Halvor Tørrissen Digernes (also spelled Digernæs and Degernes) was born on 07 September 18131 on the Digernes farm in Stord, Hordaland, Norway1 as the second child of Tørres Halvorsen Digernes and Valgjerd Olsdatter Ørve Valen. He had an older sister Helga who was born in 1807.32
Halvor was baptized on 07 September 18131. His sponsors are Peer Hansen Foyeu, Johans Monsen Grividevig, Halvor Peersen Foyeu, Christie Oldsdatter Tomservyen and Britte Johansdatter Tveite (please excuse any and all errors in my spelling of farm names). That was just before Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden (1814) and Norway and Sweden became a “personal union”.
He was confirmed in 18295 at the age of 16 and is listed as a good student.5 The farmers in Norway elected themselves into parliament just a few short years later resulting in many rural tax cuts, which likely helped Halvor in his farming endeavours.
Halvor lived on the Digernes farm in Stord all of his life.6,7,8,9
On 2 July 1834, when he was 20, he married Eli Gregoriussdatter Nysaeter, daughter of Gregorius Nielssen Sæterbøe and Guro Fridrichsdatter Wante. 4
Halvor as the youngest child was perhaps not well prepared for the number of children that he and Eli had. The 1800s in Norway saw both better nutrition, through potatoes and herring, as well as lower infant mortality, through better hygiene. No matter the reason, Halvor and Eli had 15 children during their marriage. Most of whom lived long lives and many of them joined the exodus of Norwegian people to America.
1. Torres Halvorsen Digernes was born on 12 Dec 183410 in Hordaland, Norway10 (Digernes, Stord10). He married Guro Andersdatter Valvatna on 30 Aug 186211 in Hordaland, Norway11 (Stord11). He died in 1912.
2. Helga Halvorsdatter Digernes was born on 08 Oct 183712 in Hordaland, Norway12 (Digernes, Stord12). She is named after Halvor’s sister who died in 1830, which is a departure from the standard naming convention of the first daughters being named for their grandmothers.
3. Gregorius Halvorsen Digernes was born on 20 Sep 1839 in Hordaland, Norway (Digernes, Stord). He lived only a short time and died on 24 Feb 184013 in Hordaland, Norway13 (Digernes, Stord13).
4. Valgjerd Halvorsdatter Digernes was born on 10 Dec 184014 in Hordaland, Norway14 (Digernes, Stord14). She married Lars Andersen Valen on 04 Apr 1864 in Hordaland, Norway (Digernes, Stord). She died in 1920.
5. Gregorius Halvorsen Digernes was born on 22 Sep 184215 in Hordaland, Norway15 (Digernes, Stord15). He married Kari Madsdatter on 04 Jul 1866 in Hordaland, Norway.
6. Frederick Halvorsen Digernes was born on 22 Sep 184216 in Hordaland, Norway16 (Digernes, Stord16).
7. Guro Halvorsdatter Digernes was born on 21 Sep 1843 in Hordaland, Norway (Digernes, Stord).
8. Hans Frederick Halvorsen Digernes was born on 02 Feb 184617 in Hordaland, Norway17 (Digernes, Stord17).
9. Cicele Halvorsdatter Digernes was born on 12 Mar 184718 in Hordaland, Norway18 (Digernes, Stord18). She married Ole Olsen Tommervik on 25 Jun 1868.
10. Ole Halvorsen Digernes was born on 20 Apr 184919 in Hordaland, Norway19 (Digernes, Stord19).
11. Jorgen Halvorsen Degerness was born on 25 Sep 185020,21 in Hordaland, Norway20,21 (Digernes, Stord20,21). He married Martha Johannesdatter Eldoen on 01 May 187325,26,23 in Stord, Hordaland, Norway25,26,23. He died on 14 Apr 193322,23,24 in Rose Valley, Saskatchewan, Canada22,23,24 (senile degeneration22,23,24).
12. Eli Halvorsdatter Digernes was born on 29 May 185227 in Hordaland, Norway27 (Digernes, Stord27). She married Johannes Olsson Bunes on 25 May 1874.
13. Aasa Halvorsen Digernes was born on 12 Dec 185328 in Hordaland, Norway28 (Digernes, Stord28).
14. Halvor Halvorsen Digernes was born on 18 Mar 185529 in Hordaland, Norway29 (Digernes, Stord29). He married Elen Margrete Magnussen on 24 Nov 1883. He died in 1943.
15. Viking Halvorsen Digernes was born on 22 Jun 186130 in Hordaland, Norway30 (Digernes, Stord30). He married Annie A. Lommen on 23 Dec 188231 in Decorah, Winneshiek, Iowa, USA31. He died in 1933.
