Chapter 2 - PREPARATIONS FOR THE TRIP TO AMERICA
Written by Anna Huglen Lommen
Translated by Agnes T. Lommen Hammersland in 1959
Preparations were made in a hurry. My brother Anders had gotten permission to sail for America and had gotten a pass or ticket application on a ship that was to sail after a while and Mother had started getting his clothes in order.
Then one Sunday morning father said he would quit the mining job and sail for America. Mother was happy. For many years she had been hoping to move to America for she had her mother and brother in America but father had his aging mother and brothers in Norway, so he had been reluctant about leaving the place. They made up their minds on Sunday so on Monday morning father went to Lervik to Johannes Lofte who was agent for the American Lines where Anders had the application. He had the agent wire to Bergen to save places on the same ship for us if there was space left. There was room, so we could all come across together.
Then everyone got busy, extra busy, in preparing to leave Norway. Father and Mother went to Lervik and did the necessary shopping. They bought material for a dress for me and material for a suit for my youngest brother. Both were to be sewn before leaving Norway. Mother had many other jobs to do before leaving so she secured the hired girl from our closest neighbor on the south, Erik Leiren. I remember that I got to be there quite a bit so she could try my dress on so it should fit correctly I don’t remember who sewed the suit for my brother, but whoever did, had it ready for our trip.
Father sold our house, the cow and other things that we could not take along to America. The folks hired a woman to bake flatbread and lefse for our lunches on the ship. The lady was at our place baking for a whole week. Regulations called for enough food for 10 weeks for each passenger. That was necessary in case the trip took longer than expected for they did not want food shortage. Using a sail ship, they never were sure of the length of time in crossing the ocean. Father bought kavringer og kjeks (hard tack or cookies). He bought these at a bakery in Lerik. He also bought dried beef, hams, dried peas, (grynmel) some kind of flour that was to be cooked on the ship; also coffee. The coffee did not taste good on the water, according to my taste; then too we had to drink it black for we had no milk or cream for it.
When all was ready and at hand, the big packing event was next. Father went to a sawmill and brought home some boards to build a huge box to put many things in. A carpenter neighbor helped father. (Later we used the box for a dining table in America at first. Anders wrote the name on all the chests and boxes in which we took luggage.
One day I got to visit Grandmother, together with my mother. My uncle Johannes was home with grandmother. We stayed quite a while, ate a meal. Then we were ready to come home Uncle Johannes took his boat and rowed quite a ways so it would not be so far for us to walk. On our way back, we stopped at Nostvik’s, but Uncle Mons Nostvik was not home. Aunt Nostvik and the two youngest children were there. There, too, they insisted that we eat with them and so it got quite late before we got home.
Arriving at Bergen
Father hired an old man and his young son to take us to Bergen in their small yacht. The last day while there, everything was loaded into the yacht except bedding and a lunch box (mat skrin) which we needed until the last morning. The last evening at dusk I got permission to accompany my parents to “Lillibrondvik” where they wanted to make a farewell visit to a family. I sat and slept almost all evening. They woke me to join them at a meal. It was a long ways to walk and I was very tired by the time I got to bed. The next morning we had to rise early since we were leaving for Bergen and America. When we had eaten we went to Johannes Tangen to bid them goodbye, next to Erik Leira where they treated us to “kavringer”, loaf sugar and sugar kringler.” Then we got on the yacht and on our way to Bergen. I think it was a Tuesday. When we got quite a ways north through the fjord, the wind became strong so I got sea sick and had to get to bed so that trip wasn’t much fun. It was dark when we arrived in Bergen. I was amazed at all the lights both on the many ships in the harbor and also all the city lights when I got to come up on deck after they cast anchor at Bergen. We slept in the yacht that night. The next day along in the afternoon our goods, belongings, were taken on board the sail ship to take us to America. We could also go on board ship and make our bunks (kecerne) for the next night so that’s where we slept. We were in Bergen harbor nearly two weeks, that is the ship lay in harbor for repairing and making more bunks, at first when we got there. My Uncle Johannes (father’s brother) came to Bergen soon after we got there and stayed on the boat with us until the morning we left Bergen. Then he had to go back to Grandmother.
The first Sunday we were in Bergen we spent the day in the city. The first church we went to was so overcrowded there was hardly standing room. I was so short that I could just barely see the pastor’s head when he was in the pulpit. We left that church for another with more room, even place for us to sit. It was the first time that I heard an organ played. One of these churches was called “Korskirken” (the church of the cross). The other “Ny Kirken” (new church).
In the afternoon we went to the museum where there were many novelties to see. I liked especially much a little wax figure dressed as a “stril” with short coat, knee pants, long white stockings, wooden shoes, and a son wester (sydvest) on his head. He held a load of stick wood. I thought it was cutest thing I could imagine. My brother Olai wished to buy it. Later we went far east through the city, way up to “Florfjeldet”. We walked past two lovely cemeteries. I recall the pretty iron fences around each and many graves had iron crosses as markers.
One day I got to go along up town and visited some “kramboder” (stores or restaurants). There certainly was much to see for me who had never been to town before.