J. W. C. Dietrichson.

Den 28nde Mai, 1850.

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. He was then only eighteen years old.[360] Nearly all who came later were from Sogn, and Dahle was and remained the only native of Telemarken in Vienna. In 1846 Erik Engesæter, from Leikanger, Sogn, with family, including a son John, settled there. In 1847 Ole H. Farness (b. 1826) and wife Gertrude came from Sogn, Norway, to Norway Grove. Erik C. Farness[361] (b. 1828) also came the same year. These men both acquired large farms there in the course of time, Ole Farness owning 530 acres. Arne Boyum and family, five in all, from Outer Sogn, came in 1848 as did Knut K. Naas (b. 1810), with wife Alau and family of four children from Kragerö.[362]

The first Norwegian to buy land in Windsor Township was Ingebrigt Larson Tygum, from Systrand, Sogn, who immigrated in 1844, lived one year in Muskego, then came to Windsor in 1845. For two years he seems to have been the only Norwegian in the Town.[363] In 1852 Tygum sold his farm in Windsor and moved into Vienna Township, buying the farm at present occupied by the son Lars (b. 1849). In 1847 the following settled in Windsor Township: Stephen Holum and family, who had immigrated in 1845 and lived two years at Rock Prairie, Sjur Grinde and family, and Truls E. Farness and wife.[364] These families are intimately connected with the history of the Village of De Forest. A son of S. Holum, namely Ole S. Holum (b. 1847), lives on 204 acres of land adjoining the village. Ole Holum is a prominent democrat and has held various offices of trust, being e. g. Register of Deeds in 1877–78.[365] In 1848 several families moved in, among them Lars Eggum, Ole Haukness and family (ten in all), and Sjur S. Vangness and family. Vangness had immigrated in 1844, first settled in Rock County, then came to De Forest in 1848. He died there in 1878. The family included a son, Sjur S. Vangness (b. 1816 at Vangsness in Sogn), whom we meet with later as a man of much influence in the township; he owned 264 acres of land near De Forest.[366]

In Bristol Township three families settled as early as 1846; namely that of Botolf E. Bergum (b. 1816), who came there in the fall of 1846, and continued to reside there until his death in 1904 (his wife died in 1903; after a wedded life of fifty-four years),[367] Sjur Johnson and wife Ingeborg and one son, and Erik Larson and wife and several children.

In 1848 Hans H. Quamme came up to Bristol from Rock Prairie, where he had settled in 1846, coming from Norway that year. During the next three years so many immigrants came from Sogn and located in Norway Grove that the settlement came to be called “Sogn.” Among the many families who located there at that time, John Ollis of Madison, Wisconsin, writing in Bygdejaevining, page 341, names: “Engesæther, Grinde, Farnes, Tygum, Eggum, Boyum, Huseböe, Hamre, Ohnstad, Slinde, Sværen, Vangsness, Holum, Linde, Lidahl, Thorsnes, Fosse, Rendahl, Ethun, Vigdahl, Ulvestad, Röisum, Svalem, Fjerstad, Henjum, Jerde, Haukeness,” besides all who were called Olson, Larson, Nilson, Anderson, Peterson, Johnson, etc.

About ten miles northwest of Norway Grove, at Lodi in Columbia County, a smaller settlement of immigrants from Hardanger takes its beginning in 1847–48; although one family had settled there as early as 1844. In that year Peder L. Ödvin (b. 1819) and wife Kathrine Spaanem, from Ulvik in Hardanger, emigrated to America and went direct to Lodi. Ten years later they moved to Springdale in Dane County.[368] In 1847 Peder Fröland (see page 336) and Ole Jone, both from Hardanger, became the founders of the Hardanger Settlement there. In 1846 Ammund Himle and family from Voss immigrated and settled near Lodi, but below the Dane County line.

The origin of the Spring Prairie Settlement in Columbia County, the northern extremity of which is more specifically called Bonnet Prairie, dates back to 1845. In that year four men settled about the same time on Spring Prairie, namely: Odd Himle and Sjur S. Reque from Voss, Anders Langeteig from Vik in Sogn, and Knud Langeland from Racine County. The three first of these had families. Reque moved away again four years later, settling on Liberty Prairie, not far from Deerfield. Langeland, as we have recited above, was already in 1848 back in Racine County as one of the founders of Nordlyset, the first Norwegian newspaper published in this country; but Himle and Langeteig became permanent settlers.

In his book Nordmaendene i Amerika Langeland gives a circumstantial account of his coming to Spring Prairie. He says that in August of 1845 he and Niels Torstensen, equipping themselves with a cook stove, provisions, bedding, and all the necessities for camping out, drove with oxen and a wagon from Racine via Koshkonong, following the regular road to Madison (presumably going by West Koshkonong Church). But Madison did not attract them. He says: “Madison had nothing remarkable about it except its natural beauty and the big Territorial Building, which looked very imposing among the small frame houses.” These sons of the land of mountains “were scared away by the big hills” where the University is now situated, and turned east, driving almost as far as Fort Winnebago, where Amund Rosseland, a friend of Langeland’s, from Norway, had recently settled. Not finding the marshes here very inviting, and failing to meet Rosseland at home, they decided to turn back. Camping out over night, they drove back twenty miles the next day; then upon the advice of an American by the name of Young, they turned east, and driving on a few miles, came upon an American by the name of Gilbert, who was just engaged in erecting his log hut. The prairie here was to their liking and they selected a site and in due time entered a claim on land.

Langeland says there came no other Norwegians there that fall, but as we have seen, three others did locate in other parts of the prairie, about the time Langeland came there. That same fall Langeland went to Milwaukee to take out pre-emption papers and he stopped at Koshkonong, and told his countrymen there of the beauties of the prairies to the north, and a little later he wrote letters to friends in La Salle County, Illinois. From Milwaukee he says he brought back to Spring Prairie with him a plow, a harrow, and other farm tools.

In the spring of 1846 Peder Fröland[369] came up there from La Salle County, bringing with him two ox-teams and a wagon and farm tools, but he seems to have been the only one who came from La Salle County; a number of settlers, however, came from Boone County and Jefferson Prairie to Spring and Bonnet Prairie in 1847–1850. In June, 1846, Norwegian immigrants began to come in hosts from or via Koshkonong, says Langeland. He and Fröland plowed about one hundred acres of prairie land for the newcomers that season. Two years later Langeland sold his claim and moved back to Racine County.

So it happened that also Spring Prairie became settled largely from Koshkonong, and as this was the period in which immigration from Sogn was taking place on a large scale, it was especially Sognings who took possession also of this region; though a considerable number of Vossings also gradually moved in. Reverend L. S. J. Reque writes me that Spring Prairie is today almost exclusively a Sogning-Vossing settlement, and the former predominate.

The Spring Prairie Settlement, whose beginnings have here been briefly sketched, rapidly expanded north to Bonnet Prairie, this part of it coming to be known as the Bonnet Prairie Settlement. The settlement is located principally in Otsego Township, but partly in Hampdon and surrounding towns. The first Norwegian settlers in this locality were John Anderson and Kjel Anderson, who came in 1846, having immigrated from Saude, Telemarken, that year.

The following is a list of the founders of the settlement as submitted to me by Samuel Sampson of Rio, Wisconsin. Mr. Sampson (b. 1839) is the only survivor of those who settled there at that time, being the son of Thorbjörn Skutle. The year to the right of each name indicates the year of immigration to America. All except the last two settled at Bonnet Prairie in 1846; these two settled there in 1848.

Since the above was written I have received from Reverend L. S. J. Reque of Morrisonville, Wisconsin, further facts relative to the earliest settlers there. The earliest records of the Bonnet Prairie Church kept by Reverend A. C. Preus show that the testimonial of emigration was issued to “Eivind T. Indlæggen.” April 5, 1843, to “Johannes Johannesen” April 10th, 1843, to John Anderson and wife May 3d and 6th, 1843, to “Hans Olsen Haukaas” May 7th, 1843. Also to “Thorbjörn Samsonsen and wife Anna Ellingsdatter” May 13th, 1844. As it is probable that these emigrated at the time of issue of the testimonial of emigration the table should be corrected with reference to these names. During the intervening three years most of the above had lived in Boone County, Illinois, whither also some of the later settlers came en route to Bonnet Prairie. Thorbjörn Skutle and family who came from Voss, sailing on the ship Hercules, located first at Jefferson Prairie. T. Skutle and his wife both died in 1897, age 88 and 91 respectively.

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 settled on section 33 in Blue Mounds and the son Lars Dusterud and wife located on section 27, both in Blue Mounds Township. These two came from Rock Run, Illinois, where they had located in 1842, immigrating from Vægli, Numedal.[371] They had also worked for some time in the Dodgeville, Wis., lead mines.

In 1846 a company of eleven persons arrived from Racine County; they were the following: Tore Toreson Spaanem, Halvor and Nils H. Grasdalen, John I. Berge and wife Julia and one child, his sister Mrs. Knut Sörenson Kvisterud, Tosten Thompson Rue, Ole T. Garden, Ole Kvisterud, and Ole Sjutvett. Knut S. Kvisterud, who had just before this gone to Mineral Point and secured work there, came to Blue Mounds in 1848. John Thompson later was more generally called “Snow-shoe Thompson” from the fact that he carried the U. S. mail over the Sierra Nevada Mountains for twenty years (1856–1876), walking on skis.

All these came from Muskego, Wisconsin, whither they had immigrated from Tin, Telemarken. Spaanem and Halvor Grasdalen had come there in 1841, Knut Kvisterud and wife in 1843, and Berge in 1845. The Rue family had come from Norway, as we have seen, in 1839 (see above page 125). In 1846 the Town of Primrose, immediately south of Springdale, also received its first Norwegian settlers, namely, Christian Hendrickson, wife Maria and three children, Caroline, Henry, and Charles. He had emigrated from Lier, Norway, in 1842, and worked four years in the lead mines at Wiota to pay his passage from Norway. Mr. Hendrickson drove from Wiota to Primrose with oxen, all his possessions being then a wagon, a cow, and seventy-five cents. He lived eight years in the log hut first erected and built a stone structure in 1855.

The next arrivals to Blue Mounds were Erik Solvi, who came from Sogn in 1847, and lived successively in Springdale, Vermont, and Blue Mounds, and Gullik Svensrud and family from Vægli, Numedal, who had immigrated in 1844,[372] and first located on Rock Prairie. It was also in 1847 that the first immigrant from Valders arrived in Blue Mounds; this was Ragnild Fadnes who in 1851 married Ever Halsten. She was born in North Aurdal in 1826; as near as I am able to determine she was the only member of the family who came at the time.

During 1846–1847 other localities, Wiota, Western Koshkonong, Spring Prairie and Norway Grove had claimed a considerable portion of the immigrants. But in 1848 they began to come in in large numbers in the townships of western Dane County and neighboring parts of Iowa County. To Primrose the following came in that year: Nils Skogen, Salve Jörgenson, and Nils Einarson. To Perry: Ole O. Bakken and wife Anne (Bergum) and two sons (Ole and Tideman) from Valders. This was the first Norwegian family to locate permanently in Perry; Bakken bought the claim of a “squatter” named Andreas Olson, who was therefore the earliest Norwegian in the township. Later in the same year came Lars Langemyr from Christiania, Norway, Torger T. Tvedt from Aamli in Nedenæs, Reiar Aarhus from Telemarken, Halvor O. Milesten from Hadeland, and Lars Halvorson and Hans Johnson from Drangedal.

The arrivals of 1848 were Ole Barton, wife Ingeborg and son Ole, Gulbrand Elseberg,[373] wife Ingeborg and two daughters, Christian O. Skogen, Ole O. Braaten and Nils O. Belgum; and in 1849: Knud Larson, Anders Lundene, Iver Halstein, Iver Lund, Ole Jelle, Sr., and Tore Maanem, all of whom were from Valders, mostly from North Aurdal. Tollef S. Anmarksrud and wife Karen came to Koshkonong the latter year, but he also removed to Blue Mounds in 1850. During the next few years immigration to the various townships of western Dane County was rapid. For the fall of 1849 and in 1850 are to be mentioned, e. g. the following arrivals in Springdale Township: Harald and Arne Hoff, Ole and Aslak Lee, Levor Lien, Ole Thompson Brenden, Anders, John and Knut Lunde, Knut J. Lindelien, Harald Stugaard, Michel Kolskett and Erik O. Skinrud; several of these had large families. To Blue Mounds Township came: Erik Engen, Ole Boley, wife and four children, and Arne Röste, with family of eleven children; all those named here came from Valders.[374]

From Sogn came Ole A. Grinde and Ole Menes, the latter remaining, however, two years in Norway Grove before coming to Blue Mounds. Michael Johnson (b. 1832 in Leikanger, Norway) emigrated to America in 1853, located first in Windsor, then removed to Vienna, finally settled permanently in Springdale in 1856. His parents, Jon Michelson Dahlbotten and wife Randi, and his sister Martha[375] and younger brother Botolf came to America in 1854. Mr. Johnson became a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser, his farm of 400 acres being one of the finest in that part of the state. He took an active part in church and school affairs and was for many years a member of the governing body (Kirkeraad) of the Norwegian Lutheran Evangelical Synod of America. He held many positions of trust in the town and the county, was a member of the State Legislature for three consecutive terms, 1874–75-76, and for years a well-known figure in the politics of the state. Mr. Johnson lived in Mt. Horeb since 1894; he died in 1908, leaving a widow and seven children.

In Primrose and Perry the Norwegians also settled extensively in 1849–1850. Among those who arrived in the former year were Gunnuf and Ole Tollefsen from Sæltersdalen, who as we have seen above, page 281, had immigrated to Muskego in 1845. Others who came to Primrose that year were G. and Ole Danielson[376] from Telemarken, Leif Olson, Kittil Moland, Ole Anderson and Peter P. Haslerud. Tollefson relates how he became the possessor of his quarter section in Primrose as follows:[377]

During 1850 came Mrs. Ole Baker with son P. O. Baker (b. 1838), Mons Ness, Elling Stamn, Ole Skuldt and Lars Halvorson from Hallingdal, Knut and Jens Olson from Stavanger, Lars L. Kolve and family from Voss and Knut Baardson (Bowerson) and family from Sætersdalen. During 1853 to 1855 Norwegians came in still greater numbers, writes Reverend Höverstad.

