This is an interesting set of stories as they are often told in the Bygdeboks, the regional history books that trace the families through many generations. It’s centered around the land at Ufse-Fjone, and the Fjone and Borstad families, and Jutska is a memorable part of the story. PEH
BON – PRAYER
Our Lord and Father, you gave us our country to nurture,
Here we found land, built our homes and your church.
Freedom and justice, shaped with your help our heritage.
In safety each could walk, secure.
Our land blossomed, your blessing brought wealth and well—being
Stony ground yielded crops, barns and storehouses were filled.
Now all is desolate, the land raped and barren,
The near tis sorrowful, bleeding .
Help us O God to fight in your mighty strength,
Send us your Spirit, with courage to suffer;
Then will your land, a gift from your hand, again march towards freedom.
(Written in prison, 1942, by Andreas Aarli.)
People interested in their lineage or ancestry seek a beginning-point as far back as possible. Torjus Laupedalen speaks of the “ancestral tree” or family tree, a good metaphor. All such trees have many long, deep roots- ancestry roots. In earliest times these go from farm to farm, from village to village. Then one encounters names and incidents that lead backwards and forwards. Often the family line in one settlement is nourished by contact or inter—marriage from other districts, even from other lands.
There has been considerable “grafting” of this nature in Nissedal. The first was “Jutska på Fjone” from Denmark. Later came descendants of Jep Hansen, farmer from Kvislemark in Sjelland Island in Denmark. Nils Clausen came to Kyrkje. One of his ancestors was Jorgen Jorgensen von Ansback, from Nurenberg in Germany. Also, descendants of Ole Grå and Mandt. Many new names were brought to the area, many named Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. At Borstad there were two young women named Anne J urine Bloch and Magdalene Falk.
Descendants of Jon Fjone as a rule took Jon and Jutska as their beginning point. But ancestry can be traced much farther back, so that the tree comes to have several branches. Therefore we shall begin with Jon Fjone’s lineage, before we speak further of the descendants of Jon and Maren.
Jon’s family on his father’s side can be traced back to 1400. Tnere seems to have been farmers from Valebjorg in Fyresdal who came to live in Håtveit and Grovum in Nissedal.
I.”Jon i Valaberghe” is spoken of in the year 1400. He was born about 1350-1370. His parents had apparently survived the Black Death (bubonic plague) of 1349-50.
Il His son was Helge Jonsson, mentioned in 1447. His son was——
Ill Jon Helgeson Valebjørg, married a daughter of Torleiv Torbjørnson Svalestoga. Svalestoga is the oldest family-line one finds in Fyresdal. In Nissedal there are several with Svalestog roots, at Vestri-Dali, Moen and at Rinden. Jon Helgesson and his wife had many children, but the one of interest to us is
IV Torleiv Jonsson Valebjorg1578. He had among other children a son-
V Olav Torleivsson Valebjorg. One son Kjetil Monrad was sheriff and a farmer in Fyresdal.
VI Torleiv Olavsson Valebjorg. He married Gro Bendiksdotter Spokkele. Both died before 1623. In a document (diplom, or deed) for Håtveit in Nissedal, we find is ted all the children of Torleiv and Gro. They had assembled at Moghus Dec. 8, 1623 to settle the estate of their parents. Those descendants of interest to us are Tallak and Tarjei (hereinafter referred to as Telleiv and Tarjei, the usual spelling in Nissedal.
VII Tallak Telleivsson was born between 1575 and 1580. It is not known if he lived in Grovum, but his uncle, Jon, lived there. He had married Turid Salomonsdotter. She had inherited an interest in Grovum, a place called “Salomonstunat”
VIII Telleiv Tallakssson, son of Tallak, lived at Nord-Treitane in 1615. He owned two places there.
IX Tallak Telleivsson Grovum was born about 1618, died in 1690. From 1664, he is associated with both “Upsafione” and Borstad. He first married Astrid Olavsdotter. They had Liv Tallaksdotter , who married Torbjorn Austenå in Tovdal. Second wife of Tallak was Gunnbjorg Torjusdotter Nordbo. They had these children: Telleiv, died 1685; Torjus Grovum; Olav, died about 1685
X Jon Fjone, Helge; Haege, married to Knute Fjone in 1691, and Jurid.
We have now come to the one whom many consider the family patriarch, although as we have seen, his ancestry goes back ten generations in time.
