Dønnes is a former municipality in

Nordland Nordland (; , , , ) is one of the three northernmost Counties of Norway, counties in Norway in the Northern Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Trøndelag in the south, Norrbotten County in Sweden to the east, Västerbotten County to t ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The municipality existed from 1888 until its dissolution in 1962. The area is now part of

Dønna Municipality Dønna is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland region. The administrative centre of the island municipality is the village of Solfjellsjøen. Other villages include Bjørn, Dønnes, Hestad, Sandåker, and V ...

and

Nesna Municipality Nesna is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland Districts of Norway, traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the Nesna (village), v ...

in the traditional district of

Helgeland Helgeland is the most southerly Districts of Norway, district in Northern Norway. Generally speaking, Helgeland refers to the part of Nordland county that is located south of the Arctic Circle. It is bordered in the north by the Saltfjellet moun ...

. The

administrative centre An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgi ...

was the village of Dønnes. Prior to its dissolution in 1962, the municipality was the 556th largest by area out of the 731 municipalities in Norway. Dønnes Municipality was the 548th most populous municipality in Norway with a population of about 1,542. The municipality's

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was and its population had decreased by 5% over the previous 10-year period. Dønnes Church was probably built here at the request of Paul Vågaskalm who was governor of

Alstahaug Alstahaug is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Nordland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandnessjøen. So ...

. 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.

General information

Dønnes was established as a municipality on 1 July 1888 when the western part of the old

was separated to form a new municipality. Initially, Dønnes Municipality had a population of 1,348. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the

Schei Committee The Schei Committee () was a committee named by the Government of Norway to look into the organization of municipalities in Norway post-World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a ...

. On 1 January 1962, Dønnes Municipality ceased to exist. The part of Dønnes Municipality on the island of

Tomma Tomma is an island in Nesna Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The island sits to the west of the islands of Handnesøya and Hugla. The island is at the southern entrance to the Sjona fjord. The main settlement on this island is the vi ...

(population: 80) was merged into

. The remainder of Dønnes Municipality (population: 1,348) was merged with the part of Herøy Municipality on the island of Dønna (population: 19), all of

Nordvik Municipality Nordvik is a former municipality in Nordland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1917 until its dissolution in 1962. The island municipality encompassed the southern part of the island of Dønna as well as the smaller surrounding isl ...

(population: 1,293), and the part of

on the island of Løkta (population: 80) to become the new

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named after the old ''Dønnes'' farm () since the first Dønnes Church was built there. The first element is which is the

genitive case In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive ca ...

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 which means "

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

Churches

The

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

had one parish () within Dønnes Municipality. At the time of the municipal dissolution, it was part of the Nesna

prestegjeld A ''prestegjeld'' was a geographic and administrative area within the Church of Norway (''Den Norske Kirke'') roughly equivalent to a parish. This traditional designation was in use for centuries to divide the kingdom into ecclesiastical areas tha ...

and the Nord-Helgeland prosti (

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of ...

) in the

Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland Sør-Hålogaland is a diocese in the Church of Norway. The Diocese covers the Lutheran Church of Norway churches located within Nordland county in Norway. The diocese is headquartered in the Bodø (town), town of Bodø at Bodø Cathedral, the sea ...

Government

While it existed, Dønnes Municipality was responsible for

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

(through 10th grade), outpatient

health services Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

senior citizen Old age is the range of ages for people nearing and surpassing life expectancy. People who are of old age are also referred to as: old people, elderly, elders, senior citizens, seniors or older adults. Old age is not a definite biological sta ...

services,

welfare Welfare may refer to: Philosophy *Well-being (happiness, prosperity, or flourishing) of a person or group * Utility in utilitarianism * Value in value theory Economics * Utility, a general term for individual well-being in economics and decision ...

and other

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

economic development In economics, economic development (or economic and social development) is the process by which the economic well-being and quality of life of a nation, region, local community, or an individual are improved according to targeted goals and object ...

, and municipal

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

s and utilities. The municipality was governed by a

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

of directly elected representatives. The

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

was

indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...

by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality was under the jurisdiction of the

Hålogaland Court of Appeal The Hålogaland Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Tromsø. The court has jurisdiction over the counties of Nordland, Troms, and Finnmark as well as the island territor ...

Mayors

The

() of Dønnes was the political leader of the municipality and the chairperson of the municipal council. Here is a list of people who held this position (incomplete list): *1888-1898: Hans Johan Emahus Tønder Coldevin *1905-1907: Ivar Klæboe *1909-1914: Martin Dahl *1914-1916: Karl Gidske *1917-1921: Johan W.A. Sand *1922-1931: Karl Gidske *1931-1944: Arne Eliot Pedersen Rølvaag ( NS) *1945-1945: Johan Løvdahl *1946-1947: E. Jensen *1948-1956: Johannes Dahl *1956-1957: Einar Ellingsen *1958-1961: Arnold Nordøy

Municipal council

The

of Dønnes was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a Hospitality, host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will oft ...

Geography

The highest point in the municipality was the tall mountain Tommtinden on the island of

. The municipality encompassed the northern part of the island of Dønna, the western parts of the islands of

and Løkta, and over 300 smaller surrounding islands,

islet An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...

s, and

skerries A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. Skerry, skerries, or The Skerries may also refer to: Geography Northern Ireland *Skerries, County Armagh, a List of townlands in County Armagh#S, townland in Coun ...

Farms of Dønnes

Farm names were often used as part of Norwegian names, in addition to the person's given name and

patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, b ...

or inherited surname. Some families retained the farm name, o
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 farms

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 th
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

was part of

; the farms of that area are part of the Nesna farm map.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donnes Dønna Nesna Former municipalities of Norway 1888 establishments in Norway 1962 disestablishments in Norway Populated places established in 1888 Populated places disestablished in 1962