INQUIRY TWO:

Dear Sarah:

I am a computer "newbie" and I have just recently begun to "surf" the Internet. Do you know of any good sites that I might look at regarding Norwegian genealogy? I am sure that there are other readers who might be interested.

Thank you,
Sister #8

ANSWER TO INQUIRY TWO:

Dear Sister #8: (June 1998)

The Internet has many great sources on Norway and Norwegian genealogical sources.

Some are web sites from the Norwegian government, libraries and archives and others are from individuals and local communities. As with any research tool, some sites are quite good and others may have misinformation.

Some sites to begin your search:

  1. O. Rygh Norske Gaardnavne: http://www.dokpro.uio.no/rygh_ng/rygh_form.html
    • Searchable database with link to several of O. Rygh's series of books on Norwegian farm names. This incomplete database is produced by the University of Oslo.
    • Presently includes Ostfold, Akershus and Oslo, Hedmark, Oppland, Buskerud, Vestfold, Telemark, Rogaland, Hordaland and Sor-Trondelag.
  2. Johan Ingvald Borgos' web site: http://www.borgos.nndata.no/jborgose.htm
    • Great site on Norwegian naming patterns, farm names and a list of each parish in Norway and the date they began record keeping.
  3. Norway in America: http://www.nb.no/baser/tma/english.html
    • Searchable database maintained by the National Library Services at the University of Oslo.
    • The Thor M. Andersen Bibliography (TMA) is a bibliography prepared by Norwegian librarian, Thor M. Andersen which has been converted to computer in a project sponsored by the University of Oslo Library, Norwegian­American Collection and the Institute for British and American Studies at the University of Oslo.
    • It contains references to books, pamphlets and articles in newspapers and periodicals about Norwegian immigrants to the United States and Canada from 1825-1930.
  4. Norwegian-American Bygdelagenes Fellesraad: http://www.fellesraad.com
    • Links to the bygdelags (organizations of descendants of Norwegian emigrants) in America including names of genealogy contact persons and dates of stevne meetings.
  5. John Follesdal's Ancestors From Norway rootsweb page: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wgnorway/list-basics.htm
    • Excellent site on Norwegian-American genealogical research.
  6. How to Trace your Ancestors in Norway: http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/sab/howto.html
    • Great information provided by ODIN (Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs). It contains links to the University of Minnesota, Augsburg College, St. Olaf College, Luther College and the University of Wisconsin libraries.
  7. Roger Greenwald's Scandinavian Links: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~roger/scand.html
    • General links to several sites of interest in the Scandinavian countries.
  8. Nordic Notes: http://nordicnotes.com/html/norway.html
    • Wonderful web site with many links, including News from Norway, Norwegian Genealogy, Travel to Norway and a Map of Norway.
  9. National Archival Services of Norway (Riksarkivet): http://www.arkivverket.no/english/about.html
      Further links to:
    • 1801 Census of Norway and other nominative and numeric censuses.
    • Emigration List for Bergen Harbor, 1874–1924.
    • Other Records (church, court, emigration, probate, estate etc.).
  10.  Norwegian Emigrant Museum: http://www.museumsnett.no/emigrantmuseum/index_en.html
    • The Norsk Utvandrermuseum site with links, addresses and genealogy.
  11.  World GenWeb-Norway: http://www.rootsweb.com/~wgnorway
    • Link to the fantastic Gen Web Project and further links to Gen Web projects all over the United States.
  12.  Genealogy Helplist – Norway: http://genealogy.about.com/od/norway/Norway_Genealogy_Norsk_Genealogi.htm
    • Volunteers in Norway will provide "look-ups" by email.
  13.  Cyndi's List for Norway: http://cyndislist.com/norway.htm
    • One of the best sources for genealogical links everywhere!

Tolken99, a software program for translations, replaces the older (but still available) version, Tolken 97. However, the newer version costs a bit more yet is quite inexpensive for a language translator [$30 USD]. The original version was called a great shareware software program and was developed by Borje Hagsten and called Tolken97. It is a very easy-to-use language translator, text editor, dictionary and vocabulary tests. Version 3.2 is the first international release of the program, aimed at English-speaking users. It allows the user to create fully readable translations of documents and to be able to translate "foreign" text to make it understandable. It is not a "perfect" translation, i.e. not necessarily grammatically corrected. It will translate from English to Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, German, French and Spanish and vice versa. It will also translate from any of the languages to Swedish. Great for translating pages in bygdeboker. Tolken 97 was a $15 shareware software.*

I will continue to provide other helpful sites for genealogists searching their Nordic roots.

Sarah Thorson Little

  1. * Look at Language Link page to find online translation sites as an alternative
  2. [NOTE: Original article also included Toten Emigrant Project, as a source, but the link no longer works and no other link was found. However, on the following website a list of people who will help look up records in various parts of Norway and the US are listed: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~norway/lookups.html. ]
  3. Links were last updated February 2009