Tynning
Family archive
From Brekke in Sogn to new generations.
The story of a family through centuries. From the Tynning farm, through the move to Porsgrunn, into politics, media, business and future generations.
The Origin
The Tynning Farm
The family's origin is the Tynning farm in Brekke, Ytre Sogn, on the hillsides above the Sognefjord. The farm appears in the tax rolls as early as 1563, when "Jens po Thønningh" paid one riksdaler in tax, and our family can be traced here in a continuous line back to the 1600s.
People here lived off the land, the fjord and the forest. A Stone Age pickaxe found on the farm in 1927 – now in a museum in Bergen – shows that people have lived here for four thousand years. And from the late 1920s, great-grandfather Isak built up the tree nursery that made "Tynning planteskule" a name in Norwegian horticulture. The farm gave the family its name. From this single holding grew a family that later spread across the country – and all the way to Iowa. The farm is still worked, and still in the family.
About the farm and the village
The Turning Point
The odelsgutt who left
Lasse Tynning
Åshild Tynning
When Porsgrunn chose its first conciliation board in December 1963, Lasse Tynning of Eidanger topped the list. Together with Åshild, they were among the community's most engaged builders — from agriculture and schooling to politics and civil defence.
From Brekke in Sogn to Søndre Valler in Porsgrunn: the story of the farm heir who left the farm and became the glue of an entirely new community.
The family archive
Glimpses from the family archive
Work, music and everyday life between fjord, mountain and prairie.
The New Home
Søndre Valler
Lasse bought Søndre Valler in Eidanger in 1928 and moved there with Åshild after their wedding the same year. The property became the family's new starting point, and it is here the modern branch of the Tynning family begins.
From Søndre Valler the family grew into the town life of Porsgrunn — and on into politics, media and business. The farm remained the origin, but Porsgrunn became the home of the generations that followed.
About Søndre Valler and Eidanger
After Porsgrunn
Three Paths
From the new home in Porsgrunn, the family branched into three enduring directions.
Into the Modern World
New Generations
The family expanded into media, entrepreneurship, public service — and the children who will carry the name onward.
What Comes Next
The Future
A family that remembers itself never truly grows old. This archive exists so that the children of today — and those not yet born — can know where they come from.
From the farm above the fjord to new generations, the story continues, still unwritten.
Enter the Archive