From;
The History of Boe, Telemark, Norway.
Stadskleiv
is situated on the south-east side of the hill towards Staurheim-evjo
on the border to Eikjarud, an was the most southern part of the old
Boe farms. It was "husmannsplass"(1) under Framboe, at least from the
beginning of the 1700-s. But the name is much older. Stadskleiv (2)
has been the name on a road up the hills here. "Stad" comes from the
old word "stafr" that means "stav" (stick). That has something to do
with the marking of the border. The same name is in "Stadskleivaasane"
towards Roheim.
The
old place was situated up on the hill alongside the road to Eikjabygda.
Eivind
Henriksson and his wife Torbjoerg Olavsdotter lived there from about
1730. Eivind died on the place Evju, that was situated just below Stadskleiv,
and here the descendants stayed on for some time. A new family (husmannsfamily)
came to Stadskleiv. Olav Hansson og Else Olavsdotter had the place
in the 1770-80 ies.
But
the farmer on Framboe, Johannes Gregarsson, soon needed the place for
himself. In 1776 he had taken over Framboe after his father, Gregar
Johannesson, but did not manage to make a living out of it, and sold
to his half-brother Joergen in 1786. Johannes kept the place Stadskleiv,
and moved over there. In the beginning he was "husmann", an paid an
annual rent of 12-16 skilling to the farmer. In 1802 Stadskleiv is valud
to 170 rd.(3). The same year Johannes bought the place, and it was thereby
separated from Framboe. In 1908 he sold the place to his oldest son
Gregar, for 150 rd. But Gragar sold it in 1819 to his relative, Olav
Gregarsson Nordboe, for 600 spd.(4), and moved to Kviteseid. Olav was
the half-brother of Johannes Gregarsson, and when he bought Stadskleiv
he took over the responsibily for Johannes Gregarsson and his wife,
Bergit Taraldsdotter. Johannes died as "Foederaadsmann"(5) at Nordboe
in 1830.
It
seems that Stadskleiv was not "skyldsett"(6) until the registration
of 1883.
It
was given it own registartionnumber 66, and farmnumber 182 and 179c,
the last was derived from Midt-Boe, farmnumber 10. The tax was set
to 4 ort. In 1938 (this must be a misprint in Boe-soga. The year certainly
must be 1838).
Olav
Gregarsson Nordboe now owned Stadskleiv, and his descendants have owned
the property since then. The second eldest son, Olav, bought Stadskleiv,
and lived there from the end of the 1820-ies.
He
was married in 1825 with Aaste Olavsdotter, sister of the renowned bishop
of Hamar, Halvor Folkestad.
The
deed was not written until 1846, when Olav Gregarsson Nordboe devided
his properties between his two sons, Gregar and Olav, and Olav was given
Stadskleiv and a part of Nordboe. The part of Nordboe that was given
to Olav was some of the Nordboeforest in Hoeylassfjellet (Hayloadmountain)
and the place Evju (mentioned earlier). In the forest of Midtboe, Stadskleiv
had the right to take outmaterials for fencing, and to let their animals
graze. Stadskleiv was valued to 800 spd.
In
1853 Olav decided that Stadskleiv with Evju should be devided in two
even part between his sons, Olav and Joergen. This transaction took
place in 1854. The farm was deviden into "Stadskeiv soendre" (southern),
that was given to Olav, and "Stadskleiv nordre" (northern), that was
given to Joergen.
The
houses too were devided. Stadskleiv soendre received the main building,
"lugubygningen"(I do not know what that is), the cow-stable, "eldhuset"(7)
and half of the "badstugo" (sauna)(8). This farm was given a tax of
4 ort and 18 skilling. Stadskleiv noerdre received "stolbua"(9), the
sheep-stable and half of the "badstugo". This farm also received the
forest in Hoeylassfjellet. The tax for Stadskleiv noerdre was set to
4 ort and 19 skilling.
To
Stadskleiv noerdre was later added a piece of land called Innleggen,
with a tax duty of 7 skilling, that Joergen Stadskleiv bought from Boe,
farmnumber 10. Joergen had in 1847, also bought one of the farms in
Hasarud (no. 171c.)
In
the registration of 1866, the two Stadskleiv farm are written together,
and the following information is given :
Area
100 mål (10), marshy or sandy soil. Not enough forest for there own
needs. Good grazeland for one cow. No uncultivated land. They sowed
or planted :
3
½ barrel of oats, ¾ barrel of barley,, ¾ barrel of wheat, 4 barrels
of potatoes, and the crop was : 19 ½ barrel of oats, 5 ½ barrel of barley,
2 ½ barrel og wheat, 24 barrels of potatoes, 60 skp. of hay. Cattle
: 6 cows and 6 sheep.
Stadskleiv
soendre.
This
farm was given to Olav Olavsson in 1954. In 1875 they sowed or planted
¼ barrel rye, ½ barrel barley, 2 barrels oats, 5 barrels potatoes. Cattle
: 5 cows, 1 pig.
