Melchior Falch
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Melchior Michaelsen Falch (1720 – September 14, 1791) was a Norwegian jurist and magistrate in Sogndal in Nordre Bergenhus, Norway. He was interested in promoting fisheries, and in 1775 he received an award for a work on Norwegian fisheries.[1][2]
Falch was the son of Michael Melchiorsøn Falch (died 1768) and Mette Marie Heiberg (1699–1766).[1] He received a law degree in Copenhagen in 1747, and on March 19, 1753 he married Anna Sophie Bitsch (1726-1755). He inherited the Heiberg estate of Øvre Amla in the parish of Kaupanger (Amble gaard) from his parents (present-day Sogndal Municipality). The property was rented out from 1754 to 1779, while Falch lived in the village of Borgund. In 1759, Falch acquired the farm Djupvika in Borgund which he operated as a model farm.[3][4][5]
On August 25, 1756 he married again, to Christi(a)ne Margrethe Hagerup (1732–1795), and they had the following children: Anna Sophie Falch (1759–1830), Michael Melchiorsen Falch (1762–?), Hans Christian Falch (1764–?), Melchior Falch (1768–1849), and Cathrine Marie Helene Harboe Falch (1770–1854, who married Hans Knagenhjelm Daae). Falch's wife Christine was the daughter of Bishop Eiler Hagerup[6] and she was also the cousin of Hans Strøm. Falch was the brother-in-law of Hans Holtermann, who was married to an older daughter of Bishop Hagerup.