Leaving Home - A Swedish Emigrant's Journey to America

Johan Alexander Palm (1868-1930)

paternal great-grandfather 

When my great-grandfather, John Alexander "Sander" 

Palm, was about 19 years old he made a decision 

that would be life-changing – he decided to emigrate 

from Sweden to America. It meant leaving his parents, Sara Johnson and John Peter Palm, two sisters, Lena and Emma Sophia, and his twin brother, Karl Alfred, as well as friends, his farm in Täppan outside the city of Norrköping, and a familiar way of life.

 

Left: Johan Alexander Palm in 1886.

Sander was one of about 330,000 who emigrated from Sweden to the United States during the 1880s. (Blanck) Some emigrated to avoid religious persecution or military service; for others, it was a way to escape the poor economic conditions in Sweden, the lure of adventure, a chance to start over, or the availability of land, something that was becoming more and more scarce in Sweden. Many were convinced to make the journey after reading glowing accounts of life in America in letters from family members that had already emigrated. Sander’s decision to emigrate was probably due to the poor economic conditions in Sweden and the fact that his older sister, Clara, emigrated in April 1887.  

 

Lithograph of Norrkӧping, Sweden in 1876. (Wikipedia)

 

– THE JOURNEY BEGINS:  Norrkӧping to Göteborg –

Before Sander could move from Matthew Church Parish in Norrköping to the U.S., he had to obtain a relocation certificate (flyttningsbevis). Any person moving from one parish to another in Sweden was required to present the document to the priest of the new parish. Anyone moving to another country was required to present their relocation certificate to the police at the port of exit in Sweden.

 

Near the beginning of May 1888, Sander and his family went to the railway station in Norrköping where he would begin his long journey to America. Emotions were running high as he boarded the train to begin the four-hour trip across Sweden to the western port city of Göteborg (Gothenburg). He wondered when, and if, he would see his family again.

Left: Information from Sander’s certificate shows he was born in ӧstergötland, Skärkind, Sverige (Sweden) on December 12, 1868. He was a farmer (dräng) who, in 1887, moved from Linköping to Täppan. In 1888, he left Norrköping for North America.  (Ancestry.com)

 

Approximate train route from Norrkӧping to Göteborg, Sweden, about 200 miles apart. (Google Maps) Railroads had to circumvent the many lakes that cover southern Sweden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Right: 1888 Swedish Household Clerical 

        Survey for Johan Alexandra Palm 

        showing his move to the U.S.    

        (Ancestry.com)

   

 

– Göteborg:  PORT OF DEPARTURE FROM SWEDEN –

In Göteborg, Sander presented his paperwork to officials and had the routine physical exam to make sure he was healthy. An emigration agent from the shipping line confirmed his third-class ticket. In 1888, passage for just the Liverpool/New York leg was about £4 ($640 in 2022). It was more economical for travelers to purchase a travel pack, also known as an emigrant contract (utvandrare-kontrakt), rather than individual tickets for each leg. [See a 1904 contract here.]

The contract included meals, accommodations, passage from Göteborg to Hull and Liverpool to New York, a rail ticket from Hull to Liverpool, and another from New York to the emigrant’s final destination in the United States. It also included meals and lodging at all stops since there could be delays up to a week or more due to railroad and ship arrival/departure schedules. 

Another benefit of the contract was that emigration agents from the shipping line were at every port to escort, translate, and otherwise aid emigrants. Sander and his fellow travelers were directed to purchase a mess kit (jug, cup, metal bowls, utensils), a mattress and blanket, along with some food to supplement meals as they traveled. Those who didn't regretted their decision later.

 

This scene is similar to what Sander would have observed as the crew of his ship prepared for its voyage to the city of Hull on the eastern coast of England.

 

Right: Farewell to home – emigrants bound for England and America – on steamer at Göteborg, Sweden circa 1905. (Library of Congress)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sander sailed from Göteborg to Hull aboard the Wilson Line’s S.S. Orlando, a 900-passenger steamship that was much smaller than the transatlantic vessel that would make the voyage from Liverpool to New York. Due to Orlando’s size, the 700-mile, two-day voyage across the North Sea would be challenging, since rough seas and storms were common. When the ship encountered inclement weather, even seasoned ocean travelers became seasick. Portholes had to remain closed and passengers weren’t allowed on deck during heavy seas, resulting in foul air and filthy floors in the crowded spaces of steerage – third-class – located on the lowest deck of the ship. (HHogman)

The steamer S.S. Orlando circa 1880. (Augustana College, Swenson Center Image Gallery)

  

Below: Orlando’s list of emigrants departing Göteborg, Sweden for Hull, England on 10 May 1888. Alexander Palm is passenger #3965. He is from Norrköping, age 20, male, and has one piece of baggage. His U.S. destination is Stoneham [Pennsylvania]. (Ancestry.com)

 

– ON ENGLISH SHORES: THE PORT OF HULL –

 

By the time travelers arrived in Hull, most were hungry and exhausted both from lack of sleep and seasickness after the rough passage across the North Sea. Those who brought extra provisions were glad they did.

 

Shipping off Victoria Pier, Hull by Thomas Somerscales. Oil on canvas, 1894. "A splendid view of the Victoria Pier on a choppy day with magnificent representations of Humber keels with their large square sails, the classic local sailing barges, a Hull-New Holland paddle steamer at the pier and a steamer beyond which is probably coming out of the Humber dock basin." (Wikimedia Commons)

 

Upon arrival in Hull, passengers’ paperwork and tickets were checked against the ship’s manifest since the ship’s captain and crew were always on the lookout for stowaways. Anyone without a ticket could be turned over to authorities and even be sent to jail. But often a captain would keep stowaways on board, making them work off the cost of their passages by assigning them the worst job on the ship as it was readied for its next voyage – cleaning the steerage deck where hundreds of emigrants had vomited from being seasick. 

– THE HULL-LIVERPOOL RAILWAY –

When Sander disembarked from Orlando he was swept up in the chaos of throngs of people swarming about on the dock. Maneuvering through the crowd was difficult. The weary travelers had to carry their own belongings while emigration agents escorted them to emigrant houses or hotels. Depending on the day of the week, emigrants sometimes stayed at one of these establishments for several days before heading to Hull’s Paragon Street Station to board the train to Liverpool. After looking at the train schedule and travel time, it's likely Sander spent only one night in Hull, or even as little as a few hours, before departing for Liverpool.

 

Paragon Street Station. Hull. Circa early 1900s. Station Hotel, with original porte-cochère entrance. (Wikimedia Commons)

Railway Junctions in Hull by Railroad Clearing House, 1914. (Wikimedia Commons)

My red dot marks the location of Paragon Street Station.

 

 

Right: Paragon Station - Hull's railways terminate at this imposing station. (Wikimedia Commons, Stephen McKay, Paragon Station throat, CC BY SA 2.0)

 

 

[A station throat is the often constricted area at the end of a railway station where running lines divide into platform tracks.]

 

 

When it was time to make their way to Paragon Station, the emigration agent led Sander and his fellow travelers through the streets of Hull to the emigrant waiting area near Platform 14. It was teeming with people. Often there were so many departing emigrants that it took as many as seventeen railroad cars to accommodate the passengers and their baggage. First- and second-class passengers rode in the luxury cars at the front. Steerage passengers were behind them in the third-class cars – the seats were hard, wooden benches. Baggage was carried in the last four cars. Trains normally made the four-hour trip from Hull to Liverpool on Mondays via Leeds and Manchester, departing Hull around 11:00 AM. Because of their length the Hull-Liverpool trains were given priority over other train services during this time. (Norway Heritage)

 

My dotted line indicates Sander’s approximate route from Norrkӧping to Liverpool. (Google Maps)

 – THE CITY OF LIVERPOOL –

Sander had to be overwhelmed by Liverpool. In 1888, the city’s population was approaching 620,000, over seven times that of Norrkӧping. (Vision of Britain) Emigrants could spend over a week in the city before their ship actually sailed, since tides, scheduled arrival/departure times, and loading/unloading baggage and passengers all influenced actual departure times.  Sander was probably in the city for only a day, however. As always, emigration agents from the National Line escorted Sander and his fellow travelers from the train station to hotels or boarding/emigrant houses. 