Jon Tallaksson Fjone, died in 1720, married about 1699 to Maren Rasmusdotter from Jylland. She died in 1718. Now we have so much material from traditions and from records, that persons mentioned become more alive. First, a little about Jon.
Pastor Quisling wrote: “In that area and in those times he was considered a prosperous man. He was tall, handsome, jovial, quick of movement like many of his kin.” Circumstances were not so good in earlier times. At a court session at Vik in the fall. of 1692 we find Jon meeting with Olav Fjone. They are not satisfied with Jorgen Hansen’s account of the final settlement of the estate of Tallak Fjone. They decide between themselves to have another assessment of the estate on October 11. But the next day, October 5, Jon backed away from the plan. It seems that he was owing Jorgen 774 riksdallar and more on a mortgage. Jon had received one half of the farm yard at Ufse Fjone, also Haugevik, except for a part which was owned by the church. Also, Jorgen had given Jon the right to cut a certain amount of wood from the timber at Ufse-Fjone, also the right to till about ½ acre of land at Fjone and the same at Tonåkeren and at Kjellaråkeren, for an annual rent of ½ riksdaler (A riksdaler was a silver coin, worth about 4 crowns, in use prior to 1875.)
Then there was his vitality. At harvest in 1703, he complained of his disability. He was crippled in the left foot; he had to use a cane; he couldn’t chop wood, or plow, or drag, but must hire the work done. The tingalsmugen (welfare officer?) commented, “How God’s cross of suffering has disabled him.” Jon tries to get a man out of military service to help him, without success. Otherwise, he appears to live like the others. He appeals to the court for help. He drinks, he uses a knife when he thought it justified. Olaf Senne tells that, at a funeral in Tordal he stabbed two men. One was Olav Brosdal, who was stabbed in the thigh.
Some time later, he was best man at his brother’s wedding at Syftestad in Nissedal. During the post-wedding dance his wound broke open. They called for Tov Sandsand from Brunnkeberg, the best medical man in the area. But Olaf died in Syftestad. During his last night, Jon sat by his bedside. He asked if Olav was angry with him for the attack. “NO”, he said, they were friends and reconciled.
In 1697 Jon Fjone and his brother Torjus Grovum took Sofrin Nordbo to court. They accused Sofrin to court for dishonoring their father. They wrangled endlessly. Before he became sheriff and land-owner, he had called himself Sofrin Pedersen. He apparently was the son of the tax—collector, Peder Sofrinsen. He owned two places at Romnes in Holla. Sofrin sold them for 999 rd after he married in Nordbo. His wife was Sigrid Jonsdatter. Her sister married Alv Gunleiksson Roholt in Vrådal. It was he who was living as an outlaw because he had killed his hired man in a jealous rage.
In 1703 Jon is prosecuted for having beaten Tor Findreng at Fjone. In winter of 1718 Jon is reprimanded for “this dirty conversation” while intoxicated on the way home from church. It is the pastor, Otto Staud who brings the charge through his clerk, Peder Bagge. The case was postponed, and later disposition is not known. Staud had so many lawsuits among his parishioners that it was difficult to keep track of them all!
At a court session in 1719, Jon said he knew about an old silver mine in Lifjell. It had been worked by farmers in Boherad. He said he knew also about a silver mine in Fjagesund. he would reveal the location when it was demanded, but he would require legal monetary compensation as first finder. The authorities would not allow his testimony. So, Jon said he would take the mines for his own use. Nothing more was heard of the matter. There was little if any silver he got from his enterprise in Boherad and Fjagesund.
Now it is time to tell about the woman who came from Denmark to be the house-wife at Utse—Fjone. First a little about the name of the farm. In the past it had been called UFSE—FJONE. The reason is obvious: between Uppegård and Nigård there is a mountain spring called UFSE until this day.
As a young boy I heard many stories about Jutska and Jon. There was always a romantic aspect to the tales of the Danish woman who dwelt between the Nissedal mountains. In the summer of 1965 a number of us sat at Fjone and talked about olden times, often about Jon and Jutska. Someone asked what it was about Jutska that she was remembered for so long.
I answered that in available documents and records she is mentioned only once, as a witness in a trial about a fight. It is in tradition that she lives. The story was written up by several writers, Pastor Quisling, Andreas Tveit, and in “Telesoga”.
