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jeffohl
New on board
USA
1 Posts |
 Posted - 08/12/2005 : 16:00:51
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| On my grandmother's petition for US citizenship, she listed "Alpa, Stigens, Prestigjeld, Norway as her husband's birthplace. I cannot find this town and do not understand how the towns, counties, etc. relate. For example, is Stigens a city and is Prestigjeld a county or district or what? I will appreciate any help in this area as it is key to writing my mother's biography. Thank you. Jeff. |
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Trond
Moderator
Norway
174 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2005 : 16:30:21
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This must be Alpøya, Steigen parish, Nordland (County), located north of Bodø in the Lofotfjord.
Differents spelling is Alpø, Alpøen, Steigen, Stegen
Alpøya |
Trond Austheim |
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kaare n
Medium member
Norway
114 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2005 : 17:30:47
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Can you give us some birth dates and some names.
Kåre |
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Hopkins
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3351 Posts |
Posted - 08/12/2005 : 20:49:32
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Prestegjeld is a 'clerical district'. In earlier records Norway was divided into sokn/sogn = parish and there were usually several parishes in each prestegjeld = clerical district. We English speakers usually say that Norway is divided into 'counties' - but think of them as more like Canadian provinces or Swiss cantons ("state" is a bad comparison because state usually means an entire country outside the US). So 'fylke' (the Norwegian word) = county/province. Before they used the word 'fylke' - they called the largest administrative divisions of the country 'amt' and much earlier than that it was 'stift' (but I think that has it's source in church organizational structure -- I could be very wrong).
I'm not going to attempt to explain the current modern administrative divisions of Norway - I goof that up every time I try.
Sometimes our Norwegian emigrant ancestors said they were from a town called 'such-and-such' when actually they were from a farm or closely grouped set of farms called 'such-and-such'. And some of those farm clusters in Norway were probably actually larger than the tiniest little town in the US midwest where they moved to - so it seemed right to explain it that way to the kids.
My own Grandmother always said she was from Bergen - actually she only boarded the ship to leave from the port of Bergen. She was born far away from Bergen. I think she didn't understand the question - she probably wasn't asked 'Where were you born?' but 'Where did you come from?'. English is tricky that way. |
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Request for Info on Alpa, Norway