 

– THE PORT OF LIVERPOOL –

The Port of Liverpool and the River Mersey. Note the docks (in red) lining the right bank of the river. (Google Maps)

When the day arrived to board his ship, National Line’s S.S. Egypt, Sander was thrust into the bedlam of the Port of Liverpool, an enclosed dock system stretching over seven miles along the east and west banks of River Mersey. (Liverpool) The Czech writer, playwright, and critic, Karel Čapek, described Liverpool in his 1924 book, Letters from England, after visiting the city the previous year:

... Liverpool is the biggest port ... there was something to see from Dingle up to Bootle, and as far again as Birkenhead on the other side. Yellow water, bellowing steam ferries, white trans-atlantic liners, towers, cranes, stevedores, skiffs, shipyards, trains, smoke, chaos, hooting, ringing, hammering, puffing, the ruptured bellies of the ships, the stench of horses, the sweat, urine, and waste from all the continents of the world ... And if I heaped up words for another half an hour, I wouldn't achieve the full number, confusion and expanse which is called Liverpool.

Shipping line agents led the emigrants through the crowds to the staging area dock. While Sander and the other passengers waited, ship tenders transported small groups to Egypt, lying some distance down river. Sander had to feel some sense of relief knowing that, even though this would be the longest part of his journey, he would soon be in America.

Postcard view north over George's Dock, 1897. The Liverpool Overhead Railway runs across the centre of the image, with St Nicholas church to the rear. (Wikimedia Commons)

Landing Stage, Liverpool, circa 1903. (Wikimedia Commons)

– THE ATLANTIC CROSSING –

 

Sander's ship, S.S. Egypt, was a steamer built in 1871. It sported two funnels and four masts. It was built for speed, safety, and a larger capacity for both cargo and passengers. (Norway Heritage)

 

"The magnificent steamships Egypt and Spain" by Charles R. Parsons. 1879. Lithograph by Currier & Ives. The steamers, Egypt and Spain, off Sandy Hook outside the Port of New York. S.S. Egypt is under sail and steam and flying a Red Ensign. (Wikimedia Commons)

Egypt's first-class passengers were housed in the 120 berths located around its grand saloon, such as those on the steamship Drew, shown below. Other saloons included an elegantly furnished dining room, smoking room for the gentlemen, a ladies’ boudoir, and a library. The saloons, state-rooms, and officers' rooms were heated by steam-pipes.

The grand saloon on the steamer, Drew, which ran on the Hudson River between New York and Albany, circa 1878. (LOC)

Sander was traveling third-class in steerage and, according to Egypt’s manifest, he was assigned to forward steerage located on one of the ship’s lowest decks. The area had open-berth compartments arranged around the perimeter of the deck; an open space in the center provided a place where passengers could gather or tables could be set up for meals. While the accommodations were better than those of Orlando, they were still far from ideal.

Egypt’s steerage, located among the machinery spaces of the ship, held 1410 passengers when fully booked, allowing each passenger approximately fourteen square feet of space. Imagine all those passengers sharing the minimal bathing and toilet facilities. Even though light and proper ventilation had improved a great deal since the early days of ocean travel, it took only a day or two before the foul air and filth from human waste and vomit made it difficult to breathe. (Norway Heritage) 

 

In the days before steamships it took a month or more to cross the Atlantic, making steerage the perfect breeding ground for diseases such as cholera and typhus. Adding to the problem, crews usually put off the unpleasant task of cleaning the facilities until the last day of the voyage when everything on board had to be in tiptop shape for the inspection at the Port of New York. By the time Sander made the voyage, it could be made in seven or eight days, reducing the risk of disease to some degree.

