Finnestad Ancestry

Barnel Oluf Oleson was the 11th and final child born to Ole and Mari Finnestad. Church records from the Hetland church in Stavanger, Norway document Barnel's birth and death. Below is a photo* of the "Our Lady Church" or "Hetland Church" Barnel was born July 8, 1866 and died February 18, 1868. *Photo by Arne Toftøy-Anderson

I had previously posted about the Finnestad family and the purchase of the Finnestad farm. Here is a copy of the 1863 parish immigration records for Ole, wife Mari and children when they moved from Fister to the Hetland parish, just north of Stavanger. They are listed as entry #17. Sometimes the document blurs when you enlarge it so here is a link to the website if you want to see a better copy.

The Frue community was located within the municipality of Hetland. According to Wikipedia: Hetland is a former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It was created as Hetland formannskapsdistrikt in 1837. On 1 July 1922 Randaberg was separated from Hetland to create a municipality of its own. The split left Hetland with a population of 10.167. In addition, areas of Hetland were moved to Stavanger in 1867, 1879, 1906, 1923 and 1953. On 1 January 1965 the districts of Riska and Dale with 2.077 inhabitants became a part of Sandnes. The rest of Hetland, with 20.861 inhabitants, was incorporated into Stavanger. Randaberg is a municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway, located just to the north of Stavanger. Randaberg was separated from Hetland July 1, 1922. The northernmost conurbation of Stavanger/Sandnes can be found here. The name The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the farm Randaberg (Norse Randaberg ), since the first church was built there. The first ele...

The next few entries I will be revisiting the areas of Norway where the Olson/Finnestad family had lived prior to moving to America. The family of Ole and Mari started in the county of Rogaland, municipality of Hjelmeland, community of Fister. Based upon documents I have found, Ole and Mari lived in Fister from at least the time of their marriage, July 4, 1844 until November 3, 1862 when they purchased a farm in the county of Rogaland to the municipality of Hetland, community of Frue, where the Finnestad farm was located.