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A History of Norwegian Immigration to The United States
A History of Norwegian Immigration to The United States
From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848 By GEORGE T. FLOM, Ph. D. (Columbia) Professor of Scandinavian Languages and Literatures and Acting Professor of English Philology, State University of Iowa PRIVATELY PRINTED IOWA CITY, IOWA 1909 COPYRIGHT 1909 GEORGE T. FLOM THE TORCH PRESS CEDAR RAPIDS IOWA To My Mother THROUGH WHOM I HAVE COME TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING OF THE HEROIC WOMANHOOD EXEMPLIFIED IN THE LIVES OF OUR PIONEER MOTHERS, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED...
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FOREWORD
FOREWORD
This volume is intended to present the progress of immigration from Norway to this country from the beginning down through what may be termed the first period of settlement. It is possible that I may at some future time return to these studies to trace the further growth of the Scandinavian element and its place and influence in American life. Four years ago I contributed an article to The Iowa Journal of History and Politics upon “The Scandinavian Factor in the American Population,” in which I
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
In this volume I shall aim to give an account of the Norwegian immigration movement from 1825 down to 1848. Thereupon will follow a brief survey of the course of the movement and the growth of the settlements founded here in that period. In the introductory pages I shall discuss briefly individual immigration from Norway from its earliest known beginnings down to 1825. Immigration from Norway resulted in the founding of settlements in New York, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa successively; I shall
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CHAPTER I Norway: Population, Resources, Pursuits of her People, Social Conditions, Laws and Institutions.
CHAPTER I Norway: Population, Resources, Pursuits of her People, Social Conditions, Laws and Institutions.
Norway is, as we know, a long and narrow strip of country in the west of the Scandinavian Peninsula, stretching through thirteen degrees of latitude, and in the north, extending almost three hundred miles into the arctic zone. Nearly a third of the entire country [1] is the domain of the midnight sun, where summer is the season of daylight and winter is one long unbroken night. Even in Southern Norway total darkness is unknown in summer, the night being merely a period of twilight. In Christiani
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CHAPTER II Emigration from Norway.
CHAPTER II Emigration from Norway.
Emigration from Norway has in large part been transatlantic. Norway has lost by American emigration a comparatively larger portion of her population than any other country in Europe, with the exception of Ireland. The great majority of the emigrants have gone to the northwestern states and found there their future homes. In Northern Illinois, in Wisconsin and Minnesota, in Northern and Western Iowa, in North and South Dakota, they form a very large proportion of the population. Emigration to Eur
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CHAPTER III The Earliest Immigrants from Norway, 1620 to 1825.
CHAPTER III The Earliest Immigrants from Norway, 1620 to 1825.
Our data regarding Norwegian emigration to America prior to 1825 are very fragmentary, but it is possible to trace that emigration as far back as 1624. [18] In that year a small colony of Norwegians was established in New Jersey on the site of the present city of Bergen. [19] While it is not known that the names of any of these first colonists have come down to us, we do have the name of one Norwegian, who visited the American coast on a voyage of exploration in the year 1619, that is, the year
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CHAPTER IV The Sloopers of 1825. The First Norwegian Settlement in America. Kleng Peerson.
CHAPTER IV The Sloopers of 1825. The First Norwegian Settlement in America. Kleng Peerson.
The story of the Sloopers from Stavanger, Norway, who came to America in 1825, has often been told; I shall therefore be very brief in my account of that expedition. Under causes of emigration I shall have occasion below to note briefly some of the circumstances that seem to have led to their departure for America in that year. 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 fifty-two persons, all but
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CHAPTER V The Founding of the Fox River Settlement. Personal Notes on Some of the Founders.
CHAPTER V The Founding of the Fox River Settlement. Personal Notes on Some of the Founders.
