Knutianna (Janna) Svendsdatter Sandsmark

Gards- og ættesoge for Sveio I page 248 Vika (24h), page 247 Vika (17).

Janna var tvilling: http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:NBN:no-a1450-kb20070222690261.jpg

https://slektogdata.no/gravminner/grav/cc54085d-ace9-4270-8ea1-2c7d...

Some of Johannes Sandsmark's "Minner" Mother was born Nov. 21 in 1851. Her parents lived on Storhaug farm which was subdivided from the main farm. Vika. On the day she and her twin sister was born, a two yer old sister died. Now the family consisted of 8 children and later 3 more were born for a total of 11 children. Mother was born into a poor family and they were barely able to keep a cow and a few sheep on the farm. And the sheep they had did not even belong to them. They belonged to richer people in the area, and the rent they got for the animals helped to make payments for the farm. Under such conditions it was difficult for the parents to make ends meet, and they were constantly in need. There was always enough work and enough scoldings. The farm had some forest and from there grandfather got wood for burning out of which the best quality was sold. Sometimes he also made staves for barrels which also were sold. The children were not too old before they had to help carry the wares to the fjord where it was loaded into a boat and taken to where it was sold. Winter evenings were often spent tying fish nets for those who went herring fishing in the winter. Grandmother would spin the hemp into thread, the children would wind it onto the needles for Grandfather and the older boys who tied the mesh in the nets. There were always enough fish, for without the gifts from the fjord it would have been impossible to get enough food. Everything was used. Komla made with cod roe, and porridge made from cod liver was every-day food. I suppose that was nourishing food , but many today have never heard of these dishes. In Oklandsnes they would buy barley and rye which they milled themselves for everyday use for lefse and flatbread. Grandfather grew a bit of oats in a small field and potatoes in another field. The oats was made into porridge, cakes and komla. Together with the potatoes they had spring herring and other local fish. But there were often not enough food. Mother told me that many times they went to bed hungry or with very little to eat. They had a saying, she remembered; "it is enough to sleep on". The potatoes did not often last til Christmas, and mother told that some years the children would hide the odd potato to make sure there was something for the holy days. When the potatoes came to an end they ate oatmeal soup, flatbread and salted herring. Every Christmas grandfather would sail to Oklandsnes and buy a bottle of syrup and a 12 shilling long bread. That was the total holy day shopping. For breakfast Christmas morning everyone had one slice of long bread with syrup on. That was real celebration. The smallest ones thought it was a long time to wait for Christmas morning to come. Mother slept with two other sisters in one bed with a blanket for cover, and they would make the bed and flatten the blanket with their hands to make it pretty when grandmother came with the slices of bread for them.. Mother's parents died early. Grandfather reached the age of 43 and left a large family behind. 3 years later grandmother died as well. Mother was only 8 years old at that time. When grandfather died times were really bad for grandmother who had to make the same payments as before with 3 half grown children and 8 small helpless ones. She saw no other way than to give the little ones to family members who were better off than she. But people wer often unkind to fatherless children and they were often put to work and received little for the work they did. The fact that grandmother died so soon after her husband, is quite understandable. When mother was 8 years old she had to go out and earn her own living. She went from place to place. At one period she tended sheep in the mountains during spring and summer, because the grass at home would be used for hay, so the sheep were herded to the hills early and the child had to stay with them during those cold and rainy spring nights. By the time my mother was confirmed she had worked for 4 different farmers, so her schooling suffered a lot. Her last bit of schooling she received when she served in Haavardsholm on Hope farm (Hopshaugen) but that was only after the farmer was threatened with fines. Her school lunch then consisted of Mashed potatoes between two pieces of flatbread. She did not get any food when she came from school. She had to go to Hope mountain to bring the cows home first, so the pieces of flatbread had to last a long time before she got fed in the evening. In spite of sporadic and lacking education my mother became a good an avid reader. When she was at Orevik farm, there once was an exam at Vihovda school. and the child that could read the best got a prize. Mother was was the one that walked away with the prize. She had great desire for learning and reading, So in spite of very little schooling she obtained a good education for what was normal at that time. During women's meetings mother was always the one who read aloud for others. She also became a good writer in spite of being left handed, and in those days she was forced to use the right hand. This made her able to write with either hand, but the left handed writing looked the best. Mother was used to little food and hard work, but the first place she worked she had to leave before the agreed upon time. She looked after a baby boy there. he was big and heavy and wanted to be carried all the time. Mother was small and the boy cried a lot, so he wore her out. that and the fact that she never got enough food made her homesick and she cried as much as the boy at night when she laid in the bed in the cold kitchen. When she could no longer stand it she came home. It was likely not much better with the food at home and now her elder brother was in charge. He sat at the table when she came home eating some fried potatoes. When she asked if she could have a piece he answered angrily that if she was not able to work for her own food she wasn't worth any. She was 8 years old that time. A hard time to grow up. This brother later went to America and in 1914 he