■ . .. • • •.*.*,.• -.- ' • .• .. • V/v/V.',Y. '.V -■ /•, Mill mm® t-lpJJjWAVY*/V' PM® •tYlPv’ , mm ■MB jfflwvvv'Vt® sraiMflsw V . .}l i •. ■iVj.i'V'-’1 Vi . HHg HWmmi l|§|||f| > v> v«-v ^ ,* WfflM I* IIwm IMpi m:' . , \ ,. ..,, ,•• ■ \ v /'.'.V.'Wr. < 'V* V/;V» >#»>•*■•*• x x*;*:®* ,%. ; . ■ : v " ■■ ■:■■:■ o : ' : . v.;x: ■■■■-■;.:•■ :■ vvvr.—.. 'Xv/.XyX'.y, . \.v -XyX . -.v.v... ■ . .•.yyviv.v.V'■'-'■/ HAMAHSBON-RAAEN GENEALOGY by AAGOT V,RAAEN--- Dedicated to the memory of my father Thomas Tostenson Eaaen 1954 Reproduced by DUO PAGE process io the United States of America MICRO PHOTO INC. Cleveland 12, Ohio V 7 ** JUN 2 7 1960 4^ RW ' 1492442 o m v . ■ * •(>' ' ■' l. r t FOREWORD The time came when I began to wonder if the passage in Pontoppidans Forklaring "Gud skal hjemsbke feedrenes onskap paa bornene intil tredie og fjerde led" did not mean the curse of inherited negative tendencies. As the years passed and I became acquainted with Mendel’s Law of Heredity, I be¬ gan to apply it to all branches of the animal kingdom, I naturally also noted that the inherited good qualities were transmitted, and I applied the rest of the passage "og gjor miskundhed i tusind led mod dem som elske mig og holde mine bud." I noticed, too, that environment can work wonders, but that we have yet to see a scrub calf made into a Jersey pure¬ bred. In the well-organized public library of Los Angeles where a certain section is set aside for the study of genealogy, I became much interested in the family record of Thorstein Veblen. And at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair the enormous Roosevelt chart became an absorbing study. By this time I had made three trips to Europe and had heard much about the Hamarsbon clan to which my father's mother belonged, I had also been given books, documents, and letters containing data on that clan. The result was that Beata Mark and I began a diagram of the Hamarsbon slaekt, using Nils Hildeteigen's slaektbok as basis. We soon discov- ered that other sources were necessary in order to correct errors and to bring the records up to date and add much that had been omitted. This required an endless string of letters to people not only all over the United States but also in Europe. Two recent books. Hoi Book I and II by Sigurd and Lars Reinton, have been of great help, as has Hallingdalen*s Hlstorie by T. Myhre and former numbers of Hallingen. Because we were unable to secure the desired informa¬ tion many branches are incomplete. No matter how careful one is, errors will,sneak into work of this kind especially in names and dates. In many instances we had to accept data that could not be checked. But with all the shortcomings the following pages contain valuable information as a founda¬ tion for further research. This will be pay enough for all the labor and expense it took to make this record. We are infinitely indebted to author Sigurd Reinton, Hoi Hallingdal, co-author of Hoi Books I, II, III, and writer of numerous articles, who spent much of his valuable time not only checking all Hamarsbon data but also adding Information without which this record would have been more than incomplete. Because we had to conserve space for a possible chart to accompany this genealogy, records could not be given in chronological order* By marrying into the Hamarsbon clan, the descendants of other clans are very proud of being related to Hamarsbons although they are not of the original stock. This is especially true of a branch of the Sletto slaekt and of the Aasen slaekt, which originated in NummedalT Qualifications of in-laws are not mentioned unless unusual. If a person is a college graduate, we do not mention that he is a high school graduate as that is self-evident. If a person has two or more names, only the first is used. Work is unbalanced as.we lacked data for longer write-ups of many who, maybe, should have had them. To clarify this family history each generation is desig¬ nated by a Roman numeral and each member of a generation by an Arabic numeral. Families are separated by a black bar. The names between the bars are those of soskend of the same family. The parentage of the different groups of soskend is given in x;he biography of the first member only. The few abbreviations used are: b--born d--died m—married AAGOT RAAEN o # * * Aagot Raaen the Author of this Genealogy passed away January 7, 1957 at Fergus Falls, Minnesota. During the last year of her life I had been collabor¬ ating with her on the further development of this Genealogy. Since then I have