In the spring of 1834 Jacob Anderson Slogvig, Knud Anderson Slogvig, Gudmund Haugaas, Thorsten Olson Bjaaland, Nels Thompson, [31] Andrew (Endre) Dahl, and Kleng Peerson left for La Salle County; they became, therefore, as far as we know, the first Norwegian settlers in Illinois, and indeed in the Northwest, barring Ingebret Narvig, who had located in Michigan the year before. These men selected their land and perfected their purchase as soon as it came into market the following spring. The firs
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CHAPTER VI Causes of Emigration from Norway. General Factors, Economic.
CHAPTER VI Causes of Emigration from Norway. General Factors, Economic.
What are the causes that have brought about the exodus from Norway and in general from the Scandinavian countries in the 19th century? The question is not a simple one to answer; for the causes have been many and varied, and it would be impossible in the following pages to discuss all the circumstances and influences that have operated to promote the northern emigration and directed it to America. Perhaps there is something in the highly developed migratory instinct of Indo-European peoples. Esp
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CHAPTER VII Causes of Emigration Continued. Special Factors. Religion as a Cause. Emigration Agents.
CHAPTER VII Causes of Emigration Continued. Special Factors. Religion as a Cause. Emigration Agents.
In the class of special causes which have influenced the Scandinavian emigration, political oppression has operated only in the case of the Danes in Southern Jutland. [45] Military service, which elsewhere has often played such an important part in promoting emigration, has, in the Scandinavian countries, been only a minor factor, the period of service required being very short. Nevertheless it has in not a few cases been a secondary cause for emigrating. Those with whom I have spoken who have g
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CHAPTER VIII Causes of Emigration continued. The Influence of Successful Pioneers. “America-letters.” The Spirit of Adventure. Summary.
CHAPTER VIII Causes of Emigration continued. The Influence of Successful Pioneers. “America-letters.” The Spirit of Adventure. Summary.
Far more influential, however, than the factors just noted were the efforts put forth by successful immigrants to induce their relatives and friends to follow them. Numerous letters were written home praising American laws and institutions, and setting forth the opportunities here offered. These letters were read and passed around to friends. Many who had relatives in America would travel long distances to hear what the last “America-letter” had to report. Among the early immigrants who did much
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CHAPTER IX Growth of the Fox River Settlement. The Immigration of 1836. Further Personal Sketches.
CHAPTER IX Growth of the Fox River Settlement. The Immigration of 1836. Further Personal Sketches.
On page fifty-five above I spoke of the advance troop of six men who established the Fox River Settlement in 1834. A list of those who followed from New York in 1835 was also given. Other settlers came in subsequent years, more and more now coming directly from Norway to La Salle County. The vicinity of the present towns of Norway and Leland, in eastern and northern La Salle County, became centers of a settlement, which later extended east into Kendall County (Newark and Lisbon) and into Grundy
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CHAPTER X The Year 1837. The Sailing of Aegir.
CHAPTER X The Year 1837. The Sailing of Aegir.
The influence of Gjert Hovland in this new trend in the immigration should be noted. South Bergenhus now became the scene of immigration activity. At the same time it is to be observed that Hardanger had contributed its quota of immigrants in the exodus of 1836. The return of Knud Slogvig was noised far beyond the County of Stavanger. Among those who travelled long distances to see and talk with Slogvig and get personal affirmation of what reports had told of America, was Nils P. Langeland, a sc
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CHAPTER XI Beaver Creek. Ole Rynning.
CHAPTER XI Beaver Creek. Ole Rynning.
The immigrants who came in the Aegir seem to have intended to settle in La Salle County, but in Chicago were advised by two Americans not to go there. They were also partly influenced by Norwegian immigrants [72] who were dissatisfied with that locality, and who recommended Iroquois County as a more desirable location to settle. They were told that the Fox River Valley was a very unhealthy place, the settlers were dying of ague and fever, and it was a misfortune that they had ever been induced t
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CHAPTER XII Some of the Immigrants of 1837. The First Pathfinders from Numedal and Telemarken.
