Lay of the Land
Our 19th century Norwegian relatives were rooted to land that was and still is scattered with small farms. Rural areas of Nordland and and also the fjords provided for them. Published records give ideas on life events — comings and goings.
Within Nordland is the Hemnes municipality and following is a map overlay of the original farms of old.
The farms of interest in this family are 87 Tybækken and 89 Straumbotn. The linked farms displayed with arrows show particular origins of pedigree e.g. from the farm Overleir came Anna Nilsd.
- Anna Nilsd. from 142 Øverleir bnr 4.
- Margret Pedersd. from 30 Villen
- Mons Jacobsøn from 89 Straumbotn bnr 2.
- Berit Pedersd. from 40 Myrvik bnr 1.
- Giertru Hansd. from 68 Dilkestad
- Johannes Johansen from 20 Drevatn bnr 3.
- Else Johnsd. from 90 Medstraum
- Anders Jacobson from 92 Straumfors bnr 1.
Mons Pedersøn (1671-1734) the oldest trace in the farm migration chain recorded. He settled at Straumbotn but the farm of his birth is not known. Not to be confused by the term farm migrants these folks might migrate once — twice sometimes if a husband passed away and they were looking to remarry.
For perspective the straight-line travel distance was at most 25 km. A 6-Ring work boat with sail (Seksringsbåt) would have been a conveyance of choice. They didn’t migrate too far at all. You’d think that from limited geography that finding a mate (who wasn’t related) might be a challenge. Uh oh…
Best I can tell the bloodlines of siblings of my 6th great-grandparents carried to Tybækken rendering my great grandparents 4th cousins in marriage. What does this mean. Beyond the 3rd or 4th, the genetic relationship becomes quite distant. A study showed that less than half of 4th cousins share IBD segments of identical by descent DNA.
By the turn of the century and with small farms unable to sustain large families there were changes happening. Many moved away seeking to renew prosperity and as we know, made the exceptional migration all the way to the USA and so after this lookback, here we are here.