Hi fellow family history fans! Can you help me figure out which Kirkebøker should contain a birth/ba

Kirsten_Dawn_Sanders

I have a question pertaining to Åsak, being a parish in what is now called Østfold county, but in 1831, the year I am looking for a record from, Østfold was called Smaalenenes, due to changes made during Danish rule. I am aware that the Åsak parish shared a pastor with the Berg parish, and the Berg parish kept records for the Åsak area. However, when I search in the digital archives for the Berg parish, I cannot find any records described as representing the Åsak local parish earlier than 1850, and when examining the records of the Berg parish that contain births and baptisms in 1831, there are no entries that match with my 3rd great grandfather. I have his exact birth date as it is inscribed on his gravestone in Minnesota, USA. I am wondering if I need more information on the history of Åsak, and if the area was described by a different parish name prior to 1850. I am aware that my 3rd great grandfather was born on the Veggesdal/Veggesdahl farm, which is listed on the familysearch page for Åsak, here: Asak Parish, Østfold, Norway Genealogy • FamilySearch. This page refers me to the Berg parish for perusing church records, with the results previously described. I also found this very nondescript page: Åsak, Østfold, Norway Genealogy • FamilySearch. If anybody has any ideas about how to proceed, that would be great. My ultimate goal is to find information on this 3rd great grandfather's mother, whose name I do not yet know. I can see that the Veggesdal farm is listed as farm no. 94 in Oluf Rygh's "Norske Gaardnavne", but that does not cover an early enough historical period, and I'm not sure how to access the correct Bygdebøk to view the Veggesdal farm record from the period I need.

 

Thanks for reading this far - hopefully I will be able to figure this out. Point me in the right direction if you can! If I find the name of this 4th great grandmother, I will have found all of my 4th great grandparents. Needless to say, I'm motivated! Haha.

 

-Kirsten

Gordon Collett

According to what I can find at the Digitalarkivet, Asak sogn, not Åsak, has always been part Berg prestgeld. Here is a list of all the parish registers on their site that include Asak sogn:

https://media.digitalarkivet.no/kb/browse?parishes[]=0116S2&start_year=&end_year=&text=

 

Do keep in mind that "exact birth information...inscribed on..gravestone" will often be wrong. I have seen numerous examples of every record in the US of a Norwegian immigrant having the same birthdate and his actual birthdate in the parish records being completely different. Also, you have to account for spelling changes and even complete name changes.

 

Good luck on your search.

Gordon Collett

The parish register for Berg for 1815 to 1831 has been transcribed by the Norwegian Archives. Here is everyone born at Veggesdal in the 1820s and 1830s in that book:

https://www.digitalarkivet.no/search/76/7434?forenamn=&etternamn=&kjonn=&rolle=&stilling_stand=&bustad=veg*|weg*&fodestad=&fodselsaar=&fodselsdato=&aar=182*|183*&dpdato=&stadfesta=&sokn_kyrkje=&ekte_uekte=&vigd=&introd=&dpstad=&merknader=

 

Likewise for the 1832 to 1842 book:

https://www.digitalarkivet.no/search/76/7435?forenamn=&etternamn=&kjonn=&rolle=&stilling_stand=&bustad=weg*|veg*&fodestad=&fodselsaar=&fodselsdato=&aar=183*&dpdato=&stadfesta=&sokn_kyrkje=&ekte_uekte=&vigd=&introd=&dpstad=&merknader=

 

The residence is only listed next to one of the parents, not next to the child so you will have to look at each of these to see the child's name.

 

If he really was born at Veggesdal, he should be there. If he was born at another farm and the family moved to Veggesdal when he was little, he may have considered himself as having been from Veggesdal even if he wasn't really born there.

 

What is is name? If he is in Family Tree, what is his ID? There may be clues in what you already have that would help finding him in Norway.