Part 1 - Finding Frøystad
I had long ago learned that Froistad was the name of a place (likely a farm) in Norway, but I had no idea where it was located, and little idea of how to go about finding it. Growing up, I was aware of very little regarding my family history. I knew my grandparents as simply "Nana and Papa" on my mother's side, and "Grandma and Grandpa" on my father's side. I knew my mother's side was mostly German, and my father's side was mostly Norwegian. My mother had grown up in the San Francisco Bay area, and my father in South Dakota - these were the places I associated with "family history." I didn't realize it at the time, but the man I called "Grandpa" for many years was not my biological grandfather, he was my grandma Ella's second husband. I don't know when I first learned that I had a grandfather I had never met. Grandpa Irvin Froistad (pictured above with Ella and their three boys, including my dad, Larry, at far right) had died of a heart attack at about the age of 47. Beyond the four grandparents I knew as a boy, there was very little I knew - or was very interested to know - about my family histories. Well into my 20s, I likely could not name any of my great-grandparents - including my great-grandfather Ivar Froistad, in the right side photo, above.
My interest in the family history was piqued on a couple of occasions – once when my brother Larry sent what I thought was an impressive family tree he had developed, primarily featuring my Grandma Ella's side - the Runestad family. Another event that helped my interest grow was a Runestad family reunion in South Dakota in 2008, in which old photos were brought, and old stories shared. But with some interest in learning more about my heritage, it was still overwhelming to know where to begin. With four grandparents, where do I begin to focus my efforts? I found myself naturally most interested to begin exploring the Froistad line - most likely because Froistad is a name I see, and use, every day. And I think I was more interested to answer one question than any other - if "Froistad" is derived from a place in Norway, where is it, or does it even still exist?
Over the years, I would periodically try internet web searches on “Froistad” but none of the results would ever suggest a place or location. So in March of 2012, on a whim, I decided to try again. It had probably been a few years since my last try, so I think I was just hoping that somehow, there might be information now available that wasn’t previously. I don’t recall all that I was doing that was different from previous searches, although I do know I had managed to find a post my brother had made many years ago (it’s dated September of 1995) on a web forum related to Norwegian ancestry. His inquiry pertains to Ivar Froistad - my great-grandfather (pictured at the top of this page, in the right side photo). Here’s the text of the post (and here's the link), which did not receive any online replies that would have provided any additional guidance:
“I'd like to hear from anyone who knows about the kommune of Heroy in
the Sore Sunnmore district of More og Romsdal fylke, Norway. My
great-grandfather Ivar immigrated around the turn of the century from a
place there called Froystad, hence our family name, Froistad.
“Ivar lived 9 May 1879 - 16 Apr 1960. His father's name was Erik. I'd
very much appreciate more information about them in particular, but more
general information about the area would also be great.”
So I began searching, armed with this additional information. Adding “Heroy” started to produce results that appeared promising. Additionally, at some point I began using the Norwegian “ø” character in my searches, and tried different spellings – “Frøistad,” as well as “Frøystad,” which also seemed to provide better results. Soon, I was making discoveries that appeared to match what I was looking for. And then, one day, it happened - I found the Frøystad farm, located on an island called Leinøy in Herøy. It was such an exciting discovery!
In addition to the farm itself, I found an online photo of a small mountain called Frøystadtua, with a photo from the top looking down on the area where Frøystad was located. I quickly notified my father of my discovery, and asked if he had ever been aware of the location of Frøystad, and told him that I think I had found it. His reply indicated that he was not aware that a place called Frøystad still existed. This discovery was, for me, the beginning of a new interest in digging into my family history, and the Froistad line in particular.
My enthusiasm, however, would soon give way to doubt. As I continued to seek to confirm this as the location of my ancestors, I ran into difficulties. I don’t recall now what the main source of difficulty was, but at that point I may have discovered the Norwegian Archives website, and could not locate any further information about the Herøy farm to make a positive identification. The Norwegian Digital Archives site includes census data, emigration records, as well as copies of parish registers for online viewing. So I was probably trying to find instances of any of the family names located on the Frøystad farm in Herøy, and wasn’t getting anywhere. I was also aware of another post from my brother, which provided information that was a bit different from the other post, though I didn’t realize it at the time. Here’s the other post, dated December 1995 (and here's the link):
“I'm looking for more information about Ivar Froistad, born 1879 may 9 in
Breim, Nordfjord, Norway, emigrated to America in 1900. His parents were
Erik and Ingeborg (Erik's father was Ingebrigt), his siblings were
Rachel, Marie, Gyda, Ida, Ingebrigt, Aksel and Ingolf. If anyone can add
to this, I'd be grateful.”
