Sÿversen / Ingvoldsen Family

These pages are devoted to telling what is known of the lives of Ingvold Sÿversen (Ingvoldsen) and Berthe Dÿersdatter (Rasmussen), whose descendants now live in various parts of New Zealand and Sweden.

Due to the difficulty of tracing Scandinavian families as a result of family names evolving from the forename of each male person, our step back into their genealogy in Norway is quite limited. Sons or daughters acquired a surname which identified them as the sons or daughters of their father's forename, and identifying family groups becomes difficult. Until about 150 years ago, Norway had no written language of it's own; using the Danish style. However, since then two spoken and written forms of the language have developed, Bokmål (Dano-Norwegian) and Nynorsk (New Norwegian), leading to subtile spoken and spelling differences which makes identifying people even more difficult. Additionally, there is a five percent minority language - Sami, the language of the people living in the north of Norway, Sweden and Findland, whom we know as the Laplanders.  The Sami language is unrelated to the other languages.

The flags shown in the heading are from the left - Norwegian, Sami, Swedish and New Zealand. Their proportions and colours are those officialy designated, while the coat of arms is that of Norway.

For the purposes of continuity, the spelling of "Ingvold" will be used, rather than the alternative spelling of "Ingvald". The reason for doing so will become evident, but it is interesting to note that the name recorded in the Stange Parish register was "Ingvald" son of Sÿver Ingvalsen and Kari Amundsdatter, but was next recorded as "Ingvold" in the in the 1801 Census of Stange in the Hedemarken (now Hedmark) county, the place in which this family originated. A look at the Digitalarkivet data from the 1801 Census of Norway taken on the 1st day of February shows Ingvold Sÿversen with his parents and sister. His uncle (Anders Ingvoldsen), grandfather (Ingvold Andersen) and great aunt (Mari Sÿversdatter) are also listed at the Schjelve (Skjelve) Lille farm then in the ownership of Anders Ingvoldsen. The dialect used in the rural Hedmark county must have been such that the "o" vowel sound became "a" to the ears of a person living in urban Christiania (Oslo), and the name became "Ingvald".  Non standardisation of spelling is probably a better explanation!

The Sÿversen / Ingvoldsen family that emigrated to Napier, New Zealand on the "Høvding" during the two voyages it made from Christiania (Oslo) in 1872 and 1873 can be found in the 1865 Census of Norway. This census was dated on the 1st day of January, 1865 and was enumerated in the week that followed. We find in this census that the youngest children of Ingvold Sÿversen and Berthe Dÿersdatter are living with them in Oslo. Three of their daughters are working as Weavers and lodging with a Sailmaker and his family near the waterfront in Oslo. One other daughter is lodging and working as a Servant for another family, also in Oslo.

To avoid any further confusion, it is necessary to point out that the whole family of Ingvold Sÿversen and Berthe Dÿersdatter who emigrated to New Zealand in 1872 and 1873, adopted the "etternavn/surname" of Ingvoldsen when they arrived at Napier. The spelling of 'Berthe' also changed to Berte, which probably reflected the way the name was pronounced.

Further detail surrounding the family's life can be found under separate headings in the Index.   Please with your comments and contributions.

G B Carlson, November 2004

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