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CHAPTERS

0 N

SCANDINAVIAN IMMIGRATION TO IOWA

BY

GEORGE T. FLOM, Ph. D.

'■\

PROFESSOR OF SCANDINAVIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES IN THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

Reprinted from THE IOWA JOURNAL OF HISTORY AND POLITICS FOR 1905 AND 1906. Published at Iowa City Iowa by THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA

s-i

1'^

CONTENTS

The Scandinavian Factor in the American Popula- tion: Causes of Emigration fi-om Scandinavia. Growth and Distribution of the Scandinavian Population in the United States. The Geographical Distribution of the Three Scandinavian Nationalities; City and Country Population; Causes of the Distribution. Conclusion. 1-36

The Coming of the Norwegians to Iowa:

Norwegians in the United States before 1825. The Sloop Party and the Rochester Settlement. Other Set- tlements Prior to the Founding of the Fii'st Norwegian Colony in Iowa in 1840. The Course of Migration to Iowa. The Earliest Norwegian Settlement in Iowa — h^ its Founders, its Character, its Growth, and its Rela- tion to Later Westward Colonization. Norwegian Im- migration into Northeastern Iowa. The Founders of the Earliest Settlements. Other Colonies Established between 1850 and 1853. The Course of Settlement. Conclusion ........ 37-'73

Early Swedish Immigration to Iowa:

Swedes in the United States before 1841. Gustaf Unonius and the Pine Lake, Wisconsin, Settlement. The First Swedish Settlers in Illinois. The Bishop Hill Colony. The Course of Migration to Iowa. The First Swedish Settlement in Iowa. Names of the Founders and Locality in Sweden from Which They Came. Route and Cost of the Voyage. Relation of the Settlement to Later Western Migration. The First Swedes in Burlington. Other Early Settlements

IV

in the State down to 1855. Swede Point. Bergholm. Swede Bend. Mineral Ridge. The Founders of These Settlements. Two Early Settlements in Northeastern Iowa V4-10V

The Danish Contingent in the Population of Early Iowa : Individual Immigration from Denmark to America down to 1840. The Beginnings of Organized Immigra- tion. The Earliest City Colonies and Rural Settlements, The Course of Migration to Iowa. The First Danes in Iowa. The Earliest Danish Settlements in the State. The Course of Migration. The Elk Horn Settlement in Shelby County. Danes in Pottawattamie County. The Coming of the Danes to Davenport and Des Moines lOV-130

The Growth of the Scandinavian Factor in the Popu- lation OF Iowa: New Settlements formed between 1853 and 1856. The Scandinavian Population of Iowa at the Time of the First State Census; its Later Growth; the Westward Trend of Migration. Tables Illusti'ative of the Growth, Distribution, and Extent of the Scandinavian Popula- tion in Iowa at the Present Time .... 130-147

Bibliography ........ 147-150

Maps:

Showing the Sections of the United States where the Scandinavian Population is most Ektensively Repre- sented ......... 20

Earliest Norwegian Settlements in Iowa ... 62

Centers of Dispersion and Course of Migration of the

Norwegians .... ... 63

THE SCANDINAVIAN FACTOR IN THE AMEEI- CAN POPULATION

According to the census of 1900, there are in the United States, 1,064,309 Scandinavians of foreign birth. The children of these number 1,950,000, making a total Scan- dinavian population of 3,014,309, which is about ten per cent of the total foreign contribution to our population. And yet immigration from the Northern countries cannot be said to have properly begun before 1843; not until that year did it exceed 1,000 a year. In 1866 it exceeded 10,- 000 for the first time. In 1869 it was 43,941. But drop- ping again in the seventies, it was only 11,274 in 1877. The period of heaviest immigration was between the years 1880 and 1893, ^ reaching its climax in 1882 with 105,326.

During the years 1820-1830 not more than 283 emigrated from the Scandinavian countries to the United States. In the following decade the number only slightly exceeded two thousand. Since 1850 our statistics regarding the foreign born population are more complete. In that year we find there were a little over eighteen thousand persons in the country of Scandinavian birth. In 1880 this number had reached 440,262; while the unprecedented exodus of 1882 and the following years had by 1890 brought the number up to 933,249. Thus the immigrant population from these

1 With 1894 there is a sudden decrease in the Scandinavian immigration. In 1898 the number is only 19,282. After 1900 there is again a rapid increase, reaching 77,647 in 1903.

countries, wMcli in 1850 was less than one per cent had in 1890 reached ten per cent of the whole foreign element. The following table will show the proportion contributed by the countries designated for each decade since 1850: —

Table I 1850 1860 1810 1880 1890 1900

Ireland ... 42.8

38.9

PER CENT

33.3 27.8

20.2

15.6

Germany . . .26

30.8

30.4

29.4

30.1

25.8

England ... 12.4

10.5

10

9.9

9.8

8.1

Canada .... 6.6

6

8.9

10.7

10.6

11.4

Scotland and Wales 4.4

3.7

3.8

3.8

3.7

3.2

Scandinavia . . .9

1.7

4.3

6.6

10.1

10.3

Thus it will be seen that among European countries Scandinavia, considered as one, stands third in the number of persons contributed to the American foreign born popu- lation, exceeding that of Scotland and Wales in 1870 and that of England in 1890. Both the Irish and the German immigration reached considerable numbers at least fifteen years before that from the North, the two making up sixty- nine per cent of the total in 1850 and nearly seventy per cent in 1860, in which latter year the Scandinavian immigrant element had not yet reached two per cent. In 1900 it was two-thirds that of Ireland and two -fifths as large as the German. It may also be noted that since 1890 these are fast decreasing while the Scandinavian shows an increase for the decade.

As compared with other countries Scandinavia had in 1850 sent only a third as many as France and less by four thousand than Holland and Switzerland combined. In 1870 it was twice that from France and equalled the total

8

number from Holland, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, and Russia.

The Norwegians are the pioneers in the emigration move- ment from the North in the nineteenth century; the Danes were the last to come in considerable numbers. Statistics, however, show that 189 Danes had emigrated to this coun- try before 1830, while there were only 94 from Norway and Sweden.^ The Norwegian foreign born population had in 1850 reached 12,678; while that from Sweden was 3,559; and Denmark had furnished a little over eighteen hundred. The Danish immigration was not over 5,000 a year until 1880 and has never reached 12,000. The Swedish immi- gration receives a new impulse in 1852 and reaches five thousand in 1868; it reached its climax of 64,607 in 1882. The Norwegian exodus began to assume larger proportions in 1843 and reached five thousand in 1866 (according to our census, but in 1853 according, to Norwegian statistics, the number for that year being 6,050, and this is probably much more nearly correct), the highest being 29,101 in 1882.

The total immigration from the Scandinavian countries to America from 1820 to 1900 is 1, 446,202. ^ This remarkable figure becomes doubly remarkable when we stop to con- sider that the population of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark is only two and one-half per cent of the total population of

' It should, however, be remembered that the principal Scandinavian sailing ports were Gothenborg and Copenhagen, and we know that many Norwegians had before embarked from Copenhagen. It is not unlikely that a few Nor- wegians coming thus each year from a Danish port would, in American ports, be put down as Danes. The number from Denmark would then be correspondingly too high.

» The total down to and including 1903 is 1,617,111.

Europe, yet they liave contributed nearly ten per cent of our immigrant population. Counting those of foreign par- entage also, there are in this country nearly one -third as many Scandinavians as in the Scandinavian countries, while for the Geiman element the ratio is one to thirteen. In proportion to population Norway and Sweden have with one exception furnished more emigrants to America than any other of the European countries ; and there are in this country half as many Norwegians and Swedes, including those bom here of foreign parents, as in the Scandinavian peninsula.

CAUSES OF EMIGKATION FROM SCANDINAVIA

It will be natural to ask at this juncture, what are the causes that have brought about such an exodus from the Scandinavian countries in the 19th century? It is not a simple question 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. Especially has this instinct characterized the Ger- manic branch, whether it be Goth or Vandal, Anglo-Saxon, Viking or Norman,^ or their descendants the Teutonic peoples of modern times, by whom chiefly the United States has been peopled and developed.

Of tangible motives one that has everywhere been a fundamental factor in promoting emigration from European countries in modern times has been the prospect of material betterment. Where no barriers have been put against the

iThat is, "Northman."

emigration of the poor or the ambitious, unless special causes have arisen to create discontent with one's condition, the extent to which European countries have contributed to our immigrant population may be measured fairly closely by the economic conditions at home. As far as the North- ern countries are concerned I would class all these causes under two heads: the first will comprise all those conditions, natural or artificial, that can be summarized under the term economic; the second will include a number of special circumstances or motives which may vary somewhat for the three countries, indeed often for the locality and the individual.

First then we may consider the causes which arise from economic conditions. These are well illustrated by the Scandinavian countries, slightly modified in each case by the operation of the special causes. Norway is a land of mountains, these making up in fact fifty -nine per cent of its total area, while forty -four per cent of the soil of Sweden is unproductive. The winters are long and severe, the cold weather frequently sets in too early for the crops to ripen, and with crop failure comes lack of work for the laboring classes and, burdened by heavy taxation, debt and impover- ishment for the holders of the numerous encumbered smaller estates. In Norway especially the rewards of labor are meagre and the opportunities for material betterment small. "Hard times" and the inability of the country to support the rapidly increasing population has, then, been a most potent factor. ^ The same will hold true of Sweden, though

1 Thus the failure of crops and the famine in Northern Sweden, Finland, and Norway in 1902 was followed by a vastly increased immigration from these sections. See above page 1, note. Compare Table II below.

in a somewhat less degree. Denmark is much better able to support a population of forty-one to the square mile than Sweden one of thirty, or Norway one of eighteen. '

In this connection compare above the statistics of immi- gration from the three countries, which are much lower for Denmark than for Norway and Sweden. The Danes at home are a contented people, and it is noticeable also that it is they who are most conservative here, who foster the closest relation with the old home, and who consequently become Americanized last. The Norwegians are the most discontented, are readiest for a change, are quickest to try the new^; and it is they, who most readily break the bonds that bind them to their native country, who most quickly

adapt themselves to the conditions here, and who most rapidly become Americanized.

Professor R. B. Anderson, in his book on the early Norwegian immigration^ puts religious persecution as the primary cause of emigration from Norway. I cannot pos- sibly believe that even in the immigration of the first half of the nineteenth century religious persecution was, except in a few cases, the primary or even a very important cause in the Scandinavian countries. In conversation with and in numerous letters from pioneers and their descendants, espe- cially in Iowa and Wisconsin, I have found that the hope of larger returns for one's labor is everywhere given as the main motive, sometimes as the only one. Whether it be the Norwegian pioneers in La Salle County, Illinois, or

^ The area and population of the three countries are: — Sweden, area 172.876 sq. m., population in 1901, 5,176,228; Norway, area 124,129, population in 1900, 2,239,880; Denmark, area 15,3(50, population in 1901, 2,447,441.

'First Chapter of Nonoegian Immigration., Madison, Wis., 1896.

Rock County, Wisconsin, or the Swedes in Jefferson or Boone counties, Iowa, or the Danes in Racine County, Wisconsin, the causes are everywhere principally economic. But letters written by pioneers and by those about to emi- grate testify amply to the fact that it was the hard times that was the chief cause.

A Norwegian Journal, Billed- Mag azin^ published in Chicago in 1869 and edited by Professor Svein Nilsen, offers much that throws light on this question. It contains detailed accounts of the early Norwegian immigration and the earliest settlements, a regular column of news from the Scandinavian countries, interviews with pioneers, etc. In one interview Ole Nattestad, who sailed in 1837 from Vsegli, Numedal, and became the founder of the fourth Norwegian settlement in America, that of Jefferson Prairie in Rock County, Wisconsin, and the neighboring Boone County in Illinois, describes his experience as a farmer in Numedal and how the difficulty of making any headway finally drove him to emigrate to America.-^ The statement of another pioneer I quote in its entirety.^ It is that of John Nelson Luraas who came from Tin in Telemarken to Muskego, Wisconsin, in 1839, and in 1843 moved to Dane County, Wisconsin. He says: —

I was my father's oldest son, and consequently heir to the Luraas farm. It was regarded as one of the best in that neighborhood, but there was a $1,400 mortgage on it. I had worked for my father until I was twenty-five years old, and had had no opportunity of getting money. It was plain to me that I would have a hard time

1 Billed -Magazin, 1860, pp. 82-83.

* Billed -Magazin, 1809, pp. 6-7, printed in First Chapter, p. 269.

8

of it, if I should take the farm with the debt resting on it, pay a reasonable amount to my brothers and sisters, and assume the care of my aged father. I saw to my horror how one farm after the other fell into the hands of the lendsman and other money-lenders, and this increased my dread of attempting farming. But I got married and had to do something. Then it occurred to me that the best thing might be to emigrate to America. I was encouraged in this purpose by letters written by Norwegian settlers in Illinois who had lived two years in America. Such were the causes that led me to emigrate and I presume the rest of our company were actuated by similar motives.^

In a letter written by Andreas Sandsberg at Hellen, Norway, September 12, 1831, to Gudmund Sandsberg in Kendall, New York, the former complains of the hard times in Norway.^ In the spring of 1836 there emigrated from Stavanger county the second party of emigrants to Ameiica. On the 14th of May of that year Andreas Sandsberg wrote his brother Gudmund in America as follows: —

A considerable number of people are now getting ready to go to America from this Amt. Two brigs are to depart from Stavanger in about eight days from now, and will carry these people to America, and if good reports come from them, the number of emi- grants will doubtless be still larger next year. A pressing and general lack of money entering into every branch of industry, stops or at least hampers business and makes it difficult for many people to earn the necessaries of life. While this is the case on this side of the Atlantic there is hope for abundance on the other, and this I take it, is the chief cause of this growing disposition to emigrate.*

> In 18G8, Mr. Luraas moved to "Webster County, Iowa, returning to Dane County, Wisconsin, in 1873. I knew him in the early nineties as a well-to-do retired farmer living in Stoughton, Wisconsin. He died in 1894.

* First Chapter, p. 137.

• Letter copied from the original by R. B. Anderson in 1896 and printed in First Chapter, pp. 135-136.

9

A highly developed spirit of independence lias always been a dominant element in the Scandinavian character — I have reference here particularly to his desire for personal independence, that is, independence in his condition in life. Nothing is so repugnant to him as indebtedness to others and dependence on others. An able-bodied Scandinavian who was a burden to his fellows was well-nigh unheard of. By the right of primogeniture the paternal estate would go to the oldest son. The families being frequently large, the owning of a home was to a great many practically an impossibility under wage conditions as they were in the North in the first half and more of the preceding century.

Thus the Scandinavian farmer's son, with his love of personal independence and his strong inherent desire to own a home, finding himself so circumstanced in his native country that there was little hope of his being able to realize this ambition except in the distant uncertain future, listens with a willing ear to descriptions of America, with its quick returns and its great opportunities. And so he decides to emigrate. And this he is free to do for the government puts no barrier upon his emigrating. This trait has impelled many a Scandinavian to come and settle in America; and it is a trait that is the surest guarantee of the character of his citizenship. Here too a social factor merits mention.

While the Nobility was abolished in Norway in 1814 the lines between the upper and the lower classes, the wealthy and the poor, were tightly drawn and social classes were well defined. And while Norway is to-day the most Democratic country in Europe, and Sweden and Denmark are also thor-

10

oughly liberal (not least through the influence of America and American -Scandinavians), a titled aristocracy still exists in these countries. The extreme deference to those in supe- rior station or position that custom and existing conditions enforced upon those in humbler condition was repugnant to them. Not infrequently have pioneers given this as one cause for emigrating in connection with that of economic advantage.

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. As a result of the Dano -Prussian war of 1864 Jutland below Skodborghus became a province of Prussia. The greatly increased taxes that immediately followed and the restric- tions imposed by the Prussian government upon the use of the Danish language, as well as other oppressive measures that formed a part of the general plan of the Prussianizing of Sleswick-Holstein, drove large numbers of Danes away from their homes, and most of these came to the United States. In notes and correspondence ^from Denmark in Scandinavian- American papers during these years complaints regarding such regulations constantly appear, and figures of emigra- tion of Danes "who did not wish to be Prussians" are unusu- ally large for this period. ^ The United States statistics also show a sudden increase in the Danish immigration during the sixties and the early seventies. From 1850-1861 not more than 3,983 had emigrated from Denmark; while in the thirteen years from 1862 to 1874 the number reached 30,978.

» See for example in the foreign column of the Billed-Magazin.

11

Military service which elsewhere has often played such an important part in promoting emigration has in the Scandi- navian countries been only a minor factor, the j)eriod 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 given this as their motive have, however, been mostly Norwegians and Swedes.

Religious persecution has played a part in some cases, especially in Norway and Sweden. The state church is the Lutheran, but every sect has been tolerated since the middle of the century, in Norway since 1845. While few countries have been freer from the evil of active persecution because of religious belief, intolerance and religious narrowness have not been wanting. In the beginning of the 19th century the followers of the lay preacher, Hans Nielsen Hauge, in Noi'way were everywhere persecuted. Hauge himself was imprisoned for eight years. And the Jansenists in Helsing- land, Sweden, were in the forties subjected to similar perse- cution. Eric Jansen himself was arrested several times for conducting religious meetings between 1842-1846 — though it must in fairness be admitted that his first aiTest was undoubtedly provoked by the extreme procedure of the dis- senters themselves. After having been put in prison repeat- edly Jansen embarked for America in 1846 and became the founder of the communistic colony of followers at Bishops- hill, ^ Henry County, Illinois. No such organized emigration

1 So named from Biskopskulla, Jansen's native place in Sweden. See article by Major John Swainson on "The Swedish Colony at Bishophill, Illinois," in Nelson's Scandinavians, I, p. 142. This article gives an excellent account of the founding of the Bishopshill settlement and Jansen's connection with it. See also American Communities by Wm. Alfred Hinds, 1902, pp. 300-320.

12

took place among the Haugians, but we have no means of knowing to what extent individual emigration of the follow- ers of Hauge took place during the three decades immedi- ately after his death. The well-known Elling Eielson/ a lay preacher and an ardent Haugian, emigrated in 18391 to Fox River, La Salle County, Illinois, and many of thOse who believed in the methods of Hauge and Eielson came to America in the following year.

It was persecution also that drove many Scandinavian Moravians to America in 1740 and 1747. Moravian soci- eties had been formed in Christiania in 1737, in Copen- hagen in 1739, in Stockholm in 1740, and in Bergen in 1740.-^ In 1735 German Moravians from Herrnhut, Saxony, established a colony at Savannah, Georgia.^ In this colony there seem to have been some Danes and ISTorwegians. In 1740 a permanent colony was located at Bethlehem, Penn- sylvania, and in 1747 one at Bethabara, North Carolina. Persecuted Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish Moravians took part in the founding of both these colonies.

In 1825 the first Norwegian settlement in America was established in Kendall, Orleans County, New York. This settlement was known as the Rochester settlement. The colony was formed by Quakers from Stavanger — the so- called "sloop party." It has been claimed that the "sloop- ers" were driven to emigrate by persecution at home." Another writer has shown that the only one of the Sta- vanger Quakers who sufi'ered for his belief prior to 1826

> Decorah-Posten for September 9, 1904, p. 5.

* R. B. Anderson is emphatic in this view. Pages 45-131 of his First Chapter of Norwegian Immiqration are devoted to a discussion of the sloop " Restaura- tionen" and the Quaker Colony in Orleans County.

13

was Elias Tastad, and he it seems did not emigrate.^ The leader of the emigrants in Restaur ationen^ Lars Larsen i Jeilane, had spent one year in London in the employ of the noted English Quaker, William Allen. In 1818, Stephen Grellet, a French nobleman who had become a Quaker in America, and William Allen preached in Stavanger.^ The Quakers of Stavanger were of the poorest of the people. It is highly probable, as another writer states,^ that Grellet, while there, suggested to them that they emigrate to America where they could better their condition in material things and at the same time practice their religion without violat- ing the laws of the country. The main motive w^as there- fore probably economic.

It is perfectly clear to me that not very many of the Orleans County colonists were devout Quakers; for we soon find them wandering apart into various other churches. Some returned to Lutheranism; those who went west became mostly Methodists or Mormons; others did not join any church; while the descendants of those who remained are to-day Methodists. The Orleans County Quakers do not seem to have even erected a meeting-house; and in Scandinavian settlements a church, however humble, is, next to a home, the first thought. Nevertheless the Quakers of Stavanger did suft'er annoyances, and it must be remembered that the leader of the expedition and the owner of the sloop was a devout Quaker, ^ as were also at least two other leading

1 Nelson's History of Scandinavians, 1901, p. 133.

- B. L. Wick, in The Friends, Philadelphia, 1804, according to Nelson, p. 134 A. I have not been able to secure a copy of the above article, tlierefore cannot here state the arguments, or cite it more fully.

3 Lars Larson settled in Rochester where he could attend a Quaker church. The same is true of Ole Johnson, another of the "sloopers" who later settled in Kendall but finally returned to Rochester.

14

members of tlie party. Had it not been for these very men the party would probably not have emigrated, at least not at that time. In 18-40-1850 there was much persecution of the first Baptists in Denmark; and not a few of this sect emigrated. In 1848 F. O. Nilson, one of the early leaders of the Baptist church in Sweden, was imprisoned and later banished from the country. He fled to Denmark, and in 1851 embarked for America. In the fifties Swedish Baptists in considerable numbers came to the United States because of persecution.

Proselyting of some non-Lutheran churches in Scandinavia has been the means of bringing many Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes to this country. In the fifties Mormon mis- sionaries were especially active in Denmark and Norway. Their efforts did not seem to be attended by much success in Norway, though not a few converts were made among the Norwegians in the early settlements in Illinois and Iowa. In Denmark, however, their work was more suc- cessful. All those who accepted Mormonism emigrated to America of course, and most of them to Utah. In the years 1851, 1852, and 1853 there emigrated fourteen, three, and thirty-two Danes, respectively, to this country. But in 1854 the number rose to 691, and in the following three years to 1736. In 1850 there were in Utah two Danes; in 1870 there were 4,957.

In 1849 a Norwegian- American, O. P. Peterson, first introduced Methodism in Norway.^ After 1855 a regular

Methodist mission was established in Scandinavia under the

f

^ See a brief account by Kev. N. M. Liljegren in Nelson's History of Scandi- navians, I, pp. 205-209.

15

supervision of a Danish -American, C. B. Willerup.^ While the Methodist church has not prospered in the Scandinavian countries, especially in Denmark and Norway, there are large numbers of Methodists among the Scandinavian immi- grants in this country, and the early congregations were recruited for a large part from Norw^ay, Sweden, and Den- mark.

The efforts of steamship companies and emigration agents have been a powerful factor in promoting Scandinavian emi- gration. Through them literature advertising in glowing terms the advantages of the New World was scattered far and wide in Scandinavia. Such literature often dealt with the prosperity of Scandinavians who had previously settled in America. Letters from successful settlers were often printed and distributed broadcast. The early immigrants from the North settled largely in Illinois, Wisconsin, and, a little later, in Iowa. As clearers of the forest and tillers of the soil they contributed their large share to the develop- ment of the country. None could better endure the hard- ships of pioneer life on the Western frontier. Knowing this, many Western States began to advertise their respec- tive advantages in the Scandinavian countries.

Far more influential, however, than these 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 rela-

1 Methodism had been introduced into Sweden from England early in the century.

16

tives in America would travel long distances to liear what the last "America- letter" had to report. Among the early immigrants who did much in this way to promote emigra- tion from their native districts was Gjert Ho viand. He emigrated to America in 1831 and settled in Orleans County, New York. In 1835 he removed to La Salle County, Illi- nois. He wrote many letters home. These "were trans- scribed and the copies passed around far and wide in the province of Bergen; and a large number were thus led to emigrate."^ One of the most prominent of Swedish pioneers was Peter Cassel." He is the founder of the first Scandi- navian settlement in Iowa at New Sweden, Jefferson County, and the first large Swedish settlement in America in the 19th century. Through letters sent home to friends Cassel induced many of his countrymen to come to Iowa. These two instances are typical of many others.

Some immigrants wrote books regarding the Scandinavian colonies in America, and these exerted not a little influence. Especial mention should be made of Ole Rynning's^ True Account of America for the Informcition and Help of Peasant and Commoner^ written hy a Norwegian who came there in the Month of June ^ 1837.^ This little book of 39 pages had not a little to do with the emigration that fol- lowed to La Salle County, Illinois.

1 See Billed-Magazin, p. 74.

2 Born in Asby, 1791, and emigrated to America in 1840.

s Ole Rynning was born in Ringsaker, Norway, 1809. He settled in La Salle County, Illinois, in 1837.

* Sandfoerdig Bereinincj om Amerika til Velledning og Iljadp for Bonde og Menigmand, skrevet af en Norsk som kom der i Junl Maaned, 1S37.

Ole Rynning's book was an intelligent discussion of thirteen questions regard- ing America wliich he set himself to answer. Among them were: What is the

17

The visits of successful Scandinavians back home was in the early days an important factor; and as a rule only those who had been prosperous would return home. In 1835 Kund Anderson Slogvig, who had emigrated in the sloop in 1825, returned to Norway and became the chief promoter of the exodus of 1836 which resulted in the settle- ment at Fox River, La Salle County, Illinois.

In letters from immigrants to their relatives at home pre- paid tickets or the price of the ticket were often enclosed. This custom was so common as to become a special factor in emigration. According to JSforsh Folkehlad (cited in Billed- Mag azin^ p. 134), 4,000 Norwegian emigrants, via Kristiana in 1868, took with them $40,335 (Speciedaler) in cash money of which $21,768 (Spd.) had been sent by relatives in America to cover the expense of the journey. It has been estimated that about fifty per cent of Scandi- navian emigrants arrive by prepaid passage tickets secured by relatives in this country.^

Finally, curiosity and the spirit of adventure have doubt- less prompted some to cross the ocean.

To sum up, the chief influences that have promoted Scandinavian emigration to the United States in the nine- teenth century have been in the order of their importance: firsts the prospect of material betterment and the love of a freer and more independent life; second, letters of relatives

nature of the country? What is the reason that so many people go there? Is it not to be feared that the land will soon be overpopulated? In what part are the Norwegian settlements? Which is the most convenient and the cheapest route to them? What is the price of land? What provision is there for the education of children? What language is spoken and is it difficult to learn? Is there danger of disease in America? What kind of people should emigrate? ' Nelson's History of Scandinavians, 56.

18

and friends who had emigrated to the United States and visits of these again to their native country; thirds the advertising of agents of emigration; fourth^ religious per- secution at home; fifths church proselytism; sixths political oppression; seventh, military service; and eighth, the desire for adventure. Fugitives from justice have been few, and paupers and criminals in the Scandinavian countries are not sent out of the country; they are taken care of by the government.

THE GROWTH AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE SCANDINAVIAN POPULATION IN THE UNITED STATES

It has already been noted that the Norwegians are the pioneers in the Scandinavian immigration to America, and that the Danes were the last to come. The first Norwegian colony was founded near Rochester, New York, in 1825, and not until sixteen years later was the first Swedish colony planted at Pine Lake, Wisconsin. Neither of these settlements prospered, but both had some influence on the formation of the first permanent colonies elsewhere — the Norwegian at Fox River, La Salle County, Illinois, in 1836, and the Swedish at New Sweden, Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1845. It was about fifteen years later that a Danish settlement was formed in Racine County, Wiscon- sin. The chief rural colony of Danes in the country, that of Audubon and Shelby counties in Iowa, did not really take its beginning before 18(j8.^

Between the founding of the Fox River settlement in

1 There were some Danes there, however, as early as 1857 — see Shelby County, by J. J. Louis, p. G. (Reprint from The Iowa Journal of History and Politics.)

