Who came to America, Part 1

In the Vangsness family, the first member to come to the USA was Iver Endreson Nistad, aka Iver Vangsness. He arrived in 1854 with his wife Unni as noted in this blog earlier. You will remember that their parents died in 1850, both mother and father. And Iver, being a lot younger and only just married with a 2 year old son, must have felt it easier to leave Norway than his older brothers. 

While working on additional family tree information from John G., which has additional information that I did not have before, I have found some interesting information about who emigrated to the USA and who did not and when they did it. It turns out that Iver did not go to the USA with just Unni as I first thought. He and his brother, Wiking, who was 6 years older than Iver, left together in 1854. 

The only information I have for Wiking Endreson is that his wife, Kari Olsdotter, Hopperstad had died in 1854, either before going to America or on the journey, I do not know. But, I suspect that she died before the journey, leaving Wiking free to go it alone. So that means that Iver, Unni and their 2 year old son, AND Wiking went to American in 1854.

Iver's mother and father had a family of 8 children, two of whom died as babies. But what is also amazing is that almost all of them emigrated to the USA. Synneve died in 1861, leaving the youngest, Ole, in Norway..... It looks like.

Children of Endre Hansen, Lee, Nissestad and Kari Vikingsdatter, Møorkve:

John Endreson - emigrated 1870

Hans Endreson, Nistad Dale - emigrated 1869

Synneve Endresdatter - died 1861

Wiking Endeson I (died as a baby)

Wiking Endreson - emigrated 1854 with Iver

Ole Endreson I (died as a baby)

Iver Endreson Nistad (Our Iver Vangsness) - emigrated 1854

Ole Endreson

Once Iver and Wiking were in America they must have written letters to their relatives about their lives in the US and the land they were getting, because soon a flood of relatives started coming to the USA. In 1856 and 1857, 2 children of Hans Endreson came to America.  By 1870 a total of 4 uncles and 5 sons of Hans had made the journey.

Of the 7 children of Hans Endreson, Nistad Dale, 2 died as babies and ALL the rest emigrated to the USA!!!

Endre Hanson Nese (died as a baby)

Vilhelm Hanson Nese - emigrated 1856

Endre Hanson Nese aka Endre Dale - emigrated 1857

Elling Hanson Nese - emigrated 1867

Barbra Hansdatter Nese - emigrated 1866

Kari Hanson Nese (died as a baby)

Kari Hanson Nese - emigrated 1869

If you look at the chart below, you can see that the children of Hans are numerous, many of them are named Dale, Thom or Weum and live mostly in Montana or Indiana as well as Minnesota. This chart is hard to read, I suggest you try the option listed in the paragraph below.

Click this link to be taken to a version of the chart that can be enlarged and moved around so you can read it easier.

But, this is not the end of the story. MORE relatives have come. I will take up the descendants of John Endreson and Synneve in the next entry.