He had a husky bass voice, Eystein Eggens grandfather recalled sheriff Erik Østgaard (1845-1919)
Alf K. Woodstead (1899-1996) ,uncle of Unni Friis Skogstad. "Unni, you're blond and beautiful," Burns International Security Officer Woodstead told his young niece Unni Friis Skogstad. Uncle Alf was then 86 years of age. He had given up smoking six years earlier, but hadn't missed a single scheduled workday at the headquarters of Reader's Digest in Pleasantville, N.Y. and thus at a rather senior age went advertising his company on big posters. His son Arthur Woodstead fought as an US sergeant in the Vietnam war and got the Purple Heart.
Alf K. Woodstead 68 years of age and Unni Friis Skogstad 12 out fishing
Unni's grandfather the farmer Martin Skogstad (1877-1964), 84 years of age
Captain John Kalsen with his parents in law, Unnis grandfather Martin and his wife Bertine Skogstad.
Captain John Kalsen (1913-1985) with his family, lowest picture captain absent in Gaza for UN. The captain later built a new house on top of a cliff just outside Kristiansand.
Unni Friis Skogstad 2 years of age
Unni Friis Skogstad 16 years of age
Unni Friis Skogstad 17 years of age
Unni Friis Skogstad and german sheperd Hummer, 14 months of age, walking the bridge over river Atna, between Kvikne and the Rondane mountains. Her great-great grandfather Ingerd Skogstad moved to Maalselv and married in 1848 Maren Irgens Johansen, daughter of sheriff Hans Johansen at Tynset. Their son Andreas Skogstad become organist and composer in Mandal, and married Petra Caroline Friis. They were Unni's great-grandparents
Unni has a nephew in the norwegian police and is mother in law of a young officer.Like so many others of the contemporary norwegian Skogstads, she mainly works with overseeing, safety and security and is famous for her staunch stand against crime. During the war her father was staff sergeant in the norwegian paras in Scotland, with his first jump in Manchester 1941 and after the war he was a close combat officer in the norwegian army.
Cow-John's cows, the sheriff farm at Tolga around 1910. Store-house not yet moved til the main road.
Sheriffs farm Erlien with the jail that Jon Olsen Skogstad built in foreground, seen from south
The skogstadjail complete with handcuffs, two cells, carpentry and dry toilet
Erling Østgaards two brothers. From left: Sverre Østgaard, sheriff in Nittedal just ouside Oslo and his brother Inge Steen Østgaard, sheriff in Tjøllling at Larvik, farther down the Oslofjord. Alle tree brothers declared their literary interests
Vingelsaasen in Vingelen, Tolga, the common craddle 1528 of families Skogstad and Eggen. The hamlet of Vingelen is straight uphill behind the skogstad slopes in Kvikne valley. Esten (Eystein) Thoresen in Vingelsaasen gave 1702 a massive brass candle to old Vingelen church ( built at the same time as the twin Kvikne church, below) He travelled down to the king himself in Copanhagen, legend says. Esten Thoresen was the brother of Thore Thoresen at Skogstad in Kvikne, bear hunter and owner of 365 books, see below.
Vingelsaasen seen from south and river Glomma
Another great-grandchild of sheriff John Skogstad was the beloved folk musician Egil Storbekken. He lived in Tolga all his life and blew his old norse horns, and his right wing nationalistic youth was soon forgiven.
Sheriff Jon Skogstads store-house, to-day standing by main road 30 between Tolga and Røros, the latter on UNESCO's Heritage List.
Travel chest of sheriff Jon Skogstads father, Ole Andersen Skogstad , sheriff in Tolga for 28 years, 1802-1830. Chest painted by local artist Sønvis O. Holemoen in 1819. Ole was the first of the Skogstad sheriffs in Tolga and a very influental man, therefore in posteriority called "The old sheriff", although there had been quite a few skogstad sheriffs before him in neighbouring Kvikne.
Skaugløtt, "Woodglimpse". The cottage from 1697 where Eystein Eggen the older memorized the old Skogstads and the wars with Sweden, and where the writer Eystein Eggen the younger lived in his childhood, as told in the book "The Boy from Gimle" Today the old house is called Eggenstua, "The Eggen cottage" and stands on Vingelen church and schoolmuseum in the highlands north of Kvikne valley.
Skogstad - three hundred years in the force and still full speed ahead! Unni Friis Skogstad's nephew Stian ( to the right), standing in a modern policeboat in norwegian coastal waters.