Olav
Stadskleiv was married to Margit Joergensdotter Espedalen, who died
allready in 1874 from 7 children, some very small. In 1877 Olav too
died, 50 years old, and the same year died the 22 years old daughter
Anne. Of the 6 remaining children only the daughter Aaste was more than
20 years old. She was married to Gjert Sveinungsson Kaasa in 1877. 4
of the children soon left for America. The first to go was Halvor in
1883. Joergen, the eldest son, inherited the farm, but sold it to his
brother-in-law Gjert Kaasa and went with his brother Torgrim to America
in 1886. The last was Anlaug who went in 1887. Only Aaste and Olav
remained. He became a student at a teachers' training seminar in Asker.
His relative the bishop Halvor Folkestad, helped him in that. He came
back to Boe in 1884 as a teacher. He took back the farm Stadskleiv on
allodial possession in 1887.
In
the registation of 1886 Stadskleiv soendre received gnr. 57, bnr.1 and
skyld 1,27.
Olav
Stadskleiv was an active man in the community. When he had finished
the seminar he first went to Busnes in Gransherad as a teacher, but
in 1884 he returned to Boe, and was between others teacher on the Folkestad
school at Juvaasbakken for 17 years. Every day he walked that distance
on his feet. ( I do not know how far that is, but since it is mentioned
here it must be quite a distance).
Olav
married Ingeborg Olavsdotter Aagetveit in 1888.
When
Ivar Gundersen resigned from the post as teacher of the Boe school in
1908, Olav Stadskleiv got that post after him, and in 1909 the family
moved to Grauteknapp ( se there). The eldest children lived on Stadskleiv
farming.
In
1916 Olav Stadskleiv was appointed parish clerk. He was also sitting
in the town council for several periods. He first entered the council
in 1898. He was chairman 1915-20. When he ended teaching in 1927, he
moved back to Stadskleiv. He was parish clerk until 1931. Olav Stadskleiv
was an interested farmer too, and ran his farm well.
The
son Kittil took over Stadskleiv with a deed from 1926 for kr. 13.500.
He has besides farming also been working in the forest, mostly driving.
His son Olav who works at Hydro at Herøya ( a large industrial company)
took over Stadskleiv with a deed in 1773.
Stadskleiv
soendre has 45 da. cultivated land, sandy or clayey soil. It is uneven
ground. 10 da. forest. There used to be more forest, but some of it
was given to Kaasa in the 1880-ies. Stadskleivstykket still belongs
to Kaasa. They had milking cows there until 1973.The usual was 4-5 cows,
a horse and some young animals.
Kittil
stadskleiv is one of the very few in Norway that has been using oxes
for draught-animals. It was a little unusual to see the ox at work on
the Stadskleiv farm, but Kittil said it did a good job, especially in
the forest.
The
houses are now on the top of the hill. The main building is from 1910.
The cow and horse-stables are from 1909. The "eldhus" was taken down
in 1919, and put up again with a new wall under it. The old "stolbua"
was taken down in 1911, and a new one was built.
Stadskleiv
nordre.
Joergen
Stadskleiv received this in the early 1850-ies. This farm is also called
Evju after the old "husmannsplass" that used to be here.
Joergen
Stadskleiv bought a farm at Hasarud in 1847, and lived there at first.
But approx. 1855 he buildt new houses on Stadskleiv and moved there.
He also cultivated new land.
In
the registration of 1866 the following information is given about Stadskleiv
nordre :
4
cows, 1 calf, 2 sheep. They sowed or planted : 1/8 barrel wheat, ½
barrel rye, ½ barrel barley, 3 barrels oats, 5 barrels potatoes.
Joergen
Stadskleiv who was a sergeant and a "torvinspektoer"(11), was married
to Ingeborg Klokkarstugo in 1887( the cousin of my great-great grandmother).
Both
theese people came from gifted families, that went on to their children.
Ingeborg was the daughter of Tollef og Margrethe Klokkarstugo: Tollef
was concidered to be a very wise man, and Margrethe was the daughter
of Ivar Knutsson (Ivarsætta). Many of the descendants of Ivar Knutson
have showed rich artistic abilities (12)(see Veierud and Klokkarstugo).
Many
of the children on Stadskleiv also showed theese family traits.
The
eldest son Halvor was a highly regarded master builder. Many houses
that he buildt stands even to day, for instance the buildings at Sagavoll.
The second son, Olav was a teacher and bank-treasurer in Boe (see Oestboe
and Ytterboe).
The
yongest of the brothers was the artist Torleiv, who created a brilliant
name for himself. Allready as a child he showed remarkable skills in
drawing. 18 years old he became a student at the drawing school in Oslo.
Later he studied several places in Norway and abroad. But he always
remained true to his home place. For a long time he lived on the farm
Stadskleiv. In 1930 he buildt a house called "Kveldshytta" (the evning
cottage) up on the hill. On the midsummernigt evenings he used to walk
up to his cottage "Skrubbhiet" ( the wolfs lair) in the Oksla valley,
and he lived there for the rest of the summer.
