Finnestad Ancestry

Here is a map of southwestern Norway that shows the locations where the earliest Finnestad family resided throughout the ages: Click on the map to enlarge it. As I mentioned the previous post, the earliest known ancestor (Torgeir, last name unknown) was born around 1390. While I have been unable to confirm where he lived, his grandson was born around 1434 and died in Vikedal. It's probably likely that Torgeir (Gen #1), his son Ingemund Torgeirsen (Gen #2), grandson Torgeir Ingemundsen (Gen #3), and great grandson Torkell Torgeirsen (Gen #4) also lived in the same area, Vikedal. Vikedal is depicted as point "A" on the above map. In 1521, Torgeir Ingemundsen's son Torkell Torgeirsen was born in Vikedal but died in Sauda. Sauda is depicted as point "B" on the above map. Vikedal to Sauda is 50 kilometers. (31 miles). It wasn't until the 13th generation when my great great great grandparents, Ole and Mari Olson moved to Fister, Norway. Fister is depicted ...

Here is a photo taken by a photo-blogger named Tanty Blåtind in Stavanger, Norway. Here is the link to her Stavanger photo blog: http://stavangerphotobytanty.blogspot.com/ Her comments in reference to the above photo: Finnestad is an area just North of Stavanger. It used to be a few farms there but now a lot of the area is taking by private homes and companies. Especially towards the sea there is a harbour for North Sea use, Risavik Base. There is still a lot of farm lands in this area, and this is one of them.

Here is another link from a Norwegian website that lists the farm where our ancestors had farmed: http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/navnegransking/rygh_ng/rygh_soek.prl?s=e&AMT=&start=Search&HERRED=&SOGN=&GNAVN=finnestad&GNR=&LITTREF=&REFORDF=&BIND=&SIDE=&SOEKESTRENG=&med_amt=on&med_herred=on&med_sogn=on&konkordanse_streng=hurtigliste&sort_tfunn=-&sort_amt=1&sort_herred=2&sort_sogn=3&sort_gard=4 Click on option #4 (should indicate farm #31) for the correct farm. Sorry but I cannot translate for you. :) Farming in those days and in Norway was different than the way Americans are used to farming, but here is another web link that explains it better (or more confusing) than I could: http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~norway/na27.html

It was customary in Norway to take the farm name as the family name. Prior to arriving in America, Ole Finnestad was known as Ole Olson. According to the Regional State Archives of Stavanger, in 1862, Ole Olsen bought a farm from Bjørn Larsen. The following link provides some farm information along with the family members in 1865: http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&sidenr=59&filnamn=f61126&gardpostnr=582&sokefelt=vis “Merknad 387b” now means property nr. 16 of the farm Finnestad. (Please keep in mind that accuracy of records is less than perfect - so ages and other information are not always correct) For more information on Stavanger and a map of the area, please go to the following wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavanger