{"id":4546,"date":"2017-05-16T18:00:55","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T17:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/?p=4546"},"modified":"2025-11-06T14:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T13:20:10","slug":"witnesses-as-an-clues-to-relationship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/witnesses-as-an-clues-to-relationship\/","title":{"rendered":"Witnesses as clues to relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"

The witnesses to an event, can be the clues we need to break through a brickwall<\/p>\n

Everyone who search for ancestors in Norway notices and sometimes despair at the many similar names that appeare in the records. Things does not get easier as they changed their last part of the identification information (the farm name) when they moved from one place to another. You might want to have a look at my articles about\u00a0Norwegian naming<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Norwegian renaming<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the older christening records often only the father’s name was recorded. If there were several persons in the area with the same or similar name, recording witnesses to an event can give us valuable clues to find the right parents.<\/p>\n

Lets look at the words used to indicate witnesses to an event.<\/p>\n

Witnesses to a christening (daap\/d\u00e5p) is in the records recorded as\u00a0sponsores (abbr: spons.), testes (abbr: test. or t.)\u00a0<\/strong>or the more modern\u00a0faddere (abbr: fadd., fad. or f.).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Witnesses to an engagement (trolovelse) or wedding (\u00e6gteskabsinng\u00e5else) were recorded as\u00a0cautionister\/cautionistre (abbr: caut.),<\/strong>\u00a0forl\u00f8fningsm\u00e6nd <\/strong>or forlovere.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

So, what should we be looking for?<\/p>\n

I look for<\/p>\n