19

Illinois and that of the Swedes at New Sweden, Iowa, there had grown up a considerable number of Norwegian settlements principally in AVisconsin. The reason for the priority of the Norwegians and the lateness of the Danes is largely an economic one as has been shown above. Of the three nationalities, furthermore, the Danes are undoubtedly the most patriotic, and the most reluctant to leave their native country. It was economic causes that have furnished us the largest number of Danish immigrants, especially in the seventies, the eighties, and the early nineties; but it was a religious cause that gave the first impulse to the emigra- tion of Danes, and it was a political cause that first drove them away in large numbers. But for these causes Danish emigration to America would have been exceedingly small before the seventies. It may be largely an accident that the Norwegian exodus came so many years before the Swedish. When once the movement had been started it was bound soon to assume considerable proportions under the economic conditions of the times. Furthermore, the movement in Sweden was started not among those who were earning a meagre living by the hardest sort of work as it was in Norway, but among the middle classes and men in professional life.^ The father of Swedish emigration to this country in the nineteenth century was a graduate of Upsala. Under these circumstances it would take a longer time for such knowledge of America to reach the masses of the common people as would lead to extensive emigration. Finally, it may be recalled that while down to the middle of the nineteenth century one who desired to emigrate had

1 And in part by mere adventurers.

21

to secure royal permission both in Sweden and Norway, a Swede before he could emigrate was required to pay 300 Kronor or about $81, which undoubtedly at the time acted as a powerful barrier against any considerable emigration on the part of that class which later contributed chiefly to emigration.

Before 18(38 immigrants from Sweden and Norway are classed together in the United States census. According to Scandinavian statistics, however, there emigrated from Nor- way to America between 1851-18G0, 36,070, and from Sweden 14,857. Before 1850 the emigration from Sweden was very small. With 1868 the figures became much larger than before, and since 1875 have always exceeded those for Norway.

Table II

Showing the Norwegian, Swedish and Danish immigration by decades since 1820, and by the year since 1891,

NOEWAY

SWEDEN

DENMARK

TOTAL

(a)

1820-30

94

189

283

1831-40

1,

,201

1,063

2,264

1841-50

13,

,903

539

14,442

1851-60

20,

931

3,749

24,680 1

1861-VO

109;

,308

17,094

126,402

1871-80

94,823

115,922

31,760

242,505

1881-90

176,586

391,733

88,132

656,451

1891-1900

97,264

230,677

52,670

378,657

(^)

1891

12,568

36,880

10,659

60,107

1892

14,462

43,247

10,593

68,302

1893

16,079

38,077

8,779

62,935

1894

8,868

18,607

5,581

33,056

* In 18G0 the Norwegian population was 43,995; the Swedish, 18,625.

22

NORWAY

SWEDEN

DENMARK

TOTAL

1895

7,373

15,683

4,244

27,300

1896

8,855

21,177

3,167

33,199

1897

5,842

13,162

2,085

21,089

1898

4,983

12,398

1,946

19,327

1899

6,705

12,796

2,690

22,191

1900

9,575

18,650

2,926

31,151

1901

12,288

23,331

3,655

39,074

1902

17,484

30,894

5,660

54,038

1903

24,461

46,028

7,158

77,647

The Scandinavian population is very unevenly distributed in the different sections of the country. They have from the first avoided the South, they are not numerous in the East, while nearly seventy per cent of them reside in the northwestern States. A table will illustrate well this re- markable fact of distribution. The States are arranged in five groups showing the population in each for each decade since 1850.

Table III

Showing the number of Scandinavians of foreign birth in the live sections indicated from 1850 to 1900.

1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900

The South* 1,084 1,531 3,709 3,834 5,846 7,450

New England 749 1,507 3,113 11,243 43,596 70,632

New York \

New Jersey V 1,897 4,506 12,291 28,532 75,331 105,641 Pennsylvania )

TheNorthwest*13,278 56,275 193,578 336,511 670,148 715,121 All other States 1,067 8,763 29,497 70,382 138,328 165,465

1 Inchiding Maryland, but excluding Missouri and Texas. * Including Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota.

23

Table IV

Showing the growth of the Scandinavian population in tli

e North-

western States by decades since

1850, and the total increase

outside

the Northwest.

1850

1860

1870

1880

1890

1900

Michigan . . 139

898

5,276

16,445

41,496

40,928

Wisconsin . 8,885

23,265

48,057

66,284

99,738

103,942

Illinois . . 3,631

12,073

44,570

65,414

128,897

144,812

Iowa ... 611

7,814

31,177

46,046

72,873

72,611

Minnesota . . 12

11,773

58,837

107,768

215,215

236,670

Nebraska . .

323

3,987

16,685

46,341

40,107

North Dakota . South Dakota

■j 129

1 1,674

1 17,869

34,216 31,372

42,578 33,473

All other States 4,777

16,307

48,610

113,751

263,101

349,188

There are in the whole of the South at the present time only one -tenth as many Scandinavian immigrants as in the State of Iowa alone. While they are found in the South- ern States in small colonies, but principally as scattered settlers, as early as 1850, and while settlements have been formed at various times since then, they have never thrived and to-day there is outside of Texas no important Scandi- navian settlement in the whole of the South. Danes had settled in Louisiana to the number 288 in 1850, and to-day they number only 21G. Foreign born Swedes in Louisiana in 1850 numbered 249; to-day the number is only 359. There was one Norwegian family^ in Texas as early as 1840, in 1850 they numbered 105; while the total in 1900 was 1,35(3. By 1860 the Danes had formed minor colonies in Missouri; their number being 464, which number has in- creased in 1900 to 1,510. There were in 1860 also 239

1 John Norboe who bought a large tract of land in Dallas County in 1838.

24

Swedes of foreign birth in Missouri; the number to-day is 5,692. Thus Texas and Missouri are the only Southern States where Scandinavians are found in appreciable num- bers— Norwegians and Swedes in the former, and Danes and Swedes in the latter. Elsewhere in the South the Swedes have settled to some little extent, that is to say, in Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. Recent Norwegian settlements in Tennessee, Alabama, and Virginia have not prospered.

The reasons why Scandinavians have so generally avoided the South are not hard to find; they have already been in- dicated above under causes of emigration. The main rea- son was slavery, an institution upon which the Scandinavian immigrant looked with horror. Add to this the climate, so different from that of Northern Europe, and the general depression that followed the war in all lines in the South, and we have the causes that diverted the great body of Scandinavian immigrants from the South in the fifties, the sixties, and the early seventies. Finally, the Southern social conditions have also had their influence. Table III shows that before 1890 comparatively very few settled in New England and the East in general. It is, however, a note- worthy fact that in 1850 there were over thirteen thousand Scandinavian immigrants in the Northwest (nearly all in Wisconsin and Illinois or about five times as many in these two States as in the whole of the East.) In 1890 it was nearly six times as large.

What were the influences that directed the Scandinavian immigrants so largely to the Northwest in the early period and down to 1890? This question, too, is answered above

25

under causes of emigration. The great majority came for the sake of bettering their material condition. They came here to found a home and to make a living. It is a fact, moreover, that immigrants in their new home generally enter the same pursuits and engage in the same occupations they were engaged in in their native country. Seventy -five per cent of the Swedes at home engage in agriculture, and nearly that proportion of the Danes. Though a far smaller number in jSTorway are actually engaged in farming, three - fourths of the population live in the rural districts.^ Thus seventy-two per cent of the Scandinavians in this country are found in the rural districts and in towns with less than 25,000 population. The fact that the influx of the immi- grants from the North coincided with the opening up of the middle western States resulted in the settlement of those States by Scandinavian immigrants. Land could be had for almost nothing in the West. Land -seekers from New Eiigland, New York, and Pennsylvania were in those days flocking to the West.^ About eighty -eight per cent of the Scandinavian immigrants at that time were land-seekers. As a rule long before he emigrated the Scandinavian had made up his mind to settle in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, or Minnesota.

1 This includes also fishermen and foresters.

* Outside of Chicago, Illinois had in 1840 a population of 142,210; Wiscoasin was organized as a Territory in 1836, its population in 1840 was 30,945; Iowa had a population of only 192,212 in 1850; and Minnesota, organized as a Territory in 1840, had in 1850, 1,056 inhabitants. To the square mile the population of each was in 1850: Illinois, 15.37; Wisconsin, 5.66; Iowa, 3.77; Minnesota, .04.

26

THE GEOGKAPHICAL DISTKIBUTION OF THE THEEE SCANDI- NAVIAN nationalities;^ city and country popula- tion; CAUSES OF THE DISTRIBUTION^

Table III shows that after 1880 a much larger proportion of the immigrants remained in New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania than before; in fact the increase of those States is four hundred per cent in the decade as comj^ared with a little over two hundred per cent in the Northwest. The eastern increase is very largely in the cities — Boston, Worcester, Brockton (Mass.); Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport (Conn.); Providence, li. I.; Man- chester, N. H. ; New York, and Philadelphia. This fact, how- ever, shows that not so large a proportion of the new arrivals came from the agricultural districts as before; but that a larger number were skilled laborers of various kinds, while many came from the cities or with city inclinations and entered mercantile pursuits. This class of immigrants from the North were very largely Swedes, and so we find that in the Eastern cities to-day everywhere Swedes predominate among the Scandinavian population, as they do generally in cities elsewhere. They serve especially as machinists, electricians, iron and steel workers, painters, and carpenters. Skilled laborers had also come in considerable numbers in the seventies from the three Scandinavian countries as Tables II and III indicate, and as the census reports regarding the occupation of immigrants show. But with the rapid industrial growth which characterized the seventies and the eighties came an increased demand for skilled workmen; and so

* See also above p. 23.

* See also above p. 24.

27

there resulted a larger immigration of that class from the North as well as from other countries^ elsewhere, and Sweden furnished the larger share of those that came from the Northern countries. Thus the Scandinavian population of Massachusetts is 38,097, of which eighty-six per cent are Swedes; that of Connecticut is 19,562, of which thirty- three per cent are Swedes; and in New York it is 64,055, the Swedes making up seventy per cent. And the bulk of these reside in the cities. The Swedes make up seventy - five per cent of the Scandinavians in Boston, ninety -seven per cent in Brockton, Massachusetts; eighty per cent in Cambridge; eighty-nine per cent in Providence; ninety-four per cent in Worcester; eighty -two per cent in Hartford; and seventy -seven per cent in Bridgeport. In New York City they number sixty -two per cent. New York is the only State in the East that has received any considerable Norwegian population. Here there are in all 12,601, nearly all of whom live in New York City.

Table V

The increase in the Scandinavian population from 1880 to 1900 in the cities designated will be shown by the following table: —

1880

1900

New York

9,719

45,328

Boston

1,882

7,361

Worcester

946

7,964

Providence

254

3,112

Hartford

118

2,257

1 The Swedish immigration was everywhere heavier in the eighties. The above will, however, explain the Swedish and the general Scandinavian increase in the East at this time.

28

Throughout the country everywhere the Swedes are found in larger numbers in the cities than the Danes or the Norwegians. Thus 207,109 or thirty-six per cent of the total Swedish contingent lives in cities having a popula- tion of 25,000 or more; whereas 43,456 or twenty -eight per cent of the Danes and only 65,447 or nineteen per cent of the Norwegians live in larger cities. This indicates a grow- ing preference for city life and mercantile pursuits on the pai't of the Danes. The Norwegian while found extensively in the smaller towns, does not readily take to the larger cities. The chief Danish city colonies are found in Chicago, New York, Racine (Wis.), Omaha, San Francisco, Minneap- olis, St. Paul, and Council Bluffs. The Norwegians are most numerous in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, St. Paul, Duluth, San Francisco, La Crosse (Wis.), and Supe- rior. The Swedes have located principally in Chicago, New York, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Worcester (Mass.), Hockford (111.), Boston, San Francisco, and Duluth, though they are found in several other cities in considerable numbers.

In rural settlements Scandinavians are extensively repre- sented in all parts of the Northwest. It would be possible to travel hundreds of miles in Wisconsin, Minnesota, north- ern Iowa, and eastern North and South Dakota without leaving soil owned and tilled by Scandinavians. In Minne- sota there are numerous counties where the population is almost wholly Scandinavian.^

W^e have seen above that a majority of the Scandinavians, in fact nearly seventy per cent, have chosen to settle in the

1 The foreign born Scandinavians in Ottertail County, Minnesota, number 0,144; in To\k County, 8,908.

29

great agricultural Northwest. In the first half century of the Northern immigration approximately seventy- eight per cent located in that region. At the same time we have found that since about 1880 a very much larger proportion remained in the East, and that the majority of these came from Sweden. And we recall that Mormon proselyting directed a great many Danes to Utah in the middle of the century. We are then prepared to find a very unequal dis- tribution of the three nationalities in the various sections of the country. The Swedes make up 53.8 per cent of the total Scandinavian population, the Norwegian 31.7 per cent, and the Danes 14.5 per cent. The total immigrant Nor- wegian population is 338,426, of which eighty-one per cent are in the Northwest, while only 93,169 or sixty per cent of the Danes reside here, along with 339,409 or fifty- nine per cent of the Swedes. In the East, Nor- wegians and Danes are few in numbers, while there are 42,708 Swedes in New York State, 32,192 in Massachusetts and 24,130 in Pennsylvania. In the Southern States the Scandinavians are a wholly unimportant factor; some Swedes have settled there but the Norwegians are practically absent from the population. In the extreme West the Swedes and the Danes predominate over the Norwegians — the former in California, Washington, Utah, and Colorado, the latter in Utah, California, and Colorado. The Norwegians almost equal the Swedes, however, in Washington, and they have settled somewhat in Oregon, California, Idaho, and Montana. In Kansas, which is not included in our eight States, the Swedes have formed considerable settlements. The Norwegians are then bulked together on a much nar-

30

rower area, East and West, than either of the other two. About eighty-three per cent of the Norwegians reside be- tween 87° longitude as the Eastern limit and 100° on the West, while only about sixty -two per cent of the Danes are here and sixty-five per cent of the Swedes. It does not follow from this that the Norwegians are more clannish, though I think it would be safe to say that the Danes are the most cos- mopolitan. The reasons for the larger number of Swedes in the cities, especially in the East, lie, we have seen, in the somewhat different nature of the occupations that a large number of them pursue. The reason why the Norwegians are found largely in the Northwest is that a much greater proportion of them engage in agriculture and, as we have seen, their first coming in large numbers coincided with the opening up of the great Northwest. They are there by the right of priority; and they are there because they found that the great Northwest offered them the richest oppor- tunities in the occupations which by preference they follow and which they have rarely been tempted to leave.

But the Scandinavian nationalities are also unevenly dis- tributed North and South, though less so than East and West. This, indeed, we would naturally expect. But before discussing this point I will offer a table showing the distribution of the three nationalities in the seventeen States, given in order, that have the largest Scandinavian popula- tion.

31

Table VI

Foreign born Swedes, Norwegians, and Danes in the seventeen States where they are most extensively represented, according to the

census of 1900.

SWEDES

NOBWEGIANS

DANES

TOTAL

1

Minnesota

115,476

104,895

16,299

236,670

2

Illinois

99,147

29,979

15,685

144,811

3

Wisconsin

26,196

61,575

16,171

103,942

4

Iowa

29,875

25,634

17,102

72,611

5

New York

42,708

12,601

8,746

64,055

6

North Dakota

8,419

30,206

3,953

42,578

1

Michigan

26,956

7,582

6,390

40,930

8

Nebraska

24,693

2,883

12,531

40,107

9

Massachusetts

32,192

3,335

2,470

37,997

10

South Dakota

8,647

19,788

5,038

33,473

11

California

14,549

5,060

9,040

28,649

12

Pennsylvania

24,130

1,393

2,531

28,054

13

Washington

12,737

9,891

3,626

26,254

14

Kansas

15,144

1,477

2,914

19,535

15

Connecticut

16,164

709

2,249

19,122

16

Utah

7,025

2,128

9,132

18,285

17

Colorado

10,765

1,149

2,050

13,964

The table shows that the Scandinavians who are found in Kansas and Colorado are mostly Swedes; that those in California and Utah are chiefly Danes and Swedes. Note particularly that the number of Norwegians in these States is exceedingly small. The table also shows that the Nor- wegians are found in largest numbers in Minnesota and Wisconsin, the Swedes in Minnesota and Illinois, the Danes in Iowa and Illinois (and southern Wisconsin). That is, the Danes are generally found south of the Swedes and the Norwegians. Except in Minnesota and Washington the

32

Swedes are most numerous south of the jSTorwegians. In North Dakota the Norwegians make up seventy -three per cent of the Scandinavian population; in Wisconsin and South Dakota nearly sixty per cent. Outside of the cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth (and the region of Duluth), the Norwegians exceed the Swedes by about 40, - 000 in Minnesota. And finally, in Iowa the Norwegians are nearly all in the northern or the central part of the State, very few being found in the southern and south- western part where the Danes and the Swedes have formed extensive settlements. Furthermore the Scandinavian set- tlements in Nebraska and Illinois are chiefly Swedish and Danish; they are south of the Norwegian line of settlement. It is not uninteresting to find in this connection that it is chiefly the Norwegians who have gone North into Canada and to Alaska.^ The Danes are few in number north of 44° latitude, while the Norwegians have rarely gone South of 42°. In general the Danes have settled chiefly between 38° and 44°; the Swedes between 40° and 48°; the Nor- wegians between 42° and 49°, to the Canadian border line. The three nationalities occupy then in America relatively the same position as in theu' old home. The reason for their location North and South is of course climatic, as the causes for their distribution East and West are largely economic. It is a climatic reason in considerable part has kept them from settling in the South. ^

It would be interesting to discuss such questions as the

1 The Icelanders are located almost exclasively in Manitoba and in North Dakota.

2 See above, p. 23.

33

increase in population of each nationality in city and coun- try in the northern and southern settlements, intermarriage with native or other foreign nationalities, etc., etc., but space will not permit. Briefly, however, it may be stated that the Norwegians increase most rapidly. The increase is greater in the cities than in the country; in the West than in the East. With the table above of foreign born Scan- dinavians may be compared the following figures for the same States of those whose parents are born in the Scan- dinavian countries.

Table VII

Showing tbe Scandinavian foreign parentage population in the seventeen States listed in Table YI.

SWEDES

NORWEGIANS

DANES

TOTAL

1

Minnesota

211, T69

224,892

29,704

466,365

2

Illinois

187,538

45,701

24,427

265,726

3

Wisconsin

45,400

134,293

30,000

209,699

4

Iowa

57,189

58,994

32,489

148,672

5

New York

62,559

17,775

11,714

92,048

6

North Dakota

13,474

63,900

6,700

83,074

7

Nebraska

49,292

5,837

23,898

79,027

8

Michigan

47,316

12,813

11,482

71,611

9

South Dakota

15,725

44,119

9,506

69,350

10

Massachusetts

47,505

4,611

3,358

55,474

11

Pennsylvania

41,760

1,877

3,522

47,159

12

California

21,090

7,232

14,049

42,371

13

Washington

19,359

16,959

5,717

42,035

14

Kansas

30,000

2,818

5,328

38,246

15

Utah

12,047

3,466

18,963

34,476

16

Connecticut

25,000

977

3,457

29,434

IV

Colorado

17,000

1,744

3,295

22,039

34

The Swedes have nowhere increased two hundred per cent, though they have very nearly reached that figure in Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. The Danes have increased two hundred per cent in Utah and almost as much in Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The Norwegians number in the second generation two hundred and fourteen per cent more in Minnesota, and over two hundred in Wis- consin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Nebraska, and nearly the same in several other States.

Much has been written about the Scandinavian as a highly desirable immigrant, and the readiness with which he adapts himself to American conditions has often been commended. He has been a desirable immigrant because he comes from countries where there is less illiteracy than in any other part of the world; and so we find that in the States where the Scandinavian element is the strongest illiteracy is lowest. The Scandinavian has been a desirable immigrant because he always came with the intention of becoming an American citizen, learning the language of the country, obeying its laws, and making the most of his opportunities. And it is not without interest to note in this connection that of the foreign born citizens who cannot speak English, only six -tenths per cent are Danes, three and two-tenths per cent Norwegians, and three and five- tenths per cent Swedes; while for the Canadian-French it is seven per cent, the Poles eleven per cent, the Italians fifteen and three -tenths per cent, and the Germans eighteen and

35

eight -tenths per cent. It is also interesting to note the large proportion of Scandinavians in gainful occupations.

By more than one writer they have been pronounced our most law-abiding citizens. The Scandinavian readily enters into the spirit of American institutions because he comes from countries whose laws and institutions are so very much like our own. He has been reared in countries that are in fact as free as our own, therefore he comes with the very best qualifications for intelligent American citizenship. But good citizenship in America does not imply that he must immediately forget his language and with it all that that means. It does not imply that he must forget the religion of his fathers, and the ethical principles w^hich the practice of that religion has inculcated. It does not mean that he shall forget the ideals of the race. If the Scandinavian has become a good citizen it is because, while he tries to assimilate that which is good in his new life, he brings with him a paternal heritage that is rich and noble, and because he cherishes that heritage. This is the prime condition of a high order of citizenship in America.

THE COMING OF THE NORWEGIANS TO IOWA

NORWEGIANS IN THE UNITED STATES BliFORE 1825. THE SLOOP PARTY AND THE ROCHESTER SETTLEMENT. OTHER SET- TLEMENTS PRIOR TO THE FOUNDING OF THE FIRST NORWEGIAN COLONY IN IOWA IN 1840. THE COURSE OF MIGRATION TO IOWA.

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.^ In that year a small colony of Norwegians was established in New Jersey on the site of the present city of Bergen.^ While it is not known that the names of any of these first colonists have <3ome 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 before the landing of the Mayflower. In the early part of 1619 King Christian IV of Denmark fitted out two ships for the purpose of finding a northwest passage to Asia. The names of the ships were Eenhjorningen and Lampreren, and the commander was a Norwegian, Jens Munk, born at Barby, Norway, in 1579. AVith sixty-six men Jens Munk sailed from Copenhagen, May 9, 1619. During the autumn of that year and the early part of the following year he explored Hudson Bay and took possession of the surrounding country in the name of

1 The Vinland voyages in the llth-14th centuries do not come within the scope of tliis article.

* It seems that this city was so named by the colonists after the city of Bergen, Norway.

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King Christian, calling it Nova Dania. The expedition was, however, a failure, and all but three of the party perished from disease and exposure to cold in the winter of 1620. The three survivors, among whom was the commander, Jens Munk, returned to Norway in September, 1(520.^

In the early days of the New Netherlands colony, Norwe- gians sometimes came across in Dutch ships and settled among the Dutch. The names of at least two such have been preserved in the Dutch colonial records. They are Hans Hansen and Claes (Claus?) Carstensen. The former emigrated in a Dutch ship in 1633 and joined the Dutch colony in New Amsterdam. His name apj^ears in the colo- nial records variously as Hans Noorman, Hans Hansen de Noorman, Hans Bergen, Hans Hansen von Bergen, and Hans Hansen von Bergen in Norwegen. Hans Bergen be- came the ancestor of a large American family by that name."

About the year 1700 there were a number of families of Norwegian or Danish descent^ living in New York. In 1704 a stone church was erected by them on the corner of Broadway and Rector streets. The property was later sold to Trinity Church, the present churchyard occupying the site of the original church.'* Mr. R. B. Anderson says that these people were probably Norwegians and not Danes, for those of their descendants with whom he has spoken have all claimed Norwegian descent. The pastor who min- istered to the spiritual wants of this first Scandinavian Luth-

^ Anderson's First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration, p. 21. s See The Bergen Family, by Teunis Bergen.

* More probably both Norwegian and Danish.

* Anderson, citing Rev. R. Anderson, who has given this subject much study. See First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration, p. 22.

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eran congregation in America was a Dane by the name of Rasmus Jensen Aarhus. He died on February 20, 1720.

In 1740 Norwegian Moravians took part in the founding of a Moravian colony at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and in 1747 of one at Bethabara, North Carolina.^ At Bethlehem these Norwegian (and Swedish and Danish) Moravians came in contact with their kinsmen, the Swedish Lutherans of Delaware and adjoining parts of New Jersey and Pennsylva- nia. The Swedes on the Delaware had lost their independ- ence in 1656. New Sweden as a political state existed but sixteen years. Ecclesiastically, however, the Lutherans of New Sweden remained subject to the state church at home for one hundred and fifty years more, and linguistically the colony was Swedish nearly as long. In the church records of this colony there appear not a few Norwegian names, par- ticularly in the later period. There can be little doubt that Norwegians in some considerable numbers came to Amer- ica and joined the Delaware Swedes in the eighteenth cen- tury. Gothenburg, which lies not far distant from the prov- ince of Smaalenene, was at the time and has continued to be the regular Swedish sailing port for American-bound ships. Among the founders of the Bethabara colony appears the name of Dr. John M. Calberlane,^ from Trondhjem, Nor- way, who came to New York in 1753.

The names of several Norwegians are recorded who served in the War of the Revolution. Under John Paul Jones there served Thomas Johnson, from Mandal, Norway.^ An-

1 See above, p. 12.

* See JJecorah-Posten for September 9, 1904, p. 5. The name was originally Hans Martin Kalberlahn.

» See account of Thomas Johnson in the New England Historical Register, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 18-21.

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other Norwegian by the name of Lewis BroAvn (Lars Brun?) also served under John Paul Jones. At a little later date some other names also appear, but the ones given are the earliest of which we have any record. We shall now pass on to the "Sloopers" of 1825, whose sailing inaugurated the emigration movement from Norway in the nineteenth century. We have already mentioned the Stavanger emigrants of 1825 and noted some of the circumstances that seem to have led to the departure of the sloop party in that year.^ The director of the expedition and the chief owner of the boat was Lars Larsen i Jeilane; and the captain was Lars Olsen. The company consisted of fifty-two persons, all but one be- ing natives of Stavanger and vicinity, the one exception being the mate, Erikson, who came from Bergen. On the -Ith of July, 1825, the party of emigrants set sail from Stavanger in the sloop "Restaurationen," a boat of only forty-five tons capacity. After a perilous voyage of fourteen weeks they landed in New York, October 9th. ^ In New York the emi-

' See above, pp. 12, 13.

^An account of the voyage, which was, it seems, a rather adventuroiLS one, was given by the Tvew York papers at the time, and may be found in Billed- Magazin from which it has been reprinted in other works.

The arrival of this first party of Norwegian immigrants, and in so small a boat, created nothing less than a sensation at the time, as we may infer from the wide attention the event received in the eastern press. One of these notices I take the liberty of copying from Anderson's First Chapter, pp. 70-71. It is one which appeared in the New York Daily Advertiser for October 12, 182-"), under the head lines of A Novel Sight: —

" A vessel has arrived at this port with emigrants from Norway. The vessel is very small, measuring as we understand only about 3(i0 Norwegian lasts or forty- five American tons, and brought forty-six [should be fifty-two] passengers, male and female, all bound to Ontario County [should be Orleans County on the Onta- rio], where an agent who came over some time ago purchased a tract of land. The appearance of such a party of strangers, coming from so distant a country and in a vessel of a size apparently ill calculated for a voyage across the Atlan- tic, could not but excite an unusual degree of interest. They have had a voyage

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eran congregation in America was a Dane by the name of Easmus Jensen Aarhus. He died on February 20, 1720.

