Birth/marriage dates for Henry (Henrik?) Johnson (Johansen?) and Anna Pedersen

Question

For Johnson-50677 (born ~1880) and Pedersen-4186 (born ~1886-87) from Fredrikstad, Norway. Looking for actual birth dates and parents' names. Anna immigrated to US in 1891. Henry left Norway at 13 as a cabin boy. It's the name changes that are tripping me up (and not being able to read Norwegian).

Comments

I looked up digital records.  These are the ones I found for Fredrikstad.

https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/census/person/pf01053251008662  Not helpful as it doesn't indicate father and son, but he would be 8 on this census.

https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/6/pc00000000828380 Highly unlikely since this is an entry of him moving out the parish/city at age 14

https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/view/6/pc00000000837449 this one and previous seem say "In-migrated Swedes to Østfold county"

https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/census/person/pf01053251001909 A stretch since father wasn't Jon.  

https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/census/person/pf01053251010782 also a stretch since father wasn't Jon, but maybe his name was Johan Henry as some entries indicate.

Answer 1

This is very difficult without a farm name.  Wait... actually Fredrikstad is a city and municipality of Østfold county in Norway.  Ahh, seems like Fredrikstad is also a parish in this county.  https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Fredrikstad is a great website on Fredrikstad's history with sourced information too which was surprising.  

Also interesting is … Østfold county didn't begin until 1918, the county before that was Smålenene county!  

Oh my goodness - the library in ND has a whole bunch of Fredrikstad farm books... you may be far from there, but it's something to work with:

Dehli, M.	Fredrikstad bys historie, v. 1	1960	DL596.F83 D43	General	1567-1767
Dehli, M.	Fredrikstad bys historie, v. 2	1964	DL596.F83 D43	General	1767-1860
Dehli, M.	Fredrikstad bys historie, v. 3	1973	DL596.F83 D43	General	1860-1914
Dehli, M.	Fredrikstad bys historie, v. 4	1987	DL596.F83 D43	General	1914-1940
Dehli, M.	Fredrikstad bys historie, v. 5	1993	DL596.F83 D43	General	1940-1963
De Figueiredo, I.	Fredrikstad bys historie, v. 6	1999	DL596.F83 D43	General	1964-1993

Church Records[edit source]

I had to cut out my characters so check this out:https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Fredrikstad_Parish,_Østfold,_Norway_Genealogy

Glemmen farm book is found.. Glemmen wasn't separated until 1883, so if he was born in 1880 he might be in there.

Thowsen, Elsa: Glemmen bygdebok: En bygd blir til by. Utgitt av Glemmen Kommune 1962 (Your local library may have it or do an inter-library loan) I'm sure anyone can help you translate it.

23 Aasgaard 27 Allerød 37 Alshus 13 Ambjørnrød
22 Bjølstad 15 Bjørnerød 31 Bjørnevaagen 20 Bjøruld-Ødegaarden 11 Brønnerød
36 Elve 25 Enhus 16 Evenrød
29 Femdal 39 Fuglevik 36 Futerød
2 Glemminge vestre 12 Gluppe 18 Gunnerød
38 Holme 26 Holte
10 Jørnerød
7 Kirkeleie 33 Kjøkøen 9 Kneple
8 Lahelle 6 Lisleby 32 Lunde
8 Nygaard 3 Nøkleby vestre
30 Randholmen 24 Rød nordre
17 Skaarød 40 Smertu 21 Spetalen 28 Straalsund
5 Torp 34 Troldalen 10 Trosvik
19 Veum nordre
35 Ødegaarden

Hope this helps a little.. it's a start.  I actually didn't know any Norwegian, but I've taught myself a bit just regarding the family tree terminology, and of course I have a great Norwegian genealogist who can always back me up.  I found a great Norwegian-English dictionary at www.rollroots.com/norwegian-english.htm.  It lists abbreviation and a lot of words google translate or other dictionaries don't mention.

It's pretty likely his father's name was Jon since his last name is Johnson.

Ancestry.com is tricky, because most of them it isn't reliable.  I actually relied on it and had a whole different family than the family that actually belonged to me.  

Comments

Many thanks for all your hard work, Tami! I really appreciate it.

Answer 2

When asked, it is not uncommon to give the closest city/town as one´s birth place when in fact he is not from itself but the surrounding area. Fredrikstad, as a great exporter of timber, is more likely to be known than some mor obscure location nearby. I suggest that the search is extended to the municipalities around, which actually is merged with Fredrikstad, namely Glemme, Kråkerøy, Borge, Onsøy and Rolvsøy. 

Person search in Digitalarkivet is a useful tool, e.g.: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/search/persons/advanced?from=1885&to=1910&m%5B%5D=0113&m%5B%5D=0103&m%5B%5D=0132&m%5B%5D=0133&m%5B%5D=0134&m%5B%5D=0131&firstname=henrik&lastname=jo*&birth_year_from=1885&birth_year_to=1890&birth_date=&birth_place=&domicile=&position=&event_year_from=&event_year_to=&event_date=&related_first_name=&related_last_name=&related_birth_year=&sort=rel 

Be aware that he could have several first names, three is not uncommon. Often the person would choose to use one of them, and not necessarily the first one. 

Also note that the late 19th century is a transitional period where a fixed surname was adopted, so his fathers name may not be a variant of Johan, Jon, Johannes, John, but e.g. his grandfathers.

 

Comments

I'm glad to have the link to Digitalarkivet, Rolf. Thanks a lot.