succeeded in enlarging upon her original (only 3 copies extant) Volume by about one third. I have added generation X and have enlarged upon the other recent generations, ' am at long last getting this book into print this June, 1959. EYVHJD FELLAND * « * 2S FELLAND 1663 N. FRANCISCO O CHICAGO 47* ILLINOIS THE HAMARSBON-RAAEN GENEALOGY GENERATION I HELGE STENSON HAMARSBON, who was born in 1650 in Nes Hallingdal and died 1704 at Hamarsbon Hoi Hallingdal, was a di¬ rect descendant of Count Clemens and Countess Belju who had emigrated to Hallingdal from Scotland in 1400. They repaired the old Nes church and later built the noted Devegge residence. (See Hoi Book I, pages 157-59 and there are other sources.) Helge, who acquired great wealth, was a lagretsman and a traveling salesman on a large scale. (See Hoi Book f, page 224.) Helge Stenson became the owner of the gaard Hamarsbon by marrying a widow; when she died he married Birgit Tollefsen Opsata from Aal, who was a sister of the notorious Ole Tollefsen Opsata known as Blank Ola, who married the more notorious Ragnild Villand. ' Helge and Birgit had four children: Sten, Tollef, Ole, and Guri. The descendants of only the first are traced here. Helge and Birgit became founders of a gifted slaekt. (See Hoi Book I, page 158.) It is also claimed that pastor Tollef Stenson who was the third pastor at Aal and Hoi after the Reformation was of the Hamarsbon slaekt. An interesting story is told a3 to how Ole Opsata, some¬ times called Myregutten, got the nickname Blank Ola. In those days men wore knee breeches and short jackets Trimmed with silver buttons, brooches, and buckles. Ole seemed to have had the dis¬ tinction of being elaborately bedecked with this finery. He wa3 a horse trader and traveling salesman and was known as a very gifted man with good business ability. During his travels in Lerdal he killed a man in self-defense and was fined 60 rig3- dollars by the magistrate, who said, "We will strip the finery off Blank Ola." This enraged Ole so that he asked how much it would cost to hit a man. The magistrate replied, "10 rlgs- dollars." Ole put the required money on the table and hit the magis¬ trate so that he rolled under the table. Then making a Hailingkast, he touched the beams as he shouted, "Yet dances Blank Ola with spangles on his chest and silver buckles on his shoes.11 Those who made careful study of the Villand Kjemper 3ay that the evil tendencies in those men came from their mother Ragnhild Ellinjdatter Villand and not from her two husbands. Ragnhild was married twice. She had the following children: Tollef, Torkild, Nils, Elling, and Margit. Their father wa3 Blank Ola. These were the children with her husband Ole Larson Fos gaard:" Ole, Lars, Knut, and Svein., Birgit, the sister was also strong and fearless. Once when she was alone on the saeter with a large herd of cattle, making butter and cheese, a flock ~of roving beggars arrived demanding that she hand out whatever food commodities she had. In the fireplace was a large kettle of boiling whey; she grabbed a dipper and squirted the hot liquid in every direction till the beggars fled. Then she grabbed a gun she kept fo*» safety and fired several shots after the marauders, after which she yelled, "Hen! hurry hone! a band of robbers are here!" But this was only pretense as there were no men on the saeter au that time. 2 GENERATION II Sten H. Hamarsbdn b. 1689 d. 1767 was a son of Helge Sten- Birgit Opsata. Sten's wife Turi Sandersdatter Ruud b. 1694 d. 1753 was a granddaughter of Sander Sanderson b. 1555 in Scocland. Several reasons are given for Sander's leaving his native Scotland and settling in Hallingdal; some writers claim that the religious persecutions going on m Scotland at that time was the cause, others lay it to his gifted roving nature; nothing is known for certain. Sander Sanderson b. 1555 married Ragnild Asgautsdatter from Hesjedalen near Oslo, Some of their descendants lived at Raaen in Hoi. Thus a Scotch emigrant be¬ came one of the founders of both the Raaen and Hamarsbon families. Sten and Turi had 9 children. GENERATION III III 1. LENSMAN OLE STENSON HAMARSBON b. 1725 d. 1804 was a 3on of Sten Helgeson and his wife, Turi Ruud, Besides his of¬ ficial duties, he experimented in agriculture and was the first ore to raise potatoes in Hoi. For this his family was Jeeringly called the Potato Family. But when the value of potatoes as a food product was realized he was given a prize for the undertak¬ ing. He also taught school and became known for his cleverness.