The picture shows Theodora in her later years, I guess around 1930. She looks a rather pleasant soul.The picture shows Theodora in her later years, I guess around 1930. She looks a rather pleasant soul.
Even less is known about Theodora than about Olai. This is curious in a way because our father referred to her comparatively often. Yet I have very little idea of what she was actually like. Of course none of us ever met her. Her history is very much tied up with that of Olai and it is preferable to read Olai's page first. (You can click here to do so. Use 'Back' to return here.)
Whereas our father Rolf tended to speak of his father without warmth or affection, he was devoted to his mother. Much of his resentment of his father was at the way he had treated his mother. And the way he treated Muriel and us kids was because of his determination not to be like Olai. He seems to have tried to be a support and protector of his mother while she was alive.
Born we believe in the Flekkefjord area in 1871. We know her father was Captain Fredrik Jansen from Rasvaag on the island of Hidra which lies at the mouth of the fjord just down from Flekkefjord itself. Married Olai, five years older, in about 1890, when she was 19 or 20. Bore four children in Norway by 1902 and two more, Hilda and our father, in Capetown in 1902 and 1904. There she lived, not always happily it seems, until her death in 1934 or '35. She died of cancer.
From her picture on the family page (Click here to see it again.) she looks a handsome woman, and not obviously one who has born six children in twelve years. We may surmise that she was the main source of warmth and emotional security for her family. But for all we really know she may have given Olai reason to leave her.
The family's first language was Norwegian to begin with and our mother once said that Theodora never really lost her accent and had difficulty in pronouncing Muriel. Our father claimed he had forgotten Norwegian and I never heard him speak it. But I did hear Sylvia speak it to him when she had something of the "not in front of the children" kind to say, and he obviously understood.
I always thought he and others in the family sounded quite normal (i.e. South African) in their speech. Except that he seemed to have a problem with 'zoo'. He would say 'soo'. It only occurred to me recently that this might be a lingering trace of Norwegian.
Before leaving these grandparents there's one other thing. Sylvia, chief repository of the family history until her death, solemnly gave Alan a picture of the Norwegian town of Stavanger (site of a 12th Century church). He can't remember why and the picture seems to have been lost. This is the best part of 100 km from Flekkefjord. We did originally wonder whether Theodora's family was the link with Stavanger. On the other hand it seems possible that Stavanger has been confused with Levanger where Olai's parents lived for many years before Olai returned to Flekkefjord in 1889, and has nothing to do with with Theodora.
Click one of these for
| Intro Brothers FAQs Parents Father-Side Mother-Side Kids Grandkids Creatures Snaps Contact Annex Search |
