Instructions for using this site
When searching a genealogical database there are a couple of things you should bear in mind. 1) The spelling you have given your ancestor may NOT be the same spelling chosen by
the administrators of the database. Remember, our ancestors were at the mercy of the people recording the names in the various church records and census records. Also, the exact
spelling of our ancestors' names was less important to them as it is to us today. An individual might be baptized as Eirik Olsen but married as Erik Olson or perhaps Eric Olsen.
Therefore it is a good idea to keep various spellings in mind when searching the database. 2) The year of birth in the database may be different than the actual birth year.
In official records sometimes an age will be given rather than an exact day of birth, so when calculating a birth year one could be off as much as two years. With that in mind below
are a few guidlines for a successful search in the Valdres Samband Genealogical Database.
Contents
We have NOT standardized any names. What this means is that a Kristian may appear as Kristian, Kristen, Christian, Christen and perhaps even Xristian depending on what record we
pulled his name from.
You should start by putting in the least amount of data as you can and then narrowing your search from there. In other words do not put so much specific data in the search
fields that you eliminate your ancestor from the search results.
1) Use both the First Name field and the Last Name field. Remember that the patronymic and the farm name will both be in the Last Name field
2) Use a year of birth. If your ancestor was born in 1838 give a range of +/- 2 years or maybe 5 years.
3) Use a place of birth. If you know the farm Gård Number and Bruk Number then use that. If don't you know the farm then use kommune name. Not sure if it was Vestre Slidre or Øystre Slidre
then use "contains" Slidre in the birth place. This works for Sør-Aurdal and Nord-Aurdal as well. Just use Contains Aurdal.
4) Still cannot narrow it down? If you put in the gender of the individual then put in the last name of their spouse this is a good way of narrowing as well. Remember though to not
put in the who;e last name but use as little of the name as possible to get the results. Example instead of putting "Andreasdatter" use "And". Even though it will pull pull back
all the Andersdatters it will still narrow your search.
The search
Example
Let's say we are looking for a man named Ole Andersen born about 1830 in either vestre or øystre slidre. We know he married to _________________. So the best way to search for this person
To make these characters you hold down the ALT key and press the followingkeys on the number pad
Farm Names and Patronymic Names Patronymic Names
FARM NAMES
Do not assume that the farm name that you assigned to your ancestor is the same farm name that exists in the Valdres Genealogy Database. In the old days a farm name was changed when an indivdual moved from one farm to the next so they were not usually static.
PATRONYMIC NAMES
The -sen/-son and -datter names are patronymic names and are created by taking the father's first name (or a version of it) and adding the suffix -sen or -son on it for boys and -datter on it for girls.
One of the most common questions we receive is; “which farm did my ancestor come from?”
So, we are attempting to provide this exact information, when possible, in this database. We
are beginning to add this data under the “BIRTH” place field. There, you will find a farm name
followed by a series of numbers. These numbers identify the exact place of the property based
on the Norwegian farm numbering system known as the “matrikkel” system.
The Matrikkel system was first put in place in the early 1700’s and has evolved and changed
over time. Its original intent was not only to create a list of existing places but to be used in
assigning appropriate taxation rates.
By the latter part of the 1800’s this system used 2 numbers: the first number identified the
farm(gaard), the second number identified the subdivisions of each farm which were known as a
“bruk”. These numbers were abbreviated as Gnr(gaard number) and Bnr(bruk number).
For our database purposes we will simply write the farm name followed by a series of numbers
divided by “/“. Here is an example from Vestre Slidre: Trøyflat 55/2. The name of this property
is Trøyflat. It is located under farm(gaard) #55, which is Nedre Vik, and is subdivision(bruk)
#2.
Below you will see an example of Høve 30/4 Vestre Slidre and Lome 33/2 Vestre Slidre and how they appear in the database.