They tell that Jon Tallaksen was on a buying trip to what the country folk called Arendal. At the inn where he stayed he met a boat captain named Rasmus, who had a daughter named Maren. The tradition says that one evening, they sat playing cards. Tradition says only that Maren won Jon. There are various accounts of what happened. It appears that they would sometimes bet young men or women. And so it was that Jon won the Danish girl. She said, “Now, you have won me, and I’ll soon come to you at Nissedal. And she came. The old-timers tell that she came during the spring when roads were rough and rutted, and her feet were so sore that blood leaked out of her shoes. Arrived at Fjone, she set her staff and her bag on the steps, and said, “Here I set my bag and my staff, here will I stay till I lie in my grave.” (It has poetic rythm in the Norwegian)
“Her setter jeg ned med min pose og stav,
Her vil jeg bli til jeg legges i grave ”
Jon was at the mill when she came. Gunbjorg, his mother sent word to him that this strange woman was asking for him. But Gunbjorg would not hear of a marriage. She did not know the girl’s family and scarcely understood her dialect. But Maren persisted, doing all kinds of work around the house. One time she had prepared the loom for weaving, But Gunbjorg clipped the weft off. Maren said nothing, only proceeded to tie the strings together.
It is said she was good at spinning. She was the first to have a spinning wheel in Nissedal. Before that they used a spindle. Gunnbjorg proposed that, if Maren could spin a thread long enough and strong enough to reach across the Nisser (about 3 miles), she could have Jon for husband. And she spun a thread long enough to reach across the fjord- and 3 times around the church! Enough of that: Jon and Maren were married, about 1698 or 1699. They had children, and the Rasmus name came into the family record. It has changed from Rasmus to Jon to Rasmus from generation.
Little is known of Maren’s ancestry. I once asked a genealogist if he thought he could find more about it in the archives in Denmark. He thought it useless to attempt. There were so many boat captains named Rasmus on Jylland, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But an estate settlement in Ufse Fjone in 1975 gives a little information. There is a round silver spoon with a flat handle, inscribed “RSSD—MPDK 1678.” Also, a silver goblet with the initials “PMB—PB. The spoon and goblet are heirlooms from Denmark. It is possible that the spoon is from the parents and the goblet from the grandparents of Maren on her mother’s side.
The same document indicates that the family had risen out of poverty. Assets are over 1735 rd (riksdaler) debts only 65 riksdaler.
Although Maren had only purse and staff when she appeared on the doorstep at Fjone, she apparently had quite a dowry when she married Jon. There is also an iron-bound oak chest named ‘ ‘Justkista” (Jutska’s chest). Whether it is an Fjone now, I don’t know, but it belongs there. Now, from myth and tradition to the record :
Maren evidently wasn’t a servant—girl for long. In 1718 there is this record. Jon and Maren had 4 children who grew up .
XI
- Rasmus, born 1701
- Gunbjorg, born 1702
- Margrete, born 1703
- Tallak, born 1705
They had a son, Tallak, who died in infancy. Gunbjorg married Sigurd Anderson Heimdal in Treungen. Margrete married Åsmund Bjornesson Vik in Nordbygda. Åsmund died in 1733; Margrete remarried, to Knut Helgeson; they lived at Lie. Things went badly for Tallak Fj one. At a Christmas party at Sogarden in 1728 he beat the man of the house, Tjostolv Tjostolvsson to death. It went to court and Tallak fought for his life.
But in 1730 he was condemned and beheaded outside Nissedal Church. Rasmus Jonsson became the freeholder at F j one. His first wife was Signe Nilsdotter Stor-Dale in Treungen. When he became widowed, he married the widow of Torjus Bjornesson Nore Fyresdal, Gro Åsmundsdotter. She was from the family in Fjolesdad-Dali. She and Rasmus had no children.
Children of Rasmus and Signe Fjone were :
XII
- Jon Fjone
- Nils Borstad- see later
- Maren, married Holje Håtveit. They were second cousins, and had to have the king’s permit to marry .
