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Hagen family; Solem, Andrew P. / Papers, 1879-1899 [Translations]
Call Number, Eau Claire Mss CC Box 1 Folder 1 ([unpublished])
Meridean, 15 June 1879
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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".
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