Christian August Christensen - Did this person emigrate to the UK?

Jeremy Nicholson

3/17/2023 at 5:23 AM

My great great grandfather was Christian August Christensen LUND, who lived in Hartlepool, UK, and died in 1938.
He was known to have come from Norway and a cousin always said that Christian came from Halden.

All the records I have for him give his place of birth as Norway, with nothing more specific. However, I have recently looked at the 1921 UK census. Here, Christian gives his birth place as "Norway, Berge" (not sure why there is an -e at the end) and in June 1921 he said he was 70 years and 11 months old, which takes his date of birth back to July 1850.

Berg is close enough to Halden (Fredrikshald) for my cousin to have thought Christian came from there. The date of birth ties up, too. Also, the birth record shows Christian's parents living on a farm called Lindemørk-Ødegaard. I am wondering if he chose the name Lund in the UK from Lindemørk.

A newspaper obituary in 1938 refers to him having lived in Hartlepool from the age of 19 (about 1869) after coming from Norway. He was still in Norway for the 1865 census, so he must have emigrated between 1866 and 1869. I can find no records of his emigration either in the digital archives of Norway, nor in the UK. The first record I have for him here in the UK is his marriage in 1874. Unfortunately, I can't find him anywhere on the 1871 UK census.

What do you think? Is my gg grandfather the Christian on this profile? Can you think of a way to prove or disprove it for certain as I would love to be able to trace the Norwegian part of my family.
Thank you.

Private User

3/21/2023 at 4:22 PM

Jeremy,

To start with your closing questions: I think it may well be him, but too many pieces are still missing for me to say that I am "pretty sure". How to come closer to confirm? On the UK side: (I know you have probably tweeked and twisted every record search you can think of, but:) Anything that would give a more detailed birtdate or -place. (Tax registries, pension application, banking documents, letters or 'lore' circulating in the family) Your couisin always said he came from Halden, and he must have gotten this idea from somewhere.
On the Norwegian side: I did a few (very brief) searches, and like you did not find any emigration record, nor did I find him in the 1875 census. This could be if he had mustered on as a seaman and after a while at sea mustered off and settled in UK.
When it comes to the name Lund I am not convinced that it comes from Lindemørk. By all means it may be a simplification of this farm name, but Lund is a distinct farm name of its own, and there are several Lund-farms around. (at least 10+ in Østfold county). But one did not neccecarily take the name of the place you were born, we know that in the 1865 census his mother (second time a widow) lived in Halden and young Christian was a farmhand on Tobro farm. He could well have moved on to a Lund-farm and worked there up until the time when he decided to leave.

I'm sorry that I don't have any real data to help you along, but hopefully you will come across a detail that may give you a bit more to go on.

Regards

Svein-Erik Vik

Svein-Erik

Jeremy Nicholson

3/22/2023 at 8:28 AM

Hi Svein-Erik,

Thanks so much for replying.

I am continuing to search for records that will make Christian's origins more obvious. Unfortunately, official documents relating to financial matters are either not open to public scrutiny or are few and far between here in the UK, but I will not give up!

I hadn't considered that between the 1865 census and emigrating, Christian may have moved to a Lund farm. That would absolutely make sense. I guess I was looking for a more complicated reason for using the name Lund! I'm not sure where to look for anything that might prove this, though.

If I find anything I will, of course, let you know and I really appreciate you having spent some time doing searches of your own. That was very kind.

All the best,
Jeremy.

Christian August Christensen - Did this person emigrate to the UK?

Participants:

Profiles Mentioned:

Create a free account or login to participate in this discussion