Soldier from the Skogstad store house, in uniform from around 1770.
Non commisioned grenadier officer from the times of Esten Skogstad, in the red coat of the danish-norwegian army, gaitered for skiing in the mountains.
Cow-John's son and successor, Erling Østgård, sheriff in Tolga 1945 to 1979. His two brothers were also sheriffs.
At Tolga , sheriff John Skogstads successor in office was his son in law, Erik Østgaard, here standing in the middle. He was milder than his father in law and much interested in the national poetry which then abounded in Norway. His son and grandsons succeeded him as sheriffs, thus creating an unbroken chain of law and order for 250 years.
One who remembered the sheriffs Ostgaard well, was Eystein Eggens grandfather Eystein Eggen the older (1886-1973), here as a young newspaperman at Røros. He wrote down the stories about old John Skogstad and became the Skogstad historian and the family tree's creator. Eggen is a newer branch of the Skogstad family. For pictures from the joint starting point of the two families in Vingelen, see Volapuk pages 59.,85, for grandfathers review of war-time skogstad-book, page 83.
Due to memory's collapse in 1945, Eystein Eggen the younger is the only with any photos of this renowned poet and historian, "EYSTEIN SHALL HAVE, TOO", as he added with his own hand to his own testament, anticipating the family jelaousy. He despised rhymeless poetry, as a revenge some of his redwinecommunist sons wrote a yarn about him where the Skogstads are not even mentioned. ( Copyright Eystein Eggen the younger ).
Eystein Eggen the older sent in 1952 this photo to his oldest grandson, EE the younger, by then 8 years of age and in stressed circumstances. Gone were the old sheriffs, and grandfather sitting before his cottage from 1697 up in the pinewoods where it all began. Copyright Eystein Eggen the younger . For other photos of EE the older, see Volapuk Cultural Forum, page 51, 52, 64, 65, 94 and 95, of his son Egil Eggen as a norwegian soldier in 1940 and later, pages 79, 104
Skogstad in Kvikne, farm and family fane. View uphill below. The dwelling in the wood ("skog") where the Skogstads hit civilization. The kernel of the swedish military machine in the eigteenth century was from the woods in Dalecarlia across the border, they came in dark blue with drum and Dalaregiment to cut the ancient kingdom of Norway in two and to demolish the new mining industry, then the blond giants on the other side must don Denmark-Norways red.
"The greatest norwegian movie ever made," says the poster from 1938. It is about Eli, daughter of mountain farmer Sjur and her love for a swedish soldier during the great Nordic war around 1713. To the right the swedish army coming over the border mountains, to the left the Skogstads defending their homesteads. Some said the novel of Johan Falkberget wasn't historical correct, but Falkbergets friend Eystein Eggen the older wrote: Nevermind, it is about true love in the wilderness.
View from the Skogstad plateau down in the valley of Kvikne. Skogstad was the vicarage, and after the king of Denmark-Norway slept there, visiting his new mine in 1635, it was called "the king's farm", overviewing the melting of copper ore down below, and became director's residence. 1635 a miner's church was built at Skogstad, later removed down in the valley ( see below )
And today on the skogstad hill top in Kvikne: The old rectory where national anthem writer Bjørnsjerne Bjørnson was born, with his memorial stone to the right. Later poet Anders Reitan lived right around the corner with his skogstad friends "His big, mild eyes laughed against the heaven and his country," Bjørnson at Reitans funeral in 1872
For 250 years the swedes always came over the Skardørene ("the mountain pass doors"), right in the back middle of the picture, since time immemorial the gate between Sweden and Norway. They said in the middle ages that the old norwegian chieftains had carved the pass out of the rock, thus making communication more easy. The swedes were a tough army but met their Waterloo in these mountains. Therefore the king of Denmark-Norway needed all the tough guys he could find in these parts of his kingdom, and therefore the Skogstads became a sheriff family. More pictures from this most strategic of norwegian mountain passes at Volapuk, page 54 and 57. Below the Vætarstua, "Watchmans cottage", at the foot of this important mountain pass where 4000 hardy finns froze to death.
Esten (Eystein) Skogstad (1713-1780) in bright red painted 1739 on the door to the singer's pulpit in Kvikne church. Great granduncle of sheriff John Skogstad (1804-84).
