Talk:Roald Amundsen/Archive 1
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I am not sure how to handle this talk archive. In particular, there does Not to seem to be any dates on the postings. So some questions may have been asked years ago, and the answers may now be readily available online.
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My response here is meant to be addressed to the following:
" Amundsen's Family??
I've been searching and i can't seem to find out much on Amundsen's family. Did he have a wife, children, brothers or sisters?? Does anyone know of a site I could visit that may have this info? Thanks
--Amundsen never married.
--=] I am a decentant of Amundsen's cousin who homesteaded in Rosburg, WA, USA. My mother has done some research on the family, including Roald, and we know the following: According to the 1875 Nowgegian Census, he had three brothers named Jens Ole (pronounced o-le) Antonius Amundsen(b. 1866), Gustav Sahlqvist Amundsen (b. June 7, 1868), and Leon Henry Benham Amunsen (b. Sept 1870). He had no sisters. Roald Amundsen never did marry. However, there is a rumor in the family that Roald brought two Eskimo girls back from Alaska to Norway to be educated, of which he paid for. He never publicly said they were his daughters, but the family has often wondered. I wish I had dates or something to give credit to this "story." "
My answer is that some of this should by now be easy to find online. If not on Wikipedia, sometimes in Google Books.
The previous writer is correct about Roald Amundsen's three brothers: Jens Ole Antonius Amundsen, nicknamed Tonni. Died young. Gustav Sahlqvist Amundsen. He managed Amundsen's finances when Roald Amundsen was in Tromsø 1900-1901 looking to buy a vessel to sail through the entire Northwest Passage. Amundsen had to ask him to send him the bulk of his inheritance for the purpose. Leon Henry Benham Amundsen, or just Leon Amundsen. He was Roald Amundsen's business manager when Amundsen was (secretly) planning a dash for the South Pole, "The Big Nail".
I met Gustav Sahlqvist Amundsen when he was about 80 and I was in a stroller, he lived near my family.
Their mother was named Johanna (or Hanna) Henrikke Gustava Sahlqvist. My name is Johan Henrik Sahlqvist. Roald Amundsen was something like my grandfather's or great grandfather's first or second cousin. I don't care much what the exact connection is. If someone is interested in exact family trees, many web sites may now be helpful. If not, feel free to email me at sahlqvist@gmail.com, I may be able to figure it out.
I grew up with leatherbound volumes of all of Amundsen's and Nansen's writings, in Norwegian, and have since then read many other things. As another contributor points out, Roland Huntford is really good, and may answer most questions about family relationships.
As for the two Inuit girls he brought back to Norway, that is not just a rumour, and they were not his children, but I think orphans. Just from memory, I think Roland Huntford addresses it adequately, though I don't know when Amundsen sent them back to Canada .