About twenty Norwegians settled in Perry in 1849; they were: Torger Hastvedt, Hans J. Dahle, Ole Gangsei and Jacob Aanhus from Telemarken, Andreas Stutelien and Jul Haavernd, wife and eight children from Valders, and Anders Sanderson from Hallingdal. After 1849 Norwegians came in in large numbers, settling up the town rapidly.[379] I shall mention here only Onon Björnson Dahle (b. 1823) from Nissedal, who settled in Perry in 1853, and Christian Evanson (b. 1819) from Valders, and wife Ragnild from Numedal, who came there in 1854.[380] Dr. Evans tells me that Ragnild Evanson (maiden name Ragnild Brekke) was born in Numedal, Norway, in 1819, and after her marriage to Christian Evanson, immigrated to America in company with her brother Lars N. Brekke (who for many years resided and conducted a grocery store in Madison, Wis.) in the year 1848, preceding her husband by about five years. They came by sailing vessel, and were sixteen weeks on the voyage, having been grounded on a rock off the coast of England and were obliged to wait repairs. After landing in New York they came by Erie canal and the lakes to Milwaukee, Wis., then to near Stoughton, Wis., and later to Madison, where she met her husband five years later. From Madison they moved to Perry, Dane County, and settled on section twenty-three and remained there until their death.[381] O. B. Dahle, who had been a school teacher in Nissedal, left Norway in company with a cousin, Knut Dahl, in 1848. They first came to Koshkonong, where the former taught parochial school for two years. They went to California in 1850 in search of gold as so many others. Having been unusually successful in the gold mines, they returned in 1853, and Onon Dahle bought a farm in Perry, on which he founded the village of Daleyville, beginning at the same time there a mercantile business. Here he amassed a fortune, retired and moved to Mt. Horeb in 1897. In 1854 Dahle married Betsey Nelson, daughter of Hermo N. Tufte of Racine County, and sister of the well-known lay evangelist, Elling Eielson. Mr. Dahle always took an active interest in public affairs and in the work of the Lutheran Church of which he is a member. He died in July, 1905, his wife having died in February of the same year.[382]

We shall close this chapter with a word about the first Norwegians in Madison, Wisconsin. It is not until 1850 that Norwegians began to locate in Madison in considerable numbers. However, there were a few there before that. As near as I can find out, Ole Torgeson, Ole O. Flom, Ole Lenvick, and Halvor N. Hauge, all of whom came to Madison in 1844, were the first Norwegians in Madison. All four of these worked for a printer by the name of Daniel Holt. Ole Flom, as we have seen, had come from Norway with his parents that summer in the first party that left Aurland, Sogn. He remained in Madison till 1847 when he returned to his father’s farm at Door Creek.[383] Halvor Hauge had come from Norway with his parents in the summer of 1844; the family had located in the Town of Christiana. Halvor went to California in 1848 where he remained several years, returning then to Koshkonong. Ole Torgerson had emigrated from Norway in 1844, coming directly to Madison, where he continued to live till his death in 1900. He published during 1850 there a Norwegian paper in the interests of the Whig party, but as this was not a paying enterprise he sold his types to Knut Langeland, who soon after began the issue of Maanedstidende in Janesville, having previously published Nordlyset and Demokraten in Muskego. Among other Norwegians in Madison in the early days were: Anne Vik, who worked for Dr. Collins during 1845;[384] in 1846 she married Halvor Bjoin, a Koshkonong pioneer. In July, 1846, Hans Christianson from Lærdal, Sogn, came to Madison; he, however, soon removed to Blooming Grove, where he located permanently.[385] Halvor Gabriel immigrated from Haugesund in 1848, coming direct to Madison, where he continued to live until 1877; he then moved to Sun Prairie and in 1893 to Fort Atkinson, where he died in 1897. Among the subscribers to Nordlyset and Demokraten, 1848–1850, appear the names of three residents of Madison, namely: Eric Anderson,[386] Lars Johnson, and William Anderson. Finally, when the Bethel Congregation was organized in 1855 the following appear as charter members: Ole Torgerson, Mrs. Ole Torgerson, Hans Olsen, Mr. Erickson, Olaf Olson, Haakon Larson, Nels Peterson, Lars Nelson, Ole Lawrence, Halle Steensland, Eline Hoel, Anne Nilson, Ingeborg Olson and Anne Olson. Lars Nelson (Brekke) had come there in 1848 from Numedal,[387] coming direct to Madison. Mr. Nelson was well and favorably known as the owner of a grocery store on West Main Street for many years. Of the other persons mentioned above only Haakon Larson and Halle Steensland are now living. The latter has always held a prominent place in the financial history of the capital and in general in the upbuilding of the city. He has always been a staunch member of the Bethel Church, and was one of the leaders in the organization of the Norwegian-American Pioneer Association, of which he was president in 1903–05.

