Females was so broad a topic, it took me a while to come up with an idea for this post, then one of my friends suggested I see if any of the females in my direct line had a March birthday, and that was how I came up with writing about Kaja Angell. She was the only one of all the close ancestors (within 8 generations) that had a March birthday, so she had to be the one, and I wasn't upset about that at all. She's been a favorite ancestor for a long time now, and has always been there in my written tree, even before I knew who she was, so I knew writing about her would be fun.
Here's what I know about Kaja: her full name was Karen Dorothea Angell, but she was known as Kaja. She was born March 18, 1835 in Rodoy, Nordland, Norway. I have been told she was an orphan, but at this time, I do not know if the parents I have listed for her are her natural parents, as while her listed father, Hans Christian Angell did die when she was ten, her mother, Richardine Klaeboe didn't die until Kaja was in her forties. Perhaps after her father died, the family struggled, so she was adopted into another family because her mother wasn't able to care for her three young children. Either that, or I have her mother's death date wrong. Definitely things I need to look into.
She married in 1859 at 24. Her husband, Hans Henrik Bordewich, was the son of a man with a great deal of power. I don't know much about their marriage, but I do have one wonderful story from the beginning of their life together. When she first joined the Bordewich household, they stayed with Hans's father, Johan. He was a man with a great deal of power, especially over his many children, and was used to being listened to. His wife had died thirteen years before, so his daughter had taken over her mother's duties, taking care of the household and the youngest children. Which meant she sat in the chair to her father's side as head of household. However, when Kaja joined the household, Johan insisted that Kaja take that place. The first night, knowing nothing about their household, she took the spot. But she soon learned what had happened, so the next night, she sat next to her husband at the other end of the table. Upon seeing his daughter sitting in her usual spot, Johan insisted that the two young women exchange places. Kaja, strong willed, told him no, that that was her sister-in-law's spot, and that she'd earned it, and she would sit near her husband, thank you very much. And that was that. I have a feeling I would really have loved to meet Kaja. She sounds like a fabulous lady.
Kaja and Hans had ten children. Nearly all of them survived to adulthood, which is an incredibly uncommon thing in this time and place. As I said, I don't have a lot of stories about her life, but there is one child she had a particular connection to. Her fourth child was a boy they called Richard Angell. He was such an artistic child that he was given the chance to get schooling in painting and art. The extended family still has a few of his paintings, which we believe were gifted to the family because one of my uncles was named for him. Richard traveled to America as a young man to stay near his uncle, who had settled and made a good living there. He set up a photography business, and it is because of him that we have many photos of our family from that time. While in America, he met and married and he and his wife had a son.
Then his uncle became American consul to Norway. Richard and his family joined his uncle as part of his household, and settled in Oslo with him. Unfortunately, in 1898, there was an influenza pandemic, and Richard got sick. Upon hearing of her son's illness, Kaja traveled from the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway to Oslo to help her daughter-in-law tend for her son while Richard was ill. Unfortunately, Richard died, and so Kaja stayed with her daughter in law in Oslo to help them both after her son's death. She died in Oslo in 1922 at the age of 87. Definitely a long-lived life. Definitely a lady I'm very glad to have in my family tree.