Odda books by Olav Kolltveit and Aam. K. Bu

[gj26209]

Good evening,

I am looking for someone who has access to either (or both) of the following books:

1. Kolltveit, Olav,Odda, Ullensvang og Kindsarvik i gamal og ny tid, Odda : Utgjevar: Odda, Ullensvang og Kinsarvik Bygdeboknemnd

(It's a bit confusing: I'm not sure if this is one book, or a series of books.)

2. Bu, Aam. K. (Aamund Knutsen): The ættarboks (Norwegian genealogies) for Øyfjord, Ulvik, Kinsavik, Odda, Udlesvang

I am specificially looking for information on the farm Isberg. The second might be able to confirm or deny the family of my ancestors living there (1660s - not sure if the book goes back far enough.)

I have the information from Oluf Rygh's Farm book.

Thank you and regards.

[Ellen Karin Tangen]

Hei!
You can read the book of Olav Kolltveit on nasjonalbiblioteket. http://www.nb.no.

Write Odda and search. The book you need to read about Isberg is: Odda, Ullensvang og Kinsarvik i gammal og ny tid 3.2 Bygdesoga 1913-63.

Search for Bu,Aamund K and you will find the book you need.

Hope you find what you are looking for.

[Astrid Mollan]

Kan bare leses i Norge.

[gj26209]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. The excerpt from the book above is more comprehensive than I dared hope.

My ancestors do not appear in there, though. Am I right in saying that they might've still used the toponym Isberg, even if they only worked on the farm (and didn't live there).

(Just trying to decide whether or not I should cross this Isberg of my list of possible places of heritage and move on, or stick with it a bit longer.)

Again, thank you very much for your help.

[Astrid Mollan]

Names of your ancestors?

[gj26209]

Well, it's not a short answer (but I'll keep it as short as I can).

The earliest (Dutch) documents containing the names of my ancestors (two brothers), list them as:
Joost Pieterse van Isberg
Burgert Peterse van Isberg

They travelled from Texel (Netherlands) to South Africa in 1686, as soldiers of the Dutch East India Company. *Texel is the northernmost port that the Company controlled, the brothers travelled there from somewhere else.)

Joost (born c1662-1666) signed his own name as either Jost/Just or Jest (he had very shake handwriting). Burgert (roughly same age) couldn't write, but the various spellings of his name on other documents lead me to believe that it was pronounced Borgar or Borger and that "Burgert" was a Dutch approximation. (They lived in a Dutch community there.)

I have done extensive research in Belgium and the Netherlands and am 99% certain they are not from there (I leave a 1% for possible Frisian origins, but there are no Isbergs there).

Isberg seems to have been important to them, as Joost kept it as a toponym until the day he died, signing his name as Jest/Jost/Just Peters van Isberg. (They adopted a Dutch surname - van Dijk - 15 years after arriving in South Africa, but I believe this was only to have an acceptable unique surname that identified themselves as family and distinguished them from the other Petersen/Pietersens at the Cape (and there were a lot). They never referred to themselves by this surname in signed documents, however.

The first names, along with the patronym and references to Isberg have led me to suspect a Scandinavian origin. (I have exhausted Dutch and Belgian possibilities.) I am looking at both Sweden and Norway. An obvious place to start would be places named Isberg (which is what I am doing).

[gj25675]

There is an IJsberg in Woensdrecht, North Brabant, NL, which could be a possibility for their origin. Is this ruled out?

If they were to be Scandinavian, Burgert would be a highly unusual name. But it might be something like Borger/Børge.
Just, on the other hand, is rare, but can be found here and there.

Best regards,
Matthias

[gj26209]

Thanks for the tip. Ijsberg is simply a street in Woensdrecht (oddly enough, it's not too far from where I'm currently living). I notice that there is a large piece of land at the end of it, which might've been a farm, which lent it's name to the street.

It doesn't seem very promising, but I will try to find out more about the street/farm. Three things against it:

1. I have looked through the parish records of Woensdrecht (not difficult, only a few kids born each year), no afther named Peter/Pieter.
2. The name Burgert (the Dutch variant of Borger) is simply non-existent in this part of the country during that period (when searching the area using the Dutch archives wiewaswie.nl)
3. Unlike Scandinavian countries, people did not refer to farm names as their place of origin, rather referring to the parish it belonged to. (So, if they were from there, their toponymic would be Woensdrecht.)
4. Woensdrecht is close to Zeeland, where the Company also sailed from and it would've been illogical to travel all the way to Texel (literally on the other side of the country).

However, I won't dismiss it out of hand and will make sure to look at every lead.

A few handsfull of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian men joined the Dutch East Indian Company between 1650-1700. Probably more than a few handsfull, but usually only the place of origin of the higher ranking officers were recorded in various documents.

I realise it's a bit of a fishing expedition, but I've caught a few big ones that way in the past.

[Astrid Mollan]

http://ndla.no/nb/node/139495?fag=52253

http://allverdenshistorie.no/artikler/hollendertiden/