Dorte Pettersdotter Hovland, and they were not here (on Skatvet) for long. They had a son, Petter, born here in 1748. They sold the farm in 1751 to Kjetil Torkildsson Støvern for 320 riksdalar and they then moved to Tanberg farm in Modum parish.

Kjetil Torkildsson, married to Ingebjørg Larsdotter Kroken, mortgaged the farm to Jon Olson Vik for 160 riksdalar. They (Kjetil and Ingebjørg) sold the farm in 1759 for 340 riksdalar and moved to Støvern farm, and afterwards they were living on Haslebråtan, a part of the Bjørndalen farm.

Kjetil Torkildsson and Ingebjørg Larsdotter do not appear to be mentioned under the Vik farm. It's possible that they may have had some kind of ownership or land dealings with it, as none of their children were born there.

 

Vik/ Bråtan/ Viksbråtan

In the right hand column near the top of page 613 of the Sigdal bygdebok, "Sigdal Og Eggedal", we are told that in 1791 this part of the Vik farm was called Bråtan and then in 1801 it was called Viksbråtan. Even Tolleivsson Nubberud became owner of Viksbråtan in 1822 and he had the following people running or operating on the farm.

First Sergeant Helge Kristoffersson Dal from Bjørndalsplassen, born 1781, married 1816 to Sigrid Gulbrandsdotter Skartumeie, born 1790, had these children:

1. Kari Helgesdotter born 1816,  married 1846 to Lars Kjetilsson Sund, they lived on the Sletteeie farm.
2. Anna Helgesdotter born 1819, died single (never married) on the Mjøsengeie farm in 1859.
3. Kristoffer Helgeson born 1821, married 1844 to Kjersti Kristensdotter Bergan, and they lived on the Nubberudsplassen farm.
4. Gulbrand Helgeson born 1824, married 1853 to Barbro Trulsdotter Skinneseie, and they lived on the Paddegropa farm.
5. Ingeborg Helgesdotter born 1826, married 1852 to Anders Eilertsson and they lived on the Torkildsrud farm.
6. Kjetil Helgeson born 1829 and died the same year.
7. Kjetil Helgeson born 1831, married 1855 to Gunnhild Kristensdotter Ebbesberg, they lived at Åsen on the Vasslia farm.

Helge was a tailor and carried on this trade throughout his life. He died in 1858. Sigrid died in 1839.

Even Nubberud bequeathed this farm to Åse Helgesdotter Nubberud. She sold it in 1861 to her brother-in-law Ole Torgeirsson for 750 speciedalar. 

It appears this book has quoted a grandchild of Helge Kristoffersson, telling about what their father had told them about Helge`s time in the war. Also the interesting part of this quote is that it was not written in standard Norwegian, but written in the dialect of the person who said this, which gives us insight on how they spoke in the area, as dialects vary from area to area throughout Norway.

"Father had said that grandfather (Helge Kristoffersson Dal) was out in the war from 1807 to 1814, 7 years he was away and received leave to come home once. But he didn't play any real part in any of the battles, it never turned out that way."(K.V.42)

We assume that the K.V.42 is another book or source where they obtained this quote from. The war that Helge Kristoffersson was in would probably be the Napoleonic War around 1801 - 1814.