Translate

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Our Genealogy Tour - Norway (Part Two - The Borstad Farm)


On the second day we met with a cousin named Trond Borstad who also still lived in Gjovik. He lives on and currently owns the original family farm. It was build in 1803, the same year as the Vardal church.





My husband's great great grandfather was born in that house!







The view from the backyard




The back of the house...




All these rocks were dug out of the ground by hand. Trond was kind enough to let us take one home with us to put in our garden. I intend to paint our last name on it eventually although I haven't gotten around to it yet. That will be an entirely different blog post.



The farm has been in the family the entire time. Trond's mother was married to my husband's great great great grandfather, but he is related by marriage only, not blood. He is a son from her first husband. He was so generous I was blown away. We arrived unannounced and yet he invited us in, put out coffee and cake. He even called the local priest to meet with us and give us a tour of the church.



Inside the church entry









My father-in-law in the pulpit



They let us go up in the rafters in the bell tower. There were signatures up there of the men who built the church. 




They even let my father-in-law and husband put their names up there. Pretty neat!



The view from the bell tower. You can even see the farm from there!



The door to the church, it had the year  it was build right in the lock.


The cemetery is right outside the church. There were even Borstads still buried there.













Before we left the priest even gave us a copy of the book he wrote about the history of the church! I told you everyone was super nice in Norway!