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 number left Hardanger, especially from Ulvik Parish, as we learn from Nordmandsforbundet, 1909, page 175. Among these were the brothers Anders and Johan Vik from Eidfjord in Hardanger. The two brothers first went to Wiota, where they secured work in the lead mines. In 1844 John Vik (Week) went to Dodgeville, where he established himself as a shoemaker, entering into partnership with Johan Lee from Numedal. Later he went to Portage County, Wisconsin, where he prospered and was for over a decade a dominant power in the lumber trade of northern Wisconsin.[388]

Among the immigrants who had come from Hardanger, Parish of Ullensvang, in 1836, we mentioned Ammund Helgeson Maakestad above, page 95. Maakestad dropped the family name in this country and called himself Ommon Hilleson. For a little over a year he was a coast sailor; then he decided to go west and secure land where his countrymen had settled. This he did, but not in the usual way, for Hilleson walked the whole distance from New York to Chicago. This was in 1837.[389]

From Chicago he directed his steps farther west; he did not, however, go to the settlement founded several years before, but pushed on as far as Lee Center in the County of Lee.[390] Here he secured work, saved some money, and bought a homestead in Bradford Township, and erected thereon a sod house. Soon after he married Catherine Reinhart, daughter of a German pioneer, recently moved in.

For ten years Hilleson was the only Norwegian settler in the county, but in 1847 there arrived in response to letters from Hilleson, a considerable party from Hardanger. These left Sörfjorden in Hardanger, and embarked in May at Bergen in the sailing vessel Juno, which brought them to New York in a little over four weeks, a remarkable record for that time.[391] Mr. T. M. Newton (Torgels Knutson) says, when we came to Buffalo we met an old man who was returning to Norway. He advised us to go back at once, saying America was not a fit place for respectable people to live in, it was a place for thieves and robbers. The party consisted of the following persons: Lars Larsen Röisetter (Risetter), Lars Olson Espe, Lars Helgeson Maakestad, Gjertrud H. Lönning, Helge H. Maaketad (who died in 1854), Ingeborg H. Maakestad, Torgels Knudson Maakestad, Sjur Sjurson Bleie (Bly) and Lars Larson Bly. They were met at Chicago by Ommon Hilleson; Lars Bly remained in Chicago, the rest started for Lee County, stopping a short time at Norway, La Salle County, thereupon all but Ingeborg Maakestad drove to Hilleson’s home in Lee County.[392] Most of them settled in Bradford Township, but Lars Risetter (born 1827 in Ullensvang) bought eighty acres of land in Sublette Township, whither other subsequent immigrants from Hardanger also soon moved. Soon after arriving, Risetter and Gjertrud Lönning were married in the first house built by a Norwegian in Lee County, at the home of Ommon Hilleson. Lars Espe and Lars Risetter were the first two of the party to build a log cabin.

Mr. Newton tells that two young men came from La Salle County about the same time and bought a piece of land in Franklin Grove about two miles and a half from where he lived. “They lived in a log cabin on their place,” he says. “One night about two months after we arrived, they were both murdered. The same day I had tried to persuade one of them to stay with me, but he felt it necessary to be at home. Their heads had been split open with an ax. I then thought of what the old gentleman had tried to tell us and heartily wished myself back in Norway.”

During the years 1848 no immigrants left Hardanger for America, and Lee County received no settlers directly from Norway. In 1849, however, thirty-two emigrated from Ulvik, but none of these seem to have come to the settlement. In 1850 there was one accession, namely, Amund Lönning, who came directly to his brother-in-law, Lars Risetter, in Sublette Township. He worked in the harvest the first season for Thomas Fessenden for $11.00 a month, bought a quarter section in Willow Creek Township in 1852, being the first Norwegian to settle there. In 1857 Lars Risetter also moved into Willow Creek Township, where he has since lived.[393]

Of the rest Torgels Maakestad, who adopted the name T. M. Newton (Knutson), is still living, his home being at Grinnell, Iowa. Sjur Bleien lives at the Old People’s Home, Stoughton, Wisconsin.

In 1851 the following arrived from Ullensvang, Hardanger, and located in the settlement: Jacob O. Rogde (b. 1828), Haaken L. Risetter and wife Maria (Hildal), Haldor Nilsen Hovland, and Agatha Espe, a sister of Lars Espe. Rogde purchased eighty acres of land in Bradford Township in 1854 and in 1855 he married Else Bly from Hardanger, who had come to America in 1854.[394] Haakon Risetter settled in Ogle County immediately north of Lee County. Of those who arrived in subsequent years many settled across the county line in De Kalb County, and in a few years there had sprung up a thriving and prosperous community. At present the Bradford Norwegian Evangelical Congregation of Lee numbers 300 adult members. The center of the settlement is about four miles south of Franklin Grove.

Immediately east of De Kalb and the northern part of La Salle County lies Kendall County, into which extends a northeastern branch of the original Fox River Settlement, located chiefly in Big Grove Township; the village of Newark lies within its boundaries. The first Norwegian to settle in the village of Newark was Ole Olson Hetletvedt, as we have observed above. Ole Hetletvedt, or Medlepeint as he was called, was born in August, 1797, and was, as we know, one of the members of the sloop party. Of his first years in this country we have already spoken. He came to Newark in 1839; there he lived till his death in 1854. The next settlers in Newark were Herman Osmonson and Knut W. Tysland, both of whom also located there in 1838.

