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Location: Norway
Surnames/tags: Christensen emigration
The Narrative
Anton (1829) and Bernhardine (1829) Christensen decided to emigrate to America sometime around 1880, while their youngest son Emil is eleven years old. When they went, the family left without three of their children: Oline (1857), Anton (1862), and Gunda (1864). The rest of the family, Anton (1829), Bernhardine (1829), Marie (1860), Karl ("Gus") (1867), and Emil (1869) travelled[1] on the ship Hero[2], departing on Friday, 1 Apr 1881, with the expressed intent to go to Chicago. The family is listed as being from Kristiania (Oslo), so I am assuming that this is where they were departing from. This trip for the Hero runs[3] from Oslo to Arendal to Kristiansand to Hull, UK and makes several connections[4]. Most of these are from Liverpool, but a few are from Bremen, Germany or Glasgow, Scotland. The most direct route is through Liverpool; however, Hull and Liverpool are on opposite sides of England and about 130 miles apart. This is about 50 hours (maybe a week) of walking and Emil is 12 years old. A horse-drawn carriage might go about 40 miles/day, so let’s say 4 days to a week of travel and they would leave Liverpool in the range of April 5th to 10th. This gets them to America in the range of Apr 15th to 21st. Based on the Liverpool connections, this puts them on one of seven (maybe eight) ships and landing in either Portland, New York[5], Boston, Philadelphia, or Halifax.
We did find that Anton (1862) and Gunda (1864) travelled[6] on the ship Rollo[7], departing on Friday, 5 May 1882, also with the expressed intent to go to Chicago. Anton is listed as a “handelsbetj”[8] and Gunda a page. They are also listed as being from Kristiania (Oslo), so I am assuming that this is where they were departing from. This trip for the Rollo runs[9] from Oslo to Hull, UK and makes several connections[10]. Based on the previous estimates and adjusting for having two people (instead of five) and both nearly 20 years old, they would leave Liverpool in the range of May 9th to 11th. This gets them to America in the range of May 19th to 21st. This leaves us with about eight possible connections[11].
More sources for passenger lists can be found online.[12]
We do not have any records of Oline coming to America and we cannot[13] find her in Norway. There is a record of a Syver and Oline Fjeld with a child named Anton who travelled to America on the ship Angelo, departing on Wednesday, 30 March 1881 for Chicago. There is also a record of a Dyre and Oline Pederson who travelled to America on the ship Angelo, departing on 3 June 1881 for Chicago. But I cannot find any of them in the 1882 city directory where we found Anton (1829).
Once in Chicago, Anton (1829) worked as a blacksmith with[14] a man who is not from Oslo, who also travelled on the Hero, and who would become his son-in-law [Peder Indergård (1854), Marie (1860)’s husband]. In Oct 1883, Anton (1829) and Bernhardine’s youngest daughter Gunda married[15] D.R. Willson, a jeweler-turned-forgerer[16], in Fond du Lac Wisconsin. After living in Chicago for about two years[17], most of the family moved out to North Dakota in 1883 to homestead. Anton (1829) and Peder claimed two farm properties adjacent[18] to each other. The 1885 census[19] lists Anton (1829) and an 18 year-old son (likely Karl) as well as Peder and a 26 year-old wife (who must be Maria) and their son, Anton’s grandson, George. Two years later, two of Anton and Bernhardine’s children died of typhoid fever within 3 weeks[17] of each other: Anton (1862) and Gunda (1864). Gunda had a son[20], Robert Wilson (1887), in de Smet South Dakota barely a month before she died. Throughout March of 1890, the Dickinson Press listed Anton and Peder as finalizing the proof of their homestead and in Nov 1890, both Anton[21] and Peder[22] would separately acquire their Homesteads, just a year after North and South Dakota became states[23]. In July 1900[24], Gunda’s 12 year-old son, Robert, is the only family living on the farm with Anton and Georata. Georata Beritine Koll passed away soon after that on 12 Mar 1901[25], in Belfield, North Dakota, at the age of 71. After this, Anton seems to have given his quarter-section over to Peder and Marie and moved to Wisconsin to live with Emil. He passed away on 15 Apr 1904[26], in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, at the age of 74, and was buried on the farm in Belfield, North Dakota. All in all, the family cemetery[27] has six graves: Anton (1829) and Bernhardine (1829), their children Anton (1862) and Gunda (1864), and their grandchildren (by Marie and Peder) George (1882) and Carl .
Sources
- ↑ digitalarkivet Hero Chicago 1881-04-01
- ↑ Image of the ship Hero
- ↑ Googlemap of the cities
- ↑ Norway Heritage connections from our Hero
- ↑ I was able to check the four New York arrivals and did not find the family:
- S/S Baltic (1), Liverpool to New York, 1881-04-15, [mf 435 pp 288-306 Checked]
- S/S City of Berlin, Liverpool to New York, 1881-04-17 and Queenstown 1881-04-08, (1510 passengers arrived New York at 17:00 evening), [mf 435 pp 355-382 Checked]
- S/S Bothnia (1), Liverpool (1881-04-09) to New York (1881-04-19), [mf 435 pp 524-541 Checked]
- S/S City of New York (2), Liverpool to New York, 1881-04-19, [mf 435 pp 456-479 Checked]
- ↑ digitalarkivet Rollo Chicago 1882
- ↑ Image of the ship
- ↑ I think this means tradesman, but I cannot find a reliable translation.
