Knud Ibsen

His father died at sea outside Hesnesøya near Grimstad in November 1797, and the following year, Johanne married ship's captain Ole Paus; in 1799 Ole Paus bought the estate Rising near Skien after selling the Ibsen house in downtown Skien, and the family moved to Rising in 1800.

One of his half-brothers, Henrik Johan Paus, grew up in the Skien home of their aunt, uncle and cousin Marichen Altenburg, Knud's later wife.

On the first floor the brothers sold foreign wines and a variety of luxury items, while also engaging in wholesale export of timber in cooperation with their first cousin Diderik von Cappelen (1795–1866).

In 1850 and at the behest of his brother Christian Cornelius Paus he was appointed acting harbourmaster of Skien, an important and prestigious position in the thriving port town.

A letter from the port director claimed that Ibsen lacked the necessary diligence, security and order, and that he had not delivered all the accounts he was supposed to.

"Judge Paus, who received the letter, did not mention that he was the candidate's half-brother, but strongly denied the allegations," writes Haave.

It was only in the late 1850s, long after Henrik had left home, that the Ibsen family disintegrated financially and socially, but even when he was officially "poor" and reliant on the support of his brothers, Knud had a maid.

Charitas , the ship captained by Knud's father when he died at sea in 1797
Rising , where Knud grew up
Stockmanngården in Skien, where Knud Ibsen lived with his brother Christopher from 1825. In the same year he married Marichen Altenburg , who moved in with them, and Henrik Ibsen was born there in 1828
The roof and one of the windows of Altenburggården can be seen in the middle of the picture. Altenburggården was Marichen Altenburg's childhood home. The Ibsen family lived there 1831–1836
Venstøp outside Skien, originally the Ibsen family's summer house, where they lived permanently 1836–1843. It was a reasonably large farm with large, representative buildings.