Boe
- its nature and its people are living on in his drawings, in nature
studies from the Lie mountain and in potraits of people from Boe. Torleiv
Stadskleiv died in 1948. Boe community raised a statue of him, made
by the sculpturer Dyre Vaa. ( see the book about Torleiv Stadskleiv
and Dyre Vaa)
The
two daughters of Joergen and Ingeborg, Anna and Aaste both left for
America.
Joergen
left the farm to his oldest son, the master builder Halvor Stadskleiv
against "foederaad"(5) for himself and his wife. Halvor died in an accident
in 1920, when he fell down from a building at Valen. His widow Kjersti
had the farm for some years until the son Olav, also a master builder
took over. (see Hoegvoll)
Since
then there has been many owners. After Olav Stadskleiv, his brother-in-law
Sveinung Espesett had the farm for some time. The next was Olav Gregarsson
Veierud, who sold to Arne Stroemme in 1932. He got the deed in 1936
for kr. 19.000. Arne Stroemme's anchestors were from Drangedal and Sannidal.
He went to a school for farmers at Foldsae 1923-25, and moved to Stadskleiv
in 1934. In 1935 he married Tone Halvorsdotter Stadskleiv. In 1974 he
gave the farm to his sons Asbjoern and Halvor, but kept on using the
farm himself.
In
1939 the farm had an area of 82.5 da. Cattle : 1 horse, 1 colt, 6 cows,
1 ox, 1 heifer, 2 calves, 1 pig, 1 sheep. Later the usual has been approx.
4-5 cows and a horse. But in 1960 they stopped keeping cattle.
The
area is now 50 da. cultivated land, 15 da. other land, 78 da. forest
( in the Hayloadmountain, the original Nordboe forest).
The
new road to Lunde is crossing the property.
The
houses are down on the hill. The eldest houses are from 1855. Shortly
after 1900 Halvor Stadskleiv buildt a new main house and a new barn,
and moved the houses a little. There is an old "eldhus" and a "bekkehus"
in the court yard.
Notes.
1.
"Husmannsplass". To explain this word, let me tell a little story. Let
us say
there was a farm called Midt-Fjell. There lived the farmer Torgeir
and his
wife Ingrid.
Midt-Fjell was a rather small farm because the original farm had
been
devided many times during the years. Midt-Fjell was just one of seven
farms
that made the original Fjell farm.
Torgeir and Ingrid had five children that reached mature age. They
were :
Kittel (m), Nils (m), Kari (f), Randi (f) and Tarjei (m).
Kittel took over the farm. Nils was married to the widdow on a nearby
farm.
Kari did not marry, and lived her whole live at Midt-Fjell. Randi
became the
Wife of a farmer, and Tarjei what became of him? His parents let
him have
some land in the outskirts of the Midt- Fjell farm, where he could
brake
a little land to keep a cow and some sheeps. He could also take wood
for
his own use in the farms forest, and have his animals grazing there
during the
summer. For this he had to pay a small annual rent to the farmer
(his father,
later his brother), and help working on the farm to a certain extent.
He was on
contract with the farmer that normally lasted for his lifetime.
The husmann and his family normally lived in great powerty. He could
also
find some work on other farms from time to time. May be he was a
skilled
craftsman of some sort that could help.
The wife also had to work for others, and the children had to leave
home at a
very young age.
The " husmannsplass" was allways a part of the farm, and the "husmann"
did
not, like the farmer, pay tax to the state.
2.
"Kleiv". That means a steep part of the road.
3.
"rd" is Rigsdaler, an old currency like skilling. Now a days we use
"kroner"
and "oere".
4.
"spd" is "Specidaler", another old currency.
5.
"Foederaadsmann" is a man who has "Foederaad", which means that he lives
at his old age, on a farm where the farmer has a duty to support
him with
certain thing that were concidered neccesary to maintain life.
6.
"Skyldsett" means that the duty to pay a certain tax to the state was
connected
to the property. It is from then on a little farm.
7.
"Eldhus" is the house where they had a fire (eld) and baked bread, boiled
the
linen etc..
8.
"Badstugo" is a small hous that was heated up to a very high temperature,
and
where people sat sweating. Afterwards they washed themselves with
water.
9.
"Stolbu" is a small hous to store various materials, I think.
10.
"Maal". One maal is 100meters each way
11.
"Torvinspektoer". I do not know exactly what this job was. "Torv" means
peat or turf, so he was inspecting that for some purpose. In those
days they
used to take turf for firing. He must have had a task in connection
with that.
12.
To mention a couple : Torleiv Stadskleiv and Theodor Kittelsen, one
of the
most famous painters in Norway.
I
am very much in debted to Trond Risting Kielland, or Norway for this
translation. He has been extremely helpful in researching this passage
and sending it to me via email. Thanks Trond.
There
is more to this passage that lists names and dates. If you would like
copies of the original please email me.
--Mark
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