Alongside Beinta Broberg, she is one of the two best-known women in the pre-19th century history of the Faroe Islands.
Andersdotter was first married to the Norwegian merchant Niels Joenssøn of Bergen, and managed his business as a shipowner as a widow.
She was also involved in feuds with her step-sons, who she refused to sit at the main table in her house hold.
The lawsuits of Andersdotter has played a part in the history of the Faroe Islands and has been interpreted in various ways by the historians during the centuries.
In the 1850s, she was made a symbol of the Faroeic resistance in protecting her rights toward the oppressors, in the 1890s as a bad example, and during the 20th century the portrait of her has been subject of physiological interpretations.