In 1740 Norwegian Moravians took part in the founding of a Moravian colony at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and in 1747 of one at Bethabara, North Carolina.^ At Bethlehem these Norwegian (and Swedish and Danish) Moravians came in contact with their kinsmen, the Swedish Lutherans of Delaware and adjoining parts of New Jersey and Pennsylva- nia. The Swedes on the Delaware had lost their independ- ence in 1656. New Sweden as a political state existed but sixteen years. Ecclesiastically, however, the Lutherans of New Sweden remained subject to the state church at home for one hundred and fifty years more, and linguistically the colony was Swedish nearly as long. In the church records of this colony there appear not a few Norwegian names, par- ticularly in the later period. There can be little doubt that Norwegians in some considerable numbers came to Amer- ica and joined the Delaware Swedes in the eighteenth cen- tury. Gothenburg, which lies not far distant from the prov- ince of Smaalenene, was at the time and has continued to be the regular Swedish sailing port for American-bound ships. Among the founders of the Bethabara colony appears the name of Dr. John M. Calberlane," from Trondhjem, Nor- way, who came to New York in 1753.

The names of several Norwegians are recorded who served in the War of the Pevolution. Under John Paul Jones there served Thomas Johnson, from Mandal, Norway.^ An-

1 See above, p. 12.

* See JJecorah-Posfen for September 9, 1904, p. 5. The name was originally Hans Martin Kalberlahn.

• See account of Thomas Johnson in the Neio Encjland Historical Register, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 18-21.

i

t: p4 > jU| u^- '■■-■' "^^^ .'■ ^ ^

': M: '^i'. '^' '^ , ^^

■ '^ i^^ iiv> i:*- ^■■' X^l}^%

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other Norwegian by the name of Lewis BroAvn ( Lars Briui ? ) also served under John Paul Jones. At a little later date some other names also appear, but the ones given are the earliest of which Ave have any record. AVe shall now pass on to the "Sloopers" of 1825, whose sailing inaugurated the emigration movement from Norway in the nineteenth century. We have already mentioned the Stavanger emigrants of 1825 and noted some of the circumstances that seem to have led to the departure of the sloop party in that year.-^ The director of the expedition and the chief owner of the boat was Lars Larsen i Jeilane; and the captain was Lars Olsen. The company consisted of fifty-two persons, all but one be- ing natives of Stavanger and vicinity, the one exception being the mate, Erikson, who came from Bergen. On the 4th of July, 1825, the party of emigrants set sail from Stavanger in the sloop ''Hestaurationen," a boat of only forty -five tons capacity. After a perilous voyage of fourteen weeks they landed in New York, October 9th. ^ In New York the emi-

1 See above, pp. 12, 13.

2An account of the voj'age, which was, it seems, a rather adventurous one, was given by the New York papers at the time, and may be found in Billed- Magaz'm from which it has been reprinted in other works.

The arrival of this first party of Norwegian immigrants, and in so small a boat, created nothing less than a sensation at the time, as we may infer from tlie wide attention the event received in the eastern press. One of these notices I take the liberty of copying from Anderson's First Chapter, pp. 70-71. It is one which appeared in the New York Dally Advertiser for October 12, 1825, under the head lines of A Novel Sight: —

" A vessel has arrived at this port with emigrants from Norway. The vessel is very small, measuring as we understand only about 360 Norwegian lasts or forty- five American tons, and brought forty-six [should be fifty-two] passengers, male and female, all bound to Ontario County [should be Orleans County on the Onta- rio], where an agent who came over some time ago purchased a tract of land. The appearance of such a party of strangers, coming from so distant a country and in a vessel of a size apparently ill calculated for a voyage across the Atlan- tic, could not but excite an uniLsual degree of interest. They have had a voyage

4 >} il •[ ■•

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grants met Mr. Joseph Fellows, a Quaker from whom they purchased land in Orleans County, New York. It seems to have been upon the suggestion of Mr. Fellows that they were induced to settle here, although it is possible that the land had already been selected for them by Kleng Peerson, a Quaker who had left Stavanger in 1821 and who was in New York at the time. The price to be paid for the land was $5 an acre, each head of a family and adult person pur- chasing forty acres. ^ The immigrants not being able to pay for the land, Mr. Fellows agreed to let them redeem it in ten annual installments.^ For the further history of the col- ony, with which we are here not so much concerned, the reader is referred to Anderson's First Chapter of Nonce- giari Immigration.^ The colony was in many respects un- fortunate, it did not j^rosj^er and has never played any im- portant part as a colony in Norwegian-American history. But a few years later a daughter colony was established in La Salle County, Illinois, which became the first extensive

of fourteen weeks and are all in good health and spirits. An enterprise like this argues a good deal of boldness in the master of the vessel as well as an adventur- ous spirit in the passengers, most of whom belong to families in the vicinity of a little town at the southwestern extremity of Norway, near Cape Stavanger. Those who came from the farms are dressed in coarse cloths of domestic manu- facture, of a fashion different from the American, but those who inhabited the town wear calicos, ginghams and gay shawls, imported we presume from England. The vessel is built on the model common to fishing boats on that coast, with a single mast and top-sail, sloop-rigged. She passed through the English channel and as far south as Madeira, where she stopped three or four days and then steered directly for New York, where she arrived with the addition of one pas- senger born on the way. It is the captain's intention to remain in this country, to sell his vessel and prepare himself to navigate our waters by entering the American Merchant Marine Service and to learn the language."

' Scandinavia, Vol. I, p. 64.

* Anderson's First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration, p. 77.

» Or to Knud Langeland's Nordynoendene i Amerika (published by John Ander- son & Co., Chicago, 1889), pp. 10-19.

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Norwegian settlement in the Northwest and a central point from which numerous other Norwegian settlements in Illi- nois, Wisconsin, and Iowa were formed.

Very few Norwegians immigrated during the following ten years. Those who came generally located in Orleans Coun- ty, but rarely remained there permanently. The north- western States were then just beginning to be opened up to settlers. At this time the trend of migration from the east- ern States was directed particularly to Illinois. Good gov- ernment land could be had here for $1.25 an acre. The very heavily wooded land that the Norwegian immigrants in Orleans County had purchased proved very difficult of improvement; and many began to think of moving to a more favorable locality. In 1833 Kleng Peerson, who seems to have lived in Kendall at this time, made a journey to the West, evidently for the purpose of finding a suitable loca- tion. He selected La Salle County, Illinois, returning in the same year to Kendall, New York. The next year sev- eral of the sloopers removed to La Salle County and settled in Mission, Rutland, and Miller townships. The names of these first Norwegian settlers in the Northwest are: Jakob Anderson Slogvig, Knud Anderson Slogvig, Gudmund Haugaas, Endre Dahl, and Thorsten Olsen Bjaaland.

In 1835 Daniel Rossadal and family, Nels Nelson Hers- dal and family, and Kari Hauge, widow of Cornelius Nel- son with a family of seven children, moved to La Salle County. The slooper, Thomas Madland, had died in 1826, and in 1835 his widow and family of seven moved to Illi- nois. George Johnson also removed in 1835. Nels Thomp- son with wife and four children seems to have settled in La

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Salle County in 1834. In 1831 Grjert Hovland had come from Hardanger, Norway, and settled in Orleans County, New York. In 1835 he sold his land and removed to La Salle County, Illinois. Many of these purchased land in La Salle County in June, 1835, entry of which appears in the county records for that year. Others came from Kendall to La Salle County and settled in 1836.^ Before 1836 there seems to have been a colony of about thirty Norwegians set- tled principally in Mission and Eutland townships, La Salle County, Illinois, all of whom had come from Kendall, Or- leans County, New York, in 1834-35. Thus was formed the nucleus of what grew to be the most prosperous rural community in Illinois, and which at present extends into the neighboring counties of Lee, De Kalb, Kendall, and Grundy. In 1836 the colony received important accessions from southwestern Norway. The chief promoter of the immigra- tion of that year was Knud Slogvig, who had come in the sloop in 1825, and who, we have seen, settled in La Salle County in 1834. In 1835 he returned to Skjold, Norway, and there married a sister of Ole O. Hetletvedt, a slooper whom we find as one of the early pioneers of La Salle County. While there people came to talk with him about America from all parts of southwestern Norway; and a large number in and about Stavanger decided to emigrate. Slogvig's return may be said to have started the ''America- fever" in Norway, though it took some years before it reached the central and the eastern parts of the country. Slogvig intended to return to America in 1836, and a large

lAmong them was Gudmund Sandsberg, who had emigrated from Norway in 1829.— See above, p. 8.

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party was preparing to emigrate with him. In the spring of that year the two brigs, JVorden ^ and Den JSforshe Klip'pe^ were fitted out from Stavanger. The former sailed on the first Wednesday after Pentecost, arriving in New York, July 12, 1836. The latter sailed a few weeks later. They car- ried altogether two hundred emigrants, most of whom went direct to La Salle County, Illinois. These were followed in the next year by one ship, Enigheden,^ commanded by Cap- tain Jensen, from Egersund and Stavanger, carrying ninety- three passengers. The larger number of these also went to La Salle County.

By this time we find the desire to emigrate taking definite form in the districts directly east and north of Stavanger as far as Bergen. About the same time that the Enigheden left Stavanger in the spring of 1837, the ship ^gir,^ com- manded by Captain Behrens, sailed from Bergen, carrying eighty-four passengers to New York. The beginning of the emigration from western Norway, or more particularly from South Bergenhus Province, seems to be due chiefly to N. P. Langeland, a school-teacher from Samnanger (a little east of Bergen) and one of the passengers in the JEgir. He settled in Lapeer County, Michigan, and seems to have been the first Norwegian to locate in that State. He seems to have been one of the many v>^ho traveled long distances to talk with Knud Slogvig during his visit at home in Skjold in 1835. The passengers on the Enigheden went for the most

1 The North.

2 The Norwegian Rock. The majority of the passengers on these two ships were from Hardanger. » Unity. < The name of the old Norse sea-god.

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part to the Fox River settlement, as the settlement in La Salle County came to be known. Nearly all early emigrants from Stavanger and vicinity went to La Salle County. Those in the JEgir seem also to have intended to settle in the same locality, but in Chicago were advised by two Americans not to go there. They were also partly influ- enced by Norwegian immigrants who were dissatisfied in La Salle County, and who recommended Iroquois County as a desirable location for a new settlement. To this place about fifty of the passengers on the JEgir went, settling about sev- enty-five miles south of Chicago at a place called Beaver Creek. This is, then, the third Norwegian settlement. Besides the one hundred and seventy-seven immigrants who came to America from Stavanger and Bergen in 1837, there was a considerable number who embarked from Gothen- burg, Sweden. These came mostly from Numedal and Tel- emarken in the south central part of Norway.

Among the emigrants of 1837 we must mention particu- larly four: the brothers Ole and Ansten Nattestad from Numedal, Ole Kynning and Hans Barlien from the pro- vince of Trondhjem. Ole Rynning wrote a book which perhaps had more influence than any other one thing in promoting emigration from the province of south central Norway.^ Ansten Nattestad may be regarded as the father of the emigration movement from Numedal, Norway, from which some of the most successful Norwegian settlements in Illinois, AVisconsin, and Iowa were later recruited. His brother, Ole Nattestad, became the founder of one of these settlements, that of Jefferson Prairie, in Rock County, Wis-

1 See above, p. 16, and note 4.

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consin (also extending into Illinois); while Hans Barlien be- came the founder of the lirst Norwegian settlement in Iowa at Sugar Creek, Lee County.^

The first city colony in the West was that in Chicago, which dates back to 183C). The earliest Norwegian settlers seem to be Nils Kothe and his wife Thorbjor, from Voss. They are also the first emigrants from that district in Nor- way. In the fall of 183(3 Halstein Torrison from Fjeld- berg,^ County of Stavanger, and Johan Larsen settled there. In 1889 some emigrants from Numedal and Voss, Norway, located in Chicago. In 1844 Rev. J. AY. C. Dietrichsen writes in his Travels' (page 89) that on a missionaiy visit to Chi- cago in that year he found a considerable number of Norwe- gians, who for the most part were located only temporarily, intending later to go to the settlements in Illinois or AVis- consin. There were, he says, about one hundred Norwe- gians permanently settled in Chicago. This was in 1844. In 1860 there were in Chicago 1,313 Norwegians; in 1880, 9,783; and in 1900, 22,011.

In 1837 Kleng Peerson, Jakob and Knud Slogvig, An- ders Askeland, Andrew Simonsen, and about ten others left the Fox River settlement, went to Missouri, and founded a small settlement in Shelby County, which, however, proved unsucessful, principally on account of the lack of a market.* The settlement was practically broken up in 1840,

* See below, p. 57.

* His first house, says Langeland, was on Wells street, on the ground now occu- pied by the Chicago & Northwestern depot.

^Eeise blandt de norske Emigranter i de forenede nordamerikanske Stater, af J. W. C. Dietrichsen, Stavanger, 1846.

* B. L. Wick, in Bepublikaneren (Story City, Iowa) for February 9, 1900.

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when most of the settlers removed north to Lee County in Iowa. The fifth settlement was established in 1839 in Wau- kesha County, AVisconsin, this being the first Norwegian settlement in Wisconsin.

By the year 1839 emigration from Norway begins to assume larger proportions, and certain districts which hith- erto had sent very few now begin to contribute the larger share of the number of emigrants to America. This year may very properly be said to have inaugurated the second pe- riod in Norwegian immigration history. Down to 1839 the emigration movement in Norway had not really gone beyond the provinces of Stavanger and South Bergenhus in south- western and western Norway. Indeed, nearly all of the emigrants had come from these sections. In fact, before 1836 the movement was almost confined to Stavanger and vicin- ity. In that year it reaches Hardanger, and in 1837, Bergen. It does not reach Yoss properly before 1838, although Nils Eothe and wife had emigrated from there in 1836. In 1837, as we have seen, the first ship of emigrants, the ^gir, left Bergen with eighty-four passengers. Before 1839 we meet with occasional individual emigration from jirovinces to the east and northeast. Thus Ole Bynning from Snaasen in Trondhjem diocese emigrated in the ^gir in 1837. The first emigrants from Telemarken also came in 1837. They were Erik Gauteson Midboen, Thore Kittilsen Svimbil, and John Nelson Kue.^ These three all had families and came from Tin parish in Upper Telemarken, evidently by way of Skien and Gothenburg. They settled in La Salle County,

1 Thore Svimbil later moved to Blue Mounds, Daue County, Wiscoiisin, while John Rue moved to Winneshiek County, Iowa.

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Illinois.^ Au unmarried man, Torsteii I. Gulliksrud, also came at the same time.

The fathers of the movement in the next county, Nume- dal, were the two brothers, 01 e and Ansten Nattestad, who also came in 1837.^ These together with Halsten Halverson, failing to secure passage in Stavanger after walking across the mountains on skis fi'om Rollaug in Numedal to Tin in Telemarken and then over the hills and through the forests to Stavanger (as one of the party writes), secured passage at Tananger and came via Gothenburg and Fall lliver, Mas- sachusetts. Among the emigrants from other j^arts of Nor- way prior to 1837 must be mentioned also Johan Nordboe, from Ringebo in Gudbrandsdalen, who came in 1832 and resided for some time in Kendall, New York, later going to Texas; and Hans Barlien^ from Trondhjem County, who came to La Salle County in 1837. Neither of these two men, however, were instrumental in bringing about any emigration movement in Gudbrandsdalen and Trondhjem. It is not until a much later period that these two districts are represented in considerable numbers among emigrants. Nor was the departure of the three families from Telemarken in 1837 followed by others until 1839, and then it seems not directly influenced by these, although their letters may have had something to do with the exodus from Tele- marken which began in 1839. Nor did the movement start in Numedal before 1839; but here at any rate it was directly promoted by one of the emigrants of 1837.'*

1 Scandinavia, p. 04.

2 See above, p. 44. » See above, p. 44.

■•See above, p. 44. On thi.g subject .see Knud Langeland's Nordmcendene i Amerika, pp. 33-30.

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Similarly, the year 1839 marks a change also in the move- ment of the course of settlement. Down to this time all emigration from Norway stands in direct relation to the movement which began in Stavanger in 1825, and which in the years 1834-36 resulted in the formation of the Fox River settlement in La Salle County, Illinois. This settle- ment then became the center of dispersion for what may be called the southern line of settlements. All through the forties and the fifties the southern course of migration westward, which includes southern and central Iowa, stands in direct relation to early Norwegian colonization in New York and Illinois — that is, the first period of Norwegian emigration from the provinces of Stavanger and South Bergenhus (and in this province only as far north as Bergen, Yoss being excluded) in southwestern and western Norway. In 1839 the first settlement is formed in AYisconsin on the shores of Lake Muskego in Waukesha County ; and in Rock, Jefferson, and Dane counties in 1839-40. These settle- ments then became the northern point of dispersion. From here we have a second northern line of settlement westward and northwestward into northern Iowa and Minnesota.

The leaders of the emigration from Telemarken were the Luraas family, which was represented by four heads of fam- ilies— in all about twenty persons out of a party of forty, composed almost exclusively of grown men and women. These all came from Tin and Hjertdal parishes in Upper Telemarken. They embarked at Skien, May 17, 1839, sailing by the way of Gothenberg, Sweden, and Boston. The voyage across the Atlantic took nine weeks; and the journey to Milwaukee lasted another three weeks. The

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latter led by way of New York and then by canal boats pulled by horses to Buffalo; thence by way of the Great Lakes to Milwaukee. This was a common westward route for the early settlers. It was the intention of the emigrants to settle in La Salle County, Illinois; but in Milwaukee they were induced to remain in Wisconsin, and a site for a settlement was selected near Lake Muskego in the southern part of Milwaukee County, about twenty miles southwest from Milwaukee. ^

In the selection of this first locality the colonists were not fortunate; for the land was low and the conditions very unhealthful. But in the following year the settlement was extended south into Racine County where, especially in the townships of Norway, Waterford, Raymond, and Yorkville, there grew up one of the most prosperous of early Norwe- gian settlements in Wisconsin. Thus Dietrichsen writes in 1844^ that the population was six hundred. The founders of this South Muskego, or Racine County settlement were John N. Luraas, Torger O. Luraas, Halvor O. Luraas, Knudt Luraas, Soren Bache, Johannes Johanneson,^ Mons Aadland, Nelson Johnson Kaasa and his brother Grjermund Kaasa.'* The last two were from Hitterdal in Upper Tele- marken, while Bache and Johanneson came from Drammen and Aadland from Bergen. All these came in 1839, although Aadland lived a year in the Fox River settlement before he came to Muskego. Among the prominent pio-

' At that time a town of only a few hundred inhabitants. * In Eeise blandt de norske Emigranter.

» There seems to be some uncertainty as to whether Bache and Johanneson set- tled in Kacine County late in the fall of 1839 or in the following spring.

'' The two Kaasa brothers settled in Winneshiek County, Iowa, in July, 1850.

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neers of this settlement should be mentioned John J. Dahle from Bergen, Norway, and also the Haugian lay preacher, Elling Eielson Sunve,^ from Yoss, Norway.

About the time of the founding of the Muskego settle- ment, that is, in the fall of 1839 (but evidently a little later) was formed the so-called Jefferson Prairie settlement some- what farther west. The location of this latter settlement was Clinton township in southeastern Rock County and the town of Manchester in Boone County, Illinois. As early as 1838 Ole K. Nattestad^ had located in Clinton town- ship. He is, therefore, probably the first Norwegian to settle in Wisconsin. For a year Nattestad was the only Norwegian in the settlement. His brother Ansten Nat- testad^ had returned to Norway upon a visit in 1838. His return to Norway gave the first impulse to the emigration movement in his native province of Numedal.^ In the fol- lowing year he brought back to America with him, by way of Drammen and New York to Chicago, one hundred emigrants;^ and most of these went to Jefferson Prairie. The founders of this settlement were, besides the two Nat- testad brothers: Hans Gjermundson Haugen, Thore Kirke- jord, Jens Gudrandson Myhra, Gudbrand Myhra, ^ Thorsten

I Eielson emigrated in 1839 and settled first in La Salle County, Illinois (Nel- son's, History of Scandinavians, p. 177), with which settlement he is most closely associated.

* Ole Nattestad emigrated from Vtegli in Numedal, Norway, in 1837, and lived a year in Beaver Creek, Illinois, see above, p. 44. See also Nelson's History of Scandinavians, Vol. II, p. 107; and Scandinavia, p. 65.

* He had come in 1837. — See Scandinavia, Vol, I, p. Go.

* See above, p. 47. Nattestad writes that many came twenty Norwegian miles to talk with him about America.

8 Each emigrant paid a passage of •'$33.50.

•Jens and Gudbrand Myhra removed to Iowa, settling in Mitchell County.

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Kirkejord, Erik G. Skavlem, and Kittel Kristopher Njhus, all of whom were from Numedal.

At the close of the year 1839 a colony was established in Rock Run, forty miles southwest in Stephenson County, Illinois. This was closely related with the Jefferson Prairie settlement on the north. The founder of the settlement was Klemet Stabaek. From the same time also dates the Luther Valley or Rock Prairie settlement in Plymouth, Newark, Avon, and Spring Valley townships in southwest- ern Rock County, Wisconsin. The first settlers here were chiefly men who came in Nattestad's party. ^ Particularly prominent in the earliest history of the colony is the name Gullik O. GravdahL' He was one of the first to locate on Rock Prairie, and he built the first log-house in the settle- ment. The party that followed Gravdahl to this colony seem to have been mostly of the Haugian belief; the major- ity came from Numedal, Land, and Hallingdal, but a few were from Sogn and Valders. Among them were Lars Roste (from Land), Gisle Halland, Goe Bjono, and Hellek Glaim.

The last in this group of early Wisconsin settlements, and dating back to 1839-10, is the well known one on Koshko- nong Prairie in Dane County. This lies about forty miles north of the Rock Prairie settlement and eighty miles west from Milwaukee. Actual settling did not take place before 1840, but a party of Norwegians, namely. Nils S. Gilder- hus. Nils Larsen Bolstad, and Od. J. Himle,^ visited Chris-

* It may be regarded as a western extension of the Jefferson Prairie settlement.

* He emigrated from Vasgli, Numedal. He was born 1802 and died in 1873, a very wealthy farmer in Rock County.

' He returned to Jefferson Prairie in 1839.

52

tiana and Deei-field townships late in 1839. These two men, along with many of the earliest settlers on Koshko- nong, were from Voss, Norway.

To emigrants from Voss belongs the credit of having located this garden spot in Wisconsin where later grew up the most prosperous and influential of Norwegian (per- haps of Scandinavian) rural communities in America. The first settlement was formed in 1840. In that year the two named Vossings, Nils Gilderhus and Nils Bolstad, located in what is now Deei-field township;^ and Anders Finno and Magne B. Bystol settled in Christiana township. Another settler of that year is Gunnul O. Yindeig,- who named the town Christiania^ after Christiania, Norway. The town of Albion was also settled that same year by Norwegians, the first of whom were: Amund A. Hornefjeld, Bjorn Ander- son Kvelve,* Thorstein O. Bjaaland and Lars O. Dugstad. Bjaaland we have already met with among the sloopers of 1825. He is the only one of the sloop party who later set- tled in Wisconsin. He and Hornefjeld and Kvelve were, as far as can be ascertained, the only immigrants from Stav- anger County among the early settlers on Koshkonong. The Stavanger immigrants belong very largely to the south- ern line of settlements. It was principally Voss and Nume- dal, Sogn and Telemarken that contributed to the Koshko-

* See Bydgejcevning, Madison, 1902, p. 42. Article by Nels A. Lee on the Voss- ings in America.

* Gunnul Vindeig came from Numedal as did many others of the founders of the Dane County settlements. The year he settled in Dane County was not 1838, as given in Scandinavia, p. 66.

» Later shortened to Christiana.

* Bjorn Kvelve was from Stavanger. He is the father of Rasmus B. Anderson, author, and minister (under Cleveland) to Denmark. At present he is editor of Amerika, Madison, Wisconsin.

53

Tiong settlements. In general these may be said to extend from the Rock County line through the eastern half of Dane County as far as the village of Deei*iield, and east into the adjacent towns of Jefferson County. Among Koshkonong's early pioneers I may name also John H. Bjorgo, Jens Ped- ersen Vehus,^ and Hans Funkelien.^ Finally, among the emigrants from Yoss, whose representatives hold a very prominent place in the early history of the settlement, espe- cially in the town of Deerfield, I wish to name Kolbein Saue, Stork Saue, Lars Davidson Rekve, Anfin Leidal, Lars Ygre, Gulleik Saue,^ and Anders N. Lee.^

A Vossing colony was at the same time established in Chicago; and Chicago and the town of Deerfield in Dane County became Vossing centers in the early days. No sec- tion of Norway has contributed sturdier stock to the Amer- ican population than Yoss, and they hold a very important place in Norwegian-American History. Of prominent de- scendants of these early immigrants I shall here name only Senator Knute Nelson of Minnesota, Professor Lars S. Reque, Decorah, Iowa, Ex-Consul to Holland, Hon. Torger G. Thompson, Cambridge, Wisconsin, Yictor F. Lawson (Larson), publisher of the Chicago JS^ews^ and John Ander- son, publisher of Sccoulinaven* Chicago. The Sognings and the Telemarkings of the AYisconsin settlements, have also contributed many names to the honor roll of prominent Norwegians in America. Congressman Martin N. Johnson,

1 These two came from Numedal in 18J2.

2 A son, Hon. Torger Thompson, is still living on the old homestead.

* Loe and Saue lived for some time in Chicago as did many of the Vossings.

* Norwegian weekly, bi-weekly, and daily. Scandinaven is politically probably the most influential Norwegian paper in the country.

54

of jN'orth Dakota, is a Telemarking/ as are B. Anundson,^ publisher of Decorali-Posten^ Decorah, Iowa, and P. O. Stromme, author and well-known journalist; while Hon. Atley Peterson and Governor James L. Davidson, of Wis- consin, came from Sogn.^ Among early settlements those of Koshkonong deserve special notice partly because of the very important place they hold in Norwegian -American his- tory,^ but especially, and that which is more immediate to our purpose, because they (together with the Rock County settlement) stand in such close relation to the earliest Nor- wegian colonies in Northeastern Iowa, the section which has ever been educationally and culturally the center of Norwe- gian influence in the State. ^

The Norwegian settlements that were formed before IS-iO and that antedate Scandinavian colonization in Iowa are then in order: (1) 1825, Orleans County, New York; (2) 1834- 35, La Salle County, Illinois; (3) 1837, Iro(|uois County, Illinois; (4) 1837, Chicago, Illinois; (5) 1839, Milwaukee and Eacine counties, Wisconsin; (6) 1839, Eastern Rock County, Wisconsin, and Boone County, Illinois; (7) 1839, Stephenson County, Illinois; (8) 1839, Western Rock County, Wisconsin; and (9) 1839-40, Dane County, Wis- consin. From the last eight as centers of disj^ersion, took

1 Congressman Johnson is a son of Nelson Johnson Kaasa, who settled in Racine County, Wisconsin, in 1839. He became in 1350 one of the founders of the first Norwegian settlement in AVinneshiek County, Iowa — the Washington Prairie set- tlement.— See above, p. 49, note 4. M. N. Johnson's mother was from Voss.

