Hegge Family Tree
The Melby family was, perhaps, the most prominent of all the farming families in Biri. They trace their decent from Oluf Trulssen Hummer, who was the bishop of Hamar’s bailiff at the time of the reformation and who was ennobled in 1532 by King Christian II.
Since that King was deposed, however, the nobility apparently did not stick, and Oluf Hummer’s ancestors lived as farmers on the farm of Melby and several others of the best farms in Biri. They also held the office of King’s “lensmand” (somewhere between the old English constable and justice of the peace) and indeed made it virtually hereditary in their family. The Hegge family descends from the Melby family as follows:
1. Oluf Trulsson Hummer, ennobled in 1532 had a son:
2. Lauritz Olufsen, who was farming Melby in 1612, his son:
3. Oluf Lauritzen Melby, farmed Melby 1620-83, his son,
4. Lauritz Olufsen Melby, 1603-1677 owned 4 hides in Melby and many other farms in Biri. He was “lensmand” of Biri. He married Agnethe Nilsdatter Aalstad in vang, Hedmark. Their son:
5. Peder Larsen Bratberg, was “lensmand” and took over his wife’s farm. He married Mari Olsdatter Bratberg. Of their children, we consider:
(1) Nils Pederson Melby, who took over Melby around 1695 (5 1/2 hides) but moved to Kluke in 1725 and died there in 1730. He was “lensmand” in Biri, as was his son, Lars Nilsen Melby, born 1700.
(a) His daughter, Kari Nilsdatter married Anders Anderson Klocker, who owned HEGGE for a time, but finally settled on Kluke.
(2) Lars Pederson Sem, who married the widow on the farm of Sem and so took over
that farm. His seal and signature is on the Mayville document #5. His son:
(a) Corporal Christoffer Larson Svennes, bought the farm of Svennes in 1738 and died in 1769 at age 64. His son:
(b) Lars Christophersen Svennes, 1739-1787, was the man who presumably made entries in the book from Svennes (Mayville documents). He married Lisbet Borresdatter Undset, 1746-1827. They had no sons, so Svennes passed to their daughter and son-in law: Their daughter:
Ingebord Larsdatter Svennes, born 1771, was married in 1786 to Anders Lysgaard from Faberg. In his day, Anders Lysgaard made Svennes into one of the finest farms in Norway. In the spirit of the physiocrats, he made Svennes into a model of scientific agriculture. Worked for the improvement of roads, for the foundation of a new merchant town at the northern end of Lake Mjosa (where the town of Hamar was indeed founded), for the building of a canal from Mjosa to the sea, and many other projects. He entertained Prince Christian Frederik, later King of Norway, in 1814, when the prince was traveling about the country in preparation for the Eidsvold Assembly.
Anders Lysgaard was himself a delegate to that assembly in 1814, and consequently became a signer of the Norwegian Constitution on May 17, 1814.
Ingeborg Larsdatter and Anders Lysgaard had no children, so they adapted her cousin’s son Anders Jorstad, son of the “lensmand” in Faberg, who took the name Anders Lysgaard the Younger and inherited the estate of Svennes.
He suffered serious financial difficulties and was forced to sell Svennes in 1862, but is brother, Otto Jorstad, who lived on Aulestad in Gausdal, sold that farm to Bjornstjerne Bjornson and bought Svennes in 1871, though he sold it in 1896 and moved back to Gausdal.
Another child of Peder Larsen Bratberg and Mari Olsdatter was;
(3) Baard Pederson Skjulhus, 1680-1741, owned the farm of Skulhus from 1713 until his death in 1741. His daughter,
Mari Baardsdatter Skulhus married Ole Roterud, their son:
Baard Roterud, had a daughter,
Mari Baardsdatter Roterud, who married Ole Olson Hegge II and thus brought Melby blood into the Hegge family.