Beyond the Norwegian American Rural Immigration Story

​Norwegian American Immigration- A Case Study
Beyond the Norwegian-American Farm Communities.
 
 
2025 is the 200th anniversary of the first organized immigration from Norway to the United States.  Fifty-three people arrived near New York City in a sloop named the Restauration on Oct. 9, 1825.  This began a wave of emigration during which over 800,000 people left Norway for the United States, mostly in the period between 1840 and 1910.  My grandfather, Fredrik Hjelmeland was on the tail end of that big wave when he arrived in Halifax, Canada in 1910.  It is also the 100th anniversary of my grandmother Kristine and mother Odny’s immigration.  
Today, among those of us who claim Norwegian American heritage, the anniversary of the first settlers, has heightened interest in migration patterns.  We are curious about how our ancestors decided to leave.  Did they plan to settle somewhere specific?  What did they know about the land they were headed to, the climate, the topography, the soil?  Were they encouraged by a relative or friend that had already left?  What role did religion or politics play in their decision to leave?  How wealthy or poor were they?   
  I have been struck by the ways in which my grandparent’s experiences differ from common experiences and explanations of the time but also differ from each other’s.  In the fifteen years between Grandpa emigrating and Kristine arriving, the world around them had changed.  In the context of changing economies, a World War and the emergence of a middle class in the United States, Kristine and Fredrik brought maturity and changed family situations to their decision making.
Norwegians, including my mother’s family were like all immigrants.  They left their homes and families because of a lack of opportunities.  In Norway, three factors dominated.

• Arable land in Norway is scarce, but industrialization was hampered by the difficulties of geography, mountains and fjords, scenic but ill-suited for anything but subsistence farming, trading  and fishing. 
• Religious freedom-Christianity, specifically Lutheranism was the state church, which meant that the local government was closely tied up with who the government chose as pastor for the community.  Quakers, Haugean pietists and other Protestants who espoused lay leadership were moved to emigrate rather than resist both the government and their church.  Other immigrants simply could not be bothered with the strict rules of the church.  Only 25% of Norwegian emigrants stayed with the Lutheran Church in the United States.
• Education was limited and ended for most with confirmation.  This lack of education limited the economic prospects of fisherman and farmers.  Limiting education assured the upper class a protected status as they could afford to educate their children beyond basic reading and writing.  

Fredrik, my grandfather, was motivated to emigrate mostly by the idea of land.  The youngest of three sons, he came from a family that owned a small farm in Bygstad near the Dale fjord on the western coast of Norway.  Land ownership put his family a step above husmenn, tenant farmers, in social position and wealth.  Husmenn families often were those who emigrated for opportunities that owning land would afford them. 
Because his older brother Mikal would inherit the family dairy farm, Fredrik knew he would need to find work off the farm. By law the farm went to the oldest son in the family. Dividing the farm into smaller parcels of land for inheritance purposes was not permitted.  If Fredrik were to remain farming, he would either have to be able to buy scarce farmland or become a husmann on someone else’s land.  Neither option suited him. 
By the early 1900’s, industrialization and new communication and transportation services were drawing young people from the farms to Bergen and then Kristiania, now Oslo.  Fredrik was among those who saw their future in learning new skills.  In 1909, he earned his certification in electricity from the Kristiania Technical Institute.  To travel across the country and get certified in a technology that no one in his home area had access to, was a bold move for a farmer’s son from a small coastal village.  Fredrik had the vision and drive to know that this was a technology that he wanted to be a part of.  He was motivated to get the education he needed to acquire land.  His time in the city introduced him to more merchants and businessmen who were part of the small but emerging middle class of Norway.  He also saw a way of life that was not as bound by the pietism of his home.  Desire for land, education in a skill and a vision of different ways of life, all made Fredrik ready to emigrate.
While he was in Kristiania, his brother Mikal had come home from America with tales of opportunities for a young person who was willing to work hard. Because their family was still on the farm, Mikal had gone to America to practice his trade of bricklaying and masonry and to earn money for the day when he received ownership of the farm.  When he returned in 1908, Norway had entered a time of deep economic depression.  His hard earned money did not go as far as he had hoped.  In addition, his father was not ready to hand over the farm.  In 1910, Mikal returned to America and Fredrik accompanied him.  Both said they would return to farming in Norway after they made some money.  Only Mikal did.