Ancestors of Carl Nordahl Hystad Descendants of Isak Samsonsen Hystad

151 Pages·2010·3.97 MB·English

by  Keeby Pendleton

Ancestors of Carl Nordahl Hystad
and
Descendants of Isak Samsonsen Hystad
by Carlyle E. Hystad
First Edition
March 2010

Contents
Page # Topic
1 Introduction
5 Chapter One: Southwestern Norway - Geography & Pre-History
12 Chapter Two: A Brief History of Norway From the Viking Age to 1905
18 Chapter Three: Stord and Bergen and Vicinity
32 Chapter Four: Nils’ Ancestors at Stord
41 Chapter Five: Descendants of Norwegian Royalty
48 Chapter Six: Caroline’s Family in Norway
51 Chapter Seven: Hystad Diaspora
54 Chapter Eight: Nils and Caroline
63 Chapter Nine: On to North Dakota and Hard Times
76 Chapter Ten: Carl’s Uncles and Aunts in America
80 Chapter Eleven: Meanwhile, Back in Norway
85 Chapter Twelve: Life in Modern Norway
91 Chapter Thirteen: Hystads in America Today
Appendix A - Genealogical Listing of Carl Hystad’s Ancestors
Appendix B - Recollections of Hystad Immigrants
Appendix C - Hystad Descendants in Norway Today
Appendix D - Hystad Descendants in America Today
Ancestors of Carl Nordahl Hystad
and
Descendants of Isak Samsonsen Hystad
Introduction
Our Norwegian Heritage
This document is my effort to describe the information I have collected over many decades
regarding my father’s ancestors and his relatives in America and Norway. My efforts to learn
about my father’s relatives began in earnest in 1965 when I was living and working in
London, England, and decided to take a trip to Norway to see if I could find where my
grandparents came from. I was successful beyond my greatest expectations, and spent several
days visiting the island of Stord where my father’s father lived for part of his youth and where
many of his ancestors lived for many generations. I also was able to visit Bergen, where my
father’s mother grew up and several generations of her ancestors had lived.
I returned to Norway in 2001 for a Hystad family reunion at Stord. My daughter Cheryl, and
her daughters Julia and Caroline also joined me at the reunion.
Carl’s father was Nils (or Niels or Nels) Isaksen Hystad. That was the name he usually used
in America. He was christened Niels Isaksen of Vagelid in Norway, and as a boy was usually
known as Niels Isaksen, or Nils Isaksen, or sometimes as Niels Isaksen Hysingstad, or Nils
Isaksen Hystad. He was confirmed in the Lutheran Church as Nils Isaksen. At his marriage
his name was recorded as Nils Isaksen Hystad, but naturalization records in the United States
show his name as Niels I. Hystad when he recorded his intent to become a citizen, in 1890.
Carl’s mother was christened Caroline Henrikke Berentine Carlsen, and it appears that she
kept that name until she was married to Nils Isaksen Hystad, but sometimes the letter “K” was
substituted for the letter “C”. At her marriage her name was recorded as Karoline Henrikke
Berentine Karlsen.
Nils and Caroline were married on July 3, 1888 at the Lutheran Church in Stord Parish in
Norway. They came to America the following year, where they raised their large family.
So all of Carl’s ancestors for many generations back were Norwegian. And during Carl’s
lifetime he had several first cousins still living in Norway. The first cousins have all passed
away now, but we continue to have hundreds of second and third and fourth cousins, and
second cousins once or twice removed, etc. living in Norway.
The chart on page 4 shows Carl’s immediate ancestors.
This document will attempt to provide a summary of what is known about Carl’s ancestors in
Norway, as well as some information about what has happened to the descendants of the
Hystads who came to America and those who stayed in Norway. Hopefully this document
will encourage more of you who are Carl’s descendants in America to take a trip to Norway
to see for yourself where the Hystads came from and where they still live.
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The information contained in this document comes from a large number of sources, including
information I gathered on two visits to Norway, in 1965 and 2001; official Norwegian
documents including census records, land records, and tax records; Norwegian Lutheran
Church records of births, baptisms, marriages and deaths; documents and recollections
provided by Hystad family members in Norway and the United States while attending family
reunions at Stord in Norway and at Velva, North Dakota; United States official documents
including census records, immigration and naturalization records, and records of homestead
claims; genealogy reports prepared by several researchers from inside the extended Hystad
family, and by several from outside the immediate Hystad family who share ancestors in
Norway; and several books and internet documents on Norwegian history, geography and
economy.
