{"id":2133,"date":"2013-08-29T16:14:52","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T20:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tusentakk2.com\/wordpress\/?p=2133"},"modified":"2013-08-29T17:12:03","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T21:12:03","slug":"rorvik-and-kvaloya-seeking-roots-august-13-16-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/tusentakk2.com\/wordpress\/2013\/08\/rorvik-and-kvaloya-seeking-roots-august-13-16-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"R\u00f8rvik and Kval\u00f8ya; seeking roots — August 13-16, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

As thorough readers of our blog know, there is a section devoted to genealogy wherein Barb has recorded her findings.\u00a0 (Look here<\/a>.)\u00a0 Barb\u2019s father is half Norwegian and half Irish, and Barb has been researching on both sides.\u00a0 Some of her distant relatives are also interested in genealogy, and found Barb\u2019s postings in the course of their Google searches.\u00a0 One such relative from Norway, John Kval\u00f8, contacted Barb back in October 2011 and they have stayed in touch ever since. \u00a0John was born in the R\u00f8rvik area and spent much of his youth out on a nearby island called Kval\u00f8ya (which translates to \u201cwhale island\u201d).\u00a0 John explained that he had moved to Bod\u00f8, but that his brother Ivan lives in R\u00f8rvik and owns part of the family island.\u00a0 Barb already knew that her great grandmother Anna Karoline Kval\u00f8 was born on the island in 1868.\u00a0 She immigrated to the United States in the late 1880s and settled in Minnesota.\u00a0 So when John and Ivan invited us to come visit them at Kval\u00f8ya this summer we immediately decided to piggy-back a visit to R\u00f8rvik onto our trip to southern Norway.\u00a0 And then we learned that two of Barb\u2019s American cousins — who have done an incredible amount of research on the family history (back to the 1480s) — were also going to be in the R\u00f8rvik area during the same week.\u00a0 What an opportunity!<\/p>\n

When we deboarded the Hurtigruten in R\u00f8rvik, we were met on the dock by Barb\u2019s Minnesota cousins Muriel Arms and Rosalie Tarum.\u00a0 They had arrived a couple of days before and since they visit the area often, were familiar with the location of Kleiva Camping where we had reservations.\u00a0 After a short visit we followed them out to Kleiva where we settled into a huge cabin.\u00a0 We had reserved a small cabin but the Kleiva staff had made a mistake in the booking, so we got a huge three-bedroom cabin for the price of a small one with one bedroom.<\/p>\n

The next morning nth cousin John from Bod\u00f8 and his 16 year old son \u00d8ystein met us at Kleiva and took us out to Lyngsnes where we met nth cousin Ivan and his six year old son Eiven. Ivan took us in his fishing boat out to Kval\u00f8ya where Barb was thrilled to see the house where her great-grandmother Anna Karoline was born and lived.\u00a0 It is still there and is well maintained by one of her relatives.\u00a0 In the house some of the lamps and beds are original, as is the sewing machine and a built in china cupboard.\u00a0 Very nice to realize that those things were used by Barb\u2019s great-grandmother.<\/p>\n

John, Ivan and their sons took us on a tour of the island.\u00a0 Ivan\u2019s summer house is about a ten minute walk from the main house.\u00a0 He has two houses on the property to maintain.\u00a0 One is where his grandparents lived, and the other where his father lived after marrying.\u00a0 The area around the island was thriving more than a century ago and most residents were involved in fishing.\u00a0 There was a school on the island and a store on a small island very close by.\u00a0 Ivan was a sea captain who decided to stay closer to home with his family; he now teaches seamanship at a local school during the school year and fishes around Kval\u00f8ya during the summer.\u00a0 Salmon farming has become so prevalent in Norway that he is the only fisherman in the area who still fishes for wild salmon with nets.\u00a0 He helps the government by taking samples of all the fish he catches so they can determine if the farmed salmon are escaping and breeding with the wild salmon.\u00a0 At the end of the day we circumnavigated the island and checked Ivan\u2019s nets for salmon before he took us back to the mainland.<\/p>\n

The next day we went with John and \u00d8ystein to meet John\u2019s parents Oddmund and Jenny who are now living in an assisted living center in R\u00f8rvik.\u00a0 His father spoke some English but John (and \u00d8ystein) had to be our translators when speaking to his mother.\u00a0 While there we met other relatives — one of whom Barb had listed in her genealogy records as no longer living! \u00a0(She thought it best not to share that fact with him.)<\/p>\n

After lunch with John and \u00d8ystein, they began their 8-hour drive back to Bod\u00f8 and we spent the afternoon looking for family graves and visiting Norveg, the fascinating Coastal Museum in R\u00f8rvik.\u00a0 We were extremely impressed by the warm hospitality of John and Ivan and pleased by their offer to have us come and spend time on Kval\u00f8ya some summer soon.<\/p>\n

The next morning we met up with Muriel and Rosalie for the first time since they had greeted us at the Hurtigruten, and agreed that it made more sense to spend our time visiting Norwegian relatives while in Norway and that we would try to get together when we are back in the USA.\u00a0 Muriel lives near Rochester, MN and we will be visiting the Mayo Clinic for Chuck\u2019s check-up in late September so we hope to get together then.<\/p>\n

In our next post we will describe our automobile trip back to Kristiansand by way of the famous Trollstigen and Geiranger Fjord.\u00a0 Stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n\t\t