Searching for Great-Grandfather Per Anderson
Lottermoser	Recently I discovered a Purchaser's Receipt for my great-grandfather. The receipt is for Elder Dempster & Co., Beaver Line of Steamships. It is dated 11/13/1903. It pays for steerage from Christiania to Spokane, Washington for Per Anderson, his wife, Ida, and their children (Iver, Signe, Harold, Robert, Ingeborg, and an infant son). The amount was for $305 purchased by AJ Freeborg in Spokane, Wa. I have tried unsuccessfully to locate which ship they would have been on, including Ellis Island's web sites. Are there any experts out there who can help? Thanks - Marie Anderson
Brining	Hi Marie, It looks like they probably traveled to Canada and then on to Spokane. Here are a couple of links on the shipping lines. [url="http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/beaver.html"]Click here[/url] and [url="http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/Elder_Dempster.html"]Here[/url] Unfortunately the Digitalarkivet (Norway's Digital Archives) doesn't have much of 1903 passenger registers transcribed so no luck in finding them there. Here is a link to the Canadian Archives [url="http://www.archives.ca/02/02020204_e.html"]Click Here[/url] you will have to search microfilms to find them, not an easy task. Good Luck Carla
Borge	And here is a link to our article about the Beaver Line and and ships: [url="http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_shiplist.asp?co=beave"]Beaver Line[/url] (you will see the names of the ships to look for) Searching the Digitalarkivet gives the departure from Christiania ([url="http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=EMIOSLO&variabel=0&postnr=154177&fulle=true&spraak=e"]Link[/url]) to be January 29, 1904. The family departed on a Wilson Line ship named [url="http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=angel"]S/S Angelo[/url] for Hull in England. The voyage of your family might have been one of the last under the Beaver Line flag, as the line was taken over by the Canadian Pacific in 1903. By looking at our list of [url="http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=angel"]Beaver Line agents in Norway[/url], I find that the 1903 authorization was to convey emigrants "Via England from Liverpool (or Bristol) to Quebec, St.John NB, Halifax, Montreal or Boston and to the final destination in America" There was no agent authorized for the Beaver Line in 1904, so they were most likely processed by the Canadian Pacific Line agent, who in 1904 was the same man as represented the Beaver Line in 1903: [url="http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_agent.asp?ag=raffa"]Albert Raffel[/url]. This gives a small possibility, if you do not find the family on a Beaver Line passenger list, that they crossed on a [url="http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_shiplist.asp?co=capal"]Canadian Pacific Line [/url] ship. The 1904 authorization for the Canadian Pacific Line was to convey emigrants: "To Quebec, Montreal and St.Johns and by Canadian Pacific Railway to the final destination"
Lottermoser	I just found a letter written by Inge (Ingeborg Anderson) one of the children on the voyage. She writes: "On January 29, 1904, Per, Ida, Iver, Signe, Harold, Robert, Ingeborg and Arnold left Christiania (now Oslo), Norway, and arrived at St. John, Nova Scotia on February 12, 1904 on the Steamship, Lake Champlain, of the Beaver Line. This steamship was not completely finished; consequently , the fares were more reasonable. There were no state rooms -- steerage only -- so, no doubt, it was anything but a comfortable pleasant journey. Traveling by train, the family entered the United States at Sault St. Marie and arrived in Spokane WA. on February 22, 1904. " You were right - it was the Canadia Pacific Line who had purchased the boat at the time. I don't think any of the passenger lists have been translated yet, but this is good information. Thank you for your help!!! Marie Anderson
Borge	The Lake Champlain was completed in 1900, and made several voyages with passengers in the years before the Anderson family crossed on her in 1904. Maybe they were rebuilding her for the new owners [:)]