CHAPTER XII Some of the Immigrants of 1837. The First Pathfinders from Numedal and Telemarken.
Besides the 177 immigrants, who came to America from Stavanger and Bergen in 1837, there was a considerable number who embarked from Gothenburg, Sweden. These came mostly from Numedal and Telemarken in the south central part of Norway. Among the immigrants of 1837 were, also, the brothers, Ole and Ansten Nattestad, from Vægli, Numedal, both of whom came via Gothenburg, and Hans Barlien, who emigrated with Enigheden . These men played such a part in the immigration history of the period as to des
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CHAPTER XIII Ansten Nattestad’s Return to Norway in 1838. The Year 1839. Immigration Assumes Larger Proportions. The Course of Settlement Changes.
CHAPTER XIII Ansten Nattestad’s Return to Norway in 1838. The Year 1839. Immigration Assumes Larger Proportions. The Course of Settlement Changes.
The principal event in Norwegian immigration history for the year, 1838, is Ansten Nattestad’s return to Norway. We have seen, above, page 103 , that Ole and Ansten Nattestad left the Beaver Creek settlement in the spring of 1838. Ansten went to Norway, as it seems, for the express purpose of promoting emigration from Rollaug, Numedal, while Ole went out to explore new fields. Going north as far as the Wisconsin line he stopped in what is now Clinton Township in Rock County. This place suited hi
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CHAPTER XIV Shelby County, Missouri. Ansten Nattestad’s Return from Norway in 1839. The Founding of the Jefferson Prairie Settlement in Rock County, Wisconsin.
CHAPTER XIV Shelby County, Missouri. Ansten Nattestad’s Return from Norway in 1839. The Founding of the Jefferson Prairie Settlement in Rock County, Wisconsin.
Before returning now to the thread of our narrative, I wish to speak briefly of an early effort, and the only one, before the fifties, to found a settlement from the southern point of dispersion. In 1837 Kleng Peerson, Jacob and Knud Slogvig, Andrew Askeland, Andrew Simonson, Thorstein Thorson Rue, several of whom had families, and about eight others, left La Salle County, went to Missouri and made a settlement in Shelby County; this, however, proved unsuccessful, principally on account of the l
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CHAPTER XV The Earliest White Settlers on Rock and Jefferson Prairies. The Founding of the Rock Prairie Settlement. The Earliest Settlers on Rock Prairie
CHAPTER XV The Earliest White Settlers on Rock and Jefferson Prairies. The Founding of the Rock Prairie Settlement. The Earliest Settlers on Rock Prairie
We have seen that when Ole Nattestad settled at Clinton on July first, 1838, the country was a wilderness, he being the only white man there. He speaks, however, of eight Americans living some distance from him, in similar condition. It was less than three years prior that the first white settlers had located in the county. On the eighteenth day of November, 1835, John Inman, of Lucerne County, Pennsylvania, Thomas Holmes, William Holmes, and Joshua Holmes, of Ohio, Milo Jones and George Follmer
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CHAPTER XVI The Rock Run Settlement. Other Immigrants of 1839. The Immigration of 1840.
CHAPTER XVI The Rock Run Settlement. Other Immigrants of 1839. The Immigration of 1840.
It has been stated that a settlement was also established in Illinois about twenty miles southwest of Rock Prairie, the same year as the latter was settled, i. e. , in 1839. This came to be known as the Rock Run Settlement, from the name of the town. It lies partly in Stephenson, partly in Winnebago County. The locality is prairie, relieved here and there by bits of timber land. The foundation of this settlement is also to be accredited to an immigrant from Numedal, who came on the Amelia , in 1
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CHAPTER XVII The Settlement of Norway and Raymond Townships, Racine County. The Founders of the Settlement. Immigration to Racine County in 1841–1842.
