Maren Cathrine Sars (née Welhaven; 17 August 1811 – 27 December 1898) was a Norwegian socialite.

Personal life

Maren Cathrine Sars was born Maren Cathrine Welhaven on 17 August 1811 in Bergen, Norway, the daughter of the priest Johan Ernst Welhaven (1775–1828) and Else Margrethe Cammermeyer (1785–1853).

She grew up in a family closely associated with Norway's literary and intellectual life. Her brother, Johan Sebastian Welhaven, four years her senior, later became one of the leading poets and literary critics in nineteenth-century Norway. Her sister Elisabeth "Lise" Welhaven also became known as a writer and storyteller.

Sars spent her childhood in Bergen, which in the early nineteenth century was one of Norway's principal cultural and commercial centres. Her father died in 1828. The Welhaven family was connected to the educated and professional circles of the city.

In August 1831, at the age of 20, she married the priest and later zoologist Michael Sars in Bergen. The couple had fourteen children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. Several later became prominent figures in Norwegian cultural and scientific life, including the historian Ernst Sars, the marine zoologist Georg Ossian Sars, and the singer Eva Nansen, who later married the explorer Fridtjof Nansen.

Through another daughter, Mally, she was also the mother-in-law of Thorvald Lammers. She was also an aunt of Hjalmar Welhaven and Kristian Welhaven.

Career

She grew up in Bergen, and after marrying she moved to Kinn and later Manger where her husband was a vicar. In 1854, the family moved to Christiania where her husband had become professor.

The family home became a notable meeting place for liberal and intellectual citizens of Norway's capital. It has been called "Christiania's first salon". Among the people who gathered here Ola Thommessen, Lars Holst, Oda Krohg, Mathilde Schjøtt, Hartvig Lassen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. Mally and Eva provided music and song. Her sons Ernst and Ossian even lived with her after Michael died in 1869. Also, her sister Elisabeth lived with her for many years; she was a talented writer and storyteller. Maren Sars contributed with storytelling and being the hostess.

She died in December 1898 from when her heart quit beating. After her death, Maren's daughter Eva, who was married to Fridtjof Nansen, took over the role as hostess for the city's intellectuals, who gathered at their home Godthaab and later Polhøgda.