Bernt Julius Magnusson, svensk sjöman

[Erik Aasland]

I am searching for information on a man named Bernt Julius Magnusson. Sadly, I know very little about him, other than the fact that he is my great-grandfather. At some point in the first half of the year 1860, Bernt Julius Magnusson, a Swedish sailor, had a relationship with my great-grandmother, Anna Knudsdatter. Anna was born on May 24, 1819 on the Kjelsvik Farm located in the Municipality of Jelsa, Rogland County, Norway. At the time of her relationship with Bernt Julius Magnusson she was living on the Vaage (Søra) Farm located on the island of Austre Bokn, off the coast of Western Norway, near Stavanger. At some point during their relationship, Anna became pregnant with my grandfather, Karl Andreas Berntsen Vaage. Upon becoming pregnant, Anna left the Vaage Farm and travelled to Stavanger, which is where Karl Andreas was born on June 25, 1861. According to the Stavanger St Petri church book record of Karl's baptism, Karl Andreas's father was Bernt Julius Magnusson (a sailor) from Sweden. By 1865, according to the Norwegian Census of the same year, Anna was living back on the Vaage Farm with Karl Andreas, but Bernt Julius Magnusson was not.
 
It's very likely that Bernt, being a sailor, left Norway not even knowing that Anna was pregnant. Anna died on the Vaage Farm on November 29, 1907. Unfortunately, this is all my family knows of Karl's father, just that he came from Sweden. Although sceptial, my hope is that one of the members on Anbytarforum might know of records for Swedish sailors who travelled to Norway between 1855 and 1865, give or take a few years.
 
Any possible help would be so much appreciated!
 
Thank you and sincerely,
 
Erik Aasland
 

[Chris Bingefors]

Unfortunately, the Norwegian State Archives database seems to  be down today so I cannot get to the church records. But I do find, in Family Search, that a Bernt Julius Magnusson has a son with Berthe Villaksen in Stavanger on April 17, 1873. He also has a daughter with Berthe Christoffersdatter (may be the same person) on May 8, 1870 in Stavanger. This man could be your great grandfather but it needs more investigation.

[Chris Bingefors]

Now:
Elen Sofie Magnusson was born 8 May, baptized 12 June in St Petri, Stavanger. Father Mine worker Bernt Julius Magnusson born 1830, mother widow Berthe Christoffersdatter born 1834. Parents not married
Source:Rogaland fylke, St. Petri i Stavanger, Ministerialbok nr. A 8 (1868-1876), Fødte og døpte 1870, side 77.
http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:NBN:no-a1450-kb20050923020782.jpg
 
The son, Knud (Knut) was indeed born to the same mother, widow Berthe Villaksen, b 1834 and Bernt Julius, 43 years of age, is still a miner. Both children are reported by someone else than the parents which is unusual.
 
In the census of 1865 I see that Anna has another son, Julius Magnussen, 3 years old, born in Stavanger. The father may be the same Bernt Julius. At the time of Carl Andreas birth she was married to someone else (who not given)
 
(Meddelandet ändrat av izla 2011-08-20 11:38)

[Chris Bingefors]

There is somethning strange here: A bachelor Bernt Magnussen of Sweden has a daughter, Ane Gurine, in Egersund on May 1, 1862. The mother is Agathe Aslaksdatter.  
Source:Rogaland fylke, Eigersund i Eigersund, Klokkerbok nr. B 4 (1855-1871), Fødte og døpte 1862, side 54.
http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:NBN:no-a1450-kb20070503610201.jpg
 
This may well be the same man, the name is not terribly common. He must have been around for some time.

[Erik Aasland]

Hi Chris,
 
Thank you so much for taking the time to do some searching for Bernt Julius Magnusson, I am without a doubt very grateful. Let me confirm a couple of things that you've discovered. You are correct, in the 1865 Norwegian census Anna does indeed have another son, Julius Magnusson, born sometime in 1862. So it would seem that Anna had my great-grandfather, Karl Andreas in 1861 and Julius in 1862. Julius has always been a mystery as I've never been able to find him in the 1875 Norwegian Census nor have I been able to find a death record for him in the event he died young. He in fact was the next mystery that I wanted to try to solve as he is of course either my great-grandfather full brother or half brother. You are absolutely correct too about Anna. Anna was a married woman when she became pregnant with Karl Andreas. She was married to a man named Søren Kristoffersen Eide who was born in 1823 on Eide Farm in Bømlo, Hordaland, Norway. Anna and Søren married in 1845 and had four daugthers: Ane Martha who was born out of wedlock (1844-?), Ingeborg Kristine (1847-1878), Serina (1849-1851) and Anna Serina (1852-1926). These four women I have managed to find a good deal of information on and their lives seem pretty straightforward.
 
I suppose the real mystery is twofold. Supposedly Søren Kristoffersen abandoned Anna and ran off to maybe the United States. However, did he run off because she became pregnant with Bernt Julius Magnusson's child or had Søren already run off in the years before she met Bernt Julius. I'm not sure if this will ever be known. So at sometime in 1860 she met Bernt Julius Magnusson and had his child in 1861, perhaps as you suggest, another with him, Magnus, in 1862. At least with Karl Andreas his baptism appears in the church book records, while sadly Magnus's baptism I have not been able to find. Perhaps she left Stavanger to give birth to Magnus in another city or town. Either way, she does end back up on the Vaage Farm on Austre Bokn in time for the 1865 Norwegian census, and as far as I can tell, never again leaves the island, dying there in 1907.
 
