Farm statistics in Digitalarkivet
edr	I am tracing my family's immigration from Norway and so far have have had some good luck. My immigrant ancestors' obituaries told us the year of their immigration (1866), and thanks to the Norway-Heritage web site I found them on a ship's passenger list. This gave me the "original" spelling of their surname and a place of residence. Searching Digitalarkivet I found the entry for their gard (farm) in the 1865. They were in Hedmark, in municipality 0415 Løiten. I don't know the Norwegian language, but with a dictionary have been able to translate most of the personal statistics (things like "hans kone" and "gaardbruger od selveger"). I would appreciate anyone's help in deciphering the farm statistics in Digitalarkivet. The column "Sivilstand" contains either "g" or "ug". Can anyone tell me what these abbreviations stand for? Can anyone explain how to interpret the lists of agricultural products? The particular farm I'm looking at lists the following: Stort kveg = 1 Rug = 1/4 Bygg = 3/4 Blandkorn = 1 1/2 Havre = 1 1/2 Poteter = 4 I translated all the words (kveg = cow, rug = rye, etc.) but I don't know what the numbers mean, except that I guess "1 stort kveg" means "1 cow". Any ideas what "1/4" under "Rug" indicates -- amount of land planted, taxes paid, quantitiy harvested -- and what units? My final question concerns the "Merknad (gard)" entry. I translate "Merknad" as "Remarks". For the farm I'm looking at, the entry is "48c". Does this mean something by itself, or is it a reference to other information in the Digitalarkivet? Thanks in advance!
hasto	"g" = Gift = married, "ug" = ugift = unmarried Stort kveg = 1 means: 1 cattle, probably 1 cow. Rug = 1/4 means: 1/4 "tønner land" planted with rye. 1 tønne land = 3937,9 m2 I think the merknad = 48c is a farm number. But not long after 1865 there was a new number system introduced. In 1900 census the farm Nordre Ringnes is Gnr 67 Bnr 3, gardnummer 67, bruksnummer 3. Those numbers are still in use.
Jo Anne Sadler	I read somewhere that "Poteter = 4" would mean that they planted four bushels of seed potatoes.
hasto	The old measurements of the censuses are unfamiliar to Norwegians today. We think metric now. I am no expert, but I think it was like this: "Poteter =4" means "4 tønner poteter". Tønner (or tønder) originally meant a barrel (bushel?) to store something in. I have seen it used as a weight measure, about 120 kg, I think. But here it was used as a standard measurement for land property. 1 tønne land was 3937 m2. Bushel is an American measure and was not used in Norway. A link to the 1865 census form: http://digitalarkivet.no/dok/1865/skjby-d.htm St = stykk (units), Td = tønder (land)
edr	Thank you. These comments are very helpful.
Jo Anne Sadler	From "Getting Into the Norwegian Census" University of Tromso The 1865 population census also required householders to provide information as to the number and kind of animals they kept and the quantity and type of crops they sowed. Mostly this data was supplied by farmers but as some townspeople also kept animals and planted potatoes, for instance, they were not the only people to do so. Where space permits the full name of the animal or crop appears in the RHD edition of the census, but sometimes only the first two letters are given (see the list below with the abbreviated form in bold). Note that the variety of animals and crops was limited. HEste = Horse KU = Cow FÅr = Sheep GJeder = Goat SVin = Pig REnsdyr = Reindeer HVete = Wheat RUg = Rye BYg = Barley BLandkorn = Mixture of two grains, usually barley and oats HAvre = Oats ERter = Peas POteter = Potatoes The unit of measurement was the tønne (pl. tønner) the equivalent of 4 bushels. thus po 1/2 means 2 bushels of potatoes planted.