The story of Marthe

I know that this is a blog for Tobias and Josefine's descendants, but I want to tell the story of Marthe Løyning.

Marthe was born on the 14th of December 1839 at Løyning. When she was old enough she started to work as a servant in the home of Tønnes and Inger at Ålgård. But on Dec 3rd 1871 Inger died. The next year on Oct 10th, Tønnes and Marthe were married. Tønnes was about 63 years old and Marthe was 32 years old, going on 33. She was younger than Tønnes' children from his first marriage. 

Her first child was Ingeborg Tobine, born on May 28th 1873. The next was a boy, my great grandfather, Tobias. He was born Jun 8th 1875. Her last child was Tønnes Martin, born om Feb 2nd 1878.

But 1878 was a tragic year for Marthe. On May 2nd Tønnes Martin died at the age of only 3 months, and on July 4th her husband died. And on top of that, because of new land laws Marthe had to move the house, barn and byre to a new site in October. She was totally dependent on others, because her children were only 5 and 3 years old.

She moved further in on Ålgård to Mellevik. She lived there in a small house surrounded by the barn on one side and the byre on the other side, to keep the house warm on two sides. 

In the census of 1900 she lived in the home of her son Tobias. She died on Jan 29th 1935.