help with house description in letter 1924

Startet af Michelle Larsen, 29 Feb 2020 - 11:39

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Michelle Larsen

Hello, may I please have help to translate this description of a house my grandmother's aunt is buying in 1924.  I hope I have typed it correctly from her handwriting. 

"det er lavet med 1 alen grund under jorden og samme steder 1½ alen over jorden og så er der gravet muldjord ud over det hele i skuehuset og lagt ½ alen stampet ler i stedet og så ½ alen hult under gulvet med ventiler ud for fugtighed og 2 store fag vinduer i var stue det er godt med megen sol nu laver jeg en tegning"

Thank you.   

Ole Westermann

I think some of it is not completely correct transcribed, but my proposal for a translation could be:

It is made with 1 alen (2 feet) ground under the surface and some places 1½ alen over the surface(?), and then the top soil has been removed from the whole 'farmhouse', and ½ alen stamped clay in stead laid there, and ½ alen under the surface 'vent holes' for removing humidity, and 2 big 'bays' (1 bay (fag) ca.1,25 m) of windows in our sitting room, it's good with a lot of sun, and now I will make a drawing

I hope it's understandable for you.

mvh Ole

Lennarth Nielsen

hi,

the over the surface(?) I'd translate with above ground. And to get the transcription as correct as possible you're always welcome to attach a scanned document to your post. Then the readers can check, if your typing is correct - you'll find a lot of helpful and very skilled readers on the forum here.

Lennarth

Michelle Larsen

Thank you Ole, that is what I make of it, but it is not a subject I know much about.   Thank you too Lennarth.  I will see if I can work out how to add a photo here as it would be very helpful at other times too.   

Michelle Larsen

I haven't been able to work out how to attach a photo.  Can someone please help with instructions for that?

Lennarth Nielsen

hi Michelle,

you're welcome. The functionality for attachments becomes available below the text field, when you're writing a new post. Click where it says Vedhæftninger samt øvrige indstillinger - it's Attachments and other settings. Click the button Vælg fil - it means Choose file. From here you can browse the file on your harddisk, select the file and click Open. Then the filename will appear in the text field next to the button Vælg fil - ready to post. Be aware that there're very hard file size restrictions, whereas each file only can be up to 0.5 megabyte and only one attachment is allowed per post. The total file size in a thread is limited to 2.4 MB. You can give it a go. Then I or someone else can verify your transcription of the handwriting. If you're missing a few words to be translated there's also a good dictionary here (there're five lookups per day for free):
https://www.ordbogen.com/da/

If it's more than a few words or if there're doubts about the interpretation, it of course makes more sense to get help from the forum here.

Kind regards,

Lennarth

Michelle Larsen

Thanks Lennarth, here it is.

Lennarth Nielsen

hi again Michelle,

yes, it works:) I read Stuehus and not Skuehus, but apart from that I read pretty much the same. The attached document seems to be part of a letter, so I expect there's more text before and after this bit. Here's the text with small adjustments:

... tørt og det er laved
med 1 Alen Grund under Jorden
og samme steder 1½ Alen over Jorden
og saa er der graved Muldjord ud
over det hele i Stuehuset og lagt
½ Alen stampet Ler i stedet og
saa ½ Alen hult under gulvet
med ventiler ud for fugtighed
og 2 store Fag Vinduer i var [should be vor, so that vor Stue means our living room] Stue
det er godt med megen Sol
...

Back in the days nouns were written with capital letters as you've probably noticed. The words laved and graved are today spelled lavet and gravet, but spelling can vary quite a lot from person to person and from place to place. Sometimes, the words were spelled like they were pronounced and then you could get an idea of how the local dialect had been.

Lennarth

Michelle Larsen

Thank you very much Lennarth.  I really appreciate your & Ole's help.  Yes, this is part of a letter, one of hundreds from my Hansen-Madsen family of Rude Eskilstrup.  Ellen and her husband have just purchased a farmhouse at Kammergave.  She also includes a floorplan!  I am trying my best to translate them all, but now I know how to add a photo, I will be able to ask for more help.

mvh
Michelle