The Larsen family boarded the wrong ship! They found themselves on the sailing ship H\u00f8vdin<\/em>g (meaning Chieftain) which was bound for New Zealand rather than America, heading for a country they had probably never heard of and with no concept of how far away it was or how long it would take to get there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The second misfortune-<\/strong><\/p>\n They didn\u2019t meet up with Nicolai\u2019s brother Johan. (Probably because they had boarded the wrong ship.) Nicolai presumed Johan went to America as planned.<\/p>\n How could this have happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n As children we had heard these stories about the Larsen family\u2019s misfortunes but I\u2019d always wondered about the truth of it. How could anyone get on the wrong ship? International travel today is so very different.<\/p>\n At this time (in the early 1870\u2019s) the New Zealand government was offering assisted migration hoping to achieve quick land clearance for the building of railways and roads. Scandinavian immigrants with strong backs and lots of healthy children were popular – and also sought after by other developing countries. Competition among unscrupulous government agents led to na\u00efve country folk being taken advantage of. Norma Keesing in her book \u2018The Immigration of the Scandinavian People to Hawke\u2019s Bay<\/em>\u2019 explains what sometimes happened-<\/p>\n \u2018The captains of the ships and their agents needed as many people on board as they could (safely?) get away with. Tales are told of prospective travellers inquiring for a particular ship and being put on another ship altogether in order to make up that ship\u2019s complement. So instead of sailing for America they would find themselves in New Zealand\u2026.\u2026\u2026. Language difficulties also added to the confusion, with many a shady or dishonest agent or captain taking advantage of less worldly wise and less educated travellers\u2026\u2026 Families were split up \u2026. with brothers\/sisters\/parents never meeting up again.\u2019 <\/em>Keesing p7<\/p>\n It seems this is exactly what happened to the Larsen family.<\/p>\n A blessing- <\/strong><\/p>\n Hanna and Nicolai had not told the emigration officials that Hanna was expecting their 4th<\/sup> child. Maybe they thought they would be charged more? Or the child would arrive after they got to America so there was no need to declare the pregnancy? But the journey to New Zealand took twice as long as the 50-60 days it took to get to America.<\/p>\n When a child is born at sea it is customary for the child to be named after the ship, and it is required that the birth be recorded by the captain in the ship\u2019s log. Seven children born on that trip were recorded in the H\u00f8vding\u2019s log but Christopher H\u00f8vding Larsen\u2019s name was not among them. Fearing repercussions Hanna and Nicolai had decided to keep the knowledge of his birth a secret from the captain and officers.<\/p>\n End notes<\/strong>–<\/p>\n Christopher H\u00f8vding Larsen<\/em>: As his birth was not recorded in the H\u00f8vding\u2019s log Chris had no official record of his birth so could not get a birth certificate. Having no identity papers was a problem for him in adult life. He must have managed to sort it out eventually though. Chris worked as a linesman for the Electricity Department. He died of tuberculosis in 1918. He was 44. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Johan Larsson<\/em>: Over the rest of his life Nicolai tried many times without success to make contact with his brother Johan in America. With the advantage of modern technology it didn\u2019t take me too long to work out that Johann didn\u2019t go to America, he stayed in Norway and eventually returned to Sweden. In the Swedish Clerical Survey book of 1881-86 Johan is back living in his father\u2019s household.\u00a0 He lived a long life and worked as a \u2018blekslagare\u2019 (tin smith\/metal worker). Nicolai died in 1888 aged 53, not ever knowing where his brother ended up, and saddened to have no contact with him. A great misfortune for Nicolai.<\/p>\n Hanna and Nicolai Larsen<\/em>: Their journey to New Zealand was a 4 month long nightmare. (That\u2019s for another story.) Emigrating to New Zealand was not their intention but they stayed, raised 11 children and were able to buy a farm of their own. A misfortune initially, but probably considered fortunate in the end, certainly by their descendants.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source:<\/strong><\/p>\n The Immigration of the Scandinavian People to Hawke\u2019s Bay<\/em> by Norma Keesing. (Published by the author) New Zealand, 1993<\/p>\n ISBN 0 473 01864 0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Another great article from\u00a0Kendall Gibson,\u00a0Wellington, New Zealand<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"#52Ancestors: Two Misfortunes and a Blessing","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/H%C3%B8vding.jpg?resize=800%2C603&ssl=1\")
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/martinroe.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Chris-Larsen.jpg?resize=409%2C599&ssl=1\")
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