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Nana's Hometown

October 9, 2001

Kilpisjarvi, Finland to Tromso Norway via Balsfjord

Dear Family,

Today we were up at the crack of dawn or even earlier. The sun was just starting to throw some red light on Mt. Saana. We had to leave our cozy cabin on the edge of Finland, cross into Norway and descend into fjord country. The first planned stop was Balsfjord, the village where John's grandmother Nana was born in 1897. Her full maiden name was Elsie Johanna Hansdatter, "Nana" is just "Gramma" but that's the only name I can generally remember since she passed away when I was only about 10. Her father, Hans Olaf Andersen and her mother Nilsene Amanda Hansen were also born in Balsfjord.

A couple miles from our cabin, we crossed the Finland-Norway border. Up here, there's not much traffic and a single Norwegian official came out to check our passage. We didn't even have to pull off the road. We did have a formal requirement to have our car's registration stamped while leaving Finland so the official took the paper back to his office and a few minutes later returned with it properly stamped. In that time, no vehicle had passed in either direction so our little bit of extra paperwork didn't slow down the operation of the border crossing. It may have been the most interesting thing for them all day.

Almost immediately, the scenery changed. We had been driving for several days through the gentle hills and valleys of Finland. Suddenly, we were descending through a spectacular mountain valley with snow-covered peaks all around us. It was fairy-tale beauty. We tried some pictures but found that the expanse of the scenes just didn't come across on the pictures. We were sure there would be plenty of opportunities later and there were.

At the bottom of the descent, we emerged from the mountain valley to see our first fjord and we turned left onto the road to Tromso. But that was our day-end goal, not our next one. Now we headed to a small dot on our map called "Balsfjord", not knowing if there was anything more than a wide spot in the road to mark Nana's hometown. A few miles down the Tromso road we saw a "Tourist Information" sign. We stopped and read that we had entered Balsfjord "Kommune". I think that's something like Balsford County. Of course this same sign did not have a town or village named Balsfjord but we would continue looking for the map's small dot.

We drove the next 30 miles or so surrounded by unbelievable vistas. They were everywhere and each time we turned a corner another mountain or bay would pop into view. At Nordkjosbotn (I love these names) we stopped for a cash machine and snack. Cash first. Snack next. We also left the Tromso road in favor for the road to our small dot.

The new road took us through Storsteinnes, the town where Nana's "Nana" (grandmother), Elen Sofie Johansdatter, was born. This was definitely the old family grounds. Today, Storsteinnes looks like a prosperous farming/fishing community of under a thousand people. Later we would look through the town graveyard but without any luck. There were few headstones from before the turn of the century so nothing contemporary to Elen Sofie. (Norwegian last names are confusing since everyone used to be named after their father's first name - Hansen means Hans' son - and wives did not take their husbands last name.)

After Storsteinnes, we turned off onto an even smaller road, still paved but just wide enough for two cars to slowly pass by each other. The farms stretched from the fjord, past the road, up the sides of the mountains. On this sunny day it was beautiful.

Finally, at the end of the paved road, we found the original Balsfjord church, built in 1856-1857. Across the road was the old graveyard. There were only a handful of headstones and markers. One was for a Hans Olaf Hansen, born in 1866. Maybe he was a cousin of my great grandfather, Hans Olaf Anderson, born in this same village in 1876. I choose to believe it anyway.

Alongside the church was a perfect fishing village bay. It was easy to imagine this spot being settled and not much changed for generations. Fishing and farming are still the roots of this wonderful spot. In fact, at the edge of the graveyard, a historical marker noted that this very area had been settled for thousands of years.

So Nana did come from an old line and we are privileged to be part of it. It's not royalty but royal estates anywhere could not match the beauty of Balsfjord.

Take care and think about where you came from.

John and Marianne

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Created October 12, 2001.

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