Coming to America: Cyprian and Margaret Prou, Indentured Servants

Sample Indenture Contract
source: http://www.virtualjamestown.org/indentures/sample_indenture

Several years ago I came across an interesting book on FamilySearch.org, Anderson, Cockrill, Moffett, Smith & Allied Families of Northern Virginia. I was actually looking for another ancestor when I stumbled across a chapter about Cyprian/Cyprien Prou, my 7th GreatGrandfather. For once, I actually downloaded the information about Cyprian and then returned to my original quest.

Fast forward to several years to 2021. I was now a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, thanks to my 4th GreatGrandfather Enoch Benson. I was now living in Georgia, close to where Enoch lived and a number of relatives were buried. Covid days gave me the opportunity to spend a lot more time learning about Enoch and his ancestors. And this lead me to Enoch's 3rd GreatGrandfather and my 7th, Cyprian Prou.

I was surprised at the pieces of information I had found over the years about Cyprian, some for which I had actually recorded a source. The thing that peaked my curiosity right away was a notation that Cyprian Prou had been an indentured servant. I wanted to know more about this circumstance, what lead to it, and what happened after he arrived in America. Looking for these things definitely took me back in time and introduced me to a variety of resources, all helping Cyprian become more real to me.

The first sourced information I found about Cyprian was a marriage record for Cyprian and his wife Margaret. According to the Vestry Register for the Collegiate Church of St Katherine by the Tower in London, Cyprian Prou and Margaret Vensanden where married there on 16 Jul 1683.(1) Another source concerning their marriage was found in Ancestry's "Virginia, Marriages of the Northern Neck of Virginia, 1649-1800". This entry provided the same date and place of their marriage and also included that Cyprian Prou had been born about 1663 in France. Cyprian's name suggested that he was of French descent while Margaret's suggests that she may have had Dutch or other European ancestors. Trying to verify their births and ancestors will have to wait for other days.

I found several records indicating that Cyprian had been an indentured servant as was his wife Margaret Vensanden Prou. The Virginia Colonial Records Project accessed through the Library of Virginia had online transcriptions of "Quarter Sessions Records, Plantation Indentures 1682/3 - 1684.(2) Report #2152 provided the following entry:

Margaret Prou(?), about 24, to Richard Bray. 4 years, "working in the ground excepted". 28 August 1684.

Cyprian Prou(?), about 21, to Richard Bray. 4 years, "working in the ground excepted". 28 August 1684.

What an entry! Name, age and probable birth year, length of the indenture, and a date to explore.

The records of Virtual Jamestown presented similar information but with some important clarifications.(3) The records were in table form and indicated:

• Margaret and Cyprian were going to Virginia.
• The date of 28 August 1684 was the date their indenture was signed.
• The normal indenture period was four years.
• Richard Bray of Maryland was the agent to whom they were indentured.

A bonus on the Virtual Jamestown web site was the transcriptions of two indenture contracts. Both contracts provided interesting information about the indenture process. In the 1755 contact for William Buckland, he was referred to as a "Covenant Servant" who was to serve the Executor on the "Plantation of Virginia beyond the seas" for a period of four years. It also mentioned his skill as a carpenter and joiner.  Furthermore, the contract stated that Buckland would be paid the standard annual rate of "20 pounds sterling, payable quarterly". From the entries for Margaret and Cyprian, it seemed that they would not be farming or "working in the ground", as they were excepted (exempted) from that type of work. Perhaps this meant that they, too, had some special skills.

The contract for Richard Lowther, written over 100 years earlier, provided more details about the person to whom Lowther was indentured or covenanted, Edward Hurd. Mr. Hurd as to "provide sufficient meate, drink, apparrell, and other necewaryes for his livelihood and maynetence dureing the said time", and at the conclusion of the contract, Hurd was to give to Richard Lowther "fifty acres of land in Virginia" for Lowther, his heirs, and assignees forever. Both documents were actually signed in England but apparently came with them to the Virginia colony.

I stumbled upon yet one more interesting part of Cyrprian and Margaret's story. On 8 Jun 1684, Marie Prou, the daughter of Cyprian and Margaret was baptized at the French Huguenot Church on Threadneedle Street in London.(4) This meant that they were embarking on a new life, one that would require significant labor on their parts, with a two month old infant. I cannot imagine what that experience would have been like.

