This weblog post contains many stories, united and divided by geography. Consider these to be minor entertainments that embellish the tales, but with further comments that serve to connect the dots.
In much of the world, including Canada, Helge Ingstad (1899 – 2001) is famous for discovering a Viking settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows at the northernmost tip of Newfoundland in Canada, along with his wife Anna Stine (1918 – 1997). For many, Helge is mentioned first because of his ability to gain the trust of ordinary people. Yes, his education was mainly about speaking. He trained as a lawyer, and worked as a fur trader. His conversations led the couple to potential Viking sites. Anna Stine was the professional archaeologist. Alasdair and I visited this location in 2024, and I wrote about it in a blog post. In Norway, Helge is so famous, that a Norwegian navy frigate of the Fridtjof Nansen class, was named after him, KNM Helge Ingstad (F 313). KNM is an abbreviation for Kongelig Norske Marine = The Royal Norwegian Navy, equivalent to the use of HMCS = His Majesty’s Canadian Ship, in Canada, or USS = United States (navy) ship, in USA. The vessel was delivered from the Navantia shipyard in Spain in 2009. The frigate sank in Hjeltefjorden in 2018 after a ship collision with the tanker MT Sola TS. KNM Helge Ingstad was subsequently raised and emergency repairs were made. The ship was then docked at Hanøytangen on Askøy, where it was finally cut up in 2022-02. The Ministry of Defense and the watch commander on the frigate were punished for negligently causing damage at sea.
Hjeltefjord is a 46-kilometer-long fjord in Vestland county. It is an important shipping route into Bergen. The most likely name for the fjorden is related to the old Norwegian name for Shetland = Hjaltland. The sea route to Shetland uses Hjeltefjorden. Askøy = Ash Island, is an island and a municipality adjacent to this fjord. Ash refers to the name of a farm on that island, which refers to the name of a tree = Fraxinus excelsior. In Norse mythology, the ash tree is the ancestor and the elm the ancestress of all humans. I grew up in Pi house at 314 Ash Street, in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.
I only own one book written by Ingstad, Pelsjegerliv – blant Nord-Canadas indianere (1931) or The Land of Feast or Famine, when it was republished by McGill University Press, in 1992. The book begins: For sekstifem år siden, solgte jeg min advokatforretning i Levanger og dro ut av landet. = Sixty-five years ago, I sold my law practice in Levanger and exited the country. Ingstad graduated as a lawyer in 1922, immediately opened a practice in Levanger. He sold it in 1926. The city centre in Levanger is 40 km/ 40 minutes south of Cliff Cottage.
Trondhjems amt = Trondheim county in 1804 was divided into southern and northern counties called Søndre/ Nordre Trondhjems amt, which, from 1919 were called Sør-/ Nord-Trøndelag fylke, respectively. Ingstad was born in Meråker, known for its mines, the most south-easterly municipality of the former Northern county.
The first county governor, Danish born Caspar Conrad Rafn (1763 – 1830), had his seat in Verdal, according to the royal instructions. Today, Verdal is best known for its jackets = parts of steel truss platforms, used as the basis for most oil wells. An oil platform consists of a deck supported by the jacket. The jacket is in turn attached to the seabed with pilings or suction anchors. They are permanently attached to the seabed and are designed for long-term use. These platforms typically have between three and eight legs. The jacket holds up the deck and provides support for risers, drill pipes, cables and other equipment. It transfers loads on the deck and the substructure to the piles. Plaforms, normally without jackets, are also used for wind turbines.
His successor governor, another Danish born administrator, Christen Elster (1763 – 1833) settled in Inderøy, and from 1818 to 1894 Sund farm in Inderøy was the county’s administrative center.
At this point, it is necessary to mention Sund Folkehøgskole = Folk High School, established in 1868 and is the oldest still operating such school in Norway, after Sagatun, in Hamar, opened in 1864, but closed in 1891 and Vonheim, established in 1867 in Sel, then Gausdal in 1875, closed in 1896. In its early years, Sund was an itinerant school that had locations in places such as Re, Husby and Kvithammer in Stjørdal, Frosta, Ytterøy, Skogn, Frol, Levanger and Meråker before it was established at the county manor house in Inderøy in 1900. From 1926, the school has had its current location at Sund farm.
The next county administrator, Ole Anton Qvam (1834 – 1904) was born in Molde. He took over as county governor in 1894, he lived on the farm Gjævran in Egge (now in Steinkjer). That farm then became the county administrative office. Trish and I first lived in Molde when we moved to Norway, in 1980.
Anton Qvam’s wife, Fredrikke Marie, née Gram, (1843 – 1938) should be mentioned. Her parents, David Andreas Gram (1812–1858) and Louise Augusta Bing (1808–1900), belonged to the merchant class in Trondheim, where Fredrikke spent her early childhood. Her father became the owner of Helge-By-Rein farm, near Steinkjer, in 1849, and the family moved there. His interest in music, art, literature and politics made their house a cultural center. Among the guests were: author Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832 – 1910) , virtuoso violinist and composer Ole Bull (1810 – 1880), poet and journalist Aasmund Olavsson Vinje (1818 – 1870) and fairy tale collector Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812 – 1885 ).
Fredrikke Qvam was one of the founders of Norsk Kvinnesaksforening (NKF) = The Norwegian Association for Women’s Rights, Norway’s oldest and preeminent women’s rights organization that works “to promote gender equality and all women’s and girls’ human rights through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy.” It was founded in 1884, making it Norway’s second oldest political organization after the Liberal Party. NKF stands for an inclusive, intersectional and progressive mainstream liberal feminism and has always been open to everyone regardless of gender. Qvam was its leader from 1899 – 1903. From my perspective, I have often wondered if her engagement with this organization had to do with the premature death of four of her five children, three of them from tuberculosis. Her remaining child and daughter, Louise Qvam (1866 – 1944), was one of Norway¨s first four woman physicians, they all graduated together.
Fredrikke Qvam is directly connected with Norske Kvinners Sanitetsforening (NKS) = The Norwegian Women’s Public Health Association, the largest women’s organisation in Norway, founded in 1885, although membership is also open to men. Their magazine, Fredrikke, is named after her. She was the first president of the organization from 1896 to 1933.
In 1919, the county governor’s residence Eggeli was both an official residence and offices until 1945. From 1945, the county governor had offices in the center of Steinkjer. The work of moving the official premises from a rural farm to an urban centre can be seen as part of a larger urbanization process in Norwegian society.
Fredrikke’s mother had an unusual education for her time and was concerned that her daughters should receive an education and be hardened through sports on an equal footing with boys. Fredrikke grew up in an environment with a lot of knowledge and culture, and received a freer upbringing than most girls of her time. She was good at riding, skiing and ice skating. In retrospect, she herself described how it came as a surprise to her that she did not have the same opportunities and rights as men.
Fredrikke Qvam herself placed great emphasis on how childhood and upbringing determined the direction of her political involvement. In 1884, the year after she had given her first public speech, she referred to herself, in a letter to her husband, as “(a) child of unusually good abilities.” She pointed out that she had been “raised among gifted men, […] with knowledge of a number of gifted, warm-hearted and practical women who in both knowledge and interests […] stood next to, and for the most part above, men,” and asked gender-consciously: “How could I understand that society would not treat me equally with men, when I demanded it?”
The county councils in the two counties decided in 2016 to merge again into one county with effect from 2018. Except, that merger does not apply to national elections. In that situation, the north and south counties are separate electoral districts. As a naturalized Norwegian citizen, I vote in the North Trøndelag electoral district.
