Can someone provide a good online resource for Norwegian emigre's.

Question

My great grandmothers maiden name was Barbro Johnson. My mother told me that my great grandmother was from Gulbranson Norway. In my research I've not been able to find any place in Norway with this name. My guess is that it may be Gulbransdalen. Can anyone in this group direct me to a reliable source for Norwegian emigre's?

Comments

People born before 1875 in Dutch Countries have long names.Which includes father's first name and sometimes first and last,and mothers

names also.After 1875 they went too first,middle and last names.Too match

other countries.

Answer 1

What was Barbo Date birth,did she Immigrate too USA, where did she live,

who did she marry.Is Johnson a simplified version Of Jahannson ???

Answer 2

I bet you're right that she came from Gudbrandsdalen. Unfortunately, there's no central register for emigrees from Norway. The parish registers usually have lists of people moving in and out of the parish, and the destination is also listed, eg "Amerika" for emigrees. The problem is of course to find out which parish she left from. If you have what looks like a farm name, that will often give a good clue.

She probably wasn't called "Johnson" in Norway, but rather a female patronym like "Jonsdatter" or "Johansdatter".

And like Wayne says, every little clue may help.

Answer 3

was your Barbo born 1825 or 1841 ,lived near Minnesota???

Answer 4

Tracking down family clues about Norwegian locations gives the researcher a challenge!  

First, your thought that Gulbransen might be a variant of Gudbrandsdalen, would be my first guess as well.  Traditional districts like Gudbrandsdal  in the Norwegian county of Oppland, were used as an easily recognizable location – similar to saying your American relatives were from the Midwest. That narrows your search somewhat, but you’ve still got a lot of work.

So one normally looks for shortcuts. First figure out when she immigrated. Your Barbro Johnsen Rose (born 1863 & married first to Norman and then to Andrew Rose) appears to have left  Norway in 1881 (according to the 1900 US Federal Census).

Next you might check Norway Heritage emigration records ( http://www.norwayheritage.com/  )  to see if you can find her. Name was likely recorded as Johnsdatter rather than Johnsen, which is probably an Anglicized version.

Failing the above, one can fall back on a parish-by-parish search in the parish emigration records for a Babro/Barbara with a father named John who left Norway in 1881. Parish-by-parish through all of Gudbrandsdal is a bit of work.

If that comes up dry, you may need a broader search in Norway. Other possibilities include a farm names, parish names, municipality names, or county names.   

Nothing comes close to Gulbranson in parishes names, municipality names, or counties. That leaves farm names.

Rygh’s “Norvegian farm names” (see https://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh_form.html ) suggests a possible similar farm name of Gulbrandstuen in Sødorp parish, Nordre Fron municipality, Kristians amt. With further information (birthyear of Barbro, names of other relatives, or year of emigration) I would normally look through the records for Sødorp parish to see if family lived there.  That said, this is a bit of a forlorn hope.

Hopefully someone else has a better solution.

Best wishes!   

Answer 5

It's a good question but some times you need to do DNA to find the correct tree. the clue would be the parents name on the marriage certificate being John and Rena the close match I found was this. digitalarkivet.no/en/census/person/pf01052089002289