INSTALLMENT
#10
[Day 16, Sunday, July 9, 2000]
Peg & Keith
Wheeler's Norway trip report, Summer 2000
Tysvær
Sunday - Slogvik
Brunch, Sandbekken, Tysvær Church, Cleng Peerson Monuments, Old School House,
Slogvik Bruk 1, Fjord Rowing, Ancient Slogvik House Planks.
This
was the day all of the neighboring Slogvik
cousins
were invited to a morning brunch. There
were ten or eleven of us around the dining table which was heavily adorned with
many foods including the fish, cheeses, fresh whole grain breads and fruits we
were beginning to associate with Norway hospitality. The conversation was interesting, lively and fun. Everyone had a great time. The morning was gloriously sunny and pleasant.
<
Sunday brunch at Slogvik farm. Left to
right: Hanna-Marie (her husband Kjell could not attend), Kåre & Gjertrud, Sjur & Berit, Rotraud's daughter Ellen, Sjur & Berit's daughter Eli, Rotraud and Peg with back
to camera. Hanna-Marie, Kåre & Sjur are siblings and 1st cousins to
Einar who was hidden in the corner behind Rotraud.
>
Among
the guests this morning was a young woman, Eli, who had spent a year in the US
on a tour with a medical team as a rehab specialist. She shared with us her amusement at the way many of the Americans
she met assumed she wanted to
emigrate to the US. Many Americans seem
to think that anything that is not US must be "third world." They had not seen what we were able to --
that living in Norway is a very desirable thing. We were aware that the development of North Sea oil had aided
Norway's economy greatly, but we were still very impressed with the high
standard of living that citizens of this country enjoy. We don't know if it is true but we were told
that Norway's standard of living and per capita income was second only to
Kuwait. Other things being equal, it is
understandable that it would be difficult to leave this lushly green,
picturesque and friendly country.
Granted, this was summer. Some
told us that for every pleasantry of summer there is often an equal and
opposite unpleasantry in winter -- these long summer days soon turn into long
winter nights.
After
the company left, Einar went to get his mother so she could go with us to the "Cleng Peerson House" at Sandbekken. Actually this title is quite misleading since this particular
house was built in 1840 and so can hardly be Peerson's birth house since he was
born in 1783 and was living in the U.S. by 1840. Although not known with certainty and bit controversial, he was
born in Lervik and raised in Hesthammer, both quite a bit south of this
place. Moreover, this house was moved
here from elsewhere in 1983. Mostly
Sandbekken serves as an excellent example of the lifestyle around the height of
the emigration period, and since Peerson is known as "The Father of
American Emigration," the name Cleng Peerson's house is not too far
off for this historical point of interest.
Cleng had been sent by the Sloopers to America to make arrangements for
their immigration, and he met them at the dock when they arrived in New York in
1825. While Cleng would have been much
older than Keith's Jacob, records indicate that they traveled together several
times in search for new places to settle in the Midwest. They were also "3rd cousins
once removed.," so they had some family connections too. They both must
have been restless sorts as Cleng eventually settled in Texas and Jacob in
California. Most of the other early
immigrants stayed in upstate New York or the Fox River Settlement in
Illinois. (For more on Cleng, try:
http://www.lawzone.com/half-nor/peerson.htm
Anyway,
back at the Sandbekken site, we were met by
cousin Jostein and Nina Askeland with whom we had visited the day
before. This gave Peg a chance to
remember to say, "Takk for sist."
(Thanks for last time) There was
a pleasant young lady who was a substitute guide for the day. We were her first tour in English. She did a great job. While we were there, other groups came
along. Some had bicycled out to the
country on this fine summer Sunday afternoon at this popular recreation
area. A prominent feature on the ground
floor in this small old house was the large open fireplace and chimney made of
granite and clay. This was used for
both cooking and heating. In the small
upstairs Peg was delighted to find a beautiful antique loom and spinning wheel.
"The Cleng Peerson
House" - in front, left to right: guide, Nina, Jostein, Laura, Einar & Peg.
Coming
out of this old house and after the required group photograph, we next toured
another old house nearby. This one, not
as old as the first, was decorated and furnished as the average Norwegian home
of the 1940's or 50's would have been.
Here in the kitchen another group of visitors were trying their hand
making the famous and delicious Norwegian waffles. Before we could leave this
charming area, Keith had to check out the old stone walled storage building
tucked in the side of a nearby hill. It
was now time to say good-bye to Jostein and Nina.
By
the way, Sandbekken is fairly close to the Slogvik farm, being just over 3 km
as the crow flies. Because of he rugged
terrain it is many times this distance by road. One first has to go south to Hervik, then west, and then
northeast. By road Sandbekken is much
closer to North Askeland where we had been the day before.
(For
on-line pics of Sandbekken with the Cleng Peerson house, see:
http://home.online.no/~eihustve/ht9810sb.htm
and http://www.norwaypost.no/NP/culture/muscleng.html
Our next stop, about 7 km to
the southwest, was the Tysværvag church
cemetery where Laura's husband, and
Einar's father, Edvard was buried recently.
It was a lovely place. Again we
thought of Edvard and how we wished we could have met him. From his resting place the view toward the
fjord was exceptional.
< Tysværvag cemetery view to the west.
