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RENEE PIGEON
Starting member
USA
16 Posts |
 Posted - 10/03/2021 : 20:18:36
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Hello, I have found a photo of an individual who might be my great-grandfather in the Norwegian Archives. The material hasn't been transcribed & I need help either translating the writing below the photo, or at least transcribing it so I can try to work out a translation with Google Translate and a dictionary. Here is the link: https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/58522/60
He is the second from the right in the top row, Mikal Taraldsen. And yes, it is a mug shot. :)
Thanks for any help you can offer! |
Renee Pigeon |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2021 : 21:06:08
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The first line under his name says "Fisher f(=born) 24 Jan 1863 Henningsvær --- Vardo" And whatever the crime, he was "nicked" for 1 year and 3 months work.
"Rap" sheet:
RA, Botsfengslet, D/Db/Dbb/L0026: 648h - 930h, 1889-1891, s. 38
Brukslenke for sidevisning: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/db10101603300042
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Edited by - jkmarler on 10/03/2021 21:13:02 |
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RENEE PIGEON
Starting member
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 10/03/2021 : 22:53:59
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| Thanks, that's very interesting. My great-grandfather was born in 1856 or '57, according to the 1865/1875 census records, so I wondered about the 1863 birth date in the text under the photo. However, it appears this rap sheet may be listing his parents (?). They were Lars Taraldsen and Suzanne Harviksdatter. And I think it says "confirmed at Lødingen," which is where the census shows them in 1865. Lars Taraldsen was from Stiklestad originally. By the 1900 census Mikkal is listed as "skipper," in Vardo and he was lost in a storm in 1908. I appreciate your help. |
Renee Pigeon |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2021 : 00:43:30
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Lars Taraldsen in 1865 census:
https://www.digitalarkivet.no/en/census/person/pf01038375000460
Mentioned in a newspaper article about Hegstad:
https://www.nb.no/items/81120f0d8a56bf25e7d5d54d76f35952?page=5&searchText=%22Lars%20taraldsen%22
Tora Serina # 45
SAT, Ministerialprotokoller, klokkerbøker og fødselsregistre - Nordland, 874/L1072: Parish register (copy) no. 874C01, 1843-1859, p. 133-134
Quick link: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20050420030628
Micael #41:
Nordland county, Vågan, Gimsøy in Vågan, Parish register (copy) no. 874C01 (1843-1859), Born and baptised 1857, Page 155-156
Quick link: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20050420030641
Mical # 23 Confirmation:
Nordland county, Lødingen in Lødingen, Parish register (official) no. 872A09 (1864-1884), Confirmation 1872, Page 169
Quick link: https://www.digitalarkivet.no/kb20070214700175
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Edited by - jkmarler on 11/03/2021 13:51:05 |
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RENEE PIGEON
Starting member
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2021 : 02:16:55
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Thank you very much! While I had some of these records, the baptismal record for Mikal shows his birthplace and birthday match the criminal record, so for some reason the criminal record lists his birth year as 1863 rather than 1857. I thus think the criminal record must be for him. And the newspaper clippings are very helpful! Does the first suggest that the name of his ship (which I have been trying to find forever) was "Lykkens Prove"? I have just been checking and it appears to have been a sealer.
My grandmother always said he was found frozen in Svalbard/Spitsbergen in spring after his ship was lost; a few years ago I was able to roughly translate (using Google translate and a dictionary) a Norwegian book which described his (unnamed) ship and two others being wrecked in a storm in 1908. It says that the rescue ship, the Eagle, "comes back to Vardo after only twelve days in the east without the search crews hav[ing] found traces of the crews from the Swan and the Gurda. But everything suggests that both crews were still alive. They had left their overwintering sites. However, there was no record [of] skipper Mikkal Taraldsen and his crew." According to this book, they were trying to overwinter in disputed territory to hunt walrus, instead of simply doing the summer hunting that was allowed (a territory dispute between Russia and Norway). I assume my grandmother must have been right about him and his crew having been found dead rather than simply lost in the storm and the author didn't have records/sources indicating that. |
Renee Pigeon |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2021 : 12:55:55
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| Lykken's Prøve according to Google translate means "Test of Luck" |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2021 : 18:29:15
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Yes, "Test of Luck" could be a good translation.
Many ships have been given that name, and even some farms are named "Lykkens prøve". I think the reason behind the name is that the owner of the ship/farm were not sure if it would work out or not; ie. they could lose everything if it failed. They tried/tested their luck... 
The ship "Lykkens prøve" likely disappeared near Novaya Zemlya.
How is your connection to your great-grandfather Mikal Taraldsen?
In the Lødingen Bygdebok, the fisherman Mikal Taraldsen in this topic is not listed with any wife/children.... |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2021 : 21:18:13
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Lykkens Prøve and 2 other ships were believed to be stuck/frozen in the ice near Novaya Zemlya in the winter of 1908. Several rescue expeditions were sent out, but returned without any sight of the ships.
In the summer of 1909, another expedition went out. They visited nearly every port in Novaya Zemlya. They found some info about the two other ships, but for Lykkens Prøve they did not find much reliable info.
