Anders Tjugum and Tjugum Cabins



When we started planning our trip, we looked for places to stay in Tjugum, Norway and Tjugum Cabins came up. We rented a cabin from Anders Tjugum. Over the last several weeks, we've been corresponding a little with Anders trying to determine if Greg is related to him. We have some genealogical records for the Tjugum's that Greg's mom had passed along to us. 





When we arrived at the cabin, we were absolutely delighted! The tiny rustic cabin overlooking the fjord is exactly what we were envisioning for our stay in Norway.



The view from the cabin

After our visit to the graveyard, we came back to the cabin and started going through all the materials we had brought with us to see if we could begin to understand more. 






Later in the evening, Anders Tjugum came to meet us after his day's work and we spent almost an hour talking to him about the Tjugum family. 

We had noticed that there were no signs for Tjugum - Anders explained that Tjugum, Norway is essentially the Tjugum farm, not a municipality. 



The Tjugum farmland extends from the Tjugum Church (Tjugum Kirkegàrd) through the peninsula underneath Dragsviki. Somewhere along the way (Anders doesn't know when), the family farm was divided between two Tjugum families. The ancestors of those families still operate the two farms which are side by side. Anders operates one of the farms and Ole operates the other farm. Unfortunately, as Anders explained, most small farmers must also have other outside jobs to survive, so Anders drives a tourist bus along with operating the Tjugum cabins in addition to farming. 



Our conversation with Anders cleared up one mystery - he is from the Tjugum family that alternates naming their 1st born sons between Anders and Thor. Anders' father was Thor and his oldest son is Thor. 

The other Tjugum family (where Greg is descended from) alternated naming their 1st born sons between Ivar and Ole. Greg's great grandfather was Ivar Tjugum who was born on the Tjugum Farm in 1857 and emigrated to America in 1874.

It's all pretty complicated because if a son Ivar died young (a common occurance), then the family would often name the next son, Iver, too. We went to sleep with our heads spinning! 

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