Looking for Passengers Norway to Portland, OR
MMGer	My wife's maternal grandparents immigrated to Portland, Oregon in the c.1903 timeframe. Their names were Hans and Berte CHRISTENSEN and they brought their family. I have been unable to find any information regarding ships to Portland and I don't know if there was an intermediate stop. Appreciate any suggestions or hints of how to find this information. Thanks in advance for your consideration.
Hopkins	The US National Archives has copies of the immigration records (passenger arrivals) for Portland, Oregon for the years 1888-1956. http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration/passenger-arrival.html#federal The passenger manifest itself usually lists the port of origin and any 'stops' along the route. I tried the LDS Family History Library catalog and was unable to find any listing for duplicates of these records in their collection.
Jo Anne Sadler	While Portland was their final destination, looking at a map I kinda doubt that they took a ship directly from Norway to Portland. They would have been processed for immigration at the first port of entry into North America. Have you found them in the exit police protocols? This would give information, shipping line, destination, etc. [url="http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/WebMeta.exe?spraak=e"]click here[/url] The 1920 census for Portland, Oregon shows: Hans Christensen, 45, born Norway, mason Bertha, 45, born Norway Hilda, 18, born Norway Jennie, 16, born Norway (1904) all immigrating 1903
Hopkins	MMGer - Does the family have any clues as to what part of Norway the family may have come from? Jo Ann had a good idea to check the US censuses. So I also looked in the 1910 for Portland, Multnomah Co., Oregon - Hans Christensen, 36, born Norway, cement laborer Bertha, 35, born Norway (married for 10 yrs, mother of 5 children, 5 still surviving) Hilda, 8, born Norway Jenny, 7, born Norway (all immigrating 1903) Lena, 5, born Oregon Minnie, 3, born Oregon baby son, 3/12, born Oregon
MMGer	Thank you all for the responses. To try to answer some of the questions -- Regarding the "exit police protocols" we have no idea of how to search for them. Neither of us speak or read Norwegian, so if you have some suggestions on how to search for those it would be appreciated. Data we have is that Hans Christensen was born c.1875 in a small community in Sunnfjord called Smelvaer Island. He had a brother named Johan that lived in Stongfjord. Hans' wife Bertha was born in a small farm called Moldestad in Selje. Moldestad may be considered her maiden name (?). They left ? Norway in 1903 with two children, Borghild (b.1900) and Jenny (b.1902). They had four more children in Portland -- Mimmi, Lena, Harry & Edna (my wife's mother). Hans died in Apr, 1938 and Bertha in Jan, 1953. I have all the Portland census info available. We have been successful on their ancestry side. We have been in contact with Johan's grand-daughter in Bergen. We visited there in 2000 and were taken to her grandfather's birthplace. What a beautiful country! What I've had no luck with is locating the immigration information (ship, manifest, etc). I will definitely look into the NARA archives list you mentioned. Again, thanks to all for their input -- keep it coming!
Brining	They left from Bergen, traveling on the Cunard Line. [url="http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=EMIBERG&gardpostnr=49376&merk=49376#ovre"]Click Here[/url] Carla
Jo Anne Sadler	There is information on the Cunard Line on this site: http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_shiplist.asp?co=cunar No direct ships from Norway, Liverpool to Boston or New York routes. The protocols usually indicated their "final" destination, not necessarily their first destination in North America.