{"id":11943,"date":"2026-09-21T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/?p=11943"},"modified":"2026-09-18T17:08:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:08:43","slug":"sometimes-i-cant-read-the-damn-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/sometimes-i-cant-read-the-damn-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Moan: Sometimes I Can’t Read the Damn Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I can’t read the damn thing, honestly.<\/p>\n

I have never claimed to be an expert at reading Gothic handwriting. <\/p>\n

But after spending quite a few years poking around Norwegian church books, census records, probate records, and other documents written by people who apparently believed vowels were optional, I’ve become better at it.<\/p>\n

Usually, anyway.<\/p>\n

Then a friend in the US asked me to help with a 1702 Norwegian court record.<\/p>\n

Sol\u00f8r og \u00d8sterdalen sorenskriveri, Tingbok, 1702. s. 1b-2a \u00a0https:\/\/www.digitalarkivet.no\/rg20090511310140<\/a>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

I opened the page.<\/p>\n

And stared.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I stared a little longer.<\/p>\n

Then I zoomed in.<\/p>\n

That didn’t help.<\/p>\n

I zoomed out again, which helped even less.<\/p>\n

I have reached the point where I can confidently identify approximately three letters.<\/p>\n

Possibly four.<\/p>\n

This is not the sort of Gothic handwriting where you gradually get your eye in and suddenly the words begin to appear. This is the sort where the words appear to have formed a secret society and are refusing to talk to me.<\/p>\n

And that is my Monday Moan.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the source wins.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n
My book\u00a0Scenes from a Life Left Behind<\/strong>\u00a0The World Our Norwegian Ancestors Knew<\/em>\u00a0are now available on Amazon\u00a0https:\/\/amzn.to\/3UlHM0N<\/a>\"\"<\/h6>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes I can’t read the damn thing, honestly. I have never claimed to be an expert at reading Gothic handwriting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_bluesky_share_type":"default","_mastodon_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-general","category-life-in-general"],"yoast_head":"\nSometimes I Can't Read the Damn Thing at All - Norwegian Genealogy and then some<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Monday moan: Struggling with Gothic handwriting? 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This guide is an updated and cleaned-up version of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Norwegian Sources"","block_context":{"text":"Norwegian Sources","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/norwegian-genealogy\/norwegian-sources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/Norwegian-census-records.jpg?fit=457%2C685&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10455,"url":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/norwegian-church-books\/","url_meta":{"origin":11943,"position":2},"title":"Norwegian church books: a practical, traditional guide for genealogists","author":"Martin Roe Eidhammer","date":"January 29, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"If you research Norwegian ancestors, Norwegian church books are where most solid proof begins\u2014and where many good family stories become verifiable history. 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I sometimes receive requests from people who are frustrated with the \"new\" Digitalarkivet. As I often struggle with updates to websites or software, I can understand this frustration. With the Digitalarkivet I have adapted and\u00a0written some articles about how to use it.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genealogy (general)"","block_context":{"text":"Genealogy (general)","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/genealogy-general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Church-records-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Church-records-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Church-records-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Church-records-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Church-records-6.jpg?fit=1200%2C632&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11828,"url":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/a-review-of-to-my-beloved-norwegian-countrymen\/","url_meta":{"origin":11943,"position":4},"title":"A Review of To My Beloved Norwegian Countrymen","author":"Martin Roe Eidhammer","date":"September 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Nordahl Brue has written something genuinely rare: a \"genealogical biography\" that functions equally well as a rigorously sourced work of Norwegian social history and as a page-turning family story. Tracing the life of his third-great-grandfather, Nils Trulsen Bru (NTB, 1776\u20131823) \u2014 farmer, fisherman, and one of the early farmer-representatives to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Genealogy (general)"","block_context":{"text":"Genealogy (general)","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/genealogy-general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Nils-Trulssen-Brue-featured.jpg?fit=558%2C372&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Nils-Trulssen-Brue-featured.jpg?fit=558%2C372&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Nils-Trulssen-Brue-featured.jpg?fit=558%2C372&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":653,"url":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/norwegian-causes-of-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":11943,"position":5},"title":"Norwegian causes of death","author":"Martin Roe Eidhammer","date":"February 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many foreigners struggle with the causes of death that are listed in the Norwegian church records. \u00a0I participate in various groups on the internet discussing Norwegian genealogy and as questions about this has been raised a number of times, I have been working on a list of death causes with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life in general......"","block_context":{"text":"Life in general......","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/category\/life-in-general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/skeleton-645535_640.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/skeleton-645535_640.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/skeleton-645535_640.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Monday-moan.jpg?fit=382%2C349&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11943"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11950,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11943\/revisions\/11950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}