The first Norwegian settler at Lisbon was John Hill (Hidle) from Fjeldberg in Söndhordland, Norway. He came to America in 1836,[395] going direct to La Salle County. Among the immigrants of that year were also Anders Anderson Aasen and wife Olena and family from Tysvær Parish, a little south of Haugesund. The family included a daughter Susanna, (born 1822), who was married to John Hill in 1844. The Aasen family lived in Kendall, New York, for two years, then in 1838 moved to La Salle County, Illinois. In 1839 John Hill located at Lisbon, and he was thus the first Norwegian to settle here, whither a considerable number later moved.[396] About 1846 Sjur Larson came there from Skaanevik, Norway; Lars Chelley (Kjelle) came in 1847.

The Norwegians did not begin to come in extensively to Lisbon before 1850. Mrs. Austin Osmond, oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Hill, who is now living in Morris, Grundy County, tells me that she was the only Norwegian child in school at Lisbon when she first began to attend, but later there gradually came more. At Newark several Norwegians had already begun to move on. Goodman Halvorson (b. 1821) and wife Martha Grindheim from Etne Parish in Söndhordland, came to America in 1847 and purchased land in Fox Township, Kendall County; he erected his log cabin there in the spring of 1848. Halvorson is still living on the old homestead which, however, he leases to other parties. Osmund Tutland from Hjelmeland in Ryfylke, and wife Malinda from Aardal in Ryfylle and two children had come to Mission Township, La Salle County, in 1836; a daughter, Mrs. Anna Hegglund (b. 1842) is at present living in Newark. Tutland became, in 1854, the founder of the Norwegian colony at Norway, Benton County, Iowa.[397]

Among the old pioneers of Lisbon was also Henry Munson from Voss, but I am not able to give the year of his arrival. Munson died in 1907, being over ninety years old. Wier Sjurson Weeks (born in Skaanevik in 1812), and wife Synneva and two children emigrated in 1846; after much hardship, and sickness in the family, through which they lost the two daughters, they arrived at Lisbon late in 1846. Here Weeks worked at first at the trade of a carpenter. In 1848 he bought eighty acres of land on North Prairie, five miles north of Lisbon.[398] Here he settled permanently, prospered, and became an influential citizen and active member of the Lutheran Church of North Prairie. Mr. Weeks died in February, 1900, at the age of eighty-seven; his wife lived till 1904, reaching the age of ninety-four. A name most closely associated with the early annals of Newark is that of Torris Johnson (b. in Skaanevik 1837), who came to America with his grandfather Torris Torison in 1848.[399] Having arrived at Chicago, they went to Calumet, twenty miles south of Chicago, to Halstein Torison, who was an uncle of Torris Johnson. There Johnson remained till 1851, when he located in Kendall County. Mr. Johnson served in the war, being promoted to sergeant; after the war he returned to Newark. In 1865 he married Elizabeth Ryerson, born in Stavanger, Norway; they have had six children. Mr. Johnson is still living, his home being in Newark.

Although E. S. Holland (b. 1834) of Big Grove Township, did not settle in Kendall County before 1866, he belongs to the earlier pioneers now resident there, having come to this country with his parents in 1846. In 1854 he settled in York Township, Green County, Wisconsin, where he married Johanne Chantland the following year. In 1866 they removed to Kendall County, Illinois.[400] Mr. Holland has been especially active in the work of the church, and has been trustee and treasurer of Pleasant View Luther College since its organization.

The name of Nels O. Cassem occupies a prominent place in the history of the settlement as of that of Kendall County in general. Born in 1829 about seven miles east of the city of Stavanger, Norway, he emigrated in 1849. Coming to Illinois he settled in Fox Township, Kendall County, in July of that year. Here he purchased land and began farming, an occupation which he prospered in to an unusual degree, his estate being estimated at a little over one million dollars upon his death in 1904.[401] “When he came to Illinois,” writes his son, “he found work on the tow-path of the old Illinois and Michigan Canal, at fifty cents per day. During this time he formed the habit of saving, that was the unerring guide of all his future life.” Randall Cassem defines the principal causes of his father’s success as:

Among those who immigrated in 1844 and located in Chicago was also Anders K. Vetti from Vettigjæld, Norway. He lived in Chicago until about 1849,[403] when he bought a farm at Yorkville Prairie in Kendall County. He married Anna Martha Ortzland in 1850 and lived there till his death in 1875. Mr. Vetti was a man of strong character and unusual intellectual endowments. He wielded much influence politically in his community, and enjoyed in a high degree the confidence of those who knew him. An obituary notice says of him: his truest and most enduring monument will be the good resulting from his labor in the cause of universal education, in untiring opposition to the superstitious observance of ceremonies incompatible with the spirit and the progress of the age, and in his hatred of all forms of political oppression.[404]

