Sunday, March 24, 2019

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 12 "12" Who was Karen Dorthea?


52 Ancestors in 52 weeks – prompt is 12

For the prompt “12” I elected to use the 12th person back in my Paternal line.
Karen Dorthea Cristiansen is today’s topic.

Karen was born 2 Jan1833 and christened on 24 March 1833 in Kristiana, Norway.[i] Her parents were Pedar Christiansen and Anne Margarethe Olsdatter. Two of her sponsors were Karen Dorthea Siversdatter and Ole Gregersen.

Karen married Daniel Danielsen on 8 Feb 1857[ii] in the same parish she was christened in. According to the church register Daniel’s father was Christen Danielsen. Other than on his marriage record Daniel used the last name of Christiansen.

Daniel and Karen began their family while still living in Oslo with the birth of their first child, daughter Dorette on 2 Nov 1856. She was christened on 27 Feb 1857 shortly after their marriage.[iii]

Looking at these dates and places, I believe Karen’s father and her husband were both in the military at the time of her birth and her marriage. This appears to be a common pattern of behavior for the soldiers of the time. After their military service they returned to their place of birth.

After Dorette’s birth, the family left Oslo and moved to the commune of Fet, where they lived and farmed. In the 1865 census they had added sons Olaf and Otto to the little family.

The 1875 census reveals that the family had added four additional children, Magne, Olga, Oscar, and Dagmar. Dorette would be the first to leave home when she married Johannes Adolf Hansen in Dec 1876. 

Karen Dorthea Christiansen died on 19 June 1884 at the age of 51. She was buried on 25 June at Trefold In Oslo Norway.[iv]

Oscar would be the first of Karen’s seven children to immigrate to the United States in 1885 at the age of 17. Several of Karen’s other children would also cross the seas to settle in America and four of Dorette’s oldest children would also travel to America after their mother’s death in 1887.

Unfortunately, Karen died before she would know the success her children would achieve in America.



 [i] Church of Norway (Oslo, Oslo, Norway), Parish Register No 6, p 165, christening of Karen Dorthea Christiansen; digital image, Digitalarkivet (https://media.digitalarkivet.no/view/5786/29 : online 24 March 2019).
[ii] Garnisonmenigheten Parish Register (Oslo County, Oslo), Parish Register, p203 - Marriages 1842-1859, Marriage of Karen Dorthea and Daniel; FHL microfilm .
[iii] Garnisonmenigheten Parish Register (Oslo County, Oslo), Parish Register, book 9 page 77, Birth and Baptism of Dorette Christensen; FHL microfilm .
[iv] Ancestry.com. Norway, Select Burials, 1666-1927 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. FHL Film Number:1282523 Reference ID:              item 3 b IV p 151
Original data: Norway Burials, 1666-1927. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

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