Dønnes Municipality

Dønnes is a former municipality in the Helgeland traditional region in Nordland county, Norway. The 88-square-kilometre (34 sq mi) municipality existed from 1888 until its dissolution in 1962. The former municipality encompassed the northern part of the island of Dønna, the western parts of the islands of Tomma and Løkta, and over 300 smaller surrounding islands, islets, and skerries.^[3][4]

Dønnes Municipality Dønnes herred
Former municipality
Nordland within Norway
Dønnes within Nordland
Coordinates: 66°12′13″N 12°35′14″E
Country	Norway
County	Nordland
District	Helgeland
Established	1 July 1888
• Preceded by	Nesna Municipality
Disestablished	1 Jan 1962
• Succeeded by	Dønna Municipality
Area  (upon dissolution)
• Total	88 km2 (34 sq mi)
Population  (1962)
• Total	1,428
• Density	16/km2 (42/sq mi)
Demonym	Dønnværing[1]
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
ISO 3166 code	NO-1827[2]
Data from Statistics Norway

Dønnes Church was probably built here at the request of Paul Vågaskalm who was governor of Alstahaug. It was built on the site of an older church sometime between 1200 and 1300. The characteristic onion dome was added in 1866. The church organ, built by Paul Christian Brantzeg, was installed in 1866.

History

Dønnes was established as a municipality on 1 July 1888 when the western part of the old Nesna Municipality was separated to form a new municipality. Initially, Dønnes had a population of 1,348. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1962 the municipality of Dønnes ceased to exist. The part of Dønnes on the island of Tomma (population: 80) was merged into Nesna Municipality. The remainder of Dønnes (population: 1,348) was merged with the part of Herøy Municipality on the island of Dønna (population: 19), Nordvik Municipality (population: 1,293), and the part of Nesna Municipality on the island of Løkta (population: 80) to become the new Dønna Municipality.^[5]

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Dønnes farm (Old Norse: Dynjarnes) since the first Dønnes Church was built there. The first element is dynja which is the genitive case of the old name of the island of Dønna. The island name means to "rumble" or "roar" (referring to the swell of the waves on the island). The last element is nes which means "headland".^[6]

Government

While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of elected representatives, which in turn elected a mayor.^[7]

Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Dønnes was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:

Dønnes herredsstyre 1960–1963 ^[8]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	17
Total number of members:		17

Dønnes herredsstyre 1956–1959 ^[9]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	3
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti)	1
	List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidere, fiskere, småbrukere liste)	1
	Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister)	3
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	9
Total number of members:		17

Dønnes herredsstyre 1952–1955 ^[10]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	4
	Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti)	1
	List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidere, fiskere, småbrukere liste)	2
	Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister)	5
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	4
Total number of members:		16

Dønnes herredsstyre 1948–1951 ^[11]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	4
	Communist Party (Kommunistiske Parti)	1
	Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister)	1
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	10
Total number of members:		16

Dønnes herredsstyre 1945–1947 ^[12]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	7
	Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister)	6
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	3
Total number of members:		16

Dønnes herredsstyre 1938–1941* ^[13]  

Party name (in Norwegian)		Number of representatives
	Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet)	6
	Joint List(s) of Non-Socialist Parties (Borgerlige Felleslister)	5
	Local List(s) (Lokale lister)	5
Total number of members:		16
Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945.

The farms of Dønnes

Farm names were often used as part of Norwegian names, in addition to the person's given name and patronymic or inherited surname. Some families retained the farm name, or toponymic, as a surname when they emigrated, so in those cases tracing a surname may tell you specifically where in Norway the family was from. This tradition began to change in the mid to late 19th century, and inherited surnames were codified into law in 1923.

Map of the farms of Dønnes

Coordinates are approximate.
Note that each map has a maximum number of listings it can display, so the map has been divided into parts consistent with the enumeration districts (tellingskrets) in the 1920 census. This map will include one farm name per farm number; other farm names or subdivision numbers may exist.

Note that in 1920, the southern portion of today's Dønnes municipality was part of Nesna municipality; the farms of that area are part of the Nesna farm map.

Dønnes municipality, 1920 census

2km
1.2miles

22

21

20

19

18

17

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

  

Farms:

1

1: Skjeissjøen

2

2: Nyheim

3

13: Sigerstad

4

14: Glein

5

15: Breivik

6

16: Svinvik

7

17: Sandaker

8

18: Sund

9

19: Hov

10

20: Husby

11

21: Tomsvik

12

22: Tomeide

13

10: Rølvåg

14

12: Aakvik

15

3: Aakerøy

16

4: Aaker

17

5: Bø

18

6: Stavseng

19

7: Stavsengvik

20

8: Tuehaugen

21

9: Volnes

22

11: Nordøy

Tellingskrets (enumeration districts): 1, Glein (lime); 2, Løkka (red); 3, Husby skolekrets for Tomma (blue); 4, Nord-Dønnæs (purple); 5, Stavseng (green); 6, Asvær (black).

See also

• List of former municipalities of Norway

References

1. "Navn på steder og personer: Innbyggjarnamn" (in Norwegian). Språkrådet.
2. Bolstad, Erik; Thorsnæs, Geir, eds. (26 January 2023). "Kommunenummer". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget.
3. Helland, Amund (1908). "Dønnes herred". Norges land og folk: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian). Vol. XVIII. Kristiania, Norway: H. Aschehoug & Company. p. 363. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
4. Thorsnæs, Geir, ed. (24 March 2016). "Dønnes – tidligere kommune". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
5. Jukvam, Dag (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Statistisk sentralbyrå. ISBN 9788253746845.
6. Rygh, Oluf (1905). Norske gaardnavne: Nordlands amt (in Norwegian) (16 ed.). Kristiania, Norge: W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri. p. 109.
7. Hansen, Tore; Vabo, Signy Irene, eds. (20 September 2022). "kommunestyre". Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
8. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1959" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1960. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
9. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1955" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1957. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
10. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1951" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1952. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
11. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1947" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1948. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
12. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1945" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1947. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
13. "Kommunevalgene og Ordførervalgene 1937" (PDF) (in Norwegian). Oslo: Statistisk sentralbyrå. 1938. Retrieved 18 March 2020.

External links

• Media related to Dønnes kirke at Wikimedia Commons