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NÆSS

Hedrum, Vestfold, and Skien, Telemark, Norway

Chicago, Ill., and Amberg, Wis., USA

GRANDPARENTS GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 2ND GREAT-GRANDPARENTS 3RD GREAT-GRANDPARENTS
Karen Elise Andersen Næss
1866-1964
Larvik, Vestfold, Norway
Skotfoss pr. Skien, Telemark, Norway
Chicago, Illinois
Amberg, Wisconsin
Edvard Andersen Næss
1861-1943
Hedrum/Larvik, Vestfold, Norway
Skotfoss pr. Skien, Telemark, Norway
Anders Olsen Næss
1824-?
Næss Farm, Hedrum, Vestfold, Norway
Ole Larsen
Ludal which is part of Fjære, Hedrum, Vestfold, Norway
DESCENDANTS


PHOTO OF ANDERS AND EDEL ANDREA
+Anne Kristine Hansdatter, Næss
ANCESTORS

+Edel Andrea Iversdatter Sundby Østre Farm, Hedrum, Vestfold, Norway
1828-?
Iver Reiersen
Mangelrod Farm, Hedrum, Vestfold, Norway
1774-1839



+Anne Pedersdatter
Næss Farm, Hedrum, Vestfold, Norway
1792-1829

+Olea Knudsen
1862-1945
Gjerpen Parish, Telemark, Norway
Fantenberg Farm, Solum Parish, Telemark, Norway
Larvik, Vestfold, Norway
Skotfoss pr. Skien, Telemark, Norway
Knud Nerissen
1821-?
Gjerpen Parish, Vestfold, Norway
Fantenberg, Solum Parish, Telemark, Norway
Skotfoss pr. Skien, Telemark, Norway
Niri Knudsen
About 1790-?
Gjerpen, Vestfold, Norway
Skien, Telemark, Norway



+Anne Karine Mathisdatter
About 1792-?
Gjerpen, Vestfold, Norway
Skien, Telemark, Norway


+Karen Olsdatter
1830-?
Solum, Telemark, Norway
Ole Halvorsen
Solum, Telemark, Norway



+Gunnild Eivindsdatter
Solum, Telemark, Norway
Norwegian names

If you're not familiar with Norwegian naming practices, you might wo
nder why the names in the chart above are different from one generation to the next. Until about 1900, Norwegians were identified by the first names of their fathers. A boy would be known by his first name and his father's first name plus "son," and a girl would be known by her first name and her father's first name plus "daughter." Examples are Anders Olsen, son of Ole Larsen, and Edel Iversdatter, daughter of Iver Reiersen. For formal records such as tax rolls, they also were identified by the name of the farm they lived on at the time.

In our family, Ole Larsen of "Ludal which is part of Fjære" married Anne Hansdatter of the Næss farm. Even though the name of Næss was originally associated with the mother, that is the name that was handed down to their descendants because they stayed on the Næss farm. That happened again a couple generations later when Grethe Larsdatter Næss married Severin Johansen. Of their seven children, all took the last name of Johansen except the son who inherited the Næss farm. He and his children took the last name of Næss.

Pen and paper graphicAs early as the 1865 census, Anders Olsen was living away from the farm he was born on and living in Larvik. He still used Næss as a surname. All of his children had the surname of Olsen (Anders' patronymic name) rather than Andersen (the traditional patronymic name).

Beginning in 1923 the government required everyone to adopt a surname that would be passed from one generation to the next. My great-grandfather, Edvard, used the name his father used, Næss. Although he was called Olsen (his father's patronymic name)  in the 1865 census, his daughter's family Bible has his middle name as Andersen. His daughter (my grandmother) was named Karen Elise Andersen (not Andersdatter or Edvardsdatter) Næss. My great-grandmother apparently chose the surname Knudsen, rather than Knudsdatter, after her father's first name, Knud.

Since our Norwegian ancestors could adopt whichever surname they chose, and since siblings often all chose different names, it complicates genealogy research. In the outline above, I have tried to use the name each individual used.



Karen Naess on ship's list

Elise Naess (second line) arrived in New York City Sept. 19, 1904, on the ship United States.

MISSING PIECES (Do you have one of them?)
  • My grandmother, Karen Elise Næss, went to the home of "Uncle A. Rogeberg" in Chicago when she arrived in the USA in 1904. How did he fit into the family? As far as I know, they did not stay in touch after my grandmother married. Why?
  • Does anyone know anything about retinitis pigmentosa (which causes blindness) running in any of these families? Three of Karen Elise Næss's grandsons have the disease, and they were told it was passed down from her.

