Thursday, March 26, 2026

Treasure Chest Thursday -- 1796 Marriage Record of Torjer Olsen and Anna Sjursdatter in Voss, Norway

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - an opportunity to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history research and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the 1796 Marriage record of Torgeir Olsen and Anna Sjurs[att]r in the Voss, Norway Ministerial Book.


The marriage entry for Torgeir Olsen and Anna Sjursd. is the fifth record from t5he bottom on the left-hand page for 1796:


I tried both MyHeritage Scribe AI And Google Gemini 3 to transcribe this record, and to translate it.  Both failed.  Based on their attempts and my own reading of the record, here is my best estimate of the Norwegian and English transcription/translation (using the Google Gemini format):

a)  Norwegian transcription:

Trolovede (Betrothed):

d: 7de Maij – Samme Dag. Ungk: Torjer Olsen Prestegaarden og Pigen Anna Sjursd: Grove. 

Spons: Godskalk Larsøn Endere og Knud Andersen Broen. efter Kongelig Bevilgning af 8de April 1796. –

Copulerede (Married):

d: 23de Junij


b)  English Translation

Betrothed:

7th of May [1796] – Same day. Bachelor: Torjer Olsen Prestegaarden and the girl Anna Sjursdatter Grove. 

Sponsors: Godskalk Larsen Endere and Knud Andersen Broen. By Royal License dated 8th of April 1796.

Married:

23rd of June [1796]

The main sticking point is the name of Torjer Olsen's farm: Gemini insisted that it was "Saude" and Scribe AI said it was "Rødland."  I think it is "Prestegaarden" which is the church farm or parsonage. Gemini insisted that the sponsors were different but I eventually convinced him (it?) (I think). Scribe AI could not transcribe or translate the Sponsor names.

Scribe AI provided this Historical Context:

This document is a page from a Norwegian parish register (Ministerialbok) for Vangs Sogn (Voss parish) from the year 1796. It records betrothals ("Trolovede") in the left column and marriages ("Copulerede") in the right column.

During this period in Norway, couples were required to be formally betrothed before they could marry. The betrothal involved sponsors (often fathers or close male relatives) who guaranteed that there were no legal or consanguineous impediments to the marriage. You will notice that some entries mention a "Kongelig Bevilling" (Royal License), which was required if the couple was closely related or wished to marry during prohibited times. The document is written in Danish, which was the official written language of Norway at the time, using Gothic handwriting.


Somehow, Scribe AI "knew" which record I  was interested in, even though I was not on the MyHeritage profile page for this person or family. Of course, they are in my tree and Scribe AI figured that out. Apparently, there is no way to "chat" with Scribe AI about possible errors in their transcriptions or translations.


The source citation is:

Voss (Vangen) Parish Church (Voss, Norway), digital images, Arkivverket DigitalArkivet, Scanned Church Records (https://www.arkivverket.no/URN:kb_read), Voss: 1780-1810, Ministerialbok A9, Marriages, Page 153, Torjer Olsen and Anna Sjursdtr, at Vangen (accessed 12 December 2013).

Anna Sjursdtr (1772-1826) married Torjer Olsen (1753-1827) on 23 June 1796 in Voss, Norway, and they had six  children born in Voss parish, including Sjur Torgersen (1804-1889).   Anna and Torjer are the 2nd great-grandparents of my wife, Linda (Leland) Seaver.

 I captured these records and wrote about the process in Finding Norwegian Church Parish Records in DigitalArkivet Website (dated 12 December 2013).  I also crafted some source citations then too - the process and result is in A Source Citation for Anna's Death Record in Voss, Norway (posted 13 December 2013).

                               ===========================================

Disclosure:  I have a paid All-Access subscription to Ancestry.com now.  Ancestry.com has provided a complimentary subscription and material considerations for travel expenses to meetings, and has hosted events and meals that I have attended in Salt Lake City, in past years.

The URL for this post is:  

Copyright (c) 2026, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on X, Facebook, or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.  All comments are moderated, and may not appear immediately after posting.

Subscribe to receive a free daily email from Genea-Musings using www.Blogtrottr.com. 

No comments: