Christian Arneson, Milla A. Jacobson from Norway
bluejay	Christian Arneson (b. May 3, 1874) and his wife Milla A. Jacobson (b. Oct. 24, 1879-1882), arrived in USA from Norway in 1915 with 4 children, Arthur J. Arneson (b. Jul. 29, 1904), Olaf Arneson (b. 1907), Anna Arneson (b. 1909), & Oscar Arneson (b. 1914). Christian is my husband's grandfather and we are trying to locate their town of origin in Norway, or any info on other family members who might have come with them to America. They settled in Great Falls, Cascade Co., Montana upon their arrival. If at all possible, I would like to find out who the parents are, too. My husband thinks they might have come from Oslo but doesn't really know for sure. I would greatly appreciate any help, thank you.
Hopkins	The family leaves from Oslo/Kristiania on or about 4 August 1914 - http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&filnamn=emikra1&gardpostnr=226925&sokefelt=skjul They list previous residence as Østre Aker. I believe that area is now within the city of Oslo. A Milla Jakobsen of an age to match that emigration record can be found in Nittedal, Akershus at the time of the 1900 Norwegian census - http://www.rhd.uit.no/folketellinger/ftliste_e.aspx?ft=1900&knr=0233&kenr=001&bnr=0038&lnr=00 It would be highly likely that Milla would get married in her home parish (Nittedal) and more information about the groom may be recorded on the parish record for that marriage.
bluejay	Thank you so much for the prompt reply. It is very helpful. It was a surprise to know that they came to Minnesota before settling in Montana. I have found many "Arnesons" in Minnesota but can't connect them to our Arnesons. Thank you again, J. Arneson
Hopkins	The family was among 'late arrivals' in the emigration of Norwegians. They may have had family, friends or promise of possible employment already in Minnesota that colored their decision to make their first stop there. Minnesota would have been (and still is) just chock full of Norwegians and now Norwegian-Americans! It may have made a good location to stop and get more familiar with good places to head from there. Minnesota would have been very settled and a bit 'crowded' by 1914 - there may have been a good opportunity for reasonable land purchase further west in Montana, especially if the emigrants planned on trying to farm. Perhaps a bargain that could not be ignored? Or perhaps they just wanted to be in the vicinity of mountains?? The variations on trying to figure out WHY they would stop first in Minnesota and later head further west to Montana are of course, nearly endless. You might try looking into the history of the settlement of the area on Montana where they finally settled. That may give you more information. You gave good information about the family - names, relationships, dates (even they didn't prove to exactly match Norwegian records - not unexpected and fairly typical). The HINT about Oslo made the search relatively painless when you've got experience with searching the wonderful online Norwegian databases available. Thank YOU for providing such complete information. It made the search fun for me too. Good luck. I hope you have success and great fun in tracking the families earlier history.
bluejay	I went to the sites you suggested and found Milla Jakobsen living with another family, "Andreas Hansen", in the 1900 census. At least I'm assuming this. I am completely illiterate when it comes to the Norwegian language. I'm guessing that Milla is working there as a house maid/nanny? Her occupation says: Tjenestepige, husstellet. Under the family status it says tj. Can anyone interpret this? I was thrilled to see Kristian Arneson and his family listed as emigrating to Minnesota, I wish it stated "where" in MN. How do I go about finding what ship they departed on? Since I can't read Norse, I don't even know if it is listed on the info I retrieved. I can't find any info on Kristian's family or birthplace, except for the letter T listed inder birthplace on the "Emigranter over Kristiania 1871-1930" info.....but I've only just begun!
bluejay	Oops, Please disregard the last sentence on my last note. I mixed it up with some other info on a Jakobsen family I found on the 1900 census for Nitedal. How does one go about identifying whether this family is related to Milla Jakobsen? Christian (Kristian) Arneson and Milla had more children after coming to the USA. Ida Arneson was born in Minnesota, 1916 ( I originally thought MN was an error); Harold S. Arneson was born in MT(possibly Great Falls) on Jun. 2, 1918; and Allen Arneson was born in Dutton, Teton Co., MT on Sept. 2, 1921. They were on the 1920 census in Great Falls, Cascade Co., MT, then listed on the 1930 census in Dunkirk, Toole Co., MT. This is all I could find. On the 1930 census, "Allen" was listed as "Ollig". I don't know if someone just misinterpreted bad handwriting or if it is Norwegian for Allen. I suspect poor hand writing because Cristian's name is spelled "Chais" instead of "Chris" on this same census record. I would like to find out more about Christian's parents and siblings but won't be able to connect any of the Minnesota Arnesons until I find out where in Minnesota they were. I can't seem to locate Ida Arneson's birthplace in MN but I'll keep digging. I truly enjoy all this sleuthing!