PHOTOS AND LINKS

Photo of Nes (Næss) Farm

Norwegian Cousins
Site of Jan Oddvar Thorsen, great-great-grandson of Anna Kristine Hansdatter and Ole Larsen (Næss).
"Pedigree Chart for Torill and Torstein," great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren of Anna Kristine Hansdatter and Ole Larsen (Næss).

Edvard Andersen Næss (and Family) Photos
Portraits of my great-grandparents, my grandmother, and her brother Adolph.

Photos of Lars Olsen Næss Descendants

Lars was the brother of my great-great-grandfather Anders Olsen Næss. The following are some of his children and their families. I am grateful to John and Caroline Carlson's great-granddaughter Laura for sharing these photos with me via e-mail.

Bjarne's Photos of the Family of Hella Larsdatter


Næss Family Reunion, 1965
I didn't know a thing about this until 1979, when my Aunt Florence told me about it and let me copy the invitation and other information she had received from a cousin, Elna Sorensen Blomberg. It took more years for me to find someone to translate it.

It was frustrating to see that someone had also compiled genealogy information for the reunion because my aunt didn't have that. I even tried to send a letter to the person who had collected it but didn't receive a reply. (It was 20 years after the reunion by then.) More time passed, and in 2000 I made contact with a cousin living on the Næss farm. Wonder of wonders, he had the genealogy information I'd thought was lost forever! When he photocopied it for me, I was thrilled to find my own name included. My Aunt Florence had submitted it along with the rest of my family's information in 1965.

It took me a while, but I entered all of the names into my database and they are all (except living persons) on my Naess descendants page.

A Sampling of Parish Register Pages

Marriage of Edvard Andersen Næss and Karen Olea Knudsen (2nd line)

Marriage of Karen Olsdatter and Knud Nerisen (3rd line)
The word in front of Knud's name is "enkemann"—widower. The word "pige" preceding Karen's name means "maid," or unmarried.

Karen Olsdatter's confirmation (first line)


LATEST ON THE NÆSS BRANCH

December 12, 2009
Mabel Barrows, 1923-2009
I just learned that my Aunt Babes died Nov. 30. We had only gotten to know her in the past few years, and we are going to miss her a lot.


April 9, 2009

I've added an Amazon Associates store to the site. Unfortunately, I'm having a hard time finding books in English about my ancestors' Norwegian homes to recommend. I did find nice paintings of Skien for sale.

To go to the main Amazon site or to see information about your privacy when ordering through my store:




CREDITS—PEOPLE
  • 1965 to 1984: My mother's sisters—Information on Elise, Edvard, and Olea Næss.
  • 1982: A member of the local Daughters of Norway—Translation of the reunion information for me.
  • 1999: Ex-husband of a distant non-Næss cousin—Enough identification of my relatives to allow me to post a query on the RootsWeb Norway genealogy e-mail list.
  • 1999: A RootsWeb Norway genealogy e-mail list member who looked up my family in her bygdebok. I am eternally grateful! Refer to the previous credit, and you will see why I believe that information is provided to us in the order in which we can use it.
  • 2000: A Norwegian cousin found as a result of the help described above—Aage had all the Næss descendant names compiled for the 1965 census (see below) and sent me photocopies of the whole stack.
  • 2003-2004: Finn, a descendant of my great-grandfather's sister MarenInformation on that branch and a photo of my great-great-grandparents, Anders and Edel Andrea Næss!
  • 2003-2004: Bente, a descendant of my great-grandfather's sister Anne PetreaInformation and photos from that branch.
  • 2007: Another cousin—Bjarne has shared old photos with me and helped me with translations. Best of all, he has given me my first look at the old Nes farm!
OTHER SOURCES
  • Krohn-Holum, J. W., Hedrum bygdebok, Larvik (Hedrum kommune), 1978 : Details on the ancestors who passed ownership of Bruk 9 of the Næss farm from one to the next.
  • Information gathered for the Næss family 1965 reunion by Anne Kristine Høijord. It contained a thousand names. The biggest thrill for me was finding my own name in it! My aunt Florence Barrows had submitted our family's information for the reunion. I finally felt connected to my Norwegian relatives. (My grandmother's cousin, Elna Sorensen, had passed on the reunion information to my aunt.)
  • Norwegian censuses on line.
  • www.nordicnames.de.
  • National Archives of Norway Digitised Parish Registers.

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Updated 12/12/09