Finnestad Ancestry

I had posted about Rachel Vallem's trip on the Lusitania yesterday and came across the following article following the sinking of the ship in 1915. While there were no Finnestad family members on the ship at the time it was sunk, I find it interesting that a couple of our ancestors had actually traveled on the Lusitania just a couple of years prior to the sinking.

I had previously posted Bertha Haaland's trip in 1912 on the Lusitania. Ole and Mari Finnestad's great great granddaughter, Rose Kolberg had done some research that indicated Rachel had also been on the Lusitania. It appears Bertha and Rachel had traveled together on that particular voyage. I located the passenger record, (below) however, when I attempted to bring up the original ship's manifest with the passenger list, the S.S. Hamburg popped up instead and Rachel was no where to be found. I went through the passenger records where I found Bertha and on page 10, found Rachel Vallem (#28). Here is another photo of the Lusitania.

Here is a passenger list of the Lusitania, September 7, 1912 sailing from Liverpool arriving in New York on September 14, 1912. This document shows that (# 19 and 20) Bertha and husband Andreas Haaland (note the incorrect name used - Andrew) became naturalized citizens in Lee County, Illinois in 1899 and were residing in Rochelle, Illinois at the time of their travel. Here is a postcard of the Lusitania. For those that have forgotten or did not know, the Lusitania was sunk by the Germans on May 7, 1915 which led to the United States involvement in World War I. I found this interesting for a few reasons. One, that an ancestor had actually sailed on the Lusitania, not just because of the history, but also because the Titanic also sank just 5 months early, April 1912.