In the summer of the year 1900 James and Henry Natesta, the sons of Ole K. Nattestad, the author of the pamphlet, took a short trip to Norway to visit the home of their forefathers, located in Vegli, Numedal. They made diligent inquiries for a pamphlet said to have been published from a manuscript sent to Norway in 1838 by their father. An old gentleman living close by the old homestead told them he had a copy, which they secured and brought back with them to this country. This copy has been in the possession of the Natesta brothers until last January (1916) when it was turned over to me and I handed it over to the State Historical Society. In regard to the book, or pamphlet, it is to be stated that while Ole Nattestad had learned to write, he was entirely ignorant of Norwegian grammar. Both his orthography and his syntax are very faulty. There are many subordinate clauses with the principal clause left out. The surprising thing is that the printers in Drammen did not make the necessary corrections. I was requested to follow the original as closely as possible, so as to convey to the reader of the translation as complete a presentation of the original as possible. The mistakes in orthography could only be reproduced in the translation where they concerned proper names. The faults in syntax I have generally reproduced. The reader will have to be the judge of how well I have succeeded. The book is of more than ordinary interest from the fact that it contains a description of an emigrant’s journey from Norway to Chicago in 1837, the only description we have of that kind, and also from the fact that it is written by the first immigrant from Norway who set foot on Wisconsin soil. DESCRIPTION OF A JOURNEY TO NORTH AMERICA BY OLE KNUDSEN NATTESTAD