Water © OpenStreetMap contributors · farms placed from Kartverket
Kittilsland is in Veggli, a little under a kilometer northwest of Kjemhus. It was three holdings by the 1800s: Søre, Nordre and Meland, the middle one. The family's was Søre, the southern half.
Tollef, the carpenter
In 1733 Pål Bjørnsson Skavlem bought the southern half from Halvor Tollefsson for 203 riksdalerdaler The silver money Norway counted in before the krone of 1875: the riksdaler, and from 1816 the speciedaler. In the 1830s a farm in Veggli sold for a few hundred speciedaler. All the words; the deed survives. On February 17, 1739, the register records the marriage of Tollef Ingemundsen and Ambjør, Pål's daughter, and an index of the period records Pål's land passing to Tollef. The farm history calls him Tollef Nordmann, a carpenter from western Norway, and credits him with the farm's old byre.
Where in the west, nobody wrote down. The art historian Johan Meyer, in 1932, passed on a tradition that he came from around Bergen, and thought he was probably the "T.B." who signed the Rollag parsonage storehouse in 1719.
Tollef died about 1765. The probate of his estate the next year names his widow, Ambjør, and their son Ingemund, thirteen.
Ingemund and Ingeborg
Ingemund was baptized on January 31, 1753, "Tollef Kittilsland's son." On July 7, 1776, he married Ingeborg Kittilsdatter, from Helle. The census of February 1, 1801 finds them on the farm: Ingemund, 50, and Ingeborg, 47, with Kari, 21; Ingebjørg, 19; Tollef, 16; Kittil, 11; and Stener, the youngest. Their eldest, Ambjør, had already left home, and Kari later went to America, in 1842, the farm history says.
On June 10, 1806, Ingemund and Ingeborg deeded Søre Kittilsland to their son Tollef for 500 riksdaler, keeping a living from it for their old age. Ingemund died on April 18, 1815, and was buried eleven days later. In February 1816 Ingeborg and Tollef registered an agreement of their own for her keep. She died on June 22, 1834, at eighty.
Tollef rebuilt the farm in 1819, the farm history says. His son Ingemund took it over in 1855, and in 1859 that family left for America and the farm was sold. By the census of 1865 the owner was Halvor Rollefsen, from outside the family.
Stener
Stener was baptized on November 15, 1795. He grew up to be a clockmaker, trained, the farm history says, at Kleiverudhågån in Rollag, in Modum and at Kongsberg. The earliest clock signed by him that it knows of, from 1819, was at Nord-Glaim, the farm Steinar Halvorsen came from. In 1825 he bought southern Helle for 350 speciedaler, rebuilt it and kept his workshop in the main house. He numbered his clocks, past two hundred.
His grandson Knud Ingemundsen went to America and took his grandfather's name there: Knute Stenerson. Knud's daughter Bergit married Tollef Kjemhus, and their daughter was Clara.
Who lived here
born or died at Kittilsland · a pale bar is a life whose start isn’t recorded
The same, as a list, with what puts each of them here
- Tollef Ingemundsen 1693–1765 · his estate, 1766 (Numedal probate no. 8)
- Ingemund Tollefsen 1753–1815 · baptized 1753 as Tollef Kittilsland’s son; head of the 1801 census household
- Ingeborg Kittilsdatter 1754–1834 · the 1801 census household; her 1816 support agreement
- Stener Ingemundsen 1795–1867 · baptized 1795, son of Ingemund Tollefsen Kittilsland
The records
- 1733. Halvor Tollefsson sells the southern half to Pål Bjørnsson Skavlem for 203 riksdaler. Mortgage book I 2, p. 62: the page.
- 1739. Tollef Ingemundsen and Ambjør Pålsdatter married, February 17. Rollag ministerialbok I 2, p. 138: the page; the property index, Pål to Tollef: the page.
- 1753. Ingemun, Tollef Kittilsland's son, baptized January 31. Rollag ministerialbok I 3, p. 33: the page.
- 1754. Ingebor, Kittil Helle's daughter, baptized March 25. Rollag ministerialbok I 3, p. 39: the page.
- 1766. The estate of Tollef Kittilsland: his widow Ambjør, his son Ingemund, 13. Numedal and Sandsvær probate 8, fol. 482a: the page.
- 1776. Ingemund and Ingeborg married, July 7. Rollag ministerialbok I 3, p. 273: the page.
- 1780 and 1785. Kari baptized April 23; Tollef baptized October 9. Rollag ministerialbok I 4, pp. 5 and 22: Kari, Tollef.
- 1795. Stener baptized November 15. Rollag ministerialbok I 5, p. 36.
- 1801. The census, February 1: the household of seven. The page.
- 1806. Ingemund and Ingeborg deed the farm to their son Tollef for 500 riksdaler, June 10, registered June 20. Mortgage book I 9, fol. 199b: the page.
- 1815. Ingemund died April 18, buried April 29. Rollag ministerialbok I 6, p. 96: the page.
- 1816. Ingeborg's agreement with Tollef for her keep, registered February 16. Mortgage book I 10, pp. 382–383: the page.
- 1834. Ingeborg, widow, of Kittilsland, 80, died June 22, buried June 27. Rollag ministerialbok I 7, p. 229: the page.
The farm history: Knut Hoff, Rollag bygdebokbygdebok (plural bygdebøker) A Norwegian local history, usually a few volumes per district, going farm by farm through who lived there and when. Compiled from church registers, censuses, probate, tax and court records. The Kjemhus line comes from the ones for Flesberg and Rollag. All the words, vol. 2 (1989), pp. 89–101, at the National Library; Stener at Helle, vol. 1 (1988), pp. 130–134. Johan Meyer, Fortids kunst i Norges bygder, vol. 2, Numedal (1932), pp. 15–16, at the National Library.