Jon Fjone Rasmusson Fjone was born in 1728. His first wife was Sigrid Leivsdotter. They had no children. He later married Bergit Hoyesdotter, born 1753. Her parents , Hoye Åsmundsson and Torbjorg were apparently from the vicinity. The name Hoye does not appear in land or tax records. He was born 1699, died 1801, 102 years of age. His wife Torbjorg was born 1714, died 1788. When his daughter married Fjone, he lived with them. Jon and Bergit had these children:
- XIII 1. Sigrid, born 1780
- Signe, born 1782
- Torbjorg, born 1785
- Rasmus, born 1787
Sigrid married Knut Nilsson Grimstveit. He was son of Nils Klasson and Tårånd Knutsdotter. They first lived at Tornes, later moved to Nissedal. Both were buried the same day, in spring of 1790. They died of a malignant fever (Fluse-feber). An ancestor of Knut was Jorgen Jorgensson von Ansback, born in Nuremberg about 1550. He came to Skein in 1589, was mayor and a land-owner. His daughter Maren married Claus Niemann, a prominent man in Skien. His grandson Claus Jorgenson Niemann was a pastor and land proprietor in Drangedal. Knut Nilsson was 10 generations from Jorgen von Ansbach. In their first years after their marriage, Knut and Sigrid moved from place to place. But when the renter at Krokane died, they moved there, and Knut called himself Knut Krokane from then on. Of his children we mention two daughters, Tårånd born 1814 and Berg is born 1818. They married two brothers. Tårånd married Halvor Kjeltilsson Kleivane, and Bergit married Kjetil Kjetilsson Heggland.
The Kleivane children were known as smart, quick-witted. One of the sons became a non-commissioned officer. He called himself Kleve and from him the Kleve name has been carried on.
Signe Jonsdotter Fjone in 1805 married Gunnar Tarjesson Lonnegrav in Vardal. They had 8 children, all of whom attained a great age; they lived a total of 717 years! “It is possibly the most remarkable group of siblings to be born of Norwegian ancestry. All lived over 80 years and several lived nearly 100 years. Descendants of Gunnar and Signe Lonnegrav number several hundred, both here in Norway and in America.
Torbjorg Jonsdotter Fjone married Adne Tarjeisson Foldsae from Fyresdal.
Rasmus Jonsson farmed the family farm. He married Ragnhild Jonsdotter Roholt in 1818. She was from Vårdal. They had 8 children. We mention only 3:
XIV 1. Jon, born 1816
- Leiv, born 1821
- Bergit, born 1824 Bergit married a grandson of Pastor Jens Zetlitz. Zetlitz was first married to Maren Elisabeth Bull. His second wife was Christiane Sophie Fasting von Krogn. They had a daughter and named her after his first wife, Maren Elisabeth Bull. Maren was married three times. The only child from the first marriage was Jens. His father was Hans Jonsson from Roholt. Jens and Bergit Fjone married in 1845.
Leiv bought Sogard-Fjone, the north farm. He married Tone Ibrekk. They had 3 children:
Ragnhild, married Sheriff Øystein Graver
Anne, died young
Rasmus Fjone, died a few years ago, over 90 years old. He had married Margit Torsdotter Vrå. Her mother was from Nigard-Fjone. Jon Rasmusson Fjone kept tradition alive by working at Nigard as a farmer. From what we know he had thought to marry a girl from Valle (Setesdal, over the mountains PEH), named Vilborg. An engagement shower had been prepared in Nissedal, and everything seemed great. Vilborg was at Fjone, to meet his kinfolk. When she was going home, Jon followed her part way. She turned and said to him, “Du må glåp etti i kvillun, so finn du noko.” She had laid the gifts she had received on the bed. She married Gunnar Åkre! (The Norwegian above is not clear to me. Probably she said “Take a look tonight, and you will find something.”)
Once Jon came up to Valle, and Gunnar was herding sheep. So, Jon stopped in at Åkri. He said to Vilborg, “I saw your herdsman up in the valley with the sheep.” “That was my husband,” said Vilborg!
Jon married Margit Olavsdotter Eikland from Skafse. Margit’s father was Olav Mikkelsson Mandt, born 1799, married Ingebjorg Tarjeisdotter in 1821. Margit was oldest of 3 daughters, born 1824. Jon and Margit had many children, but several died in infancy. Hans Jonsson Fjone moved to Elkland, calling himself Hans Elkland. He was married twice, living at the last at Vistad in Mo. I visited him there in the winter of 1945, and took notes on much that he told me about Fjone.