CHAPTER XVII The Settlement of Norway and Raymond Townships, Racine County. The Founders of the Settlement. Immigration to Racine County in 1841–1842.
We have seen how in the fall of 1839 the Luraas brothers established a colony near Lake Muskego in the present Waukesha (then Milwaukee) County. The locality was illy selected, being low and marshy. It was in the first place unhealthy and the settlers suffered much from malaria. Furthermore it was very heavily covered with timber and the soil which was clay yielded but small returns for their labor. The settlers therefore found it difficult enough to make a living. As early as the next spring se
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CHAPTER XVIII The Establishment of the Koshkonong Settlement in Dane County, Wisconsin.
CHAPTER XVIII The Establishment of the Koshkonong Settlement in Dane County, Wisconsin.
The genesis of the settlement of Koshkonong Prairie [121] in Dane County, Wisconsin, the most noted undoubtedly of all Norwegian settlements in America, dates from 1840. The recital of this event, however, will take us back to the preceding year; for the first visit of Norwegians to Dane County, is, I believe, correctly recorded as having taken place in 1839. Before discussing the first coming of Norse pioneers to Koshkonong I shall mention a few “first settlers” in Dane County, who preceded the
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CHAPTER XIX The Settling of Koshkonong by Immigrants from Numedal and Stavanger in 1840. Other Accessions in 1841–1842.
CHAPTER XIX The Settling of Koshkonong by Immigrants from Numedal and Stavanger in 1840. Other Accessions in 1841–1842.
Among the immigrants who came from Rollaug, Numedal, in 1839, was Gunnul Olson Vindeig, though, as we have seen, he did not come in Nattestad’s party. Through the illness of a child he was prevented from emigrating with Nattestad, as he had intended. Coming later in the year, he went via Chicago, directly to Jefferson Prairie, where he remained during the winter. In the early spring of 1840, about the time our Vossings, spoken of above, are moving north to locate on their claims, Vindeig built o
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CHAPTER XX New Accessions to the Koshkonong Settlement in 1840–1841. The Growth of the Settlement in 1842.
CHAPTER XX New Accessions to the Koshkonong Settlement in 1840–1841. The Growth of the Settlement in 1842.
As the first explorers of Koshkonong from La Salle County, Illinois, in 1839, attracted others in their train from the same region the following year, so Jefferson Prairie and Chicago sent new recruits following Gunnul Vindeig in the summer of 1840. The first of these were the two we have mentioned at the end of the preceding chapter, namely, Lars Kvendalen and Knud Vindeig, a brother of Gunnul; both were single men. They came there early in the summer of 1840, and met in Albion Township Björn K
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CHAPTER XXI The First Norwegian Settlement in Iowa, at Sugar Creek, in Lee County
CHAPTER XXI The First Norwegian Settlement in Iowa, at Sugar Creek, in Lee County
The same year that records the genesis of the Koshkonong Settlement, also registers the founding of the earliest Norwegian colony in Iowa, that of Sugar Creek, in Lee County, in the southeastern part of the state. When Kleng Peerson was on his way to Missouri in 1837 (see above, page 117 ), it seems that he passed through the southeastern corner of Iowa; he was, therefore, in all probability the first Norwegian to enter the State of Iowa. [158] Iowa had been organized as a territory in 1838. The
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CHAPTER XXII The Earliest Norwegian Settlers at Wiota, La Fayette County, and Dodgeville, Iowa County, Wisconsin
CHAPTER XXII The Earliest Norwegian Settlers at Wiota, La Fayette County, and Dodgeville, Iowa County, Wisconsin
About forty miles directly west of Rock Prairie lies Wiota, about which town stretches in all directions a Norwegian settlement of considerable size. It is separated from Luther Valley by Green County and lies only twenty-five miles distant, northwest, from the old settlement of Rock Run, in Illinois. Here extensive lead mines were being operated in the forties, and they were the means of drawing to that locality a large number of immigrants of different nationalities, many of whom, to be sure,
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CHAPTER XXIII Growth of the Jefferson Prairie Settlement from 1841 to 1845. The First Norwegian Land Owners in Rock County.