Research of Norwegian government and church documents has become much easier in the
last few years as many records have been digitized and placed on the web, available for
anyone to search. It is likely that additional records will be placed on the web in the coming
years, which may provide new information relevant to understanding our ancestors in
Norway.
Norwegian Name Confusion
Genealogy research in Norway is complicated by the varied naming practices common in
Norway prior to about 1885. The traditional practice, known as “patronymics” was for a
newborn son to be given a “last” name consisting of his father’s first name with “sen” affixed
to the end. So a son of Isak would have a last name of Isaksen, or a son of Jon would be
named Jonsen. And a daughter of Isak would be given a last name of Isaksdatter. In many of
the official records of births, confirmations, marriages and deaths prior to 1885, the only
name entered for a person would be the given first name followed by the father’s first name
with a “sen” or “datter” attached.
But the above naming practice was not universally practiced. In larger towns and cities it
became common to take a “last” or family name and pass that name on to subsequent
generations. This permanent last name might be a grandfather’s last name such as Ivarsen, or
it might be the name of the farm or village where the family lived, or it might be the name of
a place where the family previously lived, or something else entirely. It also was not
uncommon in rural areas for families, or individual family members, to take the name of the
“farm” where they lived as their last name. So Nils Isaksen might take the last name of
Hystad because that was the name of the farm where he lived. But his neighbor, who was not
related to Nils in any way, might also use the last name of Hystad.
These confusing naming practices are exemplified by the names taken by grandfather Nils
Isaksen Hystad and his brothers. Nils took the last name of Hystad, because that was the most
recent name of the farm where he spent most of his childhood. One of his brothers who came
to America, Isak, used the name Isak Isaksen, following the older tradition of using his
father’s name as his last name. And another brother who came to America, Lars, used the last
name of Vageli, because he was born at a farm named Vageli and lived there with his parents
for several years before they moved to the farm named Hystad.
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Although the Norwegian Lutheran Church maintained excellent records of births,
confirmations, marriages and deaths, the confusing naming practices make it quite difficult to
track families from one generation to the next, even if they continued to live in the same
parish. And if they moved to another parish it can be almost impossible to track from one
generation to the next. In 1925, the Norwegian parliament made the use of a permanent
family name mandatory.
A Note About Norwegian Farms
It was the practice in Norway of giving official names to plots of land that were called
“farms”, or “gaards” in Norwegian. But these farms were not necessarily like farms in the
United States. Initially the designated farm might have been owned by a single owner, or by
the Church, or the government, or by a group of owners. Some “farms” were very large in
size, with many individuals owning or leasing plots of land living on the same farm. Some of
the owners might have had a substantial amount of farm land, while others may have had only
a small lot for a house.
Some “farms” became so populated that they were similar to what are called “subdivisions” in
the United States, but they were still called “farms”. So when someone says they were from a
particular farm in Norway, it does not necessarily mean that they were farmers, or that they
owned much land. They may have had a small lot in a “subdivision” and worked in a different
occupation such as a sailor or fisherman or blacksmith or teacher.
The farm now called “Hystad” on the island of Stord is an example of such a “subdivision”.
As far back as the census in 1801, there were seven separate households living on the farm,
with a total of 42 residents. By the 1950 census there were 148 separate households living on
the “farm” of Hystad, and there are many more on the farm today. The name of the farm
changed over the centuries. At the time of the 1801 census it was named “Hysingstad,” but by
about the middle of the 1800s the name was shortened to “Hystad”.
