That said ~ the very best genealogical adventure of 2010 was meeting up with a very nice couple who volunteered their time in the Spring of 2010 when I attended "Swedish Day" at the MNGS library. After I got some help with my Swedish research, I asked if anyone was familiar with Norwegian research and was told (good naturedly) that they had a few Norwegians who showed up on Swedish Day (usually with their Swedish spouses).
I asked my Norwegian volunteer about emigration records as I had been unable to find any records for my Eriksen ancestors leaving Norway and/or arriving in the USA. We discussed the fact that my Eriksens left in 1865 (apparently only a few months before the 1865 census and the start of really thorough emigration records). During my SLIG 2010 trip I found my Eriksen family information in the Stjordal bygdgebok (mentioned in a previous post) and found various family members in the US and Minnesota censuses maintained at Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. However, I remained stymied trying to find anything about the Eriksens' departure or arrival.
My Norwegian volunteer commiserated with me and then mentioned that there were some websites with ship and passenger transcriptions and offered to show me how to check out those sites. She also showed me her family's information so I would have some idea of how the site worked. We took a look Norway Passenger Lists and she input her family name and ship's arrival date. We took a look at the passenger list and she scrolled through it to give me some idea of the type of information you could find. Imagine my surprise to find my Eriksen family on the exact same ship! I literally got chills and we were both thrilled with our discovery!
I had checked out the website before. Why hadn't I been able to find my Eriksens? Here is what their entries looked like in the passenger transcription ~
I learned that my Eriksens departed Trondheim on 14 May 1865 aboard the bark Bergen and arrived in Quebec on 3 Jul 1865. As a bonus, I learned that Mail's sister Gurine Pedersdatter traveled with the Eriksen family. I am still searching for Eriksens' arrival in the USA and their first years in Minnesota, but how lucky was I to happen to meet up with someone whose ancestors traveled from Norway to the new World with my ancestors. That is the definition of Genealogy Serendipity and my very best genealogy adventure!
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