A few miles south of Lisbon, across the Grundy County line, a settlement was founded in 1846. The county had been completely settled by Americans already, but Norwegians bought these out and gradually supplanted them, exactly as they began doing a decade later at Saratoga in Grundy County, and have done still later in the city of Morris in the same county. The settlement is located in Nettle Creek Township. The first arrivals were Rasmus Scheldal, Ole Torstal, Paul Thompson, Michael Erickson, Simon Frye, John Wing, Lars Scheldal, Ben Hall, Ben Thornton, John Peterson, G. E. Grundstad, William and Samuel Hage. Several of these men had families; they came mostly from Skaanevik; all came between 1846 and 1848. In 1849 Halvord Rygh, Sr., and family of seven, and Sjur Nelson, wife, Jennie, and family, came from Norway and located there. Several of these men later moved away, as Paul Thompson, Michael Erickson, Rasmus Scheldal, and Ole Tvistal, who went to Story County, Iowa, while some members of the Rygh and Wing families went to Goodhue County, Minnesota, 1856. Sjur Haugen and family moved up to Helmar, Kendall County, in 1855.[405]

With this brief survey of the founding of these eastern extensions of the Fox River Settlement, we shall leave Kendall and Grundy Counties. The history of these settlements takes its beginnings at the very close of the period we are here considering. Their fuller discussion belongs to the history of the immigration of the following decade.[406]

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 general through internal migration away from the older settlements in Racine, Rock, and Dane Counties. The latter were now becoming overcrowded and they furnished hundreds upon hundreds of recruits to the new settlements that were fast springing up. It is with the years 1848–49 that we associate this new trend in the movement, and which inaugurates this new period in the whole movement. Only its beginnings will here briefly be sketched as related to the counties of northeastern Iowa. Of the mass of material which has been placed at my disposal, I can only select what appears most essential to the purpose.

The first county settled by Norwegians in northeastern Iowa was Clayton. The first settlers were Ole H. Valle and wife and Ole T. Kittelsland who located in Read Township in the summer of 1846. Both these men had, however, entered Iowa three years before. In 1843 they had come to the old Fort Atkinson in Winneshiek County, and had remained there for three years in the service of the government.[408] Valle and Kittelsland were both from Rollaug, Numedal; they had immigrated in 1841 to Rock Prairie, and had from 1841–1843 worked in the Dodgeville mines. In 1846 Sören O. Sörum from Land Parish, Norway, came to Fort Atkinson and in 1847 Ingeborg Nilsen, a cousin of Ole Valle, came there.

In the summer of 1846 then, Valle and Kittelsland located in Clayton County,[409] buying a farm together, about three miles southeast of the present village of St. Olaf.[410] Through letters from Valle the locality was soon brought to the attention of Norwegian settlers in Rock Prairie and Koshkonong. In the spring of 1849 Ole Herbrandson and family came out there from Koshkonong; he was an immigrant from Mörkvold, Rollaug, in 1842 and had, it seems, visited Valle in Clayton County in 1848 and found the locality to his liking. In June[411] Halvor Nilsen Espeseth, Knut Hustad, Ole Sonde, and Ingbret Skarshaug, came from Rock Prairie;[412] going to the western part of the county, Nilsen selected land in Grand Meadow Township, becoming the founder of the Clermont extension of the settlement, which, as Norwegians began to come in gradually, expanded north into Fayette and Winneshiek Counties. Other arrivals of the same summer were Abraham Rustad and family, Bredo A. Holt, Jens A. Holt, all from Hadeland, Bertle Osuldson, Tallak Gunderson and family from Arendal, and Ole Hanson and family. These located in the Clermont region; Jens Holt on section 17, Marion Township, and Hanson on section 6 in the same township. About simultaneous with these, Fingar Johnson, Helge Ramstad and wife, Thorkel Eiteklep[413] Ole E. Sanden, with wife Guro and family, located in the eastern settlement.[414]

The founders of these settlements nearly all came from Rock Prairie, where they had lived the first few years after immigrating. During the years 1850–1851 a large number of immigrants joined the colony. The first of these were Lars Valle, Hellik Glaim,[415] and Austen Blækkestad, all from Numedal, Ole Engbrigtsen and Peter Helgeson from Sigdal in Numedal, and Ole Gunbjörnson and Knut Jæger from Hallingdal, while Halstein Gröth and family from Næs in Hallingdal and Kittil Rue located in the western part of the settlement. The Gröth family located in Marion Township, where also James and Jacob Paulson Broby, who came from Hadeland the next year, settled. Mrs. Holger Peterson and son (Peter Holgerson) came in 1851 and settled in Wagner Township. Sören O. Sörum and wife[416] settled in Farmersburg Township in 1850, being the first Norwegians there.[417]

But in the very beginning of this period the movement was directed to the counties to the North, Allamakee and Winneshiek. The immigration of Norwegians into Clayton County had practically ceased by 1855, the chief reason for this probably being that the Germans came in very large numbers, particularly to Clayton County, during the early fifties and soon occupied all the best land.[418] Northeastern Iowa was but little settled, and the development of the wilderness had only begun. Clayton County had in 1850 a population of three thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, while Fayette had only eight hundred and twenty-five, and Allamakee seven hundred and seventy-seven. The population of Winneshiek County had reached four thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven.

