SJUR LOFTSGÅRDEN, of Loftsgården farm in Åsbø or Åsbøgrenda, Nore Parish, Buskerud, born circa 1575.

[Al Möen]

SJUR LOFTSGÅRDEN, of Loftsgården farm in Åsbø or Åsbøgrenda, Nore Parish, Buskerud, born circa 1575.

 

Appeal for Help

 

My Grandfather, Herman Knudsen Möen, was born in Hægebostad, Vest-Agder, in 1880.  He emigrated to the USA and none of his children or grand-children have subsequently been able to speak or read the Norwegian language.  I am attempting to build up my entire Norwegian family tree as far as possible.

 

So far, with the indispensable help of Dag Thorsdalen, I have traced my direct paternal line back to SJUR LOFTSGÅRDEN, who was born circa 1575.  The earliest record, discovered so far for SJUR, is a tax record for 1618 and a juror record for 1618.  As far as I comprehend the situation, these place SJUR at Loftsgården farm in Åsbø or Åsbøgrenda, Nore Parish, Buskerud (Co-ordinates:  Latitude  6689529.77 North - Longitude  832300.18 East) in 1618.  The last record, known to me, for SJUR is a tax record for 1645.  Would members of this forum please check the relevant tax records from 1500 onwards to find ALL references to SJUR and his ancestors and descendants?  Would you please send me digital images of any references to SJUR, together with an english translation of the Norwegian words on the documents?  I realise that this translation would be difficult to do even for a native Norwegian, because of the old style of writing.

 

Whilst looking through these records, would you please also look for any possible references to SJUR’s, Grandfather, Father, Brothers and Sons?

SJUR’s Father or Grandfathers may have been called SJUR, Syver, Halvor, Tore, Tolluf or Tollef or Torleif, Bjørn, Svein, Unnulv or Arnulv, Ola or Olav.

SJUR’s Brothers were called Bjørn Åsgarden, Unnulv or Arnulv, and possibly Svein.

SJUR’s Sons were:

Tore, born ca. 1604, married before 1630 to an unknown woman, took over the Loftsgarden farm and is mentioned in the tax lists from 1653;

Svein, born ca. 1615, mentioned at Kollandsrud in 1665, sold his share of this farm to his brother Ola in 1667;

Bjørn, born ca. 1616, married before 1652 to a woman named Aslaug;

Ola, born ca. 1621, died between 1683 and 1690, married in the 1650 a woman named Helga, lived at Kollandsrud at least from 1663, 1 known son.

 

The farms connected with this family history are all within about 25 Kilometres of each other, west of Norefjorden.  Some of the farms possibly linked with this family are Loftsgården, Åsgarden, Svalstuen, Sønsterud-lien, Rudenn or Rudi or Ro, Bråflåt, Toen, Råen, Våkråk, Kollandsrud, Gvammen or Hvammen, and Mehus.  Please check the histories for these farms, and the other farms in this 25 kilometre area, for any references to the above-named  people.

 

Please also check any other records, such as Census, Military and Court records, Parish records and Family records for any relevant information.  Please send digital images of any information which you find, together, if possible, with a full English translation.

 

I thank Dag Thorsdalen, especially, for his kind and generous help in getting me this far with my research.

Edited October 3, 2019 by Al Möen
Grammatical improvements

[Al Möen]

On 10/3/2019 at 4:21 PM, Al Möen said:

Nore Parish, Buskerud (Co-ordinates:  Latitude  6689529.77 North - Longitude  832300.18 East)

 

The coordinates above were for the Hamlet of Nore, itself, but the Longitude was incorrect.

The correct coordinates (for Nore Stavkyrkje) are:  Latitude  6684820.06 North  -  Longitude  167873.06 East.

 

The Loftsgården farm, three and a half kilometres to the north of Nore, has the following coordinates:  Latitude  6689528.73 North  -  Longitude  167832.04 East.

[Al Möen]

I'm refreshing this query in the hope that someone, possibly with access to more archives, can provide me with further information, however small.

[Odd K. Stuvstad]

The bygdebok for Nore and Uvdal has the following:

Part I (Nore), Volume 5, page 2815-2816: Sønsterudlien
The bygdebok for Nore mentions a document written 30apr1612 at Kvernerud in Uvdal were Jacob Madsen and his wife Gro Anulfsdtr. makes a trade
with Tov Tjodgeirson and his son Tjodgeir Tovsen. Jacob and Gro receive 6 skinn in Kurverud and Tov and Tjodgeir receive 4 1/2 skinn
in Sønsterudlien.
Gro Anulfsdtr. had an uncle (fathers brother) who also owned part of Sønsterudlien. Two of this uncles decendants were the brothers Bjørn Åsgarden and Sjur Loftsgården in Åsbø.