Mikkel Jonsson Fjone in 1877 married Anna Marie Olavsdotter, Nordbo in Vrådal. Mikkel died not long after, and Anna Marie married again with Pål Gunleiksson Reine. They lived at Gisletveit in Åmli. In her first marriage Anna Marie had 2 children, in the second marriage 5 children.
Ragnhild Fjone married Jakob Nordbo in Nissedal, Ingebjorg married Tor Petersson Flatland, Vrådal, and Anne Fjone married Mikkel Petersson Flatland. Tor and Mikkel were brothers, sons of Mikkel Larsson Mandt. Tor and Ingebjørg lived at Vrå and took the name Vrå. Tor died in 1902 and some years later Ingebjørg moved back to Fjone, where she died in 1927.
There came a break in the lineage with Jon and Rasmus. Rasmus Jonsson Fjone aspired to be a military officer. He attended military school, but got sick and died in the 1870’vs. He was buried in the old church yard in Oslo. Jon’s name is found in a branch-line of the families in Nissedal and Vrådal. The name Maren is also missing; however, Maren of Jylland lives on in romantic stories and myths.
A lasting and beautiful memorial to Jon Tallaksson Fjone and Maren Rasmusdotter is found in the Nissedal church, a chandelier with 6 branches (?) . It is found in an inventory from 1717. The same family name still lives at Ufse-Fjone, Halvor Telleivsson Fossli. Ragnhild Jonsdotter Fjone was his great grandmother. Children of Halvor and Gunnhild Fossli are the 19th generation from “Joen in Valaberghe.”
THE BORSTAD LINE
As mentioned earlier, Borstad was part of Ufse-Fjone from early times. With a property transfer in 1755 Borstad became a farm by itself. He who got it for his own was:
X 1. Nils Rasmussen Fjone, later called Nils Borstad. Born in 1731, he was known as a fighter. Stories are still told of his great size and strength. Pastor (probst) Quisling has written much about Nils and his son Rasmus. We shall try to summarize what has been written and the oral tradition. Rasmus Fjone decided it was best that Nils got the Borstad farm, because of his great strength in carrying loads up the rocky slopes. He had a great, strong horse, Borstad-borken (a sorrel colored horse.) Once Nils was to transport a millstone to the Borstad farm. He drove the horse so hard that his hooves sank into the hard ground. He promised his wife that he would not use his strength needlessly. “That I have never done, and that I shall never do——unless I need to defend myself”. He once knocked down an English sailor in Arendal. Let the pastor (Quisling) tell it: “His fighting ability was known in the town. As he sat eating from his lunchbox, there came into the room a big English sailor with some companions. The sailor was stripped to the waist, his body greased with green soap. He meant to test the strength of the sturdy mountaineer. He prattled away making all kinds of threatening gestures. Nils remained sitting, calmly eating his meal. The Englishman became more and more aggressive and insolent. Finally Nils put his food aside and said, “I don’t understand a word of what the man says; but I believe I know what he wants. I’ll answer him in Norwegian. He slowly rose from the table, hit the seaman such a blow with his fost to the forehead that he fell to the floor. His companions carried him out as if he were dead. Nils sat down to finish his meal, and nothing more was ever heard of it.”
Quisling also writes that Nils made a trip to Copenhagen. He went on foot through Sweden, a huge sack on his back. When he came home, he had a Kristian IV Bible in his sack. He had paid 12 riksdaler for it. “This Bible has now (1908) been on the altar in Fyresdal’s head church for some 30 to 40 years, a gift from one of his grandsons.”
This tale of the Denmark trip is hardly believable. The book mentioned had most likely come with Jutska. In the estate settlement of 1755, it is listed among other things- a Kristian IV Bible, value of 8 riksdaler. Then Quisling writes that Jon Fjone and Nils Borstad divided the livestock at Nigard so that Jon got the cows on the right side in the barn and Nils those on the left, and that Nils plodded off to Borstad with 12 cows with bells on their necks, it sounds untrue: With the scarcity of feed at that time, it just was not believable. Moreover, at Borstad in 1755 there were 10 grown cows and many goats and sheep
Nils was married 3 times. The first wife was Susanne Amandusdotter Paus, daughter of Amandus Hansen Paus and Karen Knutsdotter. They lived at Flom, in Flåbygd. Susanne was born in 1721 and was No. 87 in the 7th generation in the Paus family tree That means that this family can go back to Harald Hårfagre (Harald the Fair-haired)
Nils and Susanne had 4 children, Signe, Kari, Karen and Karen. Only Signe grew up, the others died young. Signe Nilsdotter Borstad was born 1757, died 1920; married 1774 to Sveinung Verpe in Lundherad. They had 6 girls. One of them Gunnhild, died before being married. The others, with married names, were: Susanne Skoe, Karen Skjella, Andrea Barlaug, Maren Anne Kjeldal, Aste Enggrav and Malene Baksås, later Verpe.
