_The Year 1837. The Sailing of Aegir._
The influence of Gjert Hovland in this new trend in the immigration
should be noted. South Bergenhus now became the scene of immigration
activity. At the same time it is to be observed that Hardanger had
contributed its quota of immigrants in the exodus of 1836. The return
of Knud Slogvig was noised far beyond the County of Stavanger. Among
those who travelled long distances to see and talk with Slogvig and
get personal affirmation of what reports had told of America, was Nils
P. Langeland, a school teacher from Samnanger, one of the emigrants of
1837. Similarly Knud Langeland relates in _Nordmaendene i Amerika_,
page twenty-three, how he paid a visit to Slogvig in the winter of
1836, and received from him assurance of what he had read[71] about
the New World. Knud Langeland gives a most interesting account of how
his interest in America became aroused; though a personal experience,
it is undoubtedly typical of that of many a young man in Bergen and
surrounding region at this time. As a document in immigration history,
it is sufficiently significant to warrant quoting in considerable part.
He says:
"Purely by accident I found in a friend's library in Bergen a book
by a German entitled REISEN IN AMERIKA.... As this book contained
some vivid pictures of the distant regions the traveller had
visited, as well as of the impressions he had received of land and
people in the new world, it was read with all the allurements of a
novel. Here was given full information about the German emigration.
With this description of travels in my pocket I went early one
summer morning along the bay of Solem and up the steep ascent
of Lyderhorn. Up there I read and dreamed of the new wonderful
world far away to the west. The mist had sunk low over the fjords
between the isles about Bergen, but up there around the tree-tops
it was bright sunshine. It was the first time I had seen this
glorious sight peculiar to mountain regions. If any prosaic nature
ever received poetic inspiration and exaltation it was during
this time, while my eyes beheld the sunlit surface of the fog and
in the distance caught a glimpse of the sparkling shield of the
North Sea, which seemed to rise to the height of the mountain....
And far out toward the west, thousands of miles out there, lies
the land about which I am reading, lies the big, still so little
known part of the world, with its secrets and its wonders. From
that time I sought all books and descriptions of travel concerning
America which I could get, and, together with an uncle of mine, I
began to collect as much information about the new world, as well
through books as through the verbal accounts from Stavanger people,
which now began to be current in the district concerning Kleng
Peerson's emigration and return, without our yet actually thinking
of emigrating. Through a kind friend's help I was enabled in 1834
to spend six months in England, on which occasion I gathered a
number of pamphlets and books about America and emigration from
England. In this way more definite and more reliable information as
to conditions in America and the journey thither gradually spread
in the vicinity. This seemed to discredit the many ridiculous and
impossible stories now constantly set in circulation. Slowly but
steadily the thought of emigrating to America took root; more and
more joined the little group which now in earnest began talking
of selling their homes and going to America. Then it was that the
bishop of Bergen wrote a letter to the farmers of Bergen on the
text, "Remain in the country; make your living honorably," whether
he forgot it or did not regard it suitable to the occasion, he
failed to quote the second commandment of the passage: "Multiply
and fill the world." The latter the farmers had adhered to; most
of them had large families, and since the land at home was filled,
while they now heard that a large part of the new world was
unsettled, they decided to disobey the bishop's advice and go to
the new Canaan, where flowed milk and honey."
[71] Especially in a German book on travels in America, see his
account, p. 21. Knud Langeland did not emigrate, however,
before 1843.
So far Langeland's account. While the evidence points to many causes as
operating conjointly toward bringing about the departure, in the spring
of 1837, of so many from Samnanger and from Voss, the influence of Nils
P. Langeland, already mentioned above, seems to have been a special
factor at this particular time. Nils Langeland was already then an
elderly man. He had devoted his life to the cause of popular education,
but the intolerant clergy of the time found him too liberal minded and
continually put obstacles in his way. Although he was supported by a
group of faithful friends, his usefulness was hampered; discouraged at
last, he decided to leave his native country and go to America.
This was in the summer of 1836. In the fall of that year, Captain
Behrens returned with the bark, _Aegir_, from America, whither he
had carried a cargo of freight in the summer. Langeland's friends
had already sold their homes and were preparing to emigrate. Hearing
of this, Behrens decided to convert his bark into a passenger boat,
and he offered to take them to America the next spring; the offer
was accepted. While preparations were going on, the announcements of
the projected sailing, which had been printed in the newspapers, led
intending immigrants from other sections, also, to join the party.
Among these was Ole Rynning, from Snaasen, in Trondhjem Province, of
whom we shall speak more at length below.
On the 4th of July, 1837, _Aegir_ sailed from Bergen with eighty-two
passengers. Among these were Mons Aadland, Nils Fröland, Anders
Nordvig, Ingebrigt Brudvig, Thomas Bauge and Thorbjörn Veste, all of
whom had large families, and the following from Hardanger: Nils L.
Jördre, wife and six children, and Peder J. Maurset, wife and child,
from Ulvik Parish, and Amund Rosseland, wife and three children, Lars
G. Skeie, wife and two children, Sjur E. Rosseland and Svein L. Midthus
from Vikör. The last-named were the first to emigrate from Vikör. The
party further included Halle Væte, wife and grown daughter, and the
following persons: Odd J. Himle, Kolbein O. Saue, Styrk O. Saue, Nils
L. Bolstad, Baard Haugen, John H. Björgo, Ole Dyvik, all of whom were
married, besides several single men, mostly relatives of the above,
namely: Dövig, Bauge, Fröland, Nordvig, Hisdal, Tösseland, et al. Each
adult paid sixty dollars (Norwegian specie) for passage, children under
twelve paying half price. They arrived in New York eight weeks later.
The journey inland was attended by numerous expenses for which the
immigrants were not prepared. When they had gotten as far as Detroit,
the above-mentioned Nils P. Langeland found himself without the
necessary means to continue the journey. His friends who had offered to
pay his expenses as far as Chicago, at last became discouraged over the
constant demands upon their funds and Langeland was obliged to remain
in Detroit. Here, being a capable carpenter, he soon found work; later
he removed to Lapeer County, Michigan, bought there 120 acres of land,
plying at the same time the trade of a carpenter. Thus it came about
that Nils Langeland became the first Norwegian to settle in the State
of Michigan, though we have seen that Kleng Peerson had visited the
state four years earlier. At least three others of the immigrants of
1837 located temporarily in the State of Michigan that year, namely,
Ingebright Nordvig, Östen Espeland, who had come in _Enigheden_, and
Thorsten Bjaaland. These went to Adrian, Lenawee County, but left again
soon after. We shall meet Bjaaland again in La Salle County, Illinois,
and on Koshkonong Prairie.