Name: Leonharde
Marie Bordewich
Called by Grandkids:
Grandmother Bordewick, I believe.
Birth: 1861,
Lyngvaer, Norway
Death: 1944,
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Spouse: Henrik
Bergithon Bordewick
Marriage: 1887
Children: Bjarne,
Harald, Hans Henrik
Parents: Johan
Petter Bordewich and Pauline Henrikke Roness
Siblings: Full: Ida Amalie, Anna Magdalena, Petter
Roness; half: Johan Petter, Antonette
Henrikke, Anna Magdalena, Hans Henrik, Elsie Sofie, Hans Jorgen, Johan Henrik,
Wilhelm, Jørgen Christian, Lars Nikolai, Leonharde Marine, Petra Johanne
About: Leonharde
was the second child born to Johan Petter Bordewich and his second wife, but
she already had ten living siblings. She was the first of her parents' children
to be born after their marriage, as her father's older children had attempted
to keep him from marrying her mother, but in the end, Johan prevailed and he
and Henrikke were married. The couple had a total of four children together
before his death in 1879. Leonharde was named for her father's first wife, who
had died childbirth with their final child, a daughter who had died soon after,
and had been buried with her mother. As a result, Leonharde shared the name
with many in her extended family. She even had a niece who was a few years
older and named for the same woman.
Leonharde grew up in a large family, living in one of the
most well-to-do households in town, and likely never wanted for anything. Many
of her older siblings had already left home by the time she was born, so I am
not certain how well she knew them, but I do know that in a small town as she
was from, there were few opportunities to meet people who were not somehow
related to her, and in the end she married a relation, her half-brother's son,
Henrik Bergthon Bordewich, who was actually a year younger than her. It's quite
likely the two grew up together, though it's just as likely that they only saw
each other on important family occasions, as his father had had a break with
his father over his choice of marrying Henrikke, which meant that Hans Henrik
would not be able to take over the running of the family business.
They stayed in the Lofoten Islands where she was born
through the birth of their three sons, but soon after, fishing became
difficult, and Henrik and his brother Eivind decided to try to set up a
business between them, and so the family moved to Antwerp to try to set up a
home base there. Unfortunately, this was shortly after the Boer war, and though
they were Norwegian, their name sounded English enough to the Belgians that
they, who had sided with the Boers, hated them on sight, and so after less than
a year, the family moved again, this time to a town in North Eastern England
called Hull, where Harde's brother had settled. The family stayed there for
several years. My great-grandfather, their eldest son, was just taking his
examinations to get into Cambridge when the family decided to relocate again,
and eventually settled in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Luckily he chose to move with
them, as it was there he met and eventually married the woman who would become
his wife.
Though Harde had only sons, when the family left Lofoten,
they took a few girls with them to help around the house. At least one of the
girls was family as well, her elder sister's older daughter, Margit Olsen. The
girls remained with the family through their moves. Harde and Henrik lived in
Vancouver until their deaths, his in 1930, and hers in 1944, shortly after
meeting her first great-grandchild.
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| Harde (front l) with son Bjarne and his wife May, their son's wife Merle, May's mother Lizzie, and Harde's first great-grandchild, ca 1942 |
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