In the 1891 census, he is listed as being retired with “a small fortune”. The English translation of the Norwegian likely simply means that he was living off his own retirement funds9.
Halvor died on 22 June 18922,3 and was buried on 30 June 1892 in Stord.2,3
Link to Halvor Torrisen Digernes in genealogy.
1 Baptisms. Norway, Stord, Hordaland. 7 September 1813. TORRISSEN DEGERNES, Halvor. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/11673/126 : accessed 7 April 2019.
2 Burials. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 30 June 1892. TORRISSEN, Halvor. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/7062/241 : accessed 7 April 2019.
3 Burials. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 30 June 1892. TORRISSEN, Halvor. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/2156/253 : accessed 7 April 2019.
4 Marriages. Norway, Stord, Hordaland. 2 July 1834. Torrisen Digernes, Halvor and Gregoriussdatter Nysaeter, Eli. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/11675/204 : accessed 6 April 2019.
5 Confirmations. Norway, Stord, Hordaland. 1829. Degernes, Halver Torissen. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/11675/48339/18 : accessed 27 December 2020.
6 Census, Norway. 1835. Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/51088/18 : accessed 7 April 2019.
7 Census. 1865. Norway. Stord, Hordaland. Digernes, Jorgen Halvorsen. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/38228/92 : accessed April 2019.
8 Census, 1875. Norway. Degernes, Stord, Hordaland. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/52269/530?indexing= : accessed 17 March 2021.
9 Census, 1891. Norway. Degernæs, Stord, Hordaland. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/52964/2031 : accessed 17 March 2021.
10 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 14 December 1834. Halvorsen, Torres. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/11675/89 : accessed 7 April 2019.
11 Marriages. Norway, Stord, Hordaland. 30 August 1862. Halvorsen Digernes, Torres and Andersdatter Valvanta, Guro. https://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 23 February 2021.
12 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 20 October 1837. Halvorsdatter, Helga. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/11675/105 : accessed 7 April 2019.
13 Burials. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 1 March 1840. Halvorsen, Gregorius. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/11675/263 : accessed 7 April 2019.
14 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 13 December 1840. Halvorsdatter, Valgjerd. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/11675/125 : accessed 7 April 2019.
15 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 26 September 1842. Halvorsen, Gregorius. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/8303/19 : accessed 7 April 2019.
16 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 26 September 1842. Halvorsen, Frederick. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/8303/19 : accessed 7 April 2019.
17 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 7 February 1846. Halvorsen, Hans Frederick. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/8303/43 : accessed 7 April 2019.
18 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 17 March 1847. HAVORSDATTER, Cicele. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/8303/50 : accessed 7 April 2019.
19 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 22 April 1849. Halvorsen, Ole. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/8303/65 : accessed 7 April 2019.
20 Baptisms, Norway. Stord, Hordaland. Digernes, Jorgen. 3 October 1850. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/8303/74 : accessed April 2017.
21 Deaths (CR) Canada. Rose Valley, Ponass Lake, Saskatchewan. DEGERNESS, Jorgen Halvor. 14 April 1933. Record # 2218 1933.
22 Monumental Inscriptions. Rose Valley, Saskatchewan. 1933. DEGERNESS, Jorgen.
23 Rose Valley and District Historical Society (1981). A tribute to our Pioneers. Saskatchewan: Rose Valley & District Historical Society. Pp. 201-202.
24 Deaths (CR) Canada, Rose Valley, Saskatchewan. 14 April 1933. DEGERNESS, Jørgen Halvor. #2218.
25 Marriages. Norway. Stord, Hordaland. 01 May 1873. Digernes, Jorgen Halvorsen and Eldoen, Martha Johannesdatter. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/8304/116 : accessed April 2019.
26 Marriages. Norway. Stord, Hordaland. Copy of parish records. 01 May 1873. Digernes, Jorgen Halvorsen and Eldoen, Martha Johannesdatter. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/11676/112 : accessed April 2019.
27 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 30 May 1852. Halvorsdatter, Eli. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/8303/87 : accessed 7 April 2019.
28 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 18 December 1853. Halvorsen, Aasa. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/8303/97 : accessed 7 April 2019.
29 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 8 April 1855. Halvorsen, Halvor. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/8303/106 : accessed 7 April 2019.
30 Baptisms. Norway, Digernes, Stord, Hordaland. 1 July 1861. Halvorsen, Viking. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/8303/146 : accessed 7 April 2019.
31 Marriages. United States, Decorah, Winnishiek, Iowa. 23 December 1882. Digernes, Viking and Lommen, Annie A. https://www.ancestry.ca : accessed 24 Februrary 2021.
32 Baptisms. Norway, Degernæs, Stord, Hordaland. 2 December 1807. Torrisdatter Digernes. https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/11673/72 : accessed 9 March 2021.
