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The Emigration There were several motivations for Norwegian emigration to North America, including civil and religious oppression, the tradition of inheritance rights belonging to the eldest son, small arable land holdings and large families, and the fundamental struggle for ones daily bread. For a vast majority of the Norwegian farming community, poverty was rampant, and a betterment of their future in Norway could not be envisioned. The first "emigrant ship" left Stavanger, Norway for America in 1825. It was a sloop named "Restauration" carrying 53 passengers, most of whom were believed to be Quakers, though only the group's leader was a known Quaker (Society of Friends). It was also suspected that many of them could be followers of a man named Hauge, who was a dissident of the Norwegian State Evangelical Lutheran Church. Whatever their beliefs, they were definitely motivated to emigrate by a desire for religious freedom. These early settlers in America wrote letters to families in Norway, many of which described in glowing terms the beauty and fertility of the country, the availability of vast arable lands for low cost, the freedom they enjoyed to worship as they wished, and the equality of all people. Some also described the hardships of the voyage and the difficulty of starting anew in country where one couldn't even understand the language of its inhabitants. But, in general, the reports of America were favorable. The letters were of great interest and passed about to other members of the family and friends. The word began slowly to spread beyond the boundaries of the southwestern area of Norway, from which they came, influencing decisions on emigration in broader regions. After several years, the initial settlers had triumphed over their early difficulties and their economic situation was distinctly better than it had been in Norway, and the letters home, commonly called "America Letters", encouraged all who were willing to work hard and wanted the prospect of a better future, to emigrate. In 1836 two vessels sailed from Stavanger with a combined total of 167 passengers bound for America, including ten people from Voss, and, with few exceptions, these people were farmers leaving not for religious freedom, but to escape the rural poverty of Norway. In 1837 several emigrant vessels departed Norway for the new world bearing people from the Bergen area and mountains to the east. One of these ships was the Bark, Ægir, departing Bergen on 7 April with eighty-four passengers, one of whom, Ole Rynning, was destined to have a momentous impact on emigration. He wrote a handbook for immigration, published in 1838, entitled "True Account of America for the Information and Help of Peasant and Commoner". The Handbook was widely read and discussed in group meetings, and was a great stimulus to the "America Fever". Both civil and church authorities vehemently opposed emigration, because it reduced the tax base, and they warned of the dangers in the new world; savages, wild beasts, sickness and slavery. But the people had Ole Rynning's handbook, and said, "Show us by authentic accounts that Ole Rynning and the other letter writers have lied, and we will remain at home. We choose to go to a country where there is market for labor and where the land rewards the farmer, rather than to remain in a country in which, though it is called free, our children can become at best cotters or beggars." In Norway success was the unusual thing, while the accumulation of debt and virtual loss of freedom were normal. In the middle 1840's it was estimated that two-thirds of the gaard (farm) owners had mortgaged property, despite the fact that the farms had been handed down to eldest sons, and remained in the family for generations. It was said, that "in 1843, to borrow fifty specie dollars, one had to pay eight dollars and eight skillings for the official fees thereto attached." Most farmers bought the necessaries on credit, and that often meant borrowing money. During the period from 1836 to 1900, over half a million people emigrated from Norway and over 7,000 of those came from Voss. The reasons why my gr-gr-grandfather, Ole Henriksen Fadnes decided to emigrate will, likely, never be known, but I think it was a family decision. He had inherited the farm when his father died in 1842. That obligated him to provide for his mother, including an annual annuity, and his brothers and sisters. I have seen the farm and consider it nicely situated in a fertile valley, bordered by a lake and a mountain slope. It was probably not more than eight or ten acres, but, since 1710, had supported four generations of Ole's ancestors. His sister Gjertrud had married a Mugaas in 1834 and moved to the Mugaas farm. Brother Knut married a Brunborg in 1838 and moved to the Brunborg farm. Brother Jacob had married a Sætre, and moved to that farm, (It is likely that the brothers would be no better than cotters on the farms to which they had moved, with bleak economic futures.) and in 1845, brother Henrik emigrated to America. That just left his mother, brother John, and sister Ragnild, outside his own family, to care for, and that doesn't seem like sufficient burden to seek relief through such a traumatic upheaval as emigration. In the spring of 1846 Ole sold the farm for the equivalent of $1300 US and, with his brothers John and Knut, emigrated from Norway. Ragnhild married Anders Knutson Fadnes and emigrated with his family in 1848. Jacob and his wife emigrated in 1850. Ole's mother, being in her 70th year when he emigrated, stayed in Norway and likely lived with her daughter Gjertrud on the Mugaas farm. So, putting all of this in perspective, I believe that emigration was a family decision and that the proceeds from the sale of the farm was required to finance the move, and provide equitable sharing of their father's estate. It's hard to fully conceive of the challenge and hardship of leaving ones homeland, expecting never to see it again, or friends, or loved ones left behind; even in our day and age of instant communication and high speed travel. In mid-nineteenth century Norway, one traveled by foot, ox-cart, or boat. Ole Rynning advised that "The best time to leave Norway, is so early in the spring as to be able to reach the place of settlement by midsummer, or shortly after that time. In that way something can be raised even that first year; namely buckwheat, turnips and potatoes, also to gather fodder for one or two cows and build a house for the winter." Allowing for breakup of winter, the months of March, April and May became the big season for emigration. The preceding long, dark winter was busy with preparations for departure, using Rynning's book as a guide. "They must have provisions to take care of their needs for twelve weeks, particularly foods that could be kept a long time without being spoiled." He suggested "pork, dried meat, salted meat, dried herring, smoked herring, dried fish, butter, cheese, primost, milk, beer, flour, peas, cereals, rye rusks, coffee, tea, sugar." There was danger of sickness on the voyage so he advised "a little brandy, vinegar, and a couple of bottles of wine, as well as raisins and prunes to make soup for the seasick; a cathartic; sulphur powder and ointment for the itch; Hoffmans drops and spirits of camphor." The emigrant "must take with him bedclothes, clothing of fur and homespun, an iron plate for baking flat bread, a spinning wheel, a hand mill, silverware and tobacco pipes to sell in America." The men must also take "good rifles, with percussion locks, and tools of his trade." Throughout the winter, "the women of the family spun, wove, and sewed dresses, suits, underclothing, and other garments." The men "turned to carpentry, sawing, planing, and hammering as they made the many traveling chests required, all with homemade iron bands, locks and large keys." All of this they had to move from their mountain village of Evanger/Voss to the port city of Bergen, which today takes about 90 minutes by car and good road. When Ole left, the typical "journey was made in several stages: first by sleigh, then a transfer to wagons, then perhaps a long wait for a boat sailing one of the fjords, and finally arrival at the seaport where, not infrequently, the emigrant vessel was not ready to sail and were delayed many days, and even weeks, perhaps camping at the pier or finding the most inexpensive lodging, eating their precious food and spending their money." In Ole's case, they left their home on 23 March and sailed from Bergen on the Bark, Kong Sverre, carrying 174 passengers, on 6 May; more than six weeks after leaving their home. His brother Knut, with wife and four children, and his brother John, newly married, sailed with Ole and his family; a contingent of twelve people for which food had to be carried for a subsistence of twelve weeks. The vessel Kong Sverre is called a Bark because of the way in which the sails of its three masts are rigged. It was 102 feet long and 27 feet wide. The peasant emigrant passengers occupied spaces between decks, called "steerage." The word "steerage" comes from "steers", indicating the emigrants traveled in the same spaces used for transporting livestock. Later the space was called "3rd class". Steerage was described thusly: "On a temporary floor built in the hold of a vessel, a two-story row of spaces for beds was constructed along the whole length of both sides of the ship, usually wide enough for four persons to sleep in. The provision boxes and smaller chests belonging to the passengers were placed in rows in front of their beds. The larger, heavy chests, packed to the brim with clothing, bedding and other trappings, were stored in