Poking into family history is often exciting. You piece together stories, chase down leads, make discoveries in unexpected places, and delve into forgotten customs, history, and lifeways. All of this is even more fun when you stumble across people who can join you for the journey. Back in March and April of 2020, when we…
Erik Olsen Vangen and the Isle of Empire
One day in the late 1870s or early 1880s, two English brothers arrived in Aurland, Norway. William and Charles Ingram were wealthy tourists who had come—as many did in those years—to hunt reindeer in the mountains. Willie and Charlie, as they called each other, were a bit of a package deal, constant companions and seemingly…
Mari and the Warming-Cradle
Mari Kristensdatter Ohnstad was my great-great grandmother. She lived at the Ohnstad farm in Aurland, Norway from 1853–1939. One day at the end of June, 1911, someone came running down from the big house at Ohnstad grend, the one at Johansgarden, and asked Mari for her help. Kristi Iversdatter’s child had come early—two months early….
Mari and the Salmon-Lords: Postlude
This post relates to a series of six previous posts on the intertwined history of my great-great grandmother Mari Kristensdatter Ohnstad and the larger-than-life Salmon-Lords who came to Aurland in the 1850s. If you haven’t yet read the series, I recommend that you begin with the first post. In the full, warm sun of a…
Mari and the Salmon-Lords, Part 5
This post is the fifth in a series. If you haven’t yet read the preceding parts, it is recommended that you begin with the first post. After the Old Lord’s death, his fishing leases were taken over by his son, the Little Lord—now the third Baron Garvagh—and by Wigrams (Aurlandselvi) and Ingrams (Flåmselvi). Less elevated…
Mari and the Salmon-Lords, Part 4
This post is the fourth in a series. If you haven’t yet read the preceding parts, it is recommended that you begin with the first post. As she entered her teenage years, in the 1860s, Mari likely would have needed to take on many of the household duties. Her grandmother Randi turned 80 in the…
Mari and the Salmon-Lords, Part 3
This is the third post in a series. If you haven’t yet read the preceding parts, it is recommended that you begin with the first post. My great-great grandmother Mari, who was called Mari på Bakken, Mari of the Hill, or Hill-Mari, was just one year younger than the boy Charles John who was to…
Mari and the Salmon-Lords, Part 6
This post is the sixth in a series. If you haven’t yet read the preceding parts, it is recommended that you begin with the first post. It was a cold February day, at the height of winter in 1884, when Mari’s husband Vebjørn took his fishing gear up the river to Lake Vassbydgi (Vassbygdevatnet). She…
Mari and the Salmon-Lords, Part 2
This post is the second in a series. If you haven’t yet read the preceding parts, it is recommended that you begin with the first post. Charles Henry Spencer George Canning was the second Baron Garvagh and a large landowner from the village of Garvagh, County Derry (Londonderry), northern Ireland. He had more than 8,000…
Mari and the Salmon-Lords, Part 1
My great-great grandmother Mari Kristensdatter Ohnstad was known to the folk of Aurland, Norway, as Hill-Mari (Mari of the Hill, Mari på Bakken). For much of her life, Mari shared her namesake hill with some larger-than-life figures. This series examines how Mari’s life intertwined with theirs, and this post introduces us to the Salmon-Lords. A…
Fields and Fjords 