The Danielsens - from England and Norway to California

This is the story of my father’s maternal grandparents, Anders Emil Danielsen and Margaret Eliza Neilson.

Anders Emil Danielsen (as we know him) was born June 24, 1863 at Vesoen, Aust-Agder, Norway — he was baptised the following month at the Fjaere church in Grimstad. At the time, Norway did not use surnames like we do, but rather they used a system of patronymics. At his baptism his name was recorded at Anders Emil, the son of Christen Danielsen and Jensine Andersdotter. Because he was Christen’s son, Anders was known as Anders Emil Christensen. Spelling was also inconsistent in various records, varying between Christen and Kristen, for example. In the 1875 census of Norway he was listed as Anders Emil Kristensen, and by the 1891 census he was Anders Emil Danielsen.

Anders was the fourth of five children, with one brother (Daniel, 1857-) and three sisters (Johanne Birgithe (1855-1858), Johanne Birgitte (1861-1935), and Kristen Kristensdr (1865- ).

Fjaere church - by Bjoertvedt, CC BY-SA 3.0 NO from Wikimedia Commons

Christen Danielsen was a sea captain and the nearby cities of Grimstad and Arendal were major centers of maritime activity. In April 1878, at the age of 14, Anders Emil served as a deck boy on his father’s ship the Congol, headed for America. For the next 12 years Anders was a seaman on at least 10 other voyages to Danzig, the Baltic Sea, England and the West Indies, often serving as first mate or chief officer. These trips could last many months. For two of those trips, the captain was T.M. Nielsen, who may have been Anders’s brother-in-law and who later also moved to California.

Margaret Eliza Neilson was born in the East End of London on August 21, 1867. Her parents were Peter Neilson, a merchant seaman from Norway, and Jane (Newman) Neilson and they lived at 57 Lucas Street in the parish of St. George in the East. (See the Church). Margaret was the eldest of five children (Jane, William Arthur, Edith Emily, and Esther Ranilder). An oft repeated family story is that Margaret’s mother was an opera singer — sadly, I have not been able to confirm that story. But by the time Margaret was 8 ( in 1875) she was living with her aunt Ragnild Nielsen (Peter’s sister) in Arendal, Norway, where she was also confirmed in 1882.

Margaret Elisabeth Neilson birth certificate

At some point, between Anders’s sea voyages, he and Margaret met — perhaps facilitated by the fact that they were second cousins (i.e. shared a set of Great-grandparents). They went to England to get married on May 30, 1888, in Bromley, a neighborhood in the East End of London near where her parents were living. Anders was 24 and Margaret was 21; they then returned to Norway to live and start a family. I actually found no record of any other visits by Margaret to her home country of England. She was not listed with the family in the 1881 census, and passenger lists between Norway and England were not kept.

Marriage certificate

Anders and Margaret had two children born in Norway: Jens (born 1888) and Aagort (born 1890). The family is listed in the 1891 census of Hisoy, Aust-Agder, Norway:

Question 5 asks: For Married Women: Are you and your husband related to each other, second cousins or close relatives? to which Margaret answered “yes”, confirming that they had a pair of great-grandparents (Daniel Andersen and Ragnild Nielsdr) in common, making Margaret and Anders second cousins. Also of note: at the time of the census Anders is recorded as being away, in Montrose, Scotland, which is a seaport north of Edinburgh. Their children are listed on the following pages as Jens Kristofer and Aagot. (That is the spelling on the census form, not Aagort, as it was spelled in the U.S.).

In June 1891, Anders arrived in Sydney, Australia, first mate of a crew of 11 on the Collector.

On October 31, 1892, Margaret, Jens, and Aagot, arrived at Ellis Island in New York City with one piece of luggage and a destination of San Francisco. The name of the ship was Island and it had departed from Christiania (Oslo); Anders was not listed as a passenger. When Anders later applied for a U.S. passport (1919) he indicated he had arrived in the U.S. on a sailing vessel from Newcastle, England. In his 1923 passport application he stated he had sailed from Sydney, Australia, in August 1892. So my conjecture is that in 1892 Anders made a trip from Newcastle to Sydney, then to San Francisco, and was there when his family arrived. With more research, I may be able to pin this down…

Arendal, Norway, 1911 - note the photographer is P. M. Danielsen (no relation)

Here is a map of the places mentioned: Arendal to Grimstad Places marked: Arendal, Hisoy, Fjaere church, Grimstad. Total distance about 22 km (14 miles).

The Danielsen’s story of life in Oakland will be continued in a future post. If you have something to add, please let me know!