The Haugen farm in Heddal parish was the last place my 3x great-grandfather Hans Torgersen Haugen lived before he moved from Norway to the United States in 1868. He is listed here on the 1865 census.
His son John Hansen Torgersen sometimes used Haugen as a surname after moving to the US. Since Haugen translates to “little hill”, there are a lot of locations called Haugen in Norway. The one in the Notodden parish is the one I believe is connected to my family.
On the way to and from the area, we had to cross an airport – the road has barriers similar to a railway crossing for when planes are landing.
One of the buildings that we see quite frequently, particularly in this area of Norway, is called a stabbur. Paul referred to it as an elevated root cellar, which is probably the most accurate description. It is built above ground and designed in such a way as to keep mice and other rodents out and is used to store food such as grains, dairy and meats for the winter.
Our next stop was the Gransherad church. There was originally a stave church on the site dating back to 1369 that was consecrated by Olav the Saint. However, the new church was built in 1849. My line that I am working on in Gransherad includes Aslach HANSSEN SONSTEBOES who was born in 1792 (so from the old church rather than the new one.
The church is a fairly typical style of churches in Norway and certainly descendants of Aslach would have used the church that is currently standing.
I did find a grave marker that may be related to my family, but not a direct relation, I will have to track more of the family as it is in the right time period (I’ll just add it to the never-ending list of genealogical projects to do).
After Gransherad we stopped at the Hjartdal Church. The Hjartdal Church was built in 1812. I wonder how my 4X great-grandmother Anne HANSDATTER felt about the new church when she was confirmed in 1814.
It was a small church with the graveyard across the road.
It was also the site of the 1540 Farmer’s Rebellion final bloody scene. Where five leaders of the farmers were executed by decapitation and a sixth was required to serve as the executioner. All the rest of the farmers, presumably including my ancestors, had to sign an oath to be obedient subjects. It is a fascinating story and you can read more here.
We topped off the day by visiting some fourth cousins who live in Kviteseid, which is situated in (or is it on) a beautiful fjord. We had a great dinner including moose stew – which made me a little homesick for the north, although we don’t have lingonberries with our at home in British Columbia. The cousins are actually related to the family in the Stord area of Norway. I was unable to establish contact with anyone from the Telemark area for this trip. This is the view from one of their houses.