* I\Ir. Anundson moved from La Crosse, Wisconsin to Decorah, Iowa in 1868.

s On early immigration from Sogn, see article by John Ollis in Bygdejcevning.

* A short account of the Norwegians in Wisconsin appeared in the Minneapolis Tidende for April 7, 1005, p. 8.

^ I shall elsewhere at a later time discuss more fully the contribution of the various provinces of Norway to Norwegian-American cultural history.

55

place all subsequent early colonization in northern Mis- souri, Iowa, Minnesota, and northern Wisconsin, as Iowa and Minnesota at a later date furnished the large share of colonists to Nebraska, northwestern Minnesota, and the Dakotas.

A glance at Map II will indicate the course of migration into the territory west of the iirst settlements. It will show that the northern tier of counties in Iowa forms a continuous westward line of settlement with principally the sixth, eighth, and ninth settlements (see above) in southern Wis- consin as their point of departure. The southern and the central colonies in Iowa trace back to the old Fox River settlement as the starting point. Those in the second tier of counties, beginning with Clayton, are in part from both, but more especially from the State line settlements between Illinois and AVisconsin (six, seven, and eight above). In the western part of the State these three lines of settlement meet in Webster, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Buena Vista, and Cherokee counties.

THE EARLIEST ISTORWEGIAIN' SETTLEMENT IN IOWA ITS FOUND- ERS, ITS CHARACTER, ITS GROWTH, AND ITS RELATION TO LATER WESTWARD COLONIZATION

AVe have above ^ referred to the fact that in 1837 a party of colonists from La Salle County, Illinois, traveled south- west as far as Shelby County, in northwestern Missouri, and founded there a small settlement. The same restless Kleng Peerson, who left Norway four years before the de- parture of the "Restaurationen" in 1825, who probably

1 Pasre 45.

56

made a journey to the then wild West as much as a dozen years before the planting of the first Norwegian colony in the West, and who selected the site of the Fox River settle- ment in 1833, was also the leader of this movement.^ In company with him were the two brothers, Jakob and Knud Slogvig, Anders Askeland, Andrew Simonsen, and about ten others. The locality had evidently been chosen by Peerson on an excursion into Missouri the preceding year. At that time, it seems, he passed through southeastern lowa,^ and was, therefore, probably the first Norwegian to visit Iowa. The Missouri colony received some accessions from Norway in 1839. These came with Kleng Peerson, who in 1838 made a journey to Norway for the special purpose of recruiting the colony. The locality was unfavorable, chiefly on account of the distance to a market; the country was also low and the settlers were much afilicted with sickness at first. As early as the spring of 1810 the colony began to break up.^

Iowa had been organized as a Territory in 1838. The settlers in Shelby County, Missouri, were dissatisfied, and having heard of the natural resources of the Territory of

* A sketch of his life was first printed in Billed-Magazin, 1875. See also Scandi- navia (Chicago), January, 1884, p. 64. A fuller account containing an interest- ing letter from Mrs. Bishop Sarah A. Petersen, of Ephraim, Utah, is printed in First Chapter of Norioegian Immigration^ pp. 179-193. Mrs. Petersen was the daughter of the slooper, Cornelius Nelson, and a niece of Kleng Peerson. Peer- son's last name was Hesthammer, which he dropped in this country. He was born in Tysvaer, Skjold Parish, near Stavanger, Norway. He lived for a time in the Swedish communistic colony at Bishop's Hill, Henry County, Illinois, and removed, probably 1849, to Texas. He died at Norse, Bosque County, in that State, December 16, 1865.

« B. L. Wick, in Bepubiikaneren for February 9, 1900.

» Jakob Slogvig and Askeland had returned to La Salle County, Illinois, in 1838.

57

Iowa immediately to the north and that good land with a near market could be had in the southeastern part of the Territory, they decided to move to Iowa. Going north- east into Lee County, Iowa, they located at a place six miles northwest of Keokuk, known as Sugar Creek. An- drew Simonsen and most of the settlers in Shelby County came at that time ; but Peerson remained in Missouri. Here, however, they found a colony of Norwegians who had, it seems, but recently established themselves. With the ex- ception of one to be mentioned below, it is not known who these earlier settlers were, and I have not been able to ascer- tain where they came from.

Kleng Peerson has been accredited with being the foun- der also of the Sugar Creek settlement, but there is no proof that he previously selected the site or even that he was with the party who located there in 1840. Indeed the evidence goes rather to show that he never actually settled at Sugar Creek. His home in the following years was prob- ably chiefly in Shelby County, Missouri; in 1847 he sold his land there and joined the Swedish colony in Henry County, Illinois, vv'hich had been founded in 1846.^ Nor does it seem to me that Hans Barlien was a member of the Missouri colony, as Professor Anderson suggests. No men- tion of Barlien can be found in connection with the Shelby County colony or any other settlement. It seems more probable that he went to the Fox River settlement when he came from Norway in 1837; but with a few others left in 1840, coming to Lee County somewhat before the party

1 See above, p. 11, note 1, and p. 5G, note 1.

58

that came with iVndrew Simonsen from Shelby County. They may originally have received their knowledge of this locality from Peerson. Barlien himself may have been in La Salle County when Peerson in 1837 returned from his journey through that very part of lov/a and into Missouri. It was, then, Barlien and a few immigrants with him whom Andrew Simonsen and others from Shelby County found already settled at Sugar Creek in the spring of 1840. If this is correct then the first Norwegian settler in Iowa and the real founder of the first Norwegian colony in the State is Hans Barlien, who was born at Overhalden in the pro- vince of Trondhjem about 1780.^

As far as known, the first settlers who came with Andrew Simonsen from Missouri were: Omund Olson, Knud Slog- vig,2 Lars Tallakson, Jacob O. Hetletvedt, Peter Gjilje, Erik Oie, and Ole Oiesoen. Lars Tallakson settled there about the same time, but he came from Clark County, Mis- souri, where he had located in 1838. Gjermund Helgeson^ and Eric Knudson, who had settled in the Muskego Colony, Wisconsin, in 1839, were also among the earliest settlers.

The leading spirit in the colony was undoubtedly Hans Barlien. He was a man of great natural endowment, and he had a fair education. In Norway he had been a pro- nounced nationalist of the AVergeland direction and had taken part in the first j^easant U2:>rising. He was for a time a member of the Storthing (the national parliament). In

1 Jakob Slogvig was also among the first settlers; but see note 3, p. 56. « Helgeson may have come with Barlien from Illinois.

' According to a letter from his widow, Hannah Knudson, now residing in West Branch, Cedar County, Iowa.

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religion he was a liberal, which aroused the hostility of the clergy; while his radical political views called forth the enmity of the official class. He owned a printing establishment at Overgaarden, and published a paper ^ in which he did not hesitate to give expression to the principles for which he stood. This frecpently involved him in litiga- tion; and, feeling himself persecuted, he at last decided to emigrate to America in 1837.^ Barlien seems to be the second Norwegian emigrant from Trondhjem.^ Lars Tal- lakson came from Bergen, while the rest of the colonists w^ere mostly from the region of Stavanger.

Lee County was but little settled at that time;* land was bought of the Indians for a nominal price, but it often be- came expensive enough in the end since it proved very diffi- cult for many of the settlers to obtain a clear title from the United States. This is one reason why the settlement did not grow, though probably not the chief cause. ^ In 1843 there were between thirty and forty families, writes John Reier- son,^ but in 1856 there were according to the census of that year only sixty- eight Norwegians in the county. This num- ber had in 1885 decreased to thirty-one. In the fifties many of the settlers moved to other localities, but throughout the forties there was a prosperous colony that contributed not a

1 Melkeveien, the Milky Way.

' See J. B. Wist, in Bygdejcevning , Madison, Wisconsin, 1903, p. 158; also First Chapter of Norioegian Immigration, pp. 2.S5-236, and Eepiihlikaneren, Feb- raary 9, 1900.

8 The first was Ole Rynning. See above, p. 16, and Nordmcendene i Amerika by Knud Langeland, pp. 26-29.

''The first postoffice was establi.shed in Lee County in 1841.

« See p. 62.

8 Veiviser for Emigranter, 1843.

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little to the development of the commimity and the county in that early period. The settlement is of special interest in that it was the first Norwegian settlement in Iowa. Its founding inaugurated Norwegian colonization in the State Avhich, particularly in the fifties, resulted in the establish- ment of a score of extensive settlements in the central and the northern counties.

There are many reasons why the Sugar Creek settlement did not grow as did the later settlements north and west. First of all, land was not of the best in Lee County. And then, the locality was rather too far south — Norwegians have everywhere in America thriven best in the more northerly localities.-^ Again, the tide of emigration from the Stavanger province was not sufficiently heavy to recruit the various settlements already established by immigrants from that re- gion. The majority of those who came went direct to the Fox River settlement in northern Illinois, which offered unsur- passed natural advantages. To be sure, the Shelby County (Missouri) and the Lee County settlements might have been recruited from other districts in Norway. But it must be remembered that such other districts as had begun to take part in the emigration movement had their attention directed just at this time in another direction. The other provinces in question are Voss, Telemarken, and Numedal. It was representatives of these that founded the Wisconsin settle- ments in 1839-40, and in them the great majority of immi- grants from those provinces located in the following decade.^

1 See above, pp. 31, 32.

» See discussion of those settlements above, pp. 51-53.

61

This is also true of those who came from Sogn,^ Hardan- ger, and from western Norway in general.

There is still another reason why the colony did not grow. Beyond the common desire of material betterment, there was too little of community of interest. It is enough to mention that several different religious sects were repre- sented in the little settlement, chief among which were the Quakers and the Latter Day Saints. Just across the Mis- sissippi was the town of Nauvoo,^ which was a Mormon center at the time. When the Mormons who did not be- lieve in polygamy established themselves at Lamoni some years later, many Norwegians of that belief went with them.^ And not a few of the Quakers joined American Quaker set- tlements farther north, as in Salem, Henry County. In the later fifties a prosperous colony was founded at and south of Legrand in Marshall County. A few of the early pioneers, however, remained and their descendants live in Lee County to-day. Finally, the difficulty of securing a title to the land upon which many Norwegians had settled, to which refer- ence has been made above, undoubtedly drove many to seek homes elsewhere."*

> Immigration from Sogn began in 1842 and was at first directed almost exclus- ively to Dane County, Wisconsin.

* In the Fox River settlement in Illinois many Norwegians joined the Mor- mons and later moved to Utah. Bishop Canute Peterson was one of these.

' The Mormons first moved into Iowa in 1839, having received assurance of protection and the liberty to practice their belief from Governor Lucas in that year. They located in Lee County not far from Sugar Creek. The town of Nauvoo, Illinois, had been bought by them. The name was changed from Com- merce.

* The question has been investigated somewhat by Mr. B. L. Wick. See Re- publikaneren, February 9, 1900, to which article the reader is referred.

Map II. Centers of Dispersion and Course of Migration of the Norwegians

64

KORWEGIAISr IMMIGRATION INTO NORTHEASTERN IOWA. THE FOUNDERS OF THE EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS. OTHER COL- ONIES ESTABLISHED BETWEEN 1850 AND 1853. THE COURSE OF SETTLEMENT. CONCLUSION

The Fox River settlement in Illinois had been formed in 1834-35. The exodus from southwestern and western Nor- way in 1836-40 brought hundreds of immigrants to the colony. In a few years the best lands had been taken and many began to look about in search of new localities farther west. A similar movement took j)lace farther north a few years later. Between 1840 and 1850 the south Wisconsin set- tlements, established in 1839-40,^ developed into prosperous communities. For a decade they continued to receive acces- sions from western and south central Norway; but the prin- cipal period of immigrant colonization was the years 1839— 50. In later years these settlements became stations-on- the-way for a very large number of immigrants who came and located farther west and north. Several new colonies had in the meantime been formed — as for example in west- ern Dane County, and at Mineral Point and Wiota in Iowa County.^ BetAveen 1849 and 1860 the westward movement of Norwegian immigration was directed especially to northern Iowa and southwestern Minnesota — in Iowa from Allamakee and Clayton counties on the east to Forest City and Lake Mills in Winnebago County on the west. During the same years, but beginning a little later, there was also established a number of settlements in central Iowa. In their early history, however, these stand entirely isolated from those

' See above, pp. 51-53.

* These and a few farther north are given by Dietrichsen, p. 24.

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in the northern counties. Finally those in the western part of the State are, for the most part, the result of internal immigration from the older to the newer parts of the State.

The first county settled by Norwegians in northeastern Iowa was Clayton. The earliest settler w^as Ole Valle. He came in 1846 and located in Reed township a little south of the present St. Olaf. In 18 -1:6 Ole Tollefson Kittilsland came and located in Reed township.^ The period of settle- ment does not actually begin, however, before 1849. In the spring of that year Ole Herbrandson and family settled in the same place. The Clermont settlement in the western part of the county was begun in June, 1849; the first settler was Halvor Nilson.^ This settlement soon grew westward into Fayette County and northward through Fayette into AVinneshiek County. To Clermont in the same year came Tallak Gunderson and family, Knut Hustad, Jens A. Holt, Brede Holt, Halstein Groth, Kittel Rue, Abraham Rustad, and several others; while Helge Ramstad and wife, Ole Hanson and wife, Thorkel Eiteldep, and Embrigt Sanden located in the Norway settlement in Reed township.^ At present Norway and Clermont form one continuous settle- ment westward into Fayette County.

The founders of these settlements all came from Wiscon- sin, particularly from Rock County,^ where they had lived the first few years after coming from Norway. In the years 1850-53 a large number of immigrants joined the colony,

' See article by Rev. Jacob Tanner on En kort Beretning om 50 Aar& Kirkellgt Arheide i Clayton Co., Iowa, in Lutheraneren, 45 (1901). These names are taken from Rev. Tanner's article.

* In Reed township.

» Tanner's article.

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but in the very beginning of this period the movement was directed to the counties in the northern part of the State — i. e.^ to Allamakee and Winneshiek counties. The immi- gration 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 occu- pied all the best land.^ Northeastern Iowa was but little settled, and the development of the wilderness had only be- gun. 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 Win- neshiek County had reached four thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven.

Allamakee was the next county in order of settlement.^ This county was opened to settlement in 1848, but land was not put upon the market before 1850.^ In the summer of that year a considerable number of Norwegians had come from Wisconsin and settled on the prairie north of Paint Creek, living in their canvas covered wagons until houses were built.* The early settlers of Allamakee and neighbor-

1 Rev. Tanner writes: " When we look at this Norwegian settlement as it was then and is to-day largely, it immediately strikes us that it was wood and water the colonists looked for, and therefore they let the prarie lie and chose the hills along the Turkey River. Not until later did they learn to understand the value of the prairie, but then the Germans had taken most of it."

* The Fayette County settlement about Clermont is a western extension of the second settlement in Clayton County; its beginnings have been referred to above.

* The first entry of purchase appears under the date of October 7, 1850.

* There were, it seems, Norwegians in the county as early as 1849 or perhaps 1848; but I have not been able to ascertain their names or any facts with regard to them. The earliest settler in the county was Henry Johnson, after whom Johnsonsport was named, but I do not know to what nationality he belonged.

G'7

ing counties experienced all the trials and hardships of pio- neer 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. ^

The process of home building and the clearing of the for- ests 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 for pay to others received very small wages, and as there was little money among the pioneer farmers it 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^ 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. The Red Man was the White Man's neighbor in those days, but the Scandinavian fron- tiersman was never in all the history of colonization mo- lested by the Indian. He succeeded in a remarkable de- gree in gaining the Red Man's confidence. And so, whether as a colonist in New Sweden in the seventeenth century or a pioneer in the forests or on the prairies of the West in the nineteenth century, he never had the difficulty* which many have experienced in preserving pacific relatiojis with the natives.

Most of the Norwegians who settled in Allamakee County came from Dane County, AVisconsin; but I believe, some

1 In the Clermont settlement there was a log-cabin store at Clermont.

2 This pioneer is still living. — See Tanner's article.

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came a little later from AVinnesliiek County where a settle- ment liad been formed in June, 1850. Several, however, came from Norway by way of New Orleans and the Missis- sippi, as did Gilbert C. Lyse in 1851.

In 1856 there were in the whole county iive hundred and five Norwegians; one hundred and eighty-one of these had settled in Paint Creek (then Waterville) 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,^ when a number of families moved in from Racine and Dane counties, Wiscon- sin. Eastern AYinneshiek County received in the following year a large Norwegian population. In a few years the east- ern, northeastern, and central part of the county grew to be the chief Norwegian community in that section of the State, and it has ever since held a very prominent place among Norwegian settlements in Iowa. Through the location of Luther College^ in 1862, it became an educational center for . a large part of the Norwegian northwest.

Those who came in June, 1850, and settled on Washing-

* White people first settled in the county in 1848. The county was organized in 1850, and the first term of court convened on October 5, 1851.

* The chief educational institution of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran sj'nod. The Norwegian Lutherans in America are divided into several branches, of which the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America and the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod of America are in order the largest.

69

ton Prairie were: Erik Anderson (Kndi)/ tlie brothers Ole and Staale Torstenson llaugen, Ole Gullickson Jevne, O. A. Lomen, Knnt A. Bakka, Anders Haiige, John J. Quale, II. Ilalvorsen drove, and Mikkel Omli. These came from Eacine and Dane counties, Wisconsin. In the following month Tollef Simonson, Knud Opdahl, Jacob Abrahamson,^ Iver P. Quale, and the two brothers, Nelson Johnson^ and Gjermund Johnson Kaasa settled in Springfield and Decorah townships. These settlers were chiefly from Voss, Tele- marken, Sogn, and Valders, Norway, and most of them had emigrated in 1848-49.'*

From the towns of Springfield, Decorah, and Glenwood the settlement soon spread into the neighboring towns — north into Canoe, Hesper, and Highland, where it united with the settlement in northwestern Allamakee County, and south through the towns of Calmar and Military, uniting with the settlements in north central Fayette County (Dover township). This last settlement extends through Pleasant Valley southward into Clayton County. Together these settlements form one connecting link from the eastern part of Clayton County, west through Fayette, and north through

1 Erik Anderson, avIio is still livinp: in Decorali, had come from Norway in 1839, learned the printer's trade in Chicago, and was the one who set the tyi^e for the first Norwegian paper in America, Nordlyset, (The Northern Light) pub- lished first in Norway, Kacine County, later in Kacine, 1847-1851.

* The father of Hon. Abraham Jakobson.

3 The father of Martin N. Johnson, member of Congress from North Dakota. Nelson Johnson Avas one of the founders of the Muskego settlement in Wisconsin in 1830. He later entered the Methodist ministry and was for two years, 18;j.'3- 57, pastor of the Norwegian M. E. Church in Cambridge, Wisconsin. With the exception of the.se two years he lived in Winneshiek County until his death in 1882.

'I Letters from Hon. Abraham Jakobson, to whom I am chielly indebted for facts on the early .settlement of Winneshiek County.

70

Winneshiek to northern Allamakee. In Allamakee it ex- tends as far as Harpers Ferry and Lansing.^ The bulk of the population, however, resides in Winneshiek County. The principal Norwegian townships are at present: Glen- wood, Decorah, Springfield, Highland, and Madison. About half of the population of the county is of Norwegian birth or descent.

Mitchell County was first settled by E. Olson Stovern in 1851, near the present site of St. Ansgar. It was, there- fore, the sixth county in the order of settlement. The real founder of the extensive colony which was soon established at this point was, however, Rev. C. L. Clausen,^ who with twenty families, besides a number of unmarried men, came from Rock County, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1852.^ Rev. Clausen was, with Rev. A. C. Preus* and Rev. H. C. Stub,^ the founder of the first organization of Norv/egian

1 The intermediate strip of territory including northern Clayton County and the northern tier of townships in Allamakee has only scattered Norwegian set- tlers.

* Rev. Clausen was a Dane by birth but he is identified exclusively with Nor- wegian-American history. He was born in Fyen, Denmark, in 1820, came to Norway in 1841 and emigrated to America in 1843.

* See Biography of Rev. Clausen in Nelson's History of Scandinavians, Vol. I, pp. 387—301. There is also a sketch with portrait of Rev. Clausen in Anderson's First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration, pp. 417-420. Nelson gives the follow- ing interesting account of the coming of these settlers: — " Clausen had visited Iowa in 18-51, and the next year in the spring, he and about twenty families, be- sides several unmarried men left Rock County, Wisconsin. In order to avoid confusion in marching such a large number in one body the crowd was divided into two sections, Clausen himself and family, being thesonly persons who rode in a cai'riage, led in advance. T>e caravan consisted of numerous children and women in wagons, men on foot, and two or three hundred cattle — all obeying the command of the leader. Most of these immigrants settled at St. Ansgar, Mitch- ell County."

* From Agder, Norway, came to America in 1850.

* From Strileland, Norway, came to America in 1848.

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Lutherans in America on Rock Prairie, Wisconsin, Janu- ary 4, 1851.^ This organization developed into the Nor- wegian Lutheran synod of America in East Koshkonong Church, Dane County, Wisconsin, February 5, 1853.^

In June, 1853, Gudbrand Olson Mellum and wife, and three others, went vv^est from St. Ansgar, going as far as the Shell Rock River, where they secured one hundred and sixty acres of land, embracing a part of the present site of Northwood.^ They were the first white settlers in Worth County.* In the spring of 1854 came Simon Rustad, Chris- tian Ammandson, Ole Lee, and Aslag Gullickson.* Among the early settlers were Nels and Carrie Haugen, who came from Rock County, Wisconsin.^ Since 1856 Worth County has received a considerable accession of Norwegian settlers; to-day it has the fourth largest Norwegian population among the counties of the State.

Winnebago County, the next county to the west, was first settled in 1855, but received no important accessions until 1865. At present, however, it has next to Winneshiek County, the most extensive Norwegian population in the State. ^ The very important settlements in Story and sur-

» See Kort Uddrag af Den norske Synodes Historie, by Rev. Jacob Aal Otteson, Decorah, 1893, p. 12.

* In 1851—53 Rev. Clausen was its President or " Superintendent."

« Mrs. Mellum is still living. Ole Mellum, son of Gudbrand Mellum, was the first white child born in Worth County.

4 Letter from Mr. Gilbert N. Ilaugen, from Northwood, Iowa.

B They immigrated from Hallingdal, Norway, in 184G, settling in Rock County, Wisconsin. They were the parents of Hon. Gilbert N. Haugen, member of Congre.ss.

« Many of the early settlers in Worth and Winnebago counties came from Hal- lingdal. This province has contributed .some of the most honored names to Nor- wegian-American History— as Gilbert N. Haugen, Member of Congress from

rounding counties date back to 1855 and the years follow- ing; while Florence township, Benton County, was first set- tled by Norwegians in 1854-57. These settlements, there- fore, are not within the period covered by this brief sketch.

The settlements we have discussed soon developed into prosperous communities. In 1856 their total population was 2,529; and in the meantime new settlements were grow- ing up around them and the lines of settlements in central Iowa had been established.

We have in these pages traced the beginnings of Norwe- gian colonization in Iowa from 1840 to 1853. In the later fifties and the sixties most of the counties to the west were settled by Norwegians, the western parts of the State being settled as late even as the eighties. The period of heaviest immigration into Iowa was, however, closed long before that date.^ Since the early nineties Norway has contributed comparatively little to the population of Iowa. The west- ward course of migration has carried the Norwegian immi- gration beyond the borders of the State of Iowa ; a new gen- eration has sprung up to enjoy the fruits of the labors of Iowa's sturdy pioneers.

Iowa; G. S. Gilbertson, of Forest City, Iowa, State Treasurer of Iowa, and Prof.. Lauritz S. Swenson, of Albert Lea, Minn., Minister to Denmark.

' Tire State census for 1895 shows a larger population of foreign born Norwe- gians than for the preceding or the following census, but the increase is slight since 1885. The figures are 24,107 for 1885, while for 1895 they reach 27,428. But according to the United States census in 1900 they are only 25,G34.

THE EARLY SWEDISH IMMIGRATION TO IOWA

SWEDES IN THE UNITED STATES BEFOKE 18-11. GUSTAF UNON-

lUS AND THE PINE LAKE, WISCONSIN, SETTLEMENT. THE

FIRST SWEDISH SETTLERS IN ILLINOIS. THE BISHOP

HILL COLONY. THE COURSE OF MIGRATION

TO IOWA

The history of Swedish emigration to this country prop- erly begins Avith the sailing of the Kalmar Nyckel ^ and the Fagel Grip^ in the latter part of the year 1637 and the establishment of the Swedish colony on the Delaware in the following year. The colonial enterprise which thus resulted in the founding of the state of New Sweden in what now comprises Delaware, the city of Philadelphia, and adjoining parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey was first projected by Wilhelm Usselincx, the organizer of the Dutch AYest India Company, and definitely planned by Peter Minuit, one time Governor of New Netherlands.^ It had the sanc- tion and indeed the active support of Gustavus Adolphus, and upon his death at the battle of Liitzen in 1627 was pro- moted and executed in accordance with the king's wishes by his great chancellor, Axel Oxenstjerna.* The history of

1 The Key of Kalmar.

2 The Griffin.

3 From 162G to 1632.

* The proposal submitted by Usselincx aimed merely at the formation of a commercial company. The warrant for the establishment of such a company was issued and signed by Gustavus Adolphus on December 21, 1024. On May 1, 1627, a commercial company, endowed with the privilege of founding foreign colonies, was then incorporated at Stockholm. According to the broader plans

74

JSTew Sweden as a political state forms an interesting and important chapter in American political history; but to dis- cuss that history in this connection would take us beyond our present purposed Nor can we give it anything but the briefest mention even as a part of Swedish American immi- gration history. That the expedition of 1628 was the first one from Sweden to America has been definitely established, although certain historians have stated that an expedition took place in 1627; others again that one took place in 1631.^ The expedition of 1638 was composed of about fifty colonists from Sweden and Holland. How many Swedes there were we do not know. The lieutenant, Mans Kling, is the only one expressly named. He is, then, as far as can be ascertained the first Swede to visit America. E,eorus Torkillus,^ a minister, is named as accompanying the

of " the Defender of tEe Protestant Faith in Europe," it was not, however, to be merely a commercial enterprise, but, in the language of Provost Stills, "The col- onists were sent out under the King's express protection as the vanguard of an army to found a free State, where they, and those who might join them, from whatever nation they might come, might be secure in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labor and especially of their rights of conscience." It was to be a refuge for oppressed Protestants from every country. — See TTie Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. I, p. 160.

1 The Pennsylvania Historical Society has published a great deal of material relative to the colony. — See The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biog- raphy, Vols. I-XVI; especially the article by Professor C. T. Odhner on The Founding of New Sweden, 1637-1012, in volumes III-IV, translated by Professor G. B. Keen; and an article on The History of New Sioeden, by Professor Karl K. S. Sprinchorn, in volume VII; also numerous contributions by Professor George B. Keen, Secretary of the Society, himself a descendant of Joran Kyn, who emi- grated from Upland, Sweden, to Delaware in 1642. Provost Charles J. Stills, ( University of Pennsylvania ) President of the Society, who is quoted above also comes of the Delaware stock. His ancestors emigrated to Delaware at an early date.

- Incorrect also is the date 163-t, given by Nicholas Collin in TJie Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. XVI, p. 340.

^ Certain writers are mistaken when they say that Torkillus came in the first expedition.

