Household Marks
Bumerker
Bumerke (plural bumerker)
means home or household mark, a unique symbol or combination of symbols, not
unlike an American cattle brand, used to sign a person’s name in the days
before literacy was widespread. The bumerke
was normally incorporated along with the person’s initials into a signet ring
or stamp. Often, this included the
initial of the person’s given name, the initial of the father’s given name, and
an S (-sen) or D (-datter) depending on whether it was owned by a man or
woman. Occasionally, as in the example
below, the father’s initial was replaced by the first letter of the farm name.
Few of
these signets survive because they were normally buried with the owner to
prevent misuse, however the designs survive in wax or paper impressions from
old documents. Parish histories (bygdebøker)
in
One of
these drawings in the Stadsbygd bygdebøker is that of the signet used by
Peder Zachariassen Haarsager, 1653-1733.
Peder was a juror (lagrettemann)
and his stamped “signature” survives on at least one legal document.
Peder
was one of my 5th great (five greats) grandfathers (4.tipp-oldefar). In 1679, he moved from the Vaarvig farm where
he was born Rissa to Håssåker (then spelled Haarsager) to join his brother
Kristen (1655-1696) in farming half of the gard. Kristen had married the widow of the previous
farmer in 1675. Peder had seven children
with two wives, Ragnhild Svendsdatter (died in 1700) and Marit (dates unknown). Peder and Marit’s 2nd son Kristen
(1707-1766) took over the farm in 1734 and it is from him and his wife,
Ingeborg Ellingsdatter Lein (1709-1778) that I and the current farmers there
are descended.
The
picture above is of a ring that I had made in 2002 as a replica of Peder’s bumerke
in a signet. The letters are, of course,
reversed so that they can make the proper impression in wax. The bumerke without the three cross
marks in this case is the rune for T, but it was meant to represent that or
just be indicative of an arrow is unknown.
Another ancestor, Rolf Erichsen Rein (ca. 1590-1659) had a similar bumerke,
but the arrow was pointing to the left and there were only two cross
marks. The cross marks were probably to
differentiate a bumerke from one used previously. My ring is of a modern design and was cast
from sterling silver.
The
signet ring above was found about 1970 in a potato field in Hasselvik, a
settlement about 10 miles (16 km) northwest of the middle of Stadsbygd. It is likely to have been the signet ring of
Nils Hansen Haarberg, who farmed the Hårberg farm there from 1617-1624.