52 Ancestors- Week 2 Challenge



   Henrikka Hansen. She's one of my greatest genealogical research challenges. Although she is close enough to me in history to be well-documented, I have yet to discover little more about her than her name.

Parish Register 1853-1858, Vår Frue Church, Trondheim, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway

   The parish register entry for the birth and baptism of my 2d great-grandmother, Inger Henriette Holm, lists Henrikka Hansen as her mother. This is the only documentation of her that I have ever found. It offers up a few clues about her, however. She was not married to Inger Henriette's father, Josias Andersen Holm. In fact, he was married to someone else at the time. The word "enke" [widow] appears before her name. So she was married before and widowed. She was a lodger at a place called Islen/Islan in or near the city of Trondheim in Sør-Trøndelag, Norway.

   The go-to source for researching Norwegian ancestry is the National Archives of Norway site, "The Digital Archives." It offers access to digitized parish registers, probate documents, and census records. The parish registers show births, baptisms, marriages, confirmations, deaths, even vaccinations. In- and Out-migration is also recorded.
   I have scoured the archives looking for any bit of information that will allow me to tie her to a family or a farm. I searched using variations of the name Henrikka, e.g., Henrikke, Hendrikke/a, Henriette. I found a few “Henrikka Hansens” that I thought might be her, but they ultimately were too old, too young, or married at the time my 2d great-grandmother was born. I did not find her in the 1865 Census, the 1900 Census, or the 1910 Census. I discovered that she did not raise her daughter, Inger Henriette, who was living as a “fosterpige” [foster girl] on a farm in Ørland, Sør-Trøndelag by 1865. I’ve looked through death records in Trondheim from 1855-1870. I’ve looked at emigration records.  I’ve searched for evidence that she married after giving birth to Inger Henriette. And I have found nothing.

Parish Register 1859-1864, Vår Frue Church, Trondheim, Sør.Trøndelag, Norway

    Except for another out-of-wedlock birth- a daughter, Anna Martine, who died shortly after birth in   December 1859. I'm not sure that this is MY Henrikka Hansen, but she is listed as a widow who is a lodger at a place called Islen/Islan. I found that she never married Martin Andreasen Dahl. He married later and had a family.

   Henrikke is keeping her secrets for now. I hope that as more documents are digitized and made available for research,  I will find that key bit of information that will lead me to her.

 




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