The emigrants
BACKGROUND
The project
Emigration
Memories
IN AMERICA
The
emigrants
Their
destination
Work
Daily
life
Returning home
IN NORWAY
House
and home
Recipes
Words and
phrases
OTHER INFO
Funding
Archive
Links
BACK
Adventurousness and a job
Emigration from Vest-Agder began in earnest at the end of the nineteenth century. Some people had emigrated before, but emigration from this county had not equalled that of many other parts of Norway. What made southern Norwegians really set their course over the Atlantic were the conditions at home in Norway.
In rural districts and towns in Vest-Agder many young men had worked at sea or had taken jobs fishing. In the 1880s both these industries were hit by crises, which meant that people had to find other ways of earning a living. And they knew where to go. Many seamen had been to America on Norwegian ships, and when the crisis came it was quite clear what to do: set course for American to sign on in the American merchant shipping fleet. Some of the emigrants settled in Brooklyn and worked on tugs and freighters in the New York area, while others enlisted on ships that sailed on the large lakes.
As letters and reports arrived from the seamen who had emigrated, friends, siblings and neighbours discovered that they wanted to follow suit. Most of those who went were young people – girls and boys from confirmation age up to their middle twenties – but there were also some married men who decided to go, leaving their wives and children at home.
Young people from Lista, several of them visiting from America, gathered around the America albums
The America boat
Up to the 1950s the most common way to travel between southern Norway and America was by boat. Read about the crossing and view pictures.
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A sad story
Gesine’s husband, Johan Teodor, traveled to America early in the 1900s. He intended to earn money to send home – but it didn’t turn out as expected.
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At the photographer's
It was popular to go to the photographer and send photographs home to friends and acquaintances.
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