 

 

During fair weather, people spent as much time as possible on the open deck designated for steerage passengers. First-class passengers had their own deck. When the ship encountered inclement weather, steerage passengers were forced to stay below and endure the horrific conditions – very little light and poor (or no) air circulation – while they were buffeted by rough seas.  

  

Left: Emigrants on the crowded lower deck of a ship in mid-ocean. Circa 1890. (Library of Congress)

 

 

 

Right: On board an emigrant ship - the breakfast bell immigrants on ship deck. 1884. (Library of Congress)

In addition to the cramped condi-tions, steerage passengers were subjected to other indignities. Generally, ships’ crews treated those passengers with disdain, displaying rude behavior and sometimes getting physical by pushing or shoving. The rations steerage passengers paid for were supposed to be of good quality and sufficient for the journey, but portions were usually meager, poorly prepared, and sometimes spoiled; drinking water was frequently dirty. [See Immigrant's Voyage in Steerage – 1888, the same year Sander made his voyage.]

 – AMERICA AT LAST –

Egypt completed the voyage from Liverpool, England in about a week, arriving at the New York Bay staging area on May 21, 1888. 

Below is a cropped 1893 map of New York Harbor showing the Pennsylvania Railroad lines and other landmarks (with my  labels and highlighting). (Wikimedia)

 The dotted line through New York Bay indicates the main ship channel. 

• In 1888, the first structure visible to emigrants as their ships approached New York was the Elephant Colossus (1) located on Coney Island at West Brighton Beach. 
  

• Fort Hamilton (2), is an historic Revolutionary War battery, originally known as the Narrows Fort. 

• The Statue of Liberty (3) is eight miles north of the western tip of Coney Island.
  

• It is another mile to Castle Garden (4) on the southern tip of Manhattan Island. This is where emigrants were processed before being admitted to the United States. The facility on Ellis Island didn't open until 1892. 
  

• Sander took a train from the Pennsylvania Railroad Station (5) in Jersey City to Stoneham. 

 

PRR (1893) Railroad Lines New York Harbour. Cropped image. (Wikimedia Commons)

As S.S. Egypt approached New York Bay, the Elephantine Colossus (1), or Elephant Hotel, on Coney Island came into view. Built in 1885, it was a 122-foot-high, elephant-shaped hotel with thirty-one rooms. The "Mammoth Toboggan Chute," was a half-mile-long, 75-foot-tall, three-loop roller coaster built around the hotel in 1889. Both were destroyed in a fire in 1896. (Heart of Coney Island)

 

The Elephantine Colossus, circa 1895. Urban Archive, Center for Brooklyn History.

 

After rounding the western end of Coney Island, S.S. Egypt headed north into New York Bay. On this busy waterway, Sander saw steamships sailing back and forth between Coney Island and New York City, as well as transatlantic steamers and other watercraft.

Saturday half holiday, bound for Coney Island, U.S.A., 1892. Stereograph card. (LOC)

 

Next, Sander's ship passed Fort Hamilton (2) on the east side of the Narrows. This historic battery is where, on July 4, 1776, American patriots fired on one of the British man-of-war ships in the massive British fleet that was assembling in the Narrows. While the shot caused some damage, it did little to prevent General William Howe's August invasion of Long Island. (Historical Markers)

 

Forts Hamilton and Lafayette, The Narrows, New York, From Staten Island by John Perry Newell (1832-1909) (Doyle)

Finally, the Statue of Liberty (3) came into view. Imagine the emotions Sander and the other emigrants must have felt when they first caught sight of it – relief that they had finally reached America, some uneasiness about the future, and at the same time a sense of anticipation at the thought of the new life ahead of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: New York - Welcome to the land of freedom - An ocean steamer passing the Statue of Liberty: Scene on the steerage deck. (LOC)

 

 

 

 

The Statue of Liberty, a copper statue that stands just over 151 feet high, was a gift to the United States from the people of France. It was erected in New York Bay in October 1886. The combined height of the statue and its pedestal from the ground to the tip of the torch is 305 feet, making it easily visible as S.S. Egypt made its way north through New York Bay. (Wikipedia)

At last Egypt anchored in a staging area offshore from Castle Garden (4) while it waited its turn for processing. In the meantime, the crew searched for stowaways and checked tickets and paperwork as passengers were examined by doctors.

