Gunerius J. Melby 1854-1929
My grandfather, Gunerius J. Melby
immigrated from Norway to America in 1880.
Times were hard in Norway,
and although he possibly did not want
to leave his homeland,
he felt there was no other choice.
Gunerius' immigration certificate is dated
March 30, 1880.
His destination was "Chicago."
In April, 1880, Gunerius
boarded the ship "Tasso"
at Trondheim, Norway.
The ship was at the pier on
the river Nidelven.
Passengers began boarding,
but not all passengers boarded before
the low tide came.
As a result, the ship had to leave the pier
and wait for the rest of the
passengers in the fjord.
The remaining passengers took a ferry
from a floating pier.
There were several thousand people
who came to say good-bye to
friends and family.
The floating pier was connected
to land by a pontoon bridge
and the weight of all these people
was too much for the bridge
and it collapsed!
and it collapsed!
An estimated 200 people fell into
the channel when the bridge broke.
At the same time, two ferry boats
on their way to the ship were filled
with water by the heavy seas
and one of them sank.
Two people drowned and many were injured.
The ship finally left Norway and headed to
Liverpool, England.
At Liverpool, Gunerius board the ship
Lucania and headed for America.
Gunerius didn't stay in Chicago.
He settled in Minneapolis,
most likely meeting up with his brother, Sefanias,
who had come in 1879.
On March 24, 1884, Gunerius signed
a Certificate of Intent to become a
Citizen of the United States.
On this certificate he was
"to renounce forever all allegiances
and fidelity owed to the King of Norway."
In 1894, Gunerius made a return trip to Norway.
By this time, he was married with 3 small children.
His wife, children & mother-in-law remained
in Minneapolis.
His wife, children & mother-in-law remained
in Minneapolis.
[I learned of this trip through contacts in Norway
while working on my genealogy.]
Most likely, Gunerius returned to Norway to
visit his ailing mother (she died in 1895).
When Gunerius returned to Minnesota,
his sister Maette came along and became
an American citizen also.
The second trip was not as eventful as the
departure in 1880!
2 comments:
You sure have done a lot of homework on your heritage!!
A few years ago, I researched my family history, and so I decided to share some of the stories here. Hadn't planned to make this a "family history" blog, but it seems to be turning out that way!
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