Finding Jacob Ove: Researching Norwegian Ancestors

Jacob Ove (left) with an unidentified person (right)

My memories of visiting Great-grandma and Grandpa Conlin while growing up are primarily connected to sweets — namely butterscotch candies and fig newtons. Grandma needed those candies to keep Grandpa sweet…or so she said. When I grew older and began genealogy research there were plenty of stories and information passed down about Grandpa Conlin’s Irish Family and Grandma Conlin’s mother’s Norwegian family, but when it came to her father, I only knew two things:

His name was Jacob Ove; and
He was a Road Scholar (click here to learn one of my grandma’s favorite stories about her grandfather)

*Ida Amalie Ove (aka Great-grandma Conlin) was Jacob and Maren (Haselhaugen) Ove’s youngest daughter.*

researching Norwegian names

One of the first things I discovered was that Norwegian naming conventions prior to 1860 were very different than what we are used to in the US. Rather than passing down the father’s surname, Norwegians took their father’s given (first) name and inserted son or daughter after it; so Jacob Ove’s son Lars would be called Lars Jacobsen and his daughter Anna would be called Anna Jacobsdatter. When I grasped this I began to search records for the name Ovesen rather than Ove (figuring that Ove might be a shortened version). My hunch was right and I found them in the 1865 Census of Norway.

1865 Census of Norway

*In the 1865 Norway Census Jacob’s last name was Ovesen after his father Ove Olsen and he has a twin brother named Isak.* Also, notice that they lived on the Sandnæs farm in Nærø parish. (A few notes: In the 1865 Census the Danish spelling of Nærø was used. The Norwegian spelling of Nærøy, meaning island, is more commonly used. The æ is pronounced like “a” in apple. The ø is pronounced like “u” in turn or “ea” in learn.)

*Nærøy is located in the Nord-Trøndelag region of Norway. (Sandnes is a modern-day variation of Sandnæs.) I am told that distant cousins still live and work on the Sandnes farm today.*

Learning the name of the “Sandnæs” farm was important. Husmann (tenant farmers), such as Jacob’s father, traditionally added the farm as a third name (see example below). This farm name changed with a change of residence. A Norwegian proverb says: “The name and the farm must go together.” This means that a son’s name could be different from his fathers if he took over tenancy at a new farm. Even after learning all of these naming rules you quickly realize that there are many exceptions and flexibility is required when searching for your ancestors. Any or all of the names may change between records, such as Jacob’s name in the baptism transcription below:

*In Jacob’s baptism record his father’s name includes Sandnæs for the farm they lived on. Also, notice that Ove Andreasen is used for Jacob rather than Ovesen in this record.*

emigration from norway

The Digitalarkivet is one of the best sources for Norwegian parish, census, emigration and other records…and searching is free. Once I discovered the family’s region and farm name I began to search for other records using this location information and found Ove Olsen Sandnæs on a list of emigrants from Trondheim to Quebec in 1867. Using the dates and port locations I searched Ancestry for passenger lists that fit and found Jacob’s family as passengers on the ship “St. Patrick”.

The “St. Patrick” passenger manifest from Trondheim, Norway to Quebec, Canada in 1867. Notice that Ove is listed as “Ove Olsen Sannes” and the children are all listed with the surnames Olsen (boys) and Olsdatter (girls).

dna connections

A large part of my genealogy research consists of connecting with DNA cousins to collaborate and confirm tree information. With all of the possible surnames, I began to search Ancestry’s DNA database using every variation: Ove, Ovesen, Olsen, Sandnes, Sandnæs, Sannes. This week I was excited to connect with a researcher who had Sannes family members in the tree. She is still in contact with our shared distant cousins in Norway. Although we knew that both of our families were from the Sandnes farm, we struggled to figure out the DNA connection. The Norwegian relatives shared information from the Nærøy Bygdebok (build book), a Norwegian family history and farm name book that quickly solved the puzzle. We discovered that the connection is through Jacob’s great-grandparents. Below is a page from the Nærøy Bygdebok about Jacob’s family on the Sadnes farm.

*A page from the Nærøy Bygdebok by Sveinung Leivik*

The text from the Nærøy Bygdebok is roughly translated:

Sandnes, farm unit 7

This land is on the eastern part of the Sandnes farm. As a widow Ane Haldorsdatter lived here with her son Ole Cornelius Nilsen. This section of the farm was portioned in 1853 after Ole died in 1851. His widow, Ingeborg Anna Christophersdatter, got a deed in 1853. Two years later she married Ove Andreas Olsen Setter, from Namdalseid. He came as a child with parents and siblings to Lillevea, where his brother took over the farm. One sister married in Hestlia. Two sisters married in Kolvereid. They all had an urge to emigrate in the 1860’s. It also reached Sandnes. Ove left for the USA in 1866. Two of Ingeborg Annas children of her 1st marriage and 5 from the 2nd followed with their mother the following year [Ove must have returned to escort them, since he is also on the passenger list]. Oles [and Ingeborg Annas] youngest left in 1868.

Ingebor Anna and Ove had 2 horses, 12 sheep, 4 goats and 1 pig. They planted 1 bushel of barley, 4 1/2 bushels of oats and 6 bushels of potatoes. The fields [of the farm] were mixed. Before leaving the farm Ove allowed his brother Cornelius to sell the farm to Ole Johnsen Lien from Stadsbygd … The deed was completed 07.06.1869. The purchase price was 750 spd [spd-speciedaler was the currency of Norway from 1816 to 1875, when it was replaced by the Krona.]

From this book, we learn that Jacob’s father, Ove, was born on the Setter farm and became a husmann on the Sandnes farm when he married Jacob’s mother, Ingeborg, widow of Ole Cornelius Nilsen. The three oldest children in the family are Jacob’s maternal half-siblings and bear the surname of their father Ole.

jacob ove in america

The family settled in Baldwin, Wisconsin after immigrating and can be found as active members of a nearby Lutheran church, which is likely where he met Maren Larsen Haselhaugen, his wife. Although some of Jacob’s records in the US continue under the Olsen/Olesen surname, many of the children chose to use Ove as adults, including Jacob’s half-sister, Anna.