75

second expedition in 1640. No list of the colonists of 1638 and 1640 has been found, but the Royal Archives in Stock- holm contain a roll of names of persons in New Sweden still living in May, 1648, and specific mention is made of sev- eral who came in the Key of Kalmar. ^ Among these is men- tioned Peter G. Rambo, Magistrate of the Swedish colony, who died in Philadelphia County, 1698, as the last survivor of the first two expeditions. There were in all ten expedi- tions, the last one arriving in 1656, after the colony had passed into the hands of the Dutch.

We have seen that already in the second expedition a minister accompanied the colonists, while in the fourth expe- dition, commanded by Governor Printz, the government sent a second preacher of the Gospel, Johannes Campanins, from Stockholm. The home church, then, established at the very beginning a mission in New Sweden; and this mission lasted 151 years, or 136 years after New Sweden had ceased to exist as a political state. ^ Linguistically also the colony continued to be Swedish through all the period of Dutch and English occupancy and almost to the end of the eighteenth century.^ During all this time the state church at home supplied the colony with teachers and preachers of the gospel, who taught and preached in the Swedish language and were answerable in every way to the Consistory at Stockholm. Moreover, the church records of

1 Cited by Professor Odhner, p. 402, They came, therefore, in 1638 or 16-10; but it would seem that those mentioned by Professor Odhner came in the latter year.

- See above, p. 38; and Ungdomsvihinen for February, 1903.

» That is, a very considerable number still understood the Swedish language.

i h

the colony offer much valuable material regarding the later history of the colony. Thus we learn that in 1754 there were three hundred and fifty-three persons in Racoon and Pensneck parishes only who could read the Swedish lan- guage well.^ Down to this time at any rate we may say that in general the colony was bilingual and largely Swed- ish. After about 1750 the Americanization of the younger generation was more rapid. In 1758 AYicacoa vestry peti- tioned the Consistory that a clergyman should be commis- sioned for that parish and that he should be permitted occa- sionally to preach in English.^ In 17(35 there are instruc- tions to Rev. Borell to preach alternately in Swedish and English in the new church at Kingsessing.^ The last Swed- ish minister in the colony was Nicholas Collin; he was com- missioned in 1770 and was after 1791 the only Swedish minister left. Almost down to his death in 1831, he preached twice a month to a small congregation in Wicacoa parish. Norelius writes in his History of the Swedish Church^ that in 1868 he met in Philadelphia a Swede, Erik Alund, who had come to Philadelphia in 1823 and who retoiembered Avell Rev. Collin. A writer* in Ungdomsvannen for Febru- ruary, 1903, states that there are still living in Philadelphia

1 Facts gathered from The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.

-New churches at Upper Merion (now Swedeboro ) and Kingsessiiig (now Darby) were built in 1702.

' De Svenska Luterska Fdrsamlingarnas och Svenskarnes Historia i Ajnerika, RoCk Island, 1890. The work covers 871 pages. For many facts in this article I am indebted to this valuable work and hereby acknowledge gratefully help otherwise given me in letters by its eminent author, Rev. E. Norelius, of Vasa, Jlinn., President of the Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod.

•* Editor Ander Schcin, of Chicago, whose series of articles in Ungdomsvannen for 1902-1903 forms the most thoroughgoing investigation of the later history of the colony that we have.

those wlio remember "The Swedish Doctor Collin."^ It is an interesting fact that one of the first immigrants from Sweden in the nineteenth century found in this country the last living immigrant to the colony founded in 1G38 on the Delaware and with whom he could still speak in his native tongue.

If it be asked w^hy there resulted no permanent Swedish immigration to a colony so firmly established, the answer will not be difficult to find. It was purely a government undertaking, and with the loss of the province the Swedish government no longer had any interest in it as a colonial enterprise; and furthermore, the colonists had not been recruited from those classes whence any extended emigra- tion movement would have to come. It is doubtful if knowledge of the existence of the colony had really reached the common classes of Sweden and the rural districts. Ambassador R. L. Smith writes that during two years resi- dence in Sweden as Ambassador (1810-12) he never heard any mention made of the colony on the Delaware beyond the fact that a mission had early visited America and had built churches and preached the gospel there. ^ And, finally, it must also be borne in mind that the difiiculties in the way of emigration from Sweden before 1840 w^ere well-nigh insurmountable to that class that has always been most largely represented among immigrant settlers in America.

In the eighteenth century a number of Moravians emi- grated from the Scandinavian countries'^ to Pennsylvania and

1 See also German Avierican Annals for 1903, p. 372.

2 The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. I, p. 154. ^ See above, p. 12.

78

North Carolina. A Moravian society had been formed in Stockholm in 1740. As early as 1735 German Moravians established a colony in Savannah, Georgia, and in 1740 a larger and more permanent colony was founded at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. ^ In a later colony established at Bethabara, North Carolina, not a few Scandinavians took part, as many Swedes seem later to have emigrated to the church at Beth- lehem. This latter was located not far from the Delaware colony and the records show that there was considerable intercourse between the two and that some of the Delaware Swedes joined the Moravians at Bethlehem. Thus in 1744 a Danish Moravian minister, Paul Daniel Berzelius, preached in Gloria Dei church^ in Philadelphia and made many con- verts among the Swedish Lutherans.^ He was assisted by two Swedes, Abraham Eeinke and Sven Kosen, who had immigrated a few years before, the former from Stockholm and the latter from Gothenburg.* A Swedish minister, Lars Nyberg, who had come to America as pastor for a German Lutheran church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, but who later joined the Moravians, is named as especially active in these parishes.^ There are documents in the collections of the Pennsylvania Historical Society that give much information with regard to these facts. A Swedish book, printed in 1702, that is found in a museum in Delavv^are also contains

1 See above, p. 12.

2 This church was erected by the Swedes in the latter part of the seventeenth century. The building is still standing, but is now the property of the Episcopal church.

3 Especially in Racoon and Pensneck parishes. * Ungdomsvannen, 1902, p. 339.

6 Later he returned to Sweden and again entered the state church.

79

much material on the Delaware Swedes, and particularly with reference to their religious activities.

No record of any other Swedish immigration in the eight- eenth century has come down to us. A writer is authority for the statement that the early Swedes who came to this country in the nineteenth century found in Charleston, South Carolina, Swedes who had emigrated in the preceding century.^ If so, they would seem to have been members of the Delaware or Moravian colonies who had (temporarily?) left those colonies. Swedes from Delaware took part in the War of Independence, and the author of a recent book recalls the fact that Baron von Stedingk, a Swede, fought on the side of America.^ W. W. Thomas, once United States Minister to Norway -SAveden, writes that "The man who, as a member of the Continental Congress, gave the casting vote of Pennsylvania in favor of the Declaration of Inde- pendence was a Swede of the Delaware stock — John -Mor- ton."^

We now come to the nineteenth century. The records of individual immigration from Sweden in the early part of this century are very meagre. The first name that appears is that of Jacob Fahlstrom, who may have been in Canada as early as 1815. He seems to have come to Canada by way of London. In 1819 he was in northern Minnesota^

1 O. N. Nelson in Scandinavians, Vol. I, p. 36.

2 Dr. Carl Sundbeck iu Svensk-Amerikanerna, deras Materiella och Andliga Strdfvanden, Rock Island, 1904. This book is an account of present Swedish- American conditions.

s Xew England Ilistorical Eegister, quoted by Nelson. Dr. Carl Sundbeck also recalls the fact that it was a woman of the Delaware stock who made the first U. S. flag at Philadelphia. Tier name was Betsy Griscomb Ross.

4 See Scandinavians, Vol. I, p. 306, where biography of Fahlstrom is given.

80

and Wisconsin. In that year he was employed by the American Fur Company to trade with the Indians around Lake Superior.^ At one time he was a Methodist mis- sionary among the Indians, with whom he also lived for a time as a native.^ In 1837 he settled in what is now Wash- ington County, Minnesota, being therefore the first Swede in that State. He died in 1859 at Afton, Washington County, Minnesota, where his descendants still live.

Reference has already been made to Erick Alund, from Alund, Upland, who in 1823 came in a Swedish ship and located in Philadelphia. AVhether others emigrated in the same ship^ is not known, nor have we any further facts regarding Alund. Neither of these two early immigrants seem to have continued any connection with friends at home, and consequently they played no part in promoting emigra- tion to this country.

Our next name, however, occuj^ies a very much more im- portant place in Swedish American history. Olof Gustaf Hedstrom, the "Father of Swedish Methodism in America," was born in Tvinnesheda in Nottebeck's parish^ in the pro- vince of Kronberg, southern Sweden, in 1803. He emi- grated to New York in 1825, there married Caroline Pinck- ney, and became converted to Methodism. In 1833 he made a visit to Sweden, where he converted his parents and a brother, Jonas Hedstrom."* The latter emigrated to Amer- ica with his brother and later became the father of Swedish

1 See Scandinavians, Vol. I, p. 396. - This ship was, I believe, laden with a cargo of iron.

3 Thus rightly corrected by Rev. Korelius from "Trernhed's Forsamling" as given by Rev. H. Olsen.— See Norelius, p. 10. •» Norelius, p. 17.

81

Methodism in tlie West. From 1835 to 1845 O. G. Iled- strom preached among the English Methodists in New York. In 1845 he established a mission among Swedish Americans in New York.^

During the later thirties and the forties the elder Iled- strom worked in the interests of Methodism among the Swedish settlers in New York and among immigrants who came from Sweden, and large numbers were converted by him. AAhile he Avas primarily serving the church he Avas often also of much assistance otherwise to the immigrants and frequently directed them where to settle. lu this way he exerted a very great influence upon the course that Swedish immigration took in this country. It w^as directly through his influence that Victoria, Illinois, received such a large sliare of Swedish settlers in the later forties, an event which gave the direction to Sw^edish migration for a decade more. Furthermore, he was instrumental in locating the flrst Erik-Jansenists at Bishop Hill in 1845-6. O. G. lied- strom always remained in New York. Plis brother Jonas, who as a Methodist later did missionary work in the AYest in conjunction with his brother, remained in New York and Pennsylvania, employed as a blacksmith during the flrst few years after his coming to America.^ In Philadelphia he met a Peter Sonberger (a Swede), and both of these to- gether with a Mr. Pollock and wife^ removed to Knox

1 Assisted by two Americans, Geo. T. Cobb and Wm. G. Roggs, and a Peter Bergner, the last named being a Swede.

^ An interesting account of the two Hedstroms is given by Norelius, pp. 23-20. See also Svenskarne i Illinois, Chicago, 1880, by Eric Johnson and C. F. Peterson; and Sverige i Amerika, ('hicago, 18P8, by C. F. Peterson.

'Mrs. Pollock was born in Sweden and evidently emigrated to America early in the thirties. — See brief account in Herlenius' Erik Janssismens Ilistoria, Jiinkop- ing, 1900.

82

County, Illinois, in 1838, settling in what is now Victoria township. These formed the nucleus of the extensive Swedish colony which was established in 1846 and the years following in that locality.

With our scanty records it is impossible to say how extensive individual immigration from Sweden may have been in the thirties. AVith the stringent laws against emi- gration still in force it could not have been very great. But inasmuch as the movement had taken hold of several pro- vinces in southwestern Norway and as ships loaded with cargoes of iron plied between Gefle, Gothenburg, and Amer- ican ports at that time, it seems likely that not a few may have embarked in such ships for the New World. Among such is named H. P. Gryden, who. came to Boston in 1838, living the first few years in Boston, New York, and Mon- treal, and who in company with an Englishman by the name of Henbury Smith established a wagon factory in Cincinnati in 1842.-^ S. M. Svenson, who directed the first Swedish immigration to Texas, emigrated from Smaland in 1836, locating first in New York and later living for a time in Baltimore. He moved to Texas in 1838 and engaged in business at Brazoria.^

There were Swedes in dift'erent parts of the South at an early date. Thus, a brother of Rev. S. B. Newman (who emigrated in 1842 to Mobile, Alabama) was at that time engaged in business in Mobile. Reference has already been made to Peter Sonberger, who lived in Philadelphia in

1 Gryden moved to Chicago in 1800. — See sketch of his life in Svenskarne i Illinois, p. 426. =* Norelius, p. .37.

S3

1838, and. to Peter Bergner, who is mentioned by Norelius as living in New York in 1845. Gustaf Unonius^ saj^s in his Minnen that he often found here and there in America Swedes who had been here many years before his coming, which was in 1841. Thus, in Buffalo he met a Mr. Morell who had been here a long time and had nearly forgotten the Swedish language. In Milwaukee he met Captain O. G. Lange who had been here many years; and in 1841 he was visited by a certain Friman, who together with two brothers had been living near the Wisconsin-Illinois bound- ary line for three years; and Carl Peter Moberg, from Grenna in Gefle province, was in America about 1840, returning to Sweden in 1844.^ Nor shall we forget the im- mortal John Ericson,^ the builder of the "Princeton" and. of the "Monitor" whose coming to America in 1839 had. such far-reaching effects for America and for the world in general.

The first attempt to found a settlement in this country in the last century did not take place before 1841. The local- ity is Pine Lake, Wisconsin, and the founder was Gustaf Unonius,^ a graduate of Upsala University. In the summer of 1841 he with his wife embarked from Geile, arriving in New York in September. After 1840 the laws regarding emigration were made much less stringent in Sweden and. as a result, says Herlenius, the so-called America- fever had begun to take hold of the country. Before that time the

1 See below.

~ John Ericson, the son of a miner in Varmland in Sweden, was born on the 31st of July, 1803. The Magazine of American History, Vol. XXV, offers an excellent likeness and biography of John Ericson.

3 See above, p. 19.

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intending emigrant was required to secure the King's per- mit and to pay 300 Kronor^ before lie could leave the country. It can easily be seen how extensively this would operate as a barrier to emigration. In his Minnen^ first part, Unonius says: "Emigration to America which since has become so general had then not yet begun. As far as I know, we were the first who availed ourselves of the right which recently had been given Swedish citizens, to leave the country without special royal permission.""

In company with Unonius there were, perhaps, a dozen persons who located at Pine Lake, near the present Nasho- tah, about thirty miles west of Milwaukee. The settlement was called Upsala. Like Unonius, most of the settlers were not accustomed to coarse work in Sweden and consequently were entirely unfitted for pioneer life in the New World. Herein certainly lies the princij^al cause why the colony did not thrive. Instead of developing into a prosperous com- munity as did the later settlements in Iowa and Illinois, it soon began to wane, and in 1858, according to Unonius himself, it did not contain more than three Swedish families. Furthermore, it seems that some of the settlers were merely adventurers, who could not possibly have any influence upon emigration. Among those who for some time lived at Pine Lake are Capt. P. von Schneidau, E. Bergvall from Gothenburg, a Mr. Vadman, merchant from Norkoping, Rev. AVilhelm Bockman,^ E. Wister, Capt. Pehr Dahlberg,

1 About ftSl in our money.

2 Quoted by Norelias.

* The first Swedish Lutlieran minister in America. He was born in Soder- hviddinge in 1806, came to Pine Lake, 1844, as a missionary, and returned to Sweden in 1849. He died in 1850.

85

and Ivar Hagberg.^ Baron Thott, from Skane, is also men- tioned as having spent some time there; and in 1849 the well-known Swedish novelist, Fredrika Bremer, paid the colony a visit. ^ Of these P. von Schneidau moved to Chi- cago in 1845; and the adventurer Wister plays some part in later settlements in Illinois. Eric U. Norrberg, who emi- grated from Ullarfva, Vestergotland, in 1842, locating a short distance west of Milwaukee, was also 23robably a set- tler at Pine Lake.^ Unonius returned to Sweden in 1858 where he published his Minnen frari e)i sjutton arlg Vistelse i nonlcesfra AmeriJca.

Iniiuenced by Unonius' letters printed in Swedish papers, Daniel Larsen,^ from Haurida, Smaland, and a company of fifty persons decided in 1844 to emigrate to America.* Em- barking with the Swedish ship Superior in October, 1844, they landed in Boston after a journey of ten weeks. Daniel Larsen located at Brocton, Massachusetts.'^ D. Larsen's father and the remainder of the party are said to have gone as far west as Sheboygan, AVisconsin.^ Larsen, Sr., died there in 1846.

1 Perhaps Capt. Berg and Akerman, two of the founders of the first settlement in Iowa (see below), were also in Pine Lake in 1842-44.

2 For the purpose, says Sund^n in Svensk Litteraturhlstoria, of studying "the homes and the position of the woman " in the New World.

* Born in Haurida parish, 1821.

4 Influenced also in part by Moberg, who had returned to Sweden from Amer- ica in 1844.

s Upon a visit to Sweden seven years later sixty per.sons decided to emigrate with him, many of whom seem to have located at Brocton, thus forming the nucleus to the very extensive colony of Bi'octon and vicinity. — Norelius.

« Norelius, p. 26. The facts are, however, not absolutely clear. If they located in Wisconsin it seems likely that some of the party would have reached their destination at Pine Lake, the only Swedish settlement at the time. There is no record of such a number of Swedes having lived at Sheboygan at that time. The

86

We have already had occasion to refer to Jonas Hed- strom and Peter Sonberger and their coming to Illinois in 1838. They were undoubtedly the first Swedes in the State. In 1843 we find a Gustaf Flack located in Chicago, conducting a store in the neighborhood of the Clark Street bridge.^ About the same time came also a Swede whose name was Astrom (changed to Ostrum in this country) who had a jewelry business on South Water Street be- tween Clark and Dearborn. Not long after he was joined by a Swede named Svedberg, who came from Buffalo, New York. In 1845 Capt. P. von Schneidau left the Wisconsin settlement and located in Chicago, as has been stated above. These three were the first Swedish settlers in Chicago. The distinction of being the actual founder of the Swedish col- ony in Chicago, the largest city colony of Swedes in the country, belongs, however, to the last of these, Capt. P. von Schneidau. Flack returned to Sweden in 184(3.^ Sved- berg went to California in 1850. Ostrum made a visit to Sweden about the same time, nothing being known of his whereabouts since that date except the bare fact that he returned to America. P. von Schneidau, however, occupies a very important place in the history of the Swedes in Chi- cago. In the year following his locating there a party of fifteen families arrived from Sweden, and as none of them could speak English von Schneidau became their

early failure of the Pine Lake colony also precludes the likelihood that it re- ceived any considerable accession of immigrants. At any rate not all seem to have settled at Sheboygan.

1 Svenskarne i Illinois, p. 233.

* Herlenius, Erik Janssismens Historia, p. 51.

87

interpreter and adviser.^ During the early yeavs of Swedish immigration to and through Chicago, von Schneidau was the Swedish immigrants' trusted friend and helper. Capt. von Schneidau was a few years later made the first Scandinavian Consul in Chicago.

On the 3d of October of the same year (1846) a consider- able number of immigrants from Vestmanland arrived under the direction of Jonas Olsen," bound for the Jansenist com- munistic colony which was just then being established in Knox County, Illinois. In Chicago, however, they changed their mind, remaining there instead. These two groups, then, both of which located in Chicago in 184(3, formed the nucleus of the Swedish colony. The names are not given of any of the first party nor the locality in Sweden from which they came. In the second group were: Anders Larsen, Jan Janson and a son Charles, John P. Kallman,^ Pehr Erson, Peter Hessling, A. Thorsell, Peter Erickson, and one by the name of Kallstrom. The location of this original colony was on Illinois Street between Dearborn and State. Captain Ericson writes that as late as 1880 Larsen and Hessling were still living in Chicago, while the rest had removed to other parts of the State. ^ The subse- quent history of the colony we cannot discuss in this connec- tion, although it should be mentioned that the before -named Unonius located there in 1849 and was one of the most

1 Svenskarne i Illinois, p. 23-1, to which authority in the main I am indebted for facts relating to Chicago.

^ Jonas Olsen was from Ofvanaker, in Helsingland.

* Changed to Chalman in this country.

■• In 1847 forty families came and located in Chicago. In the years following the numbers given are as follows: 1848, 100 persons; 1849, 400; 1850, 500; 1851, 1000; 1852, 1000; 1854, 4000.

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influential members of the colony down to the time of his return to Sweden in 1858.

The Jansenist colony in Bishop Hill, Knox County, already referred to, dates back to the year 1846. The briefest mention of this settlement will here have to suffice. There has been much written about the causes that led to the emigration of 1500 persons from Helsingland, Upland, Vestmanland, Gestrikland, and Dalarne from 1845 to 1854 and the establishment of the well-known communistic colony at Bishop Hill, Knox County, Illinois. A most thorough investigation of the whole subject was published by Emil Herlenius in 1900 under the title of Erih-Janssismeiis His- toi'ia, Ett Bidrag till Kdnnedom om det svenslca SeMvds- endet (Jonkoping, Sweden). The best American study of the subject is that by M. A. Mikkelson entitled. The Bishop Hill Colony, in the Johns Ho2)hins Universitij Studies, 10th Series, I. A large part of a work already referred to, Svensharne i Illinois, written by Eric Johnson^ and C. F. Peterson, also deals with the Bishop Hill colony.

The Jansenists were a religious sect founded by Erik Janssen, a dissenter from the state church.^ Their strong- hold in Sweden was and always remained the province of Helsingland. Through their intolerant fanaticism and the aggressive methods which they adopted in the practice of their belief they incurred much enmity, and finding no pro- tection under Swedish laws they decided in 1845 to emigrate to America. In 1843 Gustaf Flack ^ from Alfsta parish in

1 The son of the founder of the colony, Erik Janssen. " Born at Bishopskulla, Upland, in 1808. s See above, p. 590.

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Helsinglaiid liad emigrated to America. We have seen that he located at Chicago in that year. lie had also visited in Knox County. From America he wrote let- ters home to Alfsta praising American conditions and our liberal institutions; and his letters no doubt had much to do with the emigration of the dissenters of Helsingland. In the fall of 18-45 Olof Olson was sent to America to select a suitable place in which to found a religious community. He was accompanied by his wife, two children, and two other persons. In New York Olson met the before-mentioned Olof G. Hedstrom, with whom he remained for some time; then, upon the recommendation of Hedstrom, he went west to Victoria, Illinois, where Jonas Hedstrom then lived. From here he wrote home to the followers of Janssen glowing descriptions of America and especially of Illinois. In July of the year following Eric Janssen arrived with a small party; and in the same month a larger company came with Linjo G. Larsen from Dalarue.^ During August 400 more arrived; and in October, under Jonas Olson's ^ leadership, came three hundred. In all there arrived at Bishop Hill between 184(3 and 1854 eight expeditions with about 1500 persons. Her- leuius has shown that the communistic character of the col- ony had been decided upon and plans formulated accord- ingly by Eric Janssen himself when he left Sweden and appointed Jonas Olson, Olof Janssen, Olof Johnson (Ston- berg), and Anders Berglund as "chiefs" of all the affairs of the emigrants. They sailed from Gelle, via Stockholm,

1 Larsen, the wealthiest man who joined the society, brought with him 24,000 Eiksdaler which he placed in the common fund. - See Ilerlenius' work, pp. ilO-GO.

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Soderhamn, Gothenburg, and Christiania to New York; and thence via Buffalo and the lakes to Chicago. Many of those who came first remained temporai'ily at Victoria. A colony was then located in Weller township, where a large tract of land was purchased. In 1853 it was organized into a cor- poration whose business was to be "manufacturing, milling, all kinds of mechanical business, agriculture, and merchan- dizing."^ With this we shall have to leave the Bishop Hill colony.^

In the meantime Swedes were beginning to locate in other parts of Illinois and in Iowa. The very large settlements in Victoria township, Knox County, and in Andover town- ship, Henry County, date from the year 1847, though three Swedes had already settled in Victoria in 1888,^ and Sven Nelson located in Andover township as early as 1840. The colony at Bishop Hill and those soon after formed in Victoiia, Knox County, and in Andover, Henry County, in Galesburg, Moline, and Bock Island, and surrounding parts of Illinois stood in the closest relation to the early settle- ments in Iowa. From them as well as from Sweden direct the Iowa settlements were recruited. Of especial interest, however, is the first Swedish settlement at Pine Lake, Wis- consin, as the parent of the first Swedish colony in Iowa, that of New Sweden in Jefferson County, to which we shall now pass.

1 The Charter of the Bishop Hill colony, Sec. 3.

2 Besides the works mentioned above the reader may be referred to American Communistic Societies, by Arthur Hinds, New York, 1902; or The Colony of Bishop Hill, by J. Swainsen, in Scandinavia, 1883, and reprinted in Nelson's History of Scandinavians.

* See above p. 592.

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THE FIRST SWEDISH SETTLEMENT IN IOWA. NAMES OF THE FOUNDERS AND LOCALITY IN SWEDEN FROM WHICH THEY CAME. ROUTE AND COST OF THE VOYAGE. RELA- TION OF THE SETTLEMENT TO LATER WEST- WARD MIGRATION

The fii'st Swedish settlement in Iowa was located at Brush Creek (later New Sweden) in Jefferson County in the fall of 1845. It is the second Swedish rural settlement in America in the last century, and the first extensive settle- ment in the country.^ There were in all something over thirty persons in the party, nearly all from Kisa, Ostergot- land, in east central Sweden. The director of the party and founder of the settlement was Peter Kassel, born in Asby, Ostergotland, in 1791. This was the first party of immigrants from that locality in Sweden. The causes that led them to emigrate and directed them to Iowa were as fol- lows:— Among the earliest settlers in Pine Lake, Wiscon- sin, we have mentioned P. von Schneidau, who located there in 1812. From Pine Lake he wrote home to his father, Major von Schneidau in Kisa, Ostergotland, letters setting forth the great opportunities for the immigrant in the West. These letters were widely read and awakened in many the desire to emigrate to America. Finally, in the summer of 1845 a number decided to emigrate. Among these was Peter Kassel, then a man of fifty-four, who was chosen leader. Kassel had been a miller and for some time over- seer or Rdttare of a large estate. He was a man of a fair, general education for the time; and he was something of a

1 Being one j-ear prior to that of Bishop Hill.

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mechanic, having invented a threshing machine propelled by hand,^

The party composed of Peter Kassel, wife and five chil- dren,^ his brother-in-law, Peter Anderson, wife and two children, John Danielson, wife and five children,^ John Munson, wife and three children,^ a Mr. Akerman, Erik Anderson,^ Sarah Anderson,^ all from Ostergotland, and a Mr. Berg and family, from Stockholm, embarked wdth the brig Superb early in July from Gothenburg. They landed in New York in the latter part of iVugust of that year, after a voyage of two months. The cost of the voyage was $20.00. The destination of the expedition was Pine Lake, Wisconsin. In New York the party accidentally met Pehr Dahlberg, who was there at the time to meet his family, which had arrived, August 12th, from Kimbrishamn in southern Sweden. Dahlberg had been in the Wisconsin colony, but had also visited Illinois; and it seems that he knew something about Iowa. Through his influence it was, according to the authority of his son, Robert N. Dahlberg,^

1 These facts are taken from Noreliits. Two girls and three boys.

s Two girls and three boys.

* Three girls.

5 Unmarried. Sarah Anderson was married in 1851 to John P. Anderson, who came to the colony in 1840. — History of Jefferson County^ p. 543.

« Dahlberg and family remained two weeks after the arrival of the family. Dahlberg writes: "One day during this time Captain Dahlberg noticed a Swedish vessel anchored near the Bethel ship, and taking a walk along the wharf, he met some of the men who had come on the vessel and learned that four families had arrived from Sweden. The party was delighted to meet him and learn that he could ispeak the English language; and soon a conference was held, and though the party was headed for Wisconsin they were not slow in under- standing the great advantage to them in following one who could talk for them and look after their interests in this land of a strange tongue; and accordingly

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tliat the immigrants decided to go to Iowa. Through Nore- lius we also learn that Akerman had been in America before, having served in the American army for three years. Later he had returned to Sweden, but came to America again in Kassel's company.^ Information regarding Iowa may, per- haps, have come through him to the immigrants, but it seems clear that it was primarily Dahlberg who induced them to go to Iowa. The overland route was by rail to Philadelphia, and from there by canal boat to Pittsburg; thence by the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers as far as Burlington, where they arrived in the latter part of September, 1845. From there the party went inland forty-two miles as far as Brush Creek in Lockridge township, Jefferson County, and located. The settlement which they founded was called by them jS^ew Sweden.^ To the founders of the colony, then, are to be added, besides those named above, Pehr Dahl- berg, v^dfe and seven children.^

The first government claim preempted was that of Pehr Dahlberg,^ which is recorded as No. 1043, Fairfield Series,

they entreated him to take them with him to the beautiful Territory of Iowa of which he had lieard so mucli and to which he had determined to take his fam- ily." The Bethel ship mentioned was Rev. 0. G. Hedstrom's mission ship. See above, p. -591.

' According to Norelius, Akerman was the interpreter for the immigrants on the inland journey (p. 87). In 184(3 Akerman went to Fort Des Moines and again joined the army. He died in service in the Mexican war.

2 E. N. Dahlberg says that his father and Mr. Berg, both of whom were from Stockholm, christened the place "New Stockholm."

» The number of the original settlers is generally given as twenty-five or " several families." According to Rev. C. J, Beng.ston, Rock Island, in a letter to the writer it was thirty, which seems to be about correct, the number being thirty-four plus the members of Mr. Berg's family, which is not given.

* See Fairfield Tribune for June 14, 1905, for an article on New Sweden by R. N. Dahlberg, son of Pehr Dahlberg.

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and is dated October 7, 1847. The land claimed was the Avest half of northeast quarter, Section 26, Township 72, N. Range 8 West, upon which Dahlberg had previously built a log house and upon which he was living at the time. In the following year, however, Dahlberg left the colony for Keokuk and did not return.^ In 1849 he removed to Columbus, Van Buren County, being, therefore, it seems, the first Swedish settler in that county.^ The rest, how- ever, all of whom were farmers, remained and the settle- ment developed into a prosperous community in a few years.

The leading spirit in the colony was undoubtedly Peter Kassel; his name is closely bound up with its early history. He was also the real promoter of further immigration to the settlement as well as to the settlements that were at the same time being formed in different parts of Illinois. Most of the early Swedish immigrants to Iowa were led to emi- grate through letters from Kassel to his old home in Sweden, and the destination of these was always "Kassel's settle- ment" at New Sweden. With him began the extensive emigration from Ostergotland, much of which was, how- ever, later directed to Illinois and other parts of the North- west.

The second party of immigrants came in 1846. In that year several families arrived, but the exact number is not known. In 1847 there came a small party from Stockholm,

1 The reasons for his separation from the colony need not be recited here; tliey are related in the article in the Fairfield Tribune cited above.

* In 1851 he again moved to a place three miles north of Bentonsport, settling in Keosauqua, Van Buren County, in 1852. He died December 9, 1893, in Fair- field, Jelferson County, at the age of ninety-one years and six months. Brief biographies of his .seven children who accompanied him to New Sweden in 1845 are given in the article referred to.

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settling in New Sweden. In the same year a large party of emigrants who had exchanged letters with Kassel left Ostergotland intending to go to Io\^a. The settlement in Victoria had been founded in that year, and when they arrived in New York they were advised by Kev. Hedstrom, who represented to them the advantages for agriculture in Illinois, to take the route through Illinois and Victoria, where his brother lived. Arriving in Victoria they Avere induced by Jonas Hedstrom, and through an especially tempting offer to immigrants made by a land comj^any, to settle in Andover; and thus they became the founders of one of the most exclusively Swedish settlements in Illinois. In the following year Andover also received a very large numl^er of immigi'ants from Ostergotland.

The difficulties connected with getting passage across the Mississippi from Illinois to Burlington (which was the first landing place of all early Swedish immigrants in Iowa) often acted as a check to immigration into Iowa. Thus Nils Magnus Swedberg, who in 1849 came in a party of three hundred, all bound for Jefferson County, waited a long time in vain for accommodations from Rock Island to Burlington, and finally returned to Andover and settled in Swedona, Mercer County.

Among those who came to New Sweden in 1847 was the well-known Magnus Fredrik Hakansen, from Stockholm, the first Swedish Lutheran minister in lowa^ and the founder of the first Swedish church organization in the State, which was located at New Sweden in 1848.^ This was, further-

1 Not ordained, however, before 1851.

2 Formally organized, it seems, in 1850; but, see Scandinavians, p. 171.

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more, the first Swedish Lutheran congregation in America in the last century. Until 1858 Hakansen was the only Swedish Lutheran minister located in Iowa. Swedish set- tlements had by that time been effected in several counties, and five congregations had been formed, of all of which Eev. Hakansen had charge. In 1856 he located at Berg- holm, Wapello County (see below). In 1849 Kev. Unonius visited the settlement in the capacity of Episcopal minister, and in the year 1850 Rev. Jonas Hedstrom came there and organized a small Swedish Methodist congregation, the fii'st in the State. In the year 1854 Revs. G. Palmquist and F. O. Nilson, Baptist ministers, came and attempted to organize a Baptist church. The history of the colony during these years is in a large measure the history of religious contro- versies between the ministers.^ Especially antagonistic to the Lutheran church was the aggressive and often unscrupu- lous Hedstrom, who succeeded in converting a considerable number of the settlers to Methodism. Kassel himself and Danielson were both converted to that belief and they were among the first Methodist preachers in that locality. In the following years and as late as 1870, the settlement received regularly new accessions from Sweden, mostly from Linkoping in Ostergotland. They numbered five hun- dred in 18o8, including one hundred families.^ The colony continued to grow and the settlers were prosperous.^ Among

1 See the account by Norelias, pp. 88-97.

- The Centennial Ilistonj of Jefferson County, hy Chas. H. Fletcher, Fairfield, Iowa, 1876, gives the membership of the Swedish Lutheian church as 400. A writer in 1858 in TIemlandet, Chicago, says that "the relatively largest" (de jamforligst fiesta) number are Lutherans.

s The short history referred to says (p. 19) of the population of Lockridge township: "Lockridge Township is largely settled by Swedes who are improv- ing the land and accumulating much wealth in property and money."

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Xew Sweden's prominent pioneers at this time may be mentioned especially Andrew F. Cassel, born in 1831, son of Peter Kassel, the founder; F. O. Danielson, born in 1839, Avlio served in the war in the 4th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Company B; and S. P. Svenson, who with his wife, Anna M. Clementson Svenson and five sons came in 1849 from Horn, Ostergotland. ^

In the sixties removal to newer settlements began on a small scale, as especially in 1 868-09 to Swedesburg in Henry County. The writer in Hemlandet for 1858 says: "The settlement lies in a forest tract between forty and fifty miles west of Burlington. [ Here describing the locality and the growth and prospects of the colony, he continues] Eighty-six families own altogether 5,065 acres of land; 1,788 of this is improved. Only 360 acres were bought as gov- ernment land at $1.25 an acre. The rest has been bought of others at prices ranging from $2 to $24 per acre."

THE FIRST SWP:DES IjST BURLINGTON. OTHER EARLY SETTLE- MENTS IN THE STATE DOWN TO 1855. SWEDE POINT. BERGHOLM. SW^EDE BEND. MINERAL RIDGE. THE FOUNDERS OF THESE SETTLEMENTS. TWO EARLY SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH- EASTERN IOWA

Early Swedish immigration to Burlington is intimately connected with that of Jefferson County. Burlington was the distributing point for practically all the Swedish immi-

1 Removed in ISO.j to Ridge Port; the old homestead is now occupied by a son, Frank Swanson.

- These facts as given by Norelius are as follows: — 1 family owns 200 acres; 10 families own between 100 and 200 acres each; 12 families own between 80 and 100 acres each; 9 families own between 00 and 80 acres each; 36 families own between 40 and 60 acres each; 13 families own between 20 and 40 acres each; 5 families own less than 20 acres each.

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grants into the State. Thus, we have seen how all the parties who went to New Sweden passed through Burling- ton. The first Swedes in the city were, as far as we know, Kassel and Dahlberg and the party that came with them in 1841 ; but these did not at any time reside in the city. The first one who permanently located in Burlington and became the founder of its Swedish colony was Fabian Brydolf, who emigrated from Ostergotland in 1841, locating in Cleveland, Ohio. His father was a clergyman, and Brydolf had received a good education. He was by profession a landscape painter. In 1846 he came to Burlington with a party of Swedish immigrants, being their interpreter on the journey as well as assisting them in securing land after they arrived at their destination.'^

Fabian Brydolf deserves to be remembered among Iowa's early pioneers. Mr. J. A. Larsen ^ gives me the following sketch of him which I take the liberty to print: "Brydolf enlisted for the Mexican War in the 13th U. S. Regulars, was in active service throughout the war. At the beginning of the Civil AVar he raised a company for the 6th Iowa Vol- unteers, Co. I. He lost his right arm at the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, was rewarded for bravery with pro- motion to Lieutenant Colonel of the 21st Iowa. He received commissions from President Lincoln (in 1863) making him Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps. ^ Col. Brydolf has the record of being a gallant

1 Scandinavians, p. 158.

2 Of Burlington, Iowa.

s In which capacity he served until 188(5. See Nelson, who gives a fuller biography of Brydolf. — Scandinavians, pp. 1-58-159.

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soldier and a good disciplinarian. He died at l>urlington, Iowa, January 25, 1897."

The next Swedish settler in Burlington was Anders Norr- man, who with his wife came in 1847 from Malander, Sweden. In that year came also M. F. Hakanson, men- tioned above, ^ and in 1849 Johan Ingarson, from Norra Yi in Ostergotland. Others certainly had settled in the town by 1849 but their names have not come down to us. By 1850 there were, according to several authorities, about two hundred Swedes in and about the city.^ It seems, how^ever, that many of these were not actual settlers, but located there merely temporarily, later moving inland into the State. ^ Among those who settled there in 185U the following may be named: John Augustus Johnson, from Norra Vi, came in August in the ship Minona via Boston, Albany, BuflPalo, and Chicago, thence by stage to Rock Island ; Anders Wall, four brothers, a sister, and mother arrived from Ulrika, Sweden, in October, 1850;* and, finally, Charley Magnus Staff, wife and four children.

The next settlement was formed in 1846 in Boone County,^ 170 miles northwest of New Sweden. Those who first located in this locality were from Kisa, Ostergotland, Sweden. With the intention of joining Kassel's settlement

1 Who, however, soon went to New Sweden. Hakanson was born at Konneby in Blekinge.

2 J. A. Larsen, Burlington, (in letter), and also Norelius, p. 101.

2 Mr. Larsen writes that most of those who came at this date stayed only a short time. In fact, even as late as 1857 this was the case. M. F. Hakanson writes (quoted by Norelius): "There are not many who own real property. Most of them are families that remain for a time, and afterward they go farther into the country, but others come in their place."

* Most of this party located north of Fort Des Moines.

^ In Douglas and Garden townships.

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they by mistake went west as far as liacoou Forks. A part of the company later went to Jefferson County; the rest, however, being attracted to the locality, decided to locate in Boone Connty, preempting claims twenty-five miles north of Fort Des Moines,^ just across the Boone County line. These were Magnus Anderson and six minor children ; Mrs. Dalander with four sons and two daughters, Emil, Lars P., John, Swan, Anna, and Ulrica,^ all grown; Jacob Nelson with two adopted daughters; Andrew Adamson and wife; and John Nelson, an elderly man who in the first years was the religious teacher of the settlers. All were farmers except Andrew Adamson and John Dalander, who were carpenters.^ Among those who located there in the following years were Carl J. Cassel, son of the founder of the New Sweden settlement, and Fred Johnson (1851), son of Anders Johnson, who died in Keokuk in 1851. The nearest town was Fort Des Moines, and they were eighty miles from the nearest grist mill. Some of these settlers later lost their claims and moved twenty-five miles farther north, settling then in Webster County on the Des Moines River (see below). The first deed recorded in the county was given to Mrs. Dalander and her sons for the land which they entered from the government at the time of their arrival.*

In the fifties Carl J. Cassel and the Dalanders platted a town on their land and called it Swede Point. Those who

1 Which at that time consisted of only a few log-houses, says Norelius.

- Ulrica Dalander married Carl J. Cassel (son of Peter Kassel) at Fairfield, Jefferson County, in 1840. — History of Jefferson County, Chicago, 1879, p. 418.

s Facts furnished me by John Anderson, of Madrid, son of Magnus Anderson, who came from Polk County in 1847.

* A Biographical Record of Boone County, 1902, biography of Eric Dalander.

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located at Swede Point (now Madrid) were mostly Ameri- cans, however, but there were ten Swedish families there in 1855. The Webster County settlement increased steadily, being from the first one of the most prosperous in the State. The settlement that properly comes next in order is that of Bergholm in western Wapello County, which was origi- nally an off-shoot of the New Sweden settlement in Jefferson County. In 1847 Peter Anderson and wife,^ Edd Fager- strom, C. Kilberg,^ wife and five children^ and Sven Jacob- son^ located there. Anderson and Kilberg took several hundred acres of land, were prosperous and did much to develop the locality in its early days. While the settle- ment never became large there were some immigrants the years following, especially in 1853 and 1854.* Among these were Per Gustaf Anderson^ and wife (1851) from Dalhem, Kalmar, Gustaf Johnson*^ (1852) and family ( 1853) from the same localit}^, Carl Johnson,*^ Sven Burgeson, both from Knared, Halland (1853), John Palson from Hal- land, Anders Pearson (Pehrson) also from Laholm Hal- land in 1853, Nels Pearson and v/ife (1854) from Knared, Halland, Nels Swenson, Johannes Swenson, Sven Larsen

1 From Fryserum, Province of Kalmar, Sweden, born 1817.

3 From Laholm, Halland, Sweden. He died a few years ago at Seattle, Wash- ington. The name was in this country changed to Chilberg. Consul Andrew Chilberg of Seattle is a son of C. Kiiberg.

s Also from Laholm, Halland, Sweden.

^Norelius gives the number of Lutheran families in 1857 as twenty-two.

6 Born 1820, died March 1.3, 1001.

« Still living at Munterville, Vv'apello Co, Yns. Nels Pearson and Mrs. Sven Larsen are also both still living. IJev. E. T. Lindcen, pastor of the Swedish Lutheran church at Bergholm, writes me that of those who took part in the organization of the church in 18-'j6 eight are still living, four men and four women.

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and family, the last three from Knarecl in the year 1854. In 1857 there were twenty -two families. Norelius says of the settlement at the time: "They lived for some time almost without any intercourse with or knowledge of other Swedes in America. * * ^ Some became in time quite wealthy and all were comfortable. They owned from 40 to 400 acres of land each. Most of them had come from Hal- land, a few from Ostergotland. "

A settlement was formed in 1849 in Hardin township in Webster County near the Boone County line. This settle- ment, called Swede Bend and which later extended into Marion township in Hamilton County, was founded by those who had been forced to give up their claims in south- ern Boone County (see above, p. 610). The founder of the settlement was John Linn, born 1826, in Dodringhult, Smaland, Sweden, who with his wife came that year. When he and a few others located in Hardin township there were no white settlers in that part of Webster County.^ Linn lived as a farmer until 1854 when he became converted to Methodism by Gustaf Smith, a Swedish Protestant Metho- dist minister, who visited the settlement and made some converts there that year. Among the early settlers was also Andrew Erickson, who had emigrated from Bollnas, Hels- ingland, to Victoria, Illinois, in 1849. He came to Swede Bend in 1854 as a Methodist (Episcopal) missionary, in which capacity P. Kassel also visited the locality that year. Through the work of Kassel, Erickson, and Linn the Meth-

1 See Scandinavians, Vol. I, p. 184, where biography of Linn is printed. Nel- son writes: " While log huts were being put up for the winter, Linn and his wife took up temporary quarters under the trunk of a basswood tree which had been felled so that its butt end rested on the stump."

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odist (Episcopal) church^ became established among the Swedes in Webster County several years before the Luther- ans, in Rev. M. F. Ilakanson, sent their first missionary there. Among the early pioneer leaders were P. J. Peter- son (later ordained as a minister), John Nelson, Samuel Peterson, Peter Swedlund, A. P. Anderson, Hon. Augustus Anderson, Peter Linn, Gustaf Linn, John Lindberg, and Carl Monson. Some of the prominent pioneers among the Lutherans were: Hans Hanson, Peter Larson, Lars. Ander- son, Andrew Johnson, G. A. Erickson, Adolf Hanson, John Berg(|vist, C. J. A. Ericson,^ Andrew Lundblad, Gustaf Rustan, Carl Fellerson, and Hans Oberg. In 1860 the settlement numbered a little over 100; since that time it has grown to be one of the most influential settlements in the State.

A short distance south of Swede Bend across the Boone County line at Ridge Port (postoffice, Mineral Ridge) a col- ony was located in the earlier fifties. The history of this colony is closely bound up with that of the two colonies on the North. Some of the earliest settlers here were Anders Adamson, Lars Fallen, Nicholas Peterson, Adolph Hanson, and Jon Jonson.^ In the spring of 1859, C. J. A. Ericson* came to Ridge Port and there opened a small store. From

1 Linn was converted to the Methodist Episcopal belief by Kassel and Erickson.

8 For a personal history of Senator Ericson, see A Biographical Eecord of Boone County, 1902, pp. 223-220; Ilistory of Scandinavians, Vol. II, pp. 164-1G6; and Progressive Men of loioa, Vol. II, p. 227.

3 Thomas Olson, a Norwegian, also located there at the time. The facts regard- ing northern Boone County and in part also those for Webster County have been kindly furnished me by Senator Ericson, of Boone.

* Senator Ericson came from Altona, Knox County, Illinois. As rental for the store building Mr. Ericson tells me he paid the sum of ^3 per month, and for the residence, a log house of two rooms, he paid $1.50 per month.

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a letter from Mr. Ericson I liere quote the following as of special interest: "Times were hard and all the settlei's Avere poor. There was practically no money in the country; the business was largely what was termed 'barter.' Pro- ducts current at the store were, honey, beeswax, maple sugar, hides, furs, and ginseng. Flour was worth $7 per 100 pounds, but none to be had. AVe used corn meal for bread, which was worth $2 per bushel. Merchandise had to be hauled by teams from Iowa City, then the terminus of the railroad, 150 miles, at a cost of about $1.25 per 100 pounds, usually requiring two weeks to make the round trip. The roads were mostly mere trails across the prairies with bridges lacking over many of the streams; the teamsters en- countered many hardships and difficulties on these trips."

The settlements whose beginnings we have just discussed and which include the three counties of Boone, Webster, and Hamilton, count among their members many of the most enterprising and prosperous men in the State. It is the largest and most influential Swedish community in Iowa.

In Allamakee and Clayton counties two independent set- tlements were formed at a very early date, the first a little southwest of Lansing, the second between McGregor and Sny Magill. The earliest beginning of the settlement in Allamakee County dates back to 1860, when Erik Sann- man^ from Hudiksvall in Helsingland located there. In the same year G. A. Swedberg arrived from Hudiksvall, and Erik Sund from Tuna.^ Further, in 1851, and from the same locality, came Anders Brorstrom and Anders

1 Emigrated in 1849.

" These came in the same ship, but, had remained a while in Illinois.

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Erson, from Gnarp in Helsingland, together with a few others Immigration continued in the following year, Anders Dan- ielson from Ostergotland, A. G. Olson/ Andrew Anderson, P. J. Amquest, and Ole G. Anderson being especially named; but the settlement never became large.

The second settlement, founded 1851, was located four miles south of McGregor, near the Sny Magill Eiver.^ The founders were Staft'an Peterson, Staffan Staflianson,^ and Jan Larson. These were led to emigrate by a brother-in-law of Staffan Peterson who was an ardent Jansenist. Not thriving at Bishop Hill, they went north as far as McGregor, where they with Larson, whom they had met in Illinois, preempted land and located. In 1858 there were eight families in the settlement.

These two small settlements were, therefore, formed from Bishop Hill, Illinois. They have always stood isolated from the remaining Swedish settlements in the State; they have sent forth no founders of colonies to the West. The earliest settlement in Jefferson County is in its origin closely con- nected with those of Pine Lake, Wisconsin, and Victoria, Illinois. It in turn became in the following years a distrib- uting point from which came many of the early pioneers of all the other early colonies to the west and the northwest, the beginnings of which we have endeavored to sketch in these pages.

1 The son of Andrew and Bertha Olson, who came in 1854.

2 History of the settlement given in Augustana for December, 1889, by Profes- sor S. M. Hill, of Augustana College.

« From Harjedalen, Norrland. Jan Larsen came from Gestrikland.

THE DANISH CONTINGENT IN THE POPULATION OF EARLY IOWA

INDIVIDUAL IMMIGRATION FROM DENMARK TO AMERICA DOWN TO 1840. THE BEGINNINGS OF ORGANIZED IMMIGRATION. THE EARLIEST CITY COLONIES AND RURAL SETTLE- MENTS. THE COURSE OF MIGRATION TO IOWA

Organized emigration from Denmark is of mucli more recent date than that from Norway or Sweden. According to the United States census of 1860 there were only 5,540 Danes in the United States in that year, the total immigra- tion between 1851 and 1860 being 3,749.^ In that decade the total immigration from Norway and Sweden was 20,931. During the preceding ten years only 539 immigrants had arrived from Denmark. While it would be impossible to ascertain to what extent individual immigration took place before 1851, these figures show that the movement, which had struck such deep root in Norway in the early forties and in Sweden in the later forties, did not take hold of Denmark before the fifties; and even then it was only local, aftecting chiefiy the smaller islands of Moen, ^ro,^ Langeland and LoUand.

1 See Table II, on p. 21.

2 For the years eudinEr September 30, 1815 and 1817, the number of immigrants. from the Scandinavian countries is as follows:

1845 1S47

Norway 813 833

Sweden 115 482

Denmark 54 13

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The first Norwegian settlement was formed in 1825, the first settlement of Swedes in 1841. A few small Danish colonies date back to 1844 and the years immediately fol- lowing; but as a rule they did not grow much until after 1864, which year inaugurated the later extensive immigration from the province of Sleswig.

AVhile, however, extended immigration from Denmark to this country is of comparatively recent date, it is a matter of record that there were Danes in this country twenty years before the establishment of the Swedish colony on the Dela- ware. The date of this earliest visit is 1619, the year before the coming of the Mayflower and five years after the found- ing of New Amsterdam by the Dutch. On page thirty- six above reference has been made to the fact that in the early part of that year King Christian IV, of Denmark, fitted out two ships for the purpose of finding a Northwest passage to Asia.' On May 9, 1619, sixty-six men under the command of Jens Munk, a Norwegian,^ sailed from Copen- hagen bound for the western hemisphere. The fortunes of that exj^edition were briefly described in the article referred to, from w^hich I will here quote the following: — During the autumn of that year and the early part of the following year he (Jens Munk) explored Hudson Bay and took possession of the surrounding country in the name of King Christian, calling it Nova Dania. The expedition was, however, a failure and all but three of the party perished from disease and exposure to cold in the winter of 1620. The three sur-

1 The names of the two ships were, Eenhjoriiingen and Lanipreren.

2 Born in Barby, Norway, in 1579.

I

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vivors, among whom was the commander, Jens Munk, re- turned to Norway in 1620.^

While the commander of the expedition, Jens Munk, was a Norwegian, the crew was made up largely, perhaps exclu- sively, of Danes. Rasmus Jensen Aarhus, a minister, ac- companied the expedition as its chaplain, being thus the first Dane, whose name has come down to us, to visit the New World, as we do not know the names of any of the other members of the expedition. The expedition possesses little importance since it plays no part in American history; nor did it have any influence upon immigration from Denmark. Its interest lies in the fact that it is the first recorded visit of Danes to America and that it was the earliest attempt in modern times at colonization in the United States from a Scandinavian country.

To what extent Danes were present among the early colo- nists of New Netherlands, it would be difiicult to say. It is supposed that there were Danes and Norwegians in New Amsterdam^ as early as 1624.^ There was a fairly prosper- ous colony of Danes and Norwegians in New York about 1700. In 1704 these colonists built a large stone church on the corner of Broadway and Rector streets, the property being later sold to Trinity Church; the present churchyard of Trinity Church occupies the site"* of the old stone build-

1 See also Anderson's First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration, p. 21.

* On p. 37 we have noted the names of two Norwegians living there in 1633.

8 P. S. Vig in De Danske i America, Blair, Nebraska, 1900, p. 4.

■* Rev. K. Anderson believes he can trace this colony back as far as 1617, which, however, seems to me doubtful. Cf. Anderson's First Chapter in Nor- wegian Immigration, p. 21; and above p. 37,

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ing. In this connection it should also be borne in mind that Danish colonies were established in the West Indies as early as 1650, and that after that date Danes frequently found their way from the West Indies to the American col- onies. The name of one such has come down to us to claim a place in Danish American annals, namely, Jockum Melchior Magens, born of Danish parents on March 4, 1715, at St. Thomas. He was a citizen of New York between 1749 and about 1760, returning in the latter year to the West Indies, where he died in August, 1783.^ Similarly Lars Nanne- stad, born in 1757, and one time postmaster at St. Thomas, became a citizen of New York, where he died in 1807. In Trinity Cemetery on Broadway in New York there is a mon- ument with a Danish inscription bearing his name.

The discovery by which Russia laid claim to Alaska was made by a Dane, Vitus Janassen Bering,^ in 1728 and again in 1741. Bering was born in Horsens, Aarhus diocese, Denmark, in 1681. He entered the Russian service in 1704, ^distinguished himself as a sailor, and was sent out on a voyage of exploration along the east coast of Kamtchatka in 1728, which as we know resulted in the discovery of Alaska. ^

1 p. S. Vig ill De Danske i America, p. 5.

2 His grand uncle was the Danish historian, Vitus Bering, born 1617 in Viborg, and one time Professor in Copenhagen University. Winkel-Horn's Illustreret Konversations Lexikon, I, 1892, p. 338.

3 When Bering became a Russian citizen he was required to change his name to Vitus Ivanovich Bering.

* Tliere were also other Norse and Danish navigators in the expedition. The sub-lieutenant was Martin Spanberg, a Dane. See Vitus Bering, by Peter Lau- ridsen, translated by Julius E. Olson, Chicago, 111., for a biography of Bering. See also account of Bering's Voyage of Exploration in Vikings of the Pacific, by A. C. Laut, New York. Macmillan. 1905. Pp. 161. Bering had fought in the Black Sea War in 1611.

