| joallanb | I am seeking info about my great grandfather Nils Edvard Johannesen (born 20. april 1848 in Tennes, Balsfjord, Troms, Norway) from the period of time when he lived in America.
I need information on his emigration and return to Norway again, and want to try find where in the States and Canada he might have been living for the period 1875-1900. (work, family, adresses)
I have tried almost everything searchable on the internet; my last hope is that someone might have come across his name by coincidence or know about sources I haven’t found.
Short story: He left Norway in 1872 or 1873. He was gone for almost 30 years until he suddenly returned for a visit back in Norway 1899 or 1900. Ended up married to a young local girl here and had 8 children.
Never talked about his life “over there”, never went back, and all papers and owning lost as the farm were burned during WW2.
He died in Storsteinnes, Balsfjord 11. may 1942.
I have not been able to find a single clue of information on him, not from his emigration, not from his almost 30 year long stay, and not from his return to Norway.
Strange, because I imagine he must have been naturalized and possibly had jobs and maybe family there.
(I sometimes wonder; would it be possible to live and exist there for such a long time without leaving a single trace?)
What we know:
He left 1872 or 1873 from the port of Bergen.
His destination was most possible his uncles place (mothers brother), the Hanson’s in Meeker county Minnesota. (I have found these persons and even today living persons of this family, but the original place/farm does not exist anymore, and no local historical material mention him as part of the family there)
There is said that he had a photo of himself taken in Texas.
We know almost for sure that he worked as a fisherman in the Fraser River area in British Columbia, at least the last years before his return, and think he owned a boat there.
He played the fiddle well, and cold speak Esperanto. (and English of course)
He returned in 1899 or 1900.
Sad thing is that his name could have been spelled many different ways in english; Niels or Niel or Niles, Ed or Edward, and Johanneson or simply Johnson……(have followed many traces from many different databases at many different spellings….)
We do have all information on him and the family from the Balsfjord area from both before the emigration and after his return, but we really would like to know where he was and what he did while emigrated.
Any clues or pieces of information would help, as I do not know where to search anymore.
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