Norwegian ancestry - who would have thought it!

[Greensleeves]

Having had a brick wall demolished in the Common Room (thanks again to all who found so much info for me) I then bound back a couple of generations and find that my 5x great grandparents were Torres Reitan and Gunni Hansdr of Ytteroy, Nord-Trodelag, Norway.  Their son John (Hans) Torrison was baptised 15 November 1772 at Ytteroy and he and his wife Barbara (also alleged to be Norwegian) subsequently settled in Rotherhithe, England. 

My question is, where on earth do I go from here?  Are there Norwegian records available online?  And if there are, is there anyone about who understands Norwegian? 

I suspect I have hit another brick wall here, but I am still immensely pleased to have got this far!

Thanks in advance for any help and/or suggestions,
Regards
GS

[kaysii]

Norway has a wealth of records freely available online. You can start here http://arkivverket.no/eng/content/view/full/629 and start to explore. I have enough Norwegian to make my way around the records and there is also Jan who is Norwegian and is of course fluent.

I also use familysearch in case the necessary records have been transcribed.

There are also Norwegian fora where even if you put a query in English with as much details as you have you should get a response. The link above will give you access to a users forum. You will have to register to be able to join, but again it is all free.There is also a DIS forum http://www.disnorge.no/slektsforum/index.php?language=engelskagain you have to register

and the same site has a map which helps with locating the different areas of http://www.disnorge.no/kart/dismap.php

Happy hunting
kaysii

[kaysii]

The baptism was easy to find.
http://www.arkivverket.no/URN:kb_read?idx_kildeid=16411&idx_id=16411&uid=ny&idx_side=-75
It is here towards the bottom of the left  hand page. You have the mother's name followed by the "godparents". Most have a first name followed by the name of the farm they are probably living on.
The father's name is assumed, but the child was born within marriage.

[kaysii]

I have found the family in the 1801 census living on a different farm and you can see that his father is Tørres Andersenhttp://digitalarkivet.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&sidenr=14&filnamn=f18011722&gardpostnr=78&personpostnr=1384&merk=1384#ovre
Hans is unmarried and has 2 brothers Anders and Peder.

[kaysii]

How sure are you that your ancestor in Rotherhithe was born in that area of Norway, as there are several Hans or John Torrisons or variants of that name born in that time period in Norway. As the one born in Ytteroy was unmarried in 1801 and I assume your ancestor is the one having children from 1801 in Rotherhithe, I would think it is highly unlikely he is your ancestor. I have found a couple of trees with his name on Ancestry, but none that provide the evidence that he came from Norway. Given the area he was living
Is your ancestor the Hans (Aans) Torrison in an institution in Greenwich in 1841?

[Greensleeves]

Thank you very much indeed for such detailed information kaysii.  I will plough through it and see where it leads me.  I am much obliged for your help!

Kind regards
GS

[kaysii]

Have found a transcription of a child of John and Barbara Torrison called Barbara, born 21 August 1804 and baptised 27 March 1805 in Stepney, St George in the East in which it says that John is a mariner. If you are to look at records in Norway, you will need to prioritise those that are coastal rather than those living inland and try to follow through to find out if they are still there in 1801 or not. Not an easy task I'm afraid. I've not found a marriage in Norway that fits. 

[Greensleeves]

So far I can't find a marriage for them either but I did find that baptism record giving him as a Mariner.  I will have to put my notes in order before I go any further - have several pages of jottings; I don't have Ancestry worldwide so a fellow RC member has been doing lookups for me.    However, there are quite a few Norwegian records on Family Search.

Thanks so much for your time on this kaysii, it is much appreciated.

Regards
GS

[Greensleeves]

Is your ancestor the Hans (Aans) Torrison in an institution in Greenwich in 1841?

I'm afraid I can't find this 1841 census entry, kaysii.  I wonder if you could please let me have the reference number?

Many thanks,
GS