 

Part II (Uvdal), Volume  5, page 2962-2963: Kvernerud
The details from the 1612 trade is repeated under Kvernerud. However, in the Uvdal Bygdebok Gro Anulfsdatters uncle is identified as Torgjul Bjørnsen.

 

The 1560 Skattemanntal(tax record) for Numedal lists Torgiuls Lofftstue (in Åsbø) as paying 3 graaskinn in taxes.

 

photo from:

Publikasjoner utgitt av Arkivverket, -/Bind 2: Rekneskap for Akershus len 1560-1561

 

 

[Al Möen]

Wow.  Thank you for this.

 

From this information is it possible to do a Family Tree of the people whom you mention here?  This is at the earliest part of my Patrilineal ancestry and I must confess that I do not comprehend what this all means.

 

Also, is it possible to show on a map the parcels of farmland to which you refer?

[Odd K. Stuvstad]

Here is a tenative family tree (I have normalized the names, and for simplicity I have listed Sjur and his brothers as sons of Torjus Bjørnsen, but they could be grandsons):

1. Bjørn

      2. Anulf Bjørnsen

             3. Gro Anulfsdtr. married to Jacob Madsen

     2. Torjus Bjørnsen Loftsgården (in Åsbø)

             3. Bjørn Torjusen* Åsgarden

             3. Sjur Torjusen* Loftsgården (in Åsbø)

             3. ?Svein Torjusen*

 

The only new farm that is not listed in your original post is Kvernerud.

Allthough I see there could be some confusion about Lofftstue in the 1560 tax list.

The 1560 tax list is notorius for slaugthering the farm names.

 

In his artice "Numedal i 1560" in Genealogen 2/2018 (pg.42), Odd A. Helleberg has this to say in identifying the farms.

"Neste, Torgiuls Lofftstue, er litt verre, men ikke verre enn at det må være enten gnr.134-136 nordre, mellom og søndre, eller gnr.189, som alle heter Loftsgarden."

So basically what Helleberg is saying is that Torgiuls was living on one of the Loftsgården farms in Nore. Based on the document from Kvernerud in 1612, we can further narrow it down to gnr.189 which is Loftsgården in Åsbø.

 

Here is a map of Kvernerud:

[Al Möen]

On 6/16/2021 at 7:01 PM, Odd K. Stuvstad said:

Here is a tenative family tree (I have normalized the names, and for simplicity I have listed Sjur and his brothers as sons of Torjus Bjørnsen, but they could be grandsons):

1. Bjørn

      2. Anulf Bjørnsen

             3. Gro Anulfsdtr. married to Jacob Madsen

     2. Torjus Bjørnsen Loftsgården (in Åsbø)

             3. Bjørn Torjusen* Åsgarden

             3. Sjur Torjusen* Loftsgården (in Åsbø)

             3. ?Svein Torjusen*

 

 

Wow - that is fantastic information.  Thank you, very much for your help in this.

 

Are you sure that Bjørn Torjusen is either the Father or Grandfather of my Patrilineal ancestor, Sjur Loftgärden?

 

Is there any way of finding out when and where Torjus was born, married and buried - or anything else about him?

 

Is there any way of finding out when and where Torjus' Father, Bjørn, was born, married and buried - or anything else about him?

 

I have obtained highly specific Y-chromosome analysis of myself.  I am hoping, eventually, to trace living descendants of these Patrilineal ancestors.

 

[Al Möen]

On 6/16/2021 at 7:01 PM, Odd K. Stuvstad said:

The only new farm that is not listed in your original post is Kvernerud.

Allthough I see there could be some confusion about Lofftstue in the 1560 tax list.

The 1560 tax list is notorius for slaugthering the farm names.

 

In his artice "Numedal i 1560" in Genealogen 2/2018 (pg.42), Odd A. Helleberg has this to say in identifying the farms.

"Neste, Torgiuls Lofftstue, er litt verre, men ikke verre enn at det må være enten gnr.134-136 nordre, mellom og søndre, eller gnr.189, som alle heter Loftsgarden."

So basically what Helleberg is saying is that Torgiuls was living on one of the Loftsgården farms in Nore. Based on the document from Kvernerud in 1612, we can further narrow it down to gnr.189 which is Loftsgården in Åsbø.

 

Here is a map of Kvernerud:

 

Is it possible to know or deduce what family history occurred at Kvernerud farm?

 

Which of my ancestors owned it, worked there, were born or married or died there?

 

I am intending to visit all of the farms, churches and cemeteries associated with my Norwegian ancestors.  I have not visited Norway, yet.