Bratrein was established in about 1850 by Jacob Kornelius Dahl and Rebekka Elisabeth Hegelund who, when they got married, purchased the freehold of the then wooded land. They were the first of three generations of the same family who cleared land and ran the farm. Active farming at Bratrein ended in 1971, but the fourth generation went on living there in their retirement. Since 1992 the property has been the second home of the family's fifth generation.