Can anyone assist with a brick wall?

Question

I don't like reaching out for help because I'm the type of person who wants to learn the how-to by mainly asking for tips and tricks but I think I'm passed that point. 

Very long story short:

My mom has been on and off with a few other family members searching for her grandfather for about 20+ years. I've helped here and there throughout the years but never really dived into it. 2 years ago I picked it back up because my mom had her first stroke and her physical and mental health wasn't up to the task (she works much poorly with tech now). I took a year away to specifically learn to research (for my degree non-genealogy related). 6 weeks ago I found out that I wasn't related to the great-grandfather I was told and I dove back in head first. I involved people who have not been searching for them for years to get fresh eyes and break down walls. 2 weeks in, I gave my mother her grandfather's name, and 5 weeks in, I was able to give her her great-grandmother's name and family that can be found all over Byneset, Sor-Trondelag, Norway. 

The brick wall that I need some direction and help on is with my 2x great-grandfather Edward Larsen (1859-1922) and his parents. So far I can track them from England, Netherlands, and Philadelphia but I cannot seem to place him in Norway where the majority of the documents suggest he was born. The US documents that can be found suggest his mother was Jeanette Larsen (1829 or 1835) and his father was Lars/Lewis Larsen. 

There are multiple leads that I've gone down such as one that was born in Orkdal, Norway to Lars and Karen however, further research suggests he's the wrong one because he marries another person and traveled to a different state in the US much more moving back to Norway. 

A few other leads I followed are solely on his DOB which seems to have remained consistent however, the mother either died in Norway or has 1 or 2 children which is far from the suggested amount on her 1910 US Census. 

I have my DNA uploaded to as many free sites (and some paid) as much as I possibly can and have gone through almost everyone (including very low cMs) to see if anyone's tree has something. It's especially hard when many of the matches do not have a tree built, don't provide any information, or are private (and never respond). I went as far as searching 1 specific person at a time and clicking on the profiles of people who own the tree to see if my or my cousins (I collaborate with it) DNA matched the profile. I've even built floating trees in my research tree from matches that have some information to go on and while I made some good connections, it's not to Edward Larsen. 

I'm at a loss and any assistance, advice, tip, or trick anyone can provide that I haven't tried yet is greatly appreciated. 

Ancestry profile: mgkelly0311 - The Migraine-Inducing Lineage
FamilySearch ID:  GQFL-WB4
MyHeritage for Edward Larsen
My Public research spreadsheet

Answer 1

Have you used digitalarkivet.no?  It is the Norway State archives (and free to access).  

Using the detailed person search I was able to find multiple males named something similar to "Edward Larsen" and born about 1859 in the 1865 Norway Census

• Edvard Larsen, son of Lars Larsen and Bertha Maria Syvertsdatter, living in Oppland (0527L Vardal prestegjeld, Vardal sokn og Hunn sokn) - https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038067005283

• Edevart Larsen, son of Lars Olsen and Marte Petersdatter, living in Akerhus (0235P Ullensaker prestegjeld) -  https://digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038022006382 [Seems to be in Norway in 1891]

• Edevart Larsen, son of Lars Evensen and Kjersti Dyresdatter, living in Hedmark (0401B Vang prestegjeld, Hamar kjøpstad) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038028002026

• Edvard Larsen, son of Lars Gundersen and Gunhild Ellefsdatter, living in Buskerud (0624P Eiker prestegjeld) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038091007092 [Seems to be in Norway in 1908]

• Edvard Larsen, son of Lars Olsen and Ragnild Marie Nilsdatter, living in Vestfold (0712P Skoger prestegjeld) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038109000687 [moves to Strømsø in 1871]

• Edvard Larssen, son of Lars Johanssen and Johanna Pedersdatter, living in Nordland (1843L Bodø prestegjeld, Bodø landsokn) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038371001724

• Edvard Larsen, son of Lars Jensen and Johanne Nielsdatter, living in Østfold (0113P Borge prestegjeld) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01037984000441

• Edvard Larsen, son of Lars Simensen and Johanne Hansdatter, living in Akerhus (0229P Enebakk prestegjeld) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038018004004

• Edvard Larsen, son of Lars Eriksen and Karen Fredriksdatter, living in Sør-Trondelag (1638P Orkdal prestegjeld) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038321005099

• Edvard Larsen, son of Lars Andersen and Johanne Andreasdatter, living in Akerhus (0218aP Vestre Aker prestegjeld) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038011009385