- ↑ Googlemap of the cities
- ↑ Norway Heritage connections for our Rollo
- ↑ I was able to check the four New York arrivals and did not find the family:
- S/S Republic (1), White Star Line, Liverpool to New York, 1882-05-19, [mf 451 pp 910-928 Checked]
- S/S City of Rome, Inman Line, Liverpool (1882-05-12) to New York (1882-05-20) to Queenstown 1882-05-12, (1625 passengers arrived New York at 06:00 morning after crossing the Ocean in 7 days 12 hours and 45 min). [mf 451 pp 1106-1133 Checked]
- S/S Italy, National Line, Liverpool to New York, 1882-05-23, [mf 452 pp 150-176 Checked]
- S/S Holland, National Line, Liverpool to New York, 1882-05-26, [mf 452 pp 309-320 Checked], (Says the ship is from London)
- ↑ List:
- Free Online New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1897
- Passenger ships at New York microfilm M237 Roll 435 (12 Apr 1881–30 Apr 1881)
- Other ships from Liverpool (not connected to the Hero) on pages: 208, 271, 500, 601, 623
- Passenger ships at New York microfilm M237 Roll 451 (11 May 1882–22 May 1882)
- Other ships from Liverpool (not connected to the Rollo) on pages: 929 (did not look earlier)
- Passenger ships at New York microfilm M237 Roll 452 (23 May 1882–6 Jun 1882)
- Other ships from Liverpool (not connected to the Rollo) on pages: 132, 400, 452, 469, 509, 536
- ↑ In the 1875 census, she is “Oline Sofie Kristensen”. I searched the 1900 census for “Ol* *rist*nsen”. There are a couple of Oline’s who changed their name, listed as “[new-name] f Christensen”. There are no candidates born near 1857 in Holmestrand. I also searched the death records for Skoger and Holmestrand from 1875-1882.
- ↑ U.S., City Directories 1822-1995: Ancestry.com: Chicago, Illinois, 1882; slide 147 (Anton) and 315 (Peder). Ancestry Record 2469 #368558451
- ↑ "Wisconsin Marriages, 1836-1930", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XR6N-68K : 11 January 2022), Gunda Christianson in entry for David Robert Willson, 1883.
- ↑ Newspapers.com - Quad-City Times - 1905-09-05 - Page 8 (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/64110685/quad-city-times/?xid=637)
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Mentioned in a 1962 letter from Alf Indergård to his nephew Duane.
"they came in '83 ... They must have all come at one [time]. [Anton] also filed on a homestead at the same time. [Anton] had a blacksmith shop in Chicago for 2 yrs and ... Dad [Peter] helped him"
"[Anton] lived in a dugout too, for possibly 2 or 3 yrs and [about] the time Uncle Anton and Aunt Gunda passed away from [typhoid] just 3 weeks apart. They are buried [with] Grand pa, Grand ma, Geo, and Carl"
"[He] had a low ... wagon ... to [hitch] his bull or oxen [and hauled] their lumber to build [mistaken since] they evidently hauled that from [Dickinson], but he did drive around picking up buffalo bones to sell"
- ↑ U.S. DOI, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records: https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=ND0110__.094&docClass=STA&sid=lmhr5v0n.fan#patentDetailsTabIndex=2
- ↑ U.S. Territorial Census (1885): Ancestry Record 1078 #3341232: Villard, North Dakota; Roll 7839; slide 11. The census lists Anton (married, but does not include a wife’s name) and an 18 year-old who must be Karl (although he is listed as “Hans”) as well as Peder and a 26 year-old wife who must be Maria (although she is listed as “Caroline” and marked as Anton’s daughter-in-law). The census also lists Peder and Marie’s son George, but puts his age at 1. George was born in 1882 and should be 3. Richard was born in 1884 and should be 1 at this time.
- ↑ Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903-1982; Ancestry Record 2272 #30145520: El Paso, Apr-Jun, 1918; slide 116.
- ↑ U.S. DOI, Bureau of Land Management, Homestead Certificate Number 1538: Township: 139N-099W; County: (now) Stark. (originally Billings) Section: 14, SW quarter, 160.00 acres Location: NE of the intersection of 128th Ave SW and 39th St SW (South East of Belfield).
- ↑ U.S. DOI, Bureau of Land Management, Homestead Certificate Number 1539
- ↑ which happened on 2 Nov 1889, according to Wikipedia
- ↑ U.S. Census Bureau (1900): Ancestry Record 7602 #38521559: District 0163, Townships 137 and 139, Stark, North Dakota; slide 1.
- ↑ The image of the gravestone indicates 12 Mar. The newspaper reports the date as 14 Mar.
- ↑ The image of the gravestone indicates 15 Apr 1904. The Wisconsin Death Record says 15 Apr 1906.
(Note: There are other Christensens living in the Manitowoc area.)
Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, U.S. Death Index, 1820-1907: Ancestry Record 4984 #60096: (text-only) - ↑ Patricia Christensen visited the graves in 1990. Google satellite view
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