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Kilane

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"The innermost part of the the outer fjord of Erfjorden is Kilavågen. It is narrow in the inlet, but expands further in. In the bottom of the bay, on the south side lies the farm Kilane, among fields and meadows, forests and mountains on both sides. The farm changes in rangeland and hey, with Outer and Inner Eiane in the southwest, and the farms in Ramsfjell in the east. All these have access to the sea in Jøsenfjorden and is part of Hjelmeland commune."[2]

The farm name Kilane (or Kiladn) comes from the word kill, which means narrow, bay, which penetrates far into the land. Kilane was "known for a somewhat remote farm, although it was close by the sea". The nearest neighbors are Vågadn and the Outer and Inner Eiadn.

Midtvågen, with Kilane in the background.

We will here look at the Kilane-familiy's ancestors. This is based on various sources; first and foremost, the church records and local historical books (bygdebøker), but also the study made by Ørnulf Pedersen (the great-grandson of Johan Kilane). There is also useful information in www.helgeland.nu/Slekt/Slekta.htm.

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Johan Kilane's ancestry (click to see larger image)

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Vi starter med Østen Torgerson (blåfarge nederst til venstre i figuren ovenfor). Han var suldøling og fødd på Valskår og var gift med Kari Olsdotter frå Berge i Sand. Dei budde først nesten 20 år på Meland i Ulladalen, der dei kjøpte eit bruk i 1770. Dei selde i Ulladalen i 1788 og flytte til fjellgarden Ytre Ramsfjell på nordsida av Jøsenfjorden. Der kjøpte dei og dreiv begge bruka i ti år. Bakgrunnen for flyttinga frå Ulladalen er skildra slik av Jone Eiane: «Folk sleit tungt i Ulladalen den tid. (Eiane meiner at dette var i hardåret 1812, men det var altså på 1780-talet.) Mykje av høyet fann dei i heia, og um vinteren var det eit svære kav å få det heim. [3]

 

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Johan Kilane's ancestors (click to see the dry image)

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Eldste sonen på garden, Torger, var i 18-20-årsalderen. Ein dag sa han til far sin: «Dette held eg ikkje ut lenger, far. Du får vere her, um du vil; men no lyt eg ut til sjøkanten og prøve få meg arbeid, for der skal vere likare med maten, seiest det, og verre enn me har det her, kan det ikkje verte. Østen svara: «Nei, sonen min, fer du, so greier me oss ikkje her me andre, so det er best me fylgjest. Eg har høyrt gjete ytre Ramsfjell er til sals; me får reise ut og sjå på den.» Jau, begge bruka var fale, og det enda med at Østen kjøpte alt. Seinare vart indre parten teken att på odel, men ytre parten hadde han i mange år. So er sagt at dei trega ikkje på dei flytte til Ramsfjell. Det var ein god gard på mange vis, og med åra vart Østen ein halden mann.» [3]

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 Ytre Ramsfjell (foto fra kalevkevad). Trykk på bildene for å se store størrelser. 

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Østen Torgeirson og Kari Olsdtr var brukere av hele Ytre Ramsfjell ca. 1788-1797. Ramsfjell ligger på nordsiden av Jøsenfjorden og høyt over havet; tunet på Ytre Ramsfjell ligger 420 m.o.h. (se bildene ovenfor). Det var svært ulendt, og det fortelles at de måtte binde barna, så de ikke skulle trille utfor de livsfarlige stupa. Ramsfjell-gårdene ble fraflyttet på 50-tallet; da hadde det bodd folk sammenhengende her i 350 år. Før den tid hadde gårdene ligget øde etter Svartedauden i 1349 mer enn 200 år. I 1865 bodde det hele 57 personer på Indre og Ytre Ramsfjell. Østen og Kari flyttet herfra til Viga bnr 1, hvor Østen fikk skjøte i 1798. Jone Eiane forteller i Stavanger Aftenblad (se nedenfor) om kjøpet av gården på Viga i «The joketrade of Viga – the funeral feast that went serious". Here is a short summary; the copy from the newspaper is not easy to read:

.Han forteller etter manns minne, og det kan hende at noe er pynta på eller fordreid. Vi vet f.eks. ikke hvilket gravøl det dreier seg om i 1798; ingen døde nemlig der på gården i dette tidspunktet. Men det fortelles at det i gravølet var lystig lag, og Endre Viga begynte å spøke med Østen Ramsfjell. Han sier: Eg hev ein gard fal for 1000 dalar, men ingen greier å løysa meg av.» «Det var leitt for deg», sier den andre, «men er du so i beit med dette, får eg løysa deg av då.» Folk fikk seg en god latter av dette, for på den tida var det galmannsverk å betale 1000 daler for en Hjelmelandsgård, og aller mest for en fra Ramsfjell.

But Endre was increasingly determined. He gets up and says: "give me your hand, old man!" Øystein stand up and put his hand in Endre's hand, and Endre asks two of the most prominent in the group to come forward and turn on their hands. Thus the farm trade was legally confirmed. They should write the papers as quickly as possible. After a lot of fun with this, they went to bed.

So far Jone Eiane. To make a long story short, Endre thought this was a joke, while Øystein took it seriously. He said to Endre that those who makes fun of others, will even be made fun of in the end. Endre made alliance with the priest, and they put up harsh conditions for Øystein. The money had to be obtained to a certain date, but Øystein was not able to borrow from someone in Hjelmeland. He had to go to Bergeland at Ombo. After a tiring journey there, he was able to borrow what he needed of Johannes Ormson Bergeland (called Osmund), and the money was on the table in Viga at the right time. Thus, the farm was his. There are documents showing that this loan really was taken, and at the amount of 550 rdlr. (Freely after [1]).

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From Stavanger Aftenblad 21. February 1935. Click to see the larger text.

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Østen and Kari was well grown when they came to Viga (read more about Viga in the Folk i Ryfylke. Yearbook Ryfylkemuseet 2007). He had reached the age of 50 years, she was close to the 60. The children were about to become adults; the youngest son was 16 years. Their life story is a story about the mobility in the old society. It therefore breaks the myth of the static farming, where people were place-bound and to a small extent willing to move. Østen Torgerson was born on Valskår in Hylsfjorden, lived as an adult on Meland in Ulladalen, on the Outer Ramsfjell in Jøsenfjorden and lastly in Viga. ln his adult life, he owned three farms and lived in them. He and his wife, Kari tried farming on such different farms as inland farm Meland in Ulladalen, mountain farm Ramsfjell and farm by the sea in Viga. Østen should have said that it was good to come to Viga. l Ulladalen would they flood away, and on Ramsfjell they would blow away. ln Viga they were neither threatened by flooding river nor of strong wind from east. Østen and Kari gave away the farm in Viga in 1806. Østen was then 60 years old, Kari seven years older.

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Vigatunet anno 1905 (from [3]) and in 2015

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It was not the eldest son Torger who took over the farm. He had, as before mentioned married a widow, Marta Eriksdotter on Kilane in Erfjord in 1792, and they lived on Kilane. ln stead it was the next youngest son Ola who took over the farm in Viga. It happened formally with a deed in 1806. The large loan that Østen had received from John Ormson Bergeland, when he bought the farm in 1798, was finished off the year before he delivered the farm to his son. When Østen and Kari gave away the farm, they were folgefolk (retired). This was a long time before retirement and pension was established, so folge was a way to make sure the older generation should have an income after the farm was taken over by the next generation. ln the folge-letter it was written that they should have income from the yard-production. Of the grains they should they have 5 ½ barrels of oats, two barrels mixed barley and oats, and half a barrel of pure grain (barley). They had started to grow potatoes in Viga in 1806. The old ones should have a potato field that was big enough to harvest 72 kilos of potatoes. They should have two cows and eight sheep, that would be cared for and fed together with the other cattle on the farm. They also got what amount of firewood they needed, and light and care in case of sickness. It was a type of mill machine at the farm, where they also could stomp clothes for others. The old ones should have half the income from the mill. Where the old ones should live, was not a problem. "they own the house where they live", it says in the folge-letter.

