ancestors
viking5102000hello my name is Steven Sockness (Soknes)? i've been looking for family in Norway and i'm hitting a brick wall right now.. i believe my great grand father (andrew) and his brother (george) left Norway for America in about 1890 .. We think they were born and raised in Bergen and in America they lived in Austin Minnisota , if any could give me some advise on where i might go from here in my search... thank you sincerely Steven Allan Sockness (soknes) ?
BriningThe Digitalarkivet (Digital Archives) has passenger lists, census and many other records for Norway, There is a link to it under the links button above. I haven't been able to get on today so they may be down for maintenance. You should read the article on Hunting Passenger Lists on this site before you try searching. There is a link below Carla
askeroiDigitalarkivet is up and going now. There are 11 Søknæs/Sognnæs/Sognæs/Saagnes/Sognes 's emmigrating from Bergen in the list. Unfortunately none of them has a neme with the slightest likeness to Andrew - neither around 1890 or at any other time. He probably travelled with a patronymicon "surname". Do you know his birth year? His father's name? The closest I get with this sparse info is a plummer Anders Olsen Soknes b. 14. july 1847 and living in Tronsdheim in 1875. http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=f71601.wc2&variabel=0&postnr=19960&fulle=true&spraak=n
askeroiThere is only one farm called Soknes/Soknæs in 1865 and 1875 - it's situated in Støren outside Trondheim. This seem to be the place your surname comes from. But that doesn't neccessary mean your great grandfather didn't come from Bergen, but it's more likely he came from Trondheim...?
viking5102000i'm trying to find out more information but family history on my fathers side isn't easy to find , there is 1 daughter of george sockness still living but she doesnt know when her father george or her uncle andrew sockness arrived in american.. i'm going to talk with george's daughter cora 1 more time to see if she can give me anymore information.. i thank you very much for the help on my quest and when i find out more information i will post it here , thanks again Steven Sockness
askeroiThere was a possible "Andrew Sockness" leaving Trondheim in 1880 - but the destination ("Reisemål") is wrong so it may very well be the wrong person. On the other hand he's the only one with a suitable name I can find. http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=EMITROND&variabel=0&postnr=18212&fulle=true&spraak=n But there's no male with a fitting surname and a given name starting with G... There's aguy with a suitable name in Strinda (born in Støren ca. 1854) in the 1875 cencus. Could he fit?
HopkinsAndrew Sockness is in Austin, Minnesota for the 1900 US census. He is listed there as born ca 1857 in Norway and emigrated in either 1878 or 1898 (not great handwriting on those digits). His oldest daughter is only 19 years old and was born in Minnesota - so it could still be either year. Andrew is a carpenter. Source - National Archives microfilm Series: T625 Roll: 846 Page: 52.
HopkinsThe 1910 census lists Andrew as being born about 1862 in Norway (aaaggghhhh) and skips the immigration year altogether! But it does state that he is a naturalized citizen - perhaps his naturalization application papers would help? The 1900 census shows Andrew living with his future wife's family in Austin - he is a boarder in the home with two other persons listed with the same Sockness surname - Frank and Lillie - both childen born in MN. This census lists Andrew as born in May of 1865. I can't tell if Andrew is married or widowed. Once again they left the immigration year blank. Didn't Minnesota also do some state censuses? Perhaps they got more accurate information on those...
viking5102000i want to thank you , i really do appreciate all your help... i found out that Andrew had 5 or 6 kids , Gail was born about 1900 , George was my grandfather born in 1902 , Mary no date , Pearl no date and Cora born around 1920 , i believe all kids were born in Minnesota and yes they did reside in Austin Minnesota at some time ...i still don't much about George , it doesn't even sound like a norvegion name , maybe it was changed at some point....i'll trying to find out if George's kids were Frank and Lillie maybe that might help me some ... i should of started this search while my dad was alive , it might of been easier if i had more info. again thank you very much for information , it's greatly appreciated
viking5102000i hope I didn't get you confused about the George's , Andrew named his second child (1st son) George after his brother and this George is my granfather who was born in 1902.... thanks again to you all
BriningHi You should get a copy of Andrew's death certificate. You can order it on line [url="http://people.mnhs.org/dci/"]Click Here[/url] It could give you his parents names. If you want copies of the census records email me (click on the icon above or on my user id) and I can down load them and send in PDF format I haven't found any trace of George in MN. There is one in ND, could that be him? Carla