Christopher Olai, my 2nd great-grandfather lived his life on a small farm in Norway. Local parish ledgers recorded in longhand document births, christenings , marriages and deaths. These have been digitized and transcribed. There are also population Census but to drill down even further there are Farm Books (Gård og Slekt). These were created by local historians and genealogists in the 20th century and document the history of individual farms and the families who lived on them over time. These are a trove of information but can be rather cryptic with abbreviations and of course it’s foreign [to me] . Handy is a Table of Common Abbreviations in Bygdebøker
5) Christopher Johannessen (1816?31,10.1914), sønn av f.br., fikk bbr. mot kår til foreldrene, dat. 12.2.1842, tl. 21.6.?43. Han var også smed og rokkedreier. G. 1842 m. Berit Pedersd. (1819?19.12.?90) fra 40 Myrvik bnr. 1.
This excerpt is an outline summary of the fifth (5) Tennent in the history of the farm Bnr 2 (lnr.276b) STRAUMBOTN and as the abbr. table states Bnr stands for small farm number (bruksnummer). The abbreviation lnr. is serial number, parcel number (løpenummer). Straumbotn is the name of the farm as a whole.
In-between the abbr. is more Norwegian puzzle that Google Translate can’t crack. Make sense of: sønn av f.br., fikk bbr. mot kår til foreldrene, dat. 12.2.1842, tl. 21.6.?43
AI makes quick easy work of it:
“Son of born tenant, received lease against retirement provisions for the parents, dated 12.2.1842, transferred 21.6.1843.” – xI Grok beta
“Son of the farm owner, received a lease with care provisions for the parents, dated 12 February 1842, and took over on 21 June 1843.” – ChatGPT
Claude 3.5 Sonnet was more detailed albeit less conversational. A Google translation, old school (not AI), was weak and worthless:
“son of a brother, received a brother against the will of his parents, date 12.2.1842, tl. 21.6.?43“
Regarde the complete record for 089 Straumbotn and what at superficial glance looks all Greek to me can be found in translation with the aforementioned tools at hand. I’m a bit closer to Great Great Grandfather’s life on the farm.