Sloopers

The sobriquet "Slooper" refers to the 52 Norwegians who traveled to the United States in 1825 aboard the sloop Restauration. Within the first 100 years, the Slooper community numbered at least 1,000 persons.

History The Sloopers came from Stavanger, Norway, to the U.S. in 1825 due to a variety of the circumstances. The director of the expedition and the chief owner of the boat was Lars Larson i Jeilane; the captain was Lars Olsen. The company consisted of 52 persons, all but one being natives of Stavanger and vicinity; the one exception was the mate, Nels Erikson, who came from Bergen, Norway.

Religion Many of those who came in the sloop were Quakers. Instead of organizing themselves separately, they naturally attached themselves to American Quaker societies and worshiped with them. This was the case with Lars Larson (i Jeilane) in Rochester, with Ingebret Larson Narvig in Michigan, and with the Rossadals and Olsons in the Fox River Settlement. Some of the early Norwegian immigrants had no profound religious convictions and were agnostics. A considerable number of the sloopers were not only without religious convictions, but they seemed utterly to despise, and were fond of ridiculing ministers, churches, the Bible and religious people. Some of these agnostics had acquired their hostility to the Church and to religion before they emigrated from Norway. They became louder and more outspoken in their ridicule and denunciations after they arrived in the U.S.