Ole vs Oluf Larsøn

Startet af Art Berggreen, 27 Maj 2022 - 16:47

Forrige emne - Næste emne

Art Berggreen

In tracking down the children of Oluf Larsøn I came across these two close 1734 birth records for Cathrine and Jeppe:
https://www.sa.dk/ao-soegesider/da/billedviser?epid=17116506#152482,25385571
The birth for Cathrine lists an Ole Larsøn and her surname is listed as Olesdatter.  The birth for Jeppe lists an Oluf Larsøn and gives the surname as Olufson.  Since the births of most of the following children list the father as Oluf Larsøn and children's surnames as Olufson and Olfsdatter is it safe to assume that Jeppe is the child of my Oluf and not Cathrine?  These two entries appear to be made by the same priest close in time, so I think the use of Ole for Cathrine's birth is significant.  It doesn't help that Oluf Larsøn's first wife father's name was also Ole or Oluf Larsøn.

Thanks for any help deciding,
Art

Ole Westermann

The oldnordic Olafr/Olaf turned to the olddanish Oluf, which turned to Ole.
Oluf/Ole is often used about the same person. So: free choice !

Ole

Katrine Kristensen

Hi,

I concur with Ole Westermann. I personally haven't seen any cases from the 18th century where it would make any difference whether someone was called Ole, Olle, Oluf, Oluv or similar and I've encountered plenty of situations where the same person is called both Ole and Oluf even on the same page of a document.

However, with regards to your example I would note that the first Oluf is called "Oluf Larsen huusmand" whereas the second is called "unge Ole Larsen". I took a quick look at some of the preceding pages and it looks like the priest tended to distinguish between old Oluf Larsen ("gl. Oluf Larsen") and young Oluf Larsen ("unge Oluf Larsen", "Oluf Larsen den yngre").

It remains unclear whether "Ole Larsen huusmand" is identical with old Oluf or whether there was a third Oluf Larsen, but perhaps you can use this distinction to figure out whether your Ole/Oluf was the father of Jeppe or Cathrine.

Best,
Katrine

Art Berggreen

Ole and Katrine, thanks you for you comments.

In some of the later birth records for children of Oluf Larsøn, the priest has noted the current number of sons and daughters born to him.  I currently have too many daughters and not enough sons.  Selecting the entry for Jeppe over Cathrine would get me closer.  It is possible that Cathrine is his wife's much younger sister.

Art

Katrine Kristensen

After looking a bit further in the church records, I think there were actually 3 people called Oluf Larsen:

Old Oluf Larsen - the father-in-law of your Oluf

Young Oluf Larsen/Oluf Larsen the younger - in at least one record his father-in-law is said to someone called Jep

The youngest Oluf Larsen/Oluf Larsen huusmand - your Oluf, in later records just called "Oluf Larsen"

Based on this I do think your Oluf has to be the father of Cathrine rather than Jeppe. However, next to her name the priest has written "død" (dead) which would explain her absence from later documents.
Notes of the type "4 sons, 3 daughters" which appear beneath certain records relate to all children born in a given year, so I wouldn't worry about the numbers differing from what you've discovered about Oluf Larsen and the children he had.

Best,
Katrine