Exploiting the Norddal Bygdebøker
Started by TFOlsen · 2006-08-04
TFOlsen · 2006-08-04#1
By interlibrary loan from St. Olaf College, I have use of three of the four title volumes. Especially volume one, the Ættebok, is proving to be a veritable treasure trove, generating literally hundreds of "relatives" of my great-grandparents (Johan OLSEN Gjerde and Oline (Olina) CHRISTIANSDTR Engeset) on farms in the Norddal area of Møre og Romsdal.
Thanks much to those of you on this helpful site that urged me to track down these Bygdebøker.
Of course, I'm capturing this data (I use Family Tree Maker software) and will eventually post my expanded research results on the LDS and other collections of online family tree research.
The youngest individuals cited in this particular Ættebok were born before 1950 (the work was published in 1952). Like the US, Norwegian public records newer than 50-60 years seem to be closed for privacy reasons.
My question concerns modern Norwegian genealogists. If they're like me, they know about living relatives who might not yet appear in official government records.
We'll probably visit Norway in 2007 and it would be wonderful to contact some of my own relatives...but how might I find them? The bad news is that I'd have to get lucky for them to be genealogists...but the good news is that I'll have hundreds of potential connections.
Is there a particular family-tree-sharing website where my Norwegian contemporaries are likeliest to look, and where they might find my US-Norwegian connection? Thanks for any brainstorms.