Schools and the poor

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The Pietist King Christian VI introduced confirmation in Norway, and from 1739 commoner schools were established all over the country with religious education and simple reading education. Community schools were common, where teaching took place around the farms and was limited to a few weeks a year.

However, Vestfossen got a permanent public school all the way back in 1747, and at the Hassel iron works in Skotselv a vocational school was established in 1757. Also in Haugsund (Hokksund) a permanent school was probably established during the 18th century, but in the rest of Eiker there was still a community school. The parish priests were responsible for the school system, and the main emphasis was placed on religious education. In public documents, we see that it was still common for most people to write their name "with Pen" - so they could not spell their own name.

Poor people who were unable to earn a living, usually because they were old or infirm, came to "legd". This was part of the tax system and meant that a circle of farms was jointly responsible for providing food and shelter for a poor person. In the course of the 18th century, several regulations on the poor were passed, in 1741, 1742, 1755, 1789 and 1790. Poor commissions were introduced, led by the parish priest and the sheriff, where the local farmers were also involved and two men appointed by the county commissioner. But in this period the population also grew, and when the harvest failed, there was a famine: "People eat everything they could get their hands on: Bark bread, roots, moss gröd, etc. and drank water for it month after month. Pine bark, roots of the earth, aspen and Silje leaves were collected, dried and ground into flour. Bread was baked from this, which was fried on flat iron roofs. A rich village like Eiker also attracted many poor beggars. In 1741, the king decided that this should be prohibited and that beggars should be put to forced labor at the "Tugthuset" in Christiania.

It was not until the very end of the 18th century that priests arrived who were concerned with improving school and poor services: Hans Strøm, who became parish priest in 1779, and Frederik Schmidt, who succeeded Strøm in 1797.