In working with a local Sons of Norway member on his genealogy, I found an unusually high number of people emigrating from Voss, Hordaland to Amerika in April of 1857-257 of them! Can anyone tell me what was going on to have this large a group leaving at the same time? This is puzzling to me. Thank you for your help. Virginia Lindsey
Dear Virginia! There may be multiple reasons why certain years show extreme numbers of emigrants, but I would say in general, knowing fairly well the emigration "structure" of the "inner parts" of Western Norway (including Hardanger and Voss in Hordaland and the Eastern part of the Sognefjord area), the emigration movement was at its strongest in the years between 1853 and 1869, just interrupted by the Civil War period from 1863 thru 1865. Thus, if you look at any parish in this area for this time period, you will find a number of cases with 200 emigrants or more per year! From Luster parish in Luster County we find 256 emigrants in 1861 and 247 in 1862; thus over 500 people or almost 10% of the parish's population left Norway in those two years alone!! How about that? Approximately 6500 people emigrated from Luster Co., Norway between 1837 and 1930, and I have spent almost 40 years trying to find their whereabouts in America, tracing the families down to include the first generation born in America, with a success rate of about 95%... I must admit, I am fairly satisfied with this result, but I am always struggling to find those "last lost ones", which is why I so much appreciate the wonderful help I get from many of the NORWAY listers! Very sincerely yours, Lars E. Oyane ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On Apr 29, 2015, at 6:18 PM, Virginia Lindsey via wrote: > In working with a local Sons of Norway member on his genealogy, I found an > unusually high number of people emigrating from Voss, Hordaland to Amerika > in April of 1857-257 of them! Can anyone tell me what was going on to have > this large a group leaving at the same time? This is puzzling to me. > > Thank you for your help. > > Virginia Lindsey