• Edvard Larsen, son of Lars Simensen and Martine Syversdatter, living in Østfold (0124P Askim prestegjeld) - https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01037993000035

• Edvard A Larsen, son of Lars Pettersen and Anna N Samuelsdatter, living in Troms (1931P Lenvik prestegjeld) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038394000174

• Edvard Christian Larsen, son of Lars Christensen and Olava Olsdatter, living in Vestfold (0702B Botne prestegjeld, Holmestrand kjøpstad) - https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038102001511

• Hans Edvard Larsen, son of Lars Ellefsen and Amalie Halvorsdatter, living in Vestfold (0724L Sandeherred prestegjeld, Sandeherred sokn) -  https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038120003710

• August Edevard Larsen, son of Torris Larsen and Henrik Andreassen, living in Bergen (1301 Bergen kjøpstad) - https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01038249023087 [Note: Large cities such as Bergen adopted use of surnames much earlier than other parts of Norway.]

Further research would be needed for exact birthdates, but may also be available on digitalarkivet.no, either through the search menu or by going through images page by page (click "Skanna arkiver", scroll down to "Kirkebøker" and click "Bla i kirkebøker Norge", enter parish name for available church book images.) 

Comments

Deb, wow. That's quite a bit you've found. I am familiar with digitalarkivet.no however, I am still getting used to the use of it and my browser translator bites dush.

I'm not new to researching but I am still fairly new to family research and mostly understanding DNA match results. So far from what I can tell, a good portion of my group from these roots are mainly in central and northern Norway. Specifically to the Trondelag area. I have to apologize in advance, I tend to banter when I am nervous or in this case, frustrated. 

I will say that at first look, based on the locations on some of these links, I would have disregarded them but after researching this family and all its name changes, variations, and other things that make me question my sanity, I'm going to research further into each of those bullet points including the few that I see that I think I've looked into already. For all we know he could have come from outer space lol. 

Deb, thank you for providing me with all these links. I really appreciate your work and insights into each of them as well as giving me a base to further research into. If any of these leads are promising or definitive, may I further communicate with you to tell you about what I've found? 

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Meghan,

Yes, feel free to reach out to me.  I would also recommend joining the Nordic Project so you can join the discord.  I'm in the US, but there are more records available only from Norway (or via some VPNs pretending to be in Norway) including bydebøken (farm books).  Other members of the project have access because they are in Norway.

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1361782/have-interest-any-nordic-countries-come-join-nordic-project.

Also, I agree with the translation being not so good.  I have enough knowledge of norwegian to use the records via norwegian and using google translate for the few words I don't know.  - If you switch to English language, it likes to translate place names and farm names.  My relatives end up living in Mountain and Valley (or having those surnames), instead of Fjell parish and Dal parish when I look at records in English.

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Deb,

Yea, that's how I knew that Edward's wife Sophia Larsen aka Ingeborg Iversdatter was from Byneset, Sor-Trondelag is by using VPN and reading the I believe was the 1966 Bydegbok which at first glance would have been the wrong Ingeborg Iversdatter. To a longer story short, the 1966 book had her married to an Anders but thankfully with my cousin's DNA (mothers are siblings) I rallied up 3 or 4 other people whose trees connected to Byneset and we were able to connect Ingeborg/Sophia to the Byneset Bydebok. When my results came in, I matched with others that my cousin did not match with which helped all those gap questions we had about the connection. 

Ultimately after exchanging emails with the Byneset Historielag, I ended up buying bind 1-3 because while most of those roots are in bind 3, quite a few are in bind 1. I'm hoping to complete it and get 4-8 too. 

I'd love to join the Nordic Project as it sounds amazing but I'm not very familiar with researching in Norway so I'm not sure I can be much help until I learn. Could I still join?

Answer 2

Jeanette Larson findagrave ID 255639184

Answer 3

Recommend adding a tag for Norway to catch the interest of those who research there.  Lar's son is too common a name, so the more info you have the better...

Good luck Meghan!

Answer 4

Was Edward Larsen's origin in Norway not revealed through DNA matching clustering, either by employing the Leeds Method or the MyHeritage Autoclustering?

Comments

Vidar, I'm not quite sure what you mean.

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Based on your mention of uploading your DNA to multiple sites, I assumed that you had conducted some clustering studies. From my own positive experience, I believe that such clustering studies can pinpoint the regions in Norway where your ancestors originated, ultimately assisting in finding the person you are looking for.