CHAPTER XXIII Growth of the Jefferson Prairie Settlement from 1841 to 1845. The First Norwegian Land Owners in Rock County.
In an earlier chapter I have given an account of the coming of Norwegians to Jefferson Prairie in 1838–39. We found that a considerable number of persons had located there by 1840, principally immigrants from Numedal. These first settlers located in the southern half of Clinton Township, but others soon came who settled still farther south, so that the settlement soon came to include a portion of the Township of Manchester in Boone County, Illinois. The first settlers here were Tönnes Tolleivson
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CHAPTER XXIV Immigration to Rock Prairie from Numedal and Land in 1842 and Subsequent Years.
CHAPTER XXIV Immigration to Rock Prairie from Numedal and Land in 1842 and Subsequent Years.
In Chapter XI above we have given an account of the beginnings of the Rock Prairie Settlement and traced its growth down to 1842. We shall here briefly discuss the development of this settlement during the next eight years. Already in the summer of 1842 a considerable number of immigrants came, most of them locating there permanently. I shall mention first Halvor N. Aaen and wife, Guri (Frögne), both from Nore in Numedal, who settled in Newark. [188] Halvor Stordok and Ole Stordok, brothers of G
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CHAPTER XXV Immigration from Hallingdal, Norway, to Rock Prairie from 1843 to 1848. Continued Immigration from Numedal. Other Early Accessions.
CHAPTER XXV Immigration from Hallingdal, Norway, to Rock Prairie from 1843 to 1848. Continued Immigration from Numedal. Other Early Accessions.
We will now turn to another contingent in the early immigration to Rock Prairie,--that from the dialect district of Hallingdal. The emigration from this region began in 1842 with the departure of the brothers Knud and John Ellingson Solem, who came direct to Rock Prairie. In 1843 Kleofas Halvorson Hansemoen immigrated with wife Kari (Onsgaard) and child Halvor, locating on section twelve in Newark Township, Rock County. [198] Kleofas’s father’s name was Halvor Kleofasen Hansemoen; he did not emi
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CHAPTER XXVI Economic Conditions of Immigrants. Cost of Passage. Course of the Journey. Duration of the Journey.
CHAPTER XXVI Economic Conditions of Immigrants. Cost of Passage. Course of the Journey. Duration of the Journey.
In discussing the causes of emigration, we have found that economic factors entered extensively into operation. It was the desire for material betterment that prompted a very large proportion of Norwegian emigrants to leave the land of their fathers. The first five decades of Norwegian emigration was a period in which the battle for existence among the Norwegian peasant and the common man was none too easy. Unfavorable economic conditions, the oppressive methods of the larger land owners, freque
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CHAPTER XXVII Norwegians in Chicago, 1840–1845. A Vossing Colony. Some Early Settlers in Chicago from Hardanger.
CHAPTER XXVII Norwegians in Chicago, 1840–1845. A Vossing Colony. Some Early Settlers in Chicago from Hardanger.
On page 94 above I have spoken briefly of the first Norwegian settlers in Chicago in the years 1836–1839. On page 150 mention was made of the increase of the Chicago colony by the arrival of a number of immigrants from Voss, Norway, in 1839–41. As there indicated, however, many of those who came during these years lived there only temporarily; we find them later as pioneers elsewhere, especially in Dane and La Fayette Counties, Wisconsin. [220] The same applies also to several of those who came
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CHAPTER XXVIII The Earliest Norwegian Settlers in the Township of Pleasant Spring, Dane County, Wisconsin
CHAPTER XXVIII The Earliest Norwegian Settlers in the Township of Pleasant Spring, Dane County, Wisconsin
I have above spoken of the fact that Knut H. Roe was one of the party that emigrated with John Luraas from Tin, Telemarken, in 1839. These two men became the first Norwegians to settle in the townships of Pleasant Spring and Dunkirk respectively in 1843. Roe had lived for a time in La Salle County, Illinois, going to Racine County, Wisconsin, in 1842, as we have seen above. In the fall of 1841 a few of the settlers in Racine County had travelled west as far as Koshkonong Prairie, for the purpose
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CHAPTER XXIX The First Norwegian Settlers in the Townships of Dunkirk, Dunn, and Cottage Grove, in Dane County, Wisconsin.
