Anker (noble family)

Anker, also spelled Ancher, is a Danish and Norwegian noble family living in Norway. The name means anchor. Originally from Sweden, the family became a part of the Patriciate of Norway in the 18th century, and members of the family were ennobled in 1778.

The family came to Norway's capital Oslo with Erich Olufsen Ancher (1644–1699), who was a representative for merchant Peter Bahrum in Lübeck. His parents were trader Oluf Eriksson († 1682) and Kirsten in Gothenburg in Sweden. In Christiania, which was Oslo's name in those days, Erich Ancher became a wealthy trader, and through his marriage with Maren Lauritzdatter, he entered the city's class of rich merchants.

Among their sons, priest Bernt Erichsen Ancher (1680–1724) got the sons Erich Berntsen Ancher (1709–1785) and Christian Berntsen Ancher (1711–1765). Due to big trade, purchase of estates, and wealthy spouses, the family became a prominent family within the trading patriciate in Eastern Norway.

Members of the two principal branches above were on 14 January 1778 ennobled under the name Anker. They claimed to descend from the Swedish noble family Anckar, but this is not proven. The family name likely derived from their progenitor Oluf Eriksson in Gothenburg, who was an anchor smith.

Most of the family members' businesses and properties left their possession during the 1800s. This included the magnificent Paléet townhouse in Oslo which was equeathed to the Norwegian royal family in 1805. The Anker Entailed Estate (Norwegian: Det ankerske Fideikomiss) in Oslo went bankrupt in 1819, and the estate complex related to Bogstad Main Farm and Nordmarka was through women inherited by the families Wedel-Jarlsberg, Løvenskiold, and Egeberg. Bogstad Main Farm and Rød Main Farm were transformed into self-owning foundations in the latest part of the 1900s.

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