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The founding of Moravian colonies in Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania in the 18th century has been referred to above, as has also the fact that Scandinavians were represented in considerable numbers among the found- ers of Moravianism in America.* In 1737 Moravian teach- ings were introduced into Denmark. Persecuted German Moravians had already in 1735 established a colony in Sa- vannah, Georgia. As converts to Moravianism in Denmark could not there legally practice their belief, they emi- grated to this country taking part in the founding of the colony at Bethlehem in 1740 and Bethabara, North Caro- lina, in 17-17. One of the prominent Moravian ministers in the Bethlehem colony at the time, Paul Daniel Berzelius, a Dane, we have had occasion to refer to above ^ as preaching among the Delaware Swedes in the Gloria Dei Church in Philadelj^hia, and among whom he made many converts. That there were Danes also among the Swedes in New Sweden seems very likely. In the lists of names of parish- ioners that appear in the church records of the colony there are several that are more distinctively Danish than Swedish in character.^

Among the German Lutherans in Pennsylvania there were Scandinavian preachers of that belief as early as the forties in the 18th century.^ Peter Brunholtz, who came to Phila-

1 p. 78.

« Pp. 38 and 78.

8 It may be borne in mind that Skane, Blekinge, and Halland -were not politi- cally Swedish until 1658, when they were ceded to Sweden at the Peace of Ros- kilde. I am not able to say now to what extent these provinces contributed to the population of New Sweden.

* We have before spoken of a Swedish preacher, Lars Nyberg, who was pastor of a German Lutheran church in Lancaster, Penn. — See above p. 78.

Ill

delphia in 1745, and who served as Lutheran minister among the Germans in Germautown and Philadelphia until his death in 1758, was a Dane, having been born in Nybol,^ Sleswig. Danish names are met with elsewhere. Johan Christian Leps, sometime pastor in the present Athens, New York, was of Danish birth. He is also recorded as a teacher in a German school in Philadelphia in 1773, the first high school that was founded by Germans in Pennsylvania.^ In 1782 Leps withdrew from the ministry and settled on a farm near Macungie, Pennsylvania. ^

But these early records are few and far between. Not until the second quarter of the 19th century does individual immigration begin on a larger scale ; and even then we have but scant material bearing upon Danish- American immigra- tion history.

Statistics show that there were only 120 Danes in the country in 1820; in 1840 the number does not seem to have been more than 1252. A few of these will fittingly find mention here because of their prominence or because of their influence upon Danish-American immigration. The name of Charles William Borup occupies an important place in the early annals of Minnesota. He was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1806. He was educated for the medical pro- fession in his native country but emigrated to America in 1827 and located in New York. In the following year he became agent for the American Fur Company and was sta-

1 At that time absolutely Danish linguistically, as of course politically. Since 1864 it has, of course, been German territory.

2 Founded by J. C. Kunze. It closed its doors in 1776. » Facts from De Danske i Amerika, p. 5.

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tioned near Lake Superior. He was then undoubtedly the first Dane in Wisconsin and Minnesota and as far as we know the first in the Northwest. In 1848 Borup settled in St. Paul, and in 1853 became the founder of the first bank in Minnesota.' He is reputed to have been the best financier in the Territory. He was later appointed Danish consul, and was also instrumental in the building of the first Scan- dinavian church in Minnesota.

Another western pioneer who came to America in the same year was Niels Christian Boye; but of this Iowa pioneer we shall have occasion to speak below.

The name of Anton R Rude, Dr. TheoL, holds a prom- inent place in the early history of the South Carolina Synod of the Lutheran Church. He was born in Denmark, October 5, 1813, and came early to America.^ From Vig's account of him we gather the facts that he studied in Andover, Massachusetts, and in the Lutheran Seminary at Gettys- burg, Pennsylvania, was in 1842 ordained into the Lutheran ministry, in which capacity he served in the South Carolina Synod until his death, March 21, 1883. He was for a time editor of Lutheran Visitor, and a professor in the Synod's seminary.

AVe may further mention the names of Dr. Brandstrup, whom we find located in Philadelphia since 1831, Peter Bennesen,^ who came to New York in 1832, and Peder Andreas Mosbol, a merchant whom we find located there since 1836. Henry M. Braem, Danish Consul in New

1 In connection with his brother-in-law, Chas. H. Oakes, says Nelson in Scan- dinavians, Vol. I, p. 378.

« "In his early youth", says P. S. Vig; but the exact year is not known. s I believe that the name was later Americanized to Bennieson.

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York, and Knight of Dannebrog, was born in New York in 1836. His father was a prosperous merchant there before 1836.1

The well-known Lutheran churchman, Edmund Belfoui', Dr. TheoL, founder of Trinity and Wicker Park English Lutheran churches in Chicago, pastor in Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, is by birth a Dane, being born in Alster, Island of Sjaelland (Zealand), in 1833. His father emigrated to America in 1839, the mother and seven children following in 1841. In 1850 Edmund Belfour matriculated in the Col- lege of the City of New York, from which he was graduated with honors in ethics and oratory in 1854; entering the Theo- logical Seminary of the Lutheran Church in Gettysburg that year, he was ordained a minister in 1857. Dr. Belfour is a prominent contributor to the Lutheran Eiicyclopedia^ and a leader in the English Lutheran Church of America.^

Among these early Danes belongs also Peter Lassen, one of the first pioneers in California. He was born in Copen- hagen, August 7, 1800, learned the blacksmith's trade in his native country, and emigrated to America in 1829. Going to California in 1839, he there became a miller and ranch- man. He was a respected, influential citizen and occupies a position of considerable prominence among the early pioneers of the Golden State. ^ His name is preserved in Lassen County.

Lauritz Brandt, a mechanician and inventor who lived

1 According to Vig, p. 81.

2 Dr. Belfour is at present pastor of a Lutheran congregation in Aleghany, Penn., as Rev. Learner of Iowa City informs me.

^ Lassen^tt||^sa^ijatedji) 1859. I have not been able to ascertain under ■what circumstances.

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in New York between 1840 and 1881, was a Dane. He was born in Svendberg, Denmark, in 1807, where he learned Lis trade from his father. In 1829 he left his native coun- try, living two years in St. Petersburg, later in Prague, Vienna, Munich, and Berlin. He came to New York in 1840, being for some time connected with the type foundry of David Bruce, Jr. Here he invented a machine for the manufacture of type; after that he lived some years in Europe, returning to New York in 1848. At the age of seventy- four he returned to Copenhagen.

One early Danish minister to America, Peder Pederson, I will mention esj^ecially because of his able service and his long residence in this country. From 1802 to 1831 he rep- resented Denmark as Consul and Acting Ambassador, with residence in Philadelphia.^ Pederson was especially instru- mental in bringing about the commercial treaty of 1826 be- tween Denmark and the United States. He received many titles and orders from his government in recognition of val- uable service to his country. Pederson died in Copenhagen in 1851. His successor as minister was the no less well known Steen Anderson Bille, minister from 1838 to 1854.

These names bring us down to 1844, at which time immi- gration from Denmark may be said, for a time at least, to enter upon a new phase. ^ Immigrants begin to come in more or less organized groups, resulting in the establish-

1 Pederson was born in 1774 in Soro. Tlie first Danisli minister to the United States was Peter Blicher Olsen, who was Consul General from 1800 to 1802.

* In the years 1847 to 1852 there was almost no immigration from Denmark, a fact which was due in large part undoubtedly to the war of 1848-49 (in Sleswig). In the years closing Sept. 30, 1845, 1847, and that closing Dec. 31, 1852, immi- grants from Denmark numbered respectively 54, 13, and 3. See also note 1, p. ii20, above.

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luent of city colonies and small rural settlements in differ- ent parts of the country. At first these groups are very small and represent, as we have said above, only local movements at home. Between 1848 and 1850 there came, according to the United States census, only 539 immigrants from Denmark. Nevertheless this period represents the be- ginning of the formation of settlements.

As we should expect, the first city colony was established in jSTew York City. From the beginning of the nineteenth century we meet with Danes in JSTew York.^ We have already seen that a Dane, Peter Bennesen, lived there as early as 1832, and that the father of Consul Braem was a j^rosperous merchant there before 1836. Our records are extremely meagre, but it does not seem unlikely that a con- siderable number of the 1063 Danes who came to this coun- try between 1831 and 1840 had located in Xew York City or Philadelphia, in which latter city was still the residence of the Danish Consulate. The presence in ISTew York of a Danish mission and a Danish church in the early part of the eighteenth century may have led to the choice of New York as a home on the part of many Danes who came in the nine- teenth century; while their near kinsmen, the Swedes in Delaware and Philadelphia, and more particularly the Danish Moravians, would have been a strong influence to attract them to Philadelphia.^

On June 27, 1844, there was formed a Scandinavian society in New York called Scandinavia, the first of its

1 Other than the mission of Rev. Aarhus (1700), which I take it had lost its distinctive nationality before 1800.

2 Among the earliest Danes in Philadelphia were Di-. Bonneville, who came before 1825, and Harman Boye who came in 182.5. See below, p. 233.

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kind iu this country. The founder was James Peterson.-^ Among the founders and early members of the society there were many Danes. As members of the Danish colony we find Harro Paul Harring,~ Hans Jorgen Hansen, Peter Gildsig,^ N. Erlandsen, Martin F. Sorensen, E. T. Chris- tiansen, Hans P. C. Hansen, Lauritz Brandt, and Peder Mosbol. Among the prominent Danes in the Xew York colony is to be especially mentioned Paul C. Binding, the first appointee to a Scandinavian professorship in an Amer- ican university, the University of New York, where he was made Professor of Scandinavian Literature in 1859.* He is also the author of a very well -written work, History of Scandinavia from the Early Times of the Nortlimen and Vikings to the Present Day^ which reached the tenth edi- tion.^

In Baltimore there have been Danes since 184:6, though in small numbers. The earliest Danish settler in Chicago was probably Christoft'er Johnson, who was born in Copen- hagen, 1819, came to Chicago, 1838, and died there, 1896.^ George P. Hansen, a Dane, is also named as living in Chi- cago about the same time. Milwaukee had a Danish set- tler as early as 1844. His name is C. H. Molbieck and

1 Of whose Danish nationality, however, I am not absohitely certain.

2 Born in Husum diocese, Denmarlc, 1798; died in 1870 in London.

* He built and was proprietor of the Gilsey House, on Broadway, one of New York's substantial hotels at the time. The present proprietors are, I believe, two sons of Peter Gilsey.

■* See account of this in an article entitled Nordiske Studier i amerikanske Universiteter, by George T. Flom, that appeared in Amerika, September 9 and 16, 1898.

« The work is dedicated to James Lenox, founder of the Lenox Library in New York. Prof. Sinding was born in Alsted, Denmark, in 1813.

* A brief account of him is given by Vig, p. 108.

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he is still living there, having finished his eightieth year last October.^ There were, however, few Danes in the city before 18(30, C. H. J. Moller, editor of Fremad, and Lars Lamp^ (w^ho came in 1S59), being named as the earliest. There were Danes early in New Orleans, as e. g. , Henry Frelson, who w\as a wealthy merchant — but the records are exceedingly meagre. Among other towns may be men- tioned Watertown, Wis., w^here Lauritz Jacob Fribert located as editor of Dagen in 1842; Kenosha, Wis., settled by Danes before 1850; Neenah, Wis., also settled before 1850; W^aupaca, Wis.; Jamestown, New^ York; Perth Am- boy, Xew Jersey; Moline, Illinois; Salt Lake City;^ and Indianapolis.

In the last named city a small colony of Danes from Moen was formed about 1860; and here was organized the first Danish Lutheran congregation in America in the nine- teenth century, April 17, 1868.^ My friend, the Rev. M. Fr. Wiese,^ who organized this church and was its first pastor, writes me that the first Dane in the city w^as Peter Weis from Moen, who came in 1860 or, possibly a little

1 His address is 320 Tliird Ave. Facts obtained from P. Jacobsen, Racine, Wis.

2 He later became a pioneer settler at Sleepy Eye, Brown County, Minnesota. 8 Where there was a Dane as early as 1847 — Hans Christian Hansen, born in

Copenhagen, Denmark, November 23, ISOO, died in Salina, Silver County, Utah, 1890. " He was a pioneer musician of Utah, as well as one of the fii-st .settlers, and a good citizen," writes J. F. Smith, Jr., of Salt Lake City, in a letter to me under date of November 29, 1905.

••Facts therefor not correct in Bille, A History of the Danes in America, p. 16, Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Vol. XL

"M. Fr. Wiese, Pastor of the West Koshkonong church of the Norwegian Synod at Clarkson, Wisconsin, was born in Falster, Denmark, May 11, 1842, em- igrated to America in 1SG3, locating first in Racine, later coming to Madison, Wisconsin. He was for a long time pastor of a Norwegian Lutheran church at Cambridge, Story County, Iowa.

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earlier. About the same time came Rasmus Svendsen and wife; and he became a grocery merchant there. N. P. Olson was also among the first settlers. In 1868 there were about fifty Danes, writes Rev. Wiese, mostly from Falster, but some from Moen and Sjiellaud.

The earliest rural settlements are: (1) that of Hartland, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, founded in 1845 by Chr. Christiansen, from Lolland, Denmark, and whose descend- ants still reside there; (2) New Denmark, Brown County, Wisconsin, settled first by Niels Hansen Godtfredsen and wife and two others from Langeland in 181:8;^ (3) R;aymond Township, Racine County, Wisconsin, where there were Danes in the early forties;^ (4) Gowen, Montcalm County, Michigan, a very large settlement of Danes from Holbsek, Sjtelland, dating from 1850. The first settler in Gowen was August Rasmussen, from Hallebyore (18oU), who was also instrumental in bringing others of his countrymen to the settlement. Rasmus Jensen from Sjeby diocese, Sj?el- land, came in 1852; Anders Jensen and Jens Sorensen both from Hallebyore were among the earliest settlers. The first Danes in Racine were Rev. C. L. Clausen, who came in 1843, C. M. Reese (year not known), and P. C. Lutken, who came in 1857.^ From these settlements as well as directly from Denmark through Clinton, Burlington, and

' Godtfredsen was born in Stoense diocese in 181-1; died in 1894.

2 As Peder Jolian Mourier, born in Denmark in 1812; died in Racine, Wiscon- sin, in 1853. He may have been the first Dane in the township.

» According to letter from Peter Jacobsen, of Racine. Of this interesting and important settlement Mr. Jacobsen has kindly furnished me a full account with complete list of settlers down to 1873, which, however, space forbids including in this discussion.

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Davenport as the gateways of immigration, Iowa received its first Danish citizens. We shall now pass on to the first Danish immigration into Iowa.

THE FIRST DAXES IN IOWA. THE EARLIEST DANISH SETTLE- MENTS IN THE STATE. THE COURSE OF MIGRATION. THE ELK HORN SETTLEMENT IN SHELBY COUNTY. BANES IN POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY. THE COMING OF THE DANES TO DAVEN- PORT AND DES MOINES

The first Dane, and indeed the first Scandinavian in Iowa, was Niels Christian Boye, who was born in Lolland, Den- mark, in 1786. He came to America in 1827 to settle an in- heritance, left by his brother, Harman Boye, who had come to this country in 1825 and had been engaged in the Virginia State survey. Boye, Avho had l^een a merchant in Den- mark, decided to remain in America, located in Philadel- phia, and conducted a store there until 1837, when he re- moved west as far as Iowa, settling first in the present County of Muscatine and later in Linn County. In 1812 he came to Iowa City, where he was engaged in merchandiz- ing^ until his death in 1849.'^ Boye was thus not only the first Dane in Iowa, but also very likely the first Scandi-

1 J. B. Newhall in A Glimpse of Iowa in IS46, Burlington, 1846, p. 91, men- tions Boye as a grocer and provision merchant.

2 He died of cholera in St. Louis where he had gone for the purpose of buying goods for his basiness. I may cite the following from an obituary of the time. "Died of cholera in St. Louis, Mo., on Saturday, the 23d of June, 1819, Neil C. Boye, merchant of this city. Mr. Boye visited St. Louis for the purpose of re- newing his stock of goods, and whilst thus employed, fell a victim to the fearful scourge which for some months past has been devastating that city. Seldom have we witnessed so deep and general an expression of sorrow for the dead and sympathy for the living as in this instance."

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navian in the State, having come to Iowa at least two years before Hans Baiiien.^ Boye was married and had thirteen children all of whom emigrated with him except one — later the famous Danish surgeon, Claudius Julius Boye, who died in Copenhagen in 1879. Miss Julia Boye of 533 North Linn Street, Iowa City, is a daughter of N. C. Boye, and the only surviving member living in Iowa City. A son, Chas. Boye, printer, died in June, 1904, in Iowa City, Another son, Erasmus Boye, is residing at Coft'eyville, Kansas.

The first Danish pioneer in the western part of the State was in all probability Christopher Overgaard Mynster,^ who was born in Copenhagen, June 24, 1796. In 1846 he emi- grated to America with his family, locating as a merchant in Washington, D. C, where he lived until 1850. In that year he came to Kanesville (Pottawattamie County), the present Council Bluffs, and bought a large number of claims of Mormon residents who were about to leave for Utah.^ In the following year he returned to Washington for his family. He settled 23ermanently in Kanesville, where he died from the Asiatic cholera in 1852.* The Mynster fam- ily were the only Danes in Kanesville in that year. Wm. A. Mynster, a well-known attorney of Council Bluiis,^ was a son of C. O. Mynster. He was born in Copenhagen in

1 See above, p. 58.

2 Eev. Vlg says that the Danish form of the name Monster, was changed to avoid being called "Monster."

* Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, 1891, p. 319.

* As Rev. Vig informs me.

6 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County^ p. 320; and also Historical Atlas of Iowa, 1875, p. 532.

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1843, being eight years old when the family settled in Kanesville. The family name appears in "Mynster Park" and in the "Mynster Addition" to the city of Council Blnfts.

We have already referred to Rev. Clans Laurits Clausen as the iirst Dane in Eacine, AVisconsin. He organized there, in 1843, a Norwegian congregation, and served until 1852 as pastor for various Norwegian congregations in southern Wisconsin.^ It would be tempting to give a fuller account of this Danish pioneer, this great churchman, who became one of the leaders in religious work among the early Nor- wegian settlers in Wisconsin and Iowa, as also, though to a far less extent, among the Danes in Iowa. Since, however, his activity was associated so largely with the Norwegian church, and as w^e have already had occasion to speak of him above in connection with an account of the settling of Mitchell County, Iowa, by the Norwegians,^ only a brief note will be added in this place.

Clansen was born in ^ro, in the diocese of Sogn, Den- mark, on November 3, 1S20. He was educated for the ministry and it w^as his intention to enter the African mis- sion. On a visit to Norway in 1841, however, he w^as urged by T. O. Bache, a merchant in Drammen, to go rather to America as there w^as great need of missionaries and teachers among the Norwegian settlers in southern Wiscon- sin, from whom letters had come asking for religious instruc-

1 Brief biographies of Clausen may be found in Anderson's First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration, Nelson's History of Scandinavians, and Vig's De Danske i America.

2 See p. 70.

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tors/ Clausen decided to do this and emigrated in 1843, accepting a call in the old Miiskego settlement^ in Eacine County, Wisconsin. I do not believe there were any Danes in the settlement at the time of the organization of the con- gregation although the town of Raymond received many Danish settlers very soon thereafter. In 1846 Clausen took charge of the Norwegian congregations on Rock and Jeft'er- son Prairies, Wisconsin. In 1852 he led a number of emi- grants across the State into Iowa as far west as St. Ansgar, Mitchell County, lowa;^ where a settlement was effected, being the westernmost white settlement in Northern Iowa at that time. As the settlement was exclusively Norwegian and remained so, we need not further discuss its history in this connection.^

Clausen was the first president of The Norwegian Evan- gelical Lutheran Synod in Afnerica, informally organized, January 6, 1851,^ at Rock Prairie, Wisconsin. In 1868 he withdrew from the Norwegian Synod; and when the Nor- wegian-Danish Conference was organized in 1870 he wrote

1 An account of these facts was given by President C. K.' Preus (of Luther College) in an address before Edda, at the State University of Iowa, Dec. 15, 1905, on Pioneer Church Work Among the Nonoegians in Ainerika, a brief ac- count of which appeared in Skandinaven (Chicago), for Friday, December 29th, 1905, over the signature — X.

2 This settlement had been founded in 1839. — See The loiua Journal of History and Politics for July, 1905, p. 360.

3 See p. 70, note 3, where an account of that interesting expedition is quoted.

* There were only fifty-two Danes in the whole of Mitchell County as late as 1870.

^This is the year that I have always understood to be that of the organization of the Synod, and writers usually give it so. President Preus informs me, how- ever, that the formal and actual organization was not effected before October, 1853. An account of the organization of the Synod in that year was given by Pres. Preus in the lecture before Edda referred to above, note 1.

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its constitution and became its President, resigning, how- ever, in 1872 on account of poor health. While living in Iowa he directed missionary vrork among the early Danes in the State and organized vai'ious congregations. There- after he lived some 3'ears in Virginia and Pennsylvania; in 1878 he accepted a call to a Norwegian Lutheran congrega- tion in Austin, Minnesota, where he remained till 1885. He died in 1892 in Paulsbo, Washington. In 1856-57 Clausen served in the legislature of Iowa as Representative from Winneshiek, Howard, Mitchell, Worth, and Winnebago counties. In the Civil War he was appointed held chaplain of the Scandinavian (15th) regiment of Wisconsin^ by the Governor of AVisconsin. We shall now discuss bi'ieiiy the order and growth of the earliest settlements of Danes in Iowa.

While the Mynster family formed the original nucleus of the extensive Danish population of Council Bluffs it was many years before anything like a colony can l)e said to have been established at that place. The State census of 1856 gives only three Danes for Pottawattamie County, these residing in Kane township; while in 1870 the popula- tion was only 328. In the meantime a permanent settle- ment was effected near Luzerne in Benton County. In 1854-55 a party of sixteen persons, of whom Peter Nikol- ajsen and the brothers Gustav Adolf Lundberg and Vilhelm Lundberg were the leaders, located there. The last two were from Soro, Denmark.^ Peter Nikolajsen was born in

1 An account of the steps that led to the organization of the famous " 15th Wisconsin" at Madison, "Wisconsin, on September 15, 1861, is given in Amerika for December 15, 1905.

- They both died in Iowa.

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Copenhagen, 1812, came to New York, October 29, 1851, and to Iowa three years later. ^ Xikolajsen was a tailor by trade; later he became a lay preacher of considerable note among the Danes and was withal a remarkable man, writes Kev. P. S. Vig.3

The census of 1856 shows that there were small settle- ments in Center Township, Clinton County,^ in Iowa Town- ship, Jackson County, and in Burlington. The nucleus of a later settlement was also effected at Elk Horn in Shelby County, the census of 1856 showing that five Danes were then located in Allen's Grove Township in that county. This settlement, which extends into the neighboring county (Audubon), is now the largest Danish settlement in the State, the total number of Danes of foreign birth being 2672. There are not, however, as many Danes residing in either Shelby or Audubon County alone as in Pottawattamie County, the total number in this county being 1808.*

We have seen that there were only three Danes in Potta- wattamie County in 1856. In that year, however. Council Bluffs and vicinity received material additions to its Danish population, the new immigrants being part of a number of Mormon converts brought from Copenhagen that year un- der the leadership of John Ahmanson. In his book, Vor Tids Muliammeil,^ Ahmanson describes the coming of this party of 162 Danes. The account is of sufficient interest, I

1 Nikolajsen died in Cedar Falls, Iowa, April 25, 1003.

* In letter of November 30, 1905. To Rev. Vig I am indebted for the facts rela- tive to the Luzerne settlement.

' The colony of the city of Clinton is of somewhat later date. *The total number of Danes of foreign birth and foreign parentage in the three counties in 1900 was about 10,000.

* The Mahomet of Our Time, published in Omaha, 187G.

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think, to be quoted. The party, he says,^ "left Copen- hagen, April 23, 185(j. On the 30th of April the steamship reached Liverpool, the -ith of May they left Liverpool and on the 1-ith of June they landed in New York. From this place to Iowa City they travelled by rail under the direction of the Mormon apostle, John Taylor. AYest of Iowa City there were no railroads at that time, and the 1300 miles that were left to Salt Lake City, therefore, had to be cov- ered on foot or by wagon, which was j^ossible only for those who had the necessary means. Those who did not possess the means to pay for such conveyance, and that was the larger number, had then to make the journey on foot. Moreover, the male traveller had to pull a handcart which

weighed sixty pounds Mr. Ahmanson became the

leader of the Scandinavian division of a handcart train of 500 persons^ from Iowa City which they left the 26th of June, 1856, to Salt Lake City, which they reached the 9th of December. The journey led across the prairie from Iowa City to the Missouri Eiver, the party being there ferried across near the town of Florence, north of Omaha, which at that time formed the boundary between the White man and the Red Skin. The journey from Iowa City to Missouri went along a river in the present Elk Horn Settlement in Shelby County by what is still known as 'the Mormon track' of that expedition. Some of the party had become disheartened by the hardships of such a journey when they had arrived at Florence and they refused to go any farther.

1 From Vig's book, quoting the work referred to.

2 Other proselytes in this country having joined the party, what proportion of these additional three hundred and thirty-eight were Danes I do not know.

126

Many of these repudiated Mormonism entirely; while others, remaining Mormons, settled in Council Bluffs and other places in western Iowa and eastern jN^ebraska."

If the above account is correct, and there is every reason to believe that it is, the colony of Council Bluffs is the old- est Danish colony in western Iowa, and one of the earliest in the State.

Jackson Township, in Lee County, had a Danish popula- tion of eight in 1856; but I have no reliable facts relative to the formation of this settlement which numbered forty-one in 1870. The Danish colony of Davenport dates back to the later fifties, the first Danes being Peter Anderson, Chris- tian Thompson, and Jens Mathiesen. These came between 1857 and 1860.^ The next Dane to arrive was John Juhler,^ who came from Almsted, Alsen, Sleswig, to Davenport in 1861.^ After 1865 immigrants, mostly from Sleswig, came in considerable numbers.

We now come to the so-called Elk Horn settlement to which we have already referred above as being credited with a Danish population of five in the State census of 1856. Several Danes at present residing in Shelby County, of whom I have made inquiry relative to the earliest settle- ment in the county, say, however, that the first Danes to settle in the county came in 1865-68. I take it that there were Danes in 1856, as the United States census records, but I am inclined to think they remained there only tempora- rily, going soon after to the settlement which was then be-

1 According to a letter from Peter Hansen of Davenport, who is, however, not able to give the precise year, s Born in 1342. s John Juhler, however, soon left Davenport.

127

ing formed in Kane ToAA^nsliip in Pottawattamie County. The first Danes to permanently locate in the county were, it seems, Chris. Christensen, born in Doldrup, Gullerup diocese, Denmark, 1885, and Lars Veien, born in Frederiks- havn, Denmark, 1829. These settled at Cuppy's Grove in Monroe Township in 1805.^

In the year 1867 Peter Jensen, born in Borgium diocese, Denmark, came and settled in the same locality.^ Christen Bertram Christensen, from Alborg, Denmark, came in 1868.^ The first Dane in Harlan was Jens Peter Sorenseu, a brickmaker, who came from Jetsmark, Denmark, in 1809.^ J. P. Sorensen is the founder of the Danish Baptist church of Harlan, and C. B. Christensen was one of the charter members of the Cuppy's Grove Danish Baptist Church. The organ of the Danish Baptist church in America, Vcerj- teren, is published in Plarlan. The first Dane to settle in Clay Township was Christian Jensen, who came there from Moline, Illinois, in 18(38. Soon after came Ole Jensen, who is still living in the township. The former is from Hindesholm, near Kerteminde, in the island of Fyeu; the latter is from the island of Moen. In the following years many immigrants arrived from these two islands as well as from ^ro. Those who came from ^ro settled near the northern end of Indian (Jreek, while the immigrants from Fyen and Moen located* near the southern extremity of the

iMr. Veien died in 1903. Mr. Christensen still lives on liis farm at Cuppj^'s Grove.

