The fathers at Blaafarveværket
In honour of Father's Day, today we're going to take a closer look at a topic I can't remember having investigated before. There are reasons for this. Taking a closer look at something as complex and person-dependent as the role of the father, like all other family relationships, is difficult for a historian. Such things were rarely written down, nor described orally, but I will nevertheless make an attempt. It will be difficult to say much on a general basis, so I will often resort to individuals about whom we have more information. That said, I will also try to find something that can shed light on the more general role of fathers in society at Blaafarveværket.
The ideal father in the 19th century
"Thou shalt honour thy father and thy mother". This is the fourth commandment in the Old Testament. Martin Luther's Small Catechism explains the meaning of the commandment in more detail. It was important to both fear and love God.[1] The fear and love of God should serve as a model for a child's relationship with its parents.[2] When Le Play conducted his research at Blaafarveværket, it was claimed that the Norwegian family composition was characterised by the patriarchal power of the house father.[3] However, it is recognised that the housewife had great authority in the household,[4] but the householder's power was not only based on custom and tradition, it was enshrined in law.[5]
The householder had the right to refuse his daughters to marry if he did not accept the suitor. He, and the housewife, had the right to chastise their children, as long as no harm was inflicted or the chastisement was carried out with weapons.[6] This shows that the relationship between father and child is reflected in the structures of society. A father was required by law to take care of his children. At the same time, the father had great, invasive authority. Similarly, the factory owner had similar rights and obligations towards his employees. The business community had a paternalistic structure that to a certain extent was reflected in the households.[7]
My dear Father - factory workers as fathers
Those employed at Blaafarveværket worked for large parts of the week. Whether they worked in mines, crushing plants or smelters, the days were long. The mines had working hours from 5am to 4.30pm, while the crushing and smelting plants had 12-hour shifts. Work was carried out from Monday to Saturday, but the working day on Saturdays was often shorter.
The question is to what extent did the workers have the ability and opportunity to participate in their upbringing? And to what extent did they want to participate? In this short article, this is an impossible question to answer fully. Firstly, we know less about the workers' family lives than their working lives. This is the case with industrial archives. They were largely concerned with the day-to-day running of the factory, not domestic pursuits, which were perceived as private. Even so, it's the little things that tend to turn up that can provide some information.
One example of a certain amount of paternal care can be seen in the mill's "Mulkteringsbog for 1852". On 21 April, factory worker Peder Fredriksen was late for roll call. His excuse was "that he had watched over a sick child almost all night".[8] The fact that a worker who was going to work prioritised watching over his sick child may indicate an involved father. At the same time, it is difficult to say anything beyond that Fredriksen in this case seemed somewhat more modern in his role as a father than the stereotypical 19th century father.
A more in-depth description of family life at Nymoen can be found in a description by one of Nymoen's residents, Andreas Pedersen. Kai Hunstadbråten wrote about Pedersen's account in Old Modum Vol. 6 from 1991. In it, Pedersen describes in somewhat more detail his relationship with his father, Peder Andersen Nordsiden, overseer of the Haugfoss pulp mill. On Sundays, the family gathered for worship and prayer in a cleaned living room.[9]
Nevertheless, the family relationship seems to have had a traditional structure. The mother seems to have had the most to do with the children, while the father was the disciplinarian. The "paternal authority", as Andreas called it, persisted even when Andreas became an adult. He always asked his father for permission to attend festivities in the village.[10] To put it another way, Andreas cared for his father. When his father was chronically ill, but still had to do his job, his son came and pulled him home on a sledge when the night shift ended. Andreas also claimed that he stood in for his father in the crushed stone factory on a few occasions.[11]
The way Andreas described the family relationships in his own family, it seems that the mothers provided care, while the fathers disciplined. Of course, it's impossible to say anything more than this, as this certainly varied greatly from household to household.
But what about the role of the father in the home?
Dr Heinrich Arnold Thaulow - an absent father?
When Heinrich Arnold Thaulow's son Fritz wrote his memoirs, he wrote the following about his father:
My father's position as a physician prevented him from caring for the education of his children, and this was therefore entirely the responsibility of my mother.[12]
Frits' sister, Henriette, described something similar:
Our home was shabby to the extreme. Because of father's many speculations and consequent travelling, which, in addition to his doctorate in the difficult district, occupied all his time; and because mother managed her large house herself[13]
There is little doubt that the men who ran the plant were away a lot. Unlike the factory's labourers, the senior managers did not have the same fixed working hours. Products had to be promoted, meetings about credit and the like had to be organised and new machines and other things had to be seen. Not everything could be done by post. When it came to the plant's doctor, he was more localised than the director, but the doctor had to be available at all times of the day and night. At the same time, Thaulow was a man who speculated in both mining investments and the construction of baths. This probably required a lot of travelling in his spare time.
