Anderson-Ness
LaniRAnderson	I am BRAND new to this forum and am really rather lost. I have searched various websites from both America and Norway but have had no results. I have just started looking into family ancestors and was under the impression I had ancestors from Scotland, considering my family name is Anderson. Turns out, my ggrandfather was actually a Ness and was from Norway. He sailed to America from Norway sometime in the late 1800's, I believe. He jumped ship in Port Townsend, Washington and changed his name from James Lewis Ness to James Lewis Anderson. Is there anyone who can help me figure out where to begin? That is pretty much all I have to go on. Thanks to anyone who can offer their expertise.
thelebrity	I don't think you've given us all the information you've got. When was he born? From where do you know he came to USA in the late 1800's? How late? From where do you know where he jumped ship in Port Townsend? From where do you know he shanged his name? Do these sources have other information (every hint might be valuable)? Both Anderson (would probably have been Andersen/Anderssen in Norway) and Ness/Nęss are norwegian names. Ness is probably a farm name. Andersen could be the first name or the patronym of his father. So we might be looking for some Andersons at a Ness/Nęss farm somewhere in Norway.
LaniRAnderson	Ok, to be honest, THAT was all the information I have. Sad, I know! After posting my question, I looked around a bit more and ended up on the Ellis Island site. I found a few James Ness's but they showed he was from Scotland. This is why I wrote...I don't have a clue where to go. The information I sent was ALL I have. Thank you for the answer though. I'll do my best at looking into some other things before posting another. I may finally be on to something. I just have to convince my aunt that she might be wrong about my ggrandfather being Norwegian. There wasn't a James Ness from Norway on any records I found about emmigration to the States.
jwiborg	Hi Lani, James is not a norwegian name, so it must have been "Americanized" if he came from Norway. My guess would be that his name in Norway would be Johannes, Johan or John. I know about several norwegians named Johannes who took the name James in America. Maybe his name was Johannes Andersen, from the farm Ness? [:)] Do you know where he lived? You should try to locate him in the US-censuses. That would give you some information, like immigration year, birth year etc... Maybe you cold find his marriage records also. Getting the immigration year and the name how it's spelled in the census would be of great value! Jan
thelebrity	His name could also have been Jens. The main problem here is that Jens, Johan, Johannes, John were very common first names in Norway. Andersen is a very common patronym. And the Nes(s)/Nęs(s) farms are very many and scattered around all of Norway. If you could get hold of any death certificates, marriage licenses etc. that might give you clues on where in Norway he came from. But how do you know the things you do know, that he changed his name etc? Did your aunt tell you? If so: How does she know? If it's family myth, it often tends to be some truth in it.
LaniRAnderson	[font=Comic Sans MS][font=Comic Sans MS]Hi Jan and Per, From what I've found out so far... there was a James Ness aboard a ship called Aurania that came to Ellis Island in 1893. I'm not sure if this is the right one BUT it was the only James Ness I could find that would make sense. He was 26y and left from Liverpool. The form I found lists him as scottish though. I did get what information I had from my aunt and I am thinking she is getting a bit senile! That was all the info she could give me and I know it's nothing.There is Norwegian blood in the family but I don't think it came from that side of the family. My grandmother had Norwegian blood but she was not from the Anderson side. I will continue looking into the James Ness I found to see if it gets me anywhere. Thank you both for the help you've given me. Take care....