Ananias and Bergitte A Family Chronicle by Tore M. Danielsen Tom Evert Marit Hope Signe Sletteland Behring 0. Contents. 1. Introduction. 2. Ananias Madsson and Bergitte Bendiksdtr. 3. Parents, grandparents and great grandparents of Ananias Madsson. 3.1. Ancestral table 3.2. Parents 3.3. Paternal grandparents 3.4. Maternal grandparents 3.5. Parents of paternal grandfather 3.6. Parents of paternal grandmother 3.7. Parents of maternal grandfather 3.8. Parents of maternal grandmother 4. Parents, grandparents and great grandparents of Bergitte Bendiksdtr. 4.1. Ancestral table 4.2. Parents 4.3. Paternal grandparents 4.4. Maternal grandparents 4.5. Parents of paternal grandfather 4.6. Parents of paternal grandmother 4.7. Parents of maternal grandfather 4.8. Parents of maternal grandmother 5. Ancestors of Ananias Madsson further back than his great grandparents. 5.1. Ancestors behind Hans Knudsen Norddal 5.2. Ancestors behind Marthe Petterdtr Jarstad 5.3. Ancestors behind Ole Olson Bortheim 5.4. Ancestors behind Elen Andersdtr Laukeland 5.5. Ancestors behind Mons Hansson Grønhaug 5.6. Ancestors behind Kari Rasmusdtr 5.7. Ancestors behind Nils Olsson Kvamme 5.8. Ancestors behind Marthe Andersdtr 6. Ancestors of Bergitte Bendiksdtr further back than her great grandparents. 6.1. Ancestors behind Mons Andersson Dvergsdal 6.2. Ancestors behind Brita Danielsdtr 6.3. Ancestors behind Brite Bendixdtr 6.4. Ancestors of Johannes Kolbeinsson Haugsbakke 6.5. Ancestors behind Borni Andersdtr Jarstad 6.6. Ancestors behind Cornelius Nilsson Hauge 6.7. Ancestors behind Eli Akseldtr Sunde 7. Children of Ananias Madsson og Bergitte Bendiksdtr. 7.1. Bendik 7.2. Mads 7.3. Karl 7.4. Nikolai 7.5. Kristian 7.6. Edvard 7.7. Ananias 7.8. Amanda 7.9. Anton 8. Grandchildren of Ananias Madsson og Bergitte Bendiksdtr. 8.1. Children of Bendik 8.1.1. Perry 8.1.2 Ernest 8.1.3 Oscar 8.2. Children of Mads 8.2.1. Bianka 8.2.2 Brynjulf 8.2.3 Nansy 8.2.4 Magda 8.2.5 Gudrun 8.2.6 Arthur 8.2.7 Arthur 8.3. Children of Karl 8.3.1 Margaret 8.3.2 Valborg 8.3.3 Arthur 8.4. Children of Kristian 11.1.1. Otelia 8.5. Children of Amanda 8.5.1 Bergitte 8.5.2 Alma 8.5.3 Edvard 8.5.4 Arthur 8.5.5 Astrid 8.5.6 Dagny 8.5.7 Konrad 9. The great grandchildren and their descendants. 9.1. Children of Perry : Greggar, Trygve, Peder, Breta, Signe 9.2. Children of Ernest : Solveig, Hildegard 9.3. Children of Oscar : George, Sigrid 9.4. Children of Bianka : Asgerd, Rolf 9.5. Children of Nansy : Kjell, Gunnar 9.6. Children of Magda : Kurt 9.7. Children of Gudrun : Hans Johan, Tore 9.8. Children of Arthur : Arthur, Agnar, Eldbjørg 9.9. Children of Margaret : Stephen, Thomas 9.10. Children of Valborg : Karen, Carl, Eric 9.11. Children of Arthur : Signe 9.12. Children of Bergitte : Halldis, Astrid 9.13 Children of Alma : Marit 9.14. Children of Arthur : Johan, Liv, Per 9.15. Children of Astrid : Aud Marit, Steinar, Arild 9.16. Children of Dagny : Helge 9.17. Children of Konrad : Kjell, Evy-Åse 10. Ananias og Bergitte : the siblings and their descendants 10.1. Siblings of Ananias : Mads, Oline,Gjertrud, Abel, Dorthea, Anders, Mons 10.2. Siblings of Bergitte : Andrea, Caroline 11. Those who married the children of Ananias and Bergitte, and their families. 11.1. Introduction 11.2. A little about old Wisconsin 11.3. Minnie Ekern 11.4. Anna Henrikke Bareksten 11.5. Emalia Fredrickson 11.6 Johan Olai Hofland 12. Appendices. 12.1. Literature mentioning our family. 12.2. Names and addresses of descendants of Ananias and Bergitte 1. Introduction. This is a narrative about Ananias Madsson Sletteland and his spouse Bergitte Bendiksdtr, about their ancestors as far back as we have been able to trace them and about their descen- dants : children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We have also included facts about the siblings of Ananias and Bergitte and mentioned some of their descendants. We have even included some information about individuals who married the children of Ananias and Bergitte, and about their descendants and ancestors. The four persons who have been the most important contributors to this narrative (the authors) are all great grandchildren of Bergitte and Ananias along different family branches. But many other family members have also contributed important information and photographs which have been included in the Chronicle. Tom once said to Tore : ”don’t you think that Bendik, Mads, Karl and Amanda would have been proud and pleased had they known that their grandchildren on two continents have jointly created a family chronicle”? A family tale may be regarded as part of our history. The laws and social structures under which people have lived (and which