To be honest, I never thought of or contemplated that Bernt Julius Magnusson could have been living in Stavanger or a surrounding town or village, as I just assumed because he was a sailor and because he disappeared by the time of the 1865 Norwegian census that he must have sailed away, perhaps even back to Sweden. I see now, based on the interesting information that you've found, that he might well have been living in the Stavanger, having fathered Elen Sofie Magnusson in 1870 and Knud Magnusson in 1873. And, as you also mention, he might well have fathered Ane Gurine who was born in Egersund in 1862. If this is indeed the same fellow he was certainly busy! Let me see if I have this straight, if this is the same man, these could be his children:
 
Karl Andreas (b. 1861)
Julius (b. 1862)
Ane Gurine (b. 1862)
Elen Sofie (b. 1870)
Knut (b 1873)
 
This suddenly makes things a bit more complicated, but might also allow me to search for descendants of these other children who might well know that story of Bernt Julius Magnusson!  
 
Thank you again Chris for your help, it's been great. Although I'm not quite sure where to start I know have a lot more information to go on and more hopeful than ever that I can track down Bernt especially now that I have an approximate birth date for him of about 1830. So this is quite possible in terms of his relationship with Anna Knudsdatter Kjelsvik who was about 10 years his senior, but I think in those days (even today) that wasn't uncommon for a difference in age between a lot of men and women.
 
Thank you again so much, this is great!
 
Best wishes,
 
Erik

[Chris Bingefors]

The problem is that we do not have a searchable census until 1880, by that time he was long gone. His name indicates with some probability that he is from the west coast of Sweden (not 100% sure though). I have looked at available registers of birth but no luck yet. I do not have the searchable register of Halland county which may be one option.
Norway does not have our household books, written by the priest every year so it is dificult to get more information there.
Someone has put the name Bernt Julius Magnussen in a register in Berkshire, England, I do nor know if it is someone searching for him. No further information given. If you are not the person asking for him, maybe wrting to this genealogical society could give more clues.
http://www.berksfhs.org.uk/cms/Birth-Briefs/birthbriefs-mamd.html

[Chris Bingefors]

Ane Gurine could be this woman in 1910 census:
http://da.digitalarkivet.no/ft/person/pf01036625000074/
 
According to the birth notice of her eldest son Adolf, she is the right woman. Her maiden name is Berntsen and her mother Agathe Aslaksdatter is a witness, they live at Seglum in Eigersund parish.

[Erik Aasland]

Hi Chris,
 
Thank you so much for the additional information, I really appreciate it and I completely agree with you, something strange is going on here! I have spent part of the last day mapping out all of Bernt (Julius) Magnusson's possible children between 1861 and 1873, which I did on my Ancestry tree (actually I created a new tree just for him to make things simpler for me to follow). I managed to find one person who has a tree in place for Bernt's daugther Ane Gurine. While this person didn't have much information in his tree for Bernt Magnusson, it shows that he (his Bernt Magnusson that is) was born in 1833 in Gothenburg. So, that's a possibility worth looking into. Also, I did find the following record on a Bernt Magnusson on Ancestry:
 
Name: Bernt Magnusson
Birth Year: 1828
Place of Origin: Onsala, Halland Län, Sverige
Birth Location: Onsala Halland Län, Sverige (Sweden)
Record Date: 28 jun 1854
Port of Departure: Havanna Cuba
Database Name: EmiSjö
Occupation/Title: Lättmatros
Archive Call Number: GÖTEBORG D1C:62 1854:00155
Ship Name: Hindoo
Ship Type: Brigg
Additional Information: Död
 
While this is definitely a Swedish sailor and the period seems correct, I was saddened to read under Additional Information the word 'Död', which I'm sure means Dead. So, I don't know with certaintly if this records means that this Bernt Magnusson died in 1854; however I have a sneaking suspision that that is indeed what it means. Anyhow, another lead, which is more than I have before!
 
Thank you for your continued help, as finding this fellow is like finding  needle in a haystack, but you have given me much more to look into and to investigate, thank you so much!
 
I'll keep at it.
 
Best regards,
 
Erik

[Chris Bingefors]

Yes, the record says dead, he died onboard ship.  
Did the person with the Ane Gurine tree have any source for Bernt Julius being born in 1833?
 
In the 1875 census in Bokn, only Karl Andreas is living with his mother at Vaage. He is listed as Karl A Juliussen Vaage. Presumably, little Julius is dead. I cannot find any death notice in Bokn though.
 
(Meddelandet ändrat av izla 2011-08-22 08:13)

[Erik Aasland]

Hi Chris,
 
Thanks for confirming that the record says that he died on board the ship, much appeciated! Actually, the death date that I found (as a result of the tree I found on Ancestry) should have read 1832. If I'm not mistaken, this is the source.  
 
http://www.rhd.uit.no/folketellinger/ftliste.aspx?ft=1875&knr=1117&kenr=009&bnr= 0019&lnr=00
 
It would appear that in 1875 he's a lodger and working for the railway, but just as important is that it shows that he was born in 1832 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Perhaps this is indeed the same person as Bernt Julius Magnusson?
 
Thank you.
 
Erik

[Chris Bingefors]

Could well be! Tha place is near Egersund. It remains to go through all birth records in Göteborg - many parishes. And then hope that the Göteborg does not stand for Göteborg County! And that the year is right. These itinerant railway/mine  workers usually had vague data and no moving certificate from Sweden.