We
really liked the Norwegian practice of planting living plants at the grave
site. Each had a small, perhaps 2'x1.5'
plot at the base of the stone where perennials or annual color could be
planted. Everything looked very well
tended. There were names on stones in
this and another cemetery across the road that were familiar. Einar showed Keith where Kari Askeland Dahl
was buried in 1893 and now lies below an old iron grave marker at another nearby
cemetery. Kari, daughter of Inger Slogvik,
would have been Jacob's niece and was Jostein's great grandmother. One really gets the feeling of very deep
family connectedness and rootedness here.
A
very short distance below the church and cemetery is a monument dedicated to
Cleng Peerson. From here we drove
further south through the interesting countryside to Hesthammar. Here, where Cleng most likely grew up on the
Hesthammar farm, was another monument to this prominent person. From this area Einar pointed out the farms
of South Askeland and Hersdal on a hillside to the east. These farms figure into the history of the
family (they were "yellow dots," but that will be explained in the
next installment). From here we drove
south and caught a glimpse the big north sea gas plant at Kårstø on the southern tip of
Tysvær. Rotraud's daughter Sonja works here.
Looping around to the west on another scenic road we returned to
beautiful Tysværvag from a different angle.
Retracing
our way back toward the Slogvik farm, we made a stop at Einar's his old one
room schoolhouse. Einar visited with the fellow who was remodeling it for a
summer place and then we were invited in.
Here Einar reminisced as he pointed out where his desk had once been,
with boys on one side and girls on the other.
In the yard outside, we met a nice little "fjording" or fjord
horse (http://www.imh.org/imh/bw/nfjord.html
) -- the national horse of Norway. Our
friend in California, Cyndi, had asked us to be on the lookout for these. Cyndi loves horses - especially work
horses. She shows her own Belgian,
Kelly, at Draft Horse shows throughout the west. Always on the look out for these sweet horses, we would often see
them from a distance. This one was up
close and personal. These are classy
little work horses. One usually says
"little" because they are small by comparison to the standard Belgian
or Clydesdale we are more familiar with.
Someone along the way had volunteered that they are not used for farm
work anymore but are kept for pleasure.
They reportedly were very a very efficient work animal for the rugged
Norwegian terrain with an ancient history.
Leaving
the old schoolhouse, Einar took Laura home -- she was a bit tired. He then joined us where he had left us off
at his next door neighbor, Kåre's house and farm. Here we tried to identify the site where Jacob's brother,
Anders, had moved the old original Slogvik farmhouse. It was clouding up a bit and rain was threatening. Kåre's wife's
sister, Karen, had come in a truck to help get the cut hay off the ground and
moved to her place. She is a
professional potter with a shop in Haugesund but keeps horses as a hobby. She and her sister, Gjertrud, made quite a
picture out there in the field with their pitchforks tossing the hay over the
fence to be loaded in the truck.
That
evening, Keith took a boat ride with Einar.
Several times Einar and Keith had gone down to their dock by the huge
boulder where fjord boats tied up in olden days. Here were two boats - one fiberglass with an outboard motor that
didn't want to work and Einar's old wooden "Viking" boat. The latter had great character but also a
strong tendency to sink. After repeated
bailing, it was decided that the more modern boat would be the safest way to
experience the fjord. Einar took
comfortably to rowing while Keith enjoyed the ride and took pictures back
toward the Slogvik farm. When Keith
complimented Einar on his rowing skills, Einar modestly mentioned that he had
once won the rowing contest that has been held down the fjord at Hervik.
Another
very special event among the many, many special events:
Meanwhile,
back at the Slogvik farm house, Peg sorted suitcases and repacked in
preparation for leaving in a couple of days.
Shortly after Einar and Keith return from their outing, Einar's
cousin Sjur drove up with two planks tied to the top of his new car. Keith was called out and Sjur explained that
these were planks from the very house where Jacob was born and raised, 
the house that originally
stood here where Einar's new house now stands.
As mentioned, Jacob's brother had moved the house to the south near
where cousin Kåre's house now stands.
Years ago the old house had to be torn down to develop the area for new
farm buildings. Sjur had kept a few of
the old notched and pegged planks thinking he would someday make something from
this ancient wood. Now he was generously
showing Keith these old pieces of wood that were so special. The three men studied the grain and
workmanship of these relics that were
probably made by Jacob's grandfather around 1770. Sjur offered these to Keith if he wanted them. This again was an emotional time for
Keith. There was no way he could easily
get these precious old boards home. A
decision was made, and Einar pulled out his saw and cut off about one foot of
one notched end. This, of course, gave
Peg another packing job and we both were mentally rehearsing how they would
explain this chunk of wood if they were questioned about it going through US
Customs. (This very special piece of
wood was not inspected by Customs and is now on display in a place of honor in
our Mad River home.)
< Sjur Slogvik & Keith >
Preparations
for the Yellow Dot Day: Rotraud, having stayed home this day, now sat down
and planned a detailed itinerary for the next day, which was to be a tour all
around the Tysvær kommune area. The
goal was to visit the myriad of "yellow dots" on a map of various
farms where Keith's various ancestors had lived at various times throughout
various generations. Einar had given
Keith his very own Tysvær map which Keith took on practically all our outings
and was the subject of much study.
Visiting all these places would be a formidable job, but something Keith
REALLY wanted to do. Rotraud assured us
she really wanted to do it too, as many were places she had never been before
either. She further assured us that she needed to do no packing for their holiday
as they weren't taking much.