Ancestors of the Day for 08 Mar: Mary’s 3rd great grandparents Jorend Gjermundsdatter (b 23 Jun 1793 in Vestre Slidre, Valders, Norway and d 03 Aug 1840) and Jon Anfindson Lommen (b 18 Dec 1779 and d 29 Aug 1842) were married 08 Mar 1815, this day two hundred years ago! It was a Wednesday.
All nine of their (known) children survived to adulthood. Jorend and Jon both died when their youngest children were quite small. One daughter died aged 28 in Norway; her widower then married her younger sister, and they raised their family in Norway. The other seven children emigrated to the US. The story of the children and subsequent generations is told in the Lommen Family History book, hand-collected, typed, bound, and distributed to family members in the 1960s by several dedicated descendents. It’s not published for sale, but a copy is on file at the Minnesota Historical Society Library. http://www.worldcat.org/title/lommen-family-history/oclc/19213974, and it’s on microform at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Here is the image of their marriage entry in the Slidre parish records. Jon Anfindson [Haugen?], age 36; I can’t make out the term before his first name. Usually the term refers to social and/or marital status (ie bachelor, farmer, widower). Could it maybe read “Ungkarl” (bachelor)? Jorend Gjermundsdatter Lommen, age not listed, was stated as “Pigan” (maiden or unmarried woman).
Interestingly, I can trace both my paternal grandfather John Benjamin Blixrud and my paternal grandmother Alma Marie Onstad Blixrud back to this couple. One of those things another cousin refers to as “circularities”.