2 These facts are according to a letter from Louis Christensen, Harlan, Iowa.

« Letter from J. C. Lunn, Harlan, Iowa. Both Christensen and Sorensen are still living in the places where they first settled.

4 Elk Horni loiva, 1875-1900, by P. S. Vig, Blair, Nebraska, 1901, p. 5.

128

Creek. In addition to these the settlement frequently received accessions from earlier Danish settlements in Clin- ton County, Davenport, Racine (Wis.), Chicago, and In- dianapolis. Later it became in turn, the distributing point for many colonies in Nebraska, Minnesota, and elsewhere. The settlement includes the townships of Clay, Monroe, Fairview, Jackson, and Harlan; and extends into Sharon and Oakland townships in Audubon County and down into Brighton Township, Cass County. In Atlantic City there is a considerable Danish colony, as also in Knox Township,^ in Pottawattamie County, just south of the Danish settle- ment in Fairview Township, Shelby County.

The years following the close of the Dano- Prussian war inaugurated an extensive immigration of Danes from Sles- wig. The settlements that had been begun in Iowa received large accessions during this time and new colonies were formed elsewhere. Des Moines received its first Danish pop- ulation in these years, the first Dane to settle there being H. P. Holm, who came in 18(37. In that same year came also Michael Lauritsen, from Davenport, Christian Sorensen, and Lorens Petersen. These first four Danes to settle in Des Moines were from North Sleswig,^ which was ceded to Prussia in 1864, and they are, therefore, entered in the census as Germans.

Rural settlements were now fast springing up throughout

* The extensive Danish population of Pottawattamie County is found almost entirely in the western part of the county.

* According to a letter from my friend Prof. P. P. Hornsyld, of Grand View Col- lege, Des Moines. The same statement will also hold true of Davenport. For these reasons it is extremely difticult to ascertain the real strength of the Danish- speaking population of the State.

129

the State. Thus the extensive colony of Danes in Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County, dates back to about 1860. In that year (or the following) Christian Petersen, from Sles- wig, located there, being the first Dane in the county. In 1866 three young Danes came to Cedar Falls from Berlin, Wisconsin. One of these was Jens C. Anderson, who had been in America since 1857 and had served in the Civil War. He now resides in Blair, Nebraska.^ About the same time Pocahontas County received its first Danish pop- ulation, the first arrival being Marcus Lind from Logum Kloster, Sleswig, who had been in America since 1850." About the same time came Hans Lind from Mogelbouder, Sleswig;^ he settled upon a farm in Pocahontas County about where the town of Kolfe now stands. He moved to Kolfe in 1881.*

The settlement in Clear Lake, Cerro Gordo County, dates back to 1867, in which year Peter Jonsen came, being fol- lowed in 1868 by his two brothers, Louis and Laust Jon- sen, from Jutland; while in 1869 Hans Nelsen and Ole Martensen came from Lolland.^

This, then, brings us down to the year 1867. The Danish settlements of Audubon and Cass counties are subsequent to this year; they are in fact an eastern and southern extension of the Elk Horn settlement, which, as we have seen, had its origin in Shelby County. Elk Horn is the largest and

1 Information in letter from P. S. Vig. ^ I do not know where he had been located. 8 He had been in America since 1860.

* He is in the jewelry business, which had been his trade in Denmark. These facts were given to me in a letter by Rev. Vig.

6 Facts according to a letter from John Rasmussen, Clear Lake, Iowa.

130

most progressive Danish settlement in tlie State. ^ Here is also located the Elk Horn High School and College, a pro- gressive Danish preparatory school supported by the church.^ The Danish population of Marshall and Hamilton counties dates from the years immediately following the period we have discussed. The Danish city . colonies and rural settle- ments in the northern and the northw^estern parts of the State are of more recent foi-mation. In late years Danish immigration has been very small, and no new settlements have been formed in Iowa and rarely elsew^here in the coun- try. The chief influence of the Dane has been in the south- western counties of the State. To their material develop- ment he has contributed a large share.

' A brief account of Elk Horn is given by P. S. Vig in Elk Horn i Iowa, 187 5-1900, pp. 1-9. On pages 10-52 is given a history of the Danish Lutheran Church at Elk Horn, which was organized in 1876.

8 An account of the early days of its history appears in Tlie Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Vol. XI, pp. 20-2-4; also in The Eegister and Leader (Ues Moines) for May 29, 190-4. The Principal of the school is Rev. Th. N. Jersild, to whom I am indebted for some facts relative to the Elk Horn settlement.

THE GKOAVTH OF THE SCANDINAVIAN FAC- TOR IN THE POPULATION OF IOWA

In the preceding articles of this series the earliest immi- gration to Iowa from the three Scandinavian countries has been discussed. In that survey the Norwegian immigration has been traced to the year 1853, the Swedish to 1855, and the Danish to 1867. These years may be taken as dividing the period of the early beginnings of the immigration of the three Scandinavian nationalities into Iowa from the period of the later and most extensive immigration, w^hich continues down to about the year 1885. We have located the earliest settlement of Norwegians at Sugar Creek in Lee County, Iowa, in 1 840, that of the Swedes in New Sweden, Jefferson County, Iowa, in 1845, and the first actual colony of Danes in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, in 1850 and the years following.^ It thus appears that the earliest Scan- dinavian settlers located in Southern Iowa, the part of the State which both by foreign and internal immigration had received the largest share of the incoming population.

From the foregoing discussion it will have been noticed also that the coming of the three nationalities into Iowa is in each case a distinct event in the immigration history of the State. The settlements of these three nationalities bear no relation to one another; and only in a very limited extent do w^e find any mixture of nationality. Thus, in Clayton,

1 A Danish family had, however, located in Muscatine as early as 1837. — See above p. 233.

132

Allamakee, Winneshiek, Fayette, Lee, Mitchell, and Story counties the Norwegians had by 185(5 formed settlements aggregating 2,732 persons. In these counties there were in that year only 21 Danes and 137 Swedes; and a majority of the latter resided in a Swedish settlement in Allamakee County.^ The Swedes have a total population of 73 P in the counties of Boone, Des Moines, Jefferson, Wapello, and AVebster; while in these counties the total Norwegian popu- lation is only 23, and the total Danish population 39. The Danish settlements are similarly isolated from both the Nor- wegian and the Swedish. To some slight extent the first Danish immigrants settled in Norwegian communities. The causes for this are largely linguistic. ^ The Norwegians had formed extensive and flourishing colonies long before the Danes arrived; and when the latter came it was natural that they should join their own kinsmen, the Norwegians, among whom the language of literature and the church w^as so nearly like their own.

While, however, the three nationalities located first in the southern part of the State their history belongs more par- ticularly to the northern and the west-central counties. The Norwegians organized their most extensive settlements in the northern and north-central counties, while the Danes are more particularly associated with the more western counties of Shelby, Audubon, Cass, and Pottawattamie. Of the

1 See p. 104 above.

* Not including Allamakee County where 84 Swedes resided.

8 It should be said, however, that this influence was largely indirect — through the church. Without elaborating the point in this connection I merely wish to say that from the standpoint of the living speech of the great majority of the Scandinavian immigrants of those days the Norwegians and the Swedes stood closer together than the Norwegians and the Danes or the Swedes and the Danes.

133

three nationalities it is the Swede who has contributed most to the development of the southern part of the State; but they too have located in considerable numbers in the central and the northwestern parts — in Boone, Webster, Buena Vista, Cherokee, Kossuth, and Woodbury counties.

The geographical location of the three nationalities in Iowa will, then, be found to correspond very closely with their relative position in the country at large. The Nor- wegians locate farthest north; and their extensive settle- ments are very largely in the northern portions of the "Scandinavian Northwest."^ The Danes have developed their most prosperous communities in a more southerly locality, but may be found also scattered in the north. The Swedes occupy an intermediate position; but in isolated cases they have located almost as far north as the Nor- wegians, while to the south in the Danish line of settlement they have formed some of their most prosperous settlements (as in Illinois, southern Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas). The relative location of the three nationalities is explainable largely by their relation to earlier settlements in the East, and in accordance with the tendency of the westward going settlers to go directly west. This consideration will explain the location of nearly all of the early Scandinavian settle- ments in lowa.^ For instance, on Map II, illustrating the centers of dispersion and course of migration of the Nor- wegians, it has been shown that the Norwegian settlements in northeastern Iowa are mainly descended from those in

1 See above pp. 29-30, and Scandia, Groningen, Holland, I, 109. - The settlement of Xew Sweden in Jefferson County will be an exception — but see above pp. 91-93.

134

Dane, Rock, and Eacine counties in southern AVisconsin. ^ Further, the map also shows that the early settlements in central and southeastern Iowa were made by immigrants who came from the old Fox River settlement in Illinois, founded in La Salle County in 1834.

Among the early settlements in Iowa in direct line west from La Salle County are those of Norway, Benton County, and of Story County, as shown in the map referred to. In this connection a few words may properly be added regard- ing some of the first settlements between 1853 and the tak- ing of the first State census in 1856.

The small settlement in Florence Township, Benton County, Iowa, dates back to the year 1854. The first Nor- wegian in the county was Sara Darnell.^ The founder of the settlement was Jonas P. Nordland,^ who came to Amer- ica in 1853 and located first at Leland, Illinois. In the spring of 1854 he removed to Benton County, Iowa. In company with him at that time were Lars Strand and Sigbjorn Rosdal.* Osmund Tuttle and Filing Ellingsen came during the summer and settled at the same place. These were the first Norwegians in the county. Jonas P. Nordland lived at Norway, Benton County, until his death which occurred on August 23, 1902.^

The settlement in southern Story County, centering around

1 See p. 63.

2 She was married to an American. She had probably come to the county a year or two earlier.

8 Born in Strand, Stavanger County, Norway, January 17, 1819.

* These two, however, returned to Illinois soon after.

^ His son, L. T. Nordland, postmaster at Norway, Benton County, has kindly sent me a detailed account of the coming of his father and the first Norwegians to Benton County, which, however, I am not able to include in this sketch.

135

Cambridge and Slater and extending down into Polk County, was founded in 1854 by immigrants from Lisbon, Illinois. The first Norwegians in the county were Osmund Sheldal, Ole Fatland, Ole Apland, and Osmund Johnson, who were sent out from Lisbon, Illinois, in September, 1854, to select a site for a colony somewhere in Iowa. Upon their return a large number decided to go to Iowa. During the winter preparations were made ; a congregation was actually formed which was given the name Palestine Congregation (undoubt- edly significant as an expression of their expectations). Ole Anderson was elected its minister, Erik Sheldal, deacon, and K. A. Bange, master of its parochial schools. On May 17, 1855, one hundred and six persons left Lisbon, taking with them twenty-five yoke of oxen and teams of horses and a large number of cattle. The party arrived in southwestern Story County, Iowa, on the 7th of June.^

To the same period belongs the formation of the very large Norwegian settlement of Story City and surrounding country. Like that of southern Story County, this is also a daughter settlement of the La Salle colony in Illinois. The account of its formation is in brief as follows: — Highly favorable reports had come from those who had visited Story county in quest of a fitting place to settle in the fall of the preceding year. A large number began making plans to leave for Iowa; but, desiring first to have more reliable facts relative to Iowa, the intending emigrants appointed Jonas Due, jMons Grove, Paul Thompson, Lars

1 For a fuller account, see Becorah-Posten for February 6, 1906, under the cap- tion Lidt NyhijgcjerMstorie, by H. Rued Holand. The same writer has an account of Koshkonong (in Wisconsin) in the January, 1906, number of the quarterly publication of Let norske Selskab ( The Norwegian Society).

136

Sheldal, John N. Tarpestad, John Erickson, Jakob Erikson Aske, Torris Mehus, and Ola Oine as an advance committee to visit Story County and report the results of their investi- gation. These left Lisbon in June, 1855. They drove across the country in prairie schooners, following the over- laud trail. Because of church differences they had been instructed to select a site not immediately adjacent to the settlement that had already been formed by those who had moved thither in the spring of that year.^ Arriving at Newton, Story County, they made a halt; but because of the lack of woods they believed that locality to be undesir- able, and so they continued their journey to the northwestern part of the county. Here they selected a site for a settlement and purchased land for themselves and many of the party who had remained at Lisbon. Thereupon they returned to Illinois. In the fall of that year Thor O. Hedlund and Lars Grindem moved to Story County, and thus became the first settlers. In the summer of 1856 there was an extensive emigration from the Fox River settlement to Story County. A writer in SJcandinaven for Saturday, July 14, 1900, says of the expedition that "nearly all were men with families and when they moved west they made up a train of twenty-four immigrant wagons,^ of which the twenty were drawn by so many yoke of oxen, while the last four were drawn by horses. They took with them among other things a flock of one hundred and fifty cattle. The journey took three weeks.' They arrived at their destination on

1 The settlement in southern Story County was formed by members of the Norwegian Synod; that in northern Story County by people of Hauge's Synod. * The State census of 1856 does not, then, seem to be correct.

137

the ir)tli of June/ being a most exactly a year after tlie expedition to southern Story County. Immigration to this locality continued down to the eighties. To-day the settle- ment extends into Hamilton and Hardin counties and is one of the largest of Scandinavian communities in the North- west. By the census of 1900 there were 3,890 persons in the settlement who were born in Norway and 8, 200 of Nor- wegian parentage, making a total Norwegian speaking pop- ulation of over 12,000. There is also a considerable Danish and Swedish population in these counties and in neighbor- ing settlements, aggregating a total of 6,675 according to the census of 1900. The total Scandinavian speaking pop- ulation in this part of Iowa- in 1900 was 24,000.

The first Norwegians to settle in Worth County were Gud- brand O. Mellem and wife who came in the summer of 1853. They came from St. Ansgar, Mitchell County, where Rev. C. L. Clausen had just founded a settlement. With them came at the same time Ole Fsergerboken, Aslak Larsen and his son Lars, but these soon returned to St. Ansgar.^ The actual founding of the settlement of Northw^ood and vicinity is of a later date. ^ The county in Iowa which has

1 The same writer, Knut Takla, of Story City, gives a very interesting account of that expedition aijd of the early days of the settlement.

* The counties of Story, Boone, Hardin, Hamilton, "Webster, Humboldt, and Wright.

* Mr. Mellem was born in Hallingdal, Norway, in 1829; he emigrated to Amer- ica in 1849, settling first in Rock County, Wis. See above p. 71. For facts regarding Worth County I am indebted partly to Mr. C. 0. Gunderson, President of Edda, and partly to Hon. G. N. Haugen, of Northwood, according to letter of August 19, 1905.

* This prosperous community of Norwegians has given Iowa her Representative in Congress from the fourth district, Mr. G. N. Haugen, now serving his third term.

138

to-day proportionately the largest Norwegian population is Winnebago. The first settlement was formed in Norway Township and the year was 1856. In June of that year six Norwegian families, namely, those of Lewis Nelson, Col- Lurn Larson, Hans I. Knudson, Ole Tornen, Narve Gron- hovd, and Hendrick Larson came from Rock County, Wis- consin. ^ Other early settlers were John Johnson, John Iverson, and Christian Anderson. ^ The settlement remained small, however, until the late sixties, since which time it has grown rapidly. ^

By 1856 nuclei of settlements had been formed by the Swedes in several other counties, as Henry, ^ Wapello, and Webster; while in smaller numbers Swedes are found in Buchanan, Dubuque, Lee, and Monroe counties, and Nor- wegians in Butler, Chickasaw^, and Mills.

No actual settlements were made by Swedes in 1856. It may be noted, however, that Des Moines, where to-day they make up the chief element in the foreign born population, received its first Swedish settlers in that year. These were P. J. Anderson^ and Frank Hultman. Both of these men came direct from Ostergotland, Sweden. As far as I have

' Facts given me by C. L. Nelson, of Forest Citj% the son of Lewis Nelson.

2 Names furnished me by Rev. J. M. Dahl, of Lake Mills.

s I am indebted to Rev. J. M. Dahl, C. L. Nelson, and T. K. Kingland for many facts relative to Lake Mills and Forest City which space does not permit including here.

* The Swedish settlement at Swedesburg, Wayne Township, Henry County, ■was not founded until 1864, as I am informed by Rev. A. Norrbom, of Swedes- Taurg, in a letter of August 29, 1905. The first settlers were G. A. Fridolph, Math. Anderson, S. P. Swanson, Mons Anderson, L. M. Rapp, Oliver Stephen- son, and John Sandahl.

6 Died in 1891. His widow is still living at 11th and Mulberry Streets, Des Moines.

139

been able to ascertain they were morever the only Swedes in Des Moines nntil ISiia, in which year Anton Nordenson came from Stockholm. ^ AVith this brief survey we have brought the history of Scandinavian settlements down to 1856, the year of the first State census.

The following table is here offered to illustrate the extent and exact distribution of the three Scandinavian nationali- ties in the State by counties according to the State census of 1856. It will also illustrate the distribution of the three Scandinavian nationalities in the different parts of the State. The counties where actual settlements had been made are given in alphabetical order. To this is appended a table illustrating the growth of the Scandinavian factor by decades since 1850.

Table I

County

Norwegians

Swedes

Danes

Total

Allamakee

506

84

6

595

Benton

10

1

11

Black Hawk

3

9

12

Boone

19

10

89

Clayton

274

13

287

Clinton

14

24

21

59

Des Moines

2

227

39

268

Fayette

139

1

140

Henry

10

38

1

49

Jefferson

294

294

Lee

68

19

10

97

Mitchell

188

9

4

201

1 Facts obtained from A. S. Carlson, of Des Moines, in a letter of August 19, l'o05. Mr. Carlson has kindly given me a full account of early Swedish settlers in Des Moines which I hope to publish elsewhere in connection with other facts on the Scandinavians in Des Moines.

140

COONTY

Norwegians Swedes

Danes

Total

Monroe

18

18

Page^

1

1

Polk

10

9

19

Pottawattamie

1

2

3

6

Scott

2

17

7

26

Shelby

6

5

Story-

107

107

Wapello

22

1

23

W ebster

2

70

72

Winneshiek

1,451

11

1

1,462

All other counties

98

130

32 130

260

2,904

1,067

4,101

Table

II

Showing the extent of the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish factors in the State from 1850 to 1905, according to the United States census, supplemented by the Iowa State census for the years 1856 and 1905.

Year

Norwegians

Swedes

Danes

Total

1850

361

231

19

611

1856

2,904

1,067

130

4,101

1860

5,688

1,465

661

7,814

1870

17,554

10,796

2,827

31,181

1880

21,586

17,559

6,901

46,046

1890

27,078

30,276

15,519

72,873

1900

25,034

29,875

17,102

72,611

1905

23,953

28,396

17,290

69,639

The decade of greatest increase in immigration from Nor- way is from 1860 to 1870. Table I illustrates the dis- tribution of that nationality in 1856; the proportions remain

1 See below p. 142.

141

about tlie same for 18GU. The counties in Iowa which gained most during that decade of extensive immigration from Norway are Allamakee, Clayton, Winneshiek, Mitch- ell, and Story. In 1870 Winneshiek alone had a foreign born Norwegian population of 5,524.^ Wright, Emmet, and Palo Alto counties were first settled by Norwegians in the late sixties'- and early seventies. The considerable de- crease in the counties in the eastern part of the State during the last twenty years indicates that there has not only been a cessation of immigration to these parts, but also that in addition to natural decrease by death there has evidently taken place a removal from the older counties to the coun- ties farther west. ^ Furthermore, between 1890 and 1905 a considerable decrease is to be noted in most of the counties that belong to the central group of settlements. Between 1900 and 1905 there are fair increases only in Black Hawk, Emmet, Hardin, Howard, Lyon, Polk, AVebster, and Wood- bury. ^

The largest increase from the Swedish immigration comes somewhat later. While relatively the highest percentage of increase took place between 1860 and 1870, the largest

1 We have a recent contribution to Winnesliiek County history in The Pioneer Norwegians, by Hon. Abr. Jacobson. This book deals especially with the Nor- wegian pioneer history of Springfield Township, Winneshiek County.

- Wright County was settled by Norwegians in 1809. In the spring of that year Hans H. Farosen, C. B. Johnson, and Fredrik Simerson settled in Belmond Township. The settlement later extended into Norway and Lake townships in Wright County and Amsterdam Township in Hancock County.

3 The great decrease in Lee County between 1870 and 1880 is due to similar causes. The removal in this case was mostly to Marshall County.

•* Fort Dodge, Webster County, was first settled by Swedes in 1869. The founders of the colony were: G. Alstrand, C. J. Peterson, C. F. Holmdahl, from Melby, Nerike, and Vexio, Sweden, respectively. — Letter from Rev. C. S. Resenius.

142

number absolutely came between 1880 and 1890. The counties that received the largest accessions during these years were: Boone, Buena Vista, Des Moines,^ Kossuth, Montgomery, Page, ^ Polk, •" Webster, and Woodbury, al- though some of these had been extensively settled before 1880.'* Among the settlements that show a noteworthy decrease since 1890 may be mentioned the early ones in Boone, Henry, ^ Jefferson,*^ Lee, and A¥apello; while from 1900 to 1905 there is an increase for some counties in the western part of the State — as Adair, Appanoose, Black Hawk, Cass, Lyon, and Mills.

The heaviest immigration from Denmark took place in the later eighties and in the early nineties. Thus the settle- ments in Audubon, Shelby, Pottawattamie, and Black Hawk counties increased most rapidly during these years.'' The Danish foreign born element is the only one among the Scandinavian nationalities that shows an increase in the 1905 census over that of 1900. The total for the three nationali- ties by the 1905 census is 69,639. The Scandinavian-speak-

1 The City of Burlington.

2 The Swedish Colony of Essex, Page County, dates back to 1870. — Letter from A. Wendstrand of August 30, 1 90o.

* The city of Dcs Moines.

* In the vicinity of Chariton, Lucas County, a considerable Swedish settlement ■was also formed after 1869. The first settlers were P. J. Lindquist, J. F. Ekfclt, and the iErlandsen, Hasselquist, and Slattengren families, writes Rev. J. P. Borg of Chariton. They were from Viistergotland and Snialand, Sweden.

"5 The largest Scandinavian population was in 1890, when it numbered (51(5. It is now 362.

« Jefferson County had 880 in 1870, 071 in 1880, and at present has 490.

''One of the most prosperous of Danisli communities in the State is that of Waterloo and vicinity and Cedar Falls in Black Ilawk County. It dates back to 18(59, in which year Lars Tliompson and wife from Tuse near Ilolbajk and Anders Peterson and wife from near Holbiek located in Waterloo.

143

iiig factor in Iowa may be measured approximately by the sum total of the foreign born and foreign parentage Scandi- navian population, the total of which was 148,907 by the census of 1 900. ^

Tables III-V are here appended to illustrate the growth by counties since 1870, the distribution of the Scandinavian population in 1905, and the increase in the three Scandi- navian nationalities in the second generation according to the last available census.

Table III Showing the extent of the Scandinavian factor by counties from 1870 to 1905 in counties which have at one time had a Scandinavian population of over 1,000.

County

1S70

ISSO

1890

1905

Allamakee

2,187

1,727

1,477

992

Audubon

4

207

1,127

1,526

Black Hawk

284

385

711

1,018

Boone

1,246

1,820

2,601

2,283

Buena Vista

196

818

1,991

1,967

Clayton

1,366

941

787

541

Clinton

759

1,123

1,778

1,433

Des Moines

1,104

1,273

2,162

1,801

Emmet

285

302

785

1,10]

Hamilton

624

1,633

2,460

2,210

Humboldt

115

515

1,336

1,374

Kossuth

76

361

990

1,057

Lee

1,267

508

622

490

Marshall

338

728

1,213

917

Mitchell

1,008

1,207

1,041

824

Monona

261

491

1,212

1,165

1 The census reports for natives of foreign parentage in 1905 are not available at the present time.

144

CotlNTY

1870

1880

1890

1905

Montgomery

278

1,278

1,511

1,520

Page

156

1,004

1,261

1,079

Polk

803

1,628

2,884

3,406

Pottawattamie

604

1,100

2,585

2,395

Shelby

208

971

1,611

1,514

Story

1,354

2,049

2,202

2,309

■Webster

1,362

1,910

3,027

3,261

Winnebago

625

1,862

2,178

2,291

Winneshiek

5,524

5,009

3,409

2,669

Woodbury

372

870

5,060

4,106

Worth

894

2,002

2,153

1,819

Wright

60

201

775

1,005

All other counties

7,821

12,013

21,924

21,566

Total

31,181 46,046 72,873 69,639

Table IV

Showing the Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish population by coun- ties having a Scandinavian population of 1,000 in 1905.

County

Norwegians

Swedes

Danes

Total

Allamakee

853

125

14

992

Audubon

15

42

1,469

1,526

Black Hawk

42

68

908

1,018

Boone

115 -

2,061

107

2,283

Buena Vista

446

977

544

1,967

Clinton

213

411

809

1,433

Des Moines

16

1,625

160

1,801

Emmet

580

102

419

1,101

Hamilton

1,369

544

297

2,210

Humboldt

973

42

359

1,374

Kossuth

271

511

275

1,057

Monona

454

226

485

1,165

Montgomery

20

1,486

14

1,520

145

County

Norwegians

Swedes

Danes

Total

Page

13

1,055

11

1,079

Polk

548

2,496

362

3,406

Pottawattamie

106

436

1,853

2,395

Shelby

109

43

1,362

1,514

Story

1,900

100

309

2,309

Webster

927

2,134

200

3,261

Winnebago

1,925

245

121

2,291

Winneshiek

2,584

58

27

2,669

Woodbury

1,354

1,990

762

4,106

Worth

1,613

102

104

1,819

Wright

725

121

159

1,005

Other counties

6,680

11,639

5,560

23,879

Total

23,953 28,396 17,290 69,639

Table V Showing the total Scandinavian population of foreign birth and foreign parentage in the State by the U. S. census for 1900.

Norwegians

Swedes

Danes

foreign born foreign parentage foreign born foreign parentage foreign born foreign parentage

Total 1900

25,634 33,493 29,875 27,365 17,102 ^ 15,498 S

59,127

I 57,

230

32,610

148,967

1 The foreisn parentage population for 1905 is not available at this time.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Pnoa City Republican for November, 1886.

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149

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Amerika. Stockholm, Sweden. 1862. Vig, P. S. De Danske i Amerika. Blair, Neb. 1901. Vig, P. S. Elk Horn iloim, 1875— 1900. Blair, Neb. 1901. Wick, B. L. Article in The Friends. Philadelphia. 1894. Wick, B. L. Nordhoerne, in Skandinaven. Jan. 23, 1899. Wick, B. L. Drahelige Mydningsmand, in Skandinaven for Oct. 25,

1898. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Vol. xi, pp. 1-16. Wist, Joh. B. Den norske Indvandring til 1850 og Skandinaverne

i Amerikas Politik. Madison, Wis. 1889.

CHAPTERS

ON

SCANDINAVIAN IMMIGRATION TO IOWA

BY

GEOKGE T. FLOM, Ph. D.

PROPESSOB OF SCANDINAVIAN liANQUAGES AND LITKRATURES IN THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

Reprinted from THE IOWA JOURNAL OF fflSTORY AND POLITICS

FOE 1905" AND 190B. :^BL1SHKD AT lOWA ClTT lOWA BT

THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA

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