Admittedly some of the journal articles I found concerning the status of indentures servants suggested that life may not have turned out to be as they had expected, but one record for Cyprian points to a more successful life in the Virginia Colony. In April of 1704, 20 years after Cyprian and Margaret arrived in the colony, Cyprian and several others petitioned the Virginia House of Burgesses to become naturalized citizens.(5) His naturalization petition was then approved in the House of Burgesses on 8 May 1704.(6)

"And upon consideration of the report of the said Committee upon the Petitions of John Gill, Stephen Gill, Samuel de Monville Teleije Alverton, Isaac Garret, Peter Rucks, and Clypian Prou praying to be Naturalized. The House agreed to the report of the Committee - That it is reasonable the said persons should be naturalized when they are qualifyed by taking the Oathes Enjoyned by Law."

Through the years Cyprian apparently acquired property and was able to support his growing family of five daughters for he wrote and signed a will on 16 Oct 1712.(7) Were he still indentured or without any property or other assets there would been little reason to draw up such a legal document. In his will, one page of which appears as a picture attached to an Ancestry Tree, Cyprian left some furniture to his daughter Frances (my 6 GreatGrandmother). He also named three daughters, Margaret, Susan, and Frances, as executors and stipulated that the remainder of his estate to be divided equally among the three.(8) All of this points to Cyprian having a sizeable estate at the time of his death. For Cyprian Prou, coming to the Virginia Colony seemed to have enabled him to have a prosperous life.

Tale of the Timeline shows the following

• 1683 - living in England
• 1683 - married to Margaret Vensanden
• 1684 - birth of oldest child, Marie
• 1684 - signed contract to be an indentured servant in the Virginia Colony, came to the Virginia Colony
• 1704 - petitioned for naturalization and was approved to be a naturalized citizen of the Virginia Colony
• 1712 - died, his will filed for probate on 5 Nov 1712

Learning something about an ancestor causes me to want to know still more about that person. Things such as what caused Cyprian and Margaret to decide to come to the colonies?  I would be thrilled to find the actual indenture contract that he or Margaret signed, especially if it explained why the couple was "excepted from working in the ground". Perhaps I can locate and read Cyprian's complete will and additional probate documents to get a better picture of the life that he had made for himself and his family in the colony. There are also some unsourced suggestions that Margaret may have died before Cyprian and that he later remarried. After I learned that Cyprian Prou's name appears in the "List of Qualified Huguenot Ancestors" of the National Huguenot Society, I need to look into their research materials. Then I saw several online trees that suggest that another ancestor, Thomas Benson, was also an indentured servant, coming to the Virginia Colony at about that same time. 

And, the list goes on ...

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#indenturedservants #immigrantancestors #ProuGenealogy

1. London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database online]. "Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812", records from City of London, Collegiate Church of St Katherine by the Tower, 1680-1695; record accessed through Ancestry.com.

2. Library of Virginia. Virginia Colonial Records Project, Middlesex County Record Office, "Quarter Sessions Records, Plantation Indentures 1682/3-1684." Indentures for service in Virginia, 1684; record accessed through www.lva.virginia.gov

3. Virtual Jamestown [web site], "Registers of Servants Sent to Foreign Plantations, 1654-1686; record accessed through http://www.virtualjamestown.org

4. "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975" database, FarmilySearch.org

5.  Whitley, Edythe Johns Rucker. History of the Rucker family and their descendants. Hermitage Printing, 1927; accessed through www.hathitrust.org

6. McIlwaine, H R, ed., Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia 1702/3-1705, 1705-1706, 1710-1712, p 74, accessed through www.ancestraltrackers.net.

7. Burgess, James A. Anderson, Cockrill, Moffett, Smith & Allied Families of Northern Virginia; record accessed through FamilySearch.org.

8. Ancestry Tree 168705053, person 212209830156.

Step By Step : The Naturalization of Peter Peterson Myren

Recently Lisa Alzo presented a most informative webinar concerning naturalization records.(1) In the webinar Lisa covered the steps involved for an immigrant to become a naturalized American citizen, starting with the filing of a Declaration of Intent and ending with the awarding of a Certificate of Naturalization. It was particularly helpful to see actual documents, examining the information presented on each, and noting that different states had slightly different documents used for the process.

