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Sarah and Orville Vallem passport application and New York passenger list

Sarah (Anderson) Vallem, the second wife of John Peter Vallem applied for a US passport for herself and their only son, Orville on January 12, 1920.   (John Peter Vallem and first wife Lena Josephine (Travland) had possibly 7 children; I've only been able to track down 5 of those, leading me to believe there was an error in the 1910 US Census.)

Unfortunately, if the lower left corner was the photo of Sarah, it didn't come out on the xerox copy.




















Line #11 and #12 show Sarah and Orville as passengers on the Bergensfjord  arriving in New York from Stavanger, Norway.























I don't know if any of Sarah's stepchildren felt slighted by not having been included in the trip, but it may have been the source of some animosity toward their half-brother, Orville.

Here are some photos of the Bergensfjord.




























Here is a postcard of the Bergensfjord.


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Mark Vallem said…
I am Orville's grandson Mark Vallem. My father Rollo had a framed copy of the first photo of the Bergensfjord hung above his dresser. I've always loved that photo. I had never seen the other two until I found this site. They are very interesting. Thanks for posting them!
February 25, 2012 at 8:41 PM
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