Finding relatives in USA.?

Question

Hello.

I am Norwegian, and as I know Norway had very high immigration to USA (in relations to percentage, not numbers) in the 1800s, the possibility of me having relatives in the States is definitely there.

How would I go about tracing these possible relatives? I only know the names and birth dates of my grandparents, and since they're not available I can't find find out anything more "out" in the family tree than that.

I know that immigration from Norway started in 1825, and it really started to escalate from about 1850 and onwards, so if anyone did journey it would probably be in the time era 1840-1900.

Thanks for help.

Answer 1

www.ancestry.com has both Norway and Sweden in its list of countries to look up records for on its opening "search" page.  It also has these databases in Immigration/Emigration:

Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630-74 ---3,108 names (a 2nd listing with the same years, shows another 7,395 names for a total of 10,503)

There are also numerous databases for ships' passengers arriving in New York, Boston, Baltimore, California, Canada, etc.

I'd be glad to help out. Just send your info to my email address shown in my profile,and I'll see what I can do for you. I can send my results to you through Yahoo or your regular email, whichever you prefer.  :)

Answer 2

Most Norwegians settled in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the lumber camps and mines of Wisconsin, most of the state of Minnesota and parts of the state of South Dakota. If you give us a surname to trace (without giving your own name, of course) we'd be happy to help you. Otherwise, I would suggest you contact Finlandia University in Hancock, Michigan; the Center for Scandinavian Studies at North Park University in Chicago, Illinois; or St. Olaf College in Minnesota. They're the major centers for Scandinavian genealogy in the US. Here are links that can help you:

http://www.norwegianamerican.org/

http://www.finlandia.edu/Department/FAHC...

http://www.northpark.edu/home/index.cfm?...

http://www.stolaf.edu/library/libinfo/ge...

Answer 3

Here's another link, the Norwegian American Historical Association:

http://www.naha.stolaf.edu/genealogy/ind...