However familiar I felt I was with the naturalization process, I knew I wanted to take a new look at some of my naturalized ancestors and relatives. Using the information Lisa presented, I wanted to revisit what I already knew about my Great Grandfather, Peter Peterson Myren. I also wanted to apply some of her research tips to see if I could learn more about Peter's path to citizenship.

One strategy suggested in the webinar was to develop a timeline of events in the naturalization process. All events that I have recorded in my Family Tree Maker software appear in chronological order, but it helped to set up a smaller, separate timeline to look at only those events related to Peter's immigration, residence, and naturalization.

My timeline included the following events. From Norwegian church records, I knew that Peter had notified that church of his plan to emigrate from Noway to America in 1870.(2) Having an approximate date of departure had enabled me to locate Peter and his brother John and their arrival at the port of Quebec in late June of 1870.(3) This 1870 date was confirmed in subsequent census documents. The 1900 US census recorded Peter as arriving in the US in 1870 and having been in the country for 30 years. This 1900 census also listed Peter as being a naturalized citizen. Information in the 1910 US census recorded Peter as having immigrated in 1878, a date I consider to be a transcription error as 1870 is the date shown in all other records I have found. The US census for 1920 also listed his arrival as being in 1870 and that he was naturalized in 1890.

My timeline confirmed that Peter had followed the established sequence of events, but I also wanted to see the documents associated with his becoming an American citizen. Several years ago, I had located Peter's naturalization record through the index available online through North Dakota State University Libraries. The information provided in the index - name, county of residence (Traill), and date of naturalization (May 1890) was specific enough that I ordered a copy of the record.

The one page record had three distinct parts. First was the signed statement by two witnesses that Peter Peterson Myren had lived in the United States for five years, lived in the state of North Dakota for one year, and that he was of good moral character. The second part of the record (shown below) was Peter's signed statement that he was renouncing all allegiance to the King of Norway and Sweden.

The third part of the record was the signed statement of a judge that "Peter Peterson Myren be, and he is hereby admitted to be A CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES", the caps being straight from the printed form. Rereading this section of the document caused me to focus on the handwritten statement that "said Peter Peterson Myren [was] the same person who took out his Intention Papers in the name of Peter Peterson before the Clerk of Circuit Court Eau Claire County, Wisconsin". After all, I had recently learned that the marriage of Peter and his wife Kari took place in Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, in 1880. I should not have been surprised to see that his first step toward citizenship had also started in Wisconsin.

FamilySearch.org provided me with the chance to find Peter's Declaration of Intention, sometimes referred to as First Papers. Their digitized Wisconsin, County Naturalization Records, 1807-1992 are not indexed, but they are easy to browse if you know the approximate date and county in which the Declaration was filed. From the Eau Claire County records, I selected the volume of Declaration of Intention 1871-1880 as most likely to contain Peter's declaration.(4) Thankfully, this volume contained an index which listed four Peter Petersons has having filed a declaration during that time period. Of the four records, two records listed a Peter Peterson born in Norway in 1848 and immigrating to the United States in 1870; this matched what I already knew about my Great Grandfather. The other two records had dates that eliminated them as possibilities for my Peter.

Looking back at the book's index for Peterson/Pederson, I noticed a listing for a John Petterson. His declaration indicated that he was born in Norway in 1843 and immigrated to the United States in July, 1870. This matched with what I already know of Peter's older brother John, especially as these two brothers had immigrated together. John's record was on page 83 of the book. One of the possible Peter records was on page 84. Plus John (page 83) and Peter (page 84) had both made their declarations on the same day, 7 Nov 1871. It was looking as if I had found my Peter's declaration.

I spent time looking back at the second possible Peter Peterson record. This second record showed a filing date of 5 Jul 1872. The signature also provided another thing to question. The record on page 148 was signed Peder Pederson, while my Peter is more frequently listed in church, immigration, census, final naturalization record, obituary as Peter Peterson / Myren. It was enough for me to feel that the declaration signed by Peter on page 84 was that of my Great Grandfather, Peter Peterson Myren.