a separate room. There were no separate rooms for men and women. Light was admitted only through hatches and, in some cases, through skylights in the deck. On deck, a moderately-sized shed, fitted with a number of fireplaces for cooking, was erected, and outbuildings on each side near the rail. This completed the alterations necessary for the comfort of the passengers." I know of no log for the May 1846 voyage of Kong Sverre, so I have no idea what trials the Henriksen Fadnes clan faced on their trip to America. However, Theodore C. Blegen provides some vivid insight on some "typical" voyages in his book, "Norwegian Migration to America-The American Transition." The following are excerpts from his book: "In prolonged storms, the passengers in steerage could not even get on deck. Down in their quarters pails, cans, pots, kettles, and everything else left unlashed would rattle about and create a perfect pandemonium. All that the poor occupants could do was to cling fast to the nearest post or bed rail and stay there until the rolling ceased somewhat. Oftentimes this was in intense darkness as the hatches had to be closed to exclude the furious sea and save the passengers from drowning. They were unaccustomed to the roll of a ship and there was a vast amount of seasickness, especially among the women. After a storm, when the hatches were opened, people came stumbling out, gasping for air, and the steerage was most frightening and sickening to behold." "It often happened that terrible disease would break out and spread with appalling speed. Dysentery added to the torment of the emigrants. In one case, it began in the upper bunk aft and continued regularly on starboard until it jumped over to larboard and there spread in the same manner. Cholera, typhus, smallpox, typhoid fever, and measles were some of the diseases that raged onboard emigrant vessels. Many did not survive the ordeal; others survived it only to fall victim in American ports to disease or to some of the worst exploiters of helpless humanity that any generation has ever seen" "Fourteen Norwegian emigrants who crossed on an English Packet,in 1853, wrote a joint letter telling of bruised heads, broken ribs, a broken collarbone and teeth knocked out as a result of brutal treatment by seaman whose orders, given in English, they could not understand; of food thrown to the emigrants as if they were dogs and of the emigrants fighting for it like wild animals; of bunks full of lice; of dangers of assault on wives, sisters and daughters; of passengers so weak when they arrived in New York that they could hardly walk" No such complaints had ever been lodged against a Norwegian ship. "The emigrant voyage in the early period of migration was marked by suffering, sickness, and death; but human nature is a resilient thing, and the story of crossing from the Old World to the New has its bright side too. A Captain, who had buried thirteen of his passengers at sea, writes, 'In spite of the absence of comforts, life on board an emigrant vessel might be quite gay. When the weather was fine and the Atlantic lay clear and smooth, the deck at times rang with merriment in the evenings. The accordion was brought out and to its tones the couples whirled about. Games were played--in wooden shoes and wadmal skirt many a time--and here lifelong connections were formed." "On Sunday they would wash and dress up, have prayers and devotions, sing hymns to the accompaniment of violin and flute." "Sometimes there was a Seventeenth of May celebration held in mid-ocean, while the emigrants sang songs and listened to toasts to the country they had left." "There were many births and christenings on the vessels with the Captain conducting the baptismal service." So, though life aboard an emigrant vessel was alien, difficult, and hazardous, life went inexorably on with birth, marriage, death, taking ones daily bread and following some sort of routine to pass the time, leaving some good memories and some bad. Kong Sverre arrived in New York on 29 June 1846, 97 days after the Henriksen Fadnes clan left their home in Evanger. An interesting aside, before leaving this section, deals with disposal of personal effects which could not be taken; an auction. In Blegen's book is this picture of an emigrant auction: "Here was a sledge upon which Kai had dragged home so many loads of wood, a wheelbarrow, a spade and a fork, a calf, two sheep, a griddle, a coffee-kettle and two saucepans, two beds and some bedclothes, some tables, and a trough in which Karen had mixed cakes on the rare occasions when she had any flour. Someone bid twelve cents for the lot. 'too little', said Ebbe. 'Fourteen cents....that's better....twenty-four...ah, that's more like it! thirty...bid up, good folks!" Is it any wonder that they sought new lands and opportunities?
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