[#49517] Limosen building at Sorlieveinen

[Gjest kristin eyler]

I am looking for info on Limosen, a building at Sorlieveinen in Nordstrand in the early 1900's. Nordstrand was a former commune of Aker at this time I understand. My greatgrandmother was a maid servant here in 1918 and I am looking for anything about the building and maybe who she worked for etc. Thanks a bunch,!!

[Gjest Berit Knudsen]

I have been looking in 'Oslo Byleksikon' and found following: Sørlimosen, gnr.171/1, earlier 'husmannsplass' under Store Li gnr.171/1. It is now the garbage heap (Grønmo fyllplass) for Oslo.Sørliveien, Klemetsrud, from Enebakkveien to Grønmo garbage heap. The road got its name in 1910 after the farm Sørli (Store Li).

[Gjest kristin eyler]

Great info, thanks. Would you know since she was a maidservant was she working for a family or business? Would there be records of her working for someone? Thanks again.

[Gjest Anna Nilsen]

If she worked there when the census in 1900 were held she will be mentioned there.

[Gjest kristin eyler]

She was born in 1905, so it has been hard to find a lot of info. Thanks though.:)

[Gjest Per Håkon Christiansen]

I would consider the chance of tracing her that way as very small. Being a maid servant at that time was hardly a profession. Girls took these jobs out of economic necessity between their confirmation and their marriage, evt. until they got some other job (these were difficult times, the 20's were probably worse than the 30's.) They moved from one household to another at a very lousy salary, and the whole practice of having hosemaids gradually vanished as the girls needed higher salaries to survive, were starting to take an education, and the families did not afford to continue to employ maids or did not want to - for a lot of reasons. The whole society was under transformation, and the wanishing of these hosemaids was one of the results.In 1911 the maids organised a trade union, demanding every second sunday off, and extra pay after 9 pm, a demand which was considered 'outrageous': 'in some houses it is impossible to arrange the eating time in such a way that the maid is finished with her work at 9 o'clock.' And 'this will ruin the good relationship between the housewife and the maid and turn it into a contractual relationship'. As a reaction a 'Housewife's union' (Norges Husmorforbund) was established, claiming that the needs of the house must come first, the needs of the maids had to be secondary. In 1916 the result was that the maids had the 'horrendously' high wage of 25-50 crowns a month ($ 4-7) (for a good cook) while only a few years earlier they had been paid 8-15 cr. ($ 1-2) a month, and it was almost impossible to recruit maids any more - they preferred regular work and a defined spare time. The institution kind of died out, and after WW2 ended and the occupation was over (1945) society was different and the maids history.

[Gjest kristin eyler]

Awesome information, what great insight for the time period. Thank you. With researching her, are the municipal census records public ? Or are they restricted at all? Thanks again, really appreciate it. Are there records for sailors?

[Gjest Per Håkon Christiansen]

You have not told us any name or details; without that we cannot help you. There are municipal records for Oslo and some other cities, but not on the Net. So it all depends where she lived.The Norwegian Statistical Bureau (Statistics Norway, ( www.ssb.no ) a few years ago gave us some historical data about the salary of servants. Unhappily the old link does not work any more, and I have not been able to retrace the document, but here is the summery I made for my own use at that time (around year 2000), the value of a dollar was then about 7 NOK (Norwegian kroner), so you have to divide by 7 to find the dollar equivalent:The average yearly salary for a servant girl in 1900 was kr 130, in 1905 133, in 1910 168, and in 1915 kr 217. In 1920 the salary was kr 677. A male servant earned about the doble, more in the toown than in the countryside.As you can see being organised pushed the salaries up tremendeously. The main justification given for the salary difference between men and women at that time was that men had to provide for their family, while women could be expected to be provided for. Of course that justification was less and less valid as the women entered into the ordinary work force, yet another reason for the changes that took place, and another reason for demanding a reasonable salary on which you could live, but which gradually also made the whole servant system to fade away. (I guess you would see the same development in California if people had to pay an american, not a 'mexican' salary for everyone working while waiting to obtain a 'green card' to the US.)

[Gjest kristin eyler]

My great/grandma was the maidservant in 1918 at this place she was born in 1905 named Paula Kristine Bergby. Later records show her as just Kristine Bergby. The sailor was my great/grandpa named Waldemar Pedersen born 1901 both from Sarpsborg area. I have several debates out on her but find absolutely nothing so thought I would try with the newest info on her about being a maid. I am guessing she was even living in Tveit later but dont know. I keep hitting road blocks. Thanks for all your help and neat info, I will gladly add it to my file. Best Regards, Kristin