Stalsberghagen gravlund og krematorium, Lillestrøm, Norway

Stalsberghagen gravlund og krematorium (Stalsberghagen Cemetery and Crematorium) is situated in Lillestrøm municipality (earlier Skedsmo municipality) at the boarder of Rælingen municipality east of Oslo. The cemetery was opened for burials in 1901.

1. The main gate to the cemetery (old part).

2. The Little Chapel and the Large Chapel and Crematorium at Stalsberghagen.

3.

4. The Little Chapel.

5. The Large Chapel.

6. View of a part of the cemetery.

7. Grave of Colonel Kaare Bolstad (1921–1980) and his wife.

8. Wittenberg grave.

9. Memorial for unnamed graves.

10. Memorial for stillborn children who were buried in unknown graves before 1997. Many stillborn children have their last resting place at Stalsberghagen Cemetery. The practice was earlier that the small coffins were interred by chance in graves of adults buried at the same time. This practice  meant that the bereaved were not informed where their children were buried and many feel great sorrow from this experience. The memorial gives the bereaved a place to go with their sorrowful memories. The memorial was raised in 2010.

11.

12. In memory of song and musicians.

13. Arnesen family grave.

14. Segelcke family grave. Martha Segelcke (1862–1912), Christien A. Segelcke (1858–1946) and Maria Segelcke (1862–1950).

15. Bergersen grave.

16. Wessel family grave: Sawmill manager Engebret Wessel (1844–1913) and his wife Helga Wessel, née Fonahn (1859–1949). At the bottom of the headstone one can find the inscription of their daughter Alfhild Øvergaard, née Wessel (1882–1907), who died in Finland.

17. Family grave of blacksmith Marius Halvorsen (1873–1945) and his family, including his son Oscar (1910–1992), who was also a blacksmith.

18. Næss family grave. Includes the name of the trade union chairman and Labour politician Nic. Næss (Nicolai Næss) (1891–1942), who died in exile in Stockholm, Sweden during the war.

 

19. Holmsen family grave. The name Stalsberg is inscribed at the top of the headstone. I would have to do more research to find out the connection.*

20. Risto family grave.

21. Mauritz family grave.

22. Garder family grave.

23. Grave of hotel owner Johan Alfred Tosterud (1891–1948) and his wife.

24. Kristiansen Stübner grave.

All 24 photos: © 2021 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth.

I visited the cemetery Thursday this week to take photos of two graves to be used in articles at Slektshistoriewiki, the Norwegian genealogy wiki (these photos are not included in the blog article). But I after fulfilling my mission I walked around for a while and took photos of some of the graves which I found interesting. Some attractive or old headstones and some family names that caught my attention. The cemetery is divided by Øvre Rælingsveg into two parts. The old part, where all the photos above are taken and where the chapels are, and the new part, made available for burials in the 1960s. The new part also includes a section for Muslims.

The Large Chapel (I haven't decided if it would be most correct to translate Store kapell into «The Great Chapel» or «The Large Chapel» and Lille kapell into «The Small Chapel» or «The Little Chapel») and crematorium was inaugurated in 1958 and the original chapel was torn down. The Large Chapel has 200 seats, while The Little Chapel, which was built in 1990 at the same place where the old chapel was once standing, has 50 seats. You can see a photo of the old chapel at Lokalhistoriewiki. For photos of the interior, go here (The Large Chapel) and here (The Little Chapel).

* Postscript 3 May 2021 at 18:45: The answer to my question about the Stalsberg inscription on top of the Holmsen family grave was easy to work out. Johan Andreas Holmsen (1843–1921) was farming at Stalsberg nordre (Northern Stalsberg) at Strømmen in Skedsmo (now Lillestrøm municipality). He even found his wife from Stalsberg søndre (Southern Stalsberg)! See among others Slegten Holmsen, 1934, p. 91, by Gudrun Jølsen.

Updated last time on Monday 3 May 2021 at 18.45 (postscript added).