Haugsund 1765

 

In the tax census from 1765, 265 people were recorded as living in Hougssund. It only included people over the age of 12, so with children there were probably between 300 and 400 people living in the settlement. Most were married couples with or without children, and sometimes with elderly parents or servants, but we also find widows, widowers and a few unmarried people.

Almost no one is listed by occupation - the exception was Sheriff Stephanus Bagge and Auctionsdirecteur Holtzrod - the two may have constituted the local small "middle class". In the church records, occupation is sometimes listed, and here we see that the population of Hokksund consisted of river workers, fishermen and sawmill workers, but also of innkeepers and craftsmen of various kinds.

 

The settlement had grown up around the ferry station, where travelers along the King's Road might need food, drink and perhaps accommodation. Blacksmiths who could shoe a horse, carpenters and wheelwrights who could repair a carriage and shoemakers who could repair worn-out shoes also settled here. The river was also an important workplace - salmon fishing and timber rafting took place here, and rowers (rowers) transported goods of all kinds by boat.

Others were day laborers in agriculture and forestry, and many probably also had their own plot of land where they could keep livestock and grow a little grain.