Kleng Peerson, called also Kleng Pederson and Person Hesthammer, was a man of dubious character, who has been variously described. One has called him the "Father of the Newer Norwegian Immigration" and as such entitled to a chapter by himself; another has written him down as a tramp.[27] A softer characterization, however, makes of him a "Viking who was born some centuries after the Viking period."[28] He appears to have been a sort of Quaker, either from conscience or convenience. His leaving his home parish of Skjold near Stavanger, and his emigration to the United States in 1821 in company with another Norwegian, are attributed to motives ranging from a commission from the Quakers to find a refuge for them in America, to a desire to escape the rich old widow whom he married, and who was tired of supporting him in idleness.[29] Certain it is that upon his return to Norway in 1824, after three years of experience in the New World, the sentiment favoring emigration from Stavanger soon crystallized. [27] R. B. Anderson, "En Liden Indledning" in the series of articles "Bidrag til vore Settlementers og Menigheders Historie," _Amerika_, April 4, 1894. Bothne, _Kort Udsigt over det Lutherske Kirkearbeide bladnt Normændene i Amerika_, 822. [28] O. N. Nelson, "Bemerkning til Prof. Andersons Indledning", _Amerika_, May 2, 1894. [29] Nelson, _History of the Scandinavians_, I, 134 B-C. By midsummer of 1825 a company of fifty-two persons, mostly Quakers from the parish of Skjold, was ready to journey to America. They purchased a sloop and a small cargo of iron which would serve as ballast and which might bring them profit in New York, tho this was probably a secondary matter.[30] On the 4th of July, 1825, they set sail from Stavanger, and after a somewhat circuitous voyage of fourteen weeks, which was not very long, as such voyages went, they made their landing in New York, October 9th, numbering fifty-three instead of fifty-two, for a daughter was born to Lars Larson on shipboard.[31] This landing of the "Sloop Folk" of the "Restoration," whose story is a favorite and oft-told one with the older Norwegian immigrants, is occasionally likened to the Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers who fled to a wilderness to escape persecution and to seek social and religious freedom; but on close examination the comparison breaks down at almost every point,--motive, objective, method and result.[32] [30] Langeland, _Nordmændene i Amerika_, 11. [31] C. A. Thingvold gives a list of the names of the "Sloop Folk," save four, which he obtained from one of the survivors, in "The First Norwegian Immigration to America," _The North_, Aug. 10, 1892.