The Sawmill

I saw this picture a lot growing up. It comprised the only physical evidence of an oral history regarding what was in the picture - a sawmill.

Somebody - someone related to us - had died there in an accident.

Unfortunately, in addition to it occurring a world away in a completely different era, with anyone actually aware of the story having passed away generations upon generations ago, the oral history was, itself, not very reliable.

The person it initially passed through - my great-grandfather - hadn't paid particularly close attention to the details. Someone had been pulled into a machine at the sawmill. Who? Don't recall. When? Not sure. Where is this? Read the back.

On the reverse of the card, in broken cursive Norwenglish, a short summary of what the picture portrayed:



"Dette er saw mill (sagbraich).
Der Bestemor var .... ....
.... .... denne plass er Rora.
Denne plass grandmamma was killed inn."

The problem was, there was no information on who's 'grandmamma' it was, or even when it occurred.

No distant family member (whether in the States or in Norway) knew. Complications developed - there was indication that the "Rora" referred to was incorrect, and that use of the word "killed" suggested a murder, instead of an accidental death.

Then, on a fluke, a Johnny Sorensen (in Norway) volunteered to help; he was apparently a local whiz with genealogy questions.

Sure enough, within days (after years of the mystery brewing), the mystery was solved. Benedikte Gundersdatter (one of my g-g-g-grandmothers) had died at the mill in an accident.

Specifically, Johnny reported:

"Benedikte Marie Gundersdatter (b. 1825) died after an accident in Røra Saw Mill on 22th of August 1881. She was sticked (her clothes?) to an rotary axle in the mill and was so bad injuried that she immediately died. Her husband was blacksmith Magnus Mathisen. This information is to read in the church book for Eidanger sogn."