The Genealogy of Lars Hansen and Eli Torkildsdatter and their NZ Family

The history of

Lars Hansen and Eli Torkildsdatter

and their ancestors c1450 - 1813

Sør Odal, Hedmark, NORWAY

THE STORY BEFORE THEIR 1873 IMMIGRATION TO NEW ZEALAND

AMENDED and UPDATED 30 April 2003 by Liz Larsen

A NAME CHANGES EVERYTHING

In the 1865 Census of Norway there was no surname starting with Jork or Jorkelsen or any other patronymic form starting with J. Therefore it is now understood that the elaborately written “J” in family records was actually a “T” and this is now confirmed as records have been found in Norway showing Eli Jorkelsen was actually Eli Torkildsen (or Thorkildsen, Torkelsen or Torkildsdtr) (dr = datter = daughter). Spelling variations were common as most people of that time did not read nor write, so records varied. It is understood Eli to be a form of Elisabeth but shipping records also showed it spelt Elen.

Eli’s parents were Torkil Sjonnesen and Kari Olsdr. She was born 15 February 1816 in Ullern, Oslo, Hedmark and christened 17 March 1816 in Sør Odal, Hedmark and she died 25 January 1896 in Mauriceville, New Zealand.

Sør Odal lies in the South West of Hedmark

THE FAMILY

Lars Hansen and Eli Torkildsdatter were married 26 December 1845 in Ullern, Oslo. Lars died 3 January 1867 and was buried in Ullern. They actually had 9 children not 6 as first lead to believe:-

Hans (male) - born 4 August 1839 and christened 1 September 1839 in Sør Odal

Karen (female) - born 20 November 1842 and christened 27 November 1842 in Sør Odal

Christine * (female) - born 8 May 1846 and christened 24 May 1846 in Sør Odal and died 7 May 1849 in Norway

Christian * (male) - born 16 April 1850 and christened 28 April 1850 in Strom and died 13 September 1882 in Norway

Lars (male) - born 4 March 1853 and christened 28 March 1853 in Strom

Gorine * (female) - born 17 June 1855 and christened 8 July 1855 in Strom and died 14 May 1871 in Norway

Elisabet (female) - born 15 February 1857 and christened 15 March 1857 in Strom

Halvor (male) - born 14 January 1859 and christened 13 February 1859 in Strom

Carl (male) - born 2 April 1861 and christened 21 April 1861 in Sør Odal

* Children that were never mentioned in the Family Tree 1813-1954 compiled by Albert C. Dawson.

It is presumed that both Christine and Gorine died of disease. As for Christian who stayed behind and who died at the age of 32, little is known. In 1873 when the last of the family left for New Zealand he would have been aged 23. He may have had a girlfriend or wife and chose to stay or maybe he was in the Military or had became a seaman as many young men did at that time. Also ‘Vogels Assisted Immigration to New Zealand’ ceased in 1878 which would have made it very costly to then make the voyage at a later date. I am hopeful that future research may yet uncover his branch of the family.

May 2003: I have discovered a new source of information that our family was never made aware of! The late Mac (Malcolm) Larsen, grandson of Hans and Karen Larsen (Carl's eldest brother), has detailed research done over many years of the family including Halvord's family in Australia and Christian's family in Norway! Evidently Christian WAS in the military. Mac had made many contacts in Norway and with family in New Zealand through travel and correspondence and wrote a updated family book called "Happiness is Sharing Your Heritage". I am now trying to procure a copy to update our family with this information. Mac passed away in 1985 in Masterton and all his work was archived with the NRAM (National Register of Archives and Manuscripts) in New Zealand.

See a picture of Ullern Church, Oslo, Hedmark

LITTLE PIECES OF NORWAY

The family was of the Lutheran Faith.

"Opsten Braaten" was the name of one farm they had resided in. There were several in the parish at the time and could have been connected. Braaten means a “burned out place in the forest - a method of clearing the land” so the braaten could have been a subfarm (bruk) of a main farm. Other Census shows them also on a farm called "Lia".

OPSTAD is both the name of the Parish Church and the name of the Main Farm (#100) in Sør-Odal, Hedmark.

Opstad, Hedmark is on the river running south out of a lake called Storsgøen, just to the northeast of Oslo.

The harbour city of Oslo was burned down in 1624 and was rebuilt from scratch by King Christian IV of Denmark in 1624. He then named the harbour city after himself “Christiania”. It was renamed “Oslo” in 1924 after Norway was made independent from the union with Sweden in 1905 making it the capital of Norway.

LIFE ON THE FARM

At the time of the 1865 Census the family were found to be living on a farm named ‘Lia’ in the Municipality of Sør-Odal (#0419) as below:

Lars was a tenant farmer (cotter) not a landowner. *They had 2 cows, 6 sheep, 1 goat, 2/8 barley,

2 oats, 2 potato;

*The unit of measurement was the tønne (pl. tønner) the equivalent of 4 bushels. thus 1/2 po means 2 bushels of potatoes planted.

