Lorens Berg was a Norwegian teacher who was born on January 18, 1862 in Andebu, Vestfold. Among genealogists, he is probably better known as one of our first more prolific village book authors.
He was the son of farmer Amund Andersen Berge and Anne Kirstine Sørensdatter, whom he lost far too early. His father died when Lorens was 6 years old and his mother died just 2 years after his father. This meant that both Lorens and his siblings were “put away”.
Shepherd and sailor
The village book author had a number of occupations before he sat down and completed his first village book in 1905. He began his working life as a shepherd, before trying his luck at sea. After a few years, he trained as a teacher in Asker, where he also met his future wife Albertine Johanne Andresen, and they married in 1886.
He then worked for a few years as a teacher, both on Tjøme and in his hometown of Kodal, before turning to Kristiania. Berg was never really comfortable in the capital, but he enjoyed the opportunity to immerse himself in the local history of Vestfold, which he found in Kristiania’s archives and library. These deep dives into local history were to result in as many as eight books about the region over a period of just under 20 years.
Rural books by Lorens Berg
- Andebu : the history of a Vestfold village in the 1600s (1905)
- Brunlanes : a village book (1911)
- Hedrum : a village book (1913)
- Tjølling : a village book (1915)
- Sandeherred : a village book (1918)
- Tjømø : a village book (1920)
- Nøtterø : a village book (1922)
- Stokke : a village book (1928)
Here you can see Slekt1’s overview of Lorens Bergs bygdebøker
Venn illustrated the village books
A good friend of Lorens Berg’s, the artist Hans Holmen, illustrated the village books. Holmen also made a statue of Lorens that was unveiled at Prestbøen in Andebu 29 years after the prolific village book author died, on September 14, 1924.
Shortly after his death, he was appointed the first honorary member of Vestfold History Society. Lorens Berg is today buried in Kodal in Vestfold, the county he documented so extensively with his village books.
Sources:
https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorens_Berg
https://snl.no/Lorens_Berg
