This is still a working project. We need your feedback! Please let me know if you discover errors or bugs when searching the databases. Any suggestions for improvements will also be very much appreciated. You can send an e-mail to Bĝrge, Please see the
contact information page.
The data in the passenger lists database is mainly transcribed from passenger lists, but in some cases information about Norwegian emigrants was added from other sources like newspaper announcements, voyage accounts and private archives. There are also some entries from the Norwegian Police Emigration Records.
The work of Martin Ulvestad has for many years been very underestimated. Ulvestad was a pioneer in documenting the early history of the first Norwegian settlers in America. He sent out about 450,000 questionnaires seeking historical and biographical information about Norwegians in America, and early settlements. He published the results in the 2 (3) volume work "Nordmĉndene i Amerika" 1907-1913. The information in the Ulvestad base consisted of transcribed and translated information from the mentioned books.
To keep the spirit of Ulvestad alive, we have added the option for visitors to add more information to the Personal files of each individual in the database. The major new feature in the new database is that each individual in the database has been given an Individual file, a dedicated page, where more info can be added.
Because some individuals may be listed both on a passenger list and in Ulvestad's books, it will some times occur that the same individual will be found duplicated, an show up twice in the search.
Search tips:
You can search by names "starting with", or "equals".
You can also search by keyword, that will return matches from information other then the name
of the persons, like destination and origin.
You must enter a minimum of 3 characters divided on all fields. Try to experiment with different
combinations to see how it works, or ask for help in the
forum
To learn about Norwegian naming traditions read the article:
"Those Norwegian names, tips for the online researcher"
You can search for individuals, involved in special events, at a place or holding special
occupations by entering a search criteria only in the keyword field, example, you can enter
"
Civil War" to search for Norwegian in the Civil War.
Selecting a year is very efficient to narrow the search when looking for individuals on a passenger
list, but in the Ulvestad data many individuals are not listed with a year of emigration, and will not
show up if you restrict you search by year.
In some cases it is necessary to use the Norwegian characters æ ø and å. If you do not have a Norwegian keyboard or Norwegian keyboard settings, it is still possible to type those letters. To type:
æ - press Alt while typing 0230
ø - press Alt while typing 0248
å - press Alt while typing 0229
On some computers you will have to press the keypad numbers on the right side, not the numbers on the top of the keyboard. You can also "copy and paste" the characters.
NOTE: These databases are not complete. This is still a working project!
