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1 

n 

1 

1 

^acbatb  CaOeae  librarp 

tefB 

mOUTHE 

BRIGHT  LEGACY 

JONATHAN  BkOWN  BRIGHT 

of  W»Il!i»ij.,  MmucIhucHi,  It  (0  bt  cipcodcd  for  booki 
fcr  Ih'  Coll«|t  Librmiy.     The  othti  hilf  of  the  incmc 

HENRY   BRIGHT,  JR.. 

lo  th<  •AoUiMf,.   Tbt  <.1U  Vcjalrc  tbd  Ibii  innounn. 
moDI  ibiiU  be  midi  1>  ctht  buik  mdded  «>  ihc  Llbnij 

1 

1 

^ 


HISTORY 


OP  THE 


SCANDINAVIANS 


AND 


SUCCESSFUL  SCANDINAVIANS 


IN   THE 


United  States 


Compiled  and  Edited 

J  BY 

'  O.  N.  NELSON 


VOLUMES  I  AND  II 


SECOND,  REVISED  EDITION 


MiNHEAPOLiB,  Minn. 

O.  N.  NELSON  A  COMPANY 

1900 


(yiXr^  i^     y^v-^y^ 


Copjrrlsht,  1893, 1897, 18W,  bjr  O.  N.  NeiMn 
All  Blcbtt  BsMrred 


LIST  OF  COLLABORATORS 


▼ols.  L  and  n.  of  History  of  tbe  Scandlnaylans  In  the  United  States 


EDITOBrlH-CHIBr  AHD  MAMAOIKO  EDITOB, 

O.  N.  NELSON,  LL.  B. 

A880CIATB  AMD  RbTIBINO  EdITOBS, 

KNUT£  ajEBSET,  Ph  D.  J.  J.  SKOROALSVOLD.  B.  A.,  B.  L. 

A88XBTAMT  EDITOBS, 


ADOLPH  BBEDESEN.  B.  A. 
Norwegian  S/nod  Clergxinan. 

LUTH  JAEGEB, 
Jooroalift. 


O.  N.  SWAN, 
Vioe-CoDsnl  of  Sweden  and  Norway. 

H.  STOCKENSTBOM, 
Editor  of  St.  Am.  Poeten. 


Bditobzal  Bbtubbs  of  tbb  Bioobaphibs  of  Clbbotmbn, 


T.  H.  DAHL, 
United  Norwegian  Church  Clergyman. 

aEORG  SYEBDRUP, 
President  of  Angsborv  Seminary. 


C.  J.  PETRI,  A.  M., 
Swedish  Lutheran  dervyman. 

O.  P.  VANQSNBS,  B.  A., 
Norwe^rian  Synod  Clergyman. 


COHTBIBUTOBB  AND  RbTUBBS, 


Jos.  A.  Amdbbsom.  a.  M., 
Swedish  Latheran  Clergyman. 

J.  Chbdtiam  Bat, 
Baeteriolocist,  Des  Moines,  Iowa. 

Q.  O.  Bbohouqh,  B.  L..  LL.  B., 
Fiofsssor  in  Bed  Wing  Seminary. 

Skma  Shbbwood  Chbstbb. 

Adam  Dab, 
Danish  Lotheran  Clergyman. 

P.  O.  DXBTBICHBON. 

C.  M.  Bsbj5bh,  Ph.  D., 
Swedish  Lutheran  Clergyman. 

Ahdbbw  Estbbk,  Ph.  D., 
Professor  in  Wartbnrg  Collioge. 

JOHV  Qbbbmtibld, 
M oraTian  Clergyman. 

Jon  Haltobbon,  B,  A., 
Norwegian  Synod  Clergyman. 

J.  J.  KZLDSIO, 

United  Danish  Church  Clergyman. 

N.  M.  iJLnaMMM, 
Swedidi  Methodist  Clergyman. 

C.  Nbumabm, 


ViCTOB  NiLSBOH,  Ph.  D., 
Author  of  History  of  Sweden. 

Julius  E.  Olson,  B.  L^ 
Professor  in  the  UniTersity  of  Wisconsin. 

J.  T.  Pbtebs. 

Fbanb  Pbtbbson, 

Baptist  Clergyman. 

F.  A.  Schmidt,  D.  D., 
Professor  in  the  United  Church  Seminary. 

S.  Siqvaldson,  B.  S. 

Ebnbt  Skarstbdt, 
Author  of  STeDsk-Amerikanska  Foster 
and  Vara  Pennftfktare. 

E.  A.  Sboobbbboh, 
Swedish  Mission  Clergyman. 

C.  H.  Spaldinq,  LL.  B.; 
Attorney  at  Law,  Ooldendale,  Wash. 

P.  O.  Stbomme,  B.  a.. 
Author  of  HTorledes  Halyor  blsT  Prsst. 

Majob  John  Swainbon. 

P.  8.  Vio. 
Professor  in  Trinity  Seminary. 

B.  L.  WiCH,  A.  M.,  LL.  B*, 
Attorney  at  Law,  Cedar  Rapids,  Iowa 


III 


CONTENTS 

Vol.  I.  of  History  of  tbe  Scandinavians  In  the  United  States 


Paqb 

—  Characteristics  of  the  Soandinavians  and  Review  of  their  History, 

O.  N.  Nelson 1 

History  of  the  Scandinavian  Immigration,  O.  N.  Nelson 35 

^  The  Icelandic  Discoveries  of  America,  S.  Sigvaldson 77 

-yiZrhe  First  Swedish  Settlement  in  America,  Emma  Sherwood  Chester.    87 

e   First    Norwegian    Immigration,  or  The  Sloop  Party  of  1825, 
O.  N.  Nelson 125 

The  Swedish  Colony  at  Bishopshill,  Illinois,  Major  John  Swainson.  .  135 

The  15th  Wisconsin,  or  Scandinavian,  Regiment,  P.  G.  Dietrichson.  .  153 

— -Historical  Review  of  the  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in 

America,  Rev.  Adam  Dan , 167 

Historical  Review  of  Hauge's  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  in  America, 
Prof.  G.  O.  Brohouoh 173 

Historical  Review  of  the  Norwegian  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  in 
America,  Rev.  John  Halvorson 183 

Historical  Review  of  the  Scandinavian  Baptists  in  the  U.  S.  and  in  the 
North,  Rev.  Frank  Peterson 197 

Historical  Review  of  Scandinavian  Methodism  in  the  U.  S.  and  in  the 
North,  Rev.  N.  M.  Liljbgren 205 

Historical  Review  of  the  Swedish  Evangelical  Mission  Covenant  of 
America,  Rev.  E.  A.  Skoosberoh 211 

Historical   Review  of    the   Swedish   Lutheran    Augustana    Synod, 
Rev.  C.  J.  Petri 217 

Historical  Review  of  the  United   Norwegian  Lutheran  Church  in 
America,  Prof.  Endte  Gjerset 225 

tistics    Regarding    the    Scandinavians    in    the    United    States, 
O.  N.  Nelson ; . . .  243 

Bibliography  of  the  Scandinavian-American  Historical  Literature  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century,  O.  N.  Nelson 265 

r/  Historical  Review  of  the  Scandinavians  in  Minnesota,  O.  N.  Nelson.  .  297 

^^  Historical   Review    of    the    Scandinavian    Schools    in    Minnesota, 

J.  J.  Skordalsvold ^  317 

Historical    Review     of     Scandinavian     Churches     in     Minnesota, 
O.  N.  Nelson  and  J.  J.  Skordalsvold 335 

Historical  Review  of  the  Minnesota  District  of  tbe  Norwegian  Synod, 
Rev.  John  Halvorson 351 

Historical  Review  of  the  Minnesota  Conference  of  the  Augustana 
Synod,  Rev.  C.  J.  Petri 361 

Biographies  of  Scandinavians  in  Minnesota,  Editors,  Contributors, 
and  Revisers 365 

IV 


CONTENTS 

Vol.  n.  of  History  of  the  Scandinavians  in  the  United  States 


^^_  Page 

^^^>Tfie    Nationality    of    Criminal    and  Insane    Persons   in  the  United 

States,  O.  N.  Nelson 1 

Historical  Review  of  Luther  College,  Prof.  Andrew  Estrem 23 

Social   Characteristics   of    the    Danes    and    a     History     of    Their 
Societies,  O.  N.  Nelson  and  C.  Neumann 39 

Historical    Review    of    the    United    Danish    Evangelical    Lutheran 
Church  in  America,  O.  N.  Nelson 49 

Historical  Review  of   the  Moravian  Church  and  its  Scandinavian- 
American  Work,  Rev.  John  Greenfield 57 

Historical  Review  of  the  Scandinavians  in  Iowa,  O.  N.  Nelson 61 

Historical    Review    of   the   Scandinavian    Schools    in    Iowa, 

J.  J.  Skordalsvold 75 

Historical   Review  of   the  Scandinavian   Churches  in    Iowa, 

O.  N.  Nelson  and  J.  J.  Skordalsvold 83 

Historical  Review  of  the  Iowa  Conference  of  the  Augustana  Synod, 
Kev.  Jos.  A.  Anderson  91 

Historical  Review  of  the  Iowa  District  of  the  Norwegian  Synod. 
Rev.  Adolph  Bredesen 99 

Historical  Review  of  the  Scandinavians  in  Wisconsin,  O.  N.  Nelson.  .  105 

Historical  Review  of  the  Scandinavian  Schools  in   Wisconsin, 
V/      J.  J.  Skordalsvold 129 

Historical  Review  of  the  Scandinavian  Churches  in  Wisconsin, 

O.  N.  Nelson  and  J.  J.  Skordalsvold 135 

Historical  Review  of  the  Eastern  District  of  the  Norwegian  Synod, 
Rev.  Adolph  Bredesen 145 

Biographies  of  Scandinavians  in  Iowa  and  Wisconsin,  Editors,  Con- 
TBiBUTOBS,  and  Revisers 153 


LIST  OF  BIOGRAPHIES 


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LIST  OF  BIOGRAPHIES 


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LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


P«ge    ' 

Andenon.  A K3 

ADderaoa.  Bsradt SSt 

AndorMHi,  Rb».  J.  A 1S3 

AndanoD.  Prat    R.B ...  81 

Angibnrg'SamiiiBrr !.'!'.1BS 

AugaaUDs  ColleffB ^IS 

Bandak-,  Dr.  KatI  an 

Bergh,  Rei.  J.  A. ZSI 

Beisli.U Mi 

Bergsknd,  Prof.  H.  H WV 

BiOm.  1{«T.  L.  It 86» 

BttekDan,  Prof.  U.  0 IS 

BoiBson,  A.  B SI8 

Braudt.C     380 

BrsdOKD.  Rer.  A m 

HnulettBD.  C.I. 368 

Biir«,P.N M»       : 

CarUoD.  A IG3 

CBTlaau,  Prof.  J.  8 3»4 

Chantland,  P.  W  ,. IBB       1 

Claasen,  Rev.  C.  L.. 42S 

Dahl,  Rbt.T.H 201       1 

D«peHiii.A.  B U» 

B«i«s,  Prof.  A.  E 1S9 

KriesoD,  C.  J.  A. 1«8       1 

Fli(Wba»,  Dr.  O.  A 101 

Frioh,  ttiif.  J.'B.'.'.'".'.'.'.'.'.'..'.'.tei 

GjariHia.H.J     3B!l 

Glertson.  ReT.  H.  F 3M 

GrmitH.rir,  O 233       1 

Q  riddel  and,  A 409 

anatariu  Adolphna  Collcjie..2Z8 

HalrorMD,  Be<.  U 201       1 

Haagta,ti.P 200       1 

Eob«,E.H 418 

Hokanior,  Bbt.  U.  F. 1S4       1 

Holnui,  Ref.  L IM       1 

Earme,  BsT,  QlBrmuDd —   ..1!I8       1 

Jaeicer,  Lutb 446 

jBawiD,  A iaa       1 

JsDSMia,  Rbt.  J.  C 383 

JotmMn,  Bbt.  T ISl 

JohniOD.C.J MS 

Johnaon,  B.P IBS 

Johnaon,  Prof.  13 SIS 

Jobnaton.  R«t  L.  A ...4ZS 

KlldiI«.RsT.J.J 383 

KotBD,  Rot.  U.  V.  ISS       1 

Laoa^ard,  Knnd Z!6       1 

Lanen.  Prof.  Lanr 18S       1 

Lind,  Dr.  A 913 

Lind.JnbD... 43Z 

Llodbolm,  A.  T 240       1 

LUtoe.  SoKBD 41T 

LokenacBBTd,  Prol.  0 408 

Lsnd.Prot.  E.  0 248       1 

LQDd.Bei.L 201        1 

Luther  Collefte 182 

UnBoiis,  Prol.  D 4Ce 


Page    ' 

UatboD,  Tid.  Haas 40r 

Ueaaarden.  P.  T 440 

UjTaD,O.H VSi 

Neln>D,  Konte 443 

NelaoD.  O 28S       1 

NiluoD,  Rot.  F.  O 4is 

NUsKiD,  Victor 44B 

Nonlloa,  Rer.  E 4^.^ 

Norrbam,  Bar.  A i:>3       I 

Ottfdal,  Prof.  Sren *^8 

Old  Swedm'  Charch,  The SO 

Olien,  Hei.  J 290       ! 

OUon,  C  O.  A 4)8 

Olson,  Pror.JuliosE 2IT       1 

Otleaea.  Bbt.  J.  A 265       1 

PfllenoD,  A 248       1 

PetGTKin.  Be*.  Frank 472 


Petri,  Rf  T 
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Bioo.C.A 


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BlDsoell,  Dr.  C.J. 

Bodns.L.A fSS 

Baudberc,  Dr.  Q.  P 405 

Bearie.UO 4SS 

Bbaleea.  J 4IU 

Skaro,Dr.  J.  8 392 

SkoBBb«r«h,  Bbt.  E.  A 473 

Smttb,  C.  A  IB6 

BodarBtrom,  A 401 

Bohlberg,  Dr.  Olor 400 

SbWDilaDd,  H 201 

t^lockenatroiD.  Herman 487 

St  Olat  CollBRS  183 

Sirtimme.  P.  O 217 

Stab.  Prof.  H.  a 481 

Snowall,  G.F 441 

Brerdrnp.  Prof.  Geors 4!17 

8w-n,  G.N 272 

Xwlrd.  BeT.  P.  .1 504 

Tbompaou.  R.  E 408 

ThorDB,  L.0 448 

ToUetarnde,  iJ.  H 260 

toigfrnm,  Bbt.T.  A 273 

Torriion.  Oanlil 232 

Torriaon,  T.E 217 

TrOoadal.  F.  L 233 

TarDUad.8  J M2 

Tauginea,  Rot.  O.  P 273 

VeblBn,  Prof.  A.  A 2T» 

Tikiii«BhiPiThe. 80 

Wablatrvm.Prof.  U SB 

Wlok,  B.L IM 

XiTier,  Bbt.  N.P 273 

YlTiaaker,  Prot.J 4S1 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 


For  nearly  ten  years  I  have  devoted  all  my  time  to  the 
investigation  of  Scandinavian- American  history;  and  the 
first  edition  of  my  first  volume,  which  appeared  in  1893,  was 
far  more  favorably  received  than  I  ever  anticipated  or  dared 
to  hope.  Yet  it  was  by  no  means  faultless ;  and  as  the 
pages  fi-om  1  to  276  were  electrotyped,  it  was  no  easy  task 
to  correct  every  mistake.  But  at  great  expense  of  time, 
labor,  and  money,  all  errors  of  facts  and  most  of  the  gram- 
matical mistakes  have  been  corrected.  Several  pages,  and 
even  whole  articles,  have  been  rewritten.  The  article  on 
The  First  Nora  eg i an  Immigration,  or  The  Sloop  lartjr 
of  1825,  is  a  new  production.  Nearly  twenty  pages  of 
Bibliography  and  some  valuable  statistical  tables  have 
been  added.  Pages  291-364,  dealing  with  Scandinavian 
settlements,  churches,  and  schools,  in  Minnesota,  are  new 
matter,  prepared  for  this  edition ;  and  the  balance  of  Vol. 
I.  consists  of  biographies  of  Scandinavians  in  Minnesota, 
most  of  which  appeared  in  the  first  edition;  but  all  of  them 
have  been  rewritten,  rearranged,  and  brought  up  to  date. 
In  fact,  the  revision  and  reconstruction  of  the  whole  first 
volume  have  been  so  thorough  and  complete  that  in  many 
respects  it  is  an  entirely  new  history  of  the  Scandinavians 
in  America,  brought  up  to  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth 
century. 

The  first  edition  of  the  second  volume  was  issued  so 
recently  (in  1897)  and  prepared  with  such  great  care  that 
hardly  any  changes  were  made  up  to  page  236,  except  in 
regard  to  the  arrangement  of  the  biographies.     The  rest  of 

IX 


PREFACB  TO  THE  SBCOND  EDITION 

the  work  was  reset  altogether.  But  owing  to  the  lack  of 
space,  several  biographies  which  appeared  in  the  first 
edition  had  to  be  omitted,  and  some  were  very  much 
abridged. 

It  must  be  admitted  that,  excepting  the  church  organ- 
izations, there  are  hardly  any  Scandinavian  institutions  in 
this  country.  Whatever  is  accomplished  in  the  political, 
social,  or  financial  spheres  by  any  Scandinavian-American, 
is  accomplished  by  the  individual.  Hence,  the  record  of  such 
individuals  necessarily  has  to  be  an  important  feature  of 
Scandinavian- American  history.  Partly  to  sell  my  work, 
and  partly  to  secure  the  most  reliable  information  on  his- 
torical and  biographical  topics,  I  have  personally  visited  all 
the  cotmtics  and  cities  in  Minnesota,  Iowa,  and  Wisconsin 
where  any  considerable  number  of  Scandinavians  reside. 

In  selecting  and  editing  the  biographies — as  well  as  in 
preparing  everything  else  for  this  work — I  have  endeavored 
to  be  impartial.  It  has  been  my  aim  not  to  be  influenced  by 
any  religious  belief,  national  prejudice,  political  conviction, 
or  personal  friendship  or  dislike.  In  cases  where  I  felt  that 
I  might  be  liable  to  lean  toward  one  side  or  another,  some 
of  the  editors  or  revisers,  whose  opinions  differed  fi-om  mine, 
were  consulted.  To  state  the  unadorned  facts,  without  lite- 
rary display  or  expression  of  judgment,  has  been  the  con- 
stant endeavor  in  regard  to  the  biographical  sketches.  Yet 
sometimes  it  was  almost  necessary  to  pass  judgment  on  a 
man's  standing  within  a  certain  sphere,  and  I  have  not 
shrunkfi-om  doing  so,  or  from  permittmg  it  to  be  done,  when- 
ever it  seemed  advisable  or  desirable,  and  when  the  opinions 
expressed  were  by  general  consent  considered  to  be  true. 

No  one  has  been  allowed  to  write  his  own  biography, 
even  the  editors  of,  and  contributors  to,  this  work  having 
been  subjected  to  this  rule.    The  parties  themselves,  how- 


PRBPACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

ever,  when  living,  have  been  permitted  to  examine  their 
biographies  in  regard  to  the  facts;  but  the  language  used, 
the  views  expressed,  and  the  method  of  treatment,  are 
strictly  our  own.  The  proper  equilibrium  of  modesty  and 
self-esteem  is  a  difficult  virtue  to  attain,  and  some  of  our 
Scandinavian- Americans  are  sadly  deficient  in  this  respect. 
One  man,  whose  chief  merit  apparently  consisted  in  having 
been  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  legislature  a  couple  of  terms, 
was  indignant  because  his  biography  did  not  begin  thus: 
"Hon. is  one  of  the  most  popular  and  active  Repub- 
licans in  the  state  of ."    A  much  larger  percentage, 

however,  go  too  far  in  the  other  direction.  For  an  historian 
to  avoid  the  sins  of  commission  and  omission  under  such 
circumstances,  and  at  the  same  time  not  to  offend  people,  is 
a  Herculean  task.  Consequently,  the  biographies  of  living 
men  are  more  or  less  unsatisfactory.  At  the  same  time  the 
great  pains  which  have  been  taken  with  the  biographies, 
some  of  which  have  been  revised  by  half  a  dozen  different 
parties,  ought  to  make  them  exception^illy  reliable. 

In  regard  to  the  spelling  of  the  geographical  names  in 
the  Scandinavian  countries,  the  postoffice  directories  of  Den- 
mark, Norway,  and  Sweden  have  been  carefully  consulted, 
and  in  most  cases  the  latest  mode  of  spelling  has  been 
followed.  The  radical  changes  in  spelling  which  have  been 
adopted  by  the  government  of  Norway  in  recent  years  has 
a  comical  side  in  connection  with  this  work,  namely,  that 
several  educated  Norwegian-Americans  do  not  know  how 
to  spell  correctly  the  name  of  their  own  birthplace.  When- 
ever possible,  not  only  the  foraamling  or  preategjeld 
where  a  person  was  bom  has  been  mentioned,  but  also  the 
stift  or  province,  and  of  course  the  country;  this  was  neces- 
sary because  several  places  in  the  North  have  the  same 
name;  for  example,  there  are   in  Sweden  over  50  places 

XI 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

called  Saby,  and  75  Berg.  Whenever  it  is  stated  that  a 
person  has  received  a  college  education  in  one  of  the  Scandi- 
navian countries,  it  is  meant  that  he  has  completed  a  course 
at  one  of  the  elementar Itkrovsirken  in  Sweden  or  the 
Latin  schools  of  Denmark  or  Norway — the  names  of  these 
institutions  cannot  be  properly  translated,  but  the  best 
equivalent  for  them  is  college.  Nearly  all  the  names  of 
newspapers  and  books,  as  well  as  foreign  words,  have  been 
printed  in  Italics, 

For  fifty  years  past  numerous  attempts  have  been  made 
by  diflFerent  parties,  both  in  the  English  and  the  Scandina- 
vian languages,  to  elucidate  certain  features  of  the  life  of 
the  Scandinavian-Americans.  Many  of  these  productions 
were  meritorious,  and  a  few  of  them  are  standard  works  as 
far  as  they  go.  Among  the  men  making  these  attempts 
were  several  who  by  intellectual  endowment  and  thorough- 
ness of  education  were  well  prepared  to  undertake  and  suc- 
cessfully complete  their  task.  Yet,  apparently,  none  of 
these  productions  have  received  sufficient  recognition  and 
support  to  enable  any  one  of  the  many  Scandinavian- 
American  writers  to  devote  time  and  talent  to  extensive 
historical  research  concerning  their  countrymen  on  this  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  That  I  have  been  enabled  to  devote 
several  years  to  historical  investigations,  to  meet  the 
various  and  often  heavy  expenses  connected  with  the  prep- 
aration and  publication  of  such  a  large  work,  and  to  mak<e 
a  living  out  of  the  sale  of  the  book,  seems  to  indicate  that 
my  labors  are  appreciated.  This  appreciation  has  not  only 
been  manifested  by  a  courteous  reception  of  the  author 
wherever  he  has  traveled,  and  by  a  flattering  endorsement 
of  his  work,  but  by  a  generous  financial  patronage,  some- 
times involving  considerable  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the 
admirer  of  the  enterprise.     The  keen   interest  which   the 

XII 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

educated  Scandinavian-Americans,  especially  the  clergy-, 
have  taken  in  the  history,  has  incited  the  author  to  greater 
exertion  in  the  prosecution  of  his  labor. 

I  am  indebted  to  so  many  people  for  the  successful  com- 
pletion of  this  edition  that  it  is  beyond  my  power  to  give 
fall  credit  to  all  those  who  have  assisted  me  in  the  under- 
taking. Special  mention,  ho  wever,  should  be  made  of  Consul 
G.  N.  Swan,  Rev.  Adolph  Bredesen,  Ernst  Skarstedt,  Rev. 
C.  M.  Esbjom,  and  J.  J.  Skordalsvold,  who  have  carefully 
and  critically  revised  several  important  articles  and  rend- 
ered valuable  assistance  in  the  completion  of  the  Bibli- 
i}UTQphy.  The  last  mentioned  has  also  revised  and  read 
proof  of  the  whole  work,  and  without  his  able  aid  it 
might  not  have  appeared  in  its  present  form.  Elias  Ander- 
son and  F.  L.  Tronsdal  have  taken  more  than  ordinary 
interest  in  the  enterprise.  My  wife  has  looked  after  the 
purely  artistic  part  of  the  work.  I  am  also  under  obliga- 
tion to  the  Lumberman  Publishing  Company,  the  typesetter; 
the  Tribune  Job  Printing  Company,  who  have  done  the 
press  work;  Bramblett  &  Beygeh,  the  engravers;  and  A.  J. 
Dahl  &  Company,  the  binders. 

Owing  to  the  magnitude  of  the  labor  and  expense 
involved  in  completing  this  edition,  a  few  years  may  pass 
before  I  shall  be  able  to  prepare  and  publish  the  third  vol- 
ume, which,  no  doubt  will  deal  with  Illinois  and  some 
neighboring  states. 

Partly  on  account  of  having  diflFerent  writers  to  pre- 
pare the  various  articles,  no  absolutely  uniform  system  of 
capitalization  and  punctuation  has  been  maintained 
throughout  this  work.  Yet  the  exceptions  to  the  rigid 
"Rules  of  Nelson  and  Skordalsvold''  are  few  and  unimport- 
ant. Sometimes  in  quoting  from  another  author,  it  was 
inconvenient  to  use  his  exact  language.    In  such  cases  the 

XIII 


PREFACE  TO  THE  SECOND  EDITION 

single  quotation  mark  ( * )  has  been  employed  to  indicate 
that  the  expression  is  not  my  own.  As  has  been  said  before, 
no  literary  brilliancy  has  been  attempted.  Hamlin  Garland 
remarked  recently:  **I  believe  the  well-educated  descend- 
ants of  the  Scandinavian  settlers  of  the  Northwestern 
states  are  closer  to  Webster's  dictionary  to-day  than  are 
the  languid  Southerners,  or  the  erudite  Easterners."  If  his 
assertion  be  true,  I  may  entertain  the  hope  that  the  lan- 
guage used  in  this  work  is  tolerably  correct,  because  the 
classes  of  people  he  refers  to  have  written  or  revised  a  large 
portion  of  it.  The  greatest  master  of  history,  Edward 
Gibbon,  says,  "Diligence  and  accuracy  are  the  only  merits 
which  an  historical  writer  may  ascribe  to  himself."  Another 
celebrated  writer,  James  Clark  Ridpath,  asserts,  **The  his- 
torian must  either  lay  down  his  pen  or  cease  to  be  a  parti- 
san;" and  on  the  altar  of  Diligence,  Accuracy,  and  Impar- 
tiality I  have  laid  down  the  best  fruits  of  my  labor. 

O.  N.  Nelson. 
Minneapolis,  Minn.,  January,  1900. 


XIV 


HISTORY 


OF  THE 


SCANDINAVIANS 


AND 


SUCCESSFUL  SCANDINAVIANS 


IN  THE 


United  States 


VOLUME  I 


CoMPiLKD  AKO  EorrsD 

BT 

O.  N.  NELSON 


Ohai^teristiGS  of  the  Scandinamns 


A.ND 


EEVIEW  OF  THEffi  fflSTOBY. 


— BY— 


O.  N.  NKI^SON. 


This  is  an  age  of  classification,  and  mankind  has  been 
divided  into  diflFerent  races,  or  types,  of  men.  But  history, 
\rith  a  few  exceptions,  deals  only  with  one  race — the  Cau- 
casian— ^because  hardly  any  others  have  succeeded  in  becom- 
ing civilized.  The  Hindoos,  Persians,  Greeks,  Latins, 
Slavonians,  Kelts,  and  Teutons,  all  belong  to  the  Indo- 
European  branch  of  the  great  Caucasian  race.  The  English, 
the  Germans,  the  Dutch,  the  Scandinavians,  and  their  descen- 
dants in  other  countries,  are  all  members  of  the  Teutonic 
family.  It  may  seem  strange  that  the  theoretical  Greek  and 
the  practical  Englishman,  the  fanatical  Hindoo  and  the 
philosophical  German,  the  rude  Russian  and  the  polite 
Frenchman,  should  all  have,  if  we  go  far  enough  back,  a 
common  ancestry.  Yet  the  resemblance  of  their  languages 
and  their  m3rthologies  proves  that  they  were  once  one  people, 
who  lived  together  somewhere.  But  when  or  under  what 
circumstances  they  separated,  and  migrated  to  diflFerent 
countries  cannot  be  determined.    But  if  the  diflFerent  nations 


2  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

of  the  Indo-European  branch  differ  greatly  in  physical  ap- 
pearance, mental  cttlture,  social  conditions,  religious  beliefs, 
and  political  attainments,  the  closest  relation  exists  between 
the  different  nations  of  the  Teutonic  family.  Physically,  the 
Teutons  resemble  each  other;  mentally,  they  are  equally 
endowed .  The  development  of  the  political  history  of  Sweden 
is  similar  to  the  development  of  the  political  history  of  Eng- 
land. Blackstone,  the  father  of  English  law,  and  Stjemhook, 
the  father  of  Swedish  law,  agree  on  many  of  the  finest  points 
in  jurisprudence.  Danes,  Norwegians,  Swedes,  Germans, 
Dutchmen,  and  Englishmen  have  a  common  mythology  and 
common  superstitions;  but  it  is  only  the  Scandinavians- 
Danes,  Norwegians,  and  Swedes — ^who  have,  almost,  a  com- 
mon language.  The  Danes  and  the  Norwegians  write  virtually 
alike,  but  differ  a  little  in  their  pronunciation;  nor  is  it,  at 
all,  difficult  for  a  Swede  to  understand  a  Norwegian,  or  for  a 
Dane  to  understand  a  Swede.  All  the  Scandinavian  people, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Icelanders,  understand  each  other's 
languages 

When  and  under  what  circumstances  the  Scandinavians 
first  came  to  their  northern  homes  has  always  been  a  mat- 
ter of  dispute  among  scholars.  Different  theories  have  been 
advocated.  Learned  men  have  maintained  that  the  human 
race  first  saw  daylight  in  the  Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun,  and 
that  the  Paradise  of  the  Bible  was  located  near  Upsala, 
Sweden.  The  Icelandic  sagas  claim  that  Odin,  the  god  and 
king  of  the  Teutons,  taught  his  people  the  art  of  writing  and 
the  science  of  war,  and  led  them  out  of  Asia,  through  Russia, 
and  colonized  the  Scandinavian  countries.  It  is  only  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years  since  a  noted  scientist  endeavored  to 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.  3 

* 

prove  that  the  greatest  part  of  the  North  could  not  have  been 
inhabited  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Christ,  because  most  of 
the  land  there  was  then  covered  with  water.  Others  again 
assert  that  Scandinavia  has  been  the  cradle  of  the  Indo- 
Buropean  branch  of  the  human  race.  A  well-known  Nor- 
-wegian-American  educator  and  author  says:  **There  is  a 
strong  probability  that  their  (the  Scandinavian  tribes)  inva- 
sion of  the  countries  which  they  now  inhabit  must  have 
taken  place  during  the  second  century  preceding  the  Christian 
era."  But  the  latest  and  most  celebrated  Scandinavian 
anti  quarians  and  historians  have— by  comparing  the  old 
skulls,  as  found  in  the  graves,  with  the  skulls  of  the  present 
people— <:ome  to  the  conclusion  that  the  same  race  of  people 
-which  now  inhabit  the  Scandinavian  countries,  have  been 
there  for  thousands  of  years,  at  least,  before  the  Christian 
era  commenced. 

The  Scandinavians  entered  late  upon  the  historical  arena. 
The  Grecian  history  had  begun  eight  hundred  years  before 
even  their  existence  was  known.  Grecian  literature,  philoso- 
phy, and  art  had  flourished  centuries  before  they  could  write 
their  own  names.  The  Romans  had  conquered  the  fairest 
part  of  the  earth,  legislated  for  the  world,  made  good  roads 
through  the  whole  empire,  and  civilized  a  large  portion  of 
mankind,  before  the  Scandinavians  occupied  houses  or  fixed 
habitations,  but  wandered  through  the  dense  forests  as  semi- 
savages.  The  French,  English,  and  Germans  had  been  Chris- 
tianized four  or  five  hundred  years  before  the  Northern  peo- 
ple accepted  Catholicism  astheirnationalreligion,andaslate 
as  in  the  sixteenth  century  some  of  them  still  worshiped 
Odin.    This  late  development,  which  is  no  doubt  due  to  the 


4  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

severity  of  the  climate,  and  the  great  separation  from  the 
higher  civilization  of  the  South,  must  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration when  we  compare  the  Scandinavians  with  other 
nations,  and  endeavor  to  determine  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  influence  which  each  nation  has  had  upon  the  general  his- 
tory of  mankind. 