The city of New York. 1886. Currier & Ives. (LOC) Castle Garden is the round building at the lower left.

Below is the top portion of page 1 of Egypt's manifest. My red boxes highlight the signature of the ship master (illegible) from the Port of Liverpool to the Port of New York and the arrival date May 21, 1888. (FamilySearch)

 

The shaded area below is the portion of Egypt’s manifest that lists my great-grandfather. Johan Palm was passenger 983, a 20-year-old male, laborer, and citizen of Sweden. He departed Sweden via the Port of Gothenburg before sailing from Liverpool, England to the Port of New York. Sander’s accommodations were in forward steerage, he had one piece of baggage, and planned to reside permanently in the U.S. (FamilySearch)

 

– WELCOME TO AMERICA:  IMMIGRANT INTAKE AT CASTLE GARDEN –

Castle Garden was an imposing structure that started its life as a fort – the Southwest Battery – in 1811. When New York City took possession of the fort in 1823, it was renamed Castle Garden and used as an opera house and theater. Beginning in 1855, the State of New York used the structure as a processing facility for emigrants arriving in New York City by sea. In August 1892, processing started in the newly constructed facilities at Ellis Island, operated by the federal government.

The first night in New York Sander and Egypt's other passengers stayed on board ship in the staging area. The next morning, baggage and other items aboard ship were inspected. Then emigrants were given brass tags in exchange for their baggage as it was loaded onto barges. After passengers were transported to Castle Garden on ship tenders, they used the tags to claim their baggage.

 

New York Bay, Castle Garden [Castle Clinton], and Statue of Liberty. (LOC)

Once inside Castle Garden, people were interviewed by immigration agents, examined by doctors again, and directed to the rotunda where they could purchase train tickets, if needed, and exchange currency.

Left: Immigrants landing at Castle Garden. Drawn by A.B. Shults in 1880. Published May 29, 1880 in "Harper's Weekly." (LOC)

 

 

 

 

 

Right: Examining Emigrants at Castle Garden. April 1880. (LOC)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left: Interior of Castle Garden. The rotunda filled with immigrants. (LOC)

 

 

  

 

 

In the painting below, it appears some people have claimed their baggage. Note that the young girl seated on a trunk has the bowls, cup, and jug from her mess kit. 

In the Land of Promise, Castle Garden, painted in 1884 by Charles Frederic Ulrich, is a depiction of the emigrant landing depot in Manhattan. [National Gallery of Art – Corcoran Collection] (WikimediaCommons)

After twelve or more long hours of walking through crowds of people and being interviewed by numerous immigration agents, Sander was finally finished – he had been admitted to the United States. Because it was well into the evening, an agent from the National Line escorted Sander and others to their lodgings. Within the next day or two, he would board a train for the last leg of his journey.

– STONEHAM, PENNSYLVANIA:  THE END OF THE LINE – 

When it was time to go to the train station, the newly arrived immigrants were escorted to ferries that took them across the Hudson River to the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Jersey City, New Jersey. 

An 1893 map of New York Harbor (cropped) showing the Pennsylvania Railroad lines and stations. (Wikimedia Commons)

Courtlandt Street and Liberty Street Ferries. (Wikimedia Commons)

Pennsylvania Railroad's Jersey City Station, 1893. (Wikimedia)

Emigrants Embarking at the Railroad Station in New York for their New Homes in the West. May 1880. (LOC)

General map of the Pennsylvania Railroad and its connections. 1893. (LOC) My red dots indicate the starting point in Jersey City, New Jersey and the location of Stoneham where Sander ended his journey. [The Stoneham depot was torn down between 1889 and 1893.]

