The Recent Epoch (From A.D. 1550)

Written sources from before the Reformation are scarce. The sources get more numerous and better as we approach the present. This allows us to give a more varied description of life on the farm. What strikes one immediately is the social and cultural variation that is found within the same area.

On the farm-mound lived the farmer, who was simultaneously a fisherman, with his family. He was the king’s tenant up to the middle of the 18th century. The cotters had their homes on the outskirts of the cultivated land. The cotter didn’t own the land he tilled, and paid rent by working on the main farm. There were also Sami living at Elgsnes. Most of these have presumably been distant from the main habitation, but both place names and cultural remains visible on the ground indicate that this hasn't always been the case.

The trading station of Raten, on the east side of the bay Elgsnesvågen, was independent of this structure. Trade was conducted here summertime only, up to the end of the 18th century. After that the tradesmen lived here permanently. From then on, they, most likely, were also more distinctly an economic and social upper class.

From Tenant to Freeholder

The royal deed of conveyance of 1752

The census of 1567 is the first written source to tell us of the farm’s inhabitants. It informs us that Nils Johnsen was the king’s tenant. From 1609 we know the names of all the male residents. Yet another century and a half would pass before the women were taken into the census.

In 1752 the tenant Mads Larsen received a royal deed of conveyance for Elgsnes, for the fee of 50 rix-dollars. He was the first of the king’s tenants in Trondenes that became a freeholder. Already the next year, though, he sold the farm on to the bailiff Jørgen Wang of Kastnes in Dyrøy. Larsen was the bailiff’s tenant up to 1776, when the bailiff’s son Hans took over.

Hans Wang ran the farm up to 1824, when he died. He was a pioneer in farm-management. He drained bogland by means of stone-lined ditches, and he installed an ingenious system of flood ditches that were in use up to recently. In Botnbekken, today known as Mølnelva (Mill-river), he built a watermill that enabled the farm’s inhabitants to grind their own flour. Hans Wang was a sheriff’s officer, and a subordinate officer in the local militia, but it was probably his many years as the headman on a fishing boat that brought the most wealth to the farm. When he came back from distant fisheries, even the mighty merchant of Raten hoisted his flag upon Masterhågen.

The farm was divided in the 1820’s. The merchant of Raten bought three quarters of Elgsnes; while Hans Wang’s widow, Anne Persdatter, and his daughter from his first marriage, Kirsten Lavina, were left with two smaller parts. When the trading station at Raten went bankrupt in 1881, half of the farm was sold off.

Ill.: K. E. Harr

Edvard Ruud senior of Kvæfjord took over this property. The transfer included the servant’s quarters and the seine-shed. These buildings were moved from Raten to the new property, which was given the name Storbakkan. Edvard Ruud managed and developed the farm while he simultaneously was the headman on a fishing boat for almost two generations. These four parts were managed separately until the three largest were reunited in the 1970’s and -80’s. Consequently the farm today in the main appears as a single unit.

Sami Settlements

Elgsnes, like most places in northern Norway, has a multi-cultural past. Traces of Sami turf-houses are to be found several places in the farm’s vicinity. Names like Finnevika, Finnhollet and Finnefjæra bear witness of Sami settlement. 18th century historic sources also mention Sami people that "reside above the Elgsnes meadows". Most of them would have lived here permanently, farming and fishing like the rest of the population.

Sami settlement. Ill.: M. Skandfer

At Slåttebakkan, a plain between Elgsnes and Aun, there are still traces of a Sami settlement with approximately 14 houses. Oral history recalls that Hans Wang drove the Sami away from there because he maintained that their reindeer damaged the woods. There are also remains of Sami turf-houses in Horsevika. In a property document from 1763, a "Christen Erichsen Fin (which means Sami), Haasevigen" is mentioned. His son was Amund Christensen who was responsible for the transport of goods on the "jekt" from Røkenes. Horsevika has been abandoned since 1775. A Erik Monsøn is mentioned in court proceedings from the middle of the 18th century. He was a "poor Fin", who was assigned a home on Elgsnes, so as to, as they said: "seek his daily bread by his fishing". It may therefore seem as if the optimal conditions for subsistence at Elgsnes was also promoted as a kind of social security.

Cotter’s Farms

Five of the cotter’s farms we know of, were owned by the trading station at Raten: These were Losnedalplassen and Kvamplassen at Lyngmyra; Rateskogsletta, now known as Hågen; Ebergplassen and Jonsborg. The other two parts from Hans Wang’s estate owned Steinsletta and Skarveien. We know for sure that cotters lived at Jonsborg from about 1810. The other cotter’s farms are known to have been inhabited from the second half of the 19th century. There have been cotters here earlier, as the censuses all the way back to 1666 testify to.

The cotter´s farm Haagen. Photo: Edvard Ruud

Matthias Losnedal from Eivindvik in Sogn, southern Norway, came to Raten in 1868 as a manservant. He was the first person in the Trondenes district to have an agricultural education. He and his wife Johanna built the cotter’s farm at Lyngmyra. When Kvamplassen was deserted, all of Lyngmyra became a separate holding in 1922. Kristen Nilsen established himself at Hågen around 1870. He fished as the headman and participated in the famous "Battle of Trollfjorden" (This was the climax of the conflict between the traditional fishermen and the large steam-boats over fishing rights during the Lofoten fisheries). Hågen was a cotter’s farm up to 1947, when it was made an independent holding. The other cotter’s farms were left around 1900, and have since been run as parts of the holding to which they belonged.

