Skip to main content

Ole Andreas Knutson - Immigration documents

I've discussed in previous posts Ole and Mari Finnestad's eldest daughter, Elizabeth Olsdatter, who had married Ole Andreas Knutson.

Here is an index card that led me to the immigration documents for Elizabeth's husband which had been filed at the Ogle County, Illinois clerk's office.



The original immigration document was signed September 5, 1890.

At the time, King Oscar II was the ruler of Norway and Sweden.



A second document was signed February 28, 1910, which provided more information, though unfortunately, Ole did not know which ship or have the correct date he had arrived in New York from Norway.

At the time of this second document, Norway had broken off from the rule of Sweden and King Haakon VII was king of Norway.



I do not know why a second immigration document was completed by Ole Knutson, but it did provide additional information that was not contained on the 1890 document.

What is interesting about this document is that:

- Ole had a tattoo "OAK" on his right hand
- The name indicates "Ole Andrew Knutson" on the document, though it looks as if he signed it "Ole Andreas Knutson"
- The date of immigration was listed as June 1870, yet his daughter Andrea Elizabeth was born in Norway in 1873 and daughter Olava Edvarda was born in Norway in 1878. Additionally, the 1900 US Census indicates he immigrated to the United States in 1880. Apparently, 30 years later it becomes difficult to remember facts about one's life. Either that or their was a communication problem between the government employee and Ole.

I believe I may have located the original ship's manifesto for the Knutson family, but I am waiting on some further documentation before I post it, due to the potential errors I have discovered on the document.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Kenneth and Lillian Finnestad obituaries

I have had previously posted the obituary for my great great grandfather Ole Finnestad several posts back. I have not yet been able to locate an obituary for my great grandparents Oliver and Mary Finnestad, though here are the obituaries for my grandparents, Kenneth and Lillian Finnestad.

Ole Finnestad Jr obituary

Here is the obituary for my great, great grandfather, Ole Finnestad Jr from the Dixon Evening Telegraph of July 9, 1928. Note the misspelling of his first and last name, though Finnestad was spelled correctly within the content of the article. You will also note that his brother Rasmus had moved from Canada to Washington by the time of his brother's death. Oddly, there is no mention of the sisters that survived him, leading me to believe they may have lost touch by the time of his death.

Finnestad Farm - Stavanger, Norway

It was customary in Norway to take the farm name as the family name. Prior to arriving in America, Ole Finnestad was known as Ole Olson. According to the Regional State Archives of Stavanger, in 1862, Ole Olsen bought a farm from Bjørn Larsen. The following link provides some farm information along with the family members in 1865: http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/cgi-win/webcens.exe?slag=visbase&sidenr=59&filnamn=f61126&gardpostnr=582&sokefelt=vis “Merknad 387b” now means property nr. 16 of the farm Finnestad. (Please keep in mind that accuracy of records is less than perfect - so ages and other information are not always correct) For more information on Stavanger and a map of the area, please go to the following wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stavanger