Meridean, 15 June 1879
Dear Grandfather,
I will now take pen in hand in order to write you a few words in order to
let you know how we have had it on the trip from Liverpool to Philadelphia.
 We had to stay in Liverpool from the 13th to the 17th of May.  The reason
being that up until then there had been hammocks on the ship and there they
built bunk beds to make more sleeping room.
We were at a hotel and had very good accomodations and had plenty of time
to see the city.  It is first-rate.  We went many times to the railway station
where trains come and go continuously so I don't know how many arrived and
departed each day.  The reason we went so often to the station was that the
trunk that Knut* and I had together was not to found with the others and
we investigated carefully but it could not be found.  They telegraphed to
Hull and there they found a chest but it was not our either.  Finally there
came a telegram back that it was found in Glasgow.  It had become mixed up
with the Anchor Line's passenger luggage when the boat went that way.  This
was Thursday evening that the telegram arrived and Friday morning the chest
arrived and then we were happy because we had thought it would not come into
our hands again.  I could write much about Liverpool, but I will limit it
as much as possible.  There is a large marketplace, but it is not as in Trondhjem
under open sky but there are large buildings and there are racks and on the
racks are found all sorts of wares, and thus it was throughout the entire
building with shelves and aisles.  We left Liverpool, as mentioned, on the
17th of May in the afternoon on the steamship Ohio and called at Queenstown
on the 18th at 12:00 noon.  We departed there a couple hours later and in
the evening of the same day we came out into the great wild Atlantic Ocean
so we didn't see land any longer; but we did have good weather and I have
been well and active the whole time, for which I have the good God to thanks.
 We were a company of some 633 people and the majority were not seaksick
and no one died on the trip.  We arrived in Philadelphia and Pittsburg Gjertru
Sneenslappen gave birth to a son and it went both fast and easy and in a
couple hours we changed trains and then she walked well alone between the
coaches.  Saturday the 31st of May at 11:00 a.m. we arrived in Eau Claire
where we were shown the way to Elef Hanshus where we ate dinner and Elef
came along and negotiated transport for us so that we came in plenty of time
to Nils Sneen where we were well received and then were...
Remainder of letter is missing but is obviously in the hand of Anders P.
Solem
* Knut (Knud) S. Aspeggen was 52-year old neighbor into whose care Anders
was entrusted for his trip to "America".