Tuesday, 05 September, 2006: "One Lucky Genealogist"
Picked up our car from Hertz and were soon on our way to Rakkestad (although it took us awhile to navigate out of the center of Oslo and to find the E18). Once the GPS got a good signal and figured out where we were it was smooth sailing.
Rakkestad is a fairly sizeable town, but it didn't take us long to realize that they had no TI [Tourist Information center] and that the church was nowhere obvious. We drove around for awhile and started thinking out loud about what else we would do with the three day we had scheduled for this part of the trip when, by dumb luck, we found what looked like the city hall. It turned out to be a library run by the Rakkestad Kommune with a very well stocked and staffed genealogy center in the basement. The center was not scheduled to be open, but Eva Bjornstad (the woman who runs it) happened to be there and she generously spent most of the afternoon with us anyway. She was a fantastic resource: we got several documents I did not have, lots of information, and a promise to drive around with us on Wednesday to see the family farms.
With directions from Eva we were able to find the church and spent an hour or so walking around the cemetery looking for tombstones of relatives without success. As we drove back to Oslo Kathleen told me that I was one lucky genealogist - I had to agree. We had a marvelous Italian dinner at a Rick Steve's recommendation, went back to the hotel, did some genealogy homework and crashed.
Wednesday, 06 September, 2006: "It's like Christmas Eve"
We had parked on the street near the hotel (Cochs Pensjonat) in the only place we could find, and had to have the car somewhere else by 8:00 or face a ticket, so we got off to an early (6:00) start. Unfortunately, the restaurant that gives residents of our hotel a discount does not open 'till 7:30. We had discussed the possibility the night before and headed across the street to execute our plan "B" (anything we could find in the nearby 7-11) but they were not open yet either, so settled for the coffee shop right next to our hotel. The car was still there (and without a parking ticket), and with only a few minor problems found our way back to the E18: we pulled into the parking lot at the Rakkestad library at 9:30.
As we entered the genealogy center we encountered 8 apparently happy, talkative volunteers sitting around the table in the center of the room all busily engaged in doing whatever it was they were doing. Only one from that group spoke English (I would later discover out that his name was Roger Torper and that he was married to a 2nd cousin), so we worked to a pleasant background of Norwegian chatter and laughter.
We had spent some time Tuesday night outlining our priorities and objectives and did a good job tearing through documents (Kathleen is really an outstanding partner in all of this!) and found out so much that I am having a hard time keeping it all straight in my head. We took lots of notes, got lots of copies and I took lots of pictures of documents with my camera. Now I need a little time to sort it all out.
Part way through the morning Eva stopped working, looked over at me and said that she thought she had grown up on the farm next to some cousins of mine. She pointed through the window at a young man working on the septic tank in front of the library and told me that he was a relative too. She said that she would make some calls and see if any of the cousins were home and willing to meet us.
Everybody at the center paused at 11:00 for a snack of coffee or tea and little waffles. We enjoyed our sandwiches [purchased on the drive out of Oslo] before wrapping up our research. Then the fun really began... Eva took us (in her car) to see several of the farms related to my family. We saw where my Great Grandfater [Anton Martin Syverson] was born [Panteholtet], and stopped at the farm [Toftedalen] he bought when he married his second wife [Maren Johanne Krestensdatter] which is where he lived until his death in 1921. It remained in the family until recently (a local butcher bought it).
Eva took us to home of Bjorn Johansen, a second cousin (descendant of Maren Johanne Krestensdatter) who was doing some construction on his house. He was pretty busy, but he did take the time to talk and bring out a few family pictures to show us. Then we drove over to meet his sister Reidun Ellinor Johansen and her husband Oyind Larsen at their new (open for 3 months) paint store (similar to a Sherwin Williams). We had quite a visit with them: we drank coffee, traded stories about our families and laughed like had known each other for years. Reidun (she and Eva grew up together) has a real outgoing personality - really reminds me of my cousins in Wisconsin. Every once in a while she would stop talking, smile and say "It's like Christmas Eve". I couldn't agree more!
Eva also took us to her farm and showed us some petrogliphs her husband discovered on a rock outcrop in the middle of one of their fields. In addition to farming, they have built a campground with some small cabins. She works at the family history center, volunteers with special needs kids, does a weekly radio program and who knows what else - she must never sleep!
We drove back to Oslo in the rain a little overwhelmed by our experience and settled for hamburgers at the cafe across from our Pension. It was good to be outside - had a table on the sidewalk under an awning compete with wool blankets to ward off the damp chill. We enjoyed it immensely and had several beers after dinner, just enjoying the coolness, the rain and the ambiance.
Thursday, 07 September, 2006
Got the day off to an unexpectedly early start when the fire alarm in our hotel went off about 1 AM this morning. The alarm bell in our room would have awakened a dead person - it certainly got our attention. Fortunately it was nothing major - just too much smoke from someone cooking something in their room (our room has a small electric stove, a sink and a small refrigerator). I had a hard time falling back asleep and was dragging all day as a result.
Got up at 6:00 anyway as we were parked in another space that required us to move the car by 8:00 (it was all we could find). We visited our local sidewalk coffee shop. They were having some kind of event and started handing out free to-go cups of coffee to anybody who walked by as we sat there and had our breakfast.
Had clouds and rain on our drive to Eidsvoll, but got there right at 9:00, only to discover that the library (where we had decided to do most of our work) was closed until 2:00 on Thursdays. We talked to a couple of employees out front - they assured us that they had lots of information.... So we drove up to the church (got directions from the receptionist at the City Hall next to the library) and stopped by the parish office. They tried to look up some of the names I was interested in but couldn't locate anything. All of the old records are in Oslo (the church has burned down four times - once in 1850 with both sets of of Parish records inside!). They did assure us that they could tell me if and where anybody was buried if I had more information (Name and date of death, which I did not have). I got their email address and will follow up wit them when I get more information on Laura Larsdatters parents.
We walked around looking for tombstones, but they don't maintain the stones on graves after 20 years unless somebody pays the church for maintenance and re-use the plots after awhile, so we did not find any that we cared about.
Had lunch in the car (ate sandwiches we bought in Oslo), drove around a bit, went into a restaurant downtown and had coffee in an attempt to kill time until 2:00 rolled around when the library finally opened. What a dud - the bulk of their information was microfilm from the Mormon church. Without an index to figure out what was on which roll of film it was a waste of vacation time so we packed up and headed back to Oslo.
On the drive back we both spent some time reflecting on the improbability of all that happened the past two days in Rakkestad. It seems like a miracle that two branches of a family could be separated so far for so long and then be reconnected again like this. It was (and is) hard to take in. We have so much to be grateful to Eva for... we both separately tried to donate some money to the center but she wouldn't hear of it, just said that was what she was there for.
Managed to get back to Oslo in time to drop the car off at Hertz before they closed at 5:00 (but just barely!). Dropped our stuff back at the hotel (what a wonderful location!), bought our train tickets to Mo i Rana for tomorrow (2200 Kr... the agent told us that we could have bought some cheaper tickets that morning... if only we had known!) and headed up the mountain to the Frognerseteren Hovedrestaurant. The weather had cleared: it was a beautiful, sunny evening so the view was spectacular (as was the food and the price).
