Tombstone Tuesday: Gurine Nordtvedt Nordseth

grave of
Gurine Randine (Nordtvedt) Nordseth (1867 - 1945)
Canton Lutheran Cemetery
rural Canton, Lincoln County, South Dakota
photo: May 2007

Gurine was my great-great-grandmother and the wife of Jens Peter Nordseth. She was also the great-granddaughter of my "black sheep" ancestor, Søren Johnsen Nordtvedt, though the family seems to have been well established as successful carpenters and ship builders by the time she was born in 1867.

Gurine was born in Trondheim, Norway, as the third child of Søren Gerhard and Elen Marie (Solberg) Nordtvedt. When my mother and I traveled to Norway in 2003, I even got to see the house where Gurine was probably born. Her childhood has always seemed sad to me--her mother died when she was around 5 months old, and all family stories indicate that her stepmother was not very fond of her stepchildren. When the family immigrated to the US, 13-year-old Gurine began working as a servant on a farm. She eventually became the teenage bride of a handsome older man and raised a family of 8 children.

She is one of the long-gone ancestors I can most easily imagine as a "real" person, perhaps because my grandfather remembers her. He lived with her for a while, so he could go to high school in town. Years ago I also met a distant cousin, who told me more of the Nordtvedts' story, along with bits and pieces, like the fact that Gurine had red hair.

I wish she had kept a diary. I would have liked to know Gurine.

Black Sheep Sunday: Søren Johnsen Nordtvedt

Since it's Black Sheep Sunday...

Years ago, I came across another researcher's notes on a now-defunct personal website. Another member of the Trondelag-L listserv was kind enough to translate it for me. This is obviously not good research on my part (I haven't found the original document yet), but I love the story just the same. Søren Johnsen Nordtvedt was my 5th great-grandfather, born 1771 in Akershus, Norway.

Søren Johnsen Nordtvedt
Forhør på Spillum i Fosnes 8/12 1809 av noen passløse personer, bl.a. Søren Johnsen Nordtvedt, for tyveri. Han sier seg 39 år gl og født i Agers sogn i Akershus stift og konfirmert i samme kirke. Han har i 12 år bodd på Bakklandet i Trondheim og har ernært seg som smed. Men på grunn av uheldige omstendigheter har han flyttet på landet og flakket omkring for å nære seg av sitt arbeid. For 6-7 år siden satt han arrestert på Nordmøre, men rømte derfra. Hans siste nattverd var i Vår Frue kirke i Trondheim.Den 11/1-1811 ble han dømt til ett års arbeid i Trondheim Tukthus.

Translation by Olaf Kringhaug, 2003:

Søren Johnsen Nordtvedt
Hearing at Spillum in Fosnes 8/12 1809 [8 December 1809] for some persons without identitification, among them Søren Johnsen Nordtvedt, for theft. He says he is 39 years old and born in Agers parish in Akershus county and confirmed in the same church. He has for 12 years lived in Bakklandet in Trondheim and has supported himself as a smith. But because of unlucky events he has moved to the country and roamed around to support himself with his work. About 6-7 years ago he was arrested in Nordmøre, but escaped from there. His last communion was in Vår Frue church in Trondheim. The 11/1-1811 [11 January 1811] he was sentenced to a year of labor in Trondheim House of Correction.

from: http://home.no.net/khasselb/nordtvedtsj.htm

Just eight years earlier, in the 1801 census, he could be found living in Bakklandet with his wife, Guri (35), and their four children: Jon (6), Gunder (4), Jacob (2), and Martha (1). He was listed as a "master smith," with two other smiths, two apprentices, and two female servants also living in the household.

Bakklandet

I wonder now what "unlucky events" led Søren to this life just a couple of years later. Had his wife passed away? Did she leave him? Did he do someone wrong at work, or did someone else do him wrong? I hope I'll find out someday.

In 2003, my mother and I traveled to Norway, and I walked the streets of Bakklandet in Trondheim. It's such a beautiful place now, though it was once the poorer, working class part of town.

Mom and me in Bakklandet, 2003

At any rate, it turned out alright for the Nordtvedts. They went on to be a family of shipbuilders and carpenters, and the little boy Gunder became the father of my immigrant ancestor, Søren Gerhard Nordtvedt.