Anne Marie Thorsdatter

Ole Thorsen had two sisters, Marit and Anne Marie. Anne Marie was the youngest of the 6 Thorsen siblings, born on the island of Langøy (in Skåtøy parish) outside Kragerø October 19th, 1867. She was christened in Skåtøy church on April 10th, 1868, and in the 1875 Census for Langøy she is noted as "staying with her sister and brother-in-law in Kragerø" - which is confirmed by the Kragerø Census for the home of her sister Marit and her swedish husband Johan Mikkelsen. As she is registred there as "foster daughter" in her sister's house, she presumably stayed with her sister while attending school in Kragerø. On October 16th, 1881 she celebrated her confirmation in Skåtøy church.

On February 2nd, 1883 she emigrated to the US accompanying her older sister Marit, Marit's two children and her brother Ole. They all left Norway from Kristiania (Oslo) by the ship Domino, probably by way of Liverpool, and arrived in New York with the ship Celtic on February 20th, 1883. In the passanger list on arrival, she is put down as "Anna Thorston, 15, spinster". The whole family travelled "steerage".

Apparently she stayed with her sister's family in New York for a while, and on July 7th, 1884 she stood godmother to Marit's son Harry at his christening in the Norwegian Church in New York, now with the name Hanna Marie Thorsen. This is the last information I have of Anne Marie; did she leave New York, did she marry and change her name..........

The photographs show Anne Marie and her brother Ole Thorsen photographed shortly before their departure for New York, and the "new" Anne Marie in the New World - a photo sent home to the family in Norway as proof that all was well!