My mother and I have been doing some digging in our family past and I have grown quite interested. I found that my great great great grandfather emigrated from Norway on May 21st, 1869. He was a farmer on a farm in Heidal, Norway. My grandfather changed his last name from Bjølstadløkken to the name of the farm (but it has since changed quite a bit in the spelling over time).
What I am wondering is was it common in this time period in Norway (or anywhere) to change your name to the farm you worked on? I understand things like Hansen meant son of Hans, but what other things influenced a persons last name in history?
Also, I am wondering if anybody has any insight as to what was going on in Norway in 1865 that may have made somebody emigrate? Was there a large famine, economic depression, etc? During this time period, the US was recovering from the civil war, was the US that much better of an option for people than Norway?
Also, I am wondering if anybody has any insight as to what was going on in Norway in 1865 that may have made somebody emigrate?
High birth rate. And more children survived (due to better hygiene). And Norway was at that time (at least outside the large cities) an agrarian country, but with no more land to cultivate. There were many farmers and too few farms. People went looking for land.