CHAPTER XXIX The First Norwegian Settlers in the Townships of Dunkirk, Dunn, and Cottage Grove, in Dane County, Wisconsin.
The first Norwegian settler in the Town of Dunkirk was John Nelson Luraas. Together with Helge Grimsrud he had explored Dunkirk and surrounding country in the fall of 1842 and selected a site on which to settle. His father, Nils Johnson Luraas (b. 1789), arrived from Norway in June, 1843, and came with his son direct from Muskego to Koshkonong, where the party arrived on June sixteenth. An American by the name of John Wheeler had settled in the town two weeks earlier, being the only white man th
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CHAPTER XXX The Expansion of the Koshkonong Settlement into Sumner and Oakland Townships in Jefferson County. Increased Immigration from Telemarken. New Settlers from Kragerö, Drammen and Numedal.
CHAPTER XXX The Expansion of the Koshkonong Settlement into Sumner and Oakland Townships in Jefferson County. Increased Immigration from Telemarken. New Settlers from Kragerö, Drammen and Numedal.
In our discussion of the settling of Koshkonong by immigrants from Numedal in 1840–42, mention was made of Tore Knudson Nore and wife Gjertud among those who arrived in 1842. Tore Nore did not, however, locate in Christiana or Albion townships, where his compatriots had settled. He selected land about three miles southeast of where Gunnul Vindeig had located, across the Jefferson County line in what later was named Sumner Township. Tore Nore, who was then a man of about forty years of age and ha
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CHAPTER XXXI The Coming of the First Large Party of Immigrants from Sogn. New Accessions from Voss.
CHAPTER XXXI The Coming of the First Large Party of Immigrants from Sogn. New Accessions from Voss.
It has been noted above that one of the earliest pioneers at Wiota, La Fayette County, Wisconsin, was from Vik Parish in Sogn, namely, Per Unde who emigrated in 1839. In 1842 Ole Unde came and joined his brother at Wiota. In 1843 Ole Schærdalen [272] came to America from Aurland, Sogn; he was the first emigrant from that parish. It has been said that there was a party of immigrants from Sogn in 1843, but this I doubt as I have been able nowhere to verify it. Ole Schærdalen went to Muskego where
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CHAPTER XXXII Long Prairie in Boone County, Illinois; a Sogning Settlement.
CHAPTER XXXII Long Prairie in Boone County, Illinois; a Sogning Settlement.
In the vicinity of the present village of Capron, Illinois, a few Norwegians located in 1843, forming the nucleus of what later came to be known as Long Prairie. This settlement is located only a few miles south of Jefferson Prairie (which extends into Illinois) and is about sixty-five miles distant west from Chicago. The earliest Norwegian settlers here were Thor Olson Kaasa and Thov Knutson Traim, his wife Ingebjorg and sons, Knut, Kjetil, and Ole, from Siljord in Upper Telemarken. Thor Kaasa
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CHAPTER XXXIII The Growth of the Racine County (Muskego) Settlement, 1843–1847. Personal Notes.
CHAPTER XXXIII The Growth of the Racine County (Muskego) Settlement, 1843–1847. Personal Notes.
