[#5423] Emmigrant Sir Names

[Gjest]

Your site was recommended to me by another internet user. My question is, my family took the name of the farm hellesvik as their sir name when coming to the USA. The emigration records from Trondheim switched their name to Helsing. Is this one and the same name, or was there an error made, or perhaps there is another reason for this happening. I recently learned of this situation from a distant relative and so am trying to get down to the root of the matter. Thank you for any help you can give me. Sincerely, Roger R. Hellesvig

[Gjest Astrid Ryen]

You give too little information. When did your ancestors emigrate? What was their birthplace? What were their given names?There is certainly no connection whatsoever between the names Hellesvik and Helsing and I cannot see why the emigration authorities would want to change people's names. On the other hand,most people at that time (1800s)often had only patronymic names and often took the name of the farm they came from as their last name when emigrating to th USA.Hellesvik (Hellesvig) is no doubt a farm name. You find that name in many places in Norway, e.g. in Alstadhaug in Nordland.In the emigration records from Trondheim there is a couple Ole and Jensine Helsing who emigrated with their children Elin, Johan, Ane and Thea in 1881. They came from Frøya, which is an island situated off the coast of Trøndelag.Astrid Ryen

[Gjest Arne Langås]

You say that the emigration records in Trondheim switched their names to Helsing. Did you find this in the original sources, or did it say so on the digital version (the one found here on Digitalarkivet)? If you found it here, it might have been read wrong by those who were transcribing from handwritten to computer.Yours Arne Langås a.langaas@c2i.net - http://home.c2i.net/olangaas

[Gjest Astrid Ryen]

I don't think anyone would would make a major mistake like transcribing Helsing instead of Hellesvig.I forgot to tell you (Tore Hellesvig) that the surname Helsing is familiar to me from Kristiansund where I was born. There are people with that surname in this town in the censuses of 1801, 1865 and 1900. I don't know the origin of the name but there is a farm Helsing in Asker, west of Oslo.Atrid Ryen

[Gjest Heidi Tofterå Slettemoen]

Quite often, when Norwegians emigrated to the states, the language barrier and dialects caused misspellings of names. The name Hellesvig/k may have been misinterpreted, or the writing of it may have been...To err is human, so you never know.Like Ryen says: If you submit some more information, we might be able to solve the problem for you.

[Gjest Berit Knudsen]

What is your name. We always tell our name here in the DEBATT when we ask for help. May I ask if you have asked this question before. I belive I have seen this question before.

[Gjest Laila Normann Christiansen]

This discussion about Helsing/Hellesvik has also been going on the Norway List.The person asking the question, is Roger R. hellsevig, as he said in his first query. (at the end...)Roger, give more information, maybe we can help!!! We are not magicians or mind readers! Laila