Benjamin Wegner, the factory's director and part-owner from 1822-1849, could be away for months at a time. Trips to Europe took a long time in the 19th century. Especially before steam ships and locomotives were available.
In addition, the manager of the factory had a more generous budget, which made it possible to hire nannies, servants and tutors. In this way, it may seem, and here I must repeat, that the relationship between fathers and children was somewhat more distant than in the lower strata.
Finally, I must again emphasise that this small piece of work only scratches a surface that can reveal much more. The little I have highlighted is incomplete and not enough to say very much.
Finally, however, I would like to highlight a letter that tells the story of a caring and understanding father from Blaafarveværket. Ole Nilsen Sönstebye wrote a letter to his son who was imprisoned in Christiania in 1852. The letter is not a scathing reprimand to stay on the straight and narrow, but rather a desire to take his adult son to America to start afresh. In the letter, Ole writes that he and his wife do not want to leave their son because
we cannot or do not want to leave you, for then you would be left alone here in Norway, and we would be anxious both on the journey and after we come across you.[14]
Ole ends the letter by saying that he hopes his son is in good health and wishes him a Merry Christmas.[15] This testifies to something other than a disciplinarian father who was otherwise busy at work.
Either way, we wish all fathers, mothers, children and the elderly a happy Father's Day!
[1] Corneliussen, A. M. and Ellefsen, Olav. Dr Martin Luther's Small Catechism: with guiding outlines for the course of instruction, biblical historical references and Bible passages. (J. W. Cappelens forlag. Kristiania. 1924) p. 7
Link: https://www.nb.no/items/1c3dfd3e06850f34014575051818b3c3?page=9&searchText=%22Du%20skal%20hedre%20din%20far%22 (Read 07.11.2025)
[2] Ibid.
[3] A. De Saint-Léger and F. Le Play, Chapter II Conditions for the industrial processing of cobalt. Buskerud (in southern Norway) (Notes made after spontaneous meetings) Collected documents erected on site in 1845, translated by Rainer Hielle (Blaafarveværkets dokumentasjonssenter og arkiv)
[4] Ibid.
[5] Collet, P. I. The Norwegian Family Law. (Chr. Tønsbergs Forlag. Christiania. 1859)
Link: https://www.nb.no/items/2af8f0f548751dbd82d55946b5cb476d?page=3&searchText=fader (Read 07.11.2025)
[6] Ibid. p. 272
[7] Moen, Eli. "Rift for Bread?" Workers at Modum Blåfarveverk 1822-1848. (Master's thesis in history. University of Oslo. 1984)
[8] RA/PA-0157/H/He/L0442 - Production and operational calculations
[9] Hunstadbråten, Kai. "From Blaafarveværket 150 years ago". Old Modum Vol. 6, 1991 p. 11-16
Link: https://www.nb.no/items/40de2f083b7884caa758395b0396c385?page=17&searchText=Nordsiden (Read 07.11.2025)
[10] Ibid.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Thaulow, Fritz. Fritz Thaulow's memoirs. The material has been microfilmed, transcribed and adapted by Sverre Følstad and Ole-Petter Gulbrandsen at Blaafarveværket's Documentation Centre. p. 16
[13] Thaulow, Henriette. Mum explains. The material has been microfilmed, transcribed and adapted by Sverre Følstad and Ole-Petter Gulbrandsen at Blaafarveværkets Dokumentasjonssenter. p. 43
[14] Taken from Stiftelsen Modums Blaafarveværk's transcribed archive database, RA/PA - 0157/Modums Blaafarveværk, The material has been microfilmed, transcribed and adapted by Blaafarveværkets Dokumentasjonssenter by Sverre Følstad and Ole-Petter Gulbrandsen quoted from www.blaa.no: Bjørnland, Lasse. "Fairytale of New York - A Christmas story from Blaafarveværket" Stories from the archive 9. 12.2020
Link: https://blaa.no/historier/fairytale-of-new-york-en-julefortelling-fra-blaafarvevaerket/ (Read 07.11.2025)
[15] Ibid.