In Chapter XV we discussed briefly immigration to Racine County in 1841–1842. The period of largest growth of the settlement was between 1842 and 1847; an especially large party came in 1843. After 1847 the arrivals that became permanent residents were few and scattered. In the early fall of 1842 there arrived at one time a party of forty persons. They had embarked at Langesund about May 30th, were over eleven weeks on the ocean, arriving in New York August 16th. Here they met Elling Eielson, wh
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CHAPTER XXXIV The Heart Prairie Settlement in Walworth County, Wisconsin. Skoponong. Pine Lake.
CHAPTER XXXIV The Heart Prairie Settlement in Walworth County, Wisconsin. Skoponong. Pine Lake.
Walworth County forms one of the southern tier of counties in Wisconsin, being situated between Rock on the west and Kenosha and Racine on the east; to the north lies Jefferson County. There are four Norwegian settlements in the county, as follows: (1) in the southern part of the Town of Whitewater and the northern part of the Town of Richmond lies the Heart Prairie Settlement, taking its name from the beautiful little prairie directly east of it; (2) about four miles east of the city of Whitewa
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CHAPTER XXXV The Earliest Norwegian Settlers at Sugar Creek, Walworth County, Wisconsin. The influx from Land, Norway, to Wiota and Vicinity, 1844–1852
CHAPTER XXXV The Earliest Norwegian Settlers at Sugar Creek, Walworth County, Wisconsin. The influx from Land, Norway, to Wiota and Vicinity, 1844–1852
We have briefly referred to Sugar Creek, Walworth County, Wisconsin, in chapter XXXIII above. This little settlement received its first Norwegian settlers in 1844 when Ole Vale and wife Anne from Holden Parish, Skien, located there; with them came the sons John and Anders and the daughters Aasta, Anne, Turine, Andrea and Maria. Vale and his wife lived in Sugar Creek till their death, and the daughters all married and settled there. In the same year Ole Kittelson and Nils T. Kvamodden, both unmar
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CHAPTER XXXVI Continued Immigration from Aurland, Sogn, to Koshkonong. The Arrival of Settlers from Vik Parish, Sogn, in 1845.
CHAPTER XXXVI Continued Immigration from Aurland, Sogn, to Koshkonong. The Arrival of Settlers from Vik Parish, Sogn, in 1845.
In the year 1845–1846 immigration to Koshkonong from Laurdal, Vinje and Moe Parishes continued and a considerable number came from Flesberg. The accessions from Laurdal, Moe, and Hvideseid for these years record the end of a movement that began in 1843. But that which especially characterized the growth of the Koshkonong Settlement in 1845–1846 was the extensive additions through immigrants from Sogn. So extensive, in fact, was the influx from Sogn these years as to make their total representati
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CHAPTER XXXVII “Kirkeregister.” Church Register of the East Koshkonong, West Koshkonong and Liberty Prairie Congregations as Constituted During the Years of Reverend J. W. C. Dietrichson’s Incumbency of the Pastorate from 1844 to 1850, and as Recorded by Reverend Dietrichson. [341]
CHAPTER XXXVII “Kirkeregister.” Church Register of the East Koshkonong, West Koshkonong and Liberty Prairie Congregations as Constituted During the Years of Reverend J. W. C. Dietrichson’s Incumbency of the Pastorate from 1844 to 1850, and as Recorded by Reverend Dietrichson. [341]
J. W. C. Dietrichson. Den 28nde Mai, 1850. [A] It will have been observed that it has been impossible to make out some of the names, the last part of the Register having been written in a very illegible hand....
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CHAPTER XXXVIII The Founding of the Norwegian Settlements of Norway Grove, Spring Prairie and Bonnet Prairie in Dane and Columbia Counties, Wisconsin.
CHAPTER XXXVIII The Founding of the Norwegian Settlements of Norway Grove, Spring Prairie and Bonnet Prairie in Dane and Columbia Counties, Wisconsin.
