"Ivar S. Ertesvåg" wrote: > Robert Heiling wrote: > > Hei > > > > I'd like to double-check my understanding of Norwegian naming practices > > or be corrected. The following household is taken from the 1900 census, > > More Og Romsdal, Vestnes, and the farmname is EINEN. (please forgive my > > formatting) > > > > Name Family status Marital status Occupation Birth year > > > > Ole Einen hf g Husmand, forpakter m J 1844 > > Berte Einen hm g Husmandskone 1845 > > Peter Helland s ug Skomager 1877 > > Olufine Helland d ug Husligt arb., kreaturstel. 1881 > > Nils Helland s ug Arbeider i snedkerfabrik 1883 > > Marie Helland d ug Barn 1888 > > Julie Helland d ug Barn 1890 > > Hans Helland hf g Driver snedker- og dreierfabrik1869 > > Seriana Helland hm g Snedkerkone 1875 > > Olav Helland s ug Barnv 1900 > > Link to "Digitalarkivet": > http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=f01535&gardpostnr=100&merk=100#ovre Thanks for pointing that out. I had been using: http://www.rhd.uit.no/folketellinger/folketellinger_avansert_e.aspx for my searches, but that one puts the various households in better perspective. > > Questions: > > Ole & Berte have the surname Einen because that's the farm that they > > currently reside on? They changed their surname to Einen when they moved > > there from wherever they had been before? The children have the name > > Helland because that is the name of the farm that the family lived on > > when they were born? > > This seems to be a special case. The answer to the first question is > apparently "yes". For the remaining, there are some questions to the > source and the regitration of it. > > It appears that the farm name i Helland nedre. This is farm No.45 i > Vestnes, and it is the vicars's recidence. Einen is a 'husmannsplass' > (small, rented farm) under Helland. Geographically, Einen may be in some > distance from the main farm houses of Helland but still within the area > of it. > > Thus, somehow, the person registering the family in the census has > witten Einen as surname for the parents and Helland for the children. > This may be correct or incorrect - there is no general rule that can > help you figuring out this. Thanks! I see what you're saying and they really are living on a portion of Helland, so therefore the surname. > > I note that there is/was a local parish farm by > > the name of Helland and wonder if that is likely the place that they > > previously resided? I see that Helland seems to be more of a place on > > the map now than a farm. Now that you pointed it out, I see that Helland really was where they lived. > > For those who are familiar with the numerous errors in the US censuses > > of given & surname spelling errors, birthdate errors, placename errors, > > etc; would you say that the Norwegian censuses have far fewer errors? > > about the same number? more? I was wondering about errors because I haven't been successful in locating a Peter Helland who was born 1883 with a father named Ole and who was probably from that general area of Norway. I've searched for the variations of Peter, Peder, Petter, Per, Pehr and numerous spelling variations of the surname, but the household listed above is the only one that comes close. Could the census taker have written down the wrong birthyear for Peter or could he have reversed the names of Peter & Nils there? Have you observed errors like that in the 1900 census and are they common? In the US censuses, the information could have been given to the census taker by any member of the household or even a neighbor and not just the head of household, so errors are frequent. Is that also true of the Norwegian census? Thanks again! Bob

Robert Heiling wrote: [....] >> > For those who are familiar with the numerous errors in the US censuses >> > of given & surname spelling errors, birthdate errors, placename errors, >> > etc; would you say that the Norwegian censuses have far fewer errors? >> > about the same number? more? > > I was wondering about errors because I haven't been successful in > locating a Peter Helland who was born 1883 with a father named Ole and > who was probably from that general area of Norway. I've searched for the > variations of Peter, Peder, Petter, Per, Pehr and numerous spelling > variations of the surname, but the household listed above is the only > one that comes close. Could the census taker have written down the wrong > birthyear for Peter or could he have reversed the names of Peter & Nils > there? Have you observed errors like that in the 1900 census and are > they common? In the US censuses, the information could have been given > to the census taker by any member of the household or even a neighbor > and not just the head of household, so errors are frequent. Is that also > true of the Norwegian census? This is hard to answer. Humans make errors... also in the 1900 census. The accuracy most likely depends on the census taker (often a teacher or other reliable person) - and even over the period of conduct by one single census taker (he got tired, bored, impatient, in short of time, etc....). The interesting matter here is whether this specific family was correctly registered. Normally, this can be verified from other sources, in particular, the parish registry. Furthermore, the source for "your" Peter's birth year should also be scrutinized. > > Thanks again! > > Bob >