An Immigrant's Voyage to America - Leaving Trondheim, Norway

Steamship Ticket - Steerage Class for Norwegian Immigrant, 1913

CONTRACT Between THE CUNARD LINE And the passenger listed below regarding transportation to Rock Island, Ill.

Ludvig Gjønvik 21.

I, OLAF H. SOLEM, agent in Trondhjem, hereby commit myself to transport the said person, by 3rd class or Steerage, from Trondhjem to the destination which is likewise specified herein, for the sum of 244.00 crowns, which I acknowledge I have received as full payment.

/s/ Olaf H. Solem
Trondhjem, 5 June 1913

Specifications - The passengers are to be transported below deck by a steamship that is sailing on 5 June 1913 from Trondhjem to Hull, from there by 3rd class railroad car to Liverpool, with the first ordinary train after customs inspection. From there they will be transported by Cunard Steam Ship Company Limited, Liverpool, owners of the Cunard steamships, on one of their steam-ships to New York or Boston. For the duration of the whole journey to New York or Boston and during the time they are delayed in any place whatsoever regardless of the cause, the passengers will be provided with suitable lodging and will receive good and properly cooked food, served thus:

Breakfast and evening meal. Tea or coffee, sugar, fresh bread and butter, etc.

Alternately soup, meat, pork, fish, potatoes, bread, as well as pudding on Sundays.

Each person over 12 years old can take along free of charge 10 cubic feet of baggage on the steamship and 150 pounds on the train in America, half of that for children from 1 to 12 years. The emigrants will be met and transported further by the Company' s own employees in Hull, Liverpool, New York and Boston.

Should an emigrant's departure be prevented by illness, he will be allowed to leave with a steamship departing later, and should the police prevent his departure, his money will be returned or handed over to the police.

Without responsibility for the baggage that the passengers have in their own custody on the trip.

Presented Trondhjem Police Station, 5 June. 1913.

For the Police Commissioner.

(illegible signature)

Trondhjem, Norway Cunard Steamship Office, circa 1910

Olaf H. Solem at his office in Trondhjem circa 1910 (seated on left)

Passage Contract 1913 Cunard Lines Børge Solem and I first corresponded in 2000, when I purchased some items for the Gjenvick-Gjønvik Family History Center and Archives from him. It turned out that he was the great-grandson of Olaf H. Solem who had sold the steamship ticket to my grandfather in 1913.

This would have been the office of the Cunard Steamship Line Trondhjem agency, The Cunard Steam Ship Co., Ltd. (Olaf H. Solem) located on Søndre Gate 26, Trondhjem, Norge

Photo courtesy of Børge Solem, Norge

Cunard Line Book of Information for Immigrants

This is the front of a companion issued by the general agent in Trondheim "Olaf H. Solem" in 1903. Olaf H. Solem was my great-grandfather.

He started as an agent for the Cunard Line in 1899, but before that he worked for his father, who was the head agent for Allan & State Line in Trondheim.

The companion gives a good picture of how the emigration business was operated in those days. You can see scans of the translated pages in the companion.

The first part is about the history of the company.

The second part describes the different ships operated by the company at the time.

Then follows a description of the steerage conditions aboard the ships, and it also contains a menu for steerage passengers.

Emigranter fra Trondheim (Trondheim Emigration Registrar Record)

Reference Number 33143

• Havn - Harbor : Trondheim
• Nummer - Nbr : 2343
• År - Year : 1913
• Reisedato - Date Sailed : 04.06.1913
• Fornavn - First Name : Ludvig Kristian
• Etternavn - Last Name : Gjønvik
• Kjønn - Gender : m
• Stand - Marital Status : ug
• Yrke - Occupation : skomaker
• Fød-selsår - Yr Born : 1892
• Bopel - Place of Birth : Trondhjem
• Bestemmel-sessted - Destination Place : Rock Island, Ill
• Billett - Passage Purchased : Bill. bet. i Trondhj (Note 1)
• Skip - Name of Ship : Åro (Note 2)

Source: Digitalarkivet

Notes:
* 1 Ticket Paid for in Trondhjem (from proceeds of loan from relatives)
* 2 The Aaro was a steamship from the Wilson Line, a feeder ship that covered the coastal cities of Norway and brought the emigrants from Norway to Hull, England. A overland train was taken from Hull to Liverpool. From the time he arrived in Liverpool until it was time to board the Cunard Laconia steamship, Ludvig may have stayed at the Cunard Hotel. He took the Laconia across the ocean to the Port of Boston.