GRIMSRUD HISTORY | In Search of the Old Country | Translation part 1 | Translation part 2

Old farm of Peder Christophersen (Per Melen 1800-1869) and Anne Beathe Andersdatter Skot. (This farm place belonged to the family of Anne Beathe and she was born here, married and began her family in this home.)

 

This is an open invitation to anyone of the family members who would care to contribute to this web site,  which I am dedicating to all of us Grimsruds, to send what you have, labeled, dated and with as much back-up information as possible to us at

dursmirg@yahoo.com

This is an account of my ancestors and the people that made up my family. This name “Grimsrud” was first used by my family in 1841 when my great-great grandfather Peder Christophersen and his wife Anne Beathe Andersdatter Skot of Dalen moved to the “Grimsrud Farm” located at Skoger which is a small town 10 kilometers (one Norwegian mile) west of the city of Drammen at the headwaters of the Drammen Fjord that connects to the Oslo Fjord in southeastern Norway. I will begin this interesting story with my two very interesting ancestors; Peder Christophersen who was born on the 9th of March in the year 1800 in the region of Vestfold, Norway and his wife Anne Beathe Andersdatter Skot of Dalen/Konnrud born the 13th of May in year 1810 on her family farm in the region of Konnerud, Norway. My wife Jane and I were making a visit to Norway in 1983 to visit my family. On August 23rd while visiting at the home of Kari and her husband Olav Hoven, Kari, my father’s cousin, made arrangements to visit with Markus Johnsrud, one of our relatives, and then we traveled to the farm place in Konnerud where our ancestors lived before moving to the “Grimsrud Farm” at Skoger in the 1840s. When we arrived at the place where this photo was taken, we were surprised that the original family buildings had recently been torn down and the building lumber was still stacked nearby. As we sat in our camper van discussing the family history a young woman that lived nearby came and overheard our conversation. She said that she had something that might be of interest to us and returned with this photo in a neatly kept frame. I have kept this photo and over the years it has inspired me to look into the interesting life and travels of Anne Beathe Andersdatter Skott Grimsrud. She was the first of my ancestors to take the name “Grimsrud”                                                                    *** These two were married the 9th of March 1827 and resided at the family farm in Konnerud of the then seventeen-year-old Anne Beathe where they proceeded to have four children. You will soon meet all of these people, the children of Peder and Anne Beathe, in the upcoming pages; Inger Gurine, born 10 June 1827, Christopher Pedersen (my great grandfather) born 5 August 1829, Andrine Olava born 21 August 1835 and Anders born 2  January 1839. (These four children were all born at the family farm in Konnerud.)                                                                     *** In 1841 Peder Christophersen and Anne Beathe moved to the Grimsrud farm at Skoger and first began using the Grimsrud name. In the intervening years between first living at  Dalen and then Skoger, they briefly lived at another farm named Melen, where Peder was then known as “Per Melen” and if they wouldn’t have moved on to the Grimsrud farm my family name would now be called “Melen”. The rest of the story is on the web at: www.mylocalpage.com/dursmirg/Searchofold.htm Also, another story about the family can be read by clicking on "In Search of  the Old Country" at the top of this page.  It tells the story of the Grimsrud immigration from Norway to the United States of America.