Esten was a devout christian, regimental blacksmith and inspector of the hand weaponry, still of some importance, as demonstrated in the famous battle of Poltava in 1709, where the swedish center, the Dalecarlia regiment, had marched straight through two cannon and rifle-volleys from an overwhelming russian superiority and flung on the russian line with their sabres, which in such cases then ought to be of some quality.
Esten Skogstads offspring was as numerous as the grains of sand down by the seashore where he bought his new and bigger farm, the old nobility seat Kanestraum. (Copyright Unni Friis Skogstad )
Kvikne church exterior and interior. Church removed down from Skogstad in 1652.
Exterior: Eystein Eggens grandfather, Eystein Eggen the older, had an oil painting of old Vingelen church on his wall, together with portraits of poets Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (born up on the skogstad hill as the vicars son, and later writer of the norwegian national anthem "Yes, we love this country" ), Sivle and Wergeland. Old Vingelen church was a twin to Kvikne. It was demolished some years before grandfater was born in 1886. The tale of how one daring guy brought the spire down with a rope, made a strong impression on the youngster.
Below doorlock with outer ring from the main entrance to Kvikne church. The lock definitly told to be the from the hand of Anders Olsen Skogstad (1735-1811) . He was called "the Mastersmith". Anders was a nephew of abovepainted regimental blacksmith Esten Skogstad (compare lock and chest above) and father of sheriff Ole Skogstad and grandfather of sheriff John Olsen Skogstad who built the jail and the store-house on the sheriffs farm in Tolga, as above told. Professor Johan Meyer in "Ancient rural art in Norway" argues the ring is a work of Anders' grandfather Thore Jonsen Skogstad, "Thore the smith", one of the two bear slayers (scroll down for bear's last remains).
Interior: Altar to the left, the singer's bench with Esten Skogstads portrait on its door last right hand after altar enclosure. Skogstad bench, number one, to left under the chandelier, with mining directions bench opposite on the other side of the aisle. The numering of the benches perhaps a memory from when the king himself sat in the Skogstad bench.
The Skogstad cousins paid for the decorations in the 1730'ies. There even was a poet among them, him becoming ancestor of the Eggen family, so tinged with nazism, defeat and redwine, as documented on Volapuk pages 51 and 52" He was a wiser man in heaven than on earth", the parson at his funeral, and since then the balance between inner musicality and outward action has been quite a challenge for clan Skogstad.
Number one bench for the king's farm Skogstad
The sad remains of the once mighty bear before the singer's stool by the Kvikne church altar and the portrait of young Esten Skogstad on the stooldoor
The two skogstads who slew the bear were little Thore and his cousin big Thore. A distant contemporary cousin of theirs was Esten ( Eystein) Thoresen the younger at Vingelsåsen in Vingelen, who was recorded in the diary of Bør Langland in Ålen as having killed a wolf with his axe., see Volapuk culture page 48 and 49
Christ and His apostles. Painted 1739 on the front of Kvikne church organ gallery by the same artist who portreyed Esten Skogstad , both lavishly paid for by Esten's cousin Thore Skogstad
Sheriff John Skogstad (1804-1884) built this jail on his farm, complete with two cells, guard room, handcuffs, footchains and straightjacket. John was sheriff for 42 years, and is even today remembered in the norwegian police. Succeeding his father Ole, who was some sort of people's king in these parts, John Skogstad was a stern diciplinarian amongst his miners and farmers, "not one single tool for destlling liquor in my district", he laconically wrote in a report. Once a farmer in Vingelen did'nt pay his debts. Skogstad knew the man had some means. The sheriff braced his horse, drove straight up, into the yard, brandishing his sabre in the air and shouting: "Hey, Ole, now you go to jail, but if you pay you'll only get a rap of this!"
His prisoners carved out wooden figures from norwegian history, sheriff Skogstad placed them on the wall of his store-house. His store-house still stands at main road 30, and the figures in bright colour are still the foremost attraction for people on the road, as dcumented by the postcard below. The Skogstad sheriffs farm was at Erlien along the road 30 seen up right corner, and there also stood the Skogstad jail.
Soldier to the right of the door to skogstad store house, in the uniform of the Royal Guards at the time of sheriff Jon Skogstad around 1870 and present
The skogstadlion from over store-house door
Sergeant Ole Andersen(1862-1945). Younger brother of ensign Johan Andersen, the mayor of Rødøy. Grandchild of sheriff Ole Andersen Skogstad, "the old sheriff" at Tolga. Son of the inspector of Tolga Crown Forest, sergeant Andreas Andersen, who was a great friend of poet Anders Reitan, the most beloved singer to live amongst the skogstad mountains.