In the extreme northern part of Dane County in the Towns of Vienna, Windsor and Bristol, a large number of Norwegian immigrants, principally from Sogn, settled in 1846–1848, forming the nucleus of what in a few years came to be one of the most prosperous settlements in Southern Wisconsin. The first Norwegian in this section was Svennung Nikkulson Dahle, who came from Flatdal in Telemarken in 1844 to Koshkonong, and the next year purchased land and settled near Norway Grove in the Town of Vienna.
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CHAPTER XXXIX Blue Mounds in Western Dane County, Wisconsin
CHAPTER XXXIX Blue Mounds in Western Dane County, Wisconsin
The extensive Norwegian settlement in Western Dane County, ordinarily referred to as Blue Mounds from the “blue mounds” in the township of that name, was founded in 1846. Three families had, however, located there as early as 1844, namely those of Thor Aase, Peder Dusterud, and Lars P. Dusterud. Thor Aase, with wife Martha, five sons and two daughters, [370] settled on section ten in Springdale; they came from Sogn in 1843 and had lived one year at Wiota. Peder Dusterud and wife and family settl
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CHAPTER XL The Hardanger Settlement in Lee and De Kalb Counties, Illinois. Big Grove in Kendall County and Nettle Creek in Grundy County, Illinois.
CHAPTER XL The Hardanger Settlement in Lee and De Kalb Counties, Illinois. Big Grove in Kendall County and Nettle Creek in Grundy County, Illinois.
Although Hardanger has contributed a relatively small proportion of the American immigrant population from Norway, several of the earliest arrivals were from that province and its sons occupy today a prominent place in Norwegian American history. It has been shown above, chapters IX and X, that several members of the party who came in 1836, as also of that of 1837, were natives of Hardanger; and in the Chicago colony in 1839 we met with several natives of that province. In 1839 a considerable nu
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CHAPTER XLI The First Norwegian Pioneers in Northeastern Iowa
CHAPTER XLI The First Norwegian Pioneers in Northeastern Iowa
In this chapter I shall give a brief account of the coming of Norwegians into northeastern Iowa and their founding of settlements there between 1846 and 1851. We are near the close of the period which this volume deals with. The founding of settlements in Iowa in 1849–50 is but a part of a larger movement now beginning, which, in the course of a few years, resulted in the establishment of numerous settlements in Wisconsin, Iowa, and southeastern Minnesota. [407] These settlements were founded in
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CHAPTER XLII Survey of Immigration from Norway to America. Conclusion.
CHAPTER XLII Survey of Immigration from Norway to America. Conclusion.
We are then at the end of our task. We discussed at first early individual immigration from Norway down to the year 1825. Then tracing briefly the fortunes of the party of immigrants who came from Norway that year we followed the subsequent immigration, year by year, down to 1848, and the founding of settlements in this country from Orleans County, New York, in 1825, to Winneshiek County, Iowa, in 1850. The growth of the emigration movement in Norway and the course of settlements here have been
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TABLE I
TABLE I
Showing the growth and distribution of the foreign Scandinavian factor by decades in the Northwestern states and in sections elsewhere 1 Not including Missouri....
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TABLE II
TABLE II
Showing the growth of the Norwegian foreign-born population in each state by decades in 1850...
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TABLE III
TABLE III
Showing the Norwegian foreign parentage population in the United States according to the U. S. Census for 1900....
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APPENDIX II
APPENDIX II
Names of Parishes and Settlements in Norway (see page 131 )....
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The brief bibliography here given is not intended to be complete. The books and articles spoken of in the “Foreword” of this volume, pages 7–9, are not re-listed here. Anderson, Rasmus B. Bygdejaevning. Madison, Wis., 1903. Pp. VI + 215. Has very little historical value; a series of uncritical contributions. Flom, George T. Chapters on Scandinavian Immigration to Iowa. Iowa City, 1905. Pp. IV + 150. A brief survey. Hatlestad, O. J. Historiske Meddelelser om den norske Augustana Synode. Decorah,
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