Vestfold     Formerly called "Jarlsberg og Laurvig", Vestfold fylke (county) is located in southeastern Norway, along the western shore of Oslo fjord. In 1999 it had a population of 210,716 persons. The county is known for its prehistoric Bronze Age mounds and for its Viking ship burials, and has some of Norway's best farmland (dairying, grains, and fruits). Formerly headquarters for whaling fleets, the coastal towns of Vestfold now engage in fishing and shipbuilding. Vestfold includes such places as Sandefjord, Holmestrand, Lardal, Larvik, Nøtterøy, Tjøme, and Tønsberg. The county administrative center, Tønsberg, is Norway's oldest city, founded in approximately AD 871. You can see several photographs of Tønsberg and other places in Vestfold on Robin Strand's web site

1. Genealogy organizations

DIS-Norge Vestfold's web page is in Norwegian only.

Gjallarhorn is a local genealogy group that covers Vestfold and Buskerud. Their web page is only available in Norwegian)

Vestfold bygdelag is an organization of descendants of Norwegian immigrants from Vestfold. The organization holds various events, including an annual "stevne".

2. Vestfold resources

Census records

• Vestfold census records & more (listed by municipality) from the Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen. You can also search nationwide by going to the Digitalarkivet home page or by using the links below.
• Manntall 1663-66 for Tønsberg prosti from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• 1664 census from Sandeherred from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• Tønsberg by og Holmestrands borgerskap på 1720-tallet from Norsk Slektshistorisk Forening (NSF - The Norwegian Genealogical Society)
• 1801 census - Vestfold from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• 1865 census - Vestfold from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen. Also available at The Norwegian Historical Data Centre (RHD) at the University of Tromsø
• 1875 census (incomplete) from The Norwegian Historical Data Centre (RHD) at the University of Tromsø
• 1900 census - Vestfold from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen. Also available at The Norwegian Historical Data Centre (RHD) at the University of Tromsø
• Other Vestfold census records from the Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen (none available as of 26 October 2002).

Other records (Some links may not include information for this county):

• Tax lists, Tax censuses, and lists of landed property rent from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• Military rolls from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• Church registers from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• Emigration records from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• Probate registers from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen. See also Skifteregister - (Probate registers) at The Norwegian Historical Data Centre (RHD) at the University of Tromsø (Very few are available online).
• Fire assessment registers from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• Citizenship (Borgerskap) records from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• Other records from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• The Digital Inn from Digitalarkivet at the University of Bergen.
• 1886 Matrikkelen from The Norwegian Historical Data Centre (RHD) at the University of Tromsø
• Matrikkelutkastet av 1950 from Dokumentasjonsprosjektet

 
 
• See also Vestfold kilder from the web site Slektshistoriske kilder 1500-1900 by the Norwegian genealogy organziation DIS-Norge. This web site has extensive links to various databases for each fylke in Norway. (In Norwegian with some English).

 

Bygdebooks

•  Vestfold bygdebooks is a list of the bygdebooks that cover various areas in Vestfold. (Updated 11 October 2002)
  The Nøtterøy bygdebok is now online!
  
  The Stokke bygdebok is also now online!
  

LDS Family History Library online catalog

• The LDS Family History Library Catalog is now on the Internet. The link is to the "Place search" page of the web site. In addition, don't forget the International Genealogical Index (IGI) and the other databases available on the LDS web site.
    To make your search a little easier, I have created a list of clerical districts in Vestfold.

3. Vestfold 'kommuner' (municipalities)

4. Vestfold maps

Small interactive map of Norway - shows where Vestfold is located. Click on Vestfold and you can see a small map of Vestfold showing the kommune (municipalities) of this fylke.

Large map of Vestfold from the NORWAY LIST Web Site. Kommune names are underlined.

5. Vestfold genealogy query pages

Vestfold queries from Rootsweb.com's "Norway Message Board"

Slektsbiblioteket query page (one for each county in Norway)

Slektsforskerbasen from DIS-Norge - a list of more than 4,000 genealogists who are researching their Norwegian ancestors. Sorted by kommune (municipality).

[email protected] mailing list archives is another often overlooked resource. You can search the archive to find out if others are researching the same families or places in Norway, and then contact them.

6. Vestfold museums

Nord-Jarlsbergmuseene is a web site with information about several museums in Vestfold.

Haugar Vestfold Kunstmuseum is an art museum in Tønsberg

Viking Ship Museum is located in Oslo, but many of the items on display were found in Vestfold, including the famous Gostad ship, found in a large burial mound at Gokstad farm in Sandar, Vestfold in 1880, and the equally famous Oseberg ship, found in a large burial mound on Slagen farm in Vestfold and excavated in 1904.

7. Miscellaneous Vestfold web sites

Søndre Vestfold - archeology and vikings! Unfortunately, only available in Norwegian. (English version under construction).

Pictures from Larvik, Norway from Morten Østby's home page.

Holmestrand paintings by the Norwegian artist Finn Johnsen

Vestfold-slekt includes church records, probate registers, etc., as well as the complete bygdebok from 1922 for Nøtterø in Vestfold "fylke"!

Tjøme slekter by Steinar Rasmussen is in Norwegian, but it has a great deal of information from farms in Tjøme. Click on the farm name in the left frame, and view the information about that farm in the right frame.

Several people have created English versions of their web sites with information about their ancestors from Vestfold. Here are links to some of these:

• Knut Melsom Andresen
• Terje Bakkalia
• Tomas Eagan
• Jørgen Bjerkøe
• Inger Falch-Jacobsen
• Dag T. Hoelseth
• Marit Holten
• Stian Høiset
• Per Stian Bjørnø Kjendal
• Anne Marie Kleppestø
• Kåre A. Lie
• Bjørn Aas