We note that neither folgemannen (retired) Østen nor his son Ola were literate. They both signed folgebrevet "with hold pen". After a few years in the folge Østen became a widower in 1811. He was then 65 years and obviously not too old to marry up again. The new wife was Marta Kristine Torsdotter and was from Eide at Ombo. She was about 25 years younger than him, and thus 42 years old when they married in 1812. She brought two children into the world over the following years. It was Kari born 1812 and Østen born 1816. Half a year after Østen was born, his father Østeb Torgerson died. He was 70 years old. The widow, Marta Kristine continued to live in folge on the farm for many years. [3]

Ola Østenson got a deed from his father in 1806. Two years before he was married to Karen Jensdotter from Aukland at Ombo. They lived in Viga and ran the farm for 12 years, until 1818. Then they broke up and moved to the Vormeland. This happened because John and Sven Ormson Husstøl exchanged their farms. The farm that Sven switch away, was Vormeland, as he had odel to. Sven and his wife Marta moved from Husstøl to Viga, and Ola and Karen moved from Viga to Varmeland. Øystein Torgeirson died in 1816, his first wife Kari Olsdatter died in 1811. [3]

.Borgilla Levarsdtr Kiladn, daughter to saw master on Åssagjå, died as farmwife in Kiladn in 1769. Åge Jonesen was married again the following year with Martha Eriksdtr Landsnes. They got a little more than 20 years together, before Aage Kiladn died in the summer of 1791, and was buried the same day – 11. July – as the 25-year-old son Levar and the 18-year-old daughter Anna. It may have been an accident? Or disease? The widow Marta remarried with a young man from Meland in Udladalen (Suldal), Torger Øysteinsen. The parents of Torgeir moved from Udladalen to Ramsfjell and then to Viga in Hjelmeland.

Torgeir got the leasehold on the Kiladn in 1792 by the dean Reyrus Giellebølle in Stavanger. In 1801 he and his wife, 6 adults and juveniles who were hers, were living in the home in Kiladn. Torgeir had no children with his old wife; she was 45 years old when they married, in 1792, he was only 23. He didn't get his own children until he was 66 and 69 years old, with a new wife. He and Marta Eriksdtr had lived in the marriage for 41 years when she died in 1833, 88-year-old. He was then 64 years old.

Torgeir Øysteinsen ran the farm Kiladn; he cut as much wood as he could on the Kila-saw and ran sein fishing in Vågane. In a document of 1804 we find that Torgeir had a big freighter; it was only 6 of these in Erfjorden at the time. On an inspection of the Kila-saw in 1817, it is disclosed that the dam in Nesstølsvatnet was broken "for several years" ago, which had put the production on the Kila-saw back. This dam was never built up again.

Torgeir and his wife Marta had built up great prosperity in the Kiladn. The gross wealt in 1833 was totally 586 daler. In addition, the money outstanding at various people, although this was not a large amount. They had silver for almost 30 daler, a.o. 12 silver spoons, a silver pocket watch, and three gold rings. The couple had not long previously built a new and large house in Kiladn with associated wood storage, all with stone slabs on the roof. It was valued to 50 daler.

In his first marriage with Åge Jonsesen Marta Eriksdtr had 10 children. In his first marriage Åge had 3 children, sons Jone, Johannes, and Levar. None of Åge's children would come to take over the farm. It was too long to wait. His eldest son Jone was established as husmann (on leased land) on Rossøynå under Hovda of Fogn.

Kilane

Torgeir Øysteinsen left the farm to the grandson of his wife in 1832. But his wife died the year after, and he married again with a young woman from Mosbakka in Sauda, Sissela Tormodsdtr. She was 37 years old, and the they had two children in the course of four years, the son Øystein and the daughter Marta Karina. In 1842 Torgeir became the first known owner in Kiladn. The deed on the farm are signed in Christiania with the seal of king Carl Johan. The price was 600 spesiedaler. In 1855, the 86-year-old Torger Øysteinsen left the farm to his son, Øystein, a youth of only 20 years. Torgeir died two years later, while Sissela lived until 1881.

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References
[1] Erfjord Gardar og Folk II, by Ernst B. Drange (2004)
[2] Erfjord Bygdebok, by Våge (1959)
[3] FOLK i Ryfylke. Årbok for Ryfylkemuseet 2007.