Allamakee was the next county in order of settlement.[419] This county was opened to settlement in 1848, but land was not put upon the market before 1850.[420] In 1849 Ole L. Rothnem, Ole O. Storlag, Ole K. Grimsgaard and Erik K. Barsgrind came from Rock County to Allamakee County and selected land. In 1850 they moved out with their families and in company with them came: Ole K. Stake, Arne K. Stake, Syver Wold and Thomas A. Grönna. Others who came about the same time were: Thomas Anderson[421] and wife Emilie, Sven E. Hesla,[421] Björn Hermundson, Nils T. Rue, Östen Peterson, Lars Jeglum, Halvor E. Turkop, Ole S. Lekvold, all from Hallingdal, and Nils N. Arnesgaard, who was from Numedal. Among others who followed the next year I shall mention: Knut Knutson,[422] G. H. Fagre and wife Katherine, and Ole Smeby (b. 1804), wife and sons Hans, Ole, and John. They settled on the prairie north of Paint Creek, living in their canvas-covered wagons until houses were built. Those here named formed the nucleus of the Paint Creek Settlement, which already the next year received large accessions.

The early settlers of Allamakee and neighboring counties experienced all the trials and hardships of pioneer life in an unsettled country. There was no railroad nearer than Milwaukee. At McGregor there were a few stores where the necessaries of life could be had.[423] The process of home building and the clearing of the forests was slow and often attended with many difficulties. The pioneers generally brought with them no other wealth than stout hearts and strong hands, and it was only by industry and severe economy that they were able to make a living for themselves and their families. Those who hired out to others received very small wages, and as there was little money among the pioneer farmers this was paid in large part in food or other articles. It may serve as an illustration that in the winter of 1850–51 a pioneer in Clayton County[424] split seven thousand rails of wood for fifty cents a hundred; for this he was paid $3.50 in cash and the remainder in food.[425]

Most of the Norwegians who first settled in Allamakee County came from Rock County, Wisconsin; later, some came from Dane County, Wisconsin, and also from Winneshiek County, where a settlement was formed in June, 1850. Several, however, came from Norway by way of New Orleans and the Mississippi, as did Gilbert C. Lyse in 1851.

In 1856 there were in the whole county five hundred and five Norwegians; one hundred and eighty-one of these had settled in Paint Creek (then Water-ville) Township, the rest being located mostly in the neighboring towns of Center, La Fayette, Taylor, Jefferson and Makee. In the meantime a new settlement had been established in the northwestern part of the county, in Hanover and Waterloo, which soon extended into Winneshiek County. But the earliest Norwegian settlement in Winneshiek was formed on Washington Prairie in June, 1850,[426] when a number of families moved in from Racine and Dane Counties, Wisconsin. Eastern Winneshiek County received in the following year a large Norwegian population.

Those who came in the latter part of June, 1850, and settled on Washington Prairie were: Eric Anderson (Rudi),[427] the brothers Ole and Staale T. Haugen from Flekkefjord, Ole G. Jevne, Ole and Andrew A. Lomen, Knut A. Bakken, Anders Hauge, John J. Quale, and Halvor H. Groven, all from Valders, and Mikkel Omli from Telemarken. On July third another party headed by Nels Johnson[428] arrived, including Tollef Simonson Aae, Knud Opdahl, Jacob Abrahamson,[429] Iver P. Quale, Gjermund Johnson (Kaasa),[430] and John Thun.

Of the coming of this party Reverend Jacobson has given the following account: In the spring of 1850 his parents and a number of other families left Muskego to move out west. The leader of the party was Nels Johnson; he had a large military wagon drawn by six oxen. “This had a big box on, filled with household goods and covered with white canvas. On the outside was placed, lengthwise, the wagon box, several joints of stove pipe, so the outfit, with a little stretch of imagination,” says Rev. Jacobson, “looked like a man-of-war; this was the so-called ‘prairie-schooner.’ Then there were other vehicles of all sizes and shapes, from truck wagons, the wheels of which were made of solid sections of oak logs, down to the two-wheel carts.” At Koshkonong, Dane County, so many more joined them that they were in all over one hundred individuals; the caravan included furthermore now two hundred head of cattle, a few hogs and sheep, a mare and a colt. They drove on via Madison, then a little village, to Prairie du Chien, where the party divided one-half going to Vernon County,[431] Wisconsin, the other half to Iowa. Reverend Jacobson says of the journey at this point: