name in the biography?

+5 votes
327 views
I've been reading the guidelines for the Norway sub-project so I'm understanding how to write the name of a Norwegian immigrant to the United States - in the data.

But how do you write it in the biography?

My husband's ancestor's name was Ole Hansen in Norway and he was buried with the name Ole Borsvold.(O has a slash through it which I am unable to duplicate in G2G.)

How would I correctly write that in his biography?
WikiTree profile: Ole Børsvold
in Genealogy Help by Cheryl Skordahl G2G6 Pilot (304k points)

2 Answers

+6 votes
I think you're doing fine witth the biography of Ole. In Norway he would mostly be known as "Ole Hansen", occasionally "Ole Børsvold" with the farm name used as an alias. In a few cases he might be called "Ole Hansen Børsvold" but that is mostly over the top. Although I'm grateful each time I see a pastor took the bother to write the full three-part name.

It seems like he took "Borsvold" as a surname in America. It's all right to drop the ø when you're referring to his name in America. But as long as he stayed in Norway, please try to use the Norwegian spelling.
by Leif Biberg Kristensen G2G6 Pilot (291k points)
Thank you for the compliment and explanations, Leif.

Ole's current last name on his gravestone is spelled the Norwegian way with the / through the o. (I am unable to figure how to write that letter here in G2G.)  So I think I'll leave Norwegian spelling in his biography - unless the project has a different guideline.

Regarding the Norwegian pronounciation of that name, some of the family said Burs (like furs) vald (like scald).  Would that be the way it was/is pronounced in Norwegian?

Leif, I thank you so much for your time and I appreciate your knowledge about Norway, it's people, and it's history.

Burs (like furs) vald (like scald)

Yes, that seems like a decent approximation. I'm not sure of the original meaning of "Børs" here (it may be a possessive of the male name Bør), but it at least has a homonym that is cognate with the English "purse". Also, "vold" is cognate with "wall". I think both words entered the English language from the Vikings during the tenth century.

Good to know.  Takk Leif.
+8 votes

I don't know if there is necessarily a correct way to write the names in the bio, but here are a few examples of how I did it: Knudsen-1960Pedersdatter-4631Larsen-8051. I like to mention their full name at birth (including patronymic + farm name), since some immigrants would choose their patronymic name for their surname and others would choose their farm name. Later in the bio after the person's immigration I tend to use their "Americanized" name if they used a different first name than in Norway. 

I found some records for Ole Hansen at the Digitalarkivet website, if you're interested:

Note that in his first marriage record he has the name Ole Hanssen Hedemarken. Both marriage records say his father was Hans Olsen, and his second marriage also says his father was Hans Olsen Hedemarken (in the document image). Hedemarken is a farm in Hærland, a sub-parish of Eidsberg parish. Also note that the date of birth in the baptism record matches the date of birth on his headstone. 
In his baptism record, it looks like the farm name is written "Hemerige", I'm not sure if this is an alternate spelling of Hedmarken, but I did see a few other baptisms around the same time that show this same couple (Hans Olsen and Olea Christiansdatter) at Hedemarken.
Hope that helps!
by Valerie Penner G2G6 Mach 8 (89.5k points)
Wow, this is so helpful, thank you Valerie!  There's a lot to digest here, including that you brought my husband's genealogy back a generation.  They are his second great grandparents.

Hedmarken, yes I have seen that place name somewhere in the Borsvold genealogy. I'll need to try to find that in my files.

I'll need to delve into your comment another day soon, and get back to you.  It's late here in Minnesota, USA.

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