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NancyC
Medium member
Norway
198 Posts |
 Posted - 12/01/2018 : 16:06:41
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For many years, I have been trying to find out which ship my great-grandfather Nils Andersen Aasberget traveled to the USA on. He lived in Furnes Parish, Ringsaker, Hedmark, and emigrated in April 1854. I have discussed possibilities on this forum several times during the past years. Until today, I thought he had probably traveled to New Orleans or Galveston, then up the Mississippi to Wisconsin or Iowa. Today, a document turned up to indicate that Nils had traveled the normal route through Quebec. https://www.digitalarkivet.no/view/22/pe00000000255488 He had visited the minister on April 18, 1854 https://www.digitalarkivet.no/view/291/pu00000000009050
It is my guess that he traveled together with another family from Furnes, Jens Mikkelsen and Kari Eriksdatter Strammerud
https://www.digitalarkivet.no/view/22/pe00000000255495
On your website there are very few passenger lists for 1854, and there are no departures that match the departure dates for the passports issued to these emigrants, on April 26 and 27 respectively. My question is whether it is possible to determine what ship Nils probably departed on. I would also like to ask if passenger lists exist for other ships listed for 1854, that haven't been transcribed. Thank you for your help! |
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NancyC
Medium member
Norway
198 Posts |
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jkmarler
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
7790 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2018 : 19:14:39
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Have you pursued Nils' possible naturalization records in US? What about his obituary?
First of all, the passenger list records must have been taken. If he actually went through Quebec in 1854, filing a passenger list there was not a requirement until 1866. Occasionally, local newspapers as well as shipping industry port newspapers will publish lists of arrivals at various ports. Not so often will all or any passengers be named in the newspaper lists, but you might get lucky, who knows. Likewise, some ship arrivals and departures are published in Norwegian newspapers.
Hedmark folk are most likely to go through Kristiania (Oslo) but this is far from iron clad. |
Edited by - jkmarler on 12/01/2018 19:21:36 |
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NancyC
Medium member
Norway
198 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2018 : 21:14:58
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I do have Nils' naturalization record, but not his first papers. The naturalization record does not list the ship he arrived on. Recently, I have contacted the State Historical Society of Iowa, and they may have his first papers, but I have to hire someone to look for them. Their routines are such that it takes time to organize a search, but I am in the process of doing it. His obituary does not provide any information regarding the journey.
As far as I can see from the list of ships departing in 1854, the most likely departure would be the Tønsberg, which departed from Christiania May 2, arriving in Quebec on July 22. Is this likely, given the date of his passport, April 26? Other departures around this date are either too early, or they depart from Bergen. Is it possible to find out whether there is a passenger list for this sailing of the Tønsberg? |
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 12/01/2018 : 23:24:12
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As jkmarler said, Hedmark folk are most likely to go through Kristiania.
Note that his passport was issued in Hedmark on April 27th.
To get to the emigrant ship, they had to travel for several days, likely with horse and wagon, The first railway in Norway could have covered half their distance between Furnes and Christiania, but didn't open until September same year. Thus; it's likely their ship left Norway in May 1854.
In addition to the likely emigration port of Christiania, we can add the neighboring city Drammen. We then end up with these 3 possibilities:
Ship Tønsberg, Capt. Lyngaas, Christiania May 02 - Quebec Jul 22
Bark Balder, Capt. Tofte, Drammen May 23 - Quebec Jul 04
Bark Zephyr, Capt. Mathiesen, Christiania May 27 - Quebec Aug 11
Balder left Drammen on the night of 23rd of May, with approx 120 emigrants. The local newpaper reported that the 120 or so passengers were from various parts of Norway, and consisted partly of stragglers who had not arrived in time for the already departed vessels.
About the route, here is a letter from an 1854 Norwegian emigrant:
Dear brother in law
(...)
After we arrived at Quebec, we went by steam boat to Montreal, and from there
with steam wagon and such alternately until we rached Buffalo, which is a very large city with approx. 60 churches and all sorts of delights.
From there we went by steam wagon to Pontiac.
The journey from Quebec to Pontiac costed me 5 dollars, and all I had left was 5 dollars. I was the family breadwinner, unfamilar with the language, and now I was in a foreign country and among foreign people.
1849 steam wagon
See also this story:
AN IMMIGRATION JOURNEY TO AMERICA IN 1854 |
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NancyC
Medium member
Norway
198 Posts |
Posted - 13/01/2018 : 13:24:47
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Thanks so much for this information! I assumed the passport was issued at the port where Nils was leaving from, but I see that the document seems to be from Passprotokoll for Hedemarken fogderi. This is "hidden" at the top of the document. The letter from 1854 that you cite is very interesting and provides colorful details. The Balder, under Capt. Tofte and leaving from Drammen, is an interesting option. My great-grandmother and her family sailed from Drammen on the Christiane under Capt. Tofte in 1850, so if Nils also sailed with him, the details would be a family affair! Nils' cousin from Veldre sailed from Drammen on the Sjofna in 1850. It is so irritating that I can document these passengers from 1850, but not the one from 1854! I gather the lack of passenger lists from sailings in 1854 has to do with the fact that more and more sailings went to Quebec, rather than New York. But it is strange, since both Capt. Tofte and Hovland sailed to Quebec as well as New York, and they must have had a routine of listing their passengers. Perhaps they did, but the lists were not saved?
How do you find relevant local and shipping industry newspaper articles regarding the passengers for these various sailings?
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jwiborg
Norway Heritage Veteran
Norway
4961 Posts |
Posted - 13/01/2018 : 16:35:14
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I would say the possibility for either Tønsberg, Balder or Zephyr is quite equal.
A note from newspaper Arbeiderforeningernes Blad, Oslo, 06 May 1854:
Christiania, May 5th:
On May 4th, another emigrantship left this town headed for Quebec, with 230 passengers, of them 18 children under the age of 1. Most of the emigrants came from Hadeland, Valdres and Hedmark.
Thus; this ship had people from Hedmark onboard. The name of the ship is not mentioned in the note, but could it be the ship Tønsberg? It says it left May 4th though...
A note from the newspaper Lillehammer Tilskuer, Lillehammer, 11 April 1854:
Quebec
If the sufficient number of passengers sign up within May 1st, the ship Zephyr with Capt. Mathiesen will depart for Quebec later in May. The ship is expected to arrive here from Hamburg.
Further information can be obtained from Broker Winge's office where the registration also takes place.
Christiania, April 3rd 1854
This add was published in the newspaper Lillehammer Tilskuer, The newspaper covered also the Furnes region, so people of Furnes would have seen this add... |
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NancyC
Medium member
Norway
198 Posts |
Posted - 14/01/2018 : 13:40:44
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Thanks so much for these ads and references! They are interesting whether they are relevant to my great-grandfather or not!
After perusing the list of "utflyttede" from Ringsaker and Furnes (Vang) for the relevant period in 1854, I almost feel I could reconstruct a passenger list or two. It must be a good guess that these folks emigrated on the same ship. I think I will do another post on these folks and see if any users of Norway Heritage recognize the names and might have documentation on how the people traveled. |
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Ships going to Quebec April 1850 from Eastern Norw