Like the earlier post, this one has still received no online replies that would provide any help. The identification of Breim in the post is significant, since Breim is located some 50 miles away from Leinøy, and is in Sogn og Fjordane, a different county (or fylke) from the Frøystad farm on Leinøy. After some searching, I did manage to find a farm called Frøystad near Breim. But I recall that I approached this discovery with some skepticism. On the one hand, this farm seemed to be a slightly better fit for what little information I had access to. On the other, I began to wonder just how many farms there might be called Frøystad in Norway, and if I might not ever be able to say with certainty that I had found the correct one. The Norwegian Archives website (arkivverket.no) was proving to be awfully difficult to navigate and figure out - compounded by the fact that some pages have the option of being translated into English, but later down the search pipeline, search pages and results switch to Norwegian only. I would also learn that there is little consistency as to whether the farm should be spelled “Frøystad” or “Frøistad”, and other issues of naming conventions were difficult to understand.
One of my first confirmations that I was on the right track with the farm near Breim was finding on the arkivverket.no website the Emigration record for Ivar Froistad, which identified him as emigrating “over Bergen from Gloppen.” Gloppen is a parish in Sogn og Fjordane that includes Breim, so this seemed to fit. Then I was able to view scanned copies of the parish registers from the church in Breim, and found the birth/baptism record for Ivar in 1879. If there was any doubt that this was my great-grandfather, the baptism entry also listed both parents – Erik Ingebrigtsen and Ingebor Akselsdatter, as well as the year of birth for each (1846 and 1843, respectively). This was a match for what little information I had to start with (see also my brother’s post, above), so I grew in confidence that I was now looking at the right farm.
Another encouraging find was that the Norwegian Digital Archives had “searchable” census data for the Frøystad farm for the years 1801, 1865, 1900, and 1910. These census records would show the habitants of each household on the farm at the time of the census. I observed that there was not just one family that lived on a farm at a time. Often, the farm was home to several households, which were not necessarily closely related to each other. For example, the 1865 census records 6 Frøistad households, while the 1900 census documents 5 households. Households appear to often house 3 generations, sometimes more. The 1801 census needed some detective work to get it to be of any help, but the others quickly confirmed that not only was Ivar born on the Frøystad farm in Breim, but that the family had been on the farm for quite some time. Ivar does not appear on any of the censuses, having been born after the 1865 census and emigrating just prior to the 1900 census. But Ivar’s father Erik appears in the three later censuses. The 1910 census lists Breim as Erik’s place of birth. The censuses also reveal an interesting bit of trivia – Erik’s grandmother, Soffie, had remarried (probably due to the death of her first husband). The 1865 census shows that both Soffie and her new husband (20 years her junior) lived in the house with Erik and his father Ingebrigt. Soffie’s husband is identified in the census as “stepfather,” and is named Iver Iversen. This Iver, who was still living in the home with Erik at the time of the 1900 census, is almost certainly the namesake of Erik’s son Ivar.
I somehow came upon an online map service that incorporates the names and locations of the farms – to the point of graphically representing the individual buildings that are currently standing on the farm when zoomed in. Clicking on the map image to the left will open a slightly larger version of the map. Here's a link to a very large version of this map that covers all of Breim.
This map service includes an option to overlay an antique, hand drawn map of the area that also incorporates the farm locations – although I don’t know exactly just how old the map is (suspect it is 1800s). Clicking on the map image will open a slightly larger version of the map. And here's a link to a very large version of this antique map that also covers all of Breim. One interesting discovery on the antique map is yet a third spelling of the farm – “Frøjstad.” In looking at the map, I had yet another confirmation that I was looking at the right Frøystad farm. Where Frøystad is located, there are three farms clustered somewhat closely together, and they are somewhat isolated from the other farms in Breim. The other farms in the cluster are called Årdal and Bogstad, and the latter is significant because Ivar’s mother was Ingeborg Akselsdatter Bogstad, suggesting that Erik hadn’t gone far to find a wife. Some mapping programs (such as Bing Maps) that do not incorporate Norway’s farm data will only recognize the existence of Årdal, considered a more or less the village (Årdalgrenda = Årdal hamlet). Until recently, I thought that a Google maps or Google Earth search for Frøystad would not be helpful, but I have found that a search for “Frøystad, Breim, Norway” using Google Maps or Google Earth results in a match for the farm in Breim. If you do navigate to Breim or Frøystad using Google maps, you can explore the area using Google street view.
This photo shows the peak Daurmål as seen from across the lake Breimsvatnet. Årdalgrenda, the hamlet where the farms Årdal, Frøystad, and Bogstad are located, can be seen just below the snowline, and just left of the center of the photo. Click on the photo to see a larger version.
This photo shows Årdalsstøylen, which is the mountain pasture at the top of the hill above Frøystad (just out of view in the above photo). As I understand it, Årdal, Frøystad, and Bogstad all had use of this place and used it as a summer pasture for their cattle. Click on the photo for a larger version (this photo found on Google Earth/Panoramio.com).
For more information, here's an online article about Årdalsstøylen (all in Norwegian).
This photo is another that I found on Google Earth/Panoramio.com. This photo was taken from the north end of Breimsvatnet, looking south. Breim church can be seen, and Froystad is about 5 miles south of here. Click on the photo for a larger version.
Also,I found an article about the construction of the first major road from Breim to Ardal (I think). Time to fire up your favorite translation engine!
NEXT - Goto Part 2