What name in the US?
tor	On May 5 1882 Helena Maria Olsdatter b. 1848 left Oslo together with a 13 years old son; both from Ø.Toten, Oppland County. They arrived New York 1882,June 6?? on S/S Hekla. The boy was baptized JOHAN CHRISTIAN EDVARTSEN, but at the local emigrant archives and at DIGITALARKIVET the name is noted as MATHIAS EDVARTSEN (maybe a petname; I'm sure it's the same boy. What was the nAme he was registrated on in New York?? Edvartsen, Edwards, his mother patronymic changed to Olsen/Olson or something else? Is there any available records telling that? (his mother was unmarried; if she married in the US and the boy was adopted I'll have a big problem to find him..) Anyway;I'd like to trace his descendants in the US
Brining	Your best bet is to try and locate them on passenger arrival records. The LDS is the best source for microfilm copies and they have locations all over the world. Hopefully one near you. http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp The name on the arrival record should be the same as the one they used on leaving. The record should have their final destination which would help in your search although I'm not sure that it was on earlier records. You might want to go to the NARA link below and click on immigration to get more information about the records. What name they used in the US? I think Helena would have used Olsen/Olson and Johan/Mathias could have used his mothers name or gone by Edwardson or they could have taken the name of the gard they lived on in Norway. Not easy, wish I had a good on line site for you to search in the US. Unfortunately the one of the best you have to pay for http://www.ancestry.com/main1.htm Carla
tor	Thank you Carla. I don't think they used a farm name as a surname in the US; both Olsd. and Edvarts. is suitable for US-surnames. Same name as the mother?? Well; many times I've seen the immigration officer changed the patronymic names of the children to a surname like the fathers patronymicum; but I don't know in this case; the boy went together with a "single" mother. Yes; I'm a subscriber at Ancestry.com and have searced there - also at Census 1920; but I gues I have to start at the harbor to get their "US-names"....... (sorry for my poor English)
Brining	Your English is fine no apology needed. I always admire Norwegians for doing so well with English. It is a difficult language, now if I were to try and write in Norwegian you would have a good laugh . The name used in the US depended as much on what the individual wanted to use as what name was written on arrival. That doesn't make it any easier. Good Luck Carla
kkkkaty55	Just a comment on names of Norwegians (or others) once they are in the US; be verrry flexible. My great-great grandfather was born Halvor Pedersen and emigrated from Norway unmarried. he was generally called halvor, but was listed in the 1860 census as Alfred Peterson. His childen were initially known as Peterson after they were born in the US. As adults, however, they took the farm name Slette, where their father was born, and abandoned the name Peterson. Halvor's son, my GGfather, was known most of his life as Knute Halvorson Slette, although at birth he was Knut Peterson. It was kind of fun tracking all this down, but if I'd gotten hung up on what i thought I knew about the names, I never would have found anything on them. By the way,
tor	Thanks to all of you. Now I got him; with allot of help at DIGITALARKIVET, Norway. "John Edwardson" Steele county MN Census 1920. Why "Mathias"?? Maybe the clerk at Oslo Harbor was drunk!! I think some of his descendants still use the Edwardson surname; I'll try to find some of them.
kkkkaty55	The Minnesota Historical Society has an on-line database of death certificates; ordering those can be very illuminating, since it is commonly a child or spouse who acts as the final "informant", as they call it. It can also help verify that you ahve the right person, because they will commonly list parents names. http://www.mnhs.org/
Jo Anne Sadler	Didn't you mean the Death Certificates from 1905-1996? That is what is online with the Minnesota Historical Society.[:)]