Lars Hansen - Head of Family - Cotter (farmhand) with land - born 1813 S. Odalen

Eli Thorkildsdatter - Wife - born 1816 N. Odalen

Karen Larsdatter - Daughter - born 1843 S. Odalen

Christian Larsen - Son - born 1850 S. Odalen

Lars Larsen - Son - born 1853 S. Odalen

Lisabet Larsdatter - Daughter - born 1857 S. Odalen

Halvor Larsen - Son - born 1859 S. Odalen

Karl Larsen - Son - born 1861 S. Odalen

Also listed as tenants (eldest son & daughter-in-law & family):

Hans Larsen - Renter or Lodger - Day Labourer - born 1839 S. Odalen

Karen Hansdatter - Wife - born 1840 S. Odalen

Elisabet Hansdatter - Daughter - born 1863 S. Odalen

Laurits Hansen - Son - born 1865 S. Odalen

THE REAL IMMIGRATION STORY

The whole family did not immigrate together as first believed. It happened in three stages, possibly just because of limited intake numbers of the NZ Vogel immigration scheme and the cost or maybe the children who went first left an opportunity to return home if things didn’t work out or they just wanted to do the hard work of finding a place to settle before bringing their mother and siblings out. Again, we can only guess. The elaborate stories of New Zealand spun after Ullern church services, by New Zealand officials, to encourage immigration had worked their magic...

On 30 November 1871 Hans (the eldest son aged 32) and his wife Karen (31) and their now four children; Elisabet (8), Lauritz (5), Hans (4) and Carl (1) left the port of Kristiania for Hull, England aboard the steamship S/S Oder. After a short but uncomfortable wait in Hull, they boarded the 853 ton sailing ship “England”, commanded by Captain George Henry Harrington which set sail for Wellington, New Zealand on 8 December 1781. A very severe outbreak of measles and diarrhoea caused 16 deaths during the 90 day voyage and sadly we now know, baby Carl then aged 9 mths, passed away onboard 31 January 1872 (died and was buried at sea southeast of Tristan da Cunhaand & Gough Island.) Lauritz aged 5 years later too passed away on 7 March 1872, possibly on Somes Island as they waited out their quarantine. They were so close to their destination. What a tremendously sad time it would have been. (He actually died and was buried at sea in Cook Strait while the ship was becalmed.)

See a picture of the ship "England" 1872

The ship finally arrived in the Port of Wellington on 9 March 1872, but not before the crew and passengers were all detained in specially built barracks, for quarantine purposes, on a small island in Wellington Harbour called “Somes Island”, after a suspected outbreak of smallpox occurred. It is not known how long the quarantine lasted but two cases of smallpox were confirmed during that time. (The quarantine expired on 30 March 1872.) It is hard to know if the family disembarked at Wellington or stayed on for the journey to Napier, although they were not marked for Napier in the passenger records. They already knew of the Scandinavian settlements where many of their Norwegian friends had already colonised, through the ‘Vogel's Assisted Immigration Scheme’ started in New Zealand in 1870. (They did disembark in Wellington and made the weary trip to their new home on foot.)

See a Picture of the Ship "Høvding"

The next to leave Norway’s shores were eldest daughter Karen and her husband Jacob (not Ole) Isaksen (both aged 30) and young sons Ole (7) and Carl (5). Karen was pregnant with Annie Mary at the time. They boarded the sailing ship Høvding on 13 August 1873 under the command of Captain Nordbye. It sailed from Kristiania via Hamburg undertaking the long 109 day voyage to New Zealand, where they landed in Napier on 1 December 1873. It was a difficult crossing with provisions being of poor and inadequate standard contrary to “Contract Conditions”. Passengers numbered 209 with 11 children dying and 6 being born on the crossing. After the voyage all passengers signed a petition that was given to the Shipping Line and sent to Norway, consequently leading to Captain Nordbye’s “relievement of his duty.” Mary was born safe and well on 24 December 1873 in Napier.

Notes on the ship "Invererne"

The remainder of the family, Eli (now aged 58) along with children; Lars (20), Elisabet (16), Halvor (14) and Carl (12) sailed from the port of Kristiania, Oslo on the 912 ton White Wing’s ship “Invererne” departing 21 November 1873 under the command of Captain Foreman. Sailing via Gravesend, Kent,, England the voyage was to last another 107 days. The ship carried 240 passengers, 16 children of whom mostly died from scarlatina. They also landed in Napier on 8 March 1874.

It is hoped that the now “well settled” families of Hans and Karen greeted Eli and her children and that they all travelled back together to their new home in the "Forty Mile Bush", to join so many other Scandinavian families that braved that long and often painful voyage, hopeful of this new world and a better life.

(Between 1870 - 1876 over 63,000 migrants came to NZ from Europe, Scandinavia and Germany)

Scandinavians were targeted in particular, for their land clearing and farming skills

For an inspiring and heartwarming account of a young emigrant from

Odalen, Norway in 1873 to her new life in Norsewood, New Zealand

I recommend this book: "Johanna's World" by Oystein Molstad Andresen

(In this book there is also a small reference to the Larsen and Isaksen families

and an account of the voyage of the ship "Høvding" in 1873)

Available in Australia through Dymocks Booksellers

Sources Of Information Used For Research:

The Archives of Norway

Norway's Heritage

Familysearch (LDS)