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marypeterson
Junior member
USA
34 Posts |
 Posted - 01/05/2013 : 21:53:49
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| My great-grandparents and grandmother came to Quebec 04 June 1871 after leaving Bergen 23 May 1871 on the Frigate Bird. Johannes and Oline Bjorlo with 2 children. On Johannes' naturalization papers in states that he came into the port of Detroit. Does that mean that they boarded a different ship in Quebec and came through the Great Lakes to Detroit. From Detroit would they have taken a train to La Crosse, Wisconsin? Would the Erie Canal be a possibility? Thank you, Mary |
mary peterson |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2013 : 22:03:51
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This article; Concerning Emigration?, was posted in the Norwegian "Billed-Magazin" in spring 1869.
It decribes several routes to the west, and how to cross Lake Michigan.
The magazine was published in Madison, Wisconsin, and many subscribers send it home to friends and relatives in Norway.
See also this topic.
Jan Peter |
Edited by - jwiborg on 01/05/2013 22:22:26 |
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Kåarto
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
5861 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2013 : 09:12:38
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Add. information.
Bjørlo only exist in Eid municipality.
Different spellings for Bjørlo;
Biorla,Biorloo, Barlaa, Biørlo 1567, Biørloff 1603, Biørlouff 1608 and1667, Biørlov 1723.
The Bjørlo farms are located by the river "Eidselva" known for it´s exellent trout and Salomon fishing, link
In 1910 57 persons lived on Bjørlo farms, 55 of them with lastname Bjørlo.
Kåre |
Edited by - Kåarto on 02/05/2013 13:02:01 |
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Hopkins
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3351 Posts |
Posted - 02/05/2013 : 18:03:49
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Mary -
If you look up Erie Canal in any Internet search engine the information shown would lead me to believe it would have been located in the wrong state to be involved in your current line of inquiry.
Look it up in Google, Yahoo, Ask, Bing or any other search engine - I think you'll agree. |
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marypeterson
Junior member
USA
34 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2013 : 01:38:27
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| Because his naturalization paper says his disembarkment port was Detriot, do you think that they took a ship through the 3rd Welland Canal and on to Detroit? |
mary peterson |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2013 : 18:35:04
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I'd be very interested in the answer to your question.
Re. the Welland Canal, the third was completed after your ancestors arrived, per Wellands Canal website. |
Edited by - JaneC on 05/05/2013 18:38:47 |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2013 : 21:19:38
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I think the "port of Detroit" reference is to the "border port" of Detroit, rather than a sea-port.
A description of Johannes Berdahl's emigration in 1856:
After spending a few days in Bergen, the Berdahl family was assigned places on a rather old and slow sailing vessel, the Columbus. Andrew reports that neither he nor Erick was seasick, but that “Aunt Thrina was seasick on the whole voyage and mother a part of the time.” The voyage from Bergen to Quebec took eight weeks and two days. An outbreak of measles on board ran its course during the voyage, but no one was held in quarantine in Quebec. The boat proceeded to Montreal, and from there the immigrants transferred to other boats going up the Welland Canal and through the Great Lakes to Chicago. “I can remember the landing in Chicago,” Andrew continues, “the immense lot of baggage of all sorts piled up on the wharf and the commotion and anxiety of each family finding their belongings.” An interpreter was assigned to the group in Montreal, and he helped set each family on the right course when they arrived in Chicago. The Berdahls were “sent on the Illinois Central, now just finished to Galena, Ill, and then by river boat to Lansing [Iowa].”
The infrastructures of both the US and Canada were expanding and improving throughout the 1800s. Before 1850 travel to the Midwest was all by water, generally over the Great Lakes to Milwaukee and Chicago. In the early 1850s a railroad was completed from Detroit to Chicago and Detroit became the point of entry for those who used the railroad. Eventually railroads were built across Canada and from New York to all parts of the Midwest. You have to research the development of the infrastructure at the time your ancestors came to make the best guess of how they got to where ever they did.
A forgotten chapter of Norwegian emigration involves those families of very limited means who arrived at Quebec without enough money to purchase passage all the way to the Midwest. Being resourceful Norwegians these people would purchase barrels with bung holes large enough to allow human entry. They would then climb into their barrel, float down the St. Lawrence River, across Lake Ontario, over Niagara Falls, and on to the point where they could afford to seek other means of transportation. For some this was Detroit, but some of the poorest floated all the way to North Dakota. Of course a few portages were required, but these were easily accomplished because they could just roll the barrel rather than carrying a boat.
Source
The Michigan railroad network, circa 1876.
History of railroads in Michigan
Jan Peter |
Edited by - jwiborg on 05/05/2013 21:20:09 |
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JaneC
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
3020 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2013 : 23:41:41
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So from Jan's post, we know that in 1856 that particular "voyage from Bergen to [city of] Quebec took eight weeks and two days.... The boat then proceeded to Montreal, and from there the immigrants transferred to other boats going up the Welland Canal."
That would have been the second Welland Canal, and the immigrants are traveling on smaller steamers. The Welland canal route is necessary because boats cannot move directly from Lake Ontario to Lake Eric. The elevation of the land changes sharply; Niagara Falls, located between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, is obviously impassable. That's a funny story about the plucky Norwegians in their barrels, going over Niagara falls - the equivalent to "urban legend" of the times I suppose. So now we're in Lake Erie. Detroit lies about 25 miles north of Lake Erie. From Lake Erie the boat went up the St. Clair River to Lake St. Clair and thus Detroit, although I don't have a clear picture of how passable that route was and for what size of ship at that time (1871).
LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Saint_Clair_(North_America)
The Grand Trunk Railway of Canada connected points east, including Montreal, with Sarnia/Port Huron at the southern base of Lake Huron - in other words just north of Detroit. So an immigrant in 1871 could disembark at Montreal, board the train, and arrive in the Detroit area, but I think that point of entry would be called Port Huron? The 1869 emigration pamphlet posted above talks about ship captains helping Norwegian immigrants arrange to buy passage on the trains leaving for the American Midwest.
From another document at NAHA:
"The journey from Quebec to Montreal in Canada was by rail and from there by canal boat to Lake Ontario and across the lake by steamboat to Hamilton in Canada. From there we again took the train to Windsor and then across the river to Detroit. " [presumably the St. Clair River]
LINK: http://www.naha.stolaf.edu/pubs/nas/volume33/vol33_08.htm
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Edited by - JaneC on 06/05/2013 00:13:08 |
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marypeterson
Junior member
USA
34 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2013 : 01:06:54
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Thank you all for the information. It is most helpful.
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mary peterson |
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Quebec to Detroit to Wisconsin
