Help Tracing Norwegian Ancestor(s) + Immigration/Travel to United Kingdom

[Ellen Charge]

Hi,

I am from England and discovered that I likely have some previously-unknown Norwegian ancestry, particularly in Hedmark and possibly a more distant line in Finnmark. Through MyHeritage, I have determined the existence of ~3 distinct triangulating match clusters, which are outlined in the attached Excel spreadsheet. I have also identified, using the more extensive trees of some matches, two couples that are the shared ancestors of a few of my matches: one from Hedmark (Matthias Halvorsen Vestby [b. 1822, d. 1897 + Marthe Christoffersen b. 1823, d. ?], the other from Finnmark and Troms (Hanne Zakariasdatter Bork/Borch [b. 1820, d. 1869]  + Jens Johan Bork/Borch [b. 1812, d. 1886]). I have yet to identify such a couple for my third cluster, called N4 in my Excel spreadsheet. I am trying to find out how I came to be connected to these matches, and who my shared ancestor with them is. My closest matches are 3rd cousins 1x removed. I am certain the Norwegian ancestry is on my father's side as my half-sister via my mother does not share these matches. 

The trees I've shared below use some of my more distant matches, unfortunately, as those happened to be the ones with more extensively-built trees, but they highlight common ancestors between them. My hypothesis is that these shared ancestors; or else a parent, sibling, or aunt/uncle of these ancestors is my ancestor who ended up in England at some point. My family are from Hertfordshire, very close to London, so I suspect they arrived via London in the late 18th century or early-mid 19th century. 

Here are my trees:

1. Finnmark Group (Matches in Red)

Anchor Ancestor: Hanna Regine Zakariasdatter (b. 1820 – d. 1869)

└── Child: Nora J. Jensdatter (b. 1841 – d. 1910)

• Branch A (Mikkal K. Mikkelsen line):

  └── Mikkal K. Mikkelsen (b. 1866)

  • Jakob Mikkelsen ➔ Albert Mikkelsen ➔ Jacob Mikkelsen (16.7 cM) ➔ Marit Mikkelsen (8.2 cM)

  • Erling Mikkelsen ➔ [Unknown] Mikkelsen ➔ Nina Sletnes (8.6 cM)

  • Erling Mikkelsen ➔ Berit Mikkelsen (8.2 cM)

  • M. Mikkelsdatter (b. 1912 – d. 1997) ➔ Herleif Johansen (b. 1940 – d. 2014) ➔ Ole Johnny Johansen (b. 1960 – d. 2023) ➔ Alexander Johansen (8.2 cM)

• Branch B (Ingebrigt E. Larsen line):

  └── Ingebrigt E. Larsen (b. 1863 – d. 1945)

  • Ingeborg Larsen (b. 1899 – d. 1988) ➔ Ingebrigt Berg (b. 1927 – d. 2004) ➔ Turid Marianne Berg (15.5 cM)

  • Solveig Kramvik (b. 1907 – d. 1976) ➔ Ingebrigt Pedersen (12.8 cM)

2. Hedmark Group (Matches in Green)

Anchor Ancestor: Mathias Halvorsen Vestby (b. 1822 – d. 1887)

• Branch A (Oline Mathiasdatter line):

  └── Oline Mathiasdatter (b. 1855 – d. 1929)

  └── Magnus G. Braskerud (b. 1893 – d. 1987)

  └── G. O. Braskerud (b. 1919 – d. 2009)

  └── Terje Græsmo (b. 1950 — 36.5 cM)

• Branch B (Marie Mathiasdatter line):

  └── Marie Mathiasdatter (b. 1867 – d. 1894)

  └── Bertha Olafsdatter (b. 1894 – d. 1980)

  └── Ole Banken (b. 1926 – d. 1999)

  └── [Unknown] Banken

  └── Jan Roger Midtskogen-Banken (10.6 cM)

• Branch C (K. Mathiasdatter line):

  └── K. Mathiasdatter (b. 1849 – d. 1924)

  └── Martin Haugen (b. 1888 – d. 1965)

  └── Jenny Haugen (b. 1912 – d. 1941)

  └── Hjørdis Berg (b. 1940)

  └── [Unknown] Sandberg

  └── Levi André Havu Nuet (9.5 cM)

If anyone could help me to figure out the connection to England and whom my Norwegian ancestors might be, it would be most appreciated.

