Hægeland, Norway - class of 1928

Hægeland bible course 1928

Several years ago I took my scanner when I visited Agnes Allpress, the daughter of Gunnie Osmun Gåseflå.  Agnes had many old photos, some unidentified, and gave me permission to make digitized copies.  Some of them I hoped to later identify and others, like this one shown above, do have names under the faces giving us some clue as to the people but no other information.  The photographer is given at the lower right corner as Hangård and the picture seems to be a graduating class in 1928 of individuals who were perhaps training to be teachers.  At first glance I originally thought it was a confirmation class but then realized that the people pictured are much too old for that and look more like a college graduating class of some type.   I do not know how many others in the family may have a copy of this particular picture and post it here hoping that perhaps one of our Norwegian cousins will recognize the photograph and give us more details. I did see several of the farm names that are familiar and connect in different ways to the extended family.

The heading at the top says Bibelkurset på Hægeland 1928 or in English "the Bible Course at Hægeland 1928." It is difficult to read all the names under the pictures but here is a list beginning at the left, top row:
S.S. BLARNSHEI, J.SANDVAND, Knut RETTEDAL, A. BLERKREIM, S. REFSTIL, A. TOMSON, A.A. ANDERSEN
2nd row:  O. ROYNELAND, T. AAMDAL, O. HODNE, O. SKOV-SKOV, FENNEFOSS, J. EIKELAND, Y. HERAAS, J. ØVNA, O. AASEN, F, LOKA, K. GOTFREDSEN
3rd row:  M. FRIVOLD, F. ROLAND, R. STEDAL, M. BIRKELAND, A. GAUTESTAD, M. JORTVEIT, S, ULEBERG, G, AASEN, M. HÆGELAND, R. MARTENSEN
4th row:  A. NJAALAND, I. HELA, B. DOKKEDAL, M. BROKKA, S. TOFTE, B. KILE, J. ASK, E. EFTELAND
 5th row:  S. EIKELAND, O. ROLAND, S. HOMME, R. MARTENSEN, J. AAGEDAL, Ilga BIRKELAND, A. JAABULAND, T. AASEN, T. ABUSLAND

 The church at Hægeland looks somewhat similar to the one at Hornnes and may have been built about the same time.  Once Øvrebø, and Hægeland together with at least part of Vennesla formed one parish. Øvrebø and Hægeland were divided in 1896 and later Hægeland and part of Øvrebø were recombined with Vennesla to form one unit called Vennesla in 1964.   I thought it might be interesting to see the comparisons between the church buildings at Øvrebø, Hægeland and Hornnes.

Hægeland church

[photo:  Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hægeland]

 

 

Hornnes church

Øvrebø church

The Øvrebø church is a slightly different style as seen in the old sepia tone postcard above.

For a little more information about Hægeland see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hægeland