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The page now loading contains information on the Larsen Family - Our Norwegian Roots - Debora Expedition - Aldabra Atoll - Hordnes - Salbu - Fana - Norwegian History - Norwegian Immigration
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FARMS SALBU AND HORDNES - DISTRICT OF FANA NORWAY - NEAR BERGEN My (David Larsen's) great-grandfather, Sivert Andersen Hordnes, son of Anders Tollevsen Salbu and "Jana" Johanna Hansdtr Hordnes, was born on the 18th of November 1836. Sivert married Marie Elizabeth Olsen on the 17th of September 1865, at the time he was employed on a boat building estate called "Little Damsgaard". Marie was born the 20th of August 1844, she was the daughter of Captain Sivert Olsen, who, together with his wife Severine Torelsdtr Nygaardsvig, were tenants to a smallish part of a big farm, Nygaardsvig. Nygaardsvig (Red Marker 2 on map) is now a suburb of Bergen. Sivert and his father-in-law were farmers, fishermen and boat builders (sic). 
Sivert and Marie had three sons, Angel, the eldest, and, identical twins, Sigvart and Emil. The twins were born on the 4th of April 1868 and christened at the Askøy Church.
As Askøy is an island, the family used to row to church each Sunday from Nygaardsvig.
Circa 1869 Sivert, who had returned to the family farm Hordnes and was
farming the section called "Haugsneset" (sic), drowned when his
sailboat, heavily loaded with herring, overturned in the Korsfjord - near
the entrance to the Fanafjord - during a storm.(The Askøy records show: Sivert Andersen, age 32, and Sivert Olsen Nygaardsvig, age 62, were lost at sea Feb. 27, 1869 in a "Strong Storm". Their bodies were never found. The widow Marie Elisabeth Olsen married Frederik Johan Larsen, age 26, on September 10, 1871. Frerdrik was the was the son of Lars Findsen Lervig.) Sivert's widow married Fredrik Johan Larsen, he was one year her junior and was working on the farm at the time (sic). The first of Fredrik and Marie's seven children, Petra Bendikte, was born in Nygaardsvig on the 3rd of February 1872. On July 19th 1879, the family left Bergen on the Sailing Ship Debora bound for the Island of Aldabra in the Indian Ocean. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the ship was diverted at Madagascar and arrived in Durban on the 12th of November 1879. The Larsen family, including the three sons of Sivert Andersen Hordnes, finally settled south of Durban in the Marburg district. Sivert Andersen was born at Hordnes and his father at Salbu, both farms having been in the family for many generations. The "Fana Bygdebok" is a historic record of the one hundred and twenty one farms that encompass the Fanafjord. The "title deed register" of the farm Salbu goes back to the year 1690 when, 7x great grandfather to the present generation of Larsens, Anders Monsson Nordvik ( Red Marker 9 on map), was an owner of a part of Salbu. The farms - Salbu, Hordnes, and Nordvik - are still occupied by descendants of the original owners. The "black arrow" in the lower section of the map marks the eastern section of the Fanafjord, the head of the arrow points toward Hordnes and the tail is toward Salbu. The farms Salbu and Hordnes are on opposite sides of the Fanafjord, a very short distance from the Fana Church that stands on a hill at the head of the fjord. The Fana Church (Red Marker B on map) faces the Fanafjord and there is a lake behind the church. The Fana Church has been restored and is featured in the tourist guide-books of the area. This stone church was built in the middle of the 12th century. During the Middle ages the church was a pilgrimage site as it possessed a silver cross that supposedly performed miracles. At the time of the Reformation, the church's treasure was confiscated by the Danes and were to be shipped to Denmark. The ship sank in a storm in a fjord adjoining the Fanafjord. Later the silver cross was recovered by some fisherman and the fjord became know as the Korsfjord. The old Fana church records are now in the Central Archives in Bergen. 
