Norwegian Genealogy
DonaldI'm not new to genealogy, but I am new to researching in Norway. Most recently my uncle passed away and I inherited a lot of data (and many wonderful old photos - all unamed of course) of his family. They came from Hitterdal, Norway (which I cannot find on a map) to North Dakota in 1903, then eventually to Canada. His name was John Olsen Simones (come Simmons) born 28 June 1881 and his wife Helga Larsdatter Skornes born 14 April 1899. I would like to find more data on his immigration. From where in Norway did they leave, and on what ship and date. But more important would be to find some family in Norway that might be interested in these old photos that are in mint condition. Any steerage and help would be very much appreciated. Donald M. Norrie, mnorrie@telusplanet.net Donald M. Norrie Redwood Meadows, Alberta
SueDonald, I searched just Simon for farm-name in the 1900 online census on the Digitalarkivet, and found 6 Simonæs farms in Hitterdal (Hiterdals), Telemark. Farm one had a John Olsen born in 1891 and farm 3 a John Olsen born 1882. Looking at the census pages for Hitterdal, the only John Olsen born in 1881 was a John Olsen Lia working on the Hellem øvre farm. I can't find Hitterdal, Telemark on my modern map either, so I am not sure what it is called now. Now, using this new information, I found John Olsen Simonæs age 20 with Helga Simonæs age 25 (this would make her born about 1878!) both from Hitterdal and destined to Canada (initial destination anyway, for ship arrival) leaving Christiania (Oslo) on the Wilson Line feeder ship MONTEBELLO 1903 day 15 (no month given) Looking now on the SS&A ship index, the only month that MONTEBELLO departed Christiania on the 15th in 1903 was in May, so, 1903-05-15 With this information, I checked my database and see the CPR ship LAKE CHAMPLAIN departing Liverpool May 20th and arriving at Quebec May 31st, and the Allan Line ship PRETORIAN departing Liverpool May 21st arriving at Quebec June 1st 1903. These are both on National Archives of Canada microfilm T-481, but information about those destined to the US is spare on Canadian passenger lists. Maybe you should instead consider getting the St. Albans record (CAN-US border entry records) instead as they contain a LOT more information. Have a look at Canada Records on TheShipsList website http://www.theshipslist.com/canadarecords.htm and scroll down to United States Immigration Records, and click on the link for the Prologue article "By Way of Canada." You can then go to this site .... http://homepage.mac.com/ms5/CATalog/index.html .... to find the LDS film btw. I only found one Helga Larsdatter on the 1900 Hitterdal census, but on the Solberg farm and born in 1888. ;-} Maybe she was from another area originally. Anyway, you can have some fun on the digitalarkivet. Beginning with the Digitalarkivet http://www.hist.uib.no/arkivverket/index-en.htm First click - source categories numbers for the same records. Sue
Suefollow-up: when I pasted in the info for the Canada Records webpage and the LDS microfilm numbers, one line got misplaced. It should read Have a look at Canada Records on TheShipsList website http://www.theshipslist.com/canadarecords.htm and scroll down to United States Immigration Records, and click on the link for the Prologue article "By Way of Canada." You can then go to this site .... http://homepage.mac.com/ms5/CATalog/index.html .... to find the LDS film numbers for the same records. Good luck! Sue
DonaldDear Sue, Many thanks for the fast reply and research you have done to provide me with this data. It is very much appreciated. I did make a mistake in that Helge Skornes was born in 1878 and not in 1899 as I stated. Now to find Hitterdal and any relatives that might still reside there. My uncle had no offspring, so I would like to get these old bibles,photos, and family artifacts back into the hands of the Norwegian relatives. Donald M. Norrie Redwood Meadows, Alberta