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Ancestors of Carl Nordahl Hystad
Samson Nielsen Hysingstad
b: 1793 in Hysingstad, Stord,
Norway
d: October 25, 1837 in
Hysingstad, Stord, Norway
Isak Samsonsen Hysingstad
b: April 20, 1830 in Hysingstad,
Stord, Norway
m: 1852
d: Abt. 1900 in Valestrand,
Norway
Engel Isaksdatter Dossland
b: 1798 in Dossland,
Nils Isaksen Hystad
Kvinnherred, Norway
b: September 21, 1867 in
d: January 17, 1889 in Hystad,
Vageli, Skjold Parish, Rogaland
Stord, Hordaland County,
County, Norway
Norway
m: July 3, 1888
d: December 8, 1942 in
McKenzie County, ND
Lars Olsson Berge
b: in Berge, Fjellberg, Norway
Marie Larsdatter Berge
b: April 7, 1832 in Berge,
Fjelberg, Hordaland County,
Norway
d: August 8, 1895 in Hystad,
Stord, Hordaland County,
Norway
Carl Nordahl Hystad Marta Marie Pedersdatter
b: August 13, 1903 in Colman,
SD
m: September 25, 1929 Carl Johan Jetmundsen
d: July 13, 1981 in Watford b: September 26, 1802 in
City, ND Nykirken Parish, Bergen,
Norway
m: September 20, 1829
Henrik Olai Carlsen
b: July 17, 1832 in Bergen,
Norway
m: June 5, 1865
d: February 19, 1885 in Bergen,
Norway
Berthe Margrethe Jonsen
Caroline H. Carlsen b: April 17, 1797 in Nykirken
b: January 1, 1866 in Nykirken Parish, Bergen, Norway
Parish, Bergen, Norway
d: February 22, 1953 in
McKenzie County, ND Lars Johannessen
b: Abt. 1790
Caroline Martine Johannessen
b: March 21, 1837 in
Korskirken Parish, Bergen,
Norway
d: January 2, 1866 in Nykirken
Parish, Bergen, Norway
Agathe Johannesdatter
Chapter One
Southwestern Norway
Geography & Pre-History
Almost all of Carl’s ancestors who I have been able to identify lived along the sea coast of
southwestern Norway, primarily in the area bounded by Bergen on the north and Stavanger on
the south. Many of Carl’s father’s ancestors lived on the island of Stord, located about 45
miles south of Bergen, and others lived on nearby islands or on the mainland close to Stord.
Many of Carl’s mother’s ancestors lived in Bergen or in surrounding parishes.
To understand where Carl’s parents came from, and why they came to America, it is helpful
to have an understanding of the geography of the southwestern coast of Norway. From a
tourist’s perspective the western coast of Norway is among the most beautiful places on earth.
From almost any spot you will have breathtaking views of snow capped mountains, deep
fjords with sheer cliffs rising hundreds or thousands of feet, waterfalls tumbling thousands of
feet from mountain-top glaciers to the sea, thousands of emerald islands dotting the coast,
hundreds of fishing villages and small harbors filled with fishing and pleasure boats, and farm
buildings clinging precariously to the sides of mountains.
Life on the western coast of Norway has been determined largely by its geography. There is
relatively little flat land that would be considered suitable for farming by American standards,
and almost no land that is suitable for large-scale farming. Less than 3% of the land in the
area is classified as arable. Almost all of the usable farm land was fully occupied and utilized
by about 500 A.D., so there was no room for newcomers to farming. If the eldest son claimed
the farm of his father, as was usually the case, the remaining children had to find some other
way to make a living.
Prior to the industrial age, the primary “other” occupations were fishing, transporting goods
and people by boat among the thousands of small villages and islands along the coast, and the
associated craft of boat building and repair. These occupations date back hundreds of years,
as exemplified by the Vikings, who reached their peak influence from about 800 to 1100 A.D.
Norwegian fisherman from western Norway were common in the fishing grounds off the
northern coast of Norway and near Iceland, Newfoundland and Greenland for many centuries.
The Norwegian expertise with boats and the sea was not only a result of their need to catch
fish to survive. Because of the mountains, fjords and islands it was not feasible to travel more
than a few miles by land in most parts of western Norway. By far the easiest way to travel
was by water. So almost every Norwegian family had at least one boat. A boat was the
coastal Norwegian’s substitute for horses and later automobiles. This experience with boat
building and seafaring is still apparent in modern Norway, which is home to major shipyards
and shipping companies.
The map on the next page shows the area of southwest Norway, with Bergen to the North and
Stavanger to the south. The following photos show typical scenes along the coast.
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