Nils Olaves Fredriksen Klevjer
In the Gjerpen, Telemark official parish register it is recorded that Nils was born 6 Nov and baptised 14 Dec 1890 in Gjerpen, Telemark, Norway. When he was two years old his family moved to Klevjer in Vestfold county and it was that name his family later adopted as their surname. Nils worked briefly as a sailor until his emigration to the United States.
Nils left Kristiania (Oslo) Norway August 27, 1910 on the ship "Tasso" bound for England. Nils had $25 and a third class (steerage) ticket on the S.S. Saxonia which left Liverpool, England August 31, 1910 and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts September 7th, 1910. His contacts in the US were his aunt and uncle, Henry and Karen Larson of Boston, Massachusetts.
Nils left Kristiania (Oslo) Norway August 27, 1910 on the ship "Tasso" bound for England. Nils had $25 and a third class (steerage) ticket on the S.S. Saxonia which left Liverpool, England August 31, 1910 and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts September 7th, 1910. His contacts in the US were his aunt and uncle, Henry and Karen Larson of Boston, Massachusetts.
In Boston he learned to drive and worked as a chauffeur. Not as easy a job as you would imagine.
In 1910 in even the larger cities such as Boston, streets were generally mud, crowded with bicycles, horses and people, chaotic, disgusting and filthy with animal manure. Even though the average vehicle traversed at what we would see at a relatively low rate of speed there were many casualties, particularly of children since the playground had not yet been invented. Children played in the streets. No one knew how to deal with the rapidly growing number of automobiles. Traffic laws were non existent. In fact the first stop sign didn't come until 1915 in Detroit, Michigan.
Nils must have loved the US and intended to make it his home because barely a year after his arrival he filed his declaration of intention to become a US citizen in April of 1911. He took the oath of citizenship November 2, 1915.