Hopkins	The record for the family leaving Oslo/Kristiania lists they they will travel on the ship 'Eskimo'. That ship should take them to England where they would have boarded a trans-Atlantic ship to finish their journey. You can find a history of the 'Eskimo' and even pictures of it on this website. If Milla is listed as "Tjenestepige, husstellet" then the young woman is working as a servant/hired girl/housekeeper for that household. The census obviously does not identify any family relationship - you'd have to research into other area records to prove or disprove any family link. I wouldn't consider a family link very likely. The 1920 census indicated that Chris Arneson has started the papers necessary to become a US citizen. In the time period around 1920s those papers should contain a great deal of information about him. You'll have to find a place to learn about getting those US naturalization documents. Good sites to study and keep for your future use - http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~norway/articles.html http://home.online.no/%7Eotjoerge/files/word.htm I think I'd still recommend checking the parish records for Nittedal for finding family for Milla. Her birth/baptism and/or confirmation record should list the names of her parents. A possible marriage for Chris and Milla in Nittedal may give more information about each of their families.
bluejay	Thank you for the great websites! I am learning so much! And Now I have a temporary Norwegian-English dictionary until I can get to a book store. After I sent the last message, I went back and perused the "Emigranter over Kristiania 1871-1930" page and finally figured out the ship's name "Eskimo". I guess I should have studied it a little more thoroughly. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all your help. It's WILLING experienced sleuthers like you who make it so fun and exciting for those of us who are just getting our feet wet!
Jo Anne Sadler	The dictionary link that Hopkins gave you is the best one to use for translating the older records written in Dano-Norwegian. The modern dictionaries would not be as good.
bluejay	The online dictionary has been a great help with the exception of a few words here and there. I am still not having any luck tracing Kristian Arnesen/Christian Arneson's family's whereabouts in Norway between his birth (May 21, 1874) & his departure to Minnesota in 1914-1915. I would like to find out when he and Milla got married and also more about both sets of parents. Their departure papers show Ø. Aker as their residence in 1914. Does this mean "Østre Akershus, Norway"? How would I go about finding the parish they belonged to? I've also been trying to trace which U.S. port they arrived at but found that there are thousands of "Arnesons" who came to America! Sometimes I feel overwhelmed trying to find one little tidbit of info on our family. Can anyone help?? I'm drowning in names & brick walls!
Hopkins	Østre Aker IS a parish. One easy way to test these things from the US is to use Place search function of LDS Family History Library online catalog. In the Place search I typed in Aker (part of) Norway - then just followed the links to finally look at the descriptions of the topic Church Records for Oslo. Østre Aker church records for the time period 1861-1933 are copied to LDS microfilm and their catalog goes on to specify "Belonged to the combined Aker clerical district until 1861. Included Nordstrand until 1906. For earlier records see Vestre Aker clerical district." Have you started studying how to find Kristian/Christian's US naturalization records? Those records should give you more information you need to then look for port of arrival and related records. They may even give you a name and address of a near relative he left in Norway and may list Christian's birthplace. Yes, 'thousands' of Arnesons came to America and very few of them had any relationship to each other. You didn't like my idea that you could look for Milla's earlier life records like birth/baptism and possible marriage in Nittedal? I suggested them because I thought they'd be easier for a beginner to start with.
bluejay	I humbly admit that I'm not as computer literate in genealogy investigating as many of you, although I am trying. I did go to the sites you listed and found the 1900 census with Milla on it, but when I tried to find more info, I couldn't find anything more, or, didn't know where to look. I went to the Nittedal parish site and other parish listings but there was nothing in the years (1880 through 1914) for Nittedal. I've spent many hours seemingly just going in circles trying to extract new data, but finally have to give up, feeling like I'm over my head, and...."Will I ever figure this stuff out?"! I don't know whether it is an asset or bane that I am too stubborn to give up completely, ha, ha! I will probably beat my head against the wall a few more times anyway. I also went to the Ellis Island site and looked through pages and pages of arrivals for the years of 1914 &1915 but found nothing on my family. I went through the Port of New York arrivals and saw nothing there. I've just started on the Boston arrivals. I still haven't run across the town or county in Minnesota where the one daughter, (Ida Amelia Arneson, b. Jul. 1, 1916) was born but I finally have her full birth date and middle name. I think this would be key in finding other relatives. I have had a much more difficult time locating my husband's family than my own. Most of my relatives have been here since the 1500-1600s. Thank you for the new information on the LDS.
DALB	There is one Ida Amelia Arnesen born in 1916 in Minnesota, but the birth date is not the same. May be one you could check on. Minnesota Birth Index http://people.mnhs.org/bci/ Arneson, Ida Amelia Date of Birth: 04/12/1916 County of Birth: Steele certid# 1916-34884 Mother Maiden Name: Loken
Hopkins	Nittedal parish site? online? extract new data from? When I refer to looking at the Nittedal parish records I mean looking at microfilmed copies of the original records -- not online and not using the computer. http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~norway/na20.html That is one of the articles I sent you a link for previously - but I don't think you've started to study them http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~norway/articles.html