The cotter’s farms were small, and fodder for the domestic animals were harvested as far away as Gullesfjordbotn and Dyrøygummen, as much as 30 miles away. Nonetheless the plentiful fishing near Elgsnes, together with the seasonal fisheries in Lofoten and Finnmark, provided for large families at the small farms. The compulsory labour on the main farm was usually for ten days, with an additional three for the right to cut peat for fuel. Even if the amount of forced labour was reasonably low, the system of cotters was part of a class-society. Especially those cotters that had to work for the merchant noticed the class division, something several oral sources give voice to.

Merchant’s lodging and trading station

John Ellingsen Norman, a citizen of Trondheim, was the first merchant that we can for sure say was to be found at Elgsnes (Up to 1842 the right to trade was limited to registered citizens of towns). He is first mentioned in 1675. Seven years later tax registers inform that "he established himself on royal property, a place named Raten, and there he has his lodgings." He would travel about in Trondenes and Kvæfjord districts, selling his goods and taking fish as payment. The trade was conducted only during the summer, while his winter quarters were in Trondheim.

Ill.: K. E. Harr

His son Nils Johnsen Norman continued the business. The oldest part of the main building at Raten was presumably built in his time. When he suddenly died, his widow Maren took over the business. She was the daughter of a merchant established in Risøyhamn, on Andøya, and had therefore been accustomed to business from her earliest years. A great-grandchild has written of her:

"The widow was married for the second time in 1725. She married a lewd and intoxicated slob, who wasted her fortune and put her in deep debt. From dissatisfaction with his wicked ways, her sons, Nicolai and John, decided to board ship and leave the mother. But before this was carried out the said man died, and the brothers jointly took it upon themselves to manage the firm. This had the most noteworthy result, as thrift and economy was as ever rewarded with wealth. This our ancestress died in Oct. 1766, at the age of 84 years. She was a very tall and strong woman, though thin and dry, and had a stern visage, and told anyone her opinions to their face".

Maren has presumably been the model for the novelist Herbjørg Wassmo’s fictional character "Dina".

The trading station of Raten was leased from the Crown. When royal properties were put up for purchase, Maren sent a request to take over the whole of Elgsnes. A public auction was held, and she made the highest bid of 50 rix-dollars. And yet the king, Fredrik the 5th, gave the former tenant, Mads Larsen, the deed of the farm for the same sum, as recounted earlier. The merchant’s widow was therefore buying up church estates in the surrounding districts, when these were put up for sale.

Ill.: K. E. Harr

The son Nicolai continued his mother’s habit of buying property. He also broadened the spectrum of activities at the trading station and enlarged the main building, giving it the dimensions it has today. In his time he was considered a well-read man. Nicolai led law-actions; was his own solicitor, and from that may have gained his reputation for being opinionated and quarrelsome. Nonetheless he was well respected among the other tradesmen of northern Norway, and was their representative in dealings with the government. When he died, his estate was worth 8000 rix-dollars.

His son Ole continued with the summer trading like his father, up to 1793. That year he moved to Elgsnes, so as to conduct business throughout the year. This was also the practice of his successors. After his death, his widow Elisabeth took over the business. In 1798 she was given the rights to run an inn and a store at Elgsnes, for the yearly fee of 15 rix-dollars. Around the turn of the century a lot of royal estates were sold, and "Madame Norman" bought land several places. At Alvestad, Skjerstad and Erikstad, among other places.

Nineteen people lived at the trading station during the census of 1801: The merchant’s widow and her two children; three foster children; three servant girls; two manservants, one of whom had a family; in addition to a fisherman and his wife. Two paupers, old people without relatives to support them, lived here too. At last there were two shoemakers who were counted as lodgers.

Raten 1870

In 1809 Nicolai took over the trading station from his mother. He got the deeds for two parts of Elgsnes in 1823 - 25, constituting three quarters of the farm. This was what his great-grandmother had been unable to acquire 80 years earlier. In addition to running the business, and both the farm and several seining boats, he was, among many other duties, chief of a military division, mayor, and parliamentary representative. The trading station at Raten was at this time the economic centre in the area. Having the rights to run an inn also entailed that the local law court, of Sand "tinglag", was held here. There were 23 houses at the trading station in 1838. In addition to the main building, which still stands, there was an office building, a shop, a store-room, a cookhouse, a house for the servants, a laundry, a cow-shed, a stable, a barn, a fish-shed, a seine-shed, a fish-oil shed, a fish-oil factory, a quay-house, a workshop, a smithy, a "rorbu" for visiting fishermen, three small sheds, and two roofed stone-cellars.

Large parties at the trading station were common in Nicolai Norman’s time, bringing both magistrates and relatives and friends from other trading stations. "Svanen" (the Swan), a whitewashed "fembøring" (which were the large fishing boats of approximately 35 - 40 foot’s length), was only used for going to church. In Altevågen, which is the bay to the west of Trondenes church by Harstad, they had their own church-house, and in the church their very own bench. The contrast to the life led by the common people must have been enormous. It is no wonder that stories have been told and myths generated about the person "mister Norman".

Period of Decline

Jens Oestensen

Nicolai Norman’s successor was his son Ole. But trade made a rapid decline. Grøtavær and Harstad grew upon the herring fisheries. These places had harbours suitable for steamships, as well as a more secure water supply. The trade-association of Grøtavær, one of the first co-operatives in Northern Norway, was also a new and difficult competitor. By 1881 the trading station was bankrupt. The creditor sold half of the farm to reduce the debt, but was still unable to balance the books.

Others attempted to continue business on a small scale, but by 1914 the trading was at an end. Of those that ran the trading station during this period, only Jens Østensen will be mentioned here. He was from Bergen, and was the last citizen-merchant at Elgsnes. Although he didn’t succeed as a businessman, he did make his mark. He brought with him from Bergen a horse-driven mower, and was thereby the first person to use this modern mechanical wonder in the Trondenes district. A new epoch had yet again come to Elgsnes, for better or for worse.