Stadsbygd
Genealogy
Staværingslekt
N.B.: There is a new home for this database with
some 26,000 names at stadsbygd.pgvhosting.com. The description which follows is valid for
both the new version and the original one. The original database will no longer be
updated, but I will keep it here for awhile to assist in the transition.
This page links to a
searchable on-line version of my database of the old Stadsbygd
parish, now over 25,870 names. It was
constructed using Crestline Enterprises’ webGED:
PROGENITOR Version 2.0. This on-line
database also lets you make simple descendant and ancestor charts for anyone in
the database.
Some important things to
keep in mind when viewing the data:
·
This
is a large database, so if you have a
dial-up connection please be patient while it
fully loads. Watch the status line for
progress. You should have Internet
Explorer 4.0 or equivalent to use all webGED
features.
·
Please
note that the database includes the
three letters of the Norwegian alphabet not found in English: æ, ø and å. I highly
recommend a free program from the
·
I
have made every effort to enter data correctly and to resolve inconsistencies
between sources, but in a database this large with a wide variety of sources,
it’s not possible to eliminate all errors.
Your corrections and additions
are highly valued. I usually enter
them in the database right away, but I update the online version only every few
months because it is somewhat laborious.
When I first started putting the database together, I did not give a
sufficiently high priority to recording sources, so they are missing in many
cases. I owe a huge debt to the late Kristoffer Rein’s bygdebøker,
but there have been many other sources including the bygdebøker
for Hasselvika, Lensvik and
Rissa, the LDS Scandinavian Vital Records Index, the
various on-line censuses, and of course many people who have been willing to
share their information.
·
In
rural
·
Expect spelling inconsistencies in
the database. You will frequently find different spellings
between the farm name and the personal name based on it, between names used in
Norway and those used in America, between the same names recorded at different
times by different people, even between the –sen
ending normally used in Stadsbygd and the –son that
it was often changed to in America. In
putting together the database, I have struggled with what spellings to use in
the database. Most bygdebok authors normalize the
names using the spelling conventions in modern Norwegian (e.g., Christopher in
the original records becomes Kristoffer). These spelling conventions have changed over
the years. Most Norwegian emigrants used
the spelling convention that was in place at the time of emigration which was
an older version based on Danish. In the
early years of compiling the database, I used Rein’s spellings because he was
my main source. However, I’ve since
taken to using the spellings in use at the time the person was born, but have a
long ways to go before making this approach consistent throughout the
database. Additionally, I try to enter
the person’s name by where they were born, not necessarily where they lived as
an adult (frequently, the latter changed, and sometimes more than once). I update these names as I find new
information. The user should be forewarned
that the spellings and even the names may have changed since the last time you
accessed the database.
·
The relationships in the database
are as historically accurate as I can make them based on available public
records. Certain of these relationships
may prove embarrassing to some sensitive people and I regret this. For example, two of my great-grandparents had
children out-of-wedlock as was very common in the 19th century. These children and their biological parents
are listed along with the children they had by their spouses.
·
In
order to protect privacy, I have deleted
the birth year information for anyone born in the last 100 years for whom I
do not have a death date. I am willing
to generate and send by return e-mail an unfiltered report for anyone I can
link to the database upon an e-mail request.
·
Lastly,
although there are many adoptees entered correctly in
my main database, unfortunately the webGED software used here displays only biological
relationships. Adoptees
are very important members of their families so I regret the inability of this
software to display these relationships.
I’m looking for another solution.
Ready?
Link to
the database (original)
Newer version available at http://stadsbygd.pgvhosting.com.
Dennis L. Haarsager
Updated 20 nov 2006