ÅKRE FARM:

The first letter arrived a few weeks later at Gunnhild's cottage perched on the slopes above the main farm at Åkre. "I made my way to the port at Langesund," Tall Såmund wrote. "How do you find Langesund, you might ask? Just follow Dalaåi creek to Sundkilen and keep going downstream. When the fresh water meets the salt, you're at Langesund. A lot closer to Kviteseid than the docks at Drammen where the boys and I set out three years ago..."

A few weeks passed before the next account of his journey. "At Langesund we took passage on the ketch 'Prøven' and sailed across the North Sea and into the English Channel, and put in at Le Havre in the French kingdom. Twenty-four days that took, June 18 to July 12. I'm sending this letter on 'Prøven's' return trip. I would recommend finding direct passage on a ship that doesn't stop in Belgium and France! What a delay this is proving to be."

Months later came the next missive. "Thirty-eight days from France to Amerika. We left Europe on July 23 on board the American ship 'Tuskina.' There were sixty-eight of us nordmenn down in steerage, and nearly a dozen other passengers shut in with us. How sick we got at the stench! During storms, the hatches stayed closed, and our waste buckets overflowed worse than a cowbarn in midwinter. Bring your own buckets when you come. Large ones, with lids! And bring plenty of flatbread. The biscuits the sailors eat are hard as rocks."

Shortly before jul a package arrived, scuffed and worn from travel. It contained a book that seemed to bulge thicker than its binding was meant to handle. As she stepped back inside, Gunnhild flipped open the book. There was a note from her husband, and a packet filled with paper money. She riffled through the unfamiliar currency, then locked it away in her old heirloom trunk. She trailed her fingers along the carvings in the wooden lid. Her breath caught with the frightening knowledge that she would soon, far too soon, pack that trunk for travel, discarding many precious keepsakes and cutting roots to the only world she had ever known.

Her legs turned shaky. Gunnhild settled onto a stump stool at the rickety table. Again she flipped through the book's pages. Unfamiliar words were printed beneath woodcut illustrations. A cup. A house. A spoon. Beside them scrawled Tall Såmund's handwriting in good old Norse.

For the children.

Near the woodbox, Halvor was building a small house out of kindling for Asi's rag doll. Asla was trying to keep little Bjorgulv from knocking it down. Young Såmund ignored the youngsters and whittled away at spoon.

Gunnhild shook herself, delved deep and found a viking woman's staunch smile. "Come, children, gather around!" She leafed back to the first page in the primer. "It's time for our first lesson in English. See the picture of a hound? The English word, Far says, is 'dahg.'"

BEHIND THE SCENES

In 1842, Gunnhild may have lived in a small log cabin cottage at a subfarm at Åkre. Pictured above is the main house at Dalen (the farm of her birth) as it stood in 2006... with electricity and satellite TV!

Frederick W. Spencer was captain of the Tuskina.

.

From Norway Heritage website about sailing as a passenger in steerage:

"The 'steerage', or between-deck... was originally the deck immediately below the main deck of a sailing ship.

"In the early days of emigration the ships used to convey the emigrants were originally built for carrying cargo. In reality the passengers were placed in the cargo hold. Temporary partitions were usually erected and used for the steerage accommodation.

"To get down to the between-deck the passengers often had to use ladders, and the passageway down between the hatches could be both narrow and steep....

"The ceiling height of the between-deck was usually 6 to 8 feet. The bunks, made of rough boards, were set up along both sides of the ship...

"On these ships there was only a small corridor between the bunks. Each bunk was intended to hold from three to six persons, and these were often called family bunks... The bunks were usually double-deck beds, i.e., there was one bunk on top of the other...

"Thebunks had straw mattresses or mattresses stuffed with straw. The emigrants hadto bring their own pillows, blankets, animal hides and other necessarybedclothes. Contemporary sources report that lice and fleas thrived in thisenvironment."