Birgit Sorenson
Birgit Sorenson was born in Egersund, Norway. She first traveled to America in 1928 to visit a friend in Evanston, IL. She was there for two years and then returned to Norway. She soon returned and settled in San Francisco. In San Francisco is where she met Per who she eventually married.
“California, Northern U.S. District Court Naturalization Index, 1852-1989”, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ST-7FWP : 9 March 2021), Birgit Sorensen Nevard, 1936.
Birgit. Photograph of Birgit Sorenson Nevard. Photographer unknown. 1928.
“New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1928, 1925-1957,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:246R-QFR : 2 March 2021), Birgit Sorensen, 1928; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
Per Oxnevad
Norwegian National Emigration Offices. Passport for Per Ox-Nevad. 1913.
Norwegian National Emigration Office. Passport for Birgit Sorenson. 1928.
Superior Court of the State of California in the county of San Mateo. Order of name change for Ingolf Per Bernhard Oxnevad to Per Bernhard Nevard. Document No.46465. Approved November, 1948.
Per Oxnevad was born in Egersund, Norway. Egersund was a small farming town, and even though he and Birgit grew up in the same place, the two of them never met while living in Norway. Per went to America when he was 16 and his family joined him in the 1920s. He settled in San Francisco which is where he then met Birgit at a club for Norwegian immigrants. For Per it was love at first sight.
In the 1940s, Per was able to formally change the family name from Oxnevad to Nevard. That is why records prior to 1948 for Nevard do not exist.
Although now American, both Birgit and Per upheld a handful of Norwegian recipes and traditions that were passed down to their daughter Carol (my grandmother) and then even to me. I grew up with a Norwegian Christmas feast every year but only now have I come to understand the value in those cultural traditions and where that part of my family. comes from.