have changed as time has passed) have shaped their lives. Let us therefore examine some conditions which were vastly different in 19th century Norway compared to what they are today. First of all: before year 1900 Norway was in essence an agrarian society. The main part of the population lived in the country, and the farm was the focal point of their existence. Farmers and tenants (those who leased a farm long term from an owner who lived in a city or on a manorial estate) could in a sense be regarded as belonging to the upper strata of society. Others, who were not in this favorable position were crofters with or without land, renting a croft from a farmer. At the bottom of the social scale were those, who in Norway were called the ”inderst”, who rented a bed - or at best a room - from a farmer or a crofter and who worked for him. Part of the pay was food and bed (at best a room). Some geneaologists believe that they were termed ”inderst” because they sat ”inderst” (=innermost, or closest to the stove) at the table (the old parents of the farmer, after having transferred the ownership to their son, always sat closest to the door). Furthermore, agricultural equipment was much less advanced 150 years ago than what it is today. Especially on the steep and difficult land of Western Norway, running a farm was a hard task which in practice demanded a married couple to be feasible. Therefore, we can often observe that when one of the spouses died, the survivor remarried within a few months. For a widow this was a major decision. Until the beginning of the 1900s the inheritance laws ruled that a widow automatically became the owner of the farm, but only until she remarried, at which point the ownership passed over to her new husband. Farms were registered and carefully kept track of by the authorities for taxation purposes. They were identified by two concepts : Løpenummer (appr. : consecutive number), abbreviated L. nr.)‚ and Bruksnummer (appr. : farm operation number), abbreviated Br. nr. The Norwegian abbreviations have been used in this document. In the medieval period, which in Scandinavia roughly falls between 1100 and 1500 AD, Norway was catholic. Protestantism was introduced as a national religion in 1536 - 1537 by king Kristian III of Denmark-Norway. His plans included a massive transfer of the vast landholdings of the Catholic Church to the crown. Most of the farms that are mentioned in this family chronicle got new owners towards the end of the 16th century, and many of the king’s closest supporters made sure that they got an ample share. The new Lutheran Church attained a strong position, which was maintained well into the 20th century. It exercised social control, e g by keeping records via the church books from about AD 1600. Apart from what is noted in those, or in the censuses (which were introduced in 1701), and possibly in reports from legal proceedings, information about individuals is rarely available until the mid 19th century. Further back than the great grandparents of Ananias and Bergitte we seldom have any extra information. Regarding those generations, we present genealogical tables and add comments if we have anything to recount. Neither have we found many photographs from before year 1900. Our family was swept up by two of the revolutions of the 19th century : the exodus from the countryside and from Europe. Regarding the children of Ananias and Bergitte, one moved to Bergen and six emigrated to the United States. Only one remained at Dale in Sunnfjord. Hence, today, the number of descendants of Ananias and Bergitte is about the same in Norway and in the United States. Therefore, in Chapter 11.2 we have included some information and background regarding the Wisconsin to which at least three of the children of Ananias og Bergitte arrived towards the end of the 1800´s. The ancestors of the Sletteland family all come from the Norwegian administrative province of Sogn og Fjordane in the central western part of the country. Sogn og Fjordane is shown on the map in Fig 1.1 below. Ananias’ closest ancestors came from Sunnfjord, a district located around the Dalsfjord, the narrow inlet commencing at Askvoll, which is part of the parish Ytre Holmedal. The larger parish Holmedal had been partitioned in 1756. Ytre (outer) Holmedal later was renamed Fjaler, and Indre (inner) Holmedal became Gaular. Bergitte descended from Sunnfjord on her mother’s side, and on her father’s side from Jølster, the area round Lake Jølster which can be seen at Naustdal on the map in Fig 1.1. 1.1. Map of Sogn og Fjordane. 2. Ananias Madsson and Bergitte Bendiksdtr. Ananias Madsson was born on the farm Sletteland, L.