Norway Emigration and Immigration: Difference between revisions

* History of emigration from Norway

* Passenger lists

Fortunately, Norwegian emigration records are numerous. There are also some helpful records of Norwegian immigrants in the United States.

* Passenger lists

* Passports

If your ancestor has a surname that does not end in sen or son, the name itself may be a clue to the place in Norway where the family came from. Check a Norwegian Gazetteer such as ''Norsk Stedsfortegnelse'' (FHL 948.1 E8ns, 1972; microfiche number 6054629) to determine if the surname appears as a place name and where it is located in the country. See the "[[Norway Names Personal|Names, Personal]]" section for further information about Norwegian naming customs.

'''1866 to 1920.''' In the mid 1860s, large numbers of people began leaving Norway on steamships. Most emigrants sailed to Hull, England; then traveled by train to Liverpool, England. From there they sailed to the United States and Canada. Steamships took only two to three weeks instead of three months, so emigration increased. During this time period 700,000 people left Norway. However, emigration declined in the mid-1870s because of a recession in the United States.

No passenger lists exist for any of the Norwegian ports before 1867. Prior to this time, emigrant groups generally bought or chartered a ship and left from almost any of Norway's many ports. For earlier emigration records, check the Family History Library Catalog:

NORWAY - EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION - [PORT].

| Kristiania (Oslo) Passenger lists

|-

| Indexes

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=== Bergen ===

| 1874 to 1925

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A good index of Norwegians who emigrated from Bergen-Quebec was made from Quebec passenger lists:

=== Trondheim ===

| 1867 to 1926

|}

These lists have been indexed alphabetically by first name and surname(s). The index is on microfilm and is typewritten.

The original passenger lists from Stavanger were destroyed. A list of emigrants from Rogaland County has been reconstructed from many other sources such as registers of people moving out of the parishes, newspaper articles, obituaries, and local histories. This emigrant list, known as the Rogaland emigration index, covers the earliest emigration period until the present day. It is alphabetized by the first letter only. For example, all the surnames beginning with "A" will be filed together in no particular order.

* Migrants from Gran parish, 1825-1900

* Migrants from Jevnaker parish, 1837-1901

Most early Norwegian immigrants to the United States settled in the Midwest, but many also settled in other parts of the United States and Canada.

'''Naturalization.''' Naturalization records from county, state, and district courts may give important clues as to where an immigrant was from and when he or she lived there.

'''Church records.''' Church records from Norwegian churches in America can be useful in your research. (See the "[[Norway Archives and Libraries|Archives and Libraries]]" section for an address to the Evangelical Lutheran churches in America.)

The Norwegian Emigration Center is a division of the regional archive in Stavanger. The center has a copy of most of the published genealogical material about Norwegian families, as well as a complete collection of the church, census, probate, and emigration records. Workers there will answer questions and do research for a nominal fee. The center's address is:

The Norwegian Emigration Museum (Norsk Utvandrermuseum), which has an archive, is located in Otterstad, Norway. It has an extensive collection of records of Norwegians in America. It also provides a network of local genealogists who, for a fee, will conduct private research through correspondence.