Her story
Auntie Cecilia
In a family photograph, Cecilia stands with Marie Sofie’s four younger children outside a house. Another shows her beside Alfhild at the water’s edge. The family remembers her as Auntie Cecilia, a woman who may have helped care for the children. Church registers and census records now give that remembered aunt a fuller history: a childhood in Grønland, a marriage to a banknote printer, a son of her own, and a life rooted in Kristiania, later Oslo.
A seaman’s daughter in Grønland
She was born November 8, 1887, to Severin Anstensen and Gurine Sofie Jacobsdatter. At her baptism on December 26, the register calls her Gundette Cecilie and places her family at Grønlandsleret 12. Her parents had married on June 7, 1874; both came from Egersund. Her known older siblings were Anton, Marie Sofie and Jacob Andreas Gunvald. Their individual church records establish the family relationships that had previously rested on the supplied tree. [Cecilia’s baptism, 1887] [Her parents’ marriage, 1874] [Marie’s baptism, 1877] [Jacob’s confirmation, 1896]
Her father worked at sea and in ship rigging. He died on June 5, 1897, when Cecilia was nine. By the 1900 census, she was at Dovregade 7 with her widowed mother and brothers. Sofie cleaned at Rikshospitalet; Anton worked in a mechanical factory, while Jacob was a sailor temporarily away in Fredrikstad.
Marriage and a son
On September 2, 1910, she married Paul Bernhard Nesjø, born March 2, 1883 in Trondhjem. Their civil marriage was recorded in the Gamle Aker register. Both gave Nordahl Bruns gate 3 as their address. Their son, Arne Brynjulf Nessjø, was born on October 9 and baptized on December 26 that year. His baptism describes Paul as a banknote printer at Norges Bank and names Sofie Anstensen among the sponsors. [Civil marriage, 1910] [Arne’s baptism, 1910]
The 1910 census places Cecilia, Paul and their infant son in the same apartment as her mother, her sister Marie and Marie’s daughter Bergliot. They were recorded as two separate households. This is a specific, documented connection between the sisters’ homes, before Marie’s marriage to Olaus Johnsen. [Two households in one apartment, 1910]
A place in Alfhild’s childhood
On December 26, 1914, Cecilia and Paul were among the sponsors at Alfhild’s baptism. The register names Paul Nesjø, printer, and Cecilie Anstensen. It places Auntie Cecilia directly at an important event in her niece’s early life. [Alfhild’s baptismal sponsors, 1914]
In 1920, Cecilia’s household in Oslo included Paul, Arne and her mother. She described herself as a homemaker doing housework at home, with no additional income, and reported one child born in her current marriage and one living. At the same census, Alfhild, Ruth, Alf and Ragna were living with Olaus and Marie at Skjønheim in Strømm. Informal help or visits remain possible, but the children were not enumerated as members of Cecilia’s household that year. [Cecilia’s personal census sheet, 1920]
The family in later years
Her mother died on August 9, 1926. The newspaper notice was signed by Marie Jonsen and Cecilie Nessjø, both née Anstensen, as her daughters. The estate notification names Cecilie of Nordahl Bruns gate 3 as informant and records two adult children, one in Oslo and one in Sandefjord. Together, these records strongly identify the daughters and add another dated connection to Cecilia’s home. [Sofie’s death notification, 1926] [Death notice]
Paul’s 1933 directory entry lists him as a Norges Bank banknote printer at Nordahl Bruns gate 3. A 1963–64 entry lists P. B. Nessjø at the same address as a messenger for Hjemmet. Those entries trace Paul’s address; they do not prove Cecilia lived there continuously throughout the intervening decades.
Arne died in Oslo on January 18, 1961, aged fifty. His death notice names his wife Johanne and his parents, Cicilie and Paul Nessjø. His original baptism and later confirmation agree on October 9, 1910 as his birth date. The family’s later descendants have not yet been established. [Arne’s death notice, 1961]
Cecilia died in Oslo on April 28, 1963, aged 75. Her official death entry and cemetery record match her exact birth date. Her ceremony was announced for May 4 at 10 a.m. at Vår Frelsers gravlund. The cemetery is confirmed; the actual interment date and grave location remain unverified. Paul survived her until December 18, 1966. [Cecilia’s official death entry, 1963] [Vår Frelsers cemetery record] [Funeral announcement, May 4, 1963] [Paul’s official death entry, 1966]
