Oslo City Church

DavidStinson1

The baptismal record simply says baptism place: Oslo City Church, Oslo. I would like to find the record in Digitalarkivet. I have looked in the Domkirke register and not been able to locate the record. Does "Oslo City Church" refer to a specific parish?

With thanks for you help, David Stinson

Niels Just Rasmussen

Always include the year.....parishes changes through time!

Here is a list over parishes in Oslo with link to the Norwegian archives.

Source: https://www.arkivverket.no/slektsgranskning/historikk-for-prestegjeld-og-sogn/sogn-og-menigheter-i-oslo

"Oslo Domkirkes menighet (Vår Frelsers menighet)" as being the "domkirke" should be regarded as the "Oslo City Church"; but alternatively could it be "Oslo og Oslo Hospitals menighet - Gamlebyen menighet"?!

Gordon Collett

If you post the link to the record you are looking at, I can probably show you exactly how to determine which church this really is for not just that record but any others you might run across where it is not clear.

DavidStinson1

It's a record from ancestry and the transcription doesn't list a specific church. I always try to confirm the information in Digitalarkivet and can't seem to find it in Domkirke/Vår Frelsers or Gamlebyen (Oslo) Parishes. I'm not sure you can see the Ancestry link, but here it is: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60606/images/kb10081210180011?pId=2191263

Here's the Ancestry transcription:

Name Johan Odvar

Gender Mannlig (Male)

Baptism Age1

Record Typedåp (Baptism)

Birth Date13 mar 1915

Baptism Date1916

Baptism Place Oslo city, Oslo, Norge (Norway)

Baptism Municipalit yOslo

Father Thomas Thorbjörnsen

Mother Marie Johnsen

I can usually find the record in Digitalarkivet, but not this one. Hope this makes sense.

Gordon Collett

Thanks! I can see why you are confused. The Ancestry transcription is terrible.

First thing to take note is that if you look at the top of the page you will see: Fødselregister. This is not a church parish record at all. It is not a baptism record but rather a civil government record.

Here is a correct transcription for you:

• Record Number: 26.
• Reporting Date: 2 June 1916
• Birth Date: 13 March 1916
• Live birth
• Child's full name (first name): Johan Odvar
• Parents: Machinist Thomas Thorbjørnsen / Marie Johnsen
• Residence: Matsfeldtgaten 24 1/1
• Parents birth years: father - 1884 / mother - 1889
• Birth places: Kristiania / Kristiania
• Legitimate
• Parents' marriage year: 1914
• Reported by: mother

There is no church listed and no christening listed although you would assume at this point in history he probably was.

DavidStinson1

Wow! THANK YOU very much. I have much to learn. I appreciate the help.

David

Gordon Collett

I could not find a Matsfeldtgaten in Oslo but in a list of city streets ( https://geographic.org/streetview/norway/oslo/oslo/oslo.html ) there is a Motzfelds gate which has to be the same one. Either the spelling as changed or i'm reading the handwriting incorrectly.

Checking on Google maps, the two closest churches are Grønland Kirke which was built in 1869 and Tøyen Kirken which was built in 1907. I would probably start looking for a christening record in those two. Beyond that, it could be about anywhere or he may never have been christened.

In this situation, if the records have been transcribed by the Digitalarkivet, doing a global search of birth records, with appropriate parameters, can lead you to the records. If you go to the Digitalarkivet home page and under the main search bar in the black box click on More Searches, you will see a category "Born and Baptised." Choosing that will bring you to: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/search/76

I'm not going to go any farther here. I'll leave for you the fun of seeing if you can find him or not!

Gordon Collett

Oh, I should mention that if you find a transcribed record for him, there is often a button on the top right labeled "Scanned" that when clicked takes you right to the scanned image of the original record.

DavidStinson1

I can't believe I found Johan Odvar's baptismal record. I'm not the best at searching when I use the Digitalarkivet's home page (but getting slightly better). I'm pretty good at finding a record in the "media" when given a date and a Parish name. I wasn't able to find anything searching Digitalarkivet's home page. I manually searched through the 1916 Grønland Kirke register and found nothing, but was pleasantly surprised to find his baptismal record in Tøyen Kirke: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20060213030142

Sadly, Johan died a year later in June of 1917. But you have challenged me to continue learning as much as I can when it comes to finding my Norwegian ancestors.

With thanks, David Stinson