Welcome to the Harjo side of our family. Here you can get to know the people behind the names, from their homes in Norway to years at sea and family life across the ocean. Their photographs, letters and the stories passed down to us help bring those lives closer.
There’s still so much to learn. If a face looks familiar or a story brings back a memory, we’d love to hear what you know.
Get to know Bernhard, Andreas, Signe, Isak, Hans, Karl and their half-sister Anna. See how their stories connect, then follow each person’s path.
Meet the brothers and sistersSailor • Whaler • Norwegian War Sailor • Family Patriarch
Hans Kristian Harjo was born in January 1902 in Tana, Norway. His life was closely tied to the sea. He worked aboard numerous ships, participated in the Norwegian whaling industry, spent time in South Georgia, and later served as a Norwegian war sailor during the Second World War. His surviving papers, seafaring documents, photographs, and family memories provide an unusually detailed record of a life that crossed oceans, industries, war, and generations.
Explore Hans Kristian Harjo’s Life
From Masjok to a working life at sea, then home to Gunvor and their children. Explore Karl’s story through his service papers, family letters, photographs and memories.
Read Karl’s story
Family origins, places, records, and life in northern Norway.
Archive growingShips, seafaring records, maritime work, passports, photographs, and voyages.
Archive growingThe whaling industry, South Georgia, ships, stations, work, and family records connected with that period.
Archive growingHans Kristian Harjo’s wartime service and the broader experience of Norwegian sailors during the war.
Archive growingMarriage, children, later generations, family photographs, memories, and connected branches.
Archive growingPassports, ship records, letters, photographs, certificates, and other surviving family material.
Archive growingExplore Hans’s ship-by-ship maritime record, with service dates, occupations, locations, sources and links to ship photograph collections. Confirmed service is distinguished from probable connections and unresolved leads.
Family photographs, documents, memories, names, dates, and stories can help fill gaps that official records cannot. If you are connected to the Harjo family, your memories may help preserve details that would otherwise be lost.
A name, a small memory, or a correction can help us get to know our family better. Send it privately to Isaac, and choose whether it may be shared.
Share a memory or correctionHelp put a name to a face
These three photographs were in the collection of Gunnar Harjo, Karl’s son. They may show relatives, friends, or people connected to our family. We don’t yet know who they are. Do you recognize a face or have a photograph that might help?
Choose a photo to see it larger, then send Isaac your suggestion. Please include how you know or what makes you think it could be that person. Suggestions stay private unless you give permission to share, and an identification remains tentative until we can check it.
View original and colorized versionsFrom the collection of Gunnar Harjo, Karl’s son. Name and family connection not yet known.
View original and colorized versionsFrom the collection of Gunnar Harjo, Karl’s son. Name and family connection not yet known.
View original and colorized versionsFrom the collection of Gunnar Harjo, Karl’s son. Name and family connection not yet known.
