15 November 2005

Ancestry


This is my great, great grandfather's English-Norwegian dictionary. It was printed in 1853, he died in 1901, and from the look of it, he was using it on a daily basis! He's been making notes on almost every page, adding expressions and translations - in neat, tiny hand writing - by quill, of course :)

Inspired by this, I checked a little more on his background. I already knew he was the "father" of Norwegian modern criminal law, and Norway's first Attorney-General. It turned out he was also chairman of the Nobel committee until he died, thus nominating the peace prize to Henry Dunant.

I really must go out and get another degree...

5 comments:

Cathy said...

this is fascinating; what a great thing to have and story to tell your children.

Sam said...

That's amazing! My great, great, great Grandfather (or something) was the Prussian Postmaster-General.

Other than that there aren't any impressive names. I plan on being the first.

Claire said...

What a cool thing to have! I love looking through handwritten notes by people who have some connection to me.

x said...

that's great!
my grandfather used to run the village cafe. that's all!!

Scholiast said...

Oh, I would have loved to have a grandfather running a village cafe in Greece...

Add the murderers and Postmaster-Generals, what excellent conversation this will make on the annual IBCD* ;)

*International Bloggers' Christmas Dinner (If it's not happening yet, it should!)