In 1769 Nils married Anne Telleivsdotter. They were cousins, therefore had to have a permit from the king. Anne was born in 1741, and died childless the same year. Nils ‘s third courtship has a romantic twist to it. Pastor Quisling maintains that Nils had seen Susanne Quisling at a wedding at Nordbo and become infatuated with her- but that sound5 implausible. He says it was at the wedding of Jon Nordbo, who married Alhed Jakobsdotter Morland. It cannot be true because in 1749 Jakob Jonsson Nordbo married Susanne Wibeke Colstrup. Her mother was Else Abrahamsdotter Colstrup, born Quisling. If Susanne Quisling had been at that wedding, she would have been only 4 to 5 years old. But something else, certainly superstition in those days, may be added at this point. “There is a saying in the family that she as a young girl had gone to sleep beside a creek. In a dream she saw a tall champion of a man, carrying a sack on his back, walking towards her. It was her eventual husband. She said she knew him again, when some years later he came courting her up to Tinn.”
Nils’s third marriage was to Susanne Magdalene Lauritsdotter Quisling, born 1744. She died at Borstad in 1811. She was named after her two grandmothers, Susanne Quisling Norland and Magdalene Bloch. When Pastor Quisling has the wedding being held at Fjone, it is not accurate. But that his brother Jon staged a homecoming party (like a charivari) is likely. In that group at Fjone there was a Jon Morland. A. Tveit and others say that he was a newcomer to the area, but he was from Nissedal. His father was Asgeir Trontveit, married to Kirsten Jonsdotter Nordbo. She was named after the second wife of Pastor Jakob Hansson Morland, Kirsten Henriksdotter Borregård. There were two boys at Trondtveit named Jon, thus the name Morland. Jon was one of the party at the “charivari”. Both J. Quisling and A. Tveit tell that he acted unseemly. A dried ham (spekeskinka) was being passed around in some kind of game. When it came to Jon he began swinging it around in all directions. Nils was furious but he held himself back. It was not proper for him as a guest of honor to lay a hand on another guest. But when Susanne said, “Oh, take him, Nils.” He was not slow to act. He arose from the table, picked Morland up like a bundle, carried him outside and threw him from the high step to the ground. Jon did not return to the party, but he never forgot the experience. In summertime, when nearly everyone was gone, he set fire to the house at Utse-Fjone. It was a frightful disaster because the house at Uppigard also burned. Nils was at Fj one when this happened, working on a bin in a granary. The heat was so great that he had to leave the grain to burn. Jon Morland was arrested and charged, but the final outcome is not known to me, nor do I know what became of Jon and his daughter. But his son came to Tordal as a sheep-herder. He was born in 1765, died in 1821. In 1809 he received the north part of Haugetrå from his father-in-law. Kjetil was his name, supposedly the grandson of the preacher Morland. He was said to be intelligent, took the apprentice exam for building trades in Copenhagen. He built Tordal church in 1807, and also the houses at Haugetrå.
Nils Rasmusson farmed Borstad from the time he received deed until he gave it to his son. When Benjamin Vogt calls him sheriff it is a misconception. Nils’s son got two sons who were named Nils. Veum calls the eldest Nils Borstad, the youngest Nils Funnemark. In Nissedal the eldest brother came to be called Nils Bakka, and he was the sheriff.