That  the  Northmen,  in  spite  of  their  lateness,  have  had  a 
great  influence,  and  taken  an  active  part  in  the  world's  busi- 
ness, no  one  can  successfully  contradict.  They  have  not 
merely  been  savage  plunderers  and  rude  conquerors,  but  also 
discoverers,  civilizera,  and  organizers.  They  assisted  in  over- 
throwing  the  magnificent  Roman  power,  conquered  France, 
enslaved  England,  discovered  America  five  hundred  years 
before  the  voyage  of  Columbus,  organized  the  Russian  Em- 
pire,  and  liberated  Germany  from  religious  and  political 
thraldom.  Of  course  the  greater  part  of  their  contact  with 
other  nations  and  their  influence  upon  other  people  have 
been  accomplished  through  war;  but  war,  until  recently,  has 
been  the  mainspring  of  nearly  all  undertakings.  The  very 
fact  that  the  Scandinavians  have,  by  the  might  of  their 
swords,  crowned  and  dethroned  foreign  rulers;  dictated  terms 
to  popes  and  emperors;  fought,  both  for  and  against,  the 
liberties  of  men;  and  in  many  other  ways  taken  an  active 
part  in  the  affairs  of  the  world,  must  have  had  a  great  influ- 
ence upon  civilization. 

The  Scandivanian  countries  were  first  referred  to  in 
Grecian  literature  as  early  as  three  hundred  years  before  the 
birth  of  Christ.  "But,''  says  Geijer,  '4f  the  Greek  ever  knew 
anything  about  them,  the  Roman  again  forgot  them."  But 
if  the  Roman  had  forgotten  them,  he  was  soon  to  be  re- 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHARACTBSISTICS  AND  HISTORY.  5 

minded  of  their  existence  in  a  forcible  and  positive  manner, 
for,  under  the  name  of  Goths,  the  Scandinavians  became  the 
principal  participants  in  undermining  and  destroying  the 
Roman  power  in  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era. 

By  a  chain  of  successful  conquests;  by  good  management 
through  very  capable  and  honest  men;  by  establishing  pub- 
lic order,  law,  and  justice;  by  encouraging  literature,  science, 
art,  and  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  the  Roman  Empire  had, 
in  the  second  century  of  this  era,  reached  a  state  of  greatness, 
power,  and  civilization,  which  has  hardly  been  equalled, 
never  surpassed  by  any  nation,  either  of  the  ancient  or  the 
modem  world. 

The  Romans,  who  had  at  first  assailed  the  domains  of  the 
barbaric  Teutons  beyond  the  river  Rhine,  were  in  the  third 
and  fourth  centuries  of  this  era  called  upon  to  defend  their 
own  territories  against  the  invasion  of  the  very  same  bar- 
barians whom  they  had  been  unable  to  conquor  or  subdue. 
For  this  purpose  a  line  of  military  posts  had  been  estab- 
lished along  the  river  to  protect  the  Roman  citizens  against 
the  invading  hordes,  being  similar  to  those  which  the  United 
States  keeps  on  the  western  borders  to  protect  the  whites 
from  Indian  outrages. 

Of  the  many  different  tribes,  all  belonging  to  the  Teu- 
tonic family,  who  pressed  upon  the  Roman  frontier,  none 
were  so  powerful  or  intelligent  as  the  Goths.  These  Goths 
dwelt  on  both  sides  of  the  Baltic  Sea,  and  it  is  said  that 
those  who  joined  their  kinsmen  to  participate  in  the  plunder 
of  the  Mistress  of  the  World,  crossed  the  sea  from  the  Scan- 
dinavian countries  in  three  ships.    But,  as  later  was  the 


6  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

case  with  the  Vikings,  they  were  not  formidable  in  numbers, 
but  in  courage,  endurance,  and  ferocity.  These  wild  men  are 
described  as  being  very  tall,  strong,  and  robust;  having 
white  bodies,  yellow  hair,  broad  shoulders,  wiry  muscles, 
florid  complexion,  and  fierce  blue  eyes  that  during  excite- 
ment gleamed  with  fire  and  passion.  Physically,  they,  in 
general,  resembled  the  people  of  the  whole  Teutonic  family 
of  today;  but,  more  specifically,  they  came  nearest  to  the 
people  who  now  live  in  the  southern  part  of  Sweden  and  on 
the  Danish  islands.  Little  or  nothing  is  known  in  regard 
to  the  semi-civilization  which  they  had  attained  to  at  the  time 
they  first  came  in  contact  with  the  imperial  power;  but  they 
probably  had  reached  a  fairly  high  standard  of  moral  devel- 
opment, and  enjoyed  some  luxuries. 

It  was  with  these  men,  "  Who  astonished  the  nations  of 
theSouthby  their  reckless  courage  and  gigantic  stature,"  that 
the  imperial  army  of  Rome  had  to  measure  swords.  It  was 
ancient  renown  against  barbaric  ferocity,  disciplined  order 
against  natural  courage,  law  against  anarchy,  Christianity 
against  Odin,  Latin  against  Teuton.  The  Roman  fought 
by  prescription,  his  movements  were  as  regular  as  clock- 
work. The  Teuton  obeyed  the  commander,  but  the  com- 
mander was  chosen  for  his  fitness.  If  the  Teutons  could  not 
stand  their  ground,  their  wives  and  sisters  assisted  them. 
The  women  fought  and  screamed  with  a  fierceness 
never  witnessed  before  or  after,  save  during  the  French 
Revolution.  The  Romans  feared  the  wild  yells  of  the  women 
almost  as  much  as  they  feared  the  swords  of  their  husbands 
and  brothers.  Rome  was  doomed.  It  was  to  no  avail  that 
the  barbaric  warriors  were  engaged  to  defend  the  Roman 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.  7 

territories  against  barbaric  invasion;  they,  of  course,  turned 
traitors.    It  delayed,  but  did  not  change  the  result. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  fifth  century  of  this  era  a 
Teutonic  savage  sat  on  the  throne  of  Rome.  At  about  the 
same  time  Spain,  France,  and  in  fact  all  western  Europe  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Northern  hordes. 

Now  an  exhibition  was  made  on  the  grand  stage  of  the 
historical  theatre  that  has  never,  in  all  the  various  dramas 
of  human  actions,  had  its  likeness.  Side  by  side,  on  apparent 
social  equality,  walked  the  refined  Roman — dressed  in  his 
toga — by  the  rude  man  from  the  North — dressed  in  a 
goat-skin  suit — his  long,  yellow  hair  combed  towards 
the  four  winds.  The  citizen  carried  centuries  of  learning 
in  his  head,  the  luxuries  from  many  countries  on  his  back. 
He  was  the  poet,  the  artist,  the  statesman,  and  the  phi- 
losopher. 

The  Goth  possessed  nothing;  he  only  knew  how  to  eat, 
drink,  and  fight.  But  he  carried  the  sword  of  state,  before 
w^hich  the  proud  Roman  bowed  in  humble  subjection. 

By  the  fall  of  Rome,  civilization  had  been  thrust  backward 
many  centuries.  Anarchy  reigned  supreme.  Time  rolled  on; 
for  centuries  the  Roman  world— yea  the  world  itself— was 
hidden  in  darkness.  For  this  wholesale  barbarization  the 
Romans  themselves  were  partly  responsible.  They  lacked 
the  frankness,  manliness,  honesty,  and  virtue  reqiiisite  to  pre- 
serve sufficient  moral  power  to  govern  decently  a  great  state. 
The  old  civilization  which  Rome  represented  had  lost  its 
force.  The  Roman  believed  in  nothing.  Right  and  wrong 
w^ere  only  relative  terms.  To  him  anything  which  succeeded 
-was  right,  everything  which  failed  was  wrong.  The  Romans 


8  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

had  become  greatly  degenerated,  debauchery  and  licentious- 
ness were  the  common  practice. 

The  new  race  was  ignorant,  but  had  strong  convictions 
and  high  moral  principles.  To  the  Goth  falsehood  was  a 
great  vice,  secret  stealing  was  a  cowardly  act,  for  which  no 
torment  was  too  severe.  He  robbed  openly,  he  faced  his 
victims  boldly.  He  was  honest  and  frank,  living  up  to  his 
rude  ideas  ol  life.  The  Persians,  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks, 
and  the  Romans  had  their  liberties  on  account  of  belonging 
to  a  powerful,  free  state.  The  Teuton  was  a  free  man  be- 
cause he  was  a  man ;  individuality  was  his  strongest  char- 
acteristic. 

The  native  population  out-numbered,  by  far,  the  invaders, 
who,  nevertheless,  swayed  the  scepter  of  power.  In  time 
the  Goths  adopted  the  Christian  religion  and  became  some- 
what civilized.  The  slaves  became  their  master's  instruc- 
tors. Out  of  the  Roman  confusion  rose  the  modem  states. 
In  the  eighth  and  ninth  centuries  western  Europe  had  been 
somewhat  organized  and  Christianized,  only,  however,  to  be 
thrown  into  confusion  again  by  the  kinsmen  and  partly 
countrymen  of  the  Goths— namely,  the  Vikings. 

Before  the  fall  of  Rome  little  is  known  of  the  history, 
customs,  or  characteristics  of  the  Scandinavian  people ;  but 
it  is  certain  that  they  were  tribes  of  the  great  Teutonic 
family,  and  had,  probably,  not  advanced  much  above 
the  condition  of  the  semi-civilized  races  at  that  time.  The 
Teutons,  however,  unlike  some  people,  had  the  talent  to 
adopt  new  ideas,  to  assimilate  with  other  people,  and  to  ad- 
vance. History  proves  sufficiently  that  they  have  been  very 
progressive.    The  Goths  had  been  the  principal  participants 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.  9 

in  the  destruction  of  Rome,  bift  the  Goths  were  not  exclu- 
sively Scandinavians,  because  part  of  the  tribe,  in  all  prob- 
ability, lived  in  Germany.  The  Teutons  constituted  many 
tribes,  no  nationalities  existed,  which,  however,  commenced 
to  develop  shortly  after  the  fall  of  Rome. 

In  the  seventh,  eighth,  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh  centur- 
ies—at the  time  when  the  foundation  of  the  European  king- 
doms were  in  process  of  construction— the  inhabitants  of  the 
Scandinavian  countries  became  famous  as  Vikings.  But  the 
Viking  practice  had  been  in  operation  ever  since  the  Teutons 
and  Romans  came  in  conflict  with  each  other.  The  Scandi- 
navian Viking  age  is  only  a  continuation  of  the  barbaric 
flood  that  deluged  the  classical  civilization.  The  two  may 
differ  in  the  particulars,  but  not  in  the  essentials;  it  is  im- 
possible to  understand  one,  without  having  a  clear  concep- 
tion of  the  other.  "All  wars  hang  together,"  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  used  to  say. 

According  to  Sars,  the  Scandinavian  Viking  age  is  divided 
into  three  periods;  but  it  might  be  more  correct  to  say  that 
there  were  three  kinds  of  Vikings,  as  no  sharp  divisions,  in 
regard  to  time,  can  be  made.  No  one  can  tell  when  the  age 
commenced.  Northern  Vikings  had,  no  doubt,  practiced 
their  trade  ever  since  the  Christian  era  began,  and,  perhaps, 
before.  The  First  Period:  A  small  number  of  chieftains,  or 
one  alone,  would,  at  irregular  times,  gather  together  crews 
for  a  few  ships  and  sail  over  to  England,  Ireland,  France,  or 
Flanders,  where  they  would  plunder  a  city  or  a  monastery, 
and  quickly  return  home  with  their  booty.  The  Second 
Ptriodi  An  advance  was  made,  not  only  in  the  art  of  war  and 
military  management,  but  even  in  the  systematic  plan  of 


10  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

robbing  defenceless  people.  Several  Vikings  club  together, 
take  possession  of  some  exposed  point — ^for  example,  a  small 
island  near  the  coast— erect  fortifications,  and  thus  control 
a  large  extent  of  territory.  They  may  remain  at  one  place 
for  years,  and  forage  the  surrounding  country  accord- 
ing to  a  regular  plan,  then  proceed  to  their  nativt  lands. 
The  Third  Period:  Plundering,  robbing,  and  piracy  have 
been  abandoned.  The  Vikings  came  as  conquerors.  Their 
fleets  counted  from  one  to  five  hundred  vessels.  Cities  were 
stormed  and  sacked.  They  conquered  territories,  settled 
them,  and  governed  them.  They  treated  with  kings  and 
rulers.  Of  course  the  third  period,  during  the  ninth,  tenth, 
and  eleventh  centuries,  is  without  comparison  the  most  im- 
portant and  fascinating.  It  has  had  a  very  great  influence 
both  upon  the  Scandinavian  countries  and  abroad. 

The  Vikings,  who  had  at  first  occasionally  plundered  the 
western  European  countries  for  the  sake  of  pleasure  and 
small  profits,  commenced  "Piracyasa  trade"  on  a  wholesale 
scale  in  the  first  part  of  the  ninth  century.  "These  bold 
sailors  and  admirable  foot-soldiers  "  had  made  a  general  and 
perpetual  declaration  of  war  on  all  mankind,  but  especially 
on  those  who  possessed  any  kind  of  tangible  property  that 
was  worth  having.  The  seas  swarmed  with  their  sails. 
The  miserable  people  along  the  coasts  of  the  North  Sea,  who 
had  lately  been  Christianized,  fled  in  terror.  Priests  prayed 
in  vain:  "Deliver  us,  O  Lord,  from  the  rage  of  the  North- 
men.'' The  world,  it  was  thought,  would  soon  come  to  an 
end.  Germany,  Holland,  Belgium,  England,  Scotland,  Ire- 
land, France,  Spain,  and  Italy  were  all  punished  with  fire 
and  sword,  sacked  and  robbed,  drenched  in  blood  and  tears. 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         11 

That  time  has  been  called  the  heroic  age,  the  age  of  individ- 
ualism. Princes  had  to  buy  their  freedom  in  gold  and 
cede  their  torritories  to  the  conquerors.  Paris  was  beseiged, 
Dublin  was  taken  by  storm,  and  in  the  very  heart  of  London, 
not  far  from  the  celebrated  St.Paul's  Cathedral,  have  been 
found  skeletons  of  old  Northern  warriors. 

Many  scattering  Scandinavian  settlements  were  made  in 
foreign  countries  during  these  terrible  times.  The  Northern 
people  intermarried  and  mixed  with  the  native  population. 
In  a  comparatively  short  time  the  fierce  pirates  became 
Christianized  and  civilized,  giving  new  vigor  and  energy  to 
the  degenerated  people  of  western  Europe.  Besides  the  many 
smaller  settlements,  scattered  through  nearly  every  European 
country,  the  Norwegians  colonized  Iceland  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  ninth  century;  the  famous  Rolf— also  a  Norwegian, 
though  several  of  his  followers  were  Danes  and  Swedes — 
wrested  Normandy^from  the  weak  French  king  in  the  first  part 
of  the  tenth  century,  and  the  Danes  conquered  the  whole  of 
England  a  hundred  years  later.  The  colonization  of  Iceland, 
and  the  conquest  of  Normandy  and  England  were  the  last 
and  greatest  acts  of  the  bloody  drama  of  the  Viking  age; 
these  were  beneficial  to  civilization,  and  may  be  said  to  have 
palliated  the  former  atrocities  of  the  Northmen.  The  Ice- 
landers created  a  classical  literature  fi-om  which  is  received 
the  .best  information  we  have  in  regard  to  the  mythology  of 
the  Teutons  in  general,  and  of  the  Scandinavians  in  particular; 
established  a  humanitarian,  free  republic,  on  the  basis  of  the 
Northmen's  conception  of  a  civil  government,  which  lasted 
for  nearly  four  hundred  years;  discovered  America  five  hun* 
dred  years  before  Columbus  sailed  from  Spain,  and  perhaps 


12  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

his  knowledge  of  what  they  had  accomplished  partly  induced 
him  to  undertake  the  voyage.  The  followers  of  Rolf  found 
Normandy  in  poverty  and  distress.  In  a  short  time  they 
made  it  the  richest,  most  populous,  and  most  civilized  pro- 
vince in  France,  where  the  best  French  language  was  used. 
The  Normans,  being  virtually  independent  of  the  French 
monarch,  conquered  England  in  1066,  and  founded  the  king- 
doms of  Naples  and  Sicily.  Danish  kings  reigned  over  Eng- 
land, as  well  as  in  their  native  coimtry,  of  course,  for  several 
years,  and  to-day  many  English  words,  laws,  and  customs 
are  purely  Scandinavian.  The  names  of  many  cities,  lakes, 
rivers,  etc,  in  France,  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  other 
countries,  have  a  Scandinavian  origin.  Several  of  the  greatest 
noblemen  in  the  western  European  countries — ^notably  Lord 
Nelson  of  England — are  descendants  of  the  Northmen. 

During  the  Viking  age  the  boundary  hues  between  the 
Scandinavian  countries  were  not  sharply  drawn.  In  fact 
the  people  were  at  first  tribes;  then  a  great  number  of  petty 
kingdoms  were  formed.  It  was  not  until  the  latter  part  of 
the  ninth  century  that  the  present  divisions  of  the  Northern 
nationahties  were  established,  and  the  Scandinavians  con- 
tinned  to  speak  one  and  the  same  language  for  two  or  three 
hundred  years  later.  Even  after  the  stronger  kings  had  suc- 
ceeded in  defeating  the  weaker  and  adding  their  territories 
to  their  own  dominions,  which  resulted  in  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  the  present  Northern  powers,  it  was  yet  a  long  time 
before  the  present  boundary  lines  were  established.  A  large 
part  of  southern  Sweden,  which  is  now  the  richest  and  most 
poptdous  portion  of  the  country,  belonged  to  Denmark,  and 
some  of  its  western  land  belonged  to  Norway.    It  is,  there- 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHARACTTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         13 

fore,  incorrect  to  speak  about  a  Danish  conquest  or  a  Nor- 
wegian colonization,  for  things  were  rather  mixed  up  in 
those  days.  Yet  it  is  certain  that  the  Swedes  participated 
less  in  the  destruction,  and  later  in  the  upbuilding  of  the 
western  European  countries  than  theD^nes  and  Norwegians. 
The  Danes  confined  themselves  principally  to  England  and 
France.  The  Norwegians  attended  to  Scotland,  Ireland,  and 
other  northern  islands.  The  Swedes,  being  closed  out  from 
the  North  Sea,  went  east,  where  they  founded  the  Russian 
Empire  in  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  and  served  in 
large  numbers  in  the  imperial  army  at  Constantinople. 

The  descendants  of  the  Swedish  founders  of  Russia  ruled 
that  country  until  the  sixtee^^th  century.  In  certain  parts  of 
S'witzerland  the  people  claim,  at  least  they  did  half  a  century 
ago,  that  they  are  descendants  of  the  Swedes. 

What  were  the  causes  which  produced  the  Viking  age  ? 
The  answer  is : 

JFjinst— Although  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
Scandinavian  countries  were  a  great  deal  less  populous  than 
at  present;  yet,  being  poorly  tilled,  and  one  man  often 
having  children  by  several  women,  there  were  more 
people  than  could  be  supported.  Some  had  to  seek  their 
fortune  in  foreign  countries.  Frequently  a  father  was  com- 
pelled to  drive  all  his  sons  away  from  home  to  make  their 
own  living,  save  one  who  inherited  his  estate. 

Second— The  religion,  the  desire  for  adventure,  and  the 
spirit  of  the  times,  induced  many  to  leave  their  native  coun- 
tries to  court  dangers  and  turn  the  wheel  of  fortune  in  for- 
eign lands.  It  was  believed  that  only  those  who  died  a  vio- 
lent death  were  entitled  in  the  next  life  to  associate  with  the 


14  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

gods  in  Valhalla.  It  was  considered  a  high  honor  to  have 
fought  successfully  in  foreign  countries.  Young  princes 
received  their  first  education  on  board  of  a  war  vessel.  In  a 
short  time  the  Viking  business  became  a  fashion. 

Third— The  love  for  freedom  and  the  passion  for  inde- 
pendence, or  the  strong  individuality,  induced  many  to 
leave  the  North  rather  than  submit  to  a  superior,  which 
they  were  especially  called  upon  to  do  during  the  latter  part 
of  the  period  when  the  stronger  kings  at  home  subdued  the 
weaker.  But  at  the  bottom  it  was  essentially  a  question  of 
economy.  Men's  religion  often  coincides  with  their  business 
interests,  and  that  was  sometimes  the  case  with  the  Vikings, 
for  several  of  them  believed  a  great  deal  more  in  their  own 
strength  than  in  the  powers  of  the  gods. 

We  must  not  look  at  the  Vikings  through  the  glasses  of 
the  twentieth  century,  or  judge  them  according  to  thestand- 
ard  of  modem  civilization,  but  examine  them  in  accordance 
with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  measure  them  by  the  in- 
fluence their  deeds  have  had  upon  general  history.  They 
honestly  beUeved  that  "War  was  the  natural  condition  of 
man,"  and  that  a  legitimate  reason  for  declaring  hostility 
was,  that  those  who  were  attacked  had  valuable  property. 
After  all,  this  robbery  did  not  differ  much  from  the  English 
opium  war,  the  plundering  of  Denmark  and  France  of  their 
provinces  by  the  Germans,  and  the  treatment  of  the  Indians, 
Mexicans,  and  Spaniards  by  the  Uni  ted  States.  The  Northmen 
were  in  a  kind  of  continual  state  of  hostility.  The  modem 
wars  are  so  terribly  destructive  to  life  and  property  that 
their  continuation  for  a  longer  period  wotdd  annihilate  the 
whole  human  race.    It  is  true  that  modem  warfare  is  con- 


SCANDINAYIANS— CHARACTBRISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         15 

dticted  on  a  more  systematic  plan,  but  the  struggles  of  the 
Vikings  were  not  altogether  irregular.  For  if  anyone  be- 
sides  the  great  noblemen  and  kings  indulged  in  the  plunder- 
ing business  on  a  small  scale,  they  were  at  once  driven  off 
the  sea  as  a  set  of  lawless  robbers,  whom  the  Vikings  them- 
selves considered  it  to  be  a  moral  duty  to  exterminate. 
Therefore,  according  to  the  spirit  of  the  times,  the  operation 
of  the  Vikings  was  a  perfectly  legitimate,  honorable,  perpet- 
ttal  state  of  war,  limited  to  certain  persons,  who  made  it 
their  profession  for  the  sake  of  pleasure  and  profit. 

It  must  also  be  remembered  that  the  description  of  these 
fierce  outrages  has  always  been  recorded  by  their  enemies. 
Very  often  crimes  were  charged  to  the  Vikings  which  in 
reality  were  committed  by,  what  may  be  termed,  their  camp- 
foUowerSf  or  the  worst  element  of  the  respective  countries 
in  which  the  Northmen  might  happen  to  be. 

In  regard  to  the  ultimate  results,  and  the  benefits  to  the 
human  race  which  was  the  consequence  of  these  bloody 
times,  reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  state  of  affairs 
at  and  after  the  fall  of  Rome.  The  same  was  the  case  shortly 
after  in  the  western  European  countries.  For  as  Prof. 
Worsaae  says,  who,  perhaps,  is  the  best  authority  on  the  his- 
tory of  the  Vikings :  *  In  the  first  ages  Christianity  pro- 
duced among  the  people,  as  was  the  case  in  other  countries 
besides  England,  a  sort  of  degeneracy  and  weakness.  In- 
stead of  the  dire  battle  of  the  heathens  there  were  now  heard 
songs  and  prayers,  which,  joined  with  the  constantly  increas- 
ing refinement,  made  the  people  dull  and  effeminate,  so  that 
they  willingly  bent  under  the  yoke  of  their  masters,  both 
spiritual  and  temporal.    In  the  ninth,  tenth,  and  eleventh 


16  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

centuries  the  Anglo-Saxons  had  greatly  degenerated  from 
their  forefathers.  Relatives  sold  one  another  into  thraldom; 
lewdness  and  ungodliness  had  become  habitual ;  and  cow- 
ardice had  increased  to  such  a  degree  that,  according  to  the 
old  chroniclers,  one  Dane  would  often  put  ten  Anglo-Saxons 
to  flight.  Before  such  a  people  could  be  conducted  to  true 
freedom  and  greatness  it  was  necessary  that  an  entirely  new 
vigor  should  be  infused  into  the  decayed  stock.  This  vigor 
was  derived  from  the  Scandinavian  Noilh,  where  neither 
Romans  nor  any  other  conquerors  had  domineered  over  the 
people,  but  where  heathenism  with  all  its  roughness,  and  all 
its  love  of  fireedom  and  bravery,  still  held  absolute  sway.- 

This  admirable  description  of  the  condition  in  England 
applies,  perhaps,  with  greater  truth  and  force  to  other 
western  European  peoples;  for  they  are  in  no  small  de- 
gree indebted  to  the  old  Northmen  for  whatever  freedom, 
honesty,  virtue,  and  heroism  they  now  possess.  The  founda- 
tion of  the  present  European  states  was  laid  by  our  ances- 
tors. Out  of  the  confusion,  disorder,  and  anarchy  arose  a 
new  civilization.  From  the  union  of  the  degenerated  western 
European  peoples  and  the  courageous  Scandinavians  sprung 
a  new,  a  better,  a  nobler,  a  manlier  race. 

During  the  Viking  periods  great  changes  had  taken  place 
at  home  in  the  Scandinavian  countries.  The  smaller  king- 
doms were  conquered  and  united  with  the  larger,  thus  laying 
the  foundation  of  the  modem  Northern  states.  The  many 
wars  degraded  the  Northmen's  honesty  and  simplicity;  for- 
eign corruption,  deceit,  and  luxury  were  introduced.  The 
old  rehgion  had  lost  its  force.  Many  Vikings  asserted  that 
they  beheved  in  nothing,  save  their  own  strength.   The  more 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.        17 

pmdent  men  did  not  believe  in  the  old  gods.  Harold  the 
Fairhaired,  of  Norway,  acknowledged  only  one  suoreme 
being  in  heaven,  the  creator  of  the  universe  and  of  mankind. 
The  attention  of  the  Roman  church  had  been  directed 
towards  the  North  by  the  atrocities  of  the  Vikings,  and  she 
sent  missionaries  thither.  The  men  who  had  been  a  terror 
to  Christendom,  and  the  savage  olunderers  of  Europe,  be- 
came sons  of  Mother  Rome.  It  is  true  that  they  never  were 
very  obedient  children,  and  they  took  the  first  opportunity 
ofifered  to  be  their  own  masters,  yet  something  had  been 
accomplished.  The  Viking  age  ceased,  partly  because  many 
of  the  boldest,  the  bravest,  the  most  independent,  und  the 
most  turbulent  had  settled  in  foreign  lands;  leaving  the  weak, 
the  cowards,  and  the  contented  at  home,  who  either  did  not 
care  or  did  not  dare  to  attack  foreign  countries,  which  were 
now  to  a  great  extent  defended  by  their  former  compatriots; 
partly  because  the  people  in  the  Scandinavian  countries  had, 
at  least  in  name,  become  Christianized  and  bowed  to  the  dic- 
tates of  a  pope,  who  now  opened  a  new  field  for  their  bar- 
barity, and  gave  them  a  new  employment  for  their  swords 
— ^namely,  the  crusades;  partly  because  at  home  the  internal 
disputes,  conflicts  of  principles,  and  the  struggles  connected 
with  the  formation  of  new  states,  kept  the  Northmen  busy 
with  their  own  affairs. 

From  the  eleventh  to  the  sixteenth  century  Catholicism 
swayed  the  religious  faith  of  the  North.  There  was,  consid- 
ering the  times,  a  great  deal  of  advance  and  contact  with  the 
more  highly  civilized  nations  of  the  South;  yet  rude,  savage 
manners  were  in  general  practice,  and  Odin,  in  many  places, 
^was  still  worshiped.      During  the  greater  part  of  the  four- 


18  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

teenth  and  fifteenth  centuries  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden 
were  united  under  one  government.  But  their  history  is 
merely  a  record  of  internal  strife,  war,  and  bloodshed.  Den- 
mark, which  by  means  of  its  superior  civilization  was 
the  acknowledged  leader,  became  the  seat  of  the  govern- 
ment, but  the  unwise  and  cruel  Danish  kings  created, 
by  their  bloody  acts,  a  hatred  between  the  Scandinavian 
people,  which  even  the  time  between  then  and  now  has  been 
^fffll>V  to  eradicate.  Guided  by  popular  leaders  the  Swedish 
peasants  rebelled  successfully  twice,  and  Sweden  separated 
forever  from  Denmark  in  1521,  while  Norway  for  about  four 
hundred  years  remained  virtually  a  province  of  Denmark. 

Ever  since  the  first  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  Luther- 
ism  has  been  the  national  religion  of  the  Scandinavian  coun- 
tries, and  a  hundred  years  later  the  famous  Gustavus  Adol- 
phus  became  the  prime  defender  of  Protestantism,  intellect- 
ual freedom,  and  German  liberty.  The  rebellions  of  the  com- 
mon people  of  Sweden  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centur- 
ies, during  the  Kalmar  Union,  gained  for  them  a  great  influ- 
ence and  a  confidence  in  their  own  strength  which  they  have 
never  since  ceased  to  exercise  upon  the  national  affairs.  In 
Denmark,  on  the  contrary,  the  peasants  became  almost 
slaves  of  the  great  landowners.  But  since  1849  the  Danes 
have  virtually  enjoyed  full  universal  male  suffrage,  which 
none  of  the  other  two  Northern  countries  possess.  ♦  Yet  the 
king  of  Denmark  has  a  greater  veto-power  than  the  king 
of  Sweden-Norway;  consequently  the  people  of  the  former 
country  have,  in  reality,  less  political  rights  than  those  of 
the  two  latter.  In  Norway  nature  has  divided  the  country 
into  great  valleys;  each  valley  managed  its  own  local  affairs; 

*In  Norway  the  axxSrofge  waa  Kreatly  extended  in  1888. 


SCANDINAYIANS— CHARACTBRISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         19 

the  common  people  knew  and  cared  nothing  about  the 
Danish  rulers  or  the  doings  of  the  world,  and  retained  their 
personal  independence.  In  Denmark  and  Sweden  feudalism, 
aristocracy,  and  patriotism  became  more  general  than  in 
Norway.  It  is  only  in  this  century  that  the  Norwegians 
have  in  any  sense  indicated  a  desire  for  nationalization;  since 
1814,  however,— when  a  very  liberal  constitution  was  adopt- 
ed, and  Norway  was  separated  from  Denmark  and  joined 
with  Sweden — they  have,  perhaps,  had  a  stronger  national 
spirit,  and  certainly  possessed  more  political  freedom  than 
either  of  the  other  two  Northern  people. 

The  most  prominent  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Viking 
was  his  strong  individuality.  His  love  for  freedom,  his  desire 
for  personal  independence,  amounted  to  a  passion.  He  wotdd 
endure  the  rigid  climate  of  the  north,  the  burning  sun  of  the 
south.  He  would  sleep  beneath  no  other  roof  than  the  arch 
of  heaven,  use  bark  for  bread,  drink  rain-water  as  a  bever- 
age, make  the  forest  his  habitation,  and  have  the  wild  beasts 
for  his  companions.  But  he  would  never  give  up  one  inch  of 
his  rights  as  a  free  man.  The  people  of  the  classical  countries 
were  free  men,  because  they  belonged  to  a  powerful  and  free 
state;  they  boasted  of  their  citizenship.  The  Northman  was 
9,  free  man  because  he  was  a  man,  he  boasted  of  himself  SLud 
the  deeds  he  performed.  The  same  passion  for  freedom  has 
run  through  the  whole  Scandinavian  race  from  the  earliest 
time  to  the  present  day.  A  great  portion  of  the  Vikings  left 
their  native  lands  because  they  refused  to  submit  to  a 
superior  chief.  No  king  or  ruler  has  been  able,  for  any  length 
of  time,  to  be  the  absolute  master  of  the  Scandinavian  peo- 
ple. No  foreign  nation  has  been  powerful  enough  to  subjugate 


20  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

them.  Sweden  and  Denmark  have  dethroned  their  obstinate 
monarchs,  Norway  dared  to  draw  the  sword  against  Europe 
and  demand  national  independence.  The  Scandinavians 
were  the  last  people  who  submitted  to  the  Catholic  yoke; 
they  were  the  first  to  cast  it  off.  Today  the  Swedish-Nor- 
wegian and  Danish  kings  have  as  little  authority  and  power 
as  any  rulers  in  Christendom.  To  be  free  and  independent 
has  always  been  the  greatest  ambition  of  every  true  North- 
man. 