Using a specific timeline helped me to see how and where my Great Grandfather had followed that path to citizenship. Immigration in 1870, filing a Declaration of Intention in 1871, and appearing before the court for his second papers, his actual citizenship papers, in 1890. In twenty years, Peter had made life changing decisions that lead to his becoming an American citizen. In just over twenty years, one of his sons would follow a similar path, leaving the United States and becoming a citizen of yet another country. But that's a story for another day.

Lessons Learned:

• Reading all the information of a record can sometimes lead you to find new information.
• A timeline can help to clarify the sequence of events.
• Once again, Legacy through its free webinars, added to my knowledge of research tips and resources.

(1) Alzo, Lisa. "Navigating Naturalization Records"; accessed through Legacy Family Tree Webinars (free through 13 July 2016) http://familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=380.
(2) Oppland Parish (Lesjaskog Lesja, Norway). Minister Book no. 9 (1854-1889), Espress Expatriate 1870, p. 289, entry 2, 24 Mar 1870; accessed through Digital Archives of Norway.
(3) Passenger Lists, 1865-1922, ships manifest for Mercator; accessed through Library and Archives of Canada.
(4) Wisconsin, County Naturalization Records, 1807-1992 Eau Claire > Declarations of intention 1871-1880, various pages; accessed through www.familysearch.org.

Mappy Monday : Here Comes the Syversen Family, part 3

The Syversen Family
created using Wordle.net

Between 1870 and 1900, a number of members of the Syversen family immigrated from Lesja, Oppland, Norway, and settled in the United States. Following their move, family members usually took on a variety of surnames. The primary ones found through US and state census records or engraved on cemetery markers are shown above.

By 1900, the family members were scattered across the midwest and were known by a number of different surnames. Yet, they were still family. Below is a brief look at the Syversen family after they came to the United States.

Patriarch Syver Hansen kept the surname of Hansen. A few years after immigrating, he died in Jackson County, Wisconsin.

His oldest daughter Anne Syversdatter and her husband Haldor Ericksen remained in Norway, but all five of their sons immigrated to the US in the 1870s. The brothers at times lived near each other but eventually were scattered across the country.  Son Elias moved to Wabaunsee County, Kansas and was known as Elias Holvorson for many years. Their second son Syver moved to Umatilla County, Oregon. Lars went by the name of Louis Halverson after his move to Garvin County, Oklahoma. Their fourth son Mathias. known as Mat Halvorsen, lived in Morrow County, Oregon. Ole, their youngest son, ended up in California. Three versions of a surname, four different states, and that is just one part of the Syversen family.

Hans Syversen, the son whose immigration started this series of posts, eventually lived in Day County, South Dakota, and took the surname of Belle. His sons Hans, Ole, Anton, and Otto continued to reside in South Dakota but used the Belden surname, Belden being the name of the farm area where the family has resided in Norway. Anton was later known as Anthony Belden while his brother Otto was sometimes referred to as Oscar Belden.

Another daughter, Ronaug Syversdatter, married in Norway and later immigrated to the Trempealeau, Wisconsin area with her husband, Syver Johannansen.

Guro Syversdatter seems to have been the first family member to immigrate, coming to the Chicago area around 1870. After her marriage to Erick Pederson, the family lived in Jackson County, Wisconsin. Through the years, several family members would stay with Guro and Erick after they first arrived in the US.

The second son, Syver Syversen also lived in the Jackson County, Wisconsin area. Syver, however, was known as Siver Siem, Siem being the name of another farming area in Norway.

My Great Grandmother, Kari Syversdatter, immigrated to the US before 1881 and married my Geat Grandmother, Peter Petersen Myren, They homesteaded in North Dakota, and a descendant of theirs still owns the family farm. Two of Kari and Peter's daughters preferred to use the surname of Myron while the rest of their siblings, as well as the parents, chose to use the name Myren.

It has been interesting to follow the various paths taken by members of the Syversen family. As shown on the map above, by 1900 the siblings and cousins were scattered across the country. Each seemed to have a surname preference, and although many were farmers, they also followed a variety of career paths. My research in following the family has also led me to contacts with other family members living across the US today.

I chose to write this post without my usual citations, but trust me, they exist. Feel free to contact me if you are interested in the sources used for the information presented here.