The Samoyeds (the indigenous people of Novaya Zemly) reported that they had seen a ship drifting with the ice at Easter and the weeks after.
Some time later a man from that ship arrived and got to stay with the Samoyeds. At the arrival, he was soaking wet, had bad clothes, and looked very miserable. His provisions stock was 3 slices of dark rye bread.
During his stay his clothes were fixed, and he left the port with the Russian postal ship Nicolai headed for Archangelsk. He was a young man, and did not speak Russian, so they had communicated with signs.
The rescue expedition concluded that this young man must have been one of the norwegian crew members from Lykkens Prøve, which had 4 norwegians and 6 russians in the crew. Based on this story, they concluded that the ship had sunk, and that the rest of the crew had perished. |
Edited by - jwiborg on 11/03/2021 21:47:08 |
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ToreL
Advanced member
Norway
842 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2021 : 21:20:57
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| The 2000 book Menn av is og kulde: Kampen om Svalbard (Men of ice and frost: The fight for Svalbard.) by Kjell Fjørtoft contains a few pages on Mikkal Taraldsen and his crew's expedition and disappearance. Together with some similar happenings it led to serious problems in the Norwegian -- Russian relationship. As far as I can see, the book doesn't mention anything about the crew being found, but that may have been beside the point for the book's topic. |
Edited by - ToreL on 11/03/2021 21:21:59 |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2021 : 21:26:13
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The "Rap" sheet says that "born 1863-01-24 in Henningsvær" comes from "his own explanation"; ie. they have not cross-checked it with other records.
So he could have lied about his d.o.b., although I do not see the point of acting as 26 y.o.. vs 32 y.o... very strange indeed.
It sure looks like your guy, so a nice picture to have in your family album! Great find!
Book: Lødingen, Tjeldsund og Tysfjords historie. 1 1 : Gårds- og slektshistorie for Lødingen
Author: Vivian Fjordholm
Published: 1987 |
Edited by - jwiborg on 11/03/2021 21:32:43 |
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ToreL
Advanced member
Norway
842 Posts |
Posted - 11/03/2021 : 21:56:27
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| Two daughters, born in 1893 and 1895 and baptized together in 1896. (#24 and #25) |
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RENEE PIGEON
Starting member
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2021 : 00:51:41
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Thanks to you all! I really appreciate all these contributions.
The Mikal Taraldsen in the Lødingen Bygdebok is definitely my great-grandfather. His sister Tora (husband Ole Johnsen Sollid) who lived in Malvik, Trondheim took in his two daughters, Mary (my grandmother) and Signe when Randine abandoned the family. (Not surprisingly, Randine is a black sheep in our family history). This was when Mary was still very young, as she is with Tora in the 1900 census. The 1900 census shows Mikal as "away in Rus" and Randine living with Johan Johanssen, b. 1885; I believe he was likely her son from an earlier (unmarried) relationship. There is a Randine Hansen in the 1891 Vardo census who may be her (I need to look more closely at those records, though, as I thought I had identified her once before and was wrong). It is interesting that Mikal was single at the time of his arrest; I have not been able to find a record of Mikal and Randine's marriage, but they are listed as husband and wife when their daughters are baptized in 1896. Breaking this into a second post so it's not inordinately long! |
Renee Pigeon |
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RENEE PIGEON
Starting member
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2021 : 01:18:26
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Re: Mikal's death, *Menn av is og kulde: Kampen om Svalbard* is the book I translated a few pages from--very interesting to read of the territorial disputes, and in that book it sounds as though he only loaded enough provisions for summer hunting but planned to overwinter, violating the rules on this. However, that book does not name his ship, so I'm excited to finally discover its name and these further details. It does indeed sound as though the Lykkens Prøve sank. Thank you, JWiborg, for the story of the young man found by the Samoyeds, I have been looking at newspapers in the Norwegian National Library since JK Marler posted yesterday, and translating what I can (I haven't mastered the gothic font yet) and there are several on the missing three ships and hopes that their crews will be able to overwinter and return. According to *Menn av ...* the other two ships finally did return to Vardo in October 1909.
And I am also excited to have a photo of him, even it if is a mug shot. :) Does the rap sheet say anything else about the theft? I couldn't make out the handwriting well enough to transcribe and google-translate it.
My grandmother and her sister emigrated to the US in 1909 after Mikal's disappearance/death via the Salmo and the Empress of Britain. |
Renee Pigeon |
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RENEE PIGEON
Starting member
USA
16 Posts |
Posted - 12/03/2021 : 01:31:05
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[quote]Originally posted by jwiborg
The "Rap" sheet says that "born 1863-01-24 in Henningsvær" comes from "his own explanation"; ie. they have not cross-checked it with other records.
So he could have lied about his d.o.b., although I do not see the point of acting as 26 y.o.. vs 32 y.o... very strange indeed.
That does indeed seem odd. My mother-in-law always lied about her age (as some women once did) but can't imagine why being slightly younger would have any point when he was arrested. His birth year is listed as 1861 in the baptismal records for my grandmother and great-aunt, and also 1861 in the 1900 census (although he was away, so maybe that's just what Randine reported). |
Renee Pigeon |
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Help with translation or transcription