This photograph was taken from the Fana Mountain looking north towards Bergen and shows the section of the Fanafjord marked by the arrow in the above map. Salbu is masked by the trees in the foreground. Hordnes is the area on the northern shore of the Fanafjord. The large "light coloured" Hordnes boathouse complex can be seen on the waters edge in the lower centre of the photograph. The boathouse is a converted herring processing factory. The peninsula Haugsneset can be seen on the lower LHS of the photograph to the west of Hordnes. The Fanafjord leads into the Korsfjord. The entrance to the Fanafjord is to the west of Haugsneset and cannot be seen in this photograph. In 1971, I visited Salbu and met Gregorius Salbu and his wife Petra, Hans Anderssen Salbu and his father Anders Salbu, and other relatives living on various sections of the farm. Lars Salbu, living a short way down the road, brought a large "group photograph" taken at a big family gathering many years ago. Salbu was re-established in 1590 and named from the old Norse word Sal-bud, salt storage place or cellar. The name often referred to the salt containers used for the boiling of sea water. A great deal of salt was produced in this way. Salt was very expensive and wood was cheap so the boiling of sea water was a viable method of processing salt. Salbu is 28 metres above sea level and was re-occupied not long after 1590, having lain waste for a long time, it was divided in two parts in 1628. On June the 11th 1971, a few days before visiting Salbu, I (David Larsen) went to Hordnes and met two grandsons and a great-grandson of Sivert's brother Hans Andersen Hordnes. They were Hans A Hordnes, a bachelor, his brother Karl and wife Hilda, and their elder son Olav E Hordnes. Olav wrote me a letter giving news of the family and setting out the current Andersen Hordnes family tree in detail. Hordnes is an old Icelandic name and means a place of the people of Hord, people of German decent. The farm was established in 500 AD, the farmyard was on the highest hill, 47 metres above sea level. Sivert Andersen's parents, Anders Tollevsen Salbu and "Jana" Johanna Hansdtr Hordnes, lived in the home of her fore-fathers on this hill in the centre of the farm (bruk 10). It was at this, 300 year old, house that I met Hans Hordnes. Hans referred to his great-grandmother "Jana" and her old rocking chair and recalled the story of her son, Sivert, drowning in the fjord. Both Karl and Hans related the story of Sivert's drowning in great detail, the story was told to them as children to emphasise the dangers of the fjord during a storm. Summary Sivert's maternal fore-fathers and their descendants owned Hordnes Bruk 7 up to 1820, his father, Anders Tollevsen owned the farm between 1821 and 1850, Sivert's brother, Hans Andersen Hordnes, owned the farm between 1850 and 1881, the farm is still owned by the family. Sivert's paternal fore-fathers owned sections of Salbu. See colour slides taken at the time of this visit, photocopies of the Fana and Askøy church-registers recording the Births of Marie Elizabeth Olsen and Sivert Andersen Hordnes, their marriage and the birth of the twins Sigvart and Emil. Sigvart is spelled Sigvard in the church register of births. Sigvart was my (David Larsen's) grandfather. The Askøy church records show that Sivert Andersen Hordnes was employed on a boat building estate called "little Damsgaard" at the time of his marriage to Marie Elizabeth Olsen. DamsgŒrd Manor (Red Marker 2 on map). This lovely 18th century manor house is in the suburb of LaksevŒg, only 3 kilometres west of Bergen's centre, on Highway 582. Erected in the 1770's, DamsgŒrd Manor was the most splendid manor in the city at the time. It has recently been restored and is now open to the public as a museum, with gardens recreated as they might have been 200 years ago, displaying flowers, shrubs, trees, vegetables and herbs of that period as well as fountains, sculptures, a duck pond and carp pool. SOUTH AFRICAN FAMILY - DAVID AND URSULA LARSEN We live in South Africa on a 60 hectre farm adjoining a game reserve between the cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg - see pictures of our home on the next page. The images to follow are: My brother Roy's son Bergen Larsen : my son Mark, his wife Debbie and my wife Ursula : my eldest son James and his wife Gisela : Mark and Debbie : Ursula and granddaughter Thamar : Ursula, grandson Gustav and son Gernot : Gisela and my granddaughter Naomi : grandchildren Tabea and David with son Gernot : My wife Ursula and children taken some years ago L/R Gernot, Ursula, Steven, Verena, James and Mark : James outside the Salbu farm office : FJ Larsen and family circa 1895, the three sons of Sivert Andersen Hordnes are standing at the back on the RHS of the photograph, viewed from L/R they are Emil, Angel and my grandfather Sigvard. Emil and Sigvard were identical twins : David Larsen and family circa 1995, from L/R daughter Verena, grandson Thorgal, son Gernot and his friend Linda, my wife Ursula with grandson Gustav, myself David Larsen, son Mark and his wife Debbie. (Gustav and Thorgal are the sons of Verena - Verena and her husband Paul Adjriou live in a rural area near a country village in France). Twelve pictures follow after this text - the images are loading now, please wait |
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SOUTH AFRICAN FAMILY - DAVID AND URSULA LARSEN |
Nephew: Bergen Larsen |
Son Mark, his wife Debbie and my wife Ursula |
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Eldest son James and his wife Gisela |
Youngest son Mark and his wife Debbie |
Ursula and granddaughter Thamar |
Ursula, grandson Gustav and son Gernot |
Gisela and our granddaughter Naomi |
Grandchildren Tabea and David with son Gernot |
 My wife Ursula and children - Taken some years ago L/R Gernot, Ursula, Steven,Verena, James, Mark |
James outside the Salbu farm office |
 Fredrik Johan Larsen and family circa 1895 - The three sons of Sivert Andersen Hordnes are standing at the back on the RHS of the photograph, viewed from L/R they are Emil, Angel and my grandfather Sigvard - their mother, Marie Elizabeth (nee Olsen), married F J Larsen after her husband Sivert drowned at the entrance to the Fanafjord. Emil and Sigvard were identical twins |
 David Larsen and family circa 1995 - from L/R daughter Verena, grandson Thorgal, son Gernot and his friend Linda, my wife Ursula with grandson Gustav, myself David Larsen, son Mark and his wife Debbie. (Gustav and Thorgal are the sons of Verena - Verena and her husband Paul Adjriou live in a rural area near a town called Riberac in France) (Insert son James). |
 Riberac - This is a close-up view of the top centre of the adjacent image. The photograph was taken from another angle and shows the steeple and buildings highlighted by the olive green rectangles in the adjacent photograph. |
 Riberac - An aerial photograph of the town of Riberac. To get to Riberac take the D2-D20 East from Aubeterre. Riberac has a fine shopping centre and has a bigger market than Chalais. It boasts many bars and restaurants. Friday (morning) is the market-day. |
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