S/S Indiana to Philadelphia 1875

Started by Melanie Taylor · 2009-07-28
Melanie Taylor · 2009-07-28#1
Hi. Thanks to the Norway Heritage website, I was finally able to finally track down my great-grandparents a couple of years ago, based on likely dates of departure from Norway and family lore regarding passage on the American Line. It turns out they came to Philadelphia, PA on the S/S Indiana in 1875, having first taken the Argo from Bergen. Without the advice posted on the website, I would have remained clueless to this day... On the passenger list, instead of using their American surname of Anderson (his), or their last used Norwegian surname of Munson (hers), turns out they used the Munson farm name of Morland! Also, instead of being listed with their country of origin as Norway, they were somehow listed as having come from France (!), but Morland is in Fjell. Was this a language problem? I could never find them in any index, because I was looking for "Anderson" & "Norway". I literally had to go to the National Archives and look on microfilm at all possible ships' passenger lists for the American Line within a likely date range. I know the transcription project hasn't gotten to the year 1875 yet, but I'm wondering if they will be passed over since they were listed as having come from France or might they be included if their name is recognized as being a Norwegian farm name? I can't help but wonder how many other people are having trouble searching for similar reasons... Also, any idea on how they might have gotten from Philadelphia to Iowa in 1875? Thanks, and best wishes to everyone who is still looking for family members! :-)

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