Holmboe worked as a
bailiff ('''') in
Senja and
Tromsøe between 1781 and 1800. He made a lasting mark in the region, because after the
Storofsen flood, he organized the settling in the uninhabited
Målselvdalen valley, in what would later become
Målselv Municipality and
Bardu Municipality. Farmers from the
Gudbrandsdalen and
Østerdalen valleys moved north mainly between 1791 and 1800, and Jens Holmboe helped about forty families with supplies and funding. Topographically, Målselvdalen was and is similar to Østerdalen. He died on 4 December 1804, aged 52, in Ervik in
Trondenes. A
bauta to commemorate him was raised there in 1964. ==References==