Chapter 3 - SAILING TO AMERICA
Written by Anna Huglen Lommen
Translated by Agnes T. Lommen Hammersland in 1959
The name of our ship was Teresse. On the day after Easter (adnen paaskodag), the ship lifted anchor and our journey began on a bright sunny morning which later in the day gave way to overcast skies. We had gotten far into the sea before I was seasick and had to go to bed. I was sick all the way, more so when the wind was stronger. Mother was quite busy on the trip, cooking food for us, washing our clothes and many jobs that came along. The food didn’t taste good on board ship at sea. We had along a lot of smoked herring and some salted fatty herring. That was the best I got. It seemed and “grymegrot” (cereal) with butter and syrup was also good. Yes, warm potatoes were delicious to my taste, but lots of foods don’t taste good out at sea.
We had many stormy days but also many good weather days. Once we had a strong wind for three days. The large mast of the ship broke so it and much of the rigging went overboard. However when calm weather returned a new mast and rigging was quickly built and raised again. Father bought caps for each of the three boys for the trip, while we were in Bergen. Those were to be mainly for dress, especially Sunday wear. One day my oldest brother Andrew put his cap on and went up on the deck. The wind was blowing hard so the cap blew off into the sea. Then he came downstairs, borrowed Helge’s, a younger brother’s cap, wore it up on deck and it too blew into the ocean; so the rest of the trip he had to wear his old hat.
Every Sunday afternoon the captain on board conducted service up on deck. Everyone on board who could was expected to take part. We sang hymns and the captain read from the Bible. It was an inspirational event. A little child died and was buried in the waves. A child was also born on our way so our total number was the same as when we came aboard ship.
Land is Sighted
When the weather was nice they often danced up on deck evenings, but at 10:00 o’clock all had to get to bed – all quiet – so they had quite good regulations. I remember well the morning early that John Amundson came and announced that LAND could be sighted. Mother had arisen; but the rest of our family was in bed yet. Andrew quickly got his clothes on and came up on deck to see what he could view. When we were nearing land, one small steamboat with pilots on board. They consulted the captain. After choosing one who went with him into the Cabin (captain’s) the pilot came out of the ship’s deck and took over command. So the Captain was relieved of work and responsibility until we were through the harbor.
It was a beautiful day when we entered St. Lawrence River to the quarantine station. We got there at dusk and lay there until noon the next day. One side of the entrance was a high steep mountain wall with some break in the scenery by having wooded areas. On the other side of the water was level land and quite closely populated areas with lots of houses painted white with pine trees around them; a beautiful sight to behold. We had been at sea so long. It was a thrill to have solid ground in sight.
At noon the second day everyone was ordered on deck to be examined by doctors to see if our health was good so we could continue our trip or if we had to be taken to the hospital (quarantined). A rope was fastened up halfway across the ship deck and there was a desk where the doctor and his secretary sat. They had a large register where the Secretary kept record of all examined by turns – examined our tongues – pulse counted and so if one was found OK – under the rope we’d go to the other end of the deck. Most of the people were well. I recall one family with five children had to go to the hospital or quarantine station; also a girl who had been sick all the way. She was poor – had no relatives on board -- so she was retained. Someone started a list soliciting money for her. The girl’s name was Regina Lyngholm.
When the quarantine exam was completed, the ship lifted anchor and the ship continued toward Quebec. We arrived in Quebec on a Friday evening just previous to Pentecost. We remained on the ship until Monday, the day after Pentecost (and on pinsodag) in the afternoon when the unloading and transferring of our baggage onto the train coach was completed. From Quebec, we traveled by train to Detroit where all our baggage had to be examined by toll agents. We stayed overnight in Detroit, Michigan. The train coaches from Detroit were not as convenient as those in Canada. These in U.S. were arranged with long benches (hard) along both sides of the coach and a narrow aisle in the middle which were filled with all the passengers’ baggage, consisting of suitcases, boxes (skrin), baskets (kurve), all shapes of bundles (bylter), of clothing and blankets. The benches were very uncomfortable to sit in especially for anyone with short legs that would not reach the floor, but anything goes on such a trip.
The trip continued to Grand Haven the next day where we were loaded onto a big steamboat which took us across Lake Michigan. That trip took four hours. When in Quebec we had real hot weather so we put aside our heavy warm clothing and dressed in light-weight summer things. Everyone had heard of the hot weather in America so that’s what we expected. So when we got out on Lake Michigan, we learned a different story. It was terribly cold, but mother got out our warmer clothes so we didn’t suffer any because of it. When we got to Milwaukee all our belongings were unloaded again – this was a Saturday night – mother made beds for us on our trunks. All our belongings stood outdoors on a large platform outside the railway station. The trunks were not comfortable beds but many used such lodging that night.
My father and John Amundson were watchmen, walking about all night as they were afraid things might be stolen. Other men also were up watching over their belongings. Sunday morning it was again to see that all our belongings were loaded in Milwaukee on a train. In the afternoon the train pulled out but ran into a freight train – the first two coaches were derailed. No one was hurt but all were frightened, of course. It took quite awhile to get straightened out and on our way but we did arrive in McGregor, Iowa on Monday about dusk. The passengers were to have stayed in McGregor, but when the people saw the baggage was loaded in the nearest town (it wasn’t far) to send it on. The passengers demanded that they wanted to go along on the same train, of course. (From Milwaukee we came through Madison and Prairie du Chien across a ferry to McGregor, Iowa). We got permission to board an empty coach that had wooden benches. I slept under one of them. They consisted of planks that were put into an empty freight car for seats.