Thank you!

Norwegian_DNA_Search_Angel_Colour_Coded (1).xlsx

[Anton Hagelee]

A difficult search indeed. I wonder if you might have tried searching from the English side. 

 

I see that you have received some information from your post (I assume it is your post?) on Reddit. Reddit is not the easiest site to use so I posted a link but also some of the thread as well. 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Genealogy/comments/1vlms6n/can_anyone_please_help_me_identify_my_norwegian/

 

Reply to your query:

 

"So common would be around 3x great grandparent range? Have you been able to narrow it down to a grandparent branch? " 

 

Your reply:

 

"Absolutely! Thank you for your reply.

I'm not sure which of my paternal grandparents it is through, unfortunately. My paternal grandfather's great grandfather was recorded as being illegitimate, but a hint in his middle name suggests an English neighbour as the father. That said, as my paper trail and my DNA don't match, I still suspect we're looking at an NPE of some kind."

 

Can you provide the part of your Family Tree that leads back to a Norwegian Ancestor or the Tree that leads back to your best guess as to where your Norwegian Ancestor comes from. 

 

 

Endret 13 timer siden av Anton Hagelee

[Ellen Charge]

@Anton Hagelee Thank you for your reply! Sure, here is a tree I made with 3 of my matches who trace back to the Hedmark couple. I have one for the Finnmark couple in image format showing some of the matches who trace back to them (I since found a couple more). 

The large tree stems from one match called T Græsmo, but also shows the paths to two other matches: J.R. Midtskogen-Banken, and L A Havu Nuet. Each stems from a separate daughter of Mathias and Marthe, shown most clearly in the "Mini Trees" doc. Please let me know if anything else would be useful. I have a spreadsheet of all my matches from either cluster, who presumably descend from the same couple (but lack trees with the necessary information).

And yes, that was my post! I'm considering it might've been an NPE. Let me see if I can share my own tree with you in a separate comment.

EDIT: Here is the link to my tree on Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/invite-ui/accept?token=R2bxD1LIUx2726nd1F1568Hi9wYgbTUmxjmT7tnZqG8=

FamilySearch Tree.ged Mini Trees.docx

Endret 7 timer siden av Ellen Charge

[Anton Hagelee]

Ok, since I have an Ancestry.com member I was able to see your Family Tree under the guest membership. That is a good start. 

 

Mini Trees.doc.x worked fine, so I now have the Norwegian info 

 

The FamilySearch Tree.ged gave me this info. Hopefully I will not need it. 

 

“Family Tree Maker 2017” is damaged and can’t be opened. You should move it to the Trash.

 

 

 

 

 

Endret 7 timer siden av Anton Hagelee

[Ellen Charge]

@Anton Hagelee That's great! About the tree not working, I can invite you to view it as part of a "family group" via this link:https://www.familysearch.org/groups/family?groupId=9MMF-SS3&inviteId=MMMN-STV

[Anton Hagelee]

Let's see if we need it. I do not have a Family Search subscription so that might complicate things and you have given me a lot to look at. 

[Anton Hagelee]

I took a quick look at the Family Tree you have provided me through Ancestry.com shared tree system. I was of course looking for any Norwegian names in the Tree. I did not find any, which is probably not too surprising to you since you did mention the possibility of an NPE event. 

 

I will take a  more depth look at the Tree again tomorrow looking for some family members whose parentage has some doubt. We would then focus the search on those few but finding true parentage of those born about 1780 to 1830 will not be easy. 

 

If we run into a dead end there we may have to try and pick a few of the Norwegian families with close DNA ties to you and search the Bygdebøker that cover the relevant parishes of Hedmark. 

 

Norwegian parishes published exhaustive local history books documenting every farm, house, and family line for centuries. A search could be made of these books looking for family members who the books report as settling or living in England. 

 

We will need some Norwegian help for that as researching those books usually requires a Norwegian IP address. The books can be accessed at The National Library of Norway (Nasjonalbiblioteket) most easily online but only with a Norwegian IP address. 

 

For those readers curious about what we mean by NPE event. Here is a link

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-paternity_event