Emigration from Sunnfjord to America Prior to 1885

Abstract

by LEIV H. D VERGS DAL translated by C. A. CLAUSEN 5 Emigration from Sunnfjord to America Prior to 1885 * The aspects aim of of the this emigration article is from to consider Sunnfjord certain up to aspects of the emigration from Sunnfjord up to 1885, especially why the movement began so late and why it exhibited such great regional differences within the district. Sunnfjord is an interesting case study in the history of emigration. It is located within the same county ( fylke ) as Sogn and has natural connecting links with that district , but in regard to emigration the two areas differed greatly during the nineteenth century. This was apparent to the editor of Norges officielle statistikk, the official Norwegian statistics, even during the 1860s: "It is . . . remarkable how great a difference we often find in the matter under discussion [emigration] between two neighboring districts. Thus the district of Sogn has the greatest emigration intensity while very few people emigrate from the adjoining district of Sunnfjord og Nordfjord which is located in the same county." 1 During the years 1856-1865 Sogn lost 17.2 per thousand of its me- *This article is based on a thesis, entitled "Utvandringa til Amerika fra Sunnfjord fram til 1885," presented to the History Department of the University ofTrondheim, 1976. See map on page 112. 127 Leiv H. Dvergsdal dian population annually through emigration. During the same period, however, Sunnfjord og Nordfjord had only scattered cases of emigration, except for the township of Jplster in 1864. 2 From Sogn emigration had begun by 1840 while the people of Sunnfjord did not get generally involved until the year 1866. Sunnfjord forms a part of Sunnfjord og Nordfjord district which together with the district of Sogn constituted Nordre Bergenhus amt, now the county of Sogn og Fjordane . During the period in question certain minor administrative alterations were made; the terminology used here will be that current at the end of the period. Hence, the "Sunnfjord" of this article is identical with the area defined as Sunnfjord in the tax rolls of 1890. At that time Sunnfjord included seven parishes: Kinn, Bremanger, F0rde, Jplster, Gaular (Indre Holmedal), Fjaler (Ytre Holmedal), and Askvoll. Except for Fprde each parish also formed one municipality. The parish of F0rde was divided into two municipalities: F0rde and Vevring. In 1860 the town Flora was incorporated within the parish of Kinn; but for a long time the town scarcely existed, as its very basis, the spring herring fisheries, soon vanished. Geographically, Sunnfjord lies to the west of the Jostedal glacier between Sogn and Nordfjord in the county of Sogn og Fjordane. Sunnfjord has a long strip of coast which extends from Nordfjord in the north to Bufjord (not far from Sognefjord) in the south. Landward the district tapers off and ends in a point resting on the Jostedal glacier. Along the coast are located a number of islands while many fjords cut inland. The two longest of these, Dalsfjord and Fprdefjord, continue into the mountains as rather deep valleys each with its own water course, Gaular and Jplster respectively. As far as is known, the very first emigrant from Sunnfjord was the well-known writer of America letters, Gjert 128 EMIGRATION FROM SUNNFJORD Gregoriussen Hovland. He was born in Askvoll in 1794, the son of Gregorius Gregoriussen Folkestad and his wife Janice Hansdatter. Gjert took the name Hovland from another farm in the Folkestad neighborhood. Around 1807 the family moved to Bergen where young Gjert obtained work as a cooper. Presumably this activity brought him to the fishing centers of Haugesund and Stavanger, the first Norwegian communities to be affected by the America fever.4 At least we know that by 1831 he had joined the Kendall settlement in New York State where the "Sloopers" from Stavanger had settled six years earlier.5 Gjert is best known for the many letters he sent home, which aroused the interest of people in both the western and the eastern parts of Norway.6 But what is surprising is that his letters caused so little stir in his own home district of Sunnfjord. One explanation may be that he left Askvoll at the age of thirteen...