 

Once his train left Jersey City, Sander gazed out the window, intrigued by the landscape. The first day the train traveled through terrain that was similar to his homeland in south central Sweden – primarily flat or gently rolling lowlands. By the second day, there were low hills that soon became higher and steeper as the train moved over the undulating northern Appalachian Mountains in central Pennsylvania. Sander was amazed – he had never seen anything like it.   

Finally, the rails led across the mountainous Allegheny Plateau in the north, covered with countless high ridges and deep valleys formed by ancient glaciers. Because of the dense forests and his limited view from the train, Sander was sometimes surprised when the train suddenly broke into the open as it traversed a railroad bridge spanning a deep ravine or valley. 

The map shows the northern Appalachian Mountains (central PA) and the Allegheny Plateau (northwestern PA). The Allegheny National Forest is located on the plateau. (Google Maps)

This Google relief map shows the ridges and valleys of the Allegheny Plateau.

 

As he traveled across the state, Sander was struck by the wild, mostly untouched beauty of the landscape. Even though it was often breathtaking, the terrain was so unlike the area around Norrköping and county of Östergötland that he felt completely out of his element.

The Allegheny National Forest near Warren, Pennsylvania.

 

Sander's train crossed many bridges on its way to Stoneham − looking down when it crossed one could be dizzying. But none of the bridges had the impressive dimensions of the Kinzua Bridge. About twenty-five miles east of Stoneham, the bridge spanned the Kinzua Creek Valley. When it was completed in 1882, the 2,052-foot-long, 301-foot-high trestle was the longest, tallest railroad bridge in the world, a designation that lasted for two years. From the beginning, trains traversing the Kinzua Bridge were limited to a speed of five miles per hour because locomotives made the bridge vibrate.  (Wikipedia)  

 

 

 

Right: The former Kinzua Bridge at Kinzua Bridge State Park in McKean County, Pennsylvania, United States. (The Pennsylvania Bureau of State Parks on Wikipedia)

 

 

 

Aerial view of the Kinzua Bridge and Kinzua Creek Valley circa 1968. (LOC)

 

Sander’s 350-mile journey across Pennsylvania could have taken three or four days, although it's difficult to determine since there were many delays as the train stopped at numerous stations to load and unload passengers and their baggage, while taking on wood and coal to replenish the fuel supply. In all, by the time he arrived in Stoneham Sander had traveled nearly 5,000 miles in just under three weeks.

As the train slowly came to a halt at the Stoneham depot, Sander looked out the window at the forested hills that would surround him in his new life. He felt apprehensive, excited, and incredibly tired. After taking a deep breath, he stepped off the train. And there was Clara – he was home. 

A postcard, circa 1909, depicting a train at the Pennsylvania Railroad depot in Warren, four miles from Stoneham.   

L: Clara Marie Palm (1864-1935)  R: Clara and her husband, Axel Johnson

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– DIG A LITTLE DEEPER –

 

~ Immigrant’s Voyage in Steerage, 1888 is an abbreviated account of writer Eliza Putnam Heaton's experiences as a steerage passenger on a voyage from Liverpool to New York City for the purpose of documenting conditions encountered by immigrants.

The full account, entitled A Sham Immigrant's Voyage in Steerage – 1888, can be found at GG Archives.

~ Read more about the Elephant Hotel and fascinating history of Coney Island at The Heart of Coney Island.

 ~ The article, Kinzua Bridge, describes the challenges of building this historic railroad trestle across Kinzua Creek. The bridge's height was about that of a 27-story building and just under four-tenths of a mile long; it was partially destroyed by a tornado in 2003.

 

 

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Bradish-Scott Family History - April 2022