Genealogy Resources at the Stevne

John Reindl,  NHOH Lag Genealogist

With the 2006 Stevne just around the corner, we are pulling together a roomful of resources for the use of our members. Gudbrandsdalslaget and Trønderlag of America will likewise bring their resources. Resources from all 3 lags will be available for use by all Tre Lag Stevne registrants.

Bygdebøker and Church Records

Our two main resources for genealogical research are the bygdebøker and the microfilms of the church records from Norway and we will have over 100 sets of each. The bygdebøker that we bring are largely from the University of Wisconsin library, which has one of the largest collections in the country, and the list of the books that we brought to the stevne last year is located on the lag web page at http://www.nhohlag.org. The lag is also buying recently published bygdebøker for its own collection; we already have all seven volumes of the Elverum series, the four parts of second volume of the Nes books and the two Stange bygdebøker. Members who have bygdebøker are also encouraged to bring their books to share.

We will also bring microfilms of the original church records, which we borrow from the Vesterheim Genealogical Center in Madison. With over 100 films, this is supplemented by copies of the complete census records for 1801, and limited census records for 1865, 1875 and 1900.

We also have been buying the transcriptions of the church records put together by the Hedmark Slektshistorielag in Norway. There are currently 35 books available, and the lag has purchased them all.

Finally, we will also have access to the Internet at the stevne, giving us the ability to search some church, census, and immigration records on the Web.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, Oluf Rygh put together a comprehensive list of Norwegian farm names by fylke, kommune and parish, along with the history of their names. This is a very valuable resource for finding ancestral farms, and we will have this list for Hedmark fylke in both paper copy and a computerized form.

We will have a complete section of topographical maps of the NHOH area, many with indexes to the farms, to help members see where their farms are located.

In the 1940's and 1960's, two series of books (Norske Gardsbruk) were put together that provide information on most of the farms in Norway, giving the then-current owner along with the some genealogical information and a description of the farm along with a photo of the farm house. In many cases, the family has been on the same farm for generations, providing a useful genealogical link. We will have both sets of books.

Over 110 members have submitted their genealogical charts of their ancestors from the Hedmark area and this database has over 2,550 entries, showing common ancestors for lag members. We will have both the paper copies, sorted by kommune, as well as a computerized version.

Bring your own ancestry records and we will look for a match and enter them in the database and three ring binder for future matches!

More of our members have roots in Ringsaker than in any other kommune in Hedmark fylke, but, unfortunately, there are no traditional bygdebøker for this area. Thus, the lag is collecting and developing other resources for this area.

One such resource is the series of Ringsakboka, of which the lag has five volumes. These give a history of Ringsaker from the earliest of history to the mid-1900’s. Closely associated are the Ringsaker historielag yearbooks from 1979 through 2005, and we will bring a translation of the table of contents of these books.

We also have a database of over 9,500 references from history books and magazines to people from Ringsaker, which will be available on computer. This database has proven to be extremely valuable to finding information -- including pictures -- of Ringsaker relatives.

The Rowberg obituary file is strictly an American resource, and is a collection of obituaries from around the US of those with Norwegian ancestry, covering famous and not-so-famous alike. Started in 1913 by Andrew Rowberg, it contained 130,000 listings at the time of his death in 1969, and is still growing, having been taken over by others.

Family history books

This is still a limited part of our collection, as we only have about a dozen family histories to share. We invite all members to bring a copy of their own family history to show and, if they would like, one to donate to the lag.

List of NHOH resources for the 2006 Tre Lag Stevne

The list of bygdebøker and related materials for the stevne is on the linked page. If you see a resource that you would like me to bring to the stevne, be sure to contact me by email at reindl@chorus.net. The stevne will have a major collection of materials to help you do your Norwegian genealogy, and I look forward to seeing you in Eau Claire!