Given Names in 1701

The census of 1701 that can be found at Digitalarkivet contains 72 men living in Sandefjord. Their names are quite varied; there is a total of 38 given names among them, distributed like this:

The women - 6 in number - are too few to give an impression of preferences: there are 6 names among them

Dreadful, innit?

Here’s the sad situation of Anders Amundsen, a dignified person of 51 years in 1701, so born around 1650.

Not much is known about him, but he is noted in the census of 1701 for the County of Laurvig, as registered by Ketil Firing Hansen at Digitalarkivet[1].

At this time he was the sacristan in the local church (presumably, the one of Sandar parish, to use the modern designation, which included Sandefjord till late in the 19th century).

In any case, Anders is in Sandefjord, he has a job, but he has no residence allocated to him as an assistant to the vicar – the “degn”, derived from “deacon” but not quite the same function.

Given that he is already well and truly middle aged, and as the job probably didn’t pay all that much, he probably had to rent housing in Sandfjord, expensive even if he had not had to house a couple of sons, too: Amund, aged 13, and Anders, 11.

The latter is noted as “at home”, perhaps implying the elder one was already in service somewhere, but there is no evidence either way.

In any case, Anders Amundsen was been sufficiently aggrieved to notify the census-taker, even if the vicar lived closed by. One wonders who the vicar was at this time – or perhaps there was none?

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[1] http://www.digitalarkivet.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=mt07071701&metanr=2617

Early teachers in Sandefjord

Siffrt Jensen is described as “Skolemester” – School Master – in the register of probates for Larvik 1672 – 1812 that can be consulted at www.digitalarkivet.no.

He is described as the son of Jens Hansen, whose estate was finally closed 16.06.1676, and who is described as living in Sandefjord; whether the son, too, did so is not explicitly noted. In any case, the entry is evidence of the existence of a teacher in, if not Sandefjord itself, the neighbourhood as early as latter half of the 17^th century.

The ”1701-manntalet frå Larvik grevskap”, also from digitalarkivet, contains a record of Niels Bentzøn, described as “Skollemester” in Sandefjord.

According to the same above-mentioned register, in 1746, there was a “skoleholder” – someone who keeps a school and, presumably, teaches – in Sandefjord, glorying in the name of Christian Cassius. He was married to a woman called Anna Christina Ulrichsdtr Hassel of what seems to have been a family in Larvik.

In 1801, the teaching profession was somewhat expanded. In the census for Sandherred of that year we find Mathis Hansen Raastad living in Sandefjord, 24 years old and lodging with Mathis Gutormsen Berg in house 27 in Østre Gade, as well as Jens Pedersen Bøeg, 22 years old, living in the house of merchant and ship-owner Wilhelm Olsen Goen at house 14 in Væstre Gade. Described as “conditionerende”, his occupation is given as “Studiosus og informator”, which can easily be interpreted as a student who has come home, or gone somewhere, to make a few bob teaching privately. At any rate, probably a teacher of some description.

One might note, that in the surrounding Sandeherred parish, which contained Sandefjord at the time, there were an additional three individuals associated with the teaching profession: Lars, 21 years old and liv, is described as “Skoeleholder” at the age of 21; from the context it looks like he is son of Ditmng at From Søndreand Lasen, but that would have made his mother 48 when she gave birth. Possible, but perhaps not likely. The others were Ole Olsen , 34,living at Tuve, also “skoeleholder”, and “Skoelemester” Halvor Johnsen, aged 64, living at Houhem, and at this stage a widower.