This is the oldest photo of Osteraa that we know of, from around 1890. In the centre of the photo, with the gable facing the sea, we see the white painted house of John Larsen. This was earlier painted ocher yellow. The house on the left, which belonged to Christen Knudsen, was located where the house of Adolf Aadnesen now stands. The house below this one was owned by Stian Terkelsen. On the right hand side of Larsen’s house is Christian Olsen’s house, and the white house below this belonged to Stian Pedersen. To the right of John Larsen’s house we can see the bowling alley, which is under construction. The feldspar mill is located on the far right side, the other buildings by the sea are the lumber warehouses belonging to Osteraa sawmill, which is not in the photo. The house above the feldspar mill belonged to Per Persson.

ØSTERÅ BYGDEBOK

Østerå is a small village in the Tvedestrand municipality, Aust-Agder county. People have been living here for ages. Many families can be traced back a long time in the village, while others have been living here for just a short period of time.

Østerå’s Residents Association, in 2009, published a book about Østerå. The author was Øyvind Bjorvatn. (The book is still in print if you are interested in purchasing it).

We are two genealogy enthusiasts with strong links to Østerå, and we want to look more closely into the history of Østerå, the houses, and the past and present residents of the houses. We want to reveal the generations: those who once lived here, those who were born and raised here, those who stayed, and those who left. This work has been done with the help of Adolf Aadnesen (1926 – 2017), one of the long-time residents of Østerå that knew its history best.

We will limit the research to cover the area from Stamnes to Østerådalen, including Feltstykket, Fagermyr, Dukene and Mortenskjær. Perhaps this work will be extended to include Råkenes and Epleviktangen as well, but this will be decided later.
Our findings will be posted on this homepage.

If you have information that may be of interest for us, please send us an email or a letter. If you find any errors in this homepage, please let us know and we will correct it.

We are interested in photos from Østerå and also of people from Østerå. If you have scanned photos that you would like to send us, we appreciate it. Another option is to send a copy of the photo/photos by mail.
What is the status of the work now (spring 2023)?

The ancestry part is well underway. Parish records from Holt and Tvedestrand for the period of 1799 until 1930 (1938) have been reviewed. Baptism records end in 1929, death records end in 1938. We have also gone through the death notices from Tvedestrandsposten from 1940 through to today. The censuses for 1865, 1875, 1891, 1900, 1910 and 1920 have also been reviewed. At present, we are working on the mortgage books to find out when properties were separated or taken over by new owners. Other protocols and registers will follow. We also want to check into all the sawmills. Where did the timber come from? How many people worked at the sawmills?

As you will see, there is a lot of work remaining. We will try to keep you updated with this homepage. We do hope that if you have information regarding your own family history from Østerå, you will contact us.

Best regards
Marianne and Svein Erik