came back to visit. He had done well for himself in America, but he was very selfish. All mother got from him was a cheap scarf. I asked him to lend me the money for a ticket back with him, but I was told that that was more than he could afford. The best time she had was when she served at Valo. This was a rich farm and everybody thought it would be an honour to serve there. The work was hard and the food not much better than she was used to. But in spite of all that she had good memories from that time. She told me the day started at 4 in the morning with carding and spinning. then to the barn to tend to the animals. around 8 was breakfast which consisted of porridge which they cooked twice a week, and when it was warm weather they often had to remove mold from it before it could be eaten. The owners ate much better of course. For lunch the fare was oatmeal soup, salted herring and potatoes. Once in a while they would have dried fish, but it was never watered out. just into the pot and onto the plate. Mother said about that fish that it was like dried pieces of wood going down the gullet. There was good food on the farm, but not for the servants. Mother cut her hair at that time for two reasons. they were only allowed to brush their hair once a week. (more often would be vanity and a waste of time) She also got 80 cents for her hair, and that was good money. The wife of the house got a lot more when she sold it in Bergen. Butter could not be used at the farm. It was also sold in Bergen. As a substitute they used mashed potatoes with rendered fat in it, and of course lots of salt so that it would not taste too good. That encouraged everybody to use it sparingly because using too much ruined the taste of the bread. 6 kroners a year was the salary, and each girl was entitled to 12 yards of dress material, but mother only got 10 yards because of her size she didn't need that much. After four years at Valo, mother went to Bergen. She had an older sister who was married there. Here she lived for 14 years. Mrs. Moller was her employer. She had an embroidery business as well as washing and ironing. Here she learned fine french embroidery and also fancy cooking. She also developed a big town attitude that she kept for the rest of her life. While in Fru Moller's service mother met my father. He was from Sand in Rogaland near Stavanger. His father had a small sailing vessel and delivered goods up and down the west coast. It was most often building material for the ship yards he carried, Old Rasmus was what he was known as. He was an ardent Haugian, and would hold religious meeting wherever his ship took him. All I have heard about him is positive. During the time my grandfather had a lot of business in Halsnoy, an old servant woman who also hailed from Rogaland told him that the Spirit had told her to marry Old Rasmus, and since Rasmus never argued with the Spirit, they were married after grandfather had been a widower for many years. Her name was Martha Helleflot from Skjold in Rogaland. He did not have a permanent home at the time as his house in Sand Burnt down. He had for many years just lived in his ship, but now they rented a house in Halsnoy where they lived for the rest of their lives. I don't know if he ever questioned if it was the right spirit who had influenced Martha, because the two of them were very different. Grandpa liked to live well when he could and he was very generous, and Martha was the exact opposite. She saved everything and never willingly parted even with useless things. She even saved seaweed which she dried to use as fuel even if they always had decent fire wood, but that she often saved for so long that it rotted and by then it burned worse and smoked more than the half dried seaweeds. One time I came to visit after I was grown up, I asked for a piece of soap to was my hands with. She looked high and low and told me she remembered having put a piece of soap away last spring. Cleanliness was a bit lacking in that house, and soap cost money so it was wise not to use too much of it. Grandfather became totally deaf in his old age, and the only way of communicating with him was to write with chalk on a small black board he had, but Martha could not write or read so she would shriek right into his ear. Most of the time he answered back: "I can't hear a word". Mother told me that when he came to Bergen to visit she knew he was coming a mile away because he always had a big bag of candy which attracted all the children in the area and there was a noisy flock following him all the way to the house where they lived. When mother and father got to know each other, he sailed on the large ocean going tall ships. Mrs Moller may have been a strict boss, but she also were concerned enough about mother that she took Edvard aside and asked if he had honorable intentions. She cared enogh about mother that she didn't want the sailor to take advantage of her. My girl is too god a girl to be taken advantage of, she informed my father. After mother had worked for mrs. Moller for 7 years, she got married in Bergen in 1887 : http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:NBN:no-a1450-kb20061123010448.jpg They lived in Schrodersmuget 2 for some years til they moved to Sandsmark. Father sailed the tall ships for 35 years and made his first trip as a 14 year old boy. He held all positions he could without having navigation education. His schooling was also very lacking but he mastered the art of reading and writing. I dont remember anything that father could not do because he learned many skills on the tall ships including cooking for he had held the position of cook on an american sail ship. He even got a 40 kroner reward for clearing land on the farm he bought from his brother-in-law. This was from the government of Norway. Much of the farm work was left to mother and the children, for father continued to work on ships, it was good money and even if it took him from home for long periods the pay was better than anything he could get at home. He even sold books for a short period of time, but didn't have much sense for business so he gave that up after a short stint. He also worked in quarries making paving stones for the streets in the cities. When he was home he always did m ore things than farming, because we were used to manage that without him.