Kjeld Tomassen (abt. 1624 - 1705)

Born about 1624 in Bjørntvet søndre, Solum, Telemark, Norge [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 1705 at about age 81 in Bjørntvet søndre, Solum, Telemark, Norge

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Leif Biberg Kristensen [send private message]

Biography

Kjeld Tomassen was born in Norway

This profile is part of the Solum, Telemark One Place Study.

Kjeld was born about 1624.^[1]

In the 1664 census there are two resident farmers on Bjørntvet søndre: The widow Gunild, and Kield 40 years old, each using 5 hides' tax worth of land.^[1] Gunild may have been Kjeld's mother.

Kjeld must have been married at least 3 times.

• His daughter Lisbet is not mentioned in the probate after Maren Rasmusdatter.^[2] She can not have been a full sibling of his other surviving children mentioned in the probate below, and must have been a daughter of a previous marriage. As Lisbet seems to be born about 1654, she is most likely of his first marriage.
• Another wife, probably the second, was Kirsti Lucasdatter, daughter of the Eidanger Lensmann Lucas Povlsen. This marriage must have been rather brief and is known to have been childless from a Tingbok (petty court journal) record in 1660, where Lucas waives any claim to inheritance after his deceased daughter.^[3]
• His third wife was Maren Rasmusdatter.^[2] She must also have been married before, to a man named Ole, with whom she had a daughter Maren.

He died as a widower in 1705 at Bjørntvet søndre, Solum.^[4]

A probate after the deceased Kjeld Tomassen was held at the Bjørntvet søndre farm 26 October 1705. The inheritors were his four children:

• Thomas Kielsen, living at this farm,
• Olle Kielsen, living at Røra,
• Lisbet Kielsdatter, living at Porsgrund,
• Lifwe Kielsdatter, living at Elset, all being of age and present.^[5]

5 children are known:

1. Lisbet Kjeldsdatter, born about 1654.^[5]
2. Tomas Kjeldsen, born about 1660.^[2]
3. Ole Kjeldsen, born about 1662.^[2]
4. Live Kjeldsdatter, born, roughly estimated, about 1666.^[2]
5. Kirsti Kjeldsdatter, born, roughly estimated, about 1670.^[2]

Research Notes

In the Solum bygdebok, Toralf Gjone^[3] has a very simplified view of this family. He writes that

"Kjeld was married second time to Maren Rasmusdatter, and they had 5 children: the sons Tommes and Ole, and the daughters Maren married to Niels Klyve, Live married to Isak Elset, and Lisbet, unmarried and living at Porsgrunn."

He has no explanation of why the daughter Maren has the patronym "Olsdatter" and is unmentioned in Kjeld's probate. Neither does he have an opinion about why Lisbet is missing from Maren Rasmusdatter's probate. As seen from Kjeld's probate, Lisbet is indeed "living at Porsgrunn" in 1705, but rather than being unmarried, she is a widow with five children. Gjone could easily have discovered this fact for himself by looking through the card file of probate extracts that he had at his disposal.^[6]

I count at least three glaring errors in this single sentence. Regrettably this is rather the rule than the exception throughout the book.

Leif Biberg Kristensen-547 2019-2023

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Scanned Norwegian Census records at Digitalarkivet. Ministerial male census 1664-1666. Volume 12: Øvre Telemark deanery, Nedre Telemark deanery, Bamble deanery. Solum parish 2 Nov 1664 page 163 ff. Bjørntvet søndre.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5} Scanned Norwegian Probate records at Digitalarkivet. Nedre Telemark Sorenskriveri SAKO/A-135/H/Hb/Hba/L0004, 1696-1701 page 205a. Bjørntvet søndre i Solum 3 Jul 1699: Maren Rasmusdatter.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Toralf Gjone: Solum bygds historie. Volume II (Skien: Solum kommune, 1962). Bjørntvet søndre, page 238-239.
4. ↑ Scanned Norwegian Church records at Digitalarkivet. Solum parish, Telemark. SAKO/A-306/F/Fa/L0001: Parish register (official) no. I 1, 1701-1716. Chronological list page 82. 14 Oct 1705: er død Kield Biørntuedt.
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Scanned Norwegian Probate records at Digitalarkivet. Nedre Telemark Sorenskriveri SAKO/A-135/H/Hb/Hba/L0006, 1703-1709 page 117b. Bjørntvet søndre i Solum 26 Oct 1705: Kield Tommesen.
6. ↑ (See probate after Lisbet's husband Hans Tolfsen in 1703. I have a copy of Erling Gjærum's extract of this probate, among many others that he wrote specifically for the Bygdebok, and the contents leave no doubt about the relationships. It may also be worth mentioning that Hans and Lisbet were living on "Bjørntvetgrund" in West side Porsgrunn, ie. on the very premises of the farm that Kjeld was owning. LBK)

Acknowledgements

Tomassen-39 was created on 31 March 2018 from the Solumslekt database ID # 73 by Leif Biberg Kristensen.