Nes Church, where Thore and Martha were married

Too quick, it’s just flown by, today is the last day of our Norwegian road trip! We’re making the most of it to fit in another side trip through yet more gorgeous scenery, to Hedmark this time, the Norwegian county where the Thoresen rellies came from. First some photos taken on the way of the never ending bridges, colours of the waterways and reflections so sharp you can’t tell which way up the photo should be. These four taken out the car window.

Tim won the chocolate prize for being the first one to spot the Nes (“ness”) Church, built 1250 English-Gothic style, restored 1700 and 1962. What a delight to wander around where the ancestors once did, to go into the church where Thore and Martha were married in 1827, they were Anders’s parents (the one that came to NZ). We tried to imagine how it would have looked and felt back then. The church now covered in whitewash, was probably plain stone, reddish brown colour by the bits we could see where the white paint is scraped off.

They would have had to row a boat across to the nearby island that we drove around and where this photo is taken from - did they ever do that? Are the ancient looking bridal chairs the same ones they would have sat on during their wedding ceremony?? Were any of the portraits of past priests the one that married them? Only one tree looked even close to being large enough to have stood back then. Was it as scenic as it is now or was it heavily forested blocking out the

gorgeous view? So many unanswered questions and the very helpful lady in the information centre (whose daughter is currently in NZ) did her best to come up with more information but not a lot more than we already knew = more research to do when home. She did however help us out with how the names changed, for example a combination of father’s name and the name of the farm or the estate owner they were tenants or peasant farmers for. She also gave us correct pronunciation of the family names, Thore - Too-ra with a short ‘a’ and Thoresen - Too-ra-sen.

BELOW: Karen reading out the family history to the congregation of two.

What we thought were church christening records were church immigration records. Seems to be some issues with dates and poor record keeping, maybe interfamily marriage history. Going back a generation before Thore, the name Bergum featured which the info lady thought would be the name of where he came from or worked, or the estate he worked on. Despite trying hard she was unable to find data on that causing her to think that generation did not come from Hedmark County and maybe the stronger connection will be searching the female side - the Olsdatter name. Thore Anderson (later combined to become the ‘Thoresen’ family name) was christened in 1803 at the Skrautval Church, Nordre Aurdal. He married Marthe Olsdatter (said as spelt) 4 February 1827 at the Nes Church, Hedmark and was the father of Anders Thoresen, born 30 August 1829 in Nord-Aurdal, Oppland. Anders married Olga (known as ‘Lena’) Oldslatter, born 20 July 1835 Grue, Solor, Hedmark = another question, was she related to Marthe?
Anders and Lena are the family pioneers who came to New Zealand on the SS Hovding embarking from Oslo 31 May 1872, arriving Napier 1 July 1872.