As a young man, Truls Wilson from Bergen traveled to the United States to gain work experience and build a professional network as an engineer. After returning to Bergen, he established his own company, but was one of those who made several trips to America over the course of his life.
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Photo: Truls Wiel Wilson/University of Bergen Library
Truls Wiel Wilson was born on October 16, 1886, in Bergen. He grew up with his widowed mother and three brothers at Nygaten 5. They later moved to Rosenbergsgaten 18 and Engen, where his mother ran Mrs. Wilson’s Tea Shop (Fru Wilsons Thehandel) – just a stone’s throw from where the Bergen Maritime Museum is located today.
Wilson trained as an engineer, graduating from the Bergen Technical College in 1908. In March 1909, he embarked on his first journey to America in search of work as an engineer.
In 1909, there was no direct route between Bergen and the United States. Wilson therefore had to travel by ship from Bergen to Newcastle, and then by train to Liverpool, where Cunard Line operated its departure terminal. The voyage would take place aboard the RMS Mauretania—at the time, the largest and fastest ship in the world.
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RMS Mauretania. Bergen Maritime Museum's archive.
Truls Wilson stayed in the U.S. for three years. He worked at Allis Chalmers Co. in Wisconsin, and later at Babcock & Wilcox Co. in Ohio and The Kerr Steam Turbine Co. in New York.
Two years after returning to Bergen, he founded Western Norway’s first automobile dealership, along with the engineering firm Ingeniør T. W. Wilson. He also married his fiancée, Amy Jersin. Jersin’s Norwegian family had emigrated to Minnesota, where she was born. The family later returned to Bergen.
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Bergens Tidende June 2nd 1914
As part of his business activities, Wilson eventually made several trips to America. The suitcases on display accompanied him on some of these journeys.
Take a closer look at the luggage tags. What do the details reveal about his travels? We can see that Wilson traveled with the RMS Queen Elizabeth, which operated as a passenger liner between Southampton and New York from 1946 under Cunard-White Star Line. One tag is clearly marked May 1952. The other two tags are harder to read, but appear to be from April 1954.
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Truls and Amy on the top of Blåmanen, one of the mountains close to the city centre of Bergen. Photo: Ralph Wilson/University of Bergen Library
Truls and Amy Wilson’s story illustrates how people moved back and forth between Norway and the U.S., and that returning home to Norway after a few years abroad was not unusual.