The Harmonie was built in 1846 at Medford. She had a burden of 227½ Commercial lasts. Her homeport was Flekkefjord and owner was "Niords Rederi". In 1866 the Harmonie departed from Bergen May 6, and arrived at Quebec June 11. She was sailing in ballast, and was carrying 9 cabin passengers and 247 steerage passengers.
Two children had died of debility during the Atlantic crossing. One boy was sick with chronic dysentery at arrival to the quarantine station at Grosse Île. In 1866 the Harmonie was mastered by Capt.
P.M. Fuglesang, and had a crew of 14. The passenger list was archived by the National Archives of Canada [NAC]. In 1870 the ship Harmonie of Flekkefjord departed from Bergen May 6, and arrived at Quebec June 25. She was sailing in ballast, and was carrying 258 steerage passengers and 4 cabin passengers. There was one birth and two deaths on the voyage. An infant born May 9th, died on May 19th and a seaman died of phthisis. (phthisis = wasting away - TB?). Also in 1870 the Harmonie was mastered by Capt. P.M. Fuglesang, and had a crew of 13 when she arrived to Quebec.
The following information has been submitted by Patricia Hanson
From the transcript of the memoirs of my gggaunt Ottelia (Tilda) Rustad of Dalton, Mn.
She records the history of her family's life coming over from Norway when she was 7
years old. I want to thank Jo Orvik for researching the Dahl's and Hammer's in Fergus
Falls, Mn and sending a copy of this transcript to me.
Tilda Rustad's father, Ole Dahl, was born in Overdal, Faaberg, Norway. In 1865 he left the family in Norway and went alone to America to earn sufficient money to bring the other members of the
family over as soon as possible. The oldest son, Gunder O. Dahl, who was then 20, took over the responsibilities for the family while the father was away. In 1866 Ole had earned enough money to move the family of eight person to America.
This is part of her transcript:
"We came over the ocean in a sailing ship and landed in Quebec, Canada after several weeks. The name of the ship was Harmoni and it was very old and badly worn. Everyone had to bring his own food and do his own cooking. Everyone, it seemed was sick, so it was quite difficult when whole families were sick at the same time. Two deaths occurred on shipboard and it was so hard to see them buried at sea.
Although I was only seven years old, the impressions this left on my mind have never
been forgotten.
When we arrived at Quebec we thought the worst was then over, but there were many
hardships to go through after that. When we left Quebec it was on a Canal boat, which
was drawn by horses, traveling along the shorelines on the edge of the canal. This was
a very slow method of travel as it was almost at a snail's pace. This ride was for a
distance up the St. Lawrence River."
