52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 28 – Travel

When I thought about this theme, I realized that I know little about how most of my ancestors traveled. But then I remembered that I have used at least three different sources to learn about their travels: by train, sailing ship and covered wagon.

1. I interviewed my father, Lester Albertson, before he passed away in 2004. He told me that when he and his parents and two sisters came to Oregon from Kansas in 1911, they rode the train. His father, Oran Jesse Albertson, had worked for the railroad back in Kansas, so they had a pass. Apparently they traveled from Goodland, Kansas to Portland, Oregon and then continued south to Halsey, Oregon where Oran's brother Arthur lived.

2. When my immigrant Falk gt-grandparents came from Prussia to the United States in 1858 the passenger list gives the name of the sailing ship they came on. It was a bark named Wieland. I have a picture of a bark named Wieland, but it was built in 1862 and was larger as Lloyd's Register found on the Mystic Seaport website, show the earlier Wieland tonnage to be 512 and the later one was 632. But I believe as they were both barks, they probably had a very similar appearance.

2. In 1938, before I was born, the Bond family reunion printed a booklet with the journal entries of my 2^nd gt-granduncle George Bond on the trip from Iowa to Oregon in 1853. Since this was over the Oregon Trail, it is logical to believe they traveled by covered wagon. It makes it more believable when the entry for April 9 stated that they “loded the wagons.” But they apparently did use tents while camping along the way because on May 14 George recorded that a storm prevented them from pitching their tents. I have always felt so fortunate to be able to read the daily travels for that group which included my 2^nd gt-grandparents and 2 sets of 3^rd gt-grandparents as well as over 30 other relatives.