A final thank you to Thomas MacEntee. His Genealogy Do-Over encouraged me to be more systematic in my research and in recording the information I located. Without these tweaks to my methodology, I probably never would have been able to write this post.

Now, I think I'll take a look at some of those Bright Shiny Objects I came across in this journey.

Coming to America: The Syversen Family, part 2

Lesja Church, Oppland, Norway
photo by Henny Stokseth, Wikimedia Commons

I've been on the immigration trail of my Great Grandmother Kari Syversdatter Myren for the past several years, trying to see how she left the village of Lesja in Oppland, Norway and came to North Dakota.  Previously I had described some of my efforts in a post written in March, 2013. After my relative ease in finding how her brother Hans Syversen came from Norway to the US, I hoped to be more successful in learning about Kari. I would use the steps that had worked so successfully with Hans.

1. Use the Norwegian census records for 1865, 1875, and 1885 to establish the last census year in which the family or individual was recorded as living in Norway. (Digital Archives of Norway). Also, check US Federal census records to see when the family is recorded in the US.

Kari was listed as living with her parents, Syver Hansen and Marit Olsdatter, in both the 1865 and 1875 census of Norway but not in the 1885 census. The first census which records Kari as living in the US is the 1885 Dakota Territory Census.(1) In this 1885 census Kari, now married to Peter Peterson Myren, was listed as the mother of two children, ages 3 and 1, both of whom were listed as being born in the Dakota Territory. This sets Kari's migration bracket as being between 1875 and 1882.

2. Check local parish records to see if the family or person is listed as a "Removal", the column heading used for individuals notifying the church of their intent to move out of the area or to emigrate. (DAofN)

Several months ago I was looking for something else in the Lesja Parish records and stumbled upon the Migration Record for Kari.(2)

At the time I first found this record, I made a note in Family Tree Maker about the other person, Marie Hansdatter of Belden Farm, who was planning to leave Lesja the same time as Kari. I wondered who Marie was, a neighbor, friend, relative. As I started planning to write this post and was considering resources to mention, I had one of those "duh" moments. Marie Hansdatter, born in 1858, living on Belden Farm is in all likelihood the "missing daughter"t of Kari's brother Hans Syversen and also Kari's niece,  It now looked as if these two girls might be planning to travel together to America, leaving Norway on 25 April 1878. Surely two women traveling together should be easier to track than one person traveling alone.

The Digital Archives of Norway has digitized a number of records related to immigration. In their "Emigrants From Oslo 1867-1930", I found a record that might belong to Kari.(3) The database provided the following information about a Kari Hansen, a possible name for Kari since her father was Syver Hansen. Here is the information provided about Kari; my comments about the information are written in red. These are the reasons I say it might be for my Kari rather than being certain.

• Names:  Kari Hansen possible name
• Gender:  female
• Age:  24  Kari's age in 1858 would have been 25
• Residence:  Oier Oier is a parish located in an area close to Lesja, Oppland
• Position:  a Girl term usually means a servant girl who isn't part of the family
• Date of emigration:  23 June 1878
• Port of departure:  Oslo
• Destination:  White Hall Wisconsin Kari's older sister Guro had immigrated to American about 9-10 years earlier and resided near this town in the 1880 US Federal Census
• [Ship] Line:  Hero This ship only took passengers from Oslo to Liverpool, after that the person had to travel to the east coast of England to board a ship to travel to America
• Freight cost:  paid sometimes this indicated that the person emigrating held a prepaid ticket from Oslo to their final destination, in this case, Wisconsin

"Emigrants From Oslo" is a database, not a digitized record which I could browse for myself. No matter which search terms I used, I was never able to find a similar record for Kari's niece and possible traveling companion, Marie Hansdatter. Nor did I ever find listings for Hans Syversen's family as they had prepared to leave in July of 1878 as seen in a previous post.

3. Study US Federal Census records to see the year recorded for immigration, number of years in the US, or information on naturalization. (Ancestry.com)

In the 1900 US Federal Census, Kari Syversdatter Myren was reported as coming to the US in 1880 and being in the US for 20 years. According to the 1910 US Federal Census, Kari had immigrated to the United States in 1879. The 1920 US Census recorded Kari as coming to the US in 1878 and being naturalized in 1890, the same time as her husband Peter Petersen Myren. The census of 1930 also provided the same 1878 date for immigration. So, in a number of different census records, Kari is recorded as coming to the US between 1878 and 1880.


4. Search for the family or individual in immigration databases and ships' passengers lists.  Use sites such as Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Library and Archives of Canada, The Ships List,  Castle Garden for immigration 1820-1892, Ellis Island, or Steve Morse's One-Step Search.

This step kept me busy recording "no record found" on my research spreadsheet. I searched for both Kari and her niece Marie Hansdatter without success. I used NorwayHeritage's databases to make a list of possible ships on which Kari might have sailed with a later April 1878 departure date. Some docked at New York, others in Philadelphia, or Quebec. Then over several days, I searched more than 25 ships' passenger lists accessed through Ancestry.com and was not able to find either girl listed as a passenger. Not giving up, I tried searching a list of passenger lists for ships departing England in late July of 1878, the time listed in the Emigrants From Oslo database. Still no success.

For those ships docking at Quebec, I searched the immigration databases found on the Library and Archives of Canada website. Next I tried searching in the Castle Garden database. Again, no records using either website.

Kari Syversdatter's date and means of arrival in the United States continues to be a mystery. It is obvious that she left Norway. Obvious that she lived for over 40 years in North Dakota. There is just that gap between leaving Norway and residing in North Dakota that continues to be so elusive. When I compare my efforts concerning Kari with those on behalf of her brother Hans, it has seemed much easier to track a male through the immigration process.

But wait, there's more ...

(1) 1885 Dakota State Census, Traill County, [population schedule], Hillsboro Township, p. 5, dwelling 428, family 440, for Petter Petterson [and family]; North Dakota State University Archives, Fargo, [microfilm # unknown].
(2) Oppland (Lesja, Norway), Parish Register (Official) 8, 1854-1880, Migration Records 1878, p 587; Digital Archives of Norway.
(3) Emigrants From Oslo 1867-1930, "Kari Hansen"; accessed Digital Archives of Norway.

Coming to America: The Syversen Family, part 1

SS Germanic, White Star Line
source: John S. Johnston [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The other day I really seemed to be on a roll. In a relatively short time, I located the passenger list showing my 2Great Uncle Hans Syverson and his family arriving at the Port of New York on 17 Aug 1878 aboard the SS Germanic.(1)    Some of the research involved records accessed through the Digital Archives of Norway (DAofN). I accessed other records through Ancestry.com.

My successful plan for finding Hans Syversen's immigration records used the following steps.

1. Use the Norwegian census records for 1865, 1875, and 1885 to establish the last census year in which the family or individual was recorded as living in Norway. (DAofN). Also, check US Federal census records to see when the family is recorded in the US.

Hans and his family were recorded in both the 1865 census for Norway and the 1875 census for Norway but not in the 1885 census. Both 1865 and 1875 records showed the family living on the Belden South Farm in Lesja Parish of Oppland. According to the 1880 US census, the Hans Syversen family was living in Linden, Brown County, Minnesota. This gave me a timeframe of between 1875 and 1880 for the family's emigration period.

2. Check local parish records to see if the family or person is listed as a "Removal", the column heading used for individuals notifying the church of their intent to move out of the area or to emigrate. (DAofN)

Oppland, Lesja Parish, Register #8, Migration Records, 1878-1879, p 589
Digital Archives of Norway

After looking at the Migration Records for 1875-1877, I found this page listing Hans and his family.  The family had notified the church of their plan to leave 17 July 1878 for America.   All of the family, Hans Syverson of Belden Farm, his wife Marit Paulsdatter, and their children Toline, Sofia, Marit, Hans, Ole, and Anton were planning to emigrate to America.

3. Study US Federal Census records to see the year recorded for immigration, number of years in the US, or information on naturalization. (Ancestry.com)

According to the 1900 US Federal Census, Hans immigrated to the US in 1878 and had been in the United States 22 years. This agreed with the parish record shown above. For the son Hans, however, different information. In the 1910 census, son Hans indicated he had immigrated in 1889 while the 1920 census gave 1876 as the year he arrived in the US. In the 1915 South Dakota census, son Hans said he came in 1875 and had been in the US for 40 years.  Hans (the father) had the date of 1878 that corresponded with the parish date of 1878. His son Hans, for unknown reasons, had various dates ranging from 1876 to 1889. I chose to consider 1878 as the probable date the family emigrated since the father Hans had provided that date in 1900, a time closer to the actual event than the later years in which his son Hans gave emigration information.

4. Search for the family or individual in immigration databases and ships' passengers lists.  Use sites such as Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Library and Archives of Canada, The Ships List,  Castle Garden for immigration 1820-1892, Ellis Island, or Steve Morse's One-Step Search.

This part of my research took a number of tries. With our immigrant ancestors, we are viewing passengers lists sometimes written by someone writing in English based on information spoken in another language so the variation in the spelling of names can necessitate additional searches for information. Add to the passenger list information, the fact that it has been transcribed or edited by yet others who may not be familiar with names from other countries.

Another variable in my search was estimating the arrival date for the family. I found a series of excellent articles about the process of emigration from Norway and conditions found in the steamers that crossed the Atlantic to America on the Norway Heritage website.  The articles mentioned that Norwegian immigrants primarily sailed from Norway to Hull in Yorkshire, England or other several other English ports. From the English port, the emigrants would travel by rail across England to the port of Liverpool to begin their trip across the Atlantic. The trip might take as long as a month based on making the connection to cross England and board the transatlantic steamer. If Hans had indicated to the Lesja Parish church that he and the family planned to leave on 17 July 1878, I hoped to find him arriving in American sometime in August of 1878.

A third variable concerned how his name might be listed on a passenger list - Hans Syverson, Hans Syverson Belden, Hans Belle as he was listed in the 1880 US census, or perhaps some variation I had not anticipated. Through trial and error and much adjusting of the "Broad to Exact" sliders on Ancestry's search boxes, I finally found the family of H S Belle listed as arriving at the Port of New York on 17 Aug 1878, exactly one month after the family departed from Norway.

I was not certain at first this was MY Hans Syverson of Belden farm. I looked back at both the 1875 Norway Census and the parish Migration Record to compare the Norwegian family listings with the one on the New York passenger list. One huge difference was seeing the entire family listed on the passenger list as being from Sweden instead of Norway. The family members' names and information were generally more accurate. Below is my transcription of the passenger list with corrections made in (red).

#154    H S Belle    age 44   male    farmer    Sweden (Norway)
#155    Mar (Marit) Belle    age 43    female    wife    Sweden (Norway)
NOTE: daughter Marie was listed as leaving on the parish Migration Record, but she was not on the passenger list.  Checking into this is definitely on my To-Do List.
#156    John Belle    age 17    male    laborer    Sweden    (Here was a big difference - no John was ever recorded as being a member of the family. However, there was a daughter Toline Belle, age 17 in 1878, who is also listed in the 1865, 1875 and 1880 censuses.)

#157    Sofia Belle    age 14    female    spinster
#158    Maret (Marit) Belle   age 11    male (female)    child    Sweden (Norway)
#159    Hans Belle    age 9    male   child    Sweden (Norway)
#159    Ole Belle    age 5    male    child    Sweden (Norway)
#160    Anton Belle    age 3    male    child    Sweden (Norway)

Comparing this passenger list with information I already knew about the family, I was confident I had found the passenger list for my 2Great Uncle Hans Syversen and his family. According to SteveMorse.org, all passengers arriving in New York in 1878 would have been processed through Castle Garden so I also looked for the family using the Castle Garden database. On the Castle Garden website, I wasn't as successful in finding a listing for the family's arrival. Their website provides a template of information on individual passengers rather than digitized records that can be browsed. I never keyed in the right set of search terms to actually find the Syversen family records.

I had found the information in a few hours and without a lot of difficulties, thanks to the sliders on Ancestry.com's search screen.  I thought I had established a winning sequence of research steps for tracing my Norwegian relatives on their travels to America.  I couldn't wait to try it out on other relatives who I knew had immigrated to the US in the late 1800s.

To be continued ...

(1) "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957", SS Germanic, arrival Port of New York 17 Aug 1878; accessed Ancestry.com; citing National Archives M237, roll 414.