It is not certain where Borstad got its name. There are several legends about it. (Here follows a sentence or two which I am unable to translate. Everett) In my childhood I heard many tales about the giant trolls at Borstad. One of the men there locked a troll in the bath-house (where they took steam baths, like a sauna). The troll begged to be let out, but to no avail. “If you kill me, there will be tragedy for 3 generations at Borstad” he said. He lost his life, poor creature, but it happened as he had said. Asgeir- later called Askjell Vik in Fyresdal- grew up at Borstad from 1801 and on. He said that the place was so infested by trolls that when he was in the cow-barn with his grandmother in the evenings, the troll would throw stones against the barn door. One of the men at Borstad was married to a beautiful, seductive woman, or “a wicked, alluring siren inhabiting hills and mountains, beautiful, but with a long cow tail.” She was a good housekeeper, and all seemed to go well. Her husband wondered that all the cows always had twin calves. She shocked her husband one day, as he was shoeing a horse. The shoe didn’t fit, and he became angry and began to curse. His wife came walking and heard it. She took the shoe in her bare hands “Does it fit now” she asked. and bent it into the proper shape. The shoe fit, but he stood and stared, and took care that his wife did not hear him curse again.
Nils and Susanne had these children:
XIII 1. Susanne Paus, born 1772, died Dec. 25, 1801. She married Nottolv Trondtveit.
- Anne, born 1773, lived only 6 days.
- Anne Jurine Bloch, born 1773, died unmarried Christmas Day 1837 at Borstad.
- Maren, born 1775, married Torkjell Olavsson Holskar, 1811.
- Rasmus, born 1776, died 1777.
- Rasmus, born 1778—Rasmus Bakka
- Magdalena Falk, born 1779, married 1800 to Gunnar Pålsson, Tveit Parish. Records indicate they were married July 24, while Gunnar lay in bed, thought to be on his death-bed. Gunnar recovered, but Magdalena died in childbirth.
- Lars Quisling born 1781—Lars Borstad.
- Anne, born 1783, died unmarried in 1829 at Bakka.
- Abraham Qvisling, born 1785. He attended veterinary school in Copenhagen and became a veterinarian in Bratsberg district.
These children are the 13th generation.
We finish with those who farmed Borstad.
Lars Quisling Borstad, born 1781 (No. 8 above) married in 1809 a widow, Haege Knutsdotter Onstad, from Treungen. She was born at Heimdal in 1779, first married to Telleiv Bjornsson Onstad; she then was called Dali. Children were:
XIV 1. Nils Larson, born 1811
- Susanne Malene Quisling
- Gunnild, born 1816, married Tarjei Klasson Tveitane
- Susanne, born 1820
- Malene, born 1824
- Telleiv, born 1827.
Nils Larsson Borstad, Dorn 1811, married in 1833 to Torbjorg Hansdotter Vik, born 1815, died 1838. Married second time in 1844 to Marken Jakobsdotter Øy in Vrådal. She was born in 1817. Marken’s grandmother was Alhed- Alet- Jakobsdotter from NordbØ, Nissedal. Both in Vrådal and in Nissedal there were stories about her great strength. At Øy they have hauled home a great stone which she had lifted. They call it “Marken’s weight!’. In Nissedal they tell that she tossed about like playthings, heavy kettles, vats and other heavy utensils. Nils and Torbjørg had these children:
XV 1. Hans, born 1834, died as an infant.
- Lars Qvisling, born 1835. He was mentally ill. In 1845 he was in the care of Kjetil Kleivane .
- Hans, born 1838
Nils and Marken had
- Jakob, born 1845, died immediately. According to folklore, in 1865 Marken was living at Strand, near Nes. She had these children: Jakob, born 1845, Haege, born 1855, Susanne Malene Qvisling, born 1857.
The story ends with Nils, for several reasons. When the economy was hard, he borrowed from Jon Fjone, on a mortgage. So, in 1865, the farmer from Nigard is owner of Borstad; but Nils was unhappy. From 1846 he looked after the buildings at Borstad. They were fully useable for over 100 years. In 1961 the owner then, Jakob J. Nordbo, began repair and rebuilding. In 1853 Tomas Lurås was at Borstad painting the buildings. On a door on second floor, on a panel over the door has been painted a verse, a variation of a well-known prayer—verse, widely used in Telemark.
“May God’s peace rest on this farm and dwelling
From danger and unrest, let us live not fearing.
From fire and robbery, from all that harms us.
Bless thou the bread you so generously give.
Forgive me all my sin, you good, eternal God.
Nils Larsson. Marken Jakobsdotter, Borstad 6 August 1853.
We should like to have included something about Susanne Trondtveit and Rasmus Barra, but this has become a long story, it’s best to stop here.
Knut Dukane