A JOURNEY TO AMERICA IN THE FIFTIES1 BY CLABA JACOBSON This sketch is written mainly from information obtained from a woman who was a child of nine years when her family emigrated from Drammen, Norway, to America, in the spring of 1858. We already have a whole literature about the early Norwegian emigrants to America; perhaps few care to hear her story, so I beg your indulgence. In our day and age every nine-year-old school child in Norway knows a lot about America, but in the 1850's it was a terra incognita, a fairyland for the little ones and for many of the older ones too. In the rural districts, geographical knowledge was very limited. Thus our friend had heard something about foreign countries, but her ideas were very hazy. About people in foreign countries she knew little, except about Swedes, for there were many of them working around in her neighborhood. She remembered one Swede who worked for her parents. He told incredible stories and yarns that the children implicitly believed. Englishmen had not yet begun to visit Norway in large numbers, and few other foreigners had found their way thither at that time. A certain kind of people, however, she had heard a lot about, and her mind was filled with fear whenever she thought about them. They were the Turks who had snouts like pigs, and, like the trolls in the fairy story, feasted on Christian flesh and blood. The Free Masons were their helpers, who, when they could get hold of plump farm girls, would send them to the dreadful Turks. That was the last 1 This paper first appeared in Symra, 10: 120-137 (1913), under the title " En Amerika-reise for seksti aar siden." The child who figures in this story was the author's mother, Nicoline Hansen Hegg, who was born in 1844. She married the Reverend Abraham Jacobson in 1863, and died in 1929. 60 JOURNEY TO AMERICA 61 you heard of the girls. Of course there was not much danger for little girls who were light as a feather, for the Turks wanted fat, healthy peasant girls from the mountain regions. Still one could not feel perfectly safe. The child's world expanded when she heard about letters from the fairyland, America. Relatives of the family had some years previously emigrated to the colony in Muskego, Wisconsin, so well known to the pioneers, that was formed by people from Drammen and vicinity. The home folks had heard from the emigrants, from time to time, that they got on well, though they had had trying times. Thus the pioneers had gone through the terrible cholera epidemic which raged in the colony in 1849, and they had suffered from fever and ague. These accounts were not very encouraging, but, strangely enough, the younger members of the family, because of these letters, were gripped by a strong desire to emigrate. The parents did not wish to oppose their children 's wishes and hopes of getting independent jobs and positions in America. On the other hand they felt they could not bear to let them go away. So parents, too, tore themselves away from the mother country with bleeding hearts, and together with the young formed new homes far away on the other side of the great ocean. After they had made up their minds, there was fortunately not much time to ponder over their decision, for they had to get ready as soon as possible. After the farm was sold, they had to dispose of nearly all their household goods, for freight rates were very high. They could take along only their clothes, some books, and a few other things. An auction was held and everything was sold except a chest of drawers belonging to one of the girls who had just been confirmed. She was so anxious to keep it and begged so long, that she was allowed to take it with her. At present it is standing in the youngest sister's home, a little worn with age, as can be expected, for it is nearly seventy years old. 62 STUDIES AND RECORDS There were two small girls who...
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Jan 1, 2023
Ana Rafaela Damas 
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