Bailiffs son Ole wore out three bass-tubas in his forty years of service and composed the popular marches "Life in the loafers" and "Here the oldtimers get going". He was a connaiseur of norwegian literature and in 1931 himself wrote one of the most acclaimed artcles ever in paper "Fjell-Ljom" (Mountain call), about the almost mythical cycles of the coveted cloudberry.
Sergeant Ole Andersen was a cousin of Unni Friis Skogstads great-grandfather, the organist Andreas Skogstad in Mandal , who composed the spirited "Midsummermarch" and "Pack march" before he died at the age of 43 in 1887, leaving his wife Petra Caroline alone with their children.
Bjørn Skogstad Aamo (b.1946), the present head of norwegian credit supervision, is sergeant Ole Andersens great nephew, son of press chief and novelist Eiliv Skogstad Aamo, author of "The settlers under Wind mountain.
"If all were fair and honest, it hadn't been any problem. But they are not!" thunders supervisor Skogstad Aamo 26.01.2006 to paper "Dayly Trade and Commerce" ("Dagens næringsliv") before he goes skiing.
Einar Friis Skogstad (1873-1956). Norwegian banker and financier. Knight of the french Legion of Honor. Hobbies: skiing ,literature and music. Grand nephew of sheriff John Skogstad. Son of organist and compser Andres Skogstad, who married Petra Caroline Friis from Gildeskaal. Granduncle of Unni Friis Skogstad.
For prime minister Ivar Lykke, another prominent Skogstad at the banker's time, see Volaouk, page 113
Einar Ingvald Friis Skogstad (1913- 1994) in US uniform before the landing in Normandy 1944. He drove a Sherman tank and got a shrapnel in his leg. Uncle of Unni Friis Skogstad.
Burial plate and Purple Heart of his nephew Arthur Woodstead
A contemporary cousin of sheriff John Skogstad in Tolga, was Eric Thoresen (1807-1873), sheriff for 34 years in neighbouring Tynset and Kvikne, from 1839 until his death in 1873, and succeeded by his son. Both John Skogstad and Eric Thoresen descended from the old sheriffs at Skogstad in Kvikne, Eric beeing great-grandchild of sheriff Ole Thoresen Skogstad, who was the uncle of Esten (Eystein) Thoresen Skogstad (1713-1780), portreyed on the singer's chair in Kvikne church, se below. Sheriff Thoresen was a great singer too, like his father and grandfather. In his youth he was favorite singer of the chaplain of Kvikne, Peder Bjørnson, father of Bjørnstjerne, "Norway's uncrowned king".
Skogstad is an old sheriff family from the mountain valleys of Norway with branches all over the world, in the States also called Woodstead.The family comes from the area between the two big mountains Rondane and Sylan, "the round" and "the sharp". For the interview "Forsoningen" with Unni Friis Skogstad and Eystein Eggen , distant cousins and married, couple, click norwegian, or, in other languages, english, deutsch, francais or italiano, per favore.
Unni's uncle Einar Ingvald Skogstad/Woodstead (1913-1994) was an US Army tank driver in the allied landing in Normandy 1944. Her cousin Arthur M. Woodstead (1947-2006) fought as an US Army sergeant in the Vietnam war. He got the Purple Heart and is buried at the National Memorial Cemetry of Arizona.
For the absolute necessity of bringing the norwegian Skogstads on foot again, se recent letter to Skogstad/Eggen from head of Norwegian Police Security, and further public documentation on Volapuk, page 45
Unni Friis Skogstad, The Head of Quality at the Norwegian Institute for Energy Technology and Nuclear Research, Norway.
The chest that Esten Skogstad made and took with him to Kanestraum.
His son and successor , sheriff John Østgaard, had inherited the old skogstad looks, but beeing more interested in agriculture than in police work, he was nicknamed "Cow-John". Sheriff in Tolga 1920 to 1945. Johns biggest case was the dangerous madman Torgeir Trøen in 1933, a story which hit the front pages of the Oslo press, see facsimile on Volapuk, 124
Norwegian police uniforms 1948. Sheriff's cap in the middle. (From "Hvem-Hva-Hvor" 1948)
The Skogstad family bible from 1550, still at Skogstad. To the left the king of Denmark-Norway, to the right his crest, with the bowaxed lion of Norway up right.
