Seeking to know my Kittleson kin

I’ve long wanted to know what life was like for my great-great grandparents who chose to leave Norway and emigrate to the United States. To leave your town and all that is familiar and cross the Atlantic to a new life takes a bravery that I am not certain I share. Although, quite a few members of the Kittleson family came — parents, adult children, and a couple very young ones — so I guess they brought the most important part of home with them.

On May 7 my mom and I will fly to Norway where we hope to get a feel for the land and people. Naturally, their culture and way of life will have changed from the one my great-great grandparents knew, just as our American traditions have over these many years. Still, something will be subtly different, I suppose these differences will shape images of my ancestors living long ago in beautiful Norway. And that will be as close as I can come to knowing their real life stories.

Aust-Agder county

Amazingly, all my Norwegian ancestors that we know of, came from towns, parishes, and municipalities in Aust-Agder county in Southern Norway: places including Grimstad, Evje, Bygland, Gjerstad, Østre Moland, Hornnes, and more. While they stayed in that one part of Southern Norway, the birth and marriage records show that they moved around. I suppose they did not own farms that could be passed down. Perhaps Norway had a tradition of land owning like Britain where the farmers did not own the land. Other industries in the county included mining, fishing, carpentry, logging, and iron production.

8 Kettleson emigrants

Knute, Olga and their first two children — Peter (age 5) and Charly (age 1 or 2) — emigrated to Hoboken, New Jersey via Ellis Island on September 6, 1901. They stayed in Hoboken for four years during which they had two more children: Tom and Klara. Sadly, they lost Charly (about 5 years old) and Klara (only 6 weeks old) to diphtheria in Hoboken. Soon after, they moved across the country to join Olga’s parents (Anne and Tellef Tarraldsen), sister (Gunda), and brother (Olaf) in Portland, Oregon.

Although I’ve named all the immigrants, I must also mention Knute and Olga’s youngest four children who were born in Portland. One of them, Esther, was my grandma. First, Clara was born (1905) soon after they settled into their little house in a gulley near the Willamette river. Their next child was Esther, and then Walter and Harald.

That’s all I’m going to say about their lives in the US, because this trip is for learning about Olga and Knute’s lives and the lives of their parents, grandparents, and more family farther back in time.

Names, dates, places … but no stories

Visiting Norway won’t reveal stories about the lives of my ancestors. I won’t know what they loved about the places they lived. I won’t learn what games they played with their children. I won’t learn whether they had kitchen gardens, nor will I discover their recipes for home baked bread. I’d like to know whether their children skied to school. I have some names, dates, and places of my ancestors, but personal stories would bring them to life. Still, it will feel good to see their places and get a feel for life in Norway. Undoubtedly, I will form images of these people, probably the details will be off, but maybe the essence will ring just a little true.