Once you become known as the Official Family Historian, a wonderful
phenomenon begins to occur. Relatives,
especially older ones, begin to give you things, saying, “I know you’ll take
care of this. I don’t want it to be
thrown out after I’m gone!”
My Aunt Janet recently left a box with me. One of the items in the box was this wonderful
document—her grandfather’s ticket to America.
Carl August Peterson (1861-1917) my great-grandfather, came
to the United States in 1881. He first
settled in Chicago, where he had a brother, Theodore. He married Emelia Fryksdal there, and later
they went west to Nebraska.
His passenger contract, written in both Swedish and English,
gives these details:
“The departure from
here Goteborg/(Gothenburg, Sweden) will take place in a Royal Mail Steamer on
20 May 1881. From Gothenburg the
passengers are forwarded on steerage place to Hull, and further, never later
than twelve hours after the custom house examination, to Liverpool, in third
class carriages on the railroad. With
the first steamer belonging to the Cunard Line, the departure from Liverpool
will take place never later than eight days from the arrival there. In the above payment (30 kronor) is included: Steerage place in the Steamers and third
class carriages on the Railroads.
Forwarding of luggage viz: 10 cubic feet, half for children; also good
and sufficient food from Gothenburg to the landing place in Amerika [and] free
lodgings in Hull and Liverpool.”
Several things stand out to me:
- Firstly, he traveled “steerage” class on the ship (the section near the rudder, which had the cheapest accommodations available) and third class (“emigrant’s class”) on the railroad, which would have gotten him a bench to sit on. A long way from luxury... Irish-genealogy-toolkit.com describes steerage as “a dark, noisy, smelly, stuffy deck of large bunk dormitories.” Even so, a steerage ticket could cost the equivalent of six month’s wages for a laborer. (I wrote about "steerage" here.)
- Secondly, he could take 10 cubic feet of luggage. Everything else from his old life had to be left behind. I wonder what he packed?
- Thirdly, he was provided with “good and sufficient food.” Can I surmise that it was cold and minimal and plain?
- I am guessing that the “free lodgings” in Hull and Liverpool were nothing to write home about, either... I've read about those lodging houses in books.
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