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Hordaland County, Voss Parish Hordaland County is a part of "Vestlandet" - The Western Land - and is located on the western side of Southern Norway. (See Norway map) The county occupies an area of 5,777 square miles, and its population in the year 2000, was a little over 435,000, of which, nearly 230,000 lived in Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The long Hardangar Fjord in the south, and numerous small and large islands along the coast, are main landscape features. Hordaland means "the land of the Hordar", a tribe with a name of possibly Celtic origin. One of it's thirty-three municipalities is the kommune/prestegjeld of Voss. (See Voss Map) The following is taken from Svein Ulvund's fantastic web site. Svein lives in the city of Voss. (http://home.online.no/~sulvund/Family_Genealogy/Family_Genealogy.htm) "You find Voss in Western Norway. Voss is not a big place; there live about 6,000 citizens in downtown, and about 14,000 in the municipality. Voss (Vossavangen) is situated in the heart of Western Norway. It lies on the northern edge of Vangs lake and nestles in a picturesque setting amongst snow covered peaks. Voss, situated between Sognefjord in the north, and Hardangerfjorden in the south, lies in the heart of fjord Norway. A short journey from Voss brings you to awe inspiring fjords and mountains, with Flåmsbanen and Hardangervidda on the east. Traveling westward takes you to Bergen. Communications are good with regular train services to Bergen and Oslo. Bergen is approximately one hour by train and a mere 90 minutes by road. From Oslo the train traverses the Hardangar Plateau, the "Roof of Norway", in 5 hr 30 min. Voss is one of the largest municipalities in the county of Hordaland. Winter sports have a natural home in Voss. Alpine, cross-country, biathlon and freestyle skiing; Voss has them all. For the adventurous visitor, Voss also offers hang-gliding, paragliding, mountaineering and rafting. For those seeking peace and tranquility in a natural setting , Voss offers fly-fishing in approximately 500 lakes, or a memorable stroll in the mountains. The first travelers came to Voss more than 3,000 years ago. They were hunters and gatherers, looking for a place to settle. In Voss they found fertile green valleys, numerous fishing lakes, and mountains with an abundance of wildlife. This natural wealth formed the basis for the development of a prosperous farm community, where rich traditions took root. At one of the local farms, Finne, a guildhall was built around the year 1250. Finnesloftet is today a part of the collection that is administered by the National Historical Society. King Olav, the Holy, visited the settlement of Voss in 1023 to convert the pagan villagers to Christianity. The King erected a stone cross, St Olav's Cross, as a symbol of the new belief in the region. The Cross is to be seen in the centre of Voss. King Magnus the Law Mender, ordered the building of a church in Voss in the year 1200, Voss Church (Vangskyrkja), Lutheran. It is situated in the centre of Voss. Built in 1271-1277, this stately gray-stone church, with its octagonal wooden spire, is without doubt, one of the most remarkable in Western Norway. The stone walls are two meters thick in places, and the richly decorated interior boasts both medieval and renaissance art.. The church is still in almost daily use." Svein's pride in his home town and surrounding area is clearly evident, and indeed, he has every right to be. Audrey and I visited there in June 2001, to seek out the farms on which my ancestors lived, and found the area to be incredibly beautiful, and serenely peaceful. For the peasant farmers of the early 1800's, conditions must have seemed utterly hopeless, to wrench them from their families and beautiful homeland, and undertake a move to the new world. They had to sell every thing they could not carry, travel with all their belongings by foot, oxcart, and boat to reach a port city from which they would embark on a dangerous sea voyage of several weeks for some place in North America, generally New York City. There, they had to disembark into a society of people who spoke a language foreign to the immigrant, and who could not understand Norwegian, and then find their way to some interior settlement, such as Koshkonong Praire, Wisconsin, provide immediate shelter, and begin a new life. What courage it took to do that! We, who are descendents of Norwegian immigrants, should be very, very proud of our heritage! About 15 km west of the city of Voss is the small village of Evanger; still in Voss kommune. The Fadnes farm is located at the edge of a sizable lake (a steamboat once regularly traversed its length) about 1 km west of Evanger. The buildings, once inhabited by my gr-gr-grandfather Ole Henrikson, were razed several years ago, and the property is now owned by a man who lives in Flåm
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