200th Anniversary of Norwegian Immigration to America

 The journey began on July 4, 1825, when 52 passengers set sail from Stavanger aboard the sloop Restauration, seeking religious freedom, economic opportunity, and a new life in North America

One hundred years ago my Norwegian grandparents came to America.  Two hundred years ago came the first Norwegians. Read about it in a favorite blog of mine

                                      NORWEGIAN GENEALOGY AND THEN SOME

Check out also other interesting posts the author, Martin Roe, has blogged. A great help especially to beginning Norwegian genealogists.

Thank you Martin!

Mommy in Norway - 1947

 

My Mom, Grace Sevald, 19 years old, posing for the camera on a joyous trip to Norway to visit family. This trip was particularly joyous as our American family had not heard from their Norwegian family in years.  Norway had been occupied by Germany in WWII. Luckily they discovered all of their family had survived the Nazi occupation unharmed.

Norway's National Day - All About 17 May Syttende Mai

An important celebration in Norway perhaps not very well understood by Americans of Norwegian backround. Happy Syttende Mai!

WWII: VICTORY IN EUROPE: D-Day to V-E Day Celebrated Across the Globe, May 5, 1945

         

Victory in Europe Day meant the long march from Omaha Beach to Berlin was over.

My Dad, Melvin Kallman, would be coming home.

Thank you Dad, Uncle Arnold Sevald, Uncle Howard Johnson, Cousins Soderstrom, Jacobson, Kallman and all the others who served. Members of "The Greatest Generation".

Norway Cities: The 8 Must-Visit Cities in Norway

April 1865, Norwegian Family in the Civil War

April 1865 the U. S. Civil War ended. 

The Family farm Øvald had been worked by our family since 1650. By 1865 my third great grandmother Johanna Elisabeth and her husband Nils Jensen had inherited the familial right to farm on Øvald. Her younger sister, Karen, was not so lucky. She was widowed with three daughters. She remarried and she, her husband and three daughters were the first in our family to head for a chance of a new life in America. In America her daughter Hanna married another Norwegian immigrant named Charles Oleson. 

 November 27, 1861 Charles enlisted as a private in the 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry to fight with the Union in the Civil War. So far this cousin, 4 times removed, is the first I find, and perhaps the only in our family who fought in the Civil War.

Charles Oleson 1843-1907

The 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry initially recruited 1,127 officers and men. An additional 998 men were recruited as replacements for a total of 2,125 men.

The regiment suffered 24 enlisted men killed or died from wounds in action and 4 officers and 284 enlisted men who died of disease for a total of 312 fatalities.*

*Wikipedia 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry Regiment