Genealogy Jottings

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I have been researching in Norway’s digital archives recently. The Lutheran parish books of Norway contain nearly everyone’s life records. When Norwegian families came to America, they remained faithful Lutherans. I wondered about the church in its early days in Sheridan Co., Montana, where my Bentsen family settled. I found that the first pastor to the congregations there, S. J. Fretheim, had written a memoir of his experiences. Amazingly, the St. Olaf College Library lent it to me via inter-library loan. A slim, fragile volume, A Little Reminder of Pioneer Days of the Lutheran Church in the Plentywood Parish Montana 1910-1919 is chock-full of photos of the early churches and farms. Now I have a much better picture in my mind of my family’s life and hardships during the early days after they immigrated.

In genealogy, common wisdom dictates that the researcher should work backwards from the known to the unknown. This can be difficult if one does not know where to look! Luckily, I have a genealogical roadmap to follow for my research. In my family, Signe Bentsen Fleming wrote all the Bentsen family lore in her 1988 work, Bentsen-Sivertsen History: 1800-1988. Michael Hayden did the same thing for the Reed family in The Reeds of Ashmore, also in 1988. In Tony’s family, Luella J. Hall traced the Walstad family in One Man’s Descendants (1787-1971). These books do not cite sources, but the authors followed the standard genealogical practice of gathering information from relatives as the first step. They wrote these books from that material, and they provide a wonderful path for me to follow as I look for original records today. Thank you, Signe, Michael, and Luella!

Anyone wanting to pursue Norwegian genealogical research can do it easily from home these days. Norway is digitizing its parish records and making them available online at no charge at http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:kb_read?idx_reset=nytt. The records include census, baptisms, stillbirths, confirmations, marriages, deaths, arrivals and departures from the parish, and emigrations. One can document entire families using just this site! The records are not indexed, but if you know the location where an ancestor resided, you can find one record and then work your way from there by using the place and date references found in the first record. The only obstacle is learning the read the old Gothic script. I am excited about finding all my Bentsen ancestors in these records!

A week ago I attended the annual CGS seminar. This year D. Joshua Taylor from the New England Historic Genealogical Society spoke on various ways to find elusive ancestors. He discussed sources to use for American research 1780-1830, and he also talked about using old maps and pursuing family legends. We are lucky in the Denver area to be able to hear regularly such nationally-known speakers. Mr. Taylor, originally from Idaho, is a rising star in the genealogy world. I overheard more than one grey-haired researcher comment how enjoyable it was to get fresh ideas from someone who was young, dynamic, and very computer savvy.

Welcome to this new page of genealogical jottings! After more than 30 years of family history research, I have a lot of information, methodology, and reflections to share. My climb up the family tree is far from finished, so join me as I continue my journey. We will pursue this family all over the U.S., the British Isles, Norway, Finland, and Germany. Check out the family trees to see if you are related. Let’s share information and push back another generation!