All posts in Norwegian Emigration

The story of the great Norwegian emigration: why a third of Norway’s people left for America, the 1825 Sloopers, the settlement of the Upper Midwest, and how to trace an emigrant ancestor.

Why a third of Norway’s population emigrated: land hunger and a growing population, the pull of cheap American land, America fever and America letters, religious dissent, and chain migration.

The story of Norwegian emigration to the United States: the waves from 1825 to the 1920s, the routes across the Atlantic, why America drew them, and how to research a Norwegian-American family.

The story of the Sloopers, Norway’s first organized emigrants: the 1825 voyage of the Restauration, the ‘Norwegian Mayflower,’ the religious dissenters aboard, and the settlements they founded.

A step-by-step method for finding your Norwegian emigrant ancestor and the farm they came from: the farm-name surname clue, police emigration lists, church out-migration records and more.

Where Norwegians settled in America: the first Wisconsin colonies, the Minnesota heartland, Iowa and the Dakotas, the Pacific Northwest, and how clustering by home district helps research.

The story of Norwegian emigration to Canada: Quebec as an early transit port, the later Norwegian settlement of the Prairie provinces, movement from the US, and how to research it.