Christen Knudsen (25 January 1813 - 7 April 1888) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

ship-owner.Frednesalléen 1
in ''Eidanger–Porsgrund'', by Finn C. Knudsen (1932). Hosted by Porsgrunn public library.

Personal life

Christen Knudsen was born in 1813 at Salterød near

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

. He moved to

Porsgrunn is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn. The municipality of Porsgrunn w ...

in 1855.Korte biografiske notitser om enkelte gamle slægter og personer i Porsgrund
by Carl Lund. Hosted by Porsgrunn public library. He married Guro Aadnesdatter (1808-1900), later spelt "Gurine Aanonsen". The couple had three children. Their sons Jørgen Christian Knudsen and

Gunnar Knudsen Gunnar Knudsen (19 September 1848 – 1 December 1928), born Aanon Gunerius Knudsen, was a Norwegian politician from the Liberal Party who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Norway twice from 1908 to 1910 and from 1913 to 1920. He also inherited ...

both became wealthy ship-owners and influential politicians: Jørgen Christian as mayor and parliament member, Gunnar as

Prime Minister of Norway The prime minister of Norway ( no, statsminister, which directly translates to "minister of state") is the head of government and chief executive of Norway. The prime minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department ...

. Their only daughter Serine married Johan Jeremiassen and had a political career of her own, starting even before

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

was introduced.

Career

Having moved to Porsgrund, the ship business flourished. As a ship-owner he owned a considerable fleet, of which fourteen ships was built at his own shipbuilding yard. Together with P. M. Petersen and son-in-law Johan Jeremiassen he was described as one of "the three large ship-owners of the city". He was also a navy captain. On the mainland, he invested in real estate. A ship belonging to his son Gunnar was named ''Christen Knudsen'', but this was sunk by the

Kaiserliche Marine {{italic title The adjective ''kaiserlich'' means "imperial" and was used in the German-speaking countries to refer to those institutions and establishments over which the ''Kaiser'' ("emperor") had immediate personal power of control. The term wa ...

in 1916.Under den 1. verdenskrig
in volume one of ''Porsgrunns historie'', by Joh. N. Tønnessen. Hosted by Porsgrunn public library.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knudsen, Christen 1813 births 1888 deaths People from Arendal People from Porsgrunn Norwegian businesspeople in shipping