Some Thoughts on Being a California Slooper;
We Knew so Little
By O. Keith Wheeler - written May 2000 for
summer trip
I speak only for myself. I guess I cannot call myself a Norwegian-American as the term is commonly used. I could better be described as an "American of Norwegian descent" or an "American with Norwegian ancestry." Technically, as far as I know, I am only one-eighth Norwegian. I am very proud of my Norwegian heritage, however, I am very limited in my knowledge of what this means. I, like many, if not most in my family, did not grow up with familiarity of the Norwegian language or cultural practices. For many of us our only significant knowledge of our Norwegian connection was through the book published in 1961 by J. Hart Rosdail entitled The Sloopers: Their Ancestry and Posterity. Most of us knew that we, like our ancestors who came on the sloop Restoration, were called Sloopers and that the sloop Restoration was often called the "Norwegian Mayflower."
I do not know why more knowledge of
our Norwegian heritage was not passed down to current generations. I suspect our closest immigrant Slooper
ancestors, Jacob Anderson Slogvik and his wife, Serena Tormodsdatter Madland,
desired to become Americanized. After
they left the famous Norwegian Fox River Settlement in Illinois, they never lived
in what would be considered a Norwegian-American community. As they were both very young when they came
to America, they possibly did not have strong ties with their mother
country. This, however, is all pure
speculation. Just looking at their
lives during their several moves and subsequent establishing of new farms, they
had to have been very busy with daily activities.
Jacob at some point dropped the use of his farm name
of Slogvig and used his patronymic name of Anderson. While Jacob and Serena had several children, only three of them
survived long enough to marry, and only two of these, daughters Martha and
Isabelle, had children. I descend from
Martha. Over the past few years, I have
become more interested in genealogy and my Norwegian heritage in
particular. I have been able to make
contact with quite a few other cousins who descend from Martha. I have yet to make any significant contact
with descendents of Isabelle. Of
course, none of us carry the family name of Anderson.
Based on my perceptions of my family
and Slooper cousins, most of us hold a deep respect for our Norwegian heritage,
but our knowledge of this heritage and what it meant was quite limited. Compared to others in this country of Norwegian-American
heritage, those who were raised with exposure to the language and customs of
Norway, we had only some familiarity with Rosdail's Slooper book. We had no knowledge that this concept had
any further significant relevance either in this country or Norway.
Another factor that probably contributed
to our minimal Norwegian influences was the length of time and number of
generations since immigration. Since
Jacob, Serena and her family were among the very early immigrants, more
generations have passed compared to those families who came to this country
later. Another contributing factor was the early deaths of some family
members. Examples of this are Martha's
death at age 37, her husband's death at age 30, her sister Isabelle's death at
age 42, and my father's death at age 39.
Short lives limit opportunities to pass on memories and heritage.
While the Slooper book was the
pivotal connection, my interest in my Norwegian heritage has gone beyond this
single work. In recent years, I have
been able to find numerous other books and publications, attend various related
functions, and make related Internet contact that revealed the significance of
the Sloopers in Norwegian-American immigration history. It has been most enlightening to find a
strong interest in my Slooper ancestors and their place in history by people
currently living in Norway. That such
an interest exists in Norway has been new and surprising to me and my American
cousins.
Our family can also trace ancestral
lines back to several passengers aboard the famous Mayflower of the
Pilgrims. Maybe I am wrong, but I find
no equivalent interest in England with regard to those that left their country
for early American settlements. Do the
English celebrate the sailing of the Mayflower in any manner equivalent to the
Norwegian celebration of the sailing of the Restoration?
It has been very enjoyable to
establish contact with individuals and families in Rogaland fylke
(county). It has been a delight to
receive more information about our ancestors and the areas in which they
lived. It was a deep honor to be able
to make a journey to the land of my ancestors in the summer of 2000 to witness
the celebrations commemorating the 175 years since the Restoration sailed to
America. As I shared my findings about
our heritage I found that other family members also had a renewed interest and
respect for our Norwegian ancestry.
O. Keith Wheeler
Mad River, California USA
