Norwegian research is fairly easy once you get the hang of it. Records go back to the 1500s for most places. The trick often is finding where your immigrant ancestor came from in Norway. I have written two articles showing how I tracked a cousin’s immigrant ancestor from Brooklyn, NY back to Norway – Finding Matilda and Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor in Norway
Plus I gave a talk about finding your Norwegian ancestors at the 2019 SCGS Jamboree (click here to purchase audio recording). The slides are online at: https://slides.com/kittycooper/norwayresearch-41#/ ]
Getting Started on Norwegian Genealogy
One of the best introductions to doing Norwegian family history research is at familysearch.org
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Norway
Click here for Rootsweb’s Norway page which has many useful links and articles.
There is a very helpful blog by Norwegian genealogist Martin Roe Eidhammer that has many good posts on naming, gothic handwriting, bygedebooks, and a genealogy Norwegian word list at http://martinroe.com/blog/
Another good article on basic Norwegian genealogy research is Why Your Norwegian Ancestor Probably Wasn’t a Viking King
These posts on my site here are also helpful for doing Norwegian Genealogy:
- Norwegian Naming Practices and Resources (also links to a good introduction over at ancestry)
- More on Norwegian Naming and how to list them in your GEDcom
- Reading Norwegian Churchbooks
- Navigating the Norwegian Digital Archives
DNA
And there is a Norwegian DNA project at Family Tree DNA, among other information, it has a good page explaining Norwegian naming:
http://www.norwaydna.no/gedcoms-and-genealogy/norwegian-names-en/
Helpers
- The members of the Norwegian Genealogy Facebook page are really helpful and aces at lookups
https://www.facebook.com/groups/NorwegianGenealogy/ - The folk on the Rootsweb Norwegian mailing list are also really helpful:
http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/intl/NOR/NORWAY.html
Local history books – Bygdebøker
- Martin Roe’s list of bygedeboker online for non-Norwegians:
https://martinroe.com/blog/bygdeboker-available-online/ - Rootsweb on how to use these books: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~norway/bygdebok.html
- Many of these books are available at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, St. Olaf’s College library, and Harvard Universtiy Library – check the worldcat to find a specific book.
DICTIONARIES and translating
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- This word list at Familysearch is quite useful when reading the Bygdebøker:
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Norwegian_Word_List - This dictionary is focused on words used in Bygdebøker
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~norway/na17.html - I did a post on Using an online Norwegian OCR program for translating Bygdebøker:
http://blog.kittycooper.com/2014/04/translating-farm-books-using-a-norwegian-ocr-program/
- This word list at Familysearch is quite useful when reading the Bygdebøker:
HISTORY
Norwegian Emigration website
http://www.norwayheritage.com/
Here is the wikipedia summary of Norwegian history:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Norway
And a wonderful article on why so many Norwegians emigrated to the USA in the mid to late 1800s (I have heard that there are more Norwegian Americans than citizens of Norway):
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/11/1328867/-Peace-Potatoes-and-Pox-Norwegian-Emigration-in-the-1800s?showAll=yes#
Thanks for your kind words about my blog. It is highly appreciated. I had to smile when I saw it, as it just so happens that a link to your blog is included in one of my articles that is scheduled to be published shortly. Have a nice evening! ☺
Why thank you Martin, I have been enjoying reading my way through your posts, I found your blog from a mention on one of the Norwegian groups I belong to at facebook, probably Norwegian Genealogy … https://www.facebook.com/groups/NorwegianGenealogy/
And thank you for blogging in English even though you are Norwegian. Happy to proof read for you any time
Thank you very much for your kind offer to proof read. I will certainly keep that in mind. I know that my English is not perfect, but I always keep it in mind and try to get better.
I like to think of blogging like a dialog and if we were to speak together you would clearly hear that English is not my native language.
One of my American friends are a really good writer (not proffesional). If I mess up too much he is on me through Facebook or Skype and goes “Listen Martin” I use to reply something like “Ok, do your thing, but leave a little bit of me in it. 🙂
Brw; If I when I wrote and scheduled my posting at http://martinroe.com/blog/index.php/2016/03/10/blogs-i-read/ had known that you would mention my blog, I would of course put the link to you at the top 🙂
It is lovely that we read each others’ blogs.
By the way re Bygdebuk, I think one can request a 6 month research membership from the USA. I plan to try that and blog about it in a few weeks. Currently I just take photos of the pages of my families in the FHL when I visit my Dad and brother in Salt Lake City
That sounds very interesting. I know that access from outside Norway are granted under certain conditions. I look forward to learn about your experience. Hopyfully you will let me include a comment in my article, of course, with a link to your blog.
Funny you should mention SLC,Utah; My friend (who’s name is also Martin lives in West Jordan UT. He is the Master Trollogist of the USA he has a blog at http://martinstrollcave.blogspot.no/ Even though I am not that fascinated by trolls I think his trollstories are fun.
Oops; it’s passed midnight in Norway, I’d better wake up my wife who most likely is asleep in front of the TV and then get to bed. Have a nice evening 🙂
Thank you for directing me to your blog. I now have many avenues to explore.
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