Bernhard Enevold Arntsen

Bernhard var andre sønn og tredje barn av Arnt og Johanna Larsen. Han var oppkalt etter sin farmor, Berit. Han giftet seg 22 år gammel med Nemine Arnesen, og de etablerte seg på Liland (Vesterålen).

Bernhard fulgte i sine fars fotspor og drev veterinærpraksis, var fisker og slakter.

Bernhard og Nemine fikk 7 barn i løpet av 10 år. Da den yngste, Oscar, ble født fikk Nemine konstantert tuberkulose og ble innlagt på et sanatorium hvor hun døde 4 måneder senere. Nemines svigersøster, Pauline, hadde lovet å ta Oscar til seg og fostre han opp. Pauline hadde da returnert fra USA for å hjelpe sin bror med familien. Etter to år tok hun med seg Oscar og dro tilbake til Amerika i 1915.

Nemines søster tok seg av Andor som var bare 15 måneder eldre enn Oscar. Bernhard tok selv Andor på ryggen og bar han fra Liland til Gombogen, og rodde til Lyså. Der ble Andor oppfostret. Da han ble voksen bygde han opp gården på Myreng på Holand og etablerte egen familie der.

Bernhards eldste sønn, Andreas, tok over på Liland og etablerte sin familie der.

Bernhards to eldste døtre, Henny og Johanna, ble gift i deres mors hjemtrakter i Bogen i Kvæfjord. Deres menn var stort sett fiskere og småbrukere.

I tillegg til sin kone, mistet Bernhard to av sine barn til tuberkulose. Fram til 2.verdenskrig var det en fryktet sykdom som tok mange liv i Norge. Datteren Andrea var bare 21 år gammel og sønnen Nordal var 26 år da de døde av tuberkulose.

Da Bernhard var 70 år dro han en tur til Amerika for å besøke sønnen Oscar, og sine brødre Alfred og Johan. Han seilte fra Oslo med "Stavangerfjord", og ble i Amerika fra desember 1950 til august 1951.

17 år senere døde Bernhard 88 år gammel.

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Bernhard was the second son and third child of Arnt and Johanna Larsen. He was born in 1880 and got his name after Arnt’s mother, Berit. At the age of 22 he married Nemine Arnesen, who came from Kvæfjord. Bernhard and Nemine established their home on Liland nearby Maurnes in Vesterålen.

Bernhard followed in his father’s footsteps in that he engaged in veterinary practice, but was also a fisherman and slaughterer.

Seven children were born to Nemine and Bernhard with only ten years difference between the oldest and youngest child. 

At the time of Oscar’s birth in 1913 Nemine was confined to a tuberculosis sanitarium, and died there four months later. Before her death, Nemine had received a promise from her sister-in-law, Pauline, that she would take Oscar as her child and care for him. Pauline had returned to assist her brother with his family after six years in America. So after staying two years she took Oscar with her when she again left for America in 1915.

In the meantime it was agreed that Nemine’s sister would take Andor, who was only fifteen months older than Oscar. It is said that Bernhard strapped the child to his back and walked the entire distance to Gombogen, and then rowed over the fjord to Lyså. Andor was raised there. When he became adult he got hold of the farm Myreng in Holand, and acquired that name. He raised his family there.

Bernhard’s oldest son, Andreas, took over at Liland and raised his family there.

Bernhard’s two oldest daughters, Henny and Johanna, found their spouses in their mother’s home area of Bogen in Kvæfjord.

In addition to his wife, Bernhard lost two of his children to tuberculosis. Up until post World War II, that dreaded disease was still claiming many lifes in Norway. Daughter Andrea was only 21 years old when she died in 1931, and son Nordal was 36 at the time of his death in 1947.

When he was 70 years old, Bernhard made an extended trip to America to visit his son, Oscar, and brothers Alfred and Johan. He sailed from Oslo on “Stavangerfjord” and was there from December of 1950 until August of 1951.

Bernhard died 17 years later at the age of 88.

FT1900 "Bernhard Arnesen", Stenbakken, [Liland], 29/2, Sortland, Nordland (ugift, Logerende hørende til Familien, Fisker): https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01037544003180

FT1910 "Bernhard Arntsen", Finsnes, [Liland], 29/17, Sortland, Nordland (gift, hf, Gaardbruker og fisker, Den lutherske frikirke): https://www.digitalarkivet.no/census/person/pf01036942002602