The  second  characteristic  feature  of  our  savage  ances- 
tors is  courage.  Bravery,  however,  sometimes  turned  into 
a  fierceness  that  could  hardly  be  distinguished  from  in- 
sanity. "War  was  their  profession.  They  hunted  men  as 
well  as  wild  beasts,  but  prefered  men  who  possessed  some 
kind  of  valuable  property.  '*  For  they  deemed  it  a  disgrace 
to  acquire  by  sweat  what  they  might  obtain  by  blood." 
And  whether  we  wander  with  the  Goths  when  they  plunder 
and  destroy  Rome,  or  sail  with  the  Danes  and  Norwegians 
when  they  dethrone  English  kings  and  humble  proud  French 
monarchs,  or  live  in  the  camps  of  the  Swedes  when  Gustavus 
Adolphus  and  Charles  the  Twelfth  dictate  terms  to  popes 
and  emperors,  or  accompany  the  Northern  immigrants  when 
they  clear  the  dense  forests  of  Wisconsin  and  subdue  the 
wild  prairies  of  Dakota,  we  find  that  they  all  excelled  in  en- 
durance, heroism,  and  courage.  In  fact  the  Scandinavian 
warriors  have  been  so  noted  for  their  fearlessness  that  they 
have  conquered  by  the  very  terror  of  their  names.  Honor 
on  earth  and  salvation  in  heaven,  joy  in  this  life  and  happi- 
ness in  the  next,  could  only,  according  to  their  religion,  be 
gained  by  physical,  brutal  prowess.      Their  doctrine  was 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         21 

that  only  the  brave  warriors  who  died  a  violent  death  were 
in  the  next  life  entitled  to  associate  with  the  gods,  fight  in 
the  celestial  abode,  enjoy  the  companionship  of  young  maids, 
drink  wine,  and  eat  pork. 

Stubbornness^  Grmness,  and  determination  are  qualities 
which  the  follower  of  Odin  has  been  largely  blessed  with.  To 
him  no  defeat  w^as  final.  Failure  meant  only  delay.  He  over- 
came all  opposition,  conquered  every  obstacle,  defied  every  dif- 
ficulty. Mountains,  oceans,  deserts,  rivers,  must  not  hinder  his 
purpose.  Charles  the  Twelfth  during  his  childhood  examined 
two  plans.  Under  one  plan,  which  showed  how  the  Turks 
had  taken  a  town  in  Hungary  fi*om  the  emperor,  were  written 
these  words :  "The  Lord  hath  given  it  to  me,  and  the  Lord 
hath  taken  it  from  me;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
After  the  young  prince  had  read  this,  he  wrote  under  the 
other  plan,  which  showed  how  the  Swedes  had  taken  Riga 
about  a  century  before:  "The  Lord  hath  given  it  to  me,  and 
the  devil  shall  not  take  it  from  me.".  Charles  the  Twelfth 
was  a  good  representative  of  Scandinavian  stubbornness. 

Besides  being  independent,  stubborn,  and  courageous  the 
old  Viking  was,  on  the  whole,  honest  and  truthful ^  but  terribly 
revengeful.  Mercy  seldom  entered  his  harsh  breast.  He 
never  forgave  an  offense.  "He  had  a  sense  of  honor  which 
led  him  to  sacrifice  his  life  rather  than  his  word."  A  promise 
once  given,  either  to  a  friend  or  an  enemy,  had  to  be  carried 
out  unconditionally-  Yet  deception  and  cunning  might  be 
practiced  in  war,  but  the  highest  honor  was  bestowed  upon 
those  who  were  open  and  frank  towards  their  enemies,  kind 
and  merciful  towards  the  weak  and  those  who  sought  pro- 
tection.      Deception    and    cunning    they   never  tolerated 


22  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

among  each  other.  One  of  the  noblest  characteristics 
of  the  Northman  was  the  brotherly  nnion  which  he  entered 
into  with  a  friend  or  antagonist  whom  he  could  not  conquer 
or  subdue.  This  union,  which  was  the  most  sacred  that 
could  be  entered  into,  was  eflFected  by  opening  each  other's 
veins,  mixing  their  blood,  and  taking  an  oath  that  they  would 
share  each  other's  joy  and  sorrow  in  this  life,  and  revenge 
each  other's  death. 

Hospitality  was  an  essential  part  of  the  North- 
men's religion.  There  was  a  kind  of  unwritten  social  law 
which  compelled  every  person  to  entertain,  to  the  best  of 
his  ability,  the  time  not  being  limited,  and  free  of  charge, 
any  one,  either  his  best  friend  or  his  worstenemy.  who  should 
ask  or  be  in  need  thereof.  And  no  g^est  needed  to  fear  to  be 
molested  or  imposed  upon.  This  custom  of  hospitality  is 
yet  to  a  great  extent  practiced  in  the  rural  districts  of  the 
Scandinavian  countries. 

The  Northmen  had  a  higher  respect  for  women  than 
most  heathen  nations.  It  is  true  that  they  bought  their 
wives  of  their  fathers-in-law.  The  Romans  sometimes  stole 
their  wives.  But  after  the  bargain  had  been  once  made 
the  w^omen  were  generally  treated  with  respect  and  dignity, 
and  their  place  in  the  house  was  that  of  free  beings,  not 
slaves.  The  men  were  attached  to  home  and  family,  and,  of 
course,  enjoyed  the  wine  and  the  feast. 

It  is  true  that  civilization  has  changed  their  manners,  cus- 
toms, mode  of  thinking,  ideas  of  right  and  wrong,  and  to 
some  extent  even  their  appearance.  Yet  at  bottom  the  Scan- 
dinavians of  today  are  the  same  as  their  ancestors  were  a 
thousand  years  ago.    "Civilization,"  says  Carlyle,  "is  only 


SCANDINAYIANS— CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         23 

a  -wrappage  through  which  the  savage  nature  bursts  infernal 
as  ever." 

The  diverse  influences  of  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden 
have  developed  diflFerent  characteristics  of  the  people  in  the 
respective  countries.  But  the  people  of  the  northern  part  of 
Sweden  differ  more  from  the  inhabitants  of  southern  Sweden 
than  the  latter  do  from  those  who  live  on  the  Danish 
islands — ^the  last  two  having  a  very  fair  complexion,  being 
the  purest  descendants  of  the  Goths;  the  former  are  often  as 
dark  as  Frenchmen,  which  is  also  the  case  with  many  Nor- 
-wegians,  and  those  residing  in  Danish  Jutland. 

The  Danish  islanders  and  the  southern  Swedes  in  par- 
ticular, and  all  the  Danes  in  general,  are  open  and  frank,  easy 
to  become  acquainted  with,  polite  to  strangers,  not  speciaUy 
•witty,  but  refined  and  polished  in  their  intercourse  with 
other  people.  They  are  industrious,  frugal,  peaceable,  and 
possess  a  great  amount  of  push,  energy,  and  business  shrewd- 
ness. They  are  not  so  much  of  agitators  and  extremists  as 
the  Norwegians,  nor  as  aristocratic  and  conservative  as  the 
northern  Swedes,  but  a  combination  of  both.  In  business 
they  are  democratic,  in  social  affairs  they  prefer  the  class  dis- 
tinction. Both  in  politics  and  commerce  they  are  conserva- 
tive. Risky  speculations,  and  radical  reforms  arc  repugnant 
to  their  very  nature.  They  will  answer  you  by  yea  and  nay, 
but  prefer  the  ifs  and  huts.  Their  motto  is;  "In  the  sight 
of  our  Lord  all  men  are  'Smdlanningar.' "  This  part  of  the 
North  is  by  far  the  most  populous  and  wealthy;  the  peo- 
ple are  more  business-like  and  cosmopolitan  in  their  ideas 
than  any  other  Scandinavians.  In  their  social  intercourse 
they  pay  less  attention  to  the  form  than  the  substance:  thev 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

are  less  earnest,  but  more  courteous  than  the  Norwegians. 
They  have  been  called  the  Germans  of  the  North. 

A  northern  Swede,  and  especially  a  Stockholmer,  is  re- 
served, hard  to  get  acquainted  with,  conservative,  but  above 
all,  an  aristocrat.  He  is  proud  of  his  country,  its  history, 
and  himself.  Business  is  not  in  his  line.  He  is  the  poet,  wit, 
historian,  statesman,  philosopher,  and  patriot.  He  must 
dress  well,  comply  rigorously  with  the  latest  rules  of  eti- 
quette, and  drink  the  most  expensive  wine.  He  has  a  large 
assortment  of  bows,  bobs,  courtesies,  and  hat-liftings,  vary- 
ing according  to  the  age,  sex,  condition,  and  class  distinc- 
tion. The  class  distinction  is  greater  and  more  varied  in  Swe- 
den than  in  any  of  the  other  Scandinavian  countries.  The 
northern  Swedes  have  been  called  the  Frenchmen  of  the  North. 

The  Norwegians  are  less  ceremonious  than  the  Danes  or 
Swedes,  as  no  class  distinction  exists  among  them;  they  treat 
strangers  with  a  certain  kind  of  cold  courtesy,  and  do  not  ap- 
pear to  be  anxious  to  make  anybody's  acquaintance.  They 
are  independent,  somewhat  haughty,  radical,  progressive,  ex- 
treme, and  above  all,  Norwegians.  Religious,  political,  and 
social  changes  must  not  be  hindered,  but  promoted.  They 
are  more  earnest  and  turbulent  than  any  of  the  other 
Scandinavian  people,  but  lack  that  smoothness  and  courtesy 
which  the  Danes  especially  master  with  great  perfection. 
They  are  bold  sailors  and  daring  adventurers,  resembling 
more  than  anyone  else  the  old  Vikings.  The  Norwegians 
have  been  caUed  the  Englishmen  of  the  North. 

These  diflferent  characteristics  of  the  Northmen  are,  of 
course,  as  has  always  been  the  case,  largely  due  to  "The 
climate,  the  soil,  and  the  general  character  of  the  countries." 


SCANDINAVIANS—CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         25 

The  southern  part  of  Sweden,  and  Denmark  are  largely  pro- 
ductive prairies,  where  the  climate  is  rather  even  the  whole 
year  round;  no  great  changes  occur  in  the  seasons  to  compel 
the  people  to  make  any  extraordinary  exertions.  The  coun- 
try is  rich,  productive,  and  thickly  settled;  consequently, 
social  and  financial  intercourse  is  so  frequent  that  the 
people  out  of  necessity  become  courteous,  refined,  enterpris- 
ing, and  broad-mined.  This  part  of  the  North  was  first  civi- 
lized and  Christianized.  Later,  the  introduction  of  feudal- 
ism and  the  enslavement  of  the  peasants  could  easily  be  ac- 
complished here,  where,  unlike  Norway  and  northern 
Sweden,  no  g^eat  mountain  walls  and  deep  fjords  defended 
the  weak  against  the  encroachment  of  the  strong.  But  the 
same  Buropean  influence  which  in  the  middle  ages  compelled 
these  people  to  submit  to  the  spirit  of  the  times,  has  at  pres- 
ent made  them  the  broadest  and  most  cosmopolitan  of  all 
the  Northmen. 

In  the  northern  part  of  Sweden  nature  is  stem,  the  win- 
ters are  severe,  existence  must  be  obtained  by  hard  toil,  and 
activity  becomes  a  necessity.  It  was  the  brave  people  from 
Dalame  who  in  olden  times  often  insisted  upon  their  rights 
of  free  men,  and  twice  enforced  their  demands  by  the  sword. 
It  is  due  to  the  population  of  northern  Sweden  that  she 
has  one  of  the  most  brilliant  histories  in  Christendom,  and 
that  the  peasants  have  never,  as  was  the  case  in  Denmark, 
been  chained  to  the  soil,  but  have  always  exercised  a  g^eat  in- 
fluence upon  the  political  affairs .  But  the  grand  careers  of  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  and  the  Charleses  have  had  a  tendency  to 
make  the  Swedish  people  proud,  which  is  but  natural,  for  few 
countries,  and  certainly  neither  Denmark  nor  Norway  has 


26  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

such  a  renowned  history.  The  nearness  of  Russia,  French 
influence,  and  a  brilliant  history  have  been  the  chief  agencies 
in  making  the  Swedes  a  conservative,  a  polite,  and  an  aris- 
tocratic nation.  "Sweden,"  a  Dane  says,  "is  the  one  of  the 
three  kingdoms  which,  according  to  its  whole  history  and 
present  position,  is  called  upon  to  take  the  leadership  in  all  for- 
eign Scandinavian  politics.  The  nation  has  still  a  vivid 
memory  of  its  participation  in  the  great  European  strifes  in  the 
days  of  the  Gustaves  and  the  Charleses,  and  takes  continually 
the  greatest  interest  in  all  great  political  questions.  That 
country  has,  furthermore,  what  the  other  two  kingdoms  have 
not,  a  class  especially  adopted  to  be  the  bearers  of  such  a 
policy.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  great  foreign  questions 
are  the  most  difficult  to  grapple  with  for  the  democracies. 
Sweden,  more  than  Norway  and  Denmark,  has  something  of 
an  able  national  aristocracy.  Norway  has  no  noblemen  at 
all,  and  the  few  in  Denmark  are  too  fresh  from  absolute  gov- 
ernment, and  it  seems  also — although  some  of  them  are  very 
wealthy — that  they  are  hardly  to  the  same  extent  as  in 
Sweden,  interested  in  the  economic  life  of  the  country. 
While  in  Denmark  we  only  find  few  names  like  those  of 
Moltke,  Bille,  and  Frijs,  prominent  in  its  foreign  politics; 
in  Sweden  we  still  find  a  number  of  names  from  the  great 
European  wars— skjolds,  svards,  hjelms,  stjemas,  kronas 
(or  all  the  names  ending  in  words  as  shield,  sword, 'helmet, 
star, crown, etc.) — as  leaders  in  agriculture, mining, banking, 
or  other  important  interests  of  the  country.  Nor  can  it  be 
denied  that  such  a  class,  as  a  rule,  has  a  better  understand- 
ing of  the  great  questions  than  a  pure  democracy  of  peas- 
ants or  of  workingmen  in  the  cities." 


SCANDINAYIANS— CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         27 

In  Norway  "The  ocean  roars  along  its  rock-bound  coast, 
and  during  the  long,  dark  winter  the  storms  howl  and  rage, 
and  hurl  the  waves  in  white  showers  of  spray  against  the 
sky.  The  Aurora  Borealis  flashes  like  a  huge  shining 
fan  over  the  northern  heavens,  and  the  stars  glitter  with 
keen  frosty  splendor."  The  many  deep  cut  valleys,  protected 
by  mountains  and  §ords,  are  by  nature  independent  princi« 
palities.  Even  when  the  country  was  a  province  of  Denmark 
each  valley  governed  its  own  local  affairs.  The  Norwegians 
are,  like  the  elements  that  surround  them,  daring,  indepen- 
dent, radical,  and  turbulent. 

An  educated  Danish-American  speaks  about  the  Scandi- 
navians  at  home  in  the  following  manner:  "If  we  look  for 
the  differences  in  character  between  the  Scandinavians  and 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  we  find  that  our  countrymen,  with  all 
their  solid  qualities,  are  lacking  in  that  energy  which  prob- 
ably, more  than  anything  else,  characterizes  the  English  and 
American  nations.    The  average  Scandinavian  has  at  bot^ 

tom  a  good  deal  of  the  same  nature  as  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
He  is  rather  cold  and  taciturn.    Southern  people  even  find  a 

certain  kind  of  brutality  in  his  nature,  but  they  admire  his 
strength  of  character.  Outward,  as  well  as  inward,  the 
Scandinavian  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  are  probably  more  alike 
than  men  of  other  nationalities.  It  is  only  when  it  comes  to 
activity  that  the  Scandinavians  fall  back  compared  with  the 
pushing  and  enterprising  Anglo-Saxons.  This  difference  has 
not  always  existed.  Energy,  individuality,  and  love  of  free- 
dom were  just  as  characteristic  of  the  old  inhabitants  of  the 
Scandinavian  north  as  they  are  at  present  of  the  English 
speaking  race,  especially  in  the  greatest  period  of  their  his- 


28  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

tory,  that  of  the  Vikings,  when  the  Normans,  Danes,  and 
Swedes  conquered  half  of  Europe,  and  the  Danish  blood  on 
French  soil,  the  Normans  of  Normandy,  instituted  the  great- 
est development  of  the  mediaeval  epoch. 

"But  the  old  Scandinavians  did  not  keep  up  this  great 
evolution  of  force  at  home,  whether  this  was  due  to  the  mol- 
lifying influence  of  Christianity,  or  to  the  destruction  of  the 
small  independent  communities  by  the  larger  kingdoms,  or 
to  both  together  which  ended  the  old  life  of  continuous  fight- 
ing. The  northern  empire  of  Canute  the  Great,  as  well  as  the 
later  of  the  Valdemars,  were  even  more  short  lived  forma- 
tions than  the  Prankish  empire;  and  at  no  later  period  of 
their  history  have  the  Scandinavians  been  able  to  make  any 
great  extension  of  their  power.  They  have  developed  a  re- 
spectable civilization,  but  no  great  enterprise,  and  they  are 
not  counted  among  the  leading  nations  of  the  world.  Only 
the  poet  can  now  sing,  'Again  shall  the  glorious  race  of  the 
North  lead  to  victory  the  freedom  of  nations.'  In  actual  life 
they  are  at  present  a  more  modest  people. 

"There  is  certainly  in  this  respect  a  great  difference  be- 
tween the  three  Scandinavian  nations.  The  Swedes  have 
formerly  been  more  apt  to  go  to  extremes.    Although  they  are 

not  lacking  in  any  of  the  more  solid  qualities  of  the  Danes 
and  Norwegians,  they  have  in  their  composition  more  of  the 
French  elan  than  their  brethren;  and  they  have  at  least  a 
certain  kind  of  pushing  energy.  We  shall  not  attempt  to  de- 
cide whether  this  is  due  to  the  difference  in  climate — there 
being  in  Sweden  more  of  the  stirring,  continental  difference 
between  the  seasons,  more  frequent  changes  from  heat  to 
cold  than  in  Denmark  or  Norway;  or  to  the  accidental  his- 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHARACTERISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         29 

tone  development  which  connected  Sweden,  more  than  Den^ 
mark-Norway,  with  general  European  politics;  or,  finally, 
to  the  old  diflFerence  in  race  between  the  remarkably  gifted 
people  of  the  Svear  north  of  the  great  Swedish  lakes,  and  the 
Goths  and  other  Scandinavian  tribes  farther  south.    The 
Danes  are  certainly  a  people  of  extreme  moderation.    They 
are  unbearably  conservative  in  business,  where  they  work 
respectably,  but  seldom  exert  themselves  very   much.    In 
their  religion  they  rarely  show  much  zeal,  although,  as  a 
rule,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are  far  from  being  professed 
free-thinkers.  In  art,  their  national  school  copies  with  truth- 
fulness the  characteristics  of  the  country  and  of  the  people, 
but  lacks  all  brilliancy  in  colors  and  in  ideas.     Molesworth, 
an  English  ambassador  of  two  hundred  years  ago,  in  des- 
cribing the  country  and  the  people,  speaks  of  their  extraor- 
dinary moderation  in  virtues  as  in  vices;  and  thus  it  certainly 
cannot  be  their  absolute  government  which  has  produced  all 
this  respectable  mediocrity  in  the  nation.    The  temperate 
climate  makes  one  day  like  another,  and  their  isolated  loca- 
tion allows  the  people  to  live  their  own  life  free  from  the 
great  European  movements.    The  Norwegians  have  more 
earnestness,  as  their  soil  and  climate  are  harder  and  more 
severe  than  the  fertile  Danish  country  and  the  moderate 
Danish  climate.    But  their  location  has  kept  them  still  more 
apart  from  general  European  matters,  and  their  greatness 
as  a  seafaring  nation  can  hardly  keep  up  with  the  changes 
of  the  times.    It  was  in  the  former  Danish-Norwegian  state 
largely  due  to  the  Norwegians  that  the  sea  was  called  the 
'Path  of  Danes  to  praise  and  might.'      Lately  came  the 
epoch  of  steam,  which  made  even  navigation  a  question  of 


30  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

machinery  and  money  rather  than  of  personal  prowess  and 
ability.  Already  when  navigation  and  commerce  went  over 
distant  parts  of  the  world  and  through  greaterseas,  the  very 
location  of  England  and  Holland  gave  them  an  advantage 
over  the  natives  of  the  North.  Nature  contributed  its  part, 
and  together  with  freegovemment  made  the  Anglo-Saxons  the 
real  successors  of  the  Scandinavian  Vikings  in  enterprise  and 
energy.  Today  this  natural  advantage  in  the  location  of 
Great  Britain  is  again  neutralized  by  the  marvelous  develop- 
ment of  the  railway  systems  of  the  world;  arid  not  only  the 
political  preponderance,  but  also  the  new  changes  of  com- 
munication by  land,  that  is  making  Ciermany — and  especially 
the  Prussians,  these  able  German  colonists  on  Slav  territory 
— ^the  successful  competitor  of  England.  This,  too,  is  one  of 
the  main  causes  of  the  greatness  of  the  United  States;  and  it 
is  especially — as  everybody  knows — the  railways  which  at 
this  moment  make  the  great  American  West  the  main  field  of 
development  of  the  whole  Teutonic  race.  This  is  now,  more 
than  any  other  part  of  the  world,  what  in  olden  times  the 
northern  and  western  seas  were  in  Europe.  Here  there  is 
room  for  the  individuality  and  energy  of  our  race;  for  the 
free  development  of  co-operation  of  all  human  forces. 

"This  feature  of  moderation,  so  prominent  in  the  charac- 
ters of  the  present  Scandinavians,  also  shows  itself  in  their 
internal  policy.  Honest  administration  and  justice  are 
characteristics  of  their  national  life." 

In  a  letter  to  Prof.  Hjame,  of  Upsala,  Sweden — ^pub- 
in  The  North  in  1893 — BjSnstjeme  Bjomson  characterizes 
the  Norwegians  in  this  manner:  "The  Norwegians  are, 
in   my   opinion,  not  that  people  in   the   North  which  is 


SCANOINAYIANS— CHAKACTBRISTICS  AND  HISTORY.         31 

least  gifted  or  has  the  weakest  character.  But  its  fate 
has  brought  it  to  such  a  pass  that  it  has  not  had 
enough  cohesive  power,  not  enough  sense  of  national 
honor;  therefore  its  aims  are  not  far  reaching.  It  is  not  so 
grand  as  the  Swedish  people  (not  so  flippant  cither,  per- 
haps). It  is  not  so  industrious  and  faithful  as  the  Danish 
people  (not  so  zealous  either,  perhaps).  It  takes  hold  and 
lets  go,  it  lets  go  and  takes  hold  of  persons  and  aims.  It 
will  exert  itself  to  the  utmost;  but  it  demands  speedy  and 
signal  success;  its  ambition  is  not  so  great  as  its  vanity. 
Hot-headed,  impetuous  in  small  things,  it  is  patient  in  great 
ones,  so  that  with  all  its  faults  it  has  talents  for  a  noble 
deed,  provided  the  conditions  are  present.  But  the  condi- 
tion of  conditions  is  the  right  of  self-determination  in 
order  that  it  may  concentrate  its  bias  for  adventure  and  its 
talents  in  forming  new  things  and,  if  possible,  in  making 
these  an  example  for  others.  The  Norwegian  people  must 
needs  take  the  lead  in  certain  things.  If  its  craving  for 
honor  and  its  character  can  be  marshaled  in  a  spontaneous 
exertion  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  certain  purpose,  you 
may  see  that  it  is  capable  of  something,  and  the  North  shall 
be  benefited  by  us." 

It  is,  however,  not  fair  to  blame  the  Scandinavians  at 
home  for  their  lack  of  energy  and  enterprise.  Nature  is 
against  them.  The  countries,  on  the  whole,  are  barren  and 
unproductive,  the  opportunities  for  safe  investments  are 
scarce,  and  a  speculator  after  having  once  failed  will  find  it 
extremely  difficult  to  re-establish  himself  in  business.  Con- 
sequently the  people  become  conservative  in  business,  as  well 
as  in  politics  and  in  religion.    Diligence  and  frugality  has  to 


32  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IX  THE  U.  S. 

be  adopted,  not  as  a  matter  of  choice,  perhaps,  but  as  a 
matter  of  necessity.  In  the  United  States  the  country  is 
new,  undeveloped,  and  rich;  a  failure,  or  even  several,  can  be 
amended,  which  induces  us  to  become  bold  speculators,  and 
daring  advocates  of  new  social,  religious,  and  political 
theories;  changes  and  excitement  become  a  passion;  every- 
thing is  conducive  to  activity;  the  air  we  breathe  is  commer- 
cial. In  the  North  all  this  is  reversed.  Yet  it  would  be 
wrong  to  accuse  the  people  of  sluggishness.  For  whoever 
has  seen  Stockholm,  hewed  out  of  the  rocks,  or  Kristiania — 
both  located  nearly  a  thousand  miles  farther  north  than  the 
northern  boundary  line  of  the  United  States,  and  having 
about  the  same  latitude  as  the  central  part  of  Alaska  and 
the  extreme  southern  portion  of  Greenland — must  admit 
that  they  possess  all  the  energy  and  enterprise  which  nature 
permits  them  to  exercise.  Taking  into  consideration  the 
harshness  of  the  climate  and  the  barrenness  of  the  soil  in  the 
greater  part  of  the  Scandinavian  countries,  no  one  can  deny 
that  the  people  have  shown  more  push  and  perseverence  in 
supporting  themselves  by  cultivating  these  districts  than  any 
of  the  other  nations — all  of  which,  as  a  general  thing,  have 
been  more  favored  by  nature.  It  is  not  difficult  to  live  in 
splendor  when  one  has  plenty,  but  it  takes  skill  and  prudence 
to  manage  to  make  a  comfortable  livelihood  out  of  a  smaH 
income.  The  Scandinavians  at  home  have  not  only  sup- 
plied their  physical  wants,  but  are  among  the  most  civi- 
lized nations  on  earth.  Their  lower  schools — the  bulwark  of 
a  nation — are  excellent,  and  certainly  better  than  the  much- 
boasted  of  American  common  schools.  Denmark,  Norway, 
and  Sweden  are  among  the  five  European  states,  which  vir- 


SCANDINAVIANS— CHAKACTBHISnCS  AND  HISTORY.         33 

ttially  have  no  illiterate  classes  of  people.  In  Russia  only  21 
persons  out  of  a  hundred  can  read  and  write,  in  Italy  58,  in 
Hungary  61,  in  Austria  75,  in  Ireland  76,  in  the  United 
States  78,  in  Great  Britain  91,  in  Holland  92,  in  Germany 
99,  and  in  the  Scandinavian  countries  99%. 

It  is  true  that  the  people  of  the  North  are  somewhat  in- 
clined towards  drunkenness,  and  crimes  and  vices  are,  of 
course,  as  is  the  case  in  every  country,  committed.  Yet  in 
the  Northern  countries,  where  large  cities  can  hardly  be  said 
to  exist,  where  the  poorer  classes  of  the  community  are 
scattered  through  the  farming  districts  and  not  congregated 
in  dirty  quarters  of  great  cities,  morality  naturally  stands 
high.  And  whoever  has,  by  actual  observation,  compared 
the  facial  expressions  of  the  lower  strata  of  humanity  in  the 
countty  districts  of  the  North  with  those  of  the  same  grade 
in  the  large  European  and  American  cities,  must  certainly 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  former  are  morally  so  far 
superior  to  the  latter  that  no  comparison  can  properly  be 
made  between  them.  P 


3 


History  of  the  Scandinavian  Immigration. 


—  BY— 


O.  N.  NEL.SON. 


The  Icelanders  discovered  America,  as  is  well  kno wn,  about 
tlic  year  1000,  and  the  Scandinavians  have,  in  all  probability, 
emigrated  to  the  United  States  ever  since  the  country  began 
to  be  colonized.  For  example,  Hans  Hansen  Bergen,  of  Ber- 
gen,  Norway,  came  with  the  Dutch  emigrants  to  New  York 
as  early  as  1633,  and  became  the  ancestor  of  a  large  Ameri- 
can family  by  that  name.  In  the  Dutch  colonial  and  church 
records  he  was  variously  called  Hans  Hansen  von  Bergen^ 
Hans  Hansen  de  Noorman,  etc.  He  married  a  Dutch  lady, 
was  quite  a  noted  character  in  those  early  days,  and  his 
name  has,  perhaps,  been  mixed  up  with  the  supposed  Danish- 
Norwegian  colony  at  Bergen,  N.  J.,  which  should,  according 
to  some  questionable  authorities,  have  been  founded  there  in 
1624.  Although  there  is  every  reason,  and  some  historical 
evidence  for  assuming  that  therewereDanes  and  Norwegians 
in  America  at  that  time,  they  were  not  numerous  enough 
to  establish  a  distinct  settlement. 

The  well-known  Swedish  colony  was  founded  at  Delaware 
River  in  1638. andaSwedish  clergyman  preached  in  his  native 

(36) 


36  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

tongue  in  Philadelphia  as  late  as  1823.  United  States  min- 
ister to  Sweden-Norway,  W.  W.  Thomas,  writes:  **New 
Sweden  as  a  distinct  political  organization  under  the  Swedish 
flag,  existed  but  for  seventeen  years.  Yet,  brief  as  was  its 
life,  this  little  colony  occupies  a  memorable  place  in  American 
history,  and  has  left  a  lasting  impress  upon  this  continent. 
Most  of  the  Swedish  colonists  continued  to  live  on  the  banks 
of  the  Delaware,  and  their  descendants  have  ever  been,  and 
are  today,  among  the  most  influential  and  honored  citizens 
of  the  three  states  of  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  and  New 
Jersey.  The  man  who,  as  a  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  gave  the  casting  vote  of  Pennsylvania  in 
favor  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  was  a  Swede 
of  the  old  Delaware  stock — John  Morton.  And  when 
the  civil  war  burst  upon  the  land,  it  was  a  descendant  of 
New  Sweden,  the  gallant  Robert  Anderson,  who,  with  but  a 
handful  of  men,  calmly  and  bravely  met  the  first  shock  of 
the  rebellion  at  Fort  Sumter.  Surely,  love  of  fireedom,  and 
patriotism,  and  state-craft,  and  valor  came  over  to  America, 
not  only  in  the  MajSower,  but  also  in  that  Swedish  ship, 
the  Kalmar  NyckeV 

The  brave  Captain  Bering,  a  Dane,  entered  the  service  of 
Peter  the  Great,  and  discovered  the  strait  which  bears  his 
name,  in  the  first  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  was  on 
his  discovery  that  Russia  based  its  claim  to  Alaska,  which 
afterwards  was  bought  by  the  United  States.  The  early 
Swedish  immigrants  in  this  century  found  countrymen  of 
theirs  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  who  had  come  to  this  country 
during  the  previous  century. 

In  the  first  year,  1820,  when  the  United  States  com- 


HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  37 

menced  to  record  the  number  of  immigrants  who  arrived, 
20  are  registered  from  Denmark  and  only  three  from  Sweden- 
Norway.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  total  sum  of  the 
Danish  emigrants  from  1820  to  1840  equals  in  number  the 
total  sum  of  both  the  Norwegians  and  Swedes  during  the 
same  time;  yet  the  Danish  immigration  has  never  been 
very  heavy,  reaching  its  maximum  of  nearly  12,000  in  1882, 
when,  on  the  other  hand,  30,000  Norwegians  and  65,000 
Swedes  arrived.  Since,  the  immigration  of  all  the  Scandinavi- 
an countries  has  declined.  The  Norwegians  never  exceeded 
a  thousand  a  year  until  1843,  the  Swedes  not  until  1852, 
and  the  Danes  not  until  1857. 

It  seems  that  the  early  Danish  immigrants  in  this  coun- 
try  and  the  Swedish  colonists  at  Delaware  River  should 
have  been  the  means  of  spreading  reliable  information  in  re- 
gard to  America  in  their  respective  countries,  and  thus  be- 
come factors  in  making  the  emigration  from  Denmark  and 
Sweden  much  earlier  than  from  Norway.  But  it  is  just  the 
reverse.  The  Danes,  however,  have  been  too  busy  in  re-con- 
structing their  affairs  at  home,  and  on  that  account  have, 
probably,  been  prevented  from  participating  in  the  move- 
ment towards  the  West.  The  common  people  in  Sweden 
knew  nothing  about  the  colony  at  Delaware  River,  the  rela- 
tion between  these  settlers  and  their  father-land  had  virtu- 
ally  ceased  before  the  present  century  commenced.  Such  ad- 
venturers as  Kleng  Person  came  in  direct  contact  with  the 
laboring  classes  of  Norway,  and  thus  hastened  the  American 
fever  in  that  coimtry .  The  Kleng  Persons  of  Denmark  and 
Sweden  appeared  on  the  scene  much  later.  Nor  must  we  for- 
get that  before  the  middle  of  this  century  a  citizen  of  Sweden 


38  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

was  required  to  have  a  special  permit  from  the  king  and 
pay  three  hundred  kronor*  before  he  could  leave  the 
country,  while  the  constitution  of  Norway  granted  that 
freedom  to  every  man.  It  must  also  be  remembered  that 
the  conservatism  of  the  Danes  and  Swedes  has  somewhat 
hindered  their  westward  march,  while  the  passion  for  radical 
changes  among  the  Norwegians  has  been  the  means  of  pro- 
moting their  emigration. 

The  emigrants  of  today  have  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with 
their  baggage,  steamship  agents,  hotel  runners,  and  impos- 
ers  of  all  kinds.  Yet  their  annoyance  and  inconveniences  are 
small  in  comparison  with  the  misery  which  the  early  pio- 
neers passed  through.  Before  the  middle  of  this  century  no 
regular  steamers  plowed  between  the  North  and  this  coun- 
try, no  Western  railroads  existed.  The  Scandinavian  emi- 
grants rode  after  a  horse  team  to  a  seaport  at  home,  where 
they  often  had  to  wait  for  weeks  before  a  chance  could  be  se- 
cured to  embark  for  England,  France,  or  Germany,  where 
they  again  had  to  rest  in  patience  for  a  while  until  a  sailing- 
vessel  brought  them  across  the  stormy  Atlantic.  Some- 
times several  emigrants  clubbed  together  and  hired  or 
bought  a  small,  old  ship;  others  again  took  passage  on  a 
merchant- vessel.  Generally  the  journey  lasted  from  two  to 
SIX  months.  Provisions  often  failed,  sickness  and  suffering 
always  occurred,  and  more  than  once  starvation  and  hun- 
ger stared  them  in  the  face.  From  New  York  they  generally 
proceeded  to  the  Northwest  by  slow  boats  up  the  Erie 
Canal  and  continued  the  tedious  journey  on  the  Great  Lakes. 

"In  early  times  migrations  consisted  of  movements  of 
whole  tribes  in  a  career  of  conquests,  and  differed  radically 

*In  ''SJalfbingrafi",  p.  10,  by  Rer.  8.  B.  Newman,  it  la  aaaerted  that  emigrants  had  to 
ffivo  bonda  for  the  amoiint  mentioiied. 


HISTORY  OP  THE  SC A  (a)INA YIAN  IMMIGRATION.  39 

fix)m  emigration,  which  is  a  movement  of  individuals."  The 
-wandering  of  the  Goths  and  other  barbarians  at  the  time  of 
the  fall  of  Rome,  and  to  a  certain  extent  the  conquests  of  the 
Vikings,  were  migrations.  The  early  colonies  of  America,  for 
example,  the  Swedish  settlement  at  the  Delaware  River  in 
the  first  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  were  not  private 
a£birs,  but  national,  under  the  direction  of  the  respective 
governments;  they  also  diflfered  from  emigration.  Thegreat 
stream  of  human  beings  who  have  sought  and  seek  homes 
on  the  American  continent  and  in  Australia  in  the  nineteenth 
century  are  emigrants.  But  if  migration,  colonization,  and 
emigration  have  differed  in  their  nature,  the  causes  which 
have  lead  the  Scandinavians,  and  to  a  great  extent  other 
people,  to  participate  in  these  movements  have  always  been 
the  same. 

What  have  been  the  chief  motives  and  main  causes 
-which  have  induced  the  one-and-a-half  million  Scandinavians 
to  exchange  their  northern  homes  and  settle  on  the  wild 
prairies  and  in  the  thick  forests  of  the  Western  continent  in 
the  nineteenth  century?  First:  The  Northern  countries, 
on  the  whole,  are  barren  and  unproductive.  The  wealth,  and 
especially  the  best  part  of  the  land, has  been,  toagreatextent, 
concentrated  in  a  few  hands.  And  although  the  Scandinavian 
countries  in  many  places  are  not  thickly  populated,  yet  the 
land  being  poor,  unequally  divided,  and  not  always  culti- 
vated to  its  fullest  capacity,  a  large  portion  of  the  intelligent, 
industrious,  and  prudent  classes  have  been  compelled  to  drag 
out  their  lives  in  poverty.  The  idea  of  dependence  was  repug- 
nant to  their  very  nature.  But  revolution  against  the 
powers  that  be  and  the  property  of  other  people  was  al- 


40  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

most  equally  objectionable,  for  civilizatioii  has  made  the 
fierce  and  turbulent  Northmen  law-abiding  people.  Yet 
revolutionary  movements,  on  a  small  scale,  of  the  laboring 
classes  were  attempted  during  the  first  part  of  this  century, 
both  in  Denmark  and  Sweden.  In  Denmark  these  move- 
ments of  the  people  resulted  in  important  changes.  Prop- 
erty was  revolutionized.  The  greater  part  of  the  land  be- 
fore 1849  belonged  to  the  large  estates;  the  laboring  people 
and  tenants,  being  bound  to  the  soil,  were  virtually  slaves 
of  the  great  land  owners;  but  since  most  of  the  land  has 
passed  into  the  hands  of  small  and  middle-sized  farms;  and 
the  people  now  exercise  a  great  influence  upon  all  affairs  per- 
taining to  the  government.  This  reconstruction  of  Den- 
mark has,  no  doubt,  hindered  the  Danish  emigration,  which 
before  1880  did  not  reach  5,000  in  number  a  year,  and  has 
never  exceeded  12,000  annually.  In  southern  Sweden,  how- 
ever, an  attempted  revolution  failed  totally;  some  of  the 
leaders  got  drunk  when  action  was  necessary.  But  on  the 
whole  little  has  been  attempted  or  accomplished  by  revolu- 
tionary movements  to  better  the  economical  conditions  of 
the  Scandinavians  at  home.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  feud- 
alism, a  strong  central  government,  a  mistaken  idea  of  pat- 
riotism, the  great  distinction  between  the  classes,  the  religi- 
ous belief  that  the  superiors  must  be  obeyed  in  all  things, 
and  the  continuous  preaching  of  contentment  by  the  clergy 
to  the  masses,  had  induced  the  descendants  of  the  independ- 
ent Vikings  to  submit  slavishly  to  the  condition  of  things. 
But  the  spirit  of  freedom  was  not  dead,  it  only  slept.  Kin- 
dle the  spark  and  the  old  Viking  blood  will  again  boil  with 
fire  of  passion  and  seek  for  adventure,  conquests,  and  liber- 


HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  41 

ty.  And  when  the  report  reached  the  North  that  beyond 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  freedom  of  conscience,  liberty  of  thought, 
and,  above  all,  independence  in/life,  could  be  attained  by 
honest  toil,  struggle,  and  self-sai:rifice,  they  were  at  once 
ready  to  embrace  the  opportunity,  feut  as  a  people  they 
move  slowly;  they  are  more  conservative  than  radical;  con- 
sequently their  emigration  began  late,  which,  however,  was 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  no  reliable  information  in  regard 
to  the  Western  World  could  reach  the  poorer  and  middle 
classes,  scattered,  as  they  are,  over  a  large  tract  of  terri- 
tory thinly  populated. 

Secondly— A  few  Scandinavian  sailors  and  adventurers  had 
settled  in  the  United  States  in  the  early  part  of  this  century. 
Some  of  them  were  educated  men.  In  letters  to  relatives, 
contributions  to  newspapers,  and,  above  all,  by  personal 
visits  to  their  old  homes,  they  pictured  in  fine  colors  the 
economic,  social,  religious,  and  political  advantages  to  be 
gained  in  the  New  World.  They  created  a  sensation  among 
the  laboring  and  middle  class,  which  has  resulted  in  changes 

at  home  that  maybe  said  to  be  revolutionary  in  their  nature. 
When  Scandinavian-Americans  visited  the  North,  the  people 
would  travel  on  foot,  during  the  cold  winters,  long  dis- 
tances to  hear  their  wondeml  tales— some  are  said  to  have 
been  a  professional  expert  fn  the  art  of  tale-telling.  01  c 
Rynning's  book,  A  True  Account  of  America  ^  which  was 
published  in  Kristiania  in  1839,  was  read  by  everybody. 
Gustaf  Unonius,  who  with  his  wife  and  a  few  others  arrived 
in  America  in  1841,  and  may  be  said  to  have  given  the  first 
impulse  to  the  Swedish  emigration,  was  looked  upon  in 
America  as  a  curiosity,  and  his  letters  to  the  press  in  Sweden 


42  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

created  a  great  excitement.  Col.  Hans  Mattson,  who  came 
to  this  country  in  1851,  says:  "At  this  time  the  Swedes 
were  so  little  known,  and  Jennie  Lind,  on  the  other  hand,  so 
renowned  in  America,  that  the  Swedes  were  frequently  called 
Jennie  Lind  men."  When  he  visited  his  native  country  in 
1868,  the  people  flocked  to  see  him,  the  servant  girls  drew 
lots  who  should  wait  upon  him,  and  the  one  who  succeeded 
in  having  the  honor,  expressed  her  disappointment  that  **He 
looked  just  like  any  other  man."  In  the  early  times  the 
opinions  in  the  North  regarding  America  differed.  Class 
opposed  class.  The  clergy,  the  school,  the  press,  and  the 
upper  classes  leagued  together  in  opposing  the  whole  emi- 
gration movement.  The  clergy  maintained  that  to  emigrate 
to  a  foreign  country  was  a  sin  against  the  fourth  command* 
ment :  "Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  as  the  Lord  thy 
God  commandeth  thee ;  that  thy  days  may  be  long,  and  that 
it  may  go  well  with  thee  upon  the  land  which  the  Lord  thy 
God  gi  veth  thee. ' '  But  these  pious  men  omitted  to  mention  that 
their  God  had  brought  his  chosen  people  out  of  the  bondage  of 
Egypt.  In  the  public  schools,  children  were  taught  that  to 
emigrate  was  a  crime  against  patriotism .  The  press  ridiculed 
the  whole  movement  and  published  the  contributions  from 
Scandinavian-Americans  only  as  a  matter  of  curiosity,  and 
as  a  specimen  of  American  mendacity.  Scandinavian 
travelers,  tourists,  and  those  who  had  ruined  their  financial 
and  social  conditions  in  the  old  country,  often  went  to  the 
United  States  and  described  in  the  newspapers  at  home  the 
sufferings  and  horrors  which  awaited  the  emigrants,  and  the 
barbarity  of  the  American  nation.  Frequently  these  accusa- 
tions were  true.    In  the  early  part  of  this  century  the  emi- 


HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  43 

grants  were  swindled,  defrauded,  ill-treated,  robbed,  mtar- 
dered,  and  even  sold  as  slaves  into  the  Sotathem  states. 
According  to  the  Constitution  of  Norway,  which  is  one  of 
the  most  liberal  in  Europe,  those  who  were  convicted  of  a 
penitentiary  offense,  and  those  who  had  emigrated  to  a  foreign 
land,  were  put  on  an  equal  footing.  To  emigrate  in  those 
days  was  considered  a  crime  by  all  the  Northern  powers. 
Henrik  Wergeland  wrote : 

**  Did  ind  hvor  Fyrrcn  suser  ind 
Tdr  ingen  Nidding  yandre, 
Som  liar  forglemt  i  troldst  Sind 
Sit  Faedreland  for  andre." 

T6ird!/j^— Religious  persecution  and  military  service  have 
not  compelled  many  Northmen  to  leave  their  native  lands. 
For,  excepting  Eric  Janson's  party  from  Sweden,  few  have 
emigrated  on  account  of  direct  religious  oppression.  On  the 
whole,  and  especially  in  later  years  when  the  Northern  emi- 
gration has  been  heaviest,  the  religious  laws  of  the  Scandi- 
navian countries  have  been  very  liberal.  But  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  indirectly  the  religious  narrowness,  the  un- 
favorable and  unjust  religious  laws,  have  had  a  great  in- 
fluence in  promoting  the  movement,  especially  in  starting  it; 
yet  sometimes  the  emigrants  have  mistaken  law  and  order 
for  oppression,  and  left  their  native  lands  on  account  of  their 
wrong  notion  of  liberty.  Quite  frequently  the  very  opposi- 
tion of  the  clergy  and  the  educated  classes  lead  the  working 
people  and  farmers  to  cast  the  dice  in  favor  of  the  Western 
World. 

Fourtbljr— After  the  pioneer  immigrants  had  succeeded ,  by 


44  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

sending  letters,  newspapers,  and  special  information  for  em- 
igrants published  by  steamship  and  railway  companies,  to 
their  relations  and  friends  in  the  North,  but,  above  all,  by  per- 
sonal visits  to  their  old  homes,  in  giving  a  true,  but  sometimes 
an  exaggerated,  account  of  the  condition  of  things  in 
the  United  States,  then  the  emigration  assumed  enormous 
proportions.    It  became  a  fashion. 

Smith,  in  his  book  Emigration  and  Immigration^  says: 
"  Emigration  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  if  it  were  simply  the 
operation  of  an  individual  coolly  and  rationally  measuring 
the  advantages  to  be  gained,  and  thus  advancing  his  own 
ecconomic  condition  and  that  of  the  country  to  which  he 
comes.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from  the  truth.  Emigra- 
tion proceeds  now  under  the  numerous  influences,  the  efforts 
of  steamship  companies,  the  urging  of  friends  and  relations, 
the  assistance  of  poor  law  authorities  and  charitable  socie- 
ties, and  the  subtle  but  powerful  influence  of  popular  delusion 
in  regard  to  the  New  World."  Another  authority,  speaking 
especially  in  regard  to  the  ScandinaNian  emigration,  which 
Smith  does  not,  although  his  assertions  apply  to  it  as  well 
as  to  others,  writes :  *' With  a  few  minor  exceptions  the  whole 
movement  has  been  unorganized,  though  agents  of  steam- 
ship and  railway  companies,  and  even  some  of  the  states, 
havesystematically  worked  up  immigration  sentiment  in  the 
Northlands." 

There  are  certainly  very  few  Scandinavian  paupers  and 
criminals  who  have,  as  has  been  the  practice  in  other 
European  countries,  and  especially  in  England,  been  sent  to 
foreign  countries  by  the  government,  local  communities,  or 
charitable  associations.    Yet,  in  by-gone  days,  philanthrov 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIAN  IMMIGRATION.  45 

pic  societies  in  Sweden  have  paid  the  passage  to  America  of 
liberated  criminals. 

To  sum  up  the  causes  which  have  induced  one-and-a- 
half  million  Northmen  to  emigrate  to  the  United  States 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  the  main  reason  has  at  bottom  been 
the  same  as  that  which  produced  the  Viking  age,  namely,  ma- 
teria/ betterment.  Yet,  as  was  the  case  with  the  Northmen, 
the  love  for  freedom  and  adventure,  especially  as  the  unjust 
religious,  social,  and  political  conditions  have  been  rather 
oppressive  to  the  middle  and  laboring  classes,  has,  during 
the  whole  history  of  the  Scandinavian  emigration ,  been  a  pow- 
erful factor  in  promoting  the  movement.  It  was  adventur- 
ers, and  those  who  were  hostile  to  aU  class  distinction,  that 
gave  the  first  impulse  to  the  movement,  and  may  be  said  to 
have  directed  the  Northern  immigrants  towards  the  North- 
west. While,  as  was  the  custom  in  the  heroic  age  of  the 
ninth  and  tenth  centuries,  the  spirit  of  the  time  and  the  fash- 
ion of  the  age  have  in  latter  years  induced  many  young  peo- 
ple in  the  Scandinavian  countries  to  court  dangers  and  turn 
the  wheel  of  fortune  in  foreign  lands.  The  man  who  dared 
to  leave  his  native  coimtry  has  always  been  admired  for  his 
courage  and  bravery,  although  his  motives  have  often  been 
questioned.  To  emigrate  has  of  late  been  looked  upon  as  the 
proper  thing  to  do  for  those  who  were  ambitious  and  pos- 
sessed sufficient  energy  to  become  successful  in  foreign  lands. 
It  has  always  been  considered  a  great  shame  to  return  to  the 
North,  even  for  a  short  visit,  before  a  person  has  been  suc- 
cessful abroad,  and  few  have  done  it.  In  recent  years,  letters, 
newspapers,  and  printed  informations  for  immigrants,  which 
have  been  sent  to  relatives  at  home,  visits  of  prosperous  im- 


4f6  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  TH£  U.  S. 

migrants  to  their  native  lands,  and  inumerable  prepaid  pass- 
age  tickets  **Have  been  the  most  powerful  preachers  of  the 
New  World's  advantages." 

Age,  sex,  and  occupation  prove  that  the  Scandinavian 
immigrants  are  the  cream  of  the  working  classes.  According 
to  the  United  States  statistics,  62  per  cent  are  males,  65  per 
cent  arrive  between  fifteen  and  forty  years  of  age,  11  per  cent 
are  over  forty  years  of  age,  and  24  per  cent  are  children 
under  fifteen.  During  the  years  between  1881  and  1890, 
1  person  out  of  5,914  was  a  clergyman,  1  out  of  5,089  a 
musician,  1  out  of  7,236  a  physician  and  surgeon,  and  1  out 
of  3,074  a  teacher— in  other  words  only  1  out  of  1,017  had 
a  profession,  while  1  out  of  12  was  a  skilled  laborer,  and 
one-half  of  the  Scandinavian  immigrants  were  either  farm- 
ers, merchants,  or  servants. 

Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  assume  that  they  change  their 
occupations  a  great  dealwhenthey  arrive  in  this  country,  for, 
according  to  the  United  States  census  of  1870,  1880,  1890, 
25  per  cent  of  the  Scandinavian  population  were  engaged 
in  agriculture,  and  50  per  cent  labored  at  what  was  called 
"All  classes  of  work."  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  1  out  of  4  of 
every  Scandinavian  engages  in  agriculture,  while  only  1  out 
of  6  of  the  native  Americans,  1  out  of  7  of  the  Germans,  and 
1  out  of  12  of  the  Irish,  follow  the  same  profession. 

It  is  partly  on  account  ol  their  great  love  and  fitness  for 
farming  that  the  Scandinavians  have  been  considered  by 
nearly  every  American  political  economist  to  be  the  best  im- 
migrants which  the  country  receives.  **It  is,"  says  an  au- 
thority, *'to  the  Scandinavian  immigrants  from  Norway, 
Sweden,  and  Denmark,  that  the  Northwest  is  lar/arely  indebt- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  47 

cd  for  its  marvelous  development.''  **The  Scandinavians," 
adds  another,  "especially,  take  to  farming.  They  have  suc- 
ceeded where  the  Americans  with  better  start  have  failed. 
They  have  acquired  farms  and  now  live  in  a  state  of  great 
comfort.  In  a  certain  sense  it  is  the  survival  of  the  fittest." 
A  fait  proportion,  however,  of  the  younger  element  of 
the  Scandinavian  immigrants  pursue  studies  in  this  country, 
either  at  some  of  the  Scandinavian  institutions  or  in  Ameri- 
can colleges,  and  later  attend  to  the  professional  need  of 
their  countrymen.  And  although  not  very  many,  propor- 
tionally, of  the  highly  educated  classes  emigrate;  yet  un- 
questionably, taken  all  in  all,  the  people  who  exchange  the 
North  for  the  United  States  are,  on  the  aggregate,  mentally 
better  endowed,  and  morally  superior  to  those  who  remain 
at  home.  In  the  first  place,  as  a  general  thing,  criminals, 
paupers,  and  idiots  are  cared  for  by  the  Northern  govern- 
ments, and  are  not  permitted  to  leave.  The  poor  and  the 
vicious  classes  cannot  pay  for  their  own  passage,  nor  receive 
a  ticket  on  credit.  Cowards  dare  not,  and  fools  have  not 
sense  enough  to  emigrate.  It  is  the  old  story  of  the  Vikings. 
Gathering  together  hap-hazzard  a  thousand  Scandinavian 
emigrants  on  any  vessel  which  is  destined  for  the  United 
States  and  an  equal  number  of  those  who  remain  in  the 
North,  and  the  former  will,  in  regard  to  age,  sex,  physique, 
mental  endowment,  and  moral  purity  and  courage,  be 
superior  to  the  latter.  Smith,  the  latest  and  one  of  the  best 
authorities  on  the  emigration  question,  says:  **It  is  often 
the  poor  and  degraded  who  have  not  the  courage  nor  the 
means  to  emigrate.  When  emigration  is  brought  about  by 
the  free  action  of  a  man's  own  mind,  without  extraneous 


%• 


48  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

aids  or  influences,  it  is  naturally  the  men  who  have  intelli- 
gence,  some  financial  resources,  energy,  and  ambition  that 
emigrate.  It  requires  all  these  to  break  loose  from  the  ties 
of  kindred,  of  neighborhood,  and  country,  and  to  start  out 
on  a  long  and  difficult  journey.  On  account  of  that  the 
best  people  emigrate,  therefore  the  government  objects." 
Secondly,  a  well  school-trained  man  is  not  always  the  best 
naturally  endowed.  Besides,  even  educated  emigrants  must 
possess  courage,  energy,  and  perseverance  in  order  to  suc- 
ceed in  foreign  lands.  It  is  only  the  liberal  and  broad- 
minded  people  of  the  higher  classes  who  in  any  sense  can  ex- 
change their  native  customs  and  manners,  and  adopt  the 
habits  of  other  nations.  It  is  harder,  perhaps,  for  a  cult- 
ured man,  who  has  acquired  a  permanent  character  and 
fixed  ideas,  to  forget  his  native  soil  than  it  is  for  an  illiterate 
person— -the  former's  patriotism  is  founded  on  reason,  the 
latter's  on  sentiment.  The  fact  that  the  majority  of  the 
educated  Scandinavians  at  home  have  been  hostile  towards 
and  not  participated  much  in  the  emigration  movement 
has  been  an  important  factor  in  hastening  the  Americaniza- 
tion of  the  Northern  people. 

Those  having  had  a  home  training,  'and  especially  the 
clergy,  whose  duties  it  is  to  g^ide  the  intellectual  improve- 
ment and  moral  conduct  of  the  people  have  generally  been 
men  of  broad  culture  and  liberal  views,who  have  founded,  or 
promoted,  great  Scandinavian-American  educational  insti- 
tutions, where  the  younger  elements  of  the  people  have  been 
educated,  and  the  latter  became  the  leaders  of  the  Northern 
race  in  the  New  World.  It  is  true  that  these  institutions 
have  been  managed   somewhat   according   to   a   difierent 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  49 

method  than  most  American  colleges,  yet  they  have  been,  and 
are,  the  steppmg  stones  to^srards  Americanization.  And  it 
certainly  is,  from  an  American  standpoint,  far  better  that  the 
clergy  and  other  men  of  learning  have  been  educated  in  Scan- 
dinavian-American schools  than  that  they  should  have  been 
imported — which  otherwise  would  have  been  absolutely  nec- 
essary— ^from  the  Northern  countries. 

The  different  location  of  each  country  and  the  diverse 
historical  connections  with  foreign  countries  have  made  a 
£ttle  variation  in  the  character  of  the  Northmen  at  home. 
But  these  differences  are  slight,  being  on  the  whole  merely 
artificial,  and  can  hardly  be  said  to  apply,  to  any  great  ex- 
tent at  least,  to  the  Scandinavians  in  this  country.  For  the 
immigrants  upon  their  arrival  in  the  United  States  generally 
discard  their  artificial  acquirements  and  begin  to  practice 
their  natural  endowments,  namely :  courage,  determination, 
industry,  frugality,  and  perseverance.  It  is  remarkable  how 
quickly,  for  example,  a  northern  Swede  will  dispense  with  his 
elaborate  system  of  bows,  bobs,  courtesies,  hat-liftings,  and 
adopt  the  practice  of  simpler  manners ;  this  he  often  does  in 
spite  of  himself,  for  quite  frequently  he  is  not  a  believer  in  the 
American  simplicity  of  intercourse;  especially  is  the  cold  and 
unceremonious  business  relation,  which  is  in  such  contrast  to 
what  he  has  been  used  to,  repugnant  to  him.  Yet  even  on 
the  streets  or  in  the  stores  in  Stockholm  you  can  easily  detect 
a  person  who  has  been  in  America,  perhaps,  only  for  six 
months;  the  man  has  been  simplified.  But  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  Scandinavians  become  quickly  Americanized,  only 
retaining  their  original  boldness,  frankness,  and  firmness,  yet 
their  different  training  shows  itself  in  many  ways.     For 


50  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

example,  the  great  political  agitation  which  has  been  in 
operation  in  Norway  ever  since  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
has  created  among  the  Norwegians  a  taste  and  ability 
for  politics  in  which  neither  the  Swedes  nor  the  Danes 
can,  or  will  not  perhaps,  compete  with  them,  not  even 
in  this  country.  Between  the  years  of  1880  and  1900 
there  were,  according  to  the  United  States  census,  from 
ten  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  more  Swedes  in 
America  than  Norwegians,  yet  during  that  period  only  one 
Swede  was  elected  to  the  United  States  congress,  while  at 
the  same  time  seven  Norwegians  *had  a  seat  in  the  national 
House  of  Representatives.  It  may  be  argued,  which  of 
course  is  true,  that  the  Norwegian  immigration  is  older  than 
the  Swedish,  consequently  the  younger  elements  of  the  Nor- 
wegians have  had  a  longer  time  and  a  better  chance  to 
become  acquainted  with  the  political  machinery  of  the  na- 
tion than  their  brethren ;  but  even  granting  this,  it  yet 
remains  a  fact  that  in  Minnesota,  where  the  immigration  oJ 
one  nationality  is  just  as  old  as  the  other,  about  170  Nor- 
wegians and  only  80  Swedes  have  represented  their  districts 
in  the  two  legislative  bodies  of  the  state  from  1857  to  1900; 
and  although  the  population  of  the  former  has,  until  lately, 
outnumbered  that  of  the  latter,  it  is  not  in  proportion  to 
their  political  preponderance.  Yet  it  must  also  lie  remem- 
bered that  only  21  per  cent  of  the  Norwegians  live  in  cities 
of  over  25,000  inhabitants,  where  32  per  cent  of  the  Swedes 
are  to  be  found.  The  Norwegians  thus  scattered  throughout 
the  farming  districts  and  smaller  towns  have  a  betterchance 
to  be  elected  to  local  offices  and  to  the  state  legislature  than 
those  residing  in  large  cities.    The  greater  poHtical  activity 


HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  51 

of  the  Norwegians  in  comparison  with  the  Swedes  is  also 
apparent  by  the  former's  greater  variation  in  the  choice  o| 
political  parties.  Some  of  the  best  educated  Scandinavian- 
Americans  are  Democrats,  Prohibitionists,  or  Populists ;  yet 
the  great  majority  of  the  Swedes  have  always  been,  and  are, 
Republicans,  which  is  also,  but  to  a  less  extent,  the  case  with 
the  Norwegians.  Twoof  the  seven  Norwegian-American  con- 
gressmen were  elected  by  the  Populists. 

The  diflFerence  in  the  characters  of  the  two  people  shows 
itself  also,  to  look  at  it  from  an  historical  standpoint,  in 
their  religion.  For,  while  the  Swedish- American  Lutheran 
Church  has  progressed  smoothly,  uninterruptedly,  and  undi- 
vided, the  Norwegian-Americans  have  wrangled  about  the- 
ological dogmas,  and  divided  Lutherism  into  six  diflFerent 
and  distinct  organizations ;  some  of  which,  however,  have 
again  been  united  into  one  body. 

The  Danish  immigration  is  more  recent,  consequently 
they  do  not  stand  out  so  prominently  in  political  and  relig- 
ious matters  as  the  other  two  nationalities,  but  on  the 
whole  they  resemble  the  Swedes  in  being  conservative. 

Thirty-two  percent  of  the  Swedish- American  population, 
twenty-three  of  the  Danish,  and  twenty-one  of  the  Norwe- 
gian,  reside  in  cities  of  over  25,000  inhabitants  each ;  this 
does  not,  however,  sustain  the  general  opinion,  that 
the  Swedes  and-  Danes  are  better  business  men  than  the 
Norwegians;  but  as  the  Danes  and  southern  Swedes  at  home 
seem  to  have  a  natural  instinct  for  financial  undertakings, 
it  is  probably  correct. 

But  on  the  whole  the  diflFerence  in  the  character  between 
the  three  Scandinavian-American  nationalities  is  small  rv,6 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

short-lived.  After  a  few  years  residence  in  this  cotintry,  and 
very  often  not  even  among  the  emigrants  on  board  of  the 
ship  that  brings  them,  can  any  distinction  of  the  separate 
JNorthem  nationalities  be  detected.  In  the  second  generation 
only  the  old  Northmen's  fearlessness,  energy,  and  strong 
"will-power,  ciothed  in  American  manners,  are  visible.  Of 
course,  the  physical  features  often  change  considerably  in  a 
few  generations. 

The  Scandinavians  are  justly  proud  of  their  Viking  age. 
The  kings  of  Sweden  have  always  styled  themselves  '*  King 
of  the  Swedes,  Goths,  and  Wends."  The  Danes  and  Nor- 
wegians point  with  pride  to  their  conquests  in  France,  Great 
Britain,  and  Ireland.  Prof.  Worsaae  says :  "  The  greatest, 
and  for  general  history  the  most  important,  memorials  of 
the  Scandinavian  people  are  connected,  as  is  well  known, 
with  the  expeditions  of  the  Normans,  and  the  Thirty  Years' 
War."  It  is  true  that  Rolf,  Knute  the  Great,  and  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  have  had,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  a  great  in- 
fluence upon  civilization.  But,  excepting  the  Thirty  Years' 
War,  the  greatest,  and  for  the  human  race  the  most  import- 
ant, memorials  of  the  Scandinavian  people  are  connected 
with  their  discovery  of,  colonization  in,  and  emigration  to  the 
United  States.  John  Ericsson,  the  greatest  Scandinavian- 
American,  was  more  of  a  benefactor  to  humanity  than  either 
Rolf,  or  Knute  the  Great,  or  both  together.  (We  refrain  from 
mentioning  other  influential  Scandinavian-Americans  be- 
cause many  of  them  are  living  at  present).  'The  emigrants 
coming  from  the  narrow  valleys  of  Norway,  the  mines  and 
forests  of  Sweden,  the  smiling  plains  of  Denmark,  the  rocky 
shores  of  Iceland,  with  hearts  of  oak  and  arms  of  steel. 


1^ 


HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  53 

are  building  empires  in  this  Western  continent.'  They  have 
'  torn  themselves  away  from  home,  cotantry,  relatives,  friends, 
brothers,  sisters,  and  parents.  They  have  cleared  prairies  and 
forests,  built  railways,  and  mined  the  earth  in  a  foreign  land. 
They  have  by  hard  and  honest  toil,  struggle,  prudence,  fru- 
gality, industry,  and  perseverance  succeeded  against  adverse 
circumstances  in  creating  comfortable  homes  for  themselves 
on  American  soil.  They  have  in  war  and  peace,  in  commerce 
and  literature,  in  th'e  pulpits  and  legislative  halls,  dis- 
tinguished themselves,  done  their  duties  towards  their 
adopted  country,  and  been  an  honor  to  their  native  lands. 
But  these  peaceable  and  industrious  emigrants  from  the 
North  have  not  received  the  same  recognition,  either  at 
home  or  abroad,  as  the  savage  and  plundering  Vikings. 
How  long  will  it  take  before  the  victories  of  peace  shall  be 
more  renowned  than  those  of  war? 

The  well-known  Col.  Hans  Mattson  uses  the  following 
language  in  the  conclusion  of  his  Minnen :  **  Yes,  it  is  verily 
true  that  the  Scandinavian  immigrants,  from  the  early  colon- 
istsof  1638  to  the  present  time,  have  furnished  strong  hands, 
clear  heads,  and  loyal  hearts  to  the  republic.  They  have 
caused  the  wilderness  to  blossom  like  the  rose ;  they  have 
planted  schools  and  churches  on  the  hills  and  in  the  valleys; 
they  have  honestly  and  ably  administered  the  affairs  of 
town,  county,  and  state;  they  have  helped  to  make  wise 
laws  for  their  respective  commonwealths  and  in  the  halls  of 
congress;  they  have  with  honor  and  ability  represented  their 
adopted  country  abroad ;  they  have  sanctified  the  American 
soil  by  their  blood,  shed  in  freedom's  cause  on  the  battlefields 
of  the  revolutionary   and  civil  wars ;  and  though  proud  of 


54  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

their  Scandinavian  ancestry,  they  love  America  and  Ameri- 
can institutions  as  deeply  and  as  truly  as  do  the  descendents 
of  the  Pilgrims,  the  starry  emblem  of  liberty  meaning  as 
much  to  them  as  to  any  other  citizen. 

•'Therefore,  the  Scandinavian-American  feels  a  certain 
-^  sease  of  ownership  in  the  glorious  heritage  of  American  soil, 
with  its  rivers,  lakes,  mountains,  valleys,  woods,  and  prairies, 
and  in  all  its  noble  institutions ;  and  he  feels  that  the  bless- 
ings which  he  enjoys  are  not  his  by  favor  or  sufferance,  but 
by  right;  by  moral  as  well  as  civil  right.  For  he  took  pos- 
session of  the  wilderness,  endured  the  hardships  of  the 
pioneer,  contributed  his  fiill  share  toward  the  grand  results 
accomplished,  and  is  in  mind  and  heart  a  true  and  loyal 
American  citizen.'* 

But  not  only  have  the  Northern  immigrants  created  per- 
manent monuments  in  the  New  World,  but  they  have  also 
exercised  a  great  reflex  influence  upon  the  affairs  of  the  Old 
World.  For,  while  Gustavus  Adolphus  defended  Protestant- 
ism and  German  liberty,  which  resulted  in  the  intellectuai 
and  religious  freedom  of  the  world,  it  was  Swedish-Ameri- 
cans who  introduced  in  Sweden  the  faith  of  the  Baptists  in 
about  1850,  and  Methodism  fifteen  years  later,*  and  were 
largely  instrumental  in  securing  that  religious  toleration  in 
their  native  land  which  their  ancestors  had  fought  for  in 
foreign  countries.  A  Norwegian-American  introduced  Meth- 
odism in  his  native  country  in  1849,  and  Danish-Americans 
commenced  to  preach  that  doctrine  in  Denmark  shortly 
after.  It  certainly  shows  a  great  amount  of  bigotry, 
narrowness,  and  ignorance,  not  to  say  villainy,  of  the 
governments  at  home,  that   Baptists  should,   on  account 

*The  work  of  the  BnffIi^h  Mr^tbodistB  in  Sweden  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
oentory  was  interrupted,  but  wa  i  resumed  by  Swedish-Americans  In  1865. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  55 

I  of  proselyting,  be  sent  out  of  the  kingdom  by  the  civil 
authorities  of  Sweden  as  late  as  in  1851;  that  Norwegian 
Lutheran  clergymen  should  endeavor,  by  force,  to  prevent 
the  Methodists  from  worshiping  God  according  to  their 
own  conscience,  and  bury  their  dead  according  to  their  own 
rituals,  as  late  as  in  1860;  or  that  Swedish  ministers  should 
refuse  to  grant  the  permission  of  burying  a  Methodist  pas- 
tor, who  was  a  citizen  of  this  country,  in  the  state  cemetery 
because,  they  said,  he  had  been  a  false  prophet,  and  the  widow 
w^as  compelled  to  appeal  to  higher  authorities  in  the  name 
of  the  American  nation,  as  late  as  in  1867.  Nor  were  these 
atrocities  simply  the  result,  or  relic,  of  barbarian  laws,  for 
nntil  forty,  or  even  twenty  years  ago,  religious  intolerance 
"was  the  accepted  theory  and  common  practice  of  the  major- 
ity of  both  the  educated  classes  and  the  masses  in  the  Scan- 
dinavian countries.  It  must,  however,  be  remembered  that 
the  clergy  of  the  state  church  thought  it  was  their  religious 
duty  to  prevent  what  they  deemed  to  be  false  religions  to 
be  imposed  upon  the  people  under  their  charge.  Often  the 
missionaries  who  represented  the  new  sects  were  uneducated 
men  whose  procedure  was  unwise.  For  example,  the  Jan- 
sonites  in  Sweden  publicly  burned  all  religious  books,  except 
the  Bible.  This,  of  course,  was  unlawful  and  they  had  to 
sufferthe  consequences.  But  the  numerous  letters  and  news- 
papers which  the  immigrants  have  sent  to  their  relatives  at 
home,  and  the  frequent  visits  of  Scandinavian-Americans  to 
their  native  lands,  have  had  an  immense  influence  in 
moulding  the  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  more  political, 
social,  and  religious  freedom.  And  public  sentiment  not 
only  governs  republics,  but  even  shakes  monarchs  on  their 


I 


56  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

thrones,  and  bends  the  will  of  bishops.  Today  the  Northmen 
at  home  enjoy,  virtually,  ftdl  religious  freedom  and  possess  a 
great  amount  of  political  liberty — blessings  which  they 
ought,  at  least  to  a  great  extent,  to  be  thankful  for  to  their 
countrymen  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

The  Scandinavian-Americans,  however,  have  not  con- 
fined themselves  to  the  political,  social,  and  religious  con- 
version of  the  old  folks  at  home,  their  influence  has  also  been 
of  a  more  material  nature.  About  fifty  per  cent  of  the 
Scandmavian  emigrants  arrive  by  prepaid  passage  tickets 
secured  by  relatives  here.  During  each  year  of  1891  and 
1892 — ^according  to  the  estimate  of  A.  E.  Johnson  of  the 
great  emigration  firm,  A.  E.  Johnson  and  Company — six- 
and-a-half  million  dollars  in  actual  cash  was  sent  from 
this  country  to  the  North  by  well-to-do  immigrants  to  their 
relatives.  It  is  impossible,  however,  to  arrive  at  anything  like 
a  correct  conclusion  in  regard  to  what  amount  of  wealth  in 
the  shape  of  presents,  prepaid  passage  tickets,  and  actual 
cash  which  Scandinavian-Americans  have  transferred  from 
the  United  States  to  the  North.  Smith,  in  his  excellent  book 
Emigration  and  Immigration^  estimates  that  each  immi- 
grant sends  to  his  native  country  $35,  and  from  1820-99, 
according  to  lUnited  States  statistics,  not  far  from  1,500,000 
Northmen  have  settled  in  this  country.  If  each  of  them  re- 
turned $35,  the  total  sum  transfered  from  here  to  the  Scan- 
dinavian countries,  would,  during  that  period,  amount  to 
$52,500,000. 

Each  immigrant,  however,  brings  with  him  a  certain 
amount  of  capital,  which  Smith  estimates  to  average  from 
$68  to   $100,  but  in  1898  the  Scandinavian   immigrants 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  67 

did  not  average  that,  according  to  the  estimate  of  the  com- 
missioner of  immigration.  •  "It  costs,"  to  quote  Smith, 
"about  $652.50  to  bring  up  a  child  in  Europe  till  15  years 

of  age,  and  twice  that  .amount  in  the  United  States. 
But  this  estimate  does  not  mean  the  real  value  of  men;  they 

are  not  valued  in  dollars  and  cents.  But  every  immigrant 
must  represent  labor  capacity  worth  at  least  the  value  of  a 
slave,  which  was  $800  or  $1,000  before  the  war,  but  being  a 
free  man  he  may  not  choose  to  work.  But  it  is  figured  that 
each  immigrant  is  worth  $875."  Assuming  that  each  Scan- 
dinavian immigrant  has  brought  $75,  which  added  to  $875, 
the  value  of  his  labor  capacity,  amounts  to  $950,  and  multi- 
plying that  amount  by  1,500,000,  the  number  of  immigrants 
we  find  that  the  Scandinavian  countries  have  sent — or  rather 
permitted  to  be  transferred— to  the  United  States  one  billion 
four  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  ($1,450,000,000)  worth 
of  property  in  the  form  of  human  beings  and  what  valuables 
these  have  brought  with  them.  Even  subtracting  the  $52,500,- 
000  which  have  been  returned  in  the  shape  of  prepaid  tickets, 
presents,  and  cash,  it  yet  leaves  the  United  States  in  a  debt 
of  $1,397,500,000  to  the  Scandinavian  countries. 

The  Chinamen  are,  perhaps,  intellectually  equal  to  any 
people,  yet  China  can  never  reach  a  higher  civilization  than  it 
has  attained  to  until  the  population  is,  in  some  way,  reduced. 
Civilization  and  luxury  go  hand  in  hand.  A  highly  cultured 
people  must  have  elbow  room  for  their  activity.  Simply 
a  bare  physical  existence  cannot  elevate  a  nation,  no  matter 
how  well  intellectually  the  individuals  may  be  endowed. 
That  the  Scandinavian  countries  have  had  a  heavier  popula- 
tion than  could  be  decently  supported  will,  perhaps,  not  be 


58  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

seriously  disputed;  consequently  the  emigration  has  fur- 
thered their  development.  Facts  prove  the  assertion.  The 
social  and  political  aspects,  the  relation  between  the  em- 
ployer and  employe,  have  been  revolutionized  in  Norway 
since  emigration  began.  It  is  true  that  other  causes  have 
assisted  in  extinguishing  class  distinction,  yet  emigration 
has  been  the  main  factor.  But  then  the  emigration  has  also 
been  so  heavy  that,  taking  into  consideration  only  the  im- 
migrants themselves  and  their  children,  there  is  now  (1900) 
half  as  many  Norwegians  living  in  this  country  as  there  are 
in  the  whole  of  Norway.  In  Denmark  and  Sweden,  where 
the  emigration  in  proportion  to  the  population  has  not  been 
so  heavy  as  in  Norway,  the  eflfect  has  been  less  marked.  Yet 
it  has  had  great  influence  upon  the  social  and  political  con- 
ditions. Wages  have  certainly  been  raised  in  both  countries 
as  the  direct  result  of  the  emigration.  Besides  Scandina- 
vian-Americans often  import,  and  introduce  to  the  trade  in 
this  country,  goods  manufactured  in  the  North;  some  of 
them  have  returned  home  and  established  new  industries; 
thus  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the  Scandinavian  coun- 
tries have  been  extended,  famishing  new  employment  to 
their  people,  and  increasing  their  national  wealth. 

Yet  in  spite  of  this  w^idened  commercial  activity,  and  ben- 
eficial political,  social,  and  religious  influences,  the  govern- 
ments of  the  Northern  powers  have  always  looked  upon 
emigration  as  a  loss  to  their  countries.  A  Danish- American 
wrote  in  1885 :  "  At  present  the  official  world,  the  press, 
and,  on  the  whole,  the  higher  classes,  are  rather  hostile  to 
the  whole  movement.  At  the  best,  they  ignore  it.  They 
have  not  yet  arrived  at  the  same  conclusions  in  regard  to  it 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  59 

as  have  the  leading  statesmen  in  England.  They  regard 
emigration  as  a  loss  to  the  old  countries.  They  have  the 
Greek-German  view  of  the  state  as  having  interests  apart 
from  and  above  those  of  the  individual.  The  existing  state 
is,  in  their  eyes,  sacred,  and  not — as  it  is  understood  in  Eng- 
land and  America — identical  with  the  interests  of  the  indi- 
vidual members  of  the  body  politic.  Secondly,  they  do  not 
recognize  the  wholesome  influence  of  the  emigration  on  the 
people  at  home.  It  takes  away  from  the  rising  population 
in  a  good  many  districts  from  one-eighth  to  one-fourth  of  its 
laborers.  Such  a  decrease  has  considerable  influence  in  rais- 
ing wages ;  and  employers  in  the  first  instance  only  look  on 
what  they  lose ;  they  do  not  recognize  that  the  better-paid 
working^en,  as  a  rule,  give  more  valuable,  and,  therefore, 
not  at  all  dearer,  work.  It  is  true  that  the  great  political 
influence  of  the  emigrants  on  their  old  home  at  present  con- 
tributes largely  to  strengthen  the  elements  of  opposition  to 
the  powers  that  be ;  but  a  self-conscious,  independent  people 
makes  actually  a  stronger  community." 

It  is  impossible  to  determine,  either  by  statistics  or  by 
any  historical  records,  the  exact  causes  which  have  induced 
the  majority  of  the  Scandinavians  to  settle  in  the  North- 
west. It  is,  no  doubt,  partly  due  to  chance,  climate,  the 
direction  which  the  early  Scandinavian  pioneers,  especially 
Rev.  0.  G.  Hedstrom,  gave  to  the  movement ;  but,  perhaps, 
more  on  account  of  the  Northwest  being  just  opened  for  set- 
tlement at  the  time  when  their  emigration  began.  When 
some  Norwegian  emigrants  arrived  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  in 
1839,  in  search  of  suitable  land,  an  old  settler  warned  them 
against  the  climate  of  Illinois.    He  placed  two  men  before 


60  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

them,  one  strong  and  healthy,  the  other  weak  and  lean. 
Pointing  towards  the  former,  he  said:  •* There  you  see  a 
man  from  Wisconsin ;  the  other  is  from  Illinois."  The  Nor- 
wegians remained  in  Wisconsin.  Slavery  might,  in  the  early 
days,  have  prejudiced  them  from  going  south.  It  is  certain 
that  movements  of  Scandinavians  in  that  direction  have  at 
different  times  been  attempted,  but  always  failed. 

Prof.  Babcock,  of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  who  has 
made  a  special  study  of  the  Scandinavians  in  this  country, 
and  being  a  native  American  his  opinions  have  a  specific 
value,  writes  in  The  Forum  for  September,  1892,  as  follows: 
"The  passion  for  the  possession  of  land  and  for  independence 
that  goes  with  it  have  characterized  the  Scandinavians  from 
the  earliest  times,  and  it  is  that  which  has  made  them  so 
valuable  as  citizens  of  the  Northwest.  Had  they  preferred 
to  huddle  together  in  villages  or,  still  worse,  to  crowd  into 
large  cities,  the  progress  of  this  section  would  have  been 
materially  slower.  Until  within  the  last  eight  years  the 
towns  have  claimed  only  a  small  percentage,  and  now  proba- 
bly not  more  than  ten  percentcometosettlein  towns.  Scanty 
mjeans,  a  spirit  of  economy,  and  a  fearlessness  for  hard  work 
and  temporary  privation,  have  made  them  frequently  pioneers 
in  settling  new  territory.  With  the  extension  of  new  rail- 
roads into  northwestern  Minnesota  and  the  Dakotas,  and 
the  opening  up  of  Government  and  railroad  land,  great  num- 
bers of  Scandinavian  immigrants,  and  Scandinavian  settlers 
from  older  portions  of  the  West,  have  settled  here.  All  of 
the  eighty  counties  of  Minnesota,  save  possibly  two,  have 
representatives  of  all  three  Scandinavian  peoples;  whole 
townships  and  almost  whole  counties  are  tilled  by  them. 


HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  61 

In  the  newer  counties  of  Minnesota  and  the  Dakotas  thirt  j 
and  even  forty  per  cent  are  of  Scandinavian  parentage.  In 
the  older  portions  it  is  said  to  be  possible  to  travel  300  miles 
across  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Minnesota  without  once  leav- 
ing Scandinavian-owned  land.  Though  in  every  large  city 
and  town  in  the  Northwest  there  are  Scandinavians  en- 
gaged in  commercial  enterprise  and  the  professions  with 
marked  success,  it  yet  remains  true  that  the  great  majority 
are  farmers. 

**  One  of  the  most  important  indirect  results  of  the  love 
for  land-ownership  is  the  hastening  of  naturalization.  To 
take  up  homestead  claims  one  of  the  first  conditions  for  a 
foreigner  is  a  declaration  of  intention  to  become  a  citizen ; 
so  the  prospective  farmer  at  once  takes  out  his  first  papers ; 
and  the  first  step  in  naturalization  is  made.  This  done, 
natural  inclination  leads  him  to  perfect  his  title  of  full 
citizenship.  But  the  Scandinavian  immigrant  hardly 
needs  any  great  incentive  to  citizenship.  In  politics  he 
is  as  much  in  his  element  as  an  Irishman  in  New  York 
City.  His  aptitude  for  politics  and  his  interest  in  public 
affairs  are  natural.  Be  he  Norwegian,  Swede,  or  Dane,  he 
hastened  and  moved  in  an  atmosphere  electric  with  inde- 
pendence and  individualism.  The  Norwegian  celebrates  the 
Fourth  of  July  all  the  more  loyally,  because  on  the  seven- 
teenth of  May  he  commemorated  in  the  same  way  the  es- 
tablishment, in  defiance  of  all  Europe,  of  the  Norwegian  con- 
stitution of  1814.  The  Dane  is  fresh  from  the  constitutional 
struggle  begun  in  1849 ;  the  Swede  has  had  popular  repre- 
sentation since  1866:  consequently  the  Scandinavian  immi- 
grants have  had  some  considerable  political  education  when 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

they  arrive.  The  ballot  and  independence  are  not  meaningless 
terms  to  them ;  the  exercise  of  them  is  their  right,  not  merely 
their  privilege.  Certainly  no  class  makes  greater  eflfort  than 
the  Scandinavian  to  become  naturalized ;  none  enters  upon 
the  rights  and  duties  of  American  citizenship  with  more  en- 
thusiasm or  honest,  intelligent  appreciation  of  its  high 
privileges.  Statistics  from  Minnesota  show  some  interesting 
facts  bearing  upon  this  question,  comparison  being  made 
with  the  Germans,  who  rank  among  our  best  immigrants. 
By  the  census  of  1885  the  Scandinavian  population  was 43.2 
per  cent  and  the  German  30.1  per  cent  of  the  total  foreign- 
bom  population.  Of  the  increase  of  foreign-bom  population 
for  five  years  ending  with  1885,  the  Scandinavian  was  48.2 
per  cent,  the  German  30.9  per  cent.  For  the  same  period,  of 
the  total  naturalizations  (first  papers)  the  Scandinavians 
took  out  56.3  per  cent  and  the  Germans  23.2  per  cent.  Or, 
looking  at  the  matter  in  another  way,  for  the  same  half-dec- 
ade the  Scandinavians  who  were  naturalized  were  35.4  per 
cent  of  the  increase  of  Scandinavian  population  for  the  same 
time,  the  Germans  22.9  per  cent.  Similar  statistics  for  other 
half-decades  give  approximately  the  same  results. 

**  The  political  affiliations  of  the  Scandinavian  voters  till 
about  1886  were  almost  invariably  with  the  Republican 
party.  The  opposition  to  slavery  rallied  every  son  of  the 
Northland,  and  no  soldiers  were  braver  or  more  patriotic 
than  the  Scandinavian  Fifteenth  Wisconsin  regiment  and 
Scandinavian  companies  in  other  Wisconsin  and  Iowa  regi- 
ments. The  suppression  of  the  Rebellion,  the  abolition  of 
slavery,  the  passage  of  the  homestead  law  to  which  they 
owed  so  much — all  appealed  powerfully  to  their  political 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.       •      63 

senses.  New-comers  found  their  predecessors  in  the  Repub- 
fican  party ;  they  found  it  the  party  \n  power  in  the  State 
and  generally  in  the  Nation ;  its  principles  were  acceptable, 
and  so  they  too  became  Republicans.  Since  188G,  however, 
less  reliance  can  be  placed  upon  a  solid  Scandinavian  vote, 
though  this  element  has  never  been  the  ready  tool  of  "  boss- 
es." It  has  ever  b^n  a  ruling  rather  than  a  ruled  element. 
The  immigration  ^f  tUr  last  eight  years  has  had  a  larger 
percentage  fromi^xhe  cities,  ^nd  a  larger  percentage  has  set- 
tled in  the  cities,  s^  that  "labor  questions"  have  aflfected 
them ;  local  political  isst^s  have,  to  their  credit,  sometimes 
shaken  their  old  alle^mce  more  or  less,  as,  for  example, 
prohibition  in  Iowa  ^m  North  Dakota,  high  license  in  Min- 
nesota; the  Bennett  law  in  Wisconsin  temporarily  drove 
them  out  of  the  Republican  party ;  fhe  Farmers'  Alliance, 
People's  party,  etc.,  have  drawn  Scandinavian  recruits  from 
both  of  the  old  parties ;  the  tariff  and  other  national  ques- 
tions have  divided  them  as  well  as  other  thinking  men  in 
both  great  political  parties.  However,  the  majority  of 
them  are  still  and  will  continue  to  be  Republicans,  though  no 
party  can  mortgage  their  vote  for  any  election. 

"Coupled  with  the  love  for  politics  among  them  is  the 
love  for  religion  and  the  Church.  The  vast  majority  are 
Lutherans  of  one  branch  or  another.  At  any  rate,  they  are 
Protestant  enough  to  satisfy  the  most  fastidious  Catholic- 
hater,  for  a  Catholic  in  Norway  or  Sweden  is  a  rare,  suspi- 
cious object.  The  dissenting  movement  among  the  Scandi- 
navian Lutherans  in  America  is  comparatively  strong.  At 
one  time  there  were  six  divisions  of  the  Norwegian  alone, 
though  recently  three  of  them  united.    The  rigid  j^dherence 


*' 


64  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

to  the  forms  and  practices  of  the  mother-state  Church  is 
weakened,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  liberal  and  atheistic 
movements  have  made  slow  progress,  even  among  the  dis- 
senters. The  churches,  with  a  few  exceptions,  have  not 
maintained  regular  elementary  schools.  Poverty,  isolation 
of  the  families  of  the  great  farming  class,  and  the  desire  to 
conform  to  American  customs  have  all  lead  to  a  very  general 
patronage  of  the  common  schools.  The  church  school  is 
usually  open  during  public-school  vacations,  if  at  all,  and 
instruction  confined  to  religious  teaching  and  the  use  of  the 
mother-tongue.  All  this  has  contributed  to  the  rapid  Amer- 
icanization of  the  second  generation.  For  higher  education, 
the  church  maintains  numerous  and  well-patronized  semi- 
naries and  colleges,  while  the  high-schools  and  the  State 
universities  throughout  the  Northwest  have  a  large  Scandi- 
navian attendance,  auguring  well  for  the  future.  In  the 
University  of  Minnesota,  for  example,  located  in  the  same 
city  with  two  Scandinavian  colleges,  during  the  past  year 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  students,  out  of  thirteen  hun- 
dred and  seventy-four  were  of  Scandinavian  parentage. 

"  The  Scandinavians,  with  all  their  virtues,  are  not  with- 
out faults.  They  are  often  narrow-minded,  in  the  city  some- 
times clannish  and  given  to  making  demands,  political  and 
social,  as  Scandinavian-Americans.  The  Swede  is  frequently 
jealous  of  the  Norwegian,  and  vice  versa.  But  as  a  class 
they  are  sober,  earnest,  industrious,  and  fhigal.  They  are 
not  driven  here ;  they  come  of  their  own  accord  and  come  to 
stay,  not  to  get  a  few  hundred  dollars  and  return  to  a  life  of 
idleness.  They  come  not  to  destroy  our  institutions,  but  to 
build  them  up  by  adopting  them.    They  come  from  countries 

N 


\ 


HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  65 

not  potent  or  glorious  in  European  affairs,  and  therefore  the 
more  readily  denationalize  themselves,  that  they  may  be- 
come entirely  American.  The  most  of  them  are  plain,  com- 
mon people,  strong,  sturdy,  and  independent,  required  to 
unlearn  little,  ready  and  able  to  learn  much  and  learn  it 
'well.  They  still  have  the  same  powers  of  adaptability  and 
assimilation  that  made  Rollo  and  his  Northmen  such  good 
Ffenchmen,  and  Guthrun  and  his  Danes  such  excellent  Eng- 
lishmen ;  and  using  these  powers  among  us  today,  they  are, 
or  are  rapidly  becoming,  irreproachably  and  unimpeachablj 
American." 

The  well-kno\«hProf.  H.  H.  Boyesen  writes  in  the  North 
American  Review  for  November,  1892:  '*  The  Chicago  par- 
pers,  at  the  time  of  the  trial  of  the  Anarchists,  complimented 
the  Scandinavians  of  the  West  on  their  law-abiding  spirit, 
and  the  counsel  for  the  accused  emphasized  the  complimenx 
by  requesting  that  no  Scandinavian  should  be  accepted  on 
the  jury.  He  declared  his  intention  of  challenging  any 
talesman  of  Norse  blood  on  thc-ground  of  his  nativity. 
Although  this  man  probably  had  but  slight  acquaintance 
with  Norsemen,  the  instinct  which  bade  him  beware  of  them 
was  a  correct  one. 

"  There  is  no  nation  in  Europe  that  is  more  averse  to  vio- 
lence, and  has  less  sympathy  with  Utopian  aspirations  than 
the  people  of  Norway  and  Sweden.  They  have  been  trained 
to  industry,  friigality  and  manly  self-reliance  by  the  free  in- 
stitutions and  the  scant  resources  of  their  native  lands ;  and 
the  moderation  and  self-restraint  inherent  in  the  cold  blood 
of  the  North  make  them  constitutionallv  inclined  to  trust  in 
slow  and  orderly  methods  rather  than  swift  and   violent 


/ 


66  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  8. 

ones.  They  come  here  with  no  millenial  expectations, 
doomed  to  bitter  disappointment;  but  with  the  hope  o£ 
gaining,  by  hard  and  unremitting  toil,  a  modest  competency. 
They  demand  less  of  life  than  continental  immigrants  of  the 
corresponding  class,  and  they  usually,  for  this  very  reason, 
attain  more.  The  instinct  to  save  is  strong  in  the  majority 
of  them,  and  save  they  do,  when  their  neighbors,  of  less  f5ru- 
gal  habits,  are  running  behind.  The  poor  soil  of  the  old 
land  and  the  hardships  incident  upon  a  rough  climate,  have 
accustomed  them  to  a  struggle  for  existence  scarcely  less 
severe  than  that  of  the  Western  pioneer;  and  unilluminated 
by  any  hope  of  improved  conditions  in  the  ftiture.  The  qual- 
ities of  perseverance,  thrift,  and  a  sturdy  sense  of  independ- 
ence which  this  struggle  from  genergtion  to  generation  has 
developed,  are  the  very  ones  which  must  form  the  comer 
stone  of  an  enduring  republic. 

"It  is  therefore  a  fact  which  all  students  of  the  social 
problem  arising  from  immigration  have  remarked  that  the 
/  Scandinavians  adapt  themselves  with  great  ease  to  Ameri- 
can institutions.  There  is  no  other  class  of  immigrants 
which  so  readily  assimilated,  and  assumes  so  naturally 
American  customs  and  modes  of  thought.  And  this  is  not 
because  their  own  nationality  is  devoid  of  strong  character- 
istics, but  because,  on  account  of  the  ancient  kinship  and 
subsequent  development,  they  have  certain  fundamental 
traits  in  common  with  us,  and  are  therefore  less  in  need  of 
adaption.  The  institutions  of  Norway  are  the  most  demo- 
cratic in  Europe,  and  those  of  Sweden,  though  less  liberal, 
are  developing  in  the  same  direction.  Both  Norsemen  and 
Swedes  are  accustomed  to  participate  in  the  management  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  67 

their  communal  affairs,  and  to  vote  for  their  representative 
in  the  national  parliament ;  and  although  the  power  given 
them  here  is  nominally  greater  than  that  they  enjoyed  at 
home,  it  is  virtually  less.  The  sense  of  public  responsibility, 
the  habit  of  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  a  critical  attitude 
towards  the  acts  of  government  are  nowhere  so  general  | 
among  rich  and  poor  alike  as  in  Norway  and  Sweden,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  the  suffrage  is  not  universal.  No 
great  effort  is  therefore  required,  on  the  part  of  Norwegian 
and  Swedish  immigrants,  to  transfer  their  natural  interest  in 
public  affairs  to  the  affairs  of  their  adopted  country,  which 
now  must  concern  them  closely.  With  increasing  prosperity 
comes  a  sense  of  loyalty  to  the  flag,  and  a  disposition,  per- 
haps, to  brag  in  the  presence  of  later  arrivals.  To  be  an  old 
settler  is  a  source  of  pride  and  is  recognized  as  a  title  to  con- 
sideration. A  large  majority  of  the  old  settlers  participated 
in  the  war,  and  naturally  shared  in  the  sentiment  of  militant 
loyalty  and  devotion  to  the  Union  which  animated  the  Fed- 
eral army.  This  is,  perhaps,  the  chief  reason  why  the  Scan- 
dinavian clement  in  the  United  States  is  so  overwhelmingly 
Republican;  for  the  newly-arrived  immigrant,  having  no 
comprehension  of  the  questions  dividing  American  parties,  is 
apt  to  accept  his  politics  from  the  respected  "old  settler"  and 
veteran,  and  feels  safe,  at  the  end  of  five  years,  in  voting  as 
he  votes.  Thus  it  happens  that  the  war  feeling  with  its  at- 
tendant hostility  to  the  South,  is  transmitted  to  those  to 
whom  the  war  is  but  a  dim  tradition,  and  the  militant  poli- 
tics of  the  veteran  survives  amid  a  peaceful  generation  that 
never  smelled  powder. 

"  It  is  notable  that,  though  in  many  of  the  earliest  Norse 


68  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

settlements  the  descendentsof  the  first  settlers  are  still  IiYing, 
there  is  very  little  but  their  names  (often  Anglicized)  and  a 
certain  Norwegian  cast  of  features  to  indicate  their  Scandi- 
navian origin.  They  speak  English,  and,  if  they  have  ever 
learned  Norwegian,  have  usually  forgotten  it.  They  have 
intermarried  with  American  families,  and  live,  think,  and  feel 
as  Americans.  I  have  had  letters  from  many  of  these  people, 
asking  me  to  suggest  Norwegian  names  for  their  children,  or 
inquiring  about  certain  localities  in  Norway  from  which  their 
parents  or  grandparents  came.  It  would  seem,  judging  by 
the  rapipity  with  which  they  have  adopted  American  speech 
and  modes  of  life,  that  the  problem  of  the  assimilation  of  the 
immigrant  may  be  safely  left  to  time,  without  the  interfer- 
ence of  artificial  agencies.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  the  Scandinavian  nationalities  were 
completely  lost  in  the  ocean  of  American  life,  which  beat 
upon  them  on  all  sides,  and  they  had  no  choice  but  to  drift 
with  the  current.  I  am  far  from  believing  now  that  they,  or 
any  other  nationality,  are  strong  enough  to  remain  perman- 
ently alien  in  our  midst ;  but  they  are  surely  able  to  resist, 
for  a  whole  generation,  the  influence  of  our  national  life,  and 
make  the  process  of  national  assimilation  extremely  diffcult 
for  their  children. 

''The  Scandinavians  have  been  accused  of  clannishness, 
and  not  without  cause.  It  should,  however,  be  considered 
that  the  immigrant,  of  whatever  nationality,  has  no  choice 
but  to  be  clannish,  unless  he  chooses  to  associate  with  those 
who  look  down  upon  him,  or  dispense  with  social  intercourse 
altogether.  Native  Americans  are  not  in  the  habit  of  wel- 
coming the  immigrant  with  cordiality ;  and  they  have  often 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  69 

good  reason  for  regarding  him  with  eyes  not  altogether 
friendly.  Social  intercourse  can  only  be  agreeable  among 
people  who  recognize  each  other  as  equals,  and  no  man  can 
be  blamed  for  shunning  the  society  of  those  who  refuse  to 
grant  him  this  recognition.  It  is,  therefore,  inevitable  that 
alien  communities  should  grow  up  in  our  midst  as  long  as 
we  permit  the  stream  of  immigration  to  pour  unimpeded 
down  upon  our  shores.  Each  new  arrival  is  attracted  to 
the  locaUity  where  he  has  fnends  or  kinsmen ;  and  when  he 
has  laid  aside  a  little  money  his  first  desire  is  to  draw  more 
friends  and  kinsmen  after  him.  Around  this  nucleus  a  con- 
stant aggregation  of  homogeneous  alien  elements  will  gather. 
''There  is  continual  complaint  in  the  Scandinavian 
papers  of  the  West  that  the  nationalities  which  they  repre- 
sent are  not  recognized  in  the  distribution  of  offices ;  and  it 
18  alleged  that  in  the  cities  and  counties,  where  the  Scandi- 
navians twice  out  number  the  Irish,  the  later  have  a  larger 
representation  in  municipal  and  county  offices.  The  reason 
of  this  is  not  a  lack  of  aptitude  for  public  affairs  on  the  part 
of  Norwegians  and  Swedes ;  for,  on  the  contrary,  they  take 
as  naturally  to  politics  as  goslings  do  to  water.  But  it  is 
rather  because  they  have  not  learned  to  suspend  personal 
spites  and  resentments  for  the  sake  of  a  larger  end  to  be 
gained.  They  have  not  learned  party  discipline  nor  the 
fiaculty  to  assert  themselves  as  a  unit.  From  the  American 
point  of  view  this  is  perhaps  not  a  matter  of  regret,  but 
rather  of  congratulation.  For  we  have  already  a  pestifer- 
ous abundance  of  alien  nationalities  which  have  the  inso- 
lence to  claim  recognition,  not  as  bodies  of  American  citizens, 
but  as  Irish,  Germans,  Bohemians,  and  Poles ;  as  if  in  that 


70  HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

capacity  they  have  any  right  to  participation  in  the  govern, 
ment  of  the  American  republic." 

Smith  in  his  book,  Emigration  and  Immigration,  says 
that  the  American  traits  are :  First ,  "  The  fxce  political  con- 
stitution and  the  ability  to  govern  ourselves  in  the  ordinary 
affairs  of  life;"  second,  "The  absence  of  privileged  classes;" 
third,  "The  economic  well-being  of  the  masses;"  fourth, 
"  Love  of  law  and  order,  ready  acquiescence  in  the  will  of 
the  majority."  In  a  political  sense  these  peculiarities  are 
virtually  common  to  both  the  Americans  and  Scandinavians; 
for  even  if  the  latter  have  had  privileged  classes  in  their  na- 
tive lands,  they  certainly  are  not  in  favor  of  such  an  arrange- 
ment. It  is  no  wonder  then  that  the  Scandinavians  become 
— according  to  all  authorities  on  the  subject — quickly  Amer- 
canizcd  in  regard  to  all  political  affairs. 

What  then  is  the  reason  that  the  majority  of  the  Ameri- 
can people  and  many  of  the  educated  Scandinavian-Ameri- 
cans accuse  the  Northmen  of  clannishness  ?  In  the  first  place 
those  people  differ  from  each  other  socially.  The  American 
has  a  broad  knowledge  of  men  and  things.  He  can  and 
does  approach  a  stranger  with  the  same  ease  with  which  he 
meets  a  friend  of  several  years'  standing.  He  questions 
everybody.  He  recognizes  no  class  distinction,  but  associ- 
ates with  everyone  who  is  worthy  of  his  confidence.  He  is 
energetic,  ambitious,  excitable,  and  extreme.  He  is  remark- 
ably liberal  and  tolerant  on  all  religious,  political,  and  social 
questions ;  but  equally  narrow-minded  and  bigoted  in  regard 
to  his  patriotism.  America,  in  his  estimation,  is  the  only 
country  under  the  sun  fit  for  civilized  man  to  live  in.  He 
points  with  just  pride  to  the  rapid  development  of  the  na- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  71 

tion.  He  boasts  of,  and  sometimes  exaggerates,  the  natural, 
tmdeyeloped  resources,  and  of  the  great  future  of  his  coun- 
try. He  jokes  with  everything,  even  the  most  sacred.  A 
city  council  will  grant  a  license  to  a  saloon  or  house  of  ill- 
fame  one  day,  the  next  Sunday  all  the  individuals  who  com- 
pose the  council  will  attend  a  revival  meeting  and  pray  for 
the  conversion  of  mankind.  If  a  foreigner,  who  knew  noth- 
ing about  the  life  in  America,  should  attend  a  political  mass- 
meeting,  or  a  large  religious  revival  gathering,  he  would  cer- 
taiiily  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  whole  nation  was 
cither  drunk  or  insane,  or  perhaps  both. 

The  Scandinavian,  on  the  other  hand,  is  less  excitable, 
enterprising,  and  ambitious,  but  more  solid,  reserved,  and 
conservative.  He  does  not  live  by  jerks,  but  progresses 
slowly  and  surely.  He  is  more  moderate  in  his  virtues 
as  well  as  in  his  vices.  He  will  attend  church  once  or  twice 
Sunday,  and  perhaps  devote  part  of  the  day  in  visiting  a 
fnend  or  taking  a  walk.  The  latter  practice  is  considered 
to  be  a  great  sin  among  the  Puritans.  The  Scandinavian- 
American  seldom  meets  the  Yankee  except  in  business  rela- 
tions, or  at  apolitical  convention,  although  he  may  occasion- 
ally attend  a  woman's  suflFerage  meeting  or  an  American 
church  sociable,  and  make  a  short,  formal  call  at  the 
Yankee's  house  to  be  introduced  to  the  family. 

The  superior  social  aptness,  the  great  religious  and  social 
activity  of  the  American  woman  leads  the  Northman  to  con- 
clude — as  a  Norwegian  wit  expressed  it — that  all  she  does  is 
to  dress  herself,  attend  church,  and  take  care  of  her  nerves. 
The  United  States  statistics  show  that  the  Scandinavians 
are  less  apt  to  marry  American  ladies  than  any  other  foreig- 


72  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

ners,  although  they  more  frequently  inter-marry  with  other 
nationalities  than  any  other  immigrants. 

The  Scandinavians  seldom  see  the  admirable  home  life  for 
which  the  Americans  are  justly  noted.  They  judge  the  latter 
as  he  appears  in  business  life,  and  conclude  that  the  Yankee 
18  simply  a  financial  and  political  boomer  who  is  too  shrewd 
and  unscrupulous  to  be  depended  upon.  Their  conclusion  in 
regard  to  business  is,  on  the  whole,  correct,  but  in  regard  to 
society  it  is  utterly  wrong.  For  no  nation  is  more  sympa- 
thetic, humanitarian,devoted  to  kindness,  and  liberal  towards 
charitable  objects  than  the  Americans.  Secondly,  the  con- 
servatism and  slowness  of  the  Northmen  is  often  mistaken 
for  clatmishness.  They  settle  in  large  bodies,  not  with 
the  intention  of  being  exclusive,  but  because  it  is  con- 
venient, and  often  their  only  choice ;  here  they  attend  to  their 
own  affairs  without  thinking  anything  about  Americaniza- 
tion. Struggle  for  existence,  in  many  cases,  requires  all  their 
strength. 

But  the  American  nation  has  nothing  to  fear  in  regard  to 
the  foreignism  of  Scandinavians.  They  very  rapidly  adopt 
the  virtues  as  well  as  the  vices  of  their  adopted  country.  It 
is,  perhaps,  better  that  a  people  is  a  little  slow  in  becoming 
Americanized,  than  to  hasten  too  much.  A  person  who 
takes  out  his  naturalization  papers  on  the  day  he  arrives  at 
Castle  Garden,  either  does  not  know  his  obligations  to  the 
new  country,  or  doesn't  care  to  perform  any  duties  to  any 
land ;  in  either  case  he  is  not  likly  to  be  a  desirable  citizen. 
All  the  Scandinavian  immigrants  use  American  furniture  and 
machinery,  their  style  of  dress  and  mode  of  living  are  essen- 
¥rHj  American — all  of  which  has  a  powerful  influence  in 


HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  73 

Americanizing  them.  It  is  true  that  there  are  Northmen  who 
have  lived  in  this  country  thirty  years,  yet  are  unable  to 
speak  fifteen  English  words  correctly ;  but  this  class  of  peo- 
ple are  an  exception,  not  the  rule. 

Of  course  theirmanners,  customs,  and  language  are  often 
a  strange  combination  of  Scandinavian-Americanism  and 
"would  make  an  excellent  theme  for  a  novelist.  They  some- 
times talk  about,  ''spika  English,"  "travla  pa  stimbaten," 
'^maka  monni,"  "mova  avej,"  "go  to  mitingen,"  "been 
cbitad,"  "got  a  yobb,"  and,  "sinja  Yankee  Doodle."  But 
most  of  them  agree  with  H.  Stockenstrom : 

"  Men  jag  meat  prisar  den  nya  Svenska, 
Som  fir  8d  olik  den  fosterlfinska.'' 

The  bad  habit  of  having  a  feast  of  eating  and  drinking  at 
funerals,  which  is  customary  in  the  Scandinavian  countries, 
is  sometimes  practiced  here  also.  For  example,  we  read 
about  the  early  Norwegian  settlers  in  Wisconsin  how  they 
astonished  the  minister  at  a  funeral  by  presenting  to  him  a 
glass  of  whisky  between  the  singing  of  the  first  and  second 
stanza,  saying:  "  It  is  customary  in  our  country  to  take  a 
glass  between  the  singing  of  each  stanza."  And  with  the 
hymn  book  in  one  hand,  a  glass  of  whisky  in  the  other,  and 
the  corpse  before  them,  the  mourners  shed  tears  over  their  de- 
parted friend.  Half-way  between  the  house  and  the  cemetery 
they  repeated  theact.  This, however, is  an  extremecase.  Itis 
seldom  carried  to  such  excess  in  the  North,  and  far  less — ^if 
practiced  at  all, — among  the  Scandinavian -Americans.  For, 
on  the  whole,  the  Northmen  in  this  country  adopt  American 
manners  and  customs.  The  more  progressive  element  of  the 
first  generation  speak  English  from  choice,  the  second  from 


> 


74  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8.    * 

necessity,  and  the  third  knows  little  about  the  language 
of  their  grandparents.  Yet  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  Scandi- 
navian-Americans of  today  will  never  become  so  completely 
transformed  that  they  lose  their  character,  courage,  earn, 
estness,  frankness,  strong  convictions,  self-possession,  and 
indomitable  will-power. 

According  to  the  United  States  census  of  1870, 1880,  and 
1890  the  Scandinavians  have  the  best  records  of  any  nation- 
alities in  the  country,  either  foreign  or  native,  in  regard  to 
crime,  vagrancy,  pauperism,  deaf  and  dumb,  and  blind.  In 
addition  they  take  most  readily  to  farming,  become  quickly 
Americanized,  and  possess  a  better  education  and  have  more 
money  at  their  arrival  than  any  other  immigrants.  It  is  no 
wonder  then  that  nearly  every  political  economist  admits 
that  they  are  the  best  immigrants  which  the  country  receives. 

W.  W.  Thomas,  United  States  minister  to  Sweden-Nor- 
way, wrote  in  1891  as  follows:  "Probably  not  less  than 
2,000,000  Swedes  and  their  descendants  are  now  living  in 
our  country  and  call  themselves  Americans.  In  fact  the  day 
will  soon  come  when  the  United  States  will  contain  more 
citizens  of  Swedish  descent  than  Sweden  herself;  and  we  will 
be  not  only  the  newer,  but  the  greater  Sweden,  as  we 
have  already  become  the  greater  England."  Col.  Hans 
Mattson,  in  his  Afinneu,  pubhshed  in  1890,  says:  **When 
we  take  into  consideration  the  numerous  Swedish  colo- 
nists that  settled  in  Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  and  New 
Jersey  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  their  descendants, 
together  with  the  descendants  of  Scandinavian  emigrants 
of  the  last  seventy  years,  I  think  it  is  safe  to  estimate  the 
total  population  of  Scandinavian  descent  at  over  four  mil- 


UISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIAN  IMMIGRATION.  75 

Hons,  or  folly  one-sixteenth  of  the  entire  population  of 
the  United  States."  These  estimations,  however,  appear 
to  be  simply  assertions  and  not  based  upon  any  kind  of  sta- 
tistical figures  or  computations,  and  are,  perhaps,  too  high. 
Yet  in  1900  there  were  in  this  country  about  one-fifth  as 
many  Danes  as  in  Denmark,  one-third  as  many  Swedes  as  in 
Sweden,  and  one-half  as  many  Norwegians  as  in  Norway. 
In  1890  one  person  out  of  every  twenty-five  in  the  United 
States,  was  a  Scandinavian,  either  by  birth  or  by  descent  in 
the  second  generation.  By  the  most  careful  computation  of 
statistical  figures,  it  is  a  conservative  estimate  to  assume 
that,  in  1900,  there  are  in  this  country  three  million  Scandi- 
iiavian*bom  or  having  Scandinavian  parents. 


y 


The  Icelandic  Discoveries  of  America. 


— BY— 


S.  SIQVALIDSON. 


The  origin  and  cause  of  the  movement  that  led  tp  these 
discoveries  seems  to  have  had  their  birth  in  Norway  in  or 
abont  the  year  872,  when  King  Harold  Fairhair,  in  a  naval 
battle,  overcame  the  jarls,  or  independent  princes,  of  that 
country,  and  subdued  them  to  his  vassalage.  Such  a  subjuga* 
tion  could  not  be  tolerated  by  the  haughty  and  heroic 
Northmen,  and  they  were  forced  to  seek  relief  in  other  coun- 
tries more  congenial  to  their  free  and  independent  natures. 
In  support  of  this  the  histories  tell  us  that  a  general  move- 
ment took  place ;  the  jarls  and  Vikings  took  to  their  ships, 
invoked  their  God  of  Storms  and  set  sails  for  distant  shores. 
Some  steered  to  the  South  and  founded  homes  for  them- 
selves in  the  sunny  climate  of  sourthem  Europe.  But  we 
are  especially  concerned  with  the  northern  branch  of  this 
army,  which  discovered  and  settled  on  the  islands  in  the 
North  Atlantic,  especially  Iceland. 

This  noble  and  historic  island  is  said  to  have  been  first 
discovered  in  874  by  the  heroic  Viking  Ingolf.  It  was  on 
this  island,  especially,  that  a  strong  and  free  republic  soon 
grew  up,  and  to  its  sturdy  sons,  we  claim,  belongs  the  im- 
mortal honor  of  the  discovery  of  America. 

(77) 


78  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

This  republic,  entirely  independent,  and  consisting  of 
the  bravest  and  boldest  of  the  Northmen,  soon  developed  into 
a  community  of  wealth  and  ctdture;  now  renowned  the 
world  over  for  its  rich  Uterature  in  old  sagas,  poetry,  and 
chronicles.  It  is  thus  evident  that  all  these  combined  afford 
the  most  reliable  authority  for  the  early  settlements,  achieve- 
ments, and  discoveries  of  the  Northmen.  Hence  it  is  mainly 
from  these,  as  authorities,  that  we  relate  the  following  his- 
torical facts,  undisputed  by  the  best  modem  historians. 

In  876,  about  two  years  after  the  discovery  of  the  is- 
land, we  are  told  by  the  chronicles,  that  a  certain  settler,  by 
the  name  of  Gunnbjom,  was  driven  on  to  the  coast  of  Green- 
land in  a  storm,  that  his  ship  was  fettered  in  ice  all  through 
the  winter,  but  as  soon  as  spring  came  they  were  able  to 
return  to  Iceland.  A  great  many  years  after,  about  983, 
another  settler,  by  the  name  of  Erik  the  Red,  got  into  a 
quarrel  with  his  foe,  and  a  homicide  was  the  result.  For  this 
Erik  was  condemned  by  the  court,  according  to  the  laws  of 
the  land,  and  to  escape  punishment,  as  well  as  to  satisfy  his 
nature  for  exploration  and  discovery,  he  fitted  out  a  vessel, 
and  with  a  few  companions  set  sail  for  the  land  of  Gunn- 
bjom. After  a  few  days  sailing  he  discovered  Greenland  and 
explored  it  along  the  coast  each  side  of  Cape  Farewell  dur- 
ing the  next  three  years.  He  finally  settled  down  on  a 
grassy  plain  near  the  coast,  which  he  was  pleased  to  call 
Greenland,  and  from  thence  the  whole  country  has  derived 
its  name. 

After  three  years,  however,  he  returned  to  Iceland,  but 
only  to  induce  a  greater  number  of  emigrants  to  embark  for 
Greenland.    We  are  thus  told  that  in  re-crossing  he  had  a 


THE  ICELANDIC  DISCOVERIES  OF  AMERICA.  79 

fleet  of  twenty-five  ships,  but,  unfortunately,  eleven  of  them 
perished  in  the  high  seas  of  the  North,  and  but  fourteen 
reached  Greenland.  However,  the  remainder  built  up  a  pros- 
perous colony  in  the  country,  which  lasted  for  400  years. 

One  of  the  men  who  came  over  to  Greenland  with  Erik, 
Hjerulf  by  name,  had  the  distinguished  honor  of  being  the 
father  of  the  first  white  man,  who  saw  the  main  land  of 
North  America.  This  man's  name  was  Bjami.  The  event 
came  about  thus:  during  the  summer  that  Hjerulf  went 
over  to  Greenland  with  Erik,  his  son  Bjami  had  been  absent 
in  Norway ;  and  being  unconscious  of  his  father's  journey, 
Bjami  sailed  home  to  Iceland  the  following  autumn  to  pass 
the  Christmas  with  his  father.  But  on  arriving  in  Iceland  he 
found  that  his  father  had  emigrated  to  Greenland ;  he  there- 
fore immediately  set  sail  to  follow  his  father  to  that  country. 

On  the  way  over,  a  cloudy  sky  and  foggy  weather  at- 
tended his  voyage,  the  crew  lost  their  way,  and  were  for 
many  days  borne  before  the  wind  without  knowledge  of  their 
course.  At  length  the  weather  brightened  up  somewhat,  and 
Bjami  sighted  land  in  the  distance,  but  to  his  disappointment, 
he  soon  discovered  that  it  was  a  coast  without  mountains, 
covered  with  woods,  instead  of  the  great  mountains  of  ice 
that  he  had  been  told  he  would  see  on  the  coast  of  Green- 
land. They  therefore  put  the  ship  about  and  sailed  for  two 
more  days,  when  they  again  sighted  land,  but  neither  this 
answered  the  description  of  Greenland.  Again  they  went  to 
sea,  and  having  sailed  for  four  days  more  with  the  same 
wind,  the  coast  of  Greenland  was  seen  to  loom  up  in  the  dis- 
tance. Fortunately  enough,  Bjami  landed  on  the  very 
promontory  where  his  father  lived.  He  then  assumed  control 


80  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

of  his  father's  estate,  and  dwelt  with  him  the  remainder  of 
his  life. 

This  accidental  finding  of  land  by  Bjami  excited  little 
curiosity  until  it  came  to  the  €ars  of  the  famous  Leif,  the  son 
of  Erik  the  Red,  who  at  this  time,  about  999,  came  over  to 
Greenland  from  Norway.  This  Leif  Erikson,  the  real  discov- 
erer of  America,  bought  the  vessel  of  Bjami  and  manned  it 
with  a  crew  of  thirty-five  m^n,  leaving  Greenland  in  the 
autumn  of  the  year  1000,  and  sailing  to  the  South,  for  the 
express  purpose  of  discovering  the  lands  previously  seen  by 
Bjami.  Good  fortune  attended.  Some  distance  to  the  south- 
ward, Leif  discovered  a  barren  coast,  now  known  to  be  the 
northern  coast  of  Newfoundland.  Having  rested  here  for 
some  time,  the  discoverer  again  put  to  sea,  sailing  farther 
southward,  and  in  the  space  of  a  few  da3rs  came  upon  anoth- 
er coast,  covered  with  thick  woods.  Here-  he  landed  and 
inspected  the  country  around,  now  known  by  the  name  of 
Nova  Scotia.  But  soon  he  once  more  set  to  sea,  and,  having 
now  sailed  for  two  more  days,  with  a  northeast  wind,  he 
for  the  third  time  sighted  land,  and  pulled  ashore  "At  the 
estuary  of  a  certain  river."  Here  they  found  the  country 
pleasant,  the  river  full  of  fish,  and  the  land  abounding  in 
grapes.  With  this  Leif  was  so  pleased  that  he  called  the 
land  he  had  discovered,  Vinland.  The  location  of  the  third 
discovery  corresponds  the  closest  to  that  about  Massachu- 
setts Bay. 

Pleased  as  they  were  with  the  country,  Leif  determined 
to  pass  the  winter  here,  his  men  accordingly  built  up  some 
huts  at  this  place,  and  in  them  they  dwelt  through  the 
winter.    In  the  spring  Leif  and  his  men  started  home  for 


niOF.  K.  B.  ANDnrtwnx,  MADISON,  WIS. 


THE  ICELANDIC  DISCOVERIES  OF  AMERICA.  81 

Greenland  with  a  cargo  of  timber,  and  reached  the  abode  of 
his  father,  Erik,  in  safety.  This  discoveryofLeif  created  much 
talk  in  Greenland,  and  Thorvald,  his  brother,  thinking  the 
land  had  been  "too  little  explored,"  begged  leave  of  Leif, 
and  obtained  his  ships  for  another  voyage,  made  in  1002. 
Thorvald  succeeded  in  finding  the  lands,  and  the  huts  that 
Leif  had  built.  Here  it  is  said  they  made  their  winter  quar- 
ters, supporting  themselves  on  fish  through  the  winter  of 
1002-3. 

In  the  spring  they  went  on  exploring  along  the  coast. 
But  having  sailed  some  distance  they  fell  in  with  "  savages," 
and  in  a  fight  that  followed  Thorvald  was  killed.  Shortly 
after  that  the  remainder  returned  to  Greenland. 

Again  it  is  said  in  the  sagas,  that  in  the  summer  of  1006, 
there  came  fi'om  Iceland  a  noble  and  a  wealthy  man, 
Thorfinn  Karlsefhi  by  name.  This  man,  we  are  told,  fell  at 
once  in  love  with  the  beautiful  woman,  Gudrid,  the  widow 
of  Thorstein  Brikson,  brother  to  Leif,  and  as  a  natural  con- 
sequence they  were  united  in  marriage,  and  the  event  was 
celebrated  by  a  merry  wedding. 

This  woman  Gudrid  is  said  to  have  persuaded  her  hus- 
band, Karlsefiii,  to  sail  for  Vinland,  and  that  she  succeeded 
to  such  a  degree  that  Karlsefhi  left  for  Vinland  in  the  spring 
of  1007,  with  a  sufficient  force  to  found  a  colony,  having 
three  or  four  ships,  with  160  men,  some  women,  and  a  cargo 
of  cattle  on  board.  America  was  safely  reached.  In  this 
very  year  Gudrid  gave  birth  to  a  child,  and  they  named  him 
Snorro.  He  was  thus  the  first  white  child  bom  in  America. 
By  way  of  remark,  it  may  be  noted  here  that  such  men  as 
the  learned  antiquarian,  Finn  Magnusson,  and  the  renouned 


82  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

sculptor,  Thorvaldsen,  have  taken  pride  in  tracing  their 
ancestty  to  this  first  white  American  boy,  Snorro.  But  to 
continue :  this  company  of  Karlsefhi  is  said  to  have  dwelt 
in  the  country  for  the  three  following  years,  but  then  to 
have  returned  again  to  Greenland.  Karlsefhi  had  to  give  up 
his  enterprise  on  account  of  the  hostility  of  the  natives. 
Many  of  their  crew  had  lost  their  lives,  when  the  remainder 
returned  home,  1010,  with  a  cargo  of  timber,  skins,  and  furs. 
The  latter  [two  of  which  they  had  obtained  from  the 
natives. 

Yet  another  party  sailed  for  Vinland,  1011,  but  with 
even  less  success.  A  quarrel  arose  among  their  number, 
which  ended  in  cruelty  and  bloodshed  within  their  own  flock. 
After  their  return  to  Greenland,  1012,  ends  the  account  of  all 
the  important  attempts  to  explore  and  colonize  Vinland,  or 
America,  as  far  as  the  Northmen  are  concerned. 

As  previously  stated,  this  gives  the  outline  of  discoveries 
and  voyages  made  by  the  Northmen  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh 
centuries,  as  related  by  the  sagas  and  annals  of  Iceland. 
And  in  saying  this,  as  much  is  said,  as  if  these  great  histor-"^ 
ical  events  were  backed  by  the  strongest  authority. 

Any  one  that  is  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  spirit 
of  the  old  sagas,  their  simple  and  unambitious  style, 
together  with  their  minute  detail  and  accuracy  of  statement, 
cannot  for  a  moment  hesitate  to  accept  their  narrative  as 
undisputable  history.  This  in  fact,  is  the  conclusion  that  the 
learned  world  has  arrived  at. 

Besides  this  verifying  power  of  the  spirit  and  accuracy  of 
the  sagas  themselves,  innumerable  coincidental  facts,  and 
important  finds  in  Greenland  and  even  in  America,  absolutely 


THB  ICBLANDIC  DISCOVBRIKS  OP  AMERICA.  83 

prove  that  the  Northmen  were  the  first  and  last  true  discov- 
erers of  America.  This  seems  a  very  strong  statement  to 
make  without  giving  sufficient  arguments  to  prove  the  as- 
sertion. But  it  is  here  taken  for  granted  that  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  all  the  coincidental  proofs  now  revealed  by  the  best 
authorities  on  this  subject,  is  unnecessary,  and  could  not 
come  within  the  scope  of  this  little  essay.  Let  it  rather  be 
sufficient  to  say  that  these  discoveries  of  the  Northmen  were 
known  to  some  of  the  learned  Europeans  up  to  1350,  at 
least.  A  passage  here  quoted  from  the  Antiquitates  Ameri- 
canaCf  clearly  proves  that  the  native  Indians,  also,  pos- 
sessed some  traditions  about  the  Northmen  in  America. 
This  is  the  passage:  "There  was  a  tradition  current  with 
the  oldest  Indians  (in  these  parts)  that  there  came  a 
wooden  house  and  ^men  of  another  country  in  it,  swim- 
ming up  the  river  Assoonet,  as  this  ( Tonton  river)  was 
then  called,  who  fought  the  Indians  with  mighty  suc- 
cess, etc." 

Besides  all  this,  an  appeal  to  common  sense  ought  to  tell  us 
that  the  Vikings,  the  boldest  navigators  of  ancient  times, 
men  who  visited  or  plundered  every  nook  and  comer  of  Eu- 
rope, so  to  speak,  could  not  help  but  to  discover  America, 
after  once  having  discovered  Greenland. 

To  support  that  the  history  of  these  disc  o  veries  was  known 
through  Europe,  we  have  the  account  of  the  French  author, 
Gabriel  Gravier,  (together  with  many  others,)  in  his  work, 
IXcouverte  de  rAm€rique  par  les  Normands,  that  Gudrid, 
wife  of  Karlsefhi,  made  a  journey  to  Rome,  where  she  was 
well  received,  and  that  she  here  certainly  told  about  her 
voyage  in  America,  and  it  is  also  here  said  that  the  facts  thus 


84  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

revealed  by  Gudrid,  although  kept  as  a  profound  secret  by 
the  papal  authorities,  had  without  a  doubt  a  great  influence 
on  subsequent  discoveries. 

We  have  thus  shown  that  the  discoveries  in  America  by 
Leif  Erikson  are  proven  by  accurate  records  in  Iceland,  that 
the  history  of  these  discoveries  was  known  through  Europe, 
and  especially  in  Rome,  that  this  history  of  the  Northmen  is 
verified  by  subsequent  coincidental  discoveries,  and  the  re- 
mains of  ruins  and  relics,  and  finally,  that  the  old  traditions 
of  the  Indians  in  America  must  necessarily  remove  every 
shadow  of  a  doubt. 

What  then  can  be  the  value  of  the  so-called  discovery  of 
Columbus?  Columbus  himself  professes  to  have  gone  to, 
and  beyond  Iceland,  whether  he  got  any  information  there 
in  regard  to  America  is  not  certain,  but  a  great  sailor  and 
a  rover  that  he  was,  together  with  his  genius  for  geography 
and  ambition  for  discovery,  make  it  very  probable,  and 
indeed  almost  certain,  that  he  did  obtain  the  necessary  infor- 
mation for  his  great  subsequent  voyage.  If  not,  what  did 
he  go  to  Iceland  for?  Two  facts  are  certain,  and  that  is,  that 
he  would  naturally  endeavor  to  obtain  any  information  con- 
nected with  his  conceived  enterprise,  and  since  there  was 
nothing  to  hinder  him  from  getting  this  information,  either 
from  the  people  in  Iceland  or  their  sagas,  what  are  we  to  in- 
fer  but  that  he  did?  Secondly,  if  he  did  obtain  some  knowl- 
edge there  about  America,  it  is  equally  certain  that  a  man  of 
his  ability  and  sagacity,  would  have  sense  enough  to  remain 
tacit  about  it,  if  for  his  silence  he  would  be  rewarded  with 
the  immortal  glory  of  discovering  the  better  half  of  the 
world.    Or  how  could  the  man  help  but  to  get  the  necessary 


THE  ICELANDIC  DISCOVERIES  OF  AMERICA.  85 

information  from  his  advisors  in  Rome,  who  knew  all  about 
it?  This  indeed  is  so  strongly  hinted  at  in  one  of  the  ac- 
counts of  Columbus  that  nothing  but  the  blindest  prejudice 
can  dismiss  its  significance.  The  fact  of  it  all  is  that  Leif 
Erikson  is  the  true  discoverer  of  America,  while  Columbus 
was  merely  the  first  emigrant  to  America  from  Spain. 


(f 


The  First  Swedish  Settlement  in  America, 


— BY— 


BMM^    SHERWOOD    OHE>STKR, 


[Published  in  the  Scandinavia  in  1884.'] 

To  the  human  trait  of  avarice  may  be  attributed  the 
world's  most  rapid  advance  in  every  department  of  com- 
merce and  its  subsequent  arts.  The  alluring  sparkle  of  gold 
has  led  men  to  dare  all  latitudes  and  seas,  however  strange, 
however  obstinately  closed,  however  strewn  with  dead  men's 
bones;  and  from  the  new  world  of  North  and  South  America 
there  has  streamed  for  centuries  the  light  of  a  beacon  such  as 
this.  The  Northmen,  the  Spanish,  the  French,  the  English, 
the  Dutch — an  army  of  adventurers — ^have  come,  have  seen, 
have  generally  conquered.  To  their  magnificent  courage  or 
insatiable  greed,  the  doors  of  knowledge  and  of  wealth  have 
opened,  and  the  majority  of  these  early  colonists  have  gained 
their  ends, — the  acquisition  of  territory  at  any  risk,  the  ex- 
tortion of  gold  at  any  cost.  But  higher  motives  and  more 
enduring  principles  were  brought  to  us  across  the  seas  when 
religious  intolerance  drove  the  spirit  of  martyrdom  to  our 
shores.  The  Puritans,  the  Huguenots,  the  Swedish  fugitives 
from  the  Protestant-Catholic  wars  colonized  those  states  in 

(87) 


88  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

which  slavery  with  its  attendant  evils  found  its  most  inse- 
cure footing ;  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  the  only 
humane  policy  ever  devised  for  dealing  with  the  Indian  race, 
was  instituted  by  the  pious  Swedes.  "Slaves,"  said  Gustaf 
Adolf,  "cost  a  great  deal,  labor  with  reluctance,  and  soon 
perish  from  hard  usage;  but  the  Swedish  nation  is  indus- 
trious and  intelligent,  and  hereby  we  shall  gain  more  by  a 
free  people  with  wives  and  children."  This  would  appear  to 
be  a  stroke  of  economy  rather  than  a  principle  of  morality, 
but  in  the  instructions  of  the  Swedish  government  to  Gov- 
ernor Printz,  with  regard  to  the  Indians,  the  genuine  piety  of 
the  Swedish  administration  is  exhibited.  Article  IX  reads  as 
follows :  "The  wild  nations  bordering  on  all  sides,  the  gov- 
ernor shall  treat  with  all  humanity  and  respect,  and  so  that 
no  violence  or  wrong  be  done  to  them  by  Her  Royal  Maj- 
esty, or  her  subjects  aforesaid ;  but  he  shall  rather  ♦  ♦  ♦ 
exert  himself  that  the  same  wild  people  may  be  gradually 
instructed  in  the  truths  and  worship  of  the  Christian  relig- 
ion, and  in  other  ways  brought  to  civilization  and  good  gov- 
ernment, and  in  this  manner  properly  guided.  Especially 
shall  he  seek  to  gain  their  confidence,  and  impress  upon  their 
minds  that  neither  he,  the  governor,  nor  his  people  and  sub- 
ordinates are  come  into  these  parts  to  do  them  any  wrong  or 
injury,  but  much  more  for  the  purpose  of  furnishing  them 
with  such  things  as  they  may  need  for  the  ordinary  wants  of 
life." 

Religious  dissensions,  the  most  bitter  and  cruel  of  all  an- 
imosities, had  scattered  broadcast  over  Europe,  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  the  seeds  of  fermentation  and  unrest.  So 
that  when  William  Usselinx,  a  native  of  Antwerp,  Brabant, 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  89 

proposed  toGustaf  Adolf  in  1624,  the  despatch  of  a  Swedish 
colony  to  America,  it  was  as  if  he  had  provided  an  outlet  for 
the  bursting  national  heart.  Gustaf  seized  upon  the  plan 
with  enthusiasm.  He  concentrated  upon  it  all  of  his  talents 
as  a  statesman,  and  the  result  was  a  scheme  which  for  bril- 
liancy and  liberality  of  design  has  had  no  parallel  in  the  an- 
nals of  colonization  projects.  Usselinx  was  the  founder  of 
the  Dutch  West  India  Company,  of  which  he  was  also  for 
several  years  a  director.  Becoming  dissatisfied  for  some  rea- 
son with  the  management  of  the  company,  he  severed  his 
connection  with  it,  and  proceeded  to  Stockholm.  He  appears 
to  have  been  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  ability,  which 
was  exhibited  in  the  projection  more  than  in  the  execution  of 
great  enterprises.  He  was  the  agitator  of  more  conserva- 
tive men,  and  to  him  is  accredited  the  first  conception  of  a 
Swedish  colony  in  America,  at  a  time  when  Europe  was 
absorbed  in  the  seriousness  of  home  affairs.  The  Thirty 
Years'  War  was  at  its  height,  and  Protestant  Danes  and 
Germans  were  exposed  to  the  fiiry  of  the  storm.  Gustaf 
Adolf  was  as  yet  but  a  looker-on,  conscious  of  the  inevitable 
part  which  he  must  soon  assume,  and  burdened  with  anxiety 
for  his  unhappy  subjects.  Usselinx  appeared  at  an  oppor- 
tune moment.  He  proposed  the  founding  of  a  trading  com- 
pany in  Sweden,  whose  operations  should  extend  to  Asia, 
Africa,  and  America,  the  territory  included  in  the  project 
being,  indeed,  almost  unlimited.  He  expatiated  to  the  king 
upon  the  advantages  certain  to  accrue  from  the  enterprise, 
that  carried  objections  before  it.  He  appealed  to  his  philan- 
thropy by  depicting  the  opportunities  for  spreading  the 
Christian  religion  among  heathen  nations.    He  asserted  in 


90  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

positive  terms  the  pecuniary  gain  which  would  eventually  be 
added  to  the  Swedish  crown ;  and,  as  a  clinching  argument 
in  favor  of  the  immediate  undertaking  of  the  scheme,  he 
pointed  to  the  suffering  condition  of  the  Protestants  in  the 
kingdom,  and  the  horrors  to  \7hich  they  were  exposed.  The 
king  foresaw  in  it  a  benefit  not  to  be  defined  by  Usselinx's 
terms.  While  he  recognized  in  it  the  direct  solution  of  a 
problem  which  had  long  vexed  his  mind,  he  also  perceived 
moral  and  political  blessings  as  likely  to  arise  from  it,  which 
the  eye  of  a  great  statesman  only  can  descry  through  centu- 
ries.  In  the  warrant  for  the  establishment  of  such  a  com- 
pan3%  we  find  these  words :  "  Know  ye,  that  by  a  petition, 
the  honest  and  prudent  William  Usselinx  has  humbly  shown 
and  proved  to  Us  how  a  general  trading  company  here  from 
our  kingdom  of  Sweden,  to  Asia,  Afinca,  America,  and  Ma- 
gellan could  be  established,"  etc.  ♦  ♦  ♦  «  Such  being  the 
proposition  which  he  made,  we  have  taken  it  into  considera- 
tion, and  that  we  cannot  disapprove  of  it,  nor  do  we 
see,  but  what  it  is  sure,  that  if  God  will  give  success,  it  shall 
tend  to  the  honor  of  His  holy  name,  to  our  and  the  state's 
welfare,  and  the  advancement  and  advantage  of  our  sub- 
jects. We  have,  therefore,  graciously  received,  and  with 
pleasure  approved  of  it,  and  consented  that  the  said  com- 
pany be  organized  and  established,"  etc.  ♦  ♦  ♦  **  Given 
and  signed  in  our  royal  palace  at  Stockholm,  the  21st  of 
December,  1624.  Gustavus  Adolphus." 

A  commercial  company  endowed  with  the  privilege  of 
founding  foreign  colonies,  was  therefore  incorportcd  at  Stock- 
holm, May  21, 1627.  The  charter  provided  the  existence  of 
the  company  for  twelve  years  from  May,  1625  to  May,  1637, 


THB  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  91 

during  which  tiine  no  capital  was  to  be  withdrawn,  nor  new 
stockholders  admitted.  Usselinx  was  to  have  for  his  ser- 
vices, past,  present,  and  fttture,  ''one  per  mille  of  all  goods 
and  merchandise  which  were  bought  and  sold  in  the  com- 
pany." It  was  decided  that  the  contributions  of  capital 
should  not  proceed  from  any  single  country,  but  that  all 
Europe  should  be  invited  to  share  in  the  enterprise,  both 
with  the  subscription  of  means  and  the  despatch  of  colonists. 
Prof.  Odhner  regards  this  as  a  move  of  expediency  rather 
than  disinterestedness,  as  the  finances  of  Sweden  were  then 
in  a  state  of  depletion.  But  the  character  of  Gustaf  Adolf 
would  surely  admit  a  more  generous  construction,  namely, 
that  he  wished  all  suffering  people  to  share  in  its  possible  ad- 
vantages. 

The  persons  who  took  part  in  this  remarkable  company 
were  his  majesty's  mother,  the  Queen  Dowager  Christina, 
the  Prince  John  Cassimir,  the  Royal  Council,  and  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  nobility,  the  higest  officers  of  the  army, 
the  bishops  and  other  clergymen,  together  with  the  burgo- 
masters and  aldermen  of  the  cities,  as  well  as  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  people  generally.  For  the  direction  and  execution 
of  the  plan,  there  were  appointed  an  admiral,  vice-admiral, 
chapman,  under-chapman,  assistants,  and  commissaries,  and 
a  body  of  soldiers  fully  officered.  Such  was  the  plan  pro- 
posed by  the  greatest  man  of  his  time.  But  God  disposed 
otherwise.  Upon  the  eve  of  the  fruition  of  his  designs,  Gus- 
taf was  summoned  to  his  supreme  mission  as  defender  of  the 
Protestant  faith  in  Europe.  Brilliant  triumphs  distinguished 
him  in  other  spheres,  but  through  them  all  he  preserved  an  un- 
diminished interest  in  the  plan  which  had  been  thus  tempora- 


92  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIAXS  IX  THE  U.  S. 

rily^as  he  believed,  frustrated.  At  the  battle  of  Liitzen  he  lost 
his  life,  bequeathing  to  his  chancellor,  Oxenstiema,  who  was 
also  his  beloved  friend  and  cooperator,  '*the  jewel  of  his 
crown,'*  i.  e.,  the  project  which  had  lain  so  near  his  heart. 

Oxenstiema  exerted  himself  to  the  utmost  to  carry  out 
the  intentions  of  the  king,  but  his  efforts  were  unsuccessful, 
chiefly  on  account  of  an  impoverished  treasury.  The  final 
outgrowth  of  his  exertions  was  a  conception  far  inferior  to 
that  of  Gustaf.  "I  think  it  to  be  regretted,"  said  Provost 
Stills,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  presentation  of  a  portrait  of 
Queen  Christina  to  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsj'lvania, 
"I  think  it  to  be  regretted  that  while  we  possess  the  portrait 
of  Queen  Christina,  we  have  not  those  of  her  great  father, 
Gustaf  Adolf,  and  of  Oxenstiema.  I  firmly  believe  that 
those  two  men,  in  their  scheme  for  colonizing  the  shores  of 
the  Delaware,  are  entitled  to  the  credit  of  the  first  attempt 
in  modem  times  to  govern  colonies  for  a  higher  purpose  than 
that  of  enriching  the  commercial  and  manufacturing  classes 
of  the  mother  country.  No  doubt  the  expectation  of  extend- 
ing Swedish  commerce  was  one  of  the  motives  which  led  to 
the  founding  of  the  colony,  but  it  seems  always  to  have  been 
a  subordinate  one."  Some  Swedish  historians  claim  that  an 
emigration  took  place  as  early  as  1627,  under  Gustaf  Adolf; 
but  this  is  no  where  substantiated.  TheCabots  had  sighted 
Delaware  as  early  as  1496,  but  they  had  in  all  probability 
passed  it  by.  That  Hudson  saw  the  Delaware  Bay,  on  Aug- 
ust 28, 1609,  is  confirmed  by  the  log-book  of  his  mate,  Juet. 
And  in  1623  the  Dutch  took  possession  of  the  shores  of  the 
Delaware.  But  there  is  no  authority  for  stating  that  the 
Swedes  ever  visited  this  locality  before  1638.    At  the  age  of 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  93 

six  Christina  succeeded  her  father,  and  from  that  time  until 
she  was  eighteen,  the  kingdom  was  under  regency,  thus  giv- 
ing to  Oxenstiema  an  opportunity  for  deliberating  upon  the 
best  methods  for  advancing  the  plans  of  Gustaf.  In  May, 
1635,  he  visited  Holland  on  political  business,  and  there  saw 
Samuel  Blommaert,  Swedish  commissary  at  Amsterdam,  and 
a  partner  in  the  Dutch  West  India  Company.  Prof.  Odner, 
of  the  University  of  Lund,  had  the  good  fortune  a  few  years 
ago  to  discover,  in  the  Royal  Archives  of  Sweden,  a  package 
containing  letters  from  Blommaert  to  Oxenstiema,  concern- 
ing the  first  expedition  to  Delaware.  In  these  letters  Blom- 
maert broaches  the  subject  of  a  Swedish  expedition  to  the 
coast  of  Guinea.  About  one  year  later  a  Dutchman  named 
Spiring  visited  Oxenstiema  in  Sweden.  He  had  recom- 
mended himself  to  the  chancellor  by  a  certain  shrewd  busi- 
ness capacity,  and  was  employed  in  the  Swedish  service. 
Upon  his  return  to  Holland,  after  this  visit,  he  wrote  to 
Oxenstiema  regarding  commercial  matters,  and  the  letter  is 
now  in  the  Oxenstiema  Collection  of  the  Royal  Archives  at 
Stockholm.  He  had  talked  with  Blommaert  of  the  Guinea 
scheme,  and  had  heard  through  him  of  a  man  who  could  give 
reliable  information  on  the  subject.  This  man  was  Peter 
Menewe,  destined  to  become  the  second  governor  of  the 
State  of  Delaware.  Menewe  was  a  native  of  Wesel,  in  the 
county  of  Cleves,  Holland.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company,  and  had  served  as  governor  of  New 
Netherlands,  in  America,  from  1626  to  1632.  This  territory 
of  which  the  Dutch  held  stout  possession,  extended  from  the 
Delaware  to  the  Hudson,  and  in  the  capacity  of  governor, 
Menewe  resided  at  New  Amsterdam  (now  New  York  City). 


94  HISTORY  OP  THE  8CANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

As  the  result  of  some  disagreement,  he  was  dismissed  from 
his  office  in  1632,  and  returned  to  Holland,  where  he  was 
brought  to  the  notice  of  Blommaert  by  Peter  Spiring.  His 
prolonged  residence  in  America  had  no  doubt  given  him  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  locality,  and  he  was,  of  all  avail- 
able persons,  the  one  best  qualified  to  lead  the  enterprise  now 
proposed.  These  three  Blommaert,  Spiring,  and  Menewe, 
met  at  the  Hague,  early  in  1637,  and  held  a  consultation, 
which  it  was  deemed  best,  should  be  private,  on  account  of 
the  possible  interference  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company. 
It  was  found  that  the  Guinea  plan  would  involve  too  heavy 
an  expenditure  of  means,  and  they  therefore  turned  their 
thoughts  to  North  America.  Prof.  G.  B.  Keen  has  trans- 
lated in  full  a  letter  from  Menewe  to  Spiring,  then  in  Sweden, 
in  which  he  offers  his  services  to  the  Swedish  government,  as 
the  founder  of  a  colony  in  "New  Sweden,"  on  the  banks 
of  the  Delaware.  The  letter  is  extremely  interesting,  and 
Prof.  Keen's  translation  may  be  found  in  the  Pennsylvania 
Magazine^  No.  4,  Vol.  VI.  It  is  dated  "Amsterdam,  June  15, 
1636,"  and  contains  an  estimate  of  the  expense  of  such  an 
expedition  as  was  proposed;  "half  of  which,"  he  says,  "I 
myself,  will  guarantee,  Mr.  Spiring  assuming  the  other  half, 
either  on  his  own  account,  or  for  the  crown,  the  same  to  be 
paid  at  once  in  cash." 

To  this  plan  the  Swedish  government  gave  its  cheerful 
consent.  Half  of  the  money  was  subscribed  by  Menewe, 
Blommaert,  and  their  friends ;  half  by  the  three  Oxenstiemas, 
Clas  Fleming  (virtual  chief  of  the  admiralty),  and  Spiring. 
"  The  consequences,  of  this  design,"  said  the  chancellor,  "will 
be  favorable  to  all  Christendom,  to  Europe,  to  the  whole 


THE  FIRST  8WBDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  95 

world."  He,  too,  like  Gustaf  Adolf,  possessed  the  eye  of  a 
seer.  On  August  9, 1637,  the  admiralty  issued  a  passport 
for  two  ships,  the  Kalmars  Njckel,  and  the  Vogel  Grip.  The 
former  was  a  man-of-war,  the  latter  a  sloop.  Both  were 
well  supplied  with  provisions,  and  merchandise  for  traffic 
with  the  Indians.  Besides  Menewe,  the  only  person  ex- 
pressly named  as  taking  part  in  the  expedition  are  Henrik 
Huyghen,  probably  Menewe's  brother-in-law,  a  Swedish  sur- 
veyor named  Mdns  Kling,  and  a  religious  instructor  named 
Reorus  Torkillus.  The  remainder  of  the  emigrants,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  fifty,  were  largely  composed  of  criminals — 
Swedes  and  Finns.  That  New  Sweden  was  used  as  a  place  of 
banishment  for  miscreants,  we  have  evidence  in  **A  Proceed- 
ing of  the  Fiscal  against  and  sentence  of  Gysbert  Comelissen 
Beyerlandt,"  in  these  words : 

**  Thursday  being  the  3d  February,  1639,  Ulrich  Leo- 
poldt,  fiscal  plaintiff,  against  Gysbert  Cornelissen  Beyer- 
landt.  Plaintiff  demands  that  defendant  be  sent  to 
Fatherland  and  condemned,  as  quarrelsome  persons  usually 
are,  who  wound  soldiers  in  the  fort,  as  defendant  has  lately 
done  in  Fort  Amsterdam. 

'*The  fiscal's  demand  on  and  against  Gysbert  Come- 
lissen Beyerlandt  having  been  seen,  and  everything  being 
maturely  considered,  he  is  condemned  to  work  with  the 
company's  blacks  until  the  first  sloop  shall  sail  for  the  South 
River,  where  he  is  to  serve  the  company  and  pay  the  wounded 
soldier  fl.  15,  the  surgeon  fl.  10  for  his  fee,  and  the  fiscal  a  fine 
offl.lO." 

Various  causes  conspired  to  hinder  the  embarkation  of 
the  little  company  until  late  in  the  autumn,  when  bad  weather 


96  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

at  sea  still  further  opposed  them^so  that  the  voyage  was  not 
continued  until  near  the  close  of  1637.  Little  is  known  of  the 
details  of  this  voyage.  That  it  was  very  circuitous  is  im- 
plied from  the  course  taken  by  Governor  Printz  several  years 
later.  Printz  sailed  south  past  the  Portugese  and  Barbary 
coast,  until  he  found  the  "  Eastern  passage"  when  he  veered 
directly  across  toward  America,  landing  at  Antigua,  where 
he  spent  Christmas.  He  then  proceeded  on  his  voyage  past 
Virginia  and  Maryland,  to  Cape  Henlopen,  and  landed  at 
Fort  Christina  about  six  months  from  the  time  of  leaving 
Stockholm.  As  Printz  stopped  at  Antigua,  it  is  probable 
that  Menewe,  who  is  supposed  to  have  come  directly  here, 
was  not  so  long  in  making  the  voyage. 

In  1630  the  Dutch  had  taken  possession  of  the  banks  of 
the  Delaware,  and  early  in  the  spring  of  1631  planted  a 
colony  of  more  than  thirty  persons,  just  within  Cape  Hen- 
lopen, on  Lewes  creek.  Here  they  built  a  little  fort,  and 
erected  the  arms  of  Holland.  They  named  the  country 
Swaanendale,  and  the  water  Godny's  Bay.  The  care  of  the 
little  settlement  was  entrusted  to  Gillis  Hosset,  first  gov- 
ernor of  Delaware.  But  Hosset  soon  fell  into  altercations 
with  the  Indians,  who  revenged  the  murder  of  one  of  their 
chiefs  in  the  established  Indian  fashion,  destroying  the  fort 
and  all  its  occupants.  Prom  which  period  the  Dutch  aban- 
doned this  particular  locality  of  Delaware.  Menewe  landed 
at  Cape  Henlopen,  and  purchased  of  the  Indians  the  same 
land  which  the  Dutch,  almost  the  same  day,  eight  years 
before,  had  bought.  He  named  the  cape  Paradise  Point. 
The  grant  of  land  included  all  of  that  territory  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river  from  Cape  Henlopen  to  the  Falls  of  San- 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  97 

tickan,  and  extending  several  days  journey  inland, — accord- 
ing to  some  authorities,  **  to  the  great  falls  of  the  river  Sus- 
quehanna, near  the  mouth  of  Conewaga  creek."  The  land 
was  surveyed  by  Mans  Kling,  and  stakes  were  driven  into 
the  ground  as  landmarks.  The  deed  was  written  in  Dutch, 
as  the  Swedes  were  not  yet  familiar  with  the  Indian  lan- 
guage. It  was  subscribed  to  by  five  Indian  chiefs,  and  sent  to 
Sweden  for  preservation.  Unfortunately  the  deed  was 
destroyed  by  the  fire  of  the  royal  palace  in  1697.  The  Dutch 
at  Fort  Nassau  protested  against  the  invasion  of  the  Swedes, 
and  Governor  Kieft,  of  New  Amsterdam,  formally  objected, 
saying:  "The  whole  South  River  of  New  Netherlands  has 
been  many  years  in  our  possession,  and  secured  above  and 
below  by  forts,  and  sealed  with  our  blood.  Which  even  hap- 
pened during  your  administration  of  New  Netherlands  and 
is  well  known  toyoUy  etc.  Thus  done  (Thursday  being  the 
6th  of  May,  Anno  1638."  The  South  River  trade  was  very 
important.  Two  vessels,  leaving  there  in  1644,  are  said  to 
have  had  a  cargo  of  twenty-one  hundred  and  twenty  pack- 
age of  beavers,  and  thirty-six  thousand  four  hundred  and 
sixty-seven  packages  of  tobacco.  There  was,  therefore,  con- 
sidering the  circumstances,  reasonable  ground  for  dispute  in 
the  matter.  Menewe,  however,  seems  to  have  disregarded 
the  protest  of  Kieft,  and  to  have  made  no  allusion  to  it  in  his 
letters  home,  for  he  says  in  a  letter  to  Blommaert  that  he 
"traveled  some  miles  into  the  country  to  discover  whether 
there  were  any  Christian  people  there,  and  made  signals  by 
firing  cannon,  but  received  no  response  to  indicate  their  pres- 
ence." He  continued  his  course  up  the  river  to  a  place  called 
by  the  Indians  Hopockahacking,  but  named  by  the  Swedes 


98  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  V.  8. 

Christina,  after  their  queen,  who  was  then  eleven  years  old 
At  this  point,  on  Minquas  (Christina)  Kil,  Menewe  appears 
to  have  determined  to  remain,  from  the  first ;  although  Van- 
der  Donk  states  that  he  (Menewe)  represented  to  Vander 
Nederhorst,  the  agent  of  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  in 
the  South  River  country,  that  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  West 
Indies,  and  had  stopped  to  take  in  wood  and  water,  after 
which  he  should  continue  his  voyage.  But  upon  the  return  of 
the  Dutch,  somewhat  later,  they  found  the  Swedes  cultivat- 
ing a  little  garden,  the  seeds  of  which  had  already  sprung  up. 
Upon  their  third  visit  they  perceived  Menewe's  intentions  to 
be  unmistakable,  for  he  had  commenced  the  erection  of  a 
fort.  In  vain  Governor  Kieft  protested,  and  at  last  suc- 
cumbed. Various  reasons  are  given  for  this  submission,  which 
on  the  face  of  it  is  unaccountable,  considering  the  superior 
numbers  of  the  Dutch.  One  writer  states  that  thecharter  of 
the  Dutch  West  India  Company  forbade  declaring  war  with 
a  foreign  state  or  the  native  Indians,  without  the  consent  of 
the  states  general  of  the  United  Netherlands.  Another  rea- 
son given  for  Kieft's  uncharacteristic  mildness  on  this  occa- 
sion is  the  Protestant  amity  which  existed  between  the 
Dutch  and  Swedes,  and  which  found  a  bond  of  union  in  that 
period  of  disintegration. 

The  Kalmars  Nyckel  cast  anchor  at  a  natural  wharf  of 
rocks  (foot  of  Sixth  street,  Wilmington),  and  upon  these 
rocks  a  fort  was  built,  whose  southern  rampart  extended 
within  a  few  feet  of  the  creek.  Directly  under  its  walls,  on 
one  side  of  the  creek,  was  a  basin  called  the  harbor,  where 
vessels  might  He  out  of  the  current,  the  creek  at  this  point  be- 
ing navigable  for  large  craft.    Owing  to  alluvial  deposits. 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.  99 

this  basin  is  now  filled  ttp,  although  the  oiiginal  outline  as 
drawn  by  Lindstr5m,  surveyor  to  the  Printz's  expedition,  is 
still  perceptible,  and  accords  with  LindstrSm's  plan.  The 
fort  was  built  on  an  elevation,  accessible,  as  has  been  said, 
to  large  vessels  on  one  side,  but  otherwise  surrounded  by 
bogs  and  sand-banks.  The  siteis  now  occupied  by  theexten- 
sive  workshops  of  Wilmington.  The  fort  served  for  the 
residence  of  the  garrison,  and  there  was  also  a  structure  for 
the  storing  of  provisions  and  merchandise.  Both  were  of 
logs.  Subsequent  investigations  have  brought  to  light  an 
iron  bridle  from  which  a  portion  of  the  head-stall  is  broken, 
and  an  irregular  fragment  of  a  common  tin  plate.  Both  of 
these  articles  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  Delaware. 

Here  the  Swedes  seem  to  have  prospered,  for  there  exists  a 
letter  from  Governor  Kieft,  dated  July  31, 1638,  in  which  he 
accuses  Menewe  of  monopolizing  the  fur  trade  of  the  Dela- 
ware by  underselling  the  Dutch  and  conciliating  the  Indians ; 
and,  indeed,  the  Swedes  are  said  to  have  exported  thirty 
thousand  skins  during  the  first  year  of  their  residence  in  New 
Sweden.  Upon  the  completion  of  the  fort,  and  about  three 
months  after  entering  the  Delaware,  Menewe  prepared  to  re- 
turn to  Sweden.  Kieft *s  letter  mentioned  above,  also  speaks 
of  Menewe's  leaving,  which  would  imply  that  he  went  some- 
time in  that  month  (July,  1638).  He  had  taken  all  precau- 
tions for  the  welfare  of  the  colony  in  his  absence,  and  left 
twenty-three  men  under  command  of  Mans  Kling,  and  Hen- 
rik  Huyghan.  To  Kling  was  consigned  the  duties  of  a  mili- 
tary commander,  and  to  Huyghen  the  care  of  civil  matters. 
They  were  directed  to  defend  the  fort,  and  continue  the  traffic 


JOO  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

with  the  Indians.  The  Vogel  Grip  was  sent  to  the  West 
Indies  in  advance  to  exchange  a  cargo  brought  from  Gothen* 
burg,  and  Menewe  followed  in  the  Kalmars  Njrckel.  He  ar- 
rived at  the  island  of  St.  Christopher  in  safety,  where  he 
exchanged  his  cargo,  and,  possibly',  met  his  death.  Con- 
ceming  his  fate  there  is  much  conflicting  evidence.  Nearly  all 
writers  agree  in  declaring  that  he  returned  to  Fort  Christina^ 
where,  after  serving  the  colony  for  three  years,  he  died,  and 
was  buried.  But  Prof.  Odner  has  recently  announced  that 
this  is  incorrect,  for  which  statement  he  presents  what  he 
believes  to  be  indisputable  evidence.  In  a  letter  to  Blom- 
maert,  dated  June  8,  1639,  Clas  Fleming  speaks  of  the 
necessity  of  providing  a  successor  to  Menewe  at  Fort 
Christina ;  and  for  his  theory  that  Menewe  was  lost  at  sea, 
Prof.  Odner  refers  to  Blommaert's  letters  to  the  chancellor, 
dated  November,  13,  1638,  and  January  28,  1640.  The 
inferences  are  as  follows :  While  exchanging  his  cargo  at  St. 
Christopher,  Menewe  was  invited  to  board  a  Dutch  vessel 
called  The  Flyinff  Deer ^  and  while  thus  entertained  one  of  the 
terrific  hurricanes  known  to  that  country  arose,  dismantling 
and  foundering  many  ships.  As  neither  The  Flying  Deer  nor 
any  of  her  crew  was  ever  seen  again,  it  would  seem  that 
Menewe  perished  in  this  manner.  The  Kalmars  Nyckel 
escaped,  and  took  every  means  for  the  recovery  of  her  com- 
mander, but  he  was  seen  no  more,  and  the  vessel  pursued  her 
way  to  Sweden.  Encountering  rough  winds  which  disabled 
her,  she  retired  to  a  Dutch  port,  to  await  repairs  and  further 
orders.  The  sloop  Vogel  Grip  returned  to  Fort  Christina, 
took  in  a  cargo  of  furs,  and  procceeded  to  Sweden,  where 
she  arrived  at  the  close  of  May,  1639,  making  the  voyage 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.        101 

from  Christina  to  Stockholm  in  five  weeks.  The  little  colony, 
then  left  to  itself,  became  discouraged,  and  was  about  to 
abandon  the  settlement,  when  Peter  Hollendare  was  ap- 
pointed the  successor  of  Menewe,  and  Clas  Fleming  assumed 
the  direction  of  the  work  in  Sweden. 

In  1639,  the  ship  Kalmars  Njrckel^  which  had  suffered 
damages  at  sea,  was  repaired  and  equipped  in  Holland,  with 
the  view  of  despatching  a  second  Swedish  colony  to  Am- 
erica.  Comelis  Van  Vliet,  a  Dutch  captain,  who  had  been  for 
some  time  in  the  Swedish  service,  was  selected  as  a  man 
well  qualified  to  take  command  of  the  vessel ;  but  upon  his 
appointment,  there  arose  an  unexpected  difiiculty  in  obtain- 
ing emigrants.  This  was  supposed  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  long  and,  at  that  time,  dangerous  voyage,  antecedent 
to  settlement  in  a  country  inhabited  by  savages,  presented 
inadequate  attractions.  But  there  seems  to  have  existed, 
from  the  first,  a  personal  prejudice  against  Van  Vliet,  which, 
as  was  eventually  proved,  was  not  without  grounds.  No 
one  volunteered  to  accompany  him,  and  it  was  at  last  found 
necessary  to  make  a  draught  upon  such  married  soldiers  as 
had  evaded  service,  and  others,  guilty  of  evil  offences,  to- 
gether with  their  wives  and  children.  Thus  provided  with 
emigrants,  the  perplexity  of  raising  funds  presented  itself,  the 
country  having  been  drained  of  its  resources  by  wars.  But 
at  this  juncture,  Blommaert  and  Spiring,  with  their  custom- 
ary zeal,  came  forward,  and  advanced  the  requisite  means. 
The  Kalmars  Nyckel  was  accordingly  equipped,  and  provided 
with  another  crew,  concerning  whom  little  is  known.  The 
governor  appointed  to  accompany  the  expedition,  as  succes- 
sor to  Menewe,  was  Peter  Hollendare,  who  signs  himself 


102  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

Ridder  (knight) .  Having  thtts  far  vanquished  her  obstacles, 
the  Kahnars  Nyckel  left  Gothenburg  in  the  autumn  of  1639, 
destined,  however,  to  meet  with  still  further  discourage- 
ments. Upon  entering  the  North  Sea,  she  sprang  a  leak,  and 
was  obliged  to  put  into  Medemblik  for  repairs;  again  she 
started,  only  to  encounter  fresh  disasters,  until  the  growing 
dissatisfaction  with  both  crew  and  vessel  was  vehemently 
oppressed.  Van  Vliet  was  accused  of  dishonesty  in  victual- 
ling the  ship,  and  was  convicted  of  the  charge,  upon  the  exa- 
mination which  was  immediately  ordered  by  Blummaert. 
Mr.  Spiring  thereupon  commanded  Van  Vliet's  discharge, 
and  appointed  Pouwel  Jansen  (probably  Dutch)  in  his  place, 
a  new  crew  also  having  been  hired.  But  continued  misfor- 
tunes beset  them  at  sea,  and  it  was  not  until  February'  7, 
1640,  that  the  Kalmars  Nyckel  made  the  successful  effort  to 
sail  from  Texel.  At  this  point,  the  name  of  Blommaert,  so 
distinguished  in  the  records  of  the  earliest  exposition,  dis- 
appears from  the  current  chronicles ;  and  it  is  supposed  that 
he  either  died,  or  retired  from  the  Swedish  service,  the  former 
supposition  being  the  more  credible. 

HoUendare's  colony  landed  at  Christina,  April  17, 
1640,  a  little  more  than  two  months  after  leaving  the  Texel. 
They  found  the  settlement  left  by  Menewe  in  good  condition 
(Kieft's  letters  being  the  only  authority  to  the  contrary), but, 
for  want  of  an  executive  head,  and  having  heard  nothing 
from  home,  they  appear  to  have  entertained  doubts,  at  this 
period,  as  to  the  expediency  of  trying  to  maintain  their 
national  independence.  It  is  probably  that  they  would  have 
allied  themselves  to  the  interests  of  the  Dutch,  had  it  not 
been  for  the  Hollendare's  arrival.  Professor  Odhner  who  has 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.        103 

prosecuted  the  search  with  much  zest,  declares  that  he  has 
been  unable  to  discover  any  record  as  to  the  way  in  which 
Menewe's  colony  occupied  their  time  after  his  departure, 
with  the  exception  of  a  partially  destroyed  Scbuldt  Boeck^ 
kept  by  Henrik  Huyghen,  from  the  year  1838,  the  contents 
of  which  are  meagre  and  afford  little  information.  Concern- 
ing  the  people  whom  HoUendare  found  upon  his  arrival,  and 
he  himself  took  with  him,  he  says  in  a  letter  to  the  chancel- 
lor: "No  more  stupid  or  indifferent  people  are  to  be  found 
in  all  Sweden  than  those  which  are  now  here."  He  appears 
to  have  encountered  the  opposition  of  Mans  Kling,  whose 
rough  experience  had  taught  him  the  impracticability  of  cer- 
tain theories  advanced  by  HoUendare  for  dealing  with  the 
Dutch,  and  who  may  have  found  subordination  to  a  novice 
in  these  matters  hard  to  brook.  HoUendare  purchased  land 
of  the  Indians  for  a  distance  of  eight  or  nine  Swedish  miles 
above  Fort  Christina,  erecting  three  pillars  for  a  boundary. 
(These  continually  renewed  purchases  of  land  from  the 
Indians  remind  one  of  an  American  child-expression,  * 'Indian- 
giver,"  meaming  one  who  presents  a  gift  and  then  takes  it  * 
back).  Incipient  protests  were  made,  from  time  to  time,  by 
the  Dutch,  but  none  of  serious  consequence.  About  this  time 
the  Swedes  also  purchased  of  the  Indians  a  considerable 
tract  of  land  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  having  already 
bought,  as  has  been  stated,  the  territory  on  the  west  side. 
According  to  Hazard's  Annals,  a  general  sickliness  prevailed 
among  both  Swedes  and  Dutch,  during  HoUendare's  ad- 
ministration, and  it  was  deemed  expedient  to  take  measures 
at  once  for  the  strengthening  of  the  colony. 

In  May,  1640,  therefore.  Mans  Kling  was  sent  to  Swe 


104  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

den  in  the  Kalmars  Njckel,  for  the  purpose  of  laying  before 
the  government  the  necessities  of  the  settlement;  and  in  May, 
1641,  Kling  left  Stockholm  in  the  Cbaritas^  a  vessel  which 
had  been  prepared  at  the  above  place,  at  a  cost  of  about 
thirty-five  thousand  florins.  He  took  with  him  a  company 
of  mining.people  and  "roaming Finns,"  the  later  being  a  race 
inhabiting  the  Swedish  forests.  They  numbered  thirty-two 
persons,  four  of  whom  were  criminals,  the  remainder  going 
either  as  servants  to  the  company,  or  to  better  their  condi- 
tion. Mans  Kling  was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  a  maid,  and 
a  little  child.  He  was  appointed  to  serve  as  lieutenant  on  the 
pay  of  forty  rix-dalera  month,  beginning  May  1, 1641,  and 
was  also  granted  by  Clas  Fleming,  as  a  present,  fifty  rix- 
daler  expectancy  money.  Sailing  from  Stockholm,  Kling  re- 
paired to  Gothenburg,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  Kalmars 
Kjrckdf  and  (probably)  other  emigrants.  The  two  vessels 
left  Sweden,  in  1641,  constituting  the  third  expedition  to  the 
Delaware.  Soon  after  their  arrival  at  Christina,  a  new  com- 
pany, under  the  name  of  the  West  India  or  America  com- 
pany, was  formed,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  orown  should 
pay  the  salaries  of  a  governor  and  such  other  officers  as  might 
be  needed  for  the  advancement  of  the  colony.  Hollendare's 
last  letter  to  the  chancellor  was  dated  December  3, 1640,  and 
little  more  than  the  writer  has  stated  is  known  of  his  admin- 
istration. 

The  fourth  expedition,  under  Governor  Printz,  proved  to 
be  the  largest,  and  in  point  of  numbers,  the  most  important 
of  the  expeditions  sent  to  Delaware.  The  chief  personages 
who  took  part  in  it  were  the  governor,  his  wife,  and  daughter 
Armgott,  theRev.  Johan  Campanius  (Holm) ,  and  M^ns  Kling, 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.        105 

who  had  returned  to  Sweden,  in  1641.  Johan  Printz,  lieut- 
enant-colonel  in  the  Swedish  army,  was  appointed  Governor 
of  Delaware,  August  15, 1642.  He  was  granted  four  hun- 
dred rix'Daler  for  traveling  expenses,  and  two  hundred  dol- 
lars silver  for  his  annual  salary,  to  commence  January  1, 
1643.  His  *'  Instructions"  were  dated  at  Stockholm,  August 
15,  1642;  and  on  the  30th  of  the  same  month,  **a  budget 
for  the  government  of  New  Sweden"  was  adopted.  Herein 
are  mentioned  a  lieutenant,  a  surgeon,  a  corporal,  a  gunner,  a 
trumpeter,  besides  twenty-four  private  soldiers ;  also,  in  the 
civil  list,  a  preacher  (Campanius),  a  clerk  ( Knut  Persson),  a 
provost  ( Johan  Olafsson) ,  and  a  hangman,  the  whole  estimate 
of  salaries  amounting  to  three  thousand  and  twenty  rix-daler. 
The  Company's  "servants,"  and  those  who  went  to  improve 
their  condition,  were  called  freemen ;  while  the  malefactors 
were  retained  in  slavery,  and  occupied  ground  appropriated 
for  them,  there  being  no  intercourse  between  the  two  classes. 
According  to  Campanius,  it  had  proved  greatly  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  colony  for  criminals  to  be  permitted  to  share  in 
Its  advantages,  and  the  embarkation,  for  this  purpose  of  any 
person  of  bad  repute  was  forbidden  in  Sweden.  Such  as  had 
already  come  out  were  required  to  return,  many  of  whom 
died  at  sea.  The  official  "  Instructions"  instructed  Printz  to 
go  to  Gothenburg  by  land,  as  being  more  expeditious. 
Whether  he  did  so,  or  whether  he  went  in  the  ship  Fama, 
which  sailed  from  Stockholm  and  was  joined  at  Gothenburg 
by  Svanen  and  (acording  to  Acrelius)  the  Cbaritas,  is  un- 
certain. He  was  instructed  to  be  governed  by  the  skippers 
and  officers  of  the  ships,  as  to  the  course  he  should  take; 
whether  "to  the  north  of  Scotland,  or  through  the  channel 


104  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

den  in  the  Kalmars  Nyckel,  for  the  purpose  of  laying  before 
the  government  the  necessities  of  the  settlement;  and  in  May, 
1641,  Kling  left  Stockholm  in  the  Cbaritas^  a  vessel  which 
had  been  prepared  at  the  above  place,  at  a  cost  of  about 
thirty-five  thousand  florins.  He  took  with  him  a  company 
of  mining-people  and  "roaming  Finns,"  the  later  being  a  race 
inhabiting  the  Swedish  forests.  They  numbered  thirty-two 
persons,  four  of  whom  were  criminals,  the  remainder  going 
either  as  servants  to  the  company,  or  to  better  their  condi- 
tion. Mans  Kling  was  accompanied  by  his  wife,  a  maid,  and 
a  little  child.  He  was  appointed  to  serve  as  lieutenant  on  the 
pay  of  forty  rix-dalera  month,  beginning  May  1, 1641,  and 
was  also  granted  by  Clas  Fleming,  as  a  present,  fifty  rix- 
daler  expectancy  money.  Sailing  from  Stockholm,  Kling  re- 
paired to  Gothenburg,  where  he  was  joined  by  the  Kalmars 
Kjrckdf  and  (probably)  other  emigrants.  The  two  vessels 
left  Sweden,  in  1641,  constituting  the  third  expedition  to  the 
Delaware.  Soon  after  their  arrival  at  Christina,  a  new  com- 
pany, under  the  name  of  the  West  India  or  America  com- 
pany, was  formed,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  orown  should 
pay  the  salaries  of  a  governor  and  such  other  officers  as  might 
be  needed  for  the  advancement  of  the  colon}'.  Hollendare's 
last  letter  to  the  chancellor  was  dated  December  3, 1640,  and 
little  more  than  the  writer  has  stated  is  known  of  his  admin- 
istration. 

The  fourth  expedition,  under  Governor  Printz,  proved  to 
be  the  largest,  and  in  point  of  numbers,  the  most  important 
of  the  expeditions  sent  to  Delaware.  The  chief  personages 
who  took  part  in  it  were  the  governor,  his  wife,  and  daughter 
Armgott,  theRev.  Johan  Campanius  (Holm) ,  and  M^ns  Kling, 


THE  FIRST  SWBDISH  8BTTLBMBNT  IN  AMERICA.        107 

tlement,  Fort  Christina  having  been  repaired,  and  Fort 
Gothenburg  completed.  Of  the  forts  projected  and  finished 
by  Printz,  the  following  are  the  chief: 

(1)  Elfsborg,  This  was  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  river, 
about  two  miles  below  Christina.  It  was  usually  garrisoned 
by  twelve  men  commanded  by  a  lieutenant,  and  had  eight 
iron  and  brass  guns.  At  this  point  of  vantage,  Printz  is  said 
to  have  exercised  great  authority  over  the  Dutch,  whose 
movements  were  thus  worried  and  frustrated  by  him.  The 
statement  of  most  historians  that  he  weighed  at  this  time, 
upwards  of  four  hundred  pounds,  is  regarded  by  Hazard  as 
a  mistake,  and  probably  refers  to  a  relative  of  the  govern- 
or's. Certainly,  were  it  Printz  himself,  the  active  duties  of  a 
soldier  must  have  soon  reduced  the  formidable  bulk.  Al- 
though Elfsborg  was  considered  a  very  valuable  site,  it 
became  uninhabitable  on  account  of  the  mosquitoes  which 
infest  New  Jersey,  and  was  soon  abandoned. 

(2)  Manajunk.  This  was  a  "handsome"  little  fort  on 
the  Schuylkill.  It  was  made  of  logs,  filled  up  with  sand  and 
stones,  and  surrounded  by  palisades  cut  very  sharp  at  the 
top.    It  was  mounted  with  great  guns. 

(3)  Korsholm.  This  fort  was  at  Passajunk,  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Chinsessing,  and  was  commanded  by  Swen 
Schute.  On  the  other  side  of  it  was  a  substantial  house 
called  Wasa,  built  of  hickory,  and  two  stories  high.  It  was 
defended  by  fi-eemen,  although  not  strictly  a  fort.  About  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  further  up,  on  the**  Minquas  Road,"  Printz 
built  a  similar  strong  house,  and  also  the  first  mill  in  Dela- 
ware, calling  the  place  Mondal.  Private  residences  and  plan- 
tations rapidly  sprang  up,  centering  chiefly  upon  Tinicum 


108  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Island.  The  place  of  Olaf  Stille,  a  Swede  who  was  much 
beloved  by  the  Indians,  is  indicated  on  Lindstrom'smap,and 
was  probably  on  the  Schuylkill,  southwest  of  Philadelphia. 
From  him  is  descended  Provost  StilW,  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  name  being  one  of  the  very  few  which  re- 
main uncorrupted.  Thus  the  colony  was  strengthened  and 
enabled  to  control  the  Indian  trade  of  the  Schuylkill.  That 
Printz  was  not  always  scrupulous  in  his  methods  of  gaining 
an  end,  is  certain,  but  that  he  endeavored  to  serve  his  coun- 
try in  the  best  way  compatible  with  his  vindictive  and 
ambitious  temperament  must  be  conceded.  This  much  may 
at  least  be  said  of  him.  He  was  the  first  real  pioneer  which 
the  State  of  Delaware  had  seen,  and  upon  his  retiring  from 
the  service  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  steadily  declined. 

The  Indian  policy  pursued  by  the  Swedes,  in  accordance 
with  the  instructions  given  to  Printz,  cannot  be  over- 
estimated. The  important  paragraph  contained  in  Article  9 
has  already  been  quoted.  Article  5  reads :  '*  Tiie  governor, 
God  willing,  have  arrived  in  New  Sweden,  he  must,  for  his 
better  information,  bear  in  mind  that  the  boundaries  of 
which  our  subjects  have  taken  possession,  in  virtue  of  the 
articles  of  contract  entered  into  with  the  wild  inhabitants  of 
the  country^  as  the  rightful  lords,  extend,'*  etc.,  etc.  That 
this  poUcy,  steadily  pursued  by  the  Swedes,  and  afterwards 
imitated  by  Penn,  was  ever  abandoned  by  the  American 
nation,  remains  a  lasting  shame.  In  the  financial  burden 
and  moral  obloquy  attachingto  our  Indian  Bureau,  we  have 
the  legitimate  fruits  of  the  course  we  have  pursued. 

In  the  year  1644,  the  ship  Fama  returned  to  Sweden  with 
a  cargo,  which   we  give  in  Printz's  own  words:     "One 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.        109 

thousand  three  hundred  whole  beavers,  299  half  beavers, 
537  third  parts  of  beavers;  great  and  small  together,  2,139 
beavers;  again,  tobacco,  20.467  pounds  (Swedish),  in  77 
hogsheads ;  again,  my  own  tobacco — which  partly  I  received 
from  foreigners  and  partly  I  planted  myself — 7,200  pounds, 
in  28  hogsheads,  sent  home  to  the  shareholders  in  Sweden, 
that  they  may  either  reimburse  me  at  8  sty/Ver  per  pound,  or 
graciously  allow  me  to  sell  it  elsewhere."  On  the  25th  of 
November,  1645,  a  great  calamity  befell  the  colony,  which 
may  best  be  described  in  the  governor's  words:  ** Between 
10  and  11  o'clock,  one  Swen  Wass,  a  gunner,  set  Fort  New 
Gothenburg  on  fire ;  in  a  short  time  all  was  lamentably  burnt 
down,  and  not  the  least  thing  saved  except  the  dairy.  The 
people  escaped,  naked  and  destitute.  The  winter  immediately 
set  in  bitterly  cold"  (as  cold, he  says  elsewhere,  as  he  had  ever 
experienced  in  northern  Sweden).  "The  rivers  and  all  the 
creeks  froze  up,  and  nobody  was  able  to  get  near  us  (because 
New  Gothenburg  is  surrounded  by  water).  The  sharpness  of 
the  winter  lasted  until  the  middle  of  March ;  so  that  if  some 
rye  and  com  had  not  been  unthrashed,  I  myself,  and  all  the 
people  with  me  would  have  starved  to  death.  But  God 
maintained  us  with  that  small  quantity  of  provisions  until 
the  new  harvest.  By  this  sad  accident  the  loss  of  the  com- 
pany is  4,000  r/irs-da/er."  His  personal  loss  was  estimated 
at  5,584  riks^aler.  Whether  his  own  house  was  destroyed  I 
am  unable  to  discover.  According  to  his  own  account  it 
would  be  inferred  that  it  was,  while  Ferris  states  that  it 
remained  standing  for  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty 
years,  *'when  it  was  accidentally  destroyed  by  fire."  What 
might  have  been  the  motive  of  Swen  Wass  for  committing 


110  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

sttch  a  deed  can  only  be  surmised.  He  was  sent  home  in 
irons  and  remanded  to  the  Swedish  government  for  justice. 
The  buildings  were  reconstructed  as  soon  as  possible. 

On  the  1st  of  October,  1646,  the  Swedish  ship  Haij 
(sometimes  called  The  Golden  Shark)  arrived,  bringing  the 
first  news  that  had  been  received  from  home  in  two  years  and 
four  months.  She  was  sent  back  in  the  following  February 
with  a  cargo  of  "  24,177  pounds  of  tobacco,  the  whole  in 
101  casks,  of  which  6,920  pounds  were  planted  in  New 
Sweden,  17,257  pounds  were  purchased."  The  governor  and 
other  officers  of  the  colony  had  received  instructions  to  draw 
their  salaries  from  the  duties  on  tobacco,  but  as  the  revenues 
from  this  product  had  not  been  large,  it  was  found  necessary 
for  them  to  obtain  their  subsistence  from  other  sources.  It 
was  probably  with  regard  to  this  period  that  Stuyvesant 
wrote  to  the  commissary  at  the  Delaware  River:  "The 
Swedish  governor  receives  no  succor,  nor  has  he  to  expect 
any  for  the  present,  as  I  have  been  informed,  trust  worthily." 
During  the  year  1646,  violent  altercations  with  the  Dutch 
occurred,  and,  according  to  Acrelius,  the  arms  of  Holland, 
which  had  been  erected  at  Santickan,  were  torn  down  by 
the  Swedes.  In  this  year  also,  a  wooden  church  deco- 
rated  in  Swedish  fashion,  and  situated  on  Tinicum  Island, 
was  consecrated  September  4,  by  the  Rev.  Johan  |Cam. 
panius. 

Concerning  the  year  1647,  we  obtain  an  inferential 
account  from  Printz's  Report,  dated  February  20th  of  that 
year,  and  sent  to  the  chancellor  with  Johan  Papegaja.  The 
entire  number  of  souls  in  the  colony  at  that  time  was  one 
hundred  and  eighty -three.    The  quarrels  between  the  Dutch 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.         Ill 

and  the  Swedes  had  continued,  and  Printz  writes  with  exas- 
peration :  "  It  IS  of  the  utmost  necessity  for  us  to  drive  the 
Dutch  from  the  river,  for  they  oppose  us  on  every  side.  (1.) 
They  destroy  our  trade  everywhere.  (2.)  They  strengthen 
the  savages  with  guns,  shot,  and  powder,  publicly  trading 
with  these,  against  the  edict  of  all  Christians.  (3.)  They 
stir  up  the  savages  against  us,  who,  but  for  our  prudence, 
would  already  have  gone  too  far.  (4.)  They  begin  to  buy 
land  from  the  savages,  within  our  boundaries,  which  we  had 
purchased  eight  years  ago,  and  have  the  impudence  in  several 
places  to  erect  the  arms  of  the  West  India  Company,  calling 
them  their  arms ;  moreover,  they  give  New  Sweden  the  name 
of  New  Netherland,  and  dare  to  build  their  houses 
there."  Hudde  declares  that  when  he  sought  to  present  the 
earlier  claims  of  the  Dutch,  the  governor  replied  that  *'the 
devil  was  the  oldest  possessor  of  hell,  but  that  he  sometimes 
admitted  a  younger  one."  As  to  the  English,  the  Report 
says:  "I  have  at  last  been  able,  with  the  authority  of  Her 
Majesty,  to  drive  them  from  hence."  In  the  same  Report  he 
announces  that  the  trade  has  declined,  and  that  some  of  the 
most  useful  members  of  the  colony  have  intimated  their 
wish  to  return  home;  among  others,  Henrik  Huyghen, 
whose  services  were  very  valuable,  and  the  clergyman,  Cam- 
panius.  He  himself  begs  to  be  released  from  his  post,  and  to 
return  to  Sweden,  in  the  next  ship.  The  chancellor's  reply  is 
to  the  eflFect  that  Printz  could  not  yet  be  spared,  and  that  it 
would  be  advisable  to  raise  the  salary  of  Campanius,  as  an 
inducement  for  him  to  remain.  In  this  year,  the  Svanen  ar- 
rived with  goods  from  home,  although  the  chancellor  had 
been  unable  to  fulfill  all  of  the  governor's  requests  thus  soon. 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

The  reply  of  the  chancellor  was  brought  back  by  Lieuten- 
ant Johan  Papegaja. 

The  year  of  1649  recorded  the  murder  of  two  Swedes  by 
the  Indians,  the  first  occurrence  of  the  kind  that  had  been 
chronicled.  As  a  rule  the  relations  of  the  savages  with  the 
Swedes  were  of  the  most  friendly  nature,  although  Printz 
complained  at  times  that  when  the  latter  no  longer  had 
what  the  Indians  wanted,  they  were  liable  to  trouble  with 
them,  there  being,  apparently,  no  other  mode  of  expressing 
amity.  Campanius  gives  a  quaint  account  of  an  Indian 
council  called  to  discuss  the  advisability  of  destroying  the 
Swedes,  who  no  longer  had  **cloth,blue,  red,  or  brown ;"  nor 
"kettles,  brass,  lead,  guns,  nor  powder.**  The  verdict,  how- 
ever, was,  that  **  We,  native  Indians,  will  love  the  Swedes, 
and  the  Swedes  shall  be  our  good  friends.  ♦  ♦  ♦  We  shall 
not  make  war  upon  them  and  destroy  them.  This  is  fixed 
and  certain.  Take  care  to  observe  it."  The  same  writer 
accords  to  Printz  **a  complete  suit  of  clothes,  with  coat, 
breeches,  and  belt,  made  by  these  barbarians,  with  their 
wampum,  curiously  wrought  with  the  figures  of  all  kinds  of 
animals" — the  extravagant  cost  being  **some  thousand  pieces 
of  gold."  For  the  next  two  or  three  years,  the  struggle  be- 
tween Swedes  and  Dutch  for  supremacy,  was  a  pretty  even 
matter,  the  declining  strength  of  the  Swedes  being  supplied 
by  re-enforced  aggressiveness,  while  the  Dutch  remained  supe- 
rior in  numbers. 

In  1651  the  Dutch  built  Fort  Cassimer  ( now  New  Cas- 
tle, Delaware),  against  which  Printz  protested  withont 
efiect.  The  name  of  the  fort  was  a  singular  selection,  inas- 
much as  it  is  Swedish  rather  than  Dutch.    The  governor's 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.        113 

desire  to  return  to  Sweden  had  been  steadily  increasing,  and 
he  renewed  his  appeal  to  be  recalled.  The  colony  was  degen* 
crating,  less  because  of  the  relaxation  of  Printz's  eflForts  than 
of  the  insufficient  response  from  home.  Clas  Fleming  died  in 
1644,  and  his  successor  had  not  been  appointed.  Queen 
Christina,  contemplating  the  abdication  of  her  throne,  and 
inheriting  none  of  her  father's  love  for  the  enterprise,  mani- 
fested little  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  colony.  In  Stuy ve- 
sant,  Printz  had  found  his  match  for  love  of  power  and 
unyielding  determination.  Under  his  administration,  the 
strength  of  the  Dutch  was  augmented,  and,  impatient  at  the 
delay  of  the  government  in  recalling  him  from  a  situation 
which  was  becoming  highly  preplexing,  Printz  sailed  for 
home  before  the  arrival  of  his  order  to  return,  which  was 
dated  December  12, 1653.  He  left  his  administration  in  the 
hands  of  his  son-in-law.  Lieutenant  Papegaja,  who,  from 
prolonged  residence  there,  must  have  been  familiar  with  the 
requirements  of  the  office.  Some  of  the  colonists  applied  to 
Stuyvesant  for  permission  to  come  under  the  jurisdiction  and 
protection  of  the  West  India  Company,  a  request  which,  for 
reasons  politic,  was  not  granted.  Upon  his  return  to  Swe- 
den Printz  was  made  a  general,  and  in  1658  he  was 
appointed  governor  of  the  district  of  Jonkoping.  He  died  in 
1663.  Johan  Papegaja,  Vice-Governor  of  Delaware  for  a 
period  of  eighteen  months,  was  succeeded  by  Johan  Claudius 
Rising,  in  1654. 

On  the  12th  day  of  December,  1653,  the  College  of  Com- 
merce  of  Sweden  nominated  Johan  Claudius  Rising  as  Com- 
missary and  Assistant  Councillor  to  the  Governor  of  New 
Sweden.    Rising  was  a  native  of  the  then  Swedish  province 


114  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

of  Pommerania,  and  had  been  court-martialed  for  some  mili- 
tary  offense  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  He  was  accom- 
panied on  his  expedition  to  New  Sweden  by  Peter  Lindstrom, 

royal  engineer,  a  clergyman  named  Peter ,  and  various 

officers,  both  civil  and  military.  He  was  allowed  1000  rix 
c/a/er  for  traveling  expenses,  and  an  appropriation  of  1,200 
dollars  silver  per  annum,  together  with  such  emoluments  as 
might  be  derived  from  the  South  Company.  He  was  also  to 
have  as  much  land  in  New  Sweden  as  could  be  cultivated  by 
twenty  or  thirty  peasants.  Although  appointed  as  assist- 
ant-councillor, or  lieutenant-governor.  Rising  at  once 
received  precedence  from  Papegaja,  who  had  served  as  vice- 
governor  since  Printz's  departure;  so  that  in  Rising  was 
vested  the  office  of  fifth  governor  of  Delaware.  He  was 
directed  to  strengthen  the  Swedish  possessions  on  South 
River,  and  to  subjugate  the  Dutch  by  measures  of  amity,  as 
far  as  possible.  He  sailed  from  Gothenburg  early  in  the  year 
1654,  in  the  ship  Aren,  Captain  Swensko.  Acrelius  states 
that  so  great  was  the  number  of  emigrants  desirous  of  accom- 
panying this  expedition,  that  hundreds  were  left  behind  for 
want  of  sufficient  passage-room  for  them. 

They  arrived  in  the  Delaware,  or  Southriver,  on  Trinity 
Sunday,  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  1654.  Sailing  up  the 
river  as  far  as  the  Dutch  Fort  Cassimir — now  New  Castle, 
Delaware — they  fired  a  salute  of  two  guns,  in  response  to 
which  two  men  came  down  to  learn  the  character  and  inten- 
tions of  their  visitors.  They  returned  to  their  commandant, 
one  Gerrit  Bikker,  and  informed  him  that  it  was  a  Swedish 
vessel,  with  a  new  governor,  who  demanded  the  surrender  of 
Fort  Cassimir,  claiming  that  the  ground  upon  which  it  stood 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.        115 

was  Swedish  property.  Astonished  at  this  presumption, 
Bikker  took  time  to  digest  it,  during  which  Rising  informed 
himself  with  more  certainty  as  to  the  condition  of  the  Dutch 
garrison.  Assuring  himself  that  it  was  feeble  he  landed  with 
thirty  men,  who,  dispersing  themselves  over  the  fort,  again 
demanded  its  surrender  at  the  point  of  the  sword.  Bikker, 
stupidly  bewildered  at  the  unexpectedness  of  the  attack,  and 
commanding  but  ten  or  twelve  men,  yielded  his  side-arms, 
and  attempted  no  defence.  The  gallant  Lieutenant  Gyllen- 
gren  took  possession  of  the  guns,  and,  striking  down  the 
Dutch  flag,  raised  the  Swedish  colors  in  its  stead.  The  fort 
was  named  Fort  Trinity,  in  memory  of  the  day  of  its  surren- 
der.  Bikker  complained  bitterly  to  Stuyvesant  of  the  ruth- 
less and  inhuman  manner  in  which  he  and  his  men  were 
driven  from  the  fort;  while  Acrelius,  on  the  other  hand, 
declares  that  a  correct  inventory  of  the  property  was  taken, 
and  that  each  man  was  permitted  to  remove  his  own  at  dis- 
cretion. They  were  at  liberty  to  leave  the  place,  or  to  swear 
allegiance  to  the  Swedish  crown.  Fearful  of  the  consequences 
of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Dutch,  after  his  surrender, 
Bikker  took  the  oath  of  allegiance.  Concerning  this  affair, 
the  Dutch  records  state:  **We  hardly  know  which  aston- 
ished us  more,  the  attempt  of  the  newly  arrived  Swedish 
troops  to  make  themselves  masters  of  the  Southriverandour 
fort,  or  the  infamous  surrender  of  the  same  by  our  command- 
ant." Of  strategic  genius  Rising  made  no  exhibition  on  this 
occasion,  but  for  prompt  and  audaciohs  sang  froid,  he  maybe 
heartily  commended.  He  rebuilt  the  fort,  and  a  plan  of  it 
was  drawn  by  Engineer  Lindstrom,  a  copy  of  which  was, 
and  may  still  be,  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Thomas  Westcott, 


116  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

of  Philadelphia,  although  the  original  was  destroyed  in  the 
fire  at  Stockholm  in  1697.  Rising  now  found  it  incumbent 
to  renew  the  former  treaties  with  the  Indians,  and  a  meeting 
was  therefore  appointed  for  June  17, 1654,  at  Printz  Hall, 
on  Tinicum  Island;  when,  flattered  and  pacified  with  gifts, 
the  Indians  reiterated  their  promises  of  friendship  and  the 
council  closed  with  feasting  and  firing  of  guns.  The  energies 
of  Rising  and  Lindstrom  were  largely  directed  to  investiga- 
tion and  classification  of  the  resources  of  the  country,  which 
were  duly  reported  to  the  home  government.  Rising,  who 
came  to  New  Sweden  without  a  wife,  and  subsequently 
appealed  to  the  chancellor  for  such  a  commodity,  took  up  his 
residence  in  the  fort  at  Christina. 

In  August,  1654,  Oxenstiema,  Chancellor  of  Sweden,  died ; 
and,  upon  the  abdication  of  Christina,  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment fell  into  the  hands  of  her  cousin,  Charles  Gustaf.  In 
the  meantime,  the  Dutch,  who  had  never  recovered  from  their 
indignation  at  the  seizure  of  Fort  Cassimir,  meditated  re- 
venge ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  instruments  of  retali- 
ation were  placed  by  auspicious  circumstances  in  their  hands. 
In  the  latter  part  of  September,  1654,  the  Swedish  ship 
Haij\  a  small  and  weather-worn  vessel  of  forty  to  fifty  tons 
burthen,  met  with  a  curious  misadventure.  She  was  com- 
manded by  Hendrik  Van  Elswyk,  of  Lubeck,  Factor  of  the 
High  Crown  of  Sweden,  and  by  some  error  or  culpable 
intention  of  the  pilot,  was  guided  out  of  course  into  the 
North  River,  to  a  position  behind  Staten  Island.  Elswyk 
was  compelled  to  send  to  New  Amsterdam  for  a  pilot  to  re- 
lieve them  of  their  difficulty,  and  thus  gave  the  Dutch  infor- 
mation of  his  presence.    The  Haijj  with  its  cargo,  was  seized 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.        117 

on  suspicion  of  evil  intentions,  and  while  the  crew  were  per- 
mitted to  remain  on  the  vessel,  Elswyk  was  sent  to  the 
Southriver  with  instructions  to  Rising  to  settle  the  difficulty 
-with  the  Governor  of  New  Netherland.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Director-General  and  High  Council,  at  New  Amsterdam,  om 
the  20th  of  October,  1654,  a  formal  offer  of  the  restitution  of 
the  ship  Haij,  with  its  effects,  was  made  to  Rising,  on  the 
condition  that  Fort  Cassimir  should  be  restored  to  the  Dutch. 
Assurance  was  also  given  that  in  such  an  event,  friendly  and 
neighborly  intercourse  would  be  resumed.  A  pass  was 
accordingly  issued  for  Rising  to  visit  New  Amsterdam,  but, 
tenacious  of  Fort  Cassimir,  he  refused  to  make  such  a  settle- 
ment. Elswyk  addressed  the  following  protest  against  the 
seizure  of  the  Haij,  to  the  Director-General  and  Council : 

**  Noble,  Honorable  Director-General,"  etc :  **  On  the  22d 
of  September  last  I  landed,  either  through  the  carelessness, 
or  perhaps  wanton  malice  of  my  pilot,  in  this  river  of  New 
Netherland,  with  the  ship  Hiay,  intrusted  to  me  by  the  Royal 
Swedish  General  Chamber  of  Commerce,  on  behalf  of  the  Hon* 
orable  South  Company.  I  sent  some  of  my  people  in  a  boat 
here  to  New  Amsterdam,  as  to  good  friends  and  neighbors," 
[The  gloss  of  amity  between  the  Dutch  and  Swedes  at  this 
time  appears  to  have  been  very  thin,  and  an  illustration  of 
the  saying,  **  A  man  convinced  against  his  will,  is  of  the  same 
opinion  still."],  **to  engage  a  pilot,  who,  for  a  money  con- 
sideration, would  bring  us  to  the  Southriver.  Arrived  here, 
my  men,  both  bom  Swedes,  were  taken  to  the  guard-house, 
and  I  was  fetched  from  the  place  where  I  was  by  the  Honor- 
able Vice-Commander  with  eight  musketeers,  and  placed 
here  in  the  house  of  Sergeant  Daniel  Litschoe,  but  the  ship 


118  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

itself  was  also  brought  tip  from  the  Raritan  Kil,  by  the 
Honorable  Director-General,  our  flag  hauled  down,  and  the 
ship  continually  occupied  by  soldiers  and  people.  Now, 
although  it  is  asserted  that  his  noble  Honor,  Johan  Rising, 
Director  of  the  Government  of  New  Sweden,  had  taken  your 
Honor's  pretended  Fort  Cassimir,  and  that,  therefore,  your 
Honors  have  seized  this  ship  with  its  cargo,  such  a  pretext 
has  no  basis  or  foundation  whatever,  because  the  said  Fort 
was  erected  in  1651  by  his  noble  Honor,  your  Director-Gen- 
eral, rather  by  overwhelming  force  than  with  right  and 
equity,  upon  the  territory  of  H.  R.  M.  of  Sweden,  our  most 
gracious  Queen;  the  then  Swedish  governor  protesting 
against  it,  so  that  the  aforesaid  Honorable  Governor,  Johan 
Rising,  has  not  taken  it  from  your  noble  Honors,  but  has 
only  repossessed  himself  of  what  belongs  to  Her  Royal  Maj- 
esty of  Sweden,  herself,"  etc.,  etc. 

This  the  Dutch  regarded  as  a  mere  begging  of  the  ques- 
tion, and  they  continued  to  reiterate  their  grievance  in  the 
unlawful  and  insufferable  taking  of  Fort  Cassimir.  They 
relaxed  none  of  their  claim  to  their  legitimate  possession  of 
it,  and  openly  expressed  their  suspicion  that  the  ship  Haij 
had  "  lost  her  way"  with  no  friendly  intentions.  They  now, 
accordingly,  took  measures  for  hostile  advances  against  the 
Southriver  Swedes.  The  ship  Balance^  armed  with  thirty- 
six  guns,  and  commanded  by  Frederick  de  Coninck,  was  in- 
structed to  proceed  directly  from  Holland  to  New  Nether- 
land,  and  there  to  await  further  orders.  She  arrived  on 
the  15th  of  August.  On  the  19th  a  call  for  volunteers  was 
issued.  "If  some  lovers  of  the  flourishing,  well-being,  and 
safety  of  this  newly-opened  province  of  New  Netherland  are 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.        119 

willing  and  inclined  to  serve  the  Director-General  and  Council, 
either  for  love  or  a  reasonable  salary  and  board  money,  they 
will  please  address  themselves  to  his  Honor,  the  noble  Direct- 
or-General himself,  or  to  one  of  the  honorable  gentlemen  of 
the  Council,  and  inform  them,''  etc.    Signed, 

**  P.  Stuyvesant, 

"NiCASIUS  DB  SiLLB, 

'•Cornelius  van  Tienhoven.'* 
An  order  to  captains  of  vessels  in  the  harbor  was  also  issued, 
to  famish  men,  ammunition,  and  provisions.  Such  as  refused 
w^ere  impressed.  Van  Tienhoven  and  Coninck.were  ordered 
to  board  ships,  and  request  amicably,  or,  if  refused,  com- 
mand from  each  ship  two  men,  two  hundred  pounds  of  cod- 
fish, two  or  three  small  barrels  of  groats,  one  barrel  of  meat, 
with  one  barrel  of  bacon,  and  three  hundred  pounds  of 
bread;  also  as  much  powder  as  they  conveniently  could 
spare.  The  French  privateer,  UEsperance^  was  also  char- 
tered. Jews  were  exempted  from  service,  owing  to  the 
antipathy  of  other  soldiers  to  do  service  in  conjunction  with 
them.  A  tax  of  sixty-five  stivers  per  month,  **until  further 
orders,"  was,  however,  imposed  upon  each  Jew  over  sixteen 
and  under  sixty  years.  "  When  your  Honors  shall  have  car- 
ried the  expedition  to  a  successful  end,"  says  a  letter  in  the 
Dutch  Records,  dated  May  26, 1665,  "the  land  upon  which 
Fort  Christina  stands,  with  a  certain  amount  of  garden 
land  lor  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  shall  be  left  to  the  peo- 
ple, as  they  seem  to  have  bought  it  with  the  knowledge  and 
consent  of  the  Company,  under  the  condition  that  the  afore- 
said Swedes  shall  consider  themselves  subjects  of  this  State 
and  Company.    This  for  your  information  and  government.'* 


120  HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

On  the  5th  of  September  the  expedition  sailed  for  the 
Southriver.  It  consisted  of  seven  vessels  and  between  six 
and  seven  hundred  men.  Upon  arriving  at  Fort  Cassimir 
they  at  once  took  measures  for  seizing  the  fort.  Swen  Schnte, 
was  the  commander  in  charge,  and  had  been  informed  of  the 
intentions  of  the  enemy.  Rising  had  instructed  him  to  hold 
the  fort,  and  above  all,  not  to  allow  the  Dutch  to  pass  with- 
out firing  upon  them.  Schute  disobeyed  the  latter  injunc- 
tion, and  permitted  the  Dutch  fleet  to  pass  the  fort  without 
molestation,  the  force  of  his  own  garrison  convincing  him 
that  discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor.  Upon  being 
commanded  to  surrender  he  begged  time  to  consult  with  Ris- 
ing, but  this  was  refused.  Meanwhile  fifty  Dutch  sailors  had 
established  themselves  in  the  passes  between  Fort  Cassimir 
and  Fort  Christina,  thus  cutting  oflF  Swedish  communication 
and  hope  of  relief.  At  this,  Swen  Schute  claimed  the  privi- 
lege of  sending  an  open  letter  to  Rising,  but  this  also  was 
denied,  and  accordingly,  on  Saturday  morning,  September 
16, 1655,  Schute  boarded  the  Ba/ance,  and  signed  the  capit- 
ulation.  He  was  severely  censured  by  Rising  for  allowing  the 
Dutch  to  pass  the  fort,  without  firing,  and  for  subscribing 
to  the  capitulation  on  board  a  Dutch  vessel,  instead  of  in 
"some  indifferent  place."  The  surrender  was  allowed  to 
be  inevitable,  owing  to  the  overpowering  strength  of  the 
Dutch  forces.  The  entire  population  of  Swedes  on  the 
Southriver  at  that  time  numbered  something  like  four  hun- 
dred, including  women  and  children,  in  opposition  to  whom 
the  Dutch  presented  six  or  seven  hundred  armed  men.  Swen 
Schute,  together  with  other  Swedes,  took  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  the  Dutch. 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.        121 

Perceiving  that  designs  were  entertained  against  Fort 
Christina,  Rising  sent  Elswyk  to  remonstrate  with  Stuyve- 
sant,  for  seeking  to  obtain  possession  of  the  entirely  legiti- 
mate property  of  the  Swedes.  Not  to  be  dissuaded,  how- 
ever, the  Dutch  besieged  Fort  Christina,  in  the  rear.  The 
Swedish  garrison  consisted  of  but  thirty  men,  with  insuffi- 
cient ammunition  and  provisions.  Hopeless  of  immediate 
success,  and  unable  to  sustain  a  prolonