L’Orange is a Norwegian family of French origin. The family were Huguenots (Protestants), and after the repeal of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, members of the family had to leave France.
The first known man of the family, Jean L’Orange, who according to tradition came from St.-Quentin in Gascogne , probably came to Copenhagen at the end of the 17th century. His son Johan Gerhard L’orange (1696–1772) came to Norway and settled in Vestfold. (Norwegian Encyclopedia)
Fast forward to the end of the American Civil War in 1865; emigration from Norway to the US increased rapidly. But there were some who chose other destinations.
In 1877, Hendrik Christian (Christian) L’Orange (born in Fredrikshald in 1843) married Caroline Faye (born in Drammen in 1856), daughter of merchant Hans Peter Faye and his wife Karen Sophie Knudsen in Drammen. (Emigrantforlaget)
Following their wedding Christian and Caroline sailed for the islands of Hawai‘i in 1877. Her cousin, Anton Faye, also sailed with them to Kauai in 1877. Caroline’s uncle, Valdemar Knudsen, had already settled there in 1856.
Knudsen, Faye and L’Orange got involved in the operation of a sugar plantation on Kauai. (Scandinavian Club of Hawai‘i) Knudsen had acquired a 30-year lease on crown lands in the Waimea district where he established a ranch. Using an old Hawaiian ditch at Waiele, he drained and reclaimed about 50 acres on which he and L‘Orange planted sugar cane in 1878. (HSPA)
In 1879 Christian purchased his own plantation on Maui. He named it Lilikoi. He later sold the plantation and moved to Kauai. There he became the director of a sugar plantation, which was also given the name Lilikoi. (Norwegian Heritage)
As early as July 7, 1878, Captain L’Orange proposed to the Bureau of Immigration of the Hawaiian Kingdom to bring Scandinavian laborers to the Islands. By mid-June of 1880 he was involved in plans to go to Norway for contract workers to fill the needs of plantations represented by the sugar factors, Castle and Cooke. (Satrum)
By July 20, 1880, he had received his letter of appointment as agent of the Bureau of Immigration, and a few weeks later was on his way to Norway with a letter of credit for $20,000 from the firm of Castle and Cooke for expenses and advances.
Captain L’Orange had Instructions to hire not more than 400 adult workers, in a ratio of 35 to 40 women to each 100 men. These people were to be of ‘proper class’ and good workers, and no family was to bring more than two children. (Satrum)
A long depression from the mid-1870s to the early 1890s hit the Norwegian economy severely. Signs of the stagnation could be found in the large-scale immigration from Norway to North America during the 1880s. In the long-run, immigration was basically a result of increased labor productivity in the primary sector, causing surplus labor to find jobs in the New World. (Grytten)
Thousands were leaving Norway for other lands. This occurred at a time when there was actually a demand for more farm laborers in Hawai‘i. These circumstances partially determined who would be in the mix of people signing contracts as Hawaiian plantation workers. (Satrum)
L’Orange placed an advertisement in Drammen, Norway newspapers, stating, in part, “To the Emigrants for the Sandwich Islands Contracts with those who will go to the Sandwich Islands, are drawn up and signed on Wednesday, Sept. 23 … The parties must be provided with good recommendations, and attestations for good and faultless behaviour.”
“The conditions are now regulated, and thus fixed: laborers over 20 years, 9 dollars; under 20 years, somewhat less, per month, with free board, or board-money and free lodgings, families may bring two children with them. Free passage and board, which Is not to be worked out afterwards. Chr. L’Orange, Agent for the Hawaiian Bureau of Immigration, Sandwich Islands”.
The idea of a paid voyage and an opportunity to make their fortunes in a new land had an irresistible appeal to many Drammen folk that difficult year of 1880. Norwegians by the thousands were flocking to the US in response to promises of free land or jobs.
However, some were unable to raise the passage money, or unwilling to risk their savings on the gamble of a better life in a new country. To these the phrase, ‘free passage and board, which Is not to be worked out afterwards,’ had a special attraction. (Davis)
The planters were eager for the new laborers to arrive quickly, though Captain L’Orange warned that it would be impossible to find suitable ones in a hurry. The great need in Hawai‘i was for men to work in the fields. (Davis)
When L’Orange began hiring he found men with farm experience difficult to obtain. But there were plenty of artisans and industrial workers from the towns eager to sign his contracts, and from these came most of the recruits for Hawai‘i. (Davis)
Most of the recruits were from the town of Drammen or from nearby areas; but there were a few Swedes as well. The Norwegian bark Beta, commanded by Captain Kasper Rist Christensen, was first to weigh anchor (October 27, 1880). Almost 400 people made up the passenger list – 327 adults, Including 49 married couples, and 69 children 12 years and younger. (Davis)
The ship stopped briefly at Lahaina to take on board Captain L’Orange, who had traveled by a quicker route than the emigrants, and then went on to Ma‘alaea Landing. On February 18, 1881, it let down Its anchor.
On arrival, “The physician of the Board of Health pronounces them the most healthy company of men, women, and children he has ever seen and affirms that they are without the slightest taint of infectious diseases. The planters, who are so fortunate to obtain these laborers, highly value their adaptability by skill, as well as by physical strength, for almost every kind of work of plantations.”
“There are amongst them carpenters, blacksmiths, upholsterers, harness makers, printers, and engineers, while many of the women are admirably adapted for housekeepers.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 2, 1881)
Two hundred and twenty eight adults with their children drew numbers assigning them to Maul. Passengers not included among this number remained on board to be trans-shipped at the end of the week to Hilo by the steamer Llkelike for work on the Hitchcock plantation is Pāpa’ikou. (Davis)
The German bark, ‘Musca’ sailed from Drammen for Hawai‘i, November 23, 1880. Its master was Captain DW Oltman, and it carried 237 passengers, including 29 married and 57 children 12 and under. Arriving in Honolulu on the island of O‘ahu, most of the workers were assigned to a variety of plantations. (Satrum)
The German bark, ‘Cedar’ arrived in Hawai‘i on July 18, 1881, primarily with Germans hired to work in the plantations of Hawai‘i, although there were ten Norwegians and four Swedes on the ship as well. One child was also born during the voyage. (Satrum)
So far, it is good news for the Hawai‘i sugar planters and the Norwegian workers. However, things soon soured …
On both Maui and the Big Island, the Scandinavians had begun complaining almost immediately: They didn’t like the food, they didn’t like their houses, they didn’t like their wages, they felt their employers violated their contracts, they found field work difficult, the Hawaiian sun burned their flesh unmercifully.
Many of the new immigrants declared, flatout, that they’d become slaves. By the time the Musca landed in Honolulu, the folks at Castle & Cooke wanted to scatter the latest contingent of Scandinavians as widely as possible so that they couldn’t band together in their complaints. … But the complaints continued. (Bowman)
For most of the Scandinavians, Hawai‘i was a place to leave as soon as it was possible. It is estimated that about 50 of the immigrants who came to the Islands aboard the Beta and the Musca remained in Hawai‘i.
Some of them stayed on the plantations and moved rapidly out of field work and into positions that took advantage of their industrial skills. Some became integrated into the fabric of Hawai‘i and led successful lives. Christian L’Orange found himself decidedly unpopular with his fellow sugar planters and disbanded his activities on Maui. (Bowman)
Around 1885 the family moved to Florida. One of the reasons that they left Hawai‘i was, without a doubt, all the criticism he had received for having brought such ill-suited laborers to work on the plantations there.
He bought property in Florida and became a tobacco farmer. Christian died in Florida in 1916. Caroline was buried in Hawai‘i in 1935. Their oldest son, Hans Peter Faye L’Orange (born in 1892 in Florida), became one of the administrators of O‘ahu Sugar Company. (Norwegian Heritage)
