J. B. Wist, Den Norske Invandring til 1850, published about 1890, ventures to question seriously whether such a company ever came to the United States! His reason is that the clearance records of Stavanger show no such name as the “Restauration,” and American statistics give the total Scandinavian immigration as 35, of whom 14 are credited to Norway.
33
Statutes of the United States, 1819, Act of March 2.
34
“Rochester is celebrated all over the Union as presenting one of the most striking instances of rapid increase in size and population, of which the country affords an example.” Capt. Basil Hall, Travels in North America, I, 153.
35
Ibid., I, 155.
36
Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 15.
37
Ackerman, Early Illinois Railroads (No. 23, Fergus Hist. Ser.), 19, quoting an editorial from the Sangamo Journal, Oct. 31, 1835: “We rejoice to witness the spirit of internal improvement now manifesting itself in every part of Illinois.”
38
Martineau, Society in America, I, 247, 259, 336.
39
“I have complete evidence that he visited La Salle County, Illinois, as early as 1833.” Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 172.
40
Ibid., 174, 176 ff.
41
Billed Magazin, I, 83.
42
Translated from Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 16n. This writer summarizes a letter of which he saw a copy as a young man in Norway.
43
Ibid.; Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 147.
44
Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 133.
45
Billed Magazin, I, 18-19. Of the year 1836, one writer asserts: “En Daler ei gjældt mere end to norske Skilling,” and that many lost all their property.
46
In Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 133-135, is a translation of a letter written in Hellen in Norway, May 14, 1836: “If good reports come from them (certain emigrants about to sail) the number of emigrants will doubtless be still larger next year. A pressing and general lack of money enters into every branch of business, stops, or at least hampers business, and makes it difficult for many people to earn the necessaries of life. While this is the case on this side of the Atlantic, there is hope of abundance on the other, and this, I take it, is the chief cause of this growing disposition to emigrate.”
47
Billed Magazin, I, 6 ff.
48
Ibid., I, 83.
49
Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 148.
50
Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 18; Billed Magazin, I, 83. Langeland writes: “Tre af Nedskriverens Paarörende, som reiste fra Bergen i 1837, var blandt dem, som i Vinteren 1836 besögte ham, og kom hjem fulde af Amerikafeber.”
51
Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 18; Billed Magazin, I, 83, 150 (Nattestad’s account).
Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 22. He naïvely remarks that the Scandinavians have preferred to follow that other text: “Be fruitful … replenish the earth.”
55
Billed Magazin, I, 123-124.
56
Interview with the late Rev. O. C. Hjort of Chicago, July, 1890, whose party spent five months on the sea.
57
Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 25 – “saavidt nu erindres.”
58
Billed Magazin, I, 9, 94.
59
Ibid., I, 388.
60
Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 20-21. See Cobbett, The Emigrant’s Guide (London, 1829), a typical English guide book of the period.
Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 203-205; Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 31. Much information regarding Rynning was derived from the Rev. B. J. Muus, of Minnesota, a nephew of Rynning.
64
Sandfærdig Beretning om Amerika til Veiledning og Hjælp for Bonde og Menigmand, skrevet af en Norsk som kom der i Juni Maaned, 1837.
65
Billed Magazin, I, 94.
66
Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 207-208. In making this and the following translations, Mr. Anderson used the copy of Rynning’s book belonging to the Rev. B. J. Muus, the only copy known to be in America. This copy is now in the library of the University of Illinois.
Letters of R. B. Anderson and J. A. Johnson, Daily Skandinaven, Feb. 7, 1896.
70
Brohough, Elling Eielsens Liv og Virksomhed, 10-11, 20-21, 30-36.
71
Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 50.
72
Billed Magazin, I, 94.
73
Translated from Billed Magazin, I, 18 ff.
74
Ibid., 6-7.
75
A shipping notice in the Boston Daily Advertiser, Aug. 1, 1839 reads: “Passengers, – in the “Venice” from Gothenburg, 67 Norwegians on their way to Illinois.”
76
An oft-repeated story tells how the company was persuaded to remain in Wisconsin by some enterprising Milwaukee men who pointed out to the immigrants a fat, healthy-looking man as a specimen of what Wisconsin would do for a man, and a lean, sickly-looking man as a warning of what the scorching heats and fever of Illinois would quickly do to a man who settled there. See Billed Magazin, I, 7.
77
Billed Magazin, I, 10.
78
Ibid., I, 12.
79
Ibid., I, 18.
80
Ibid., I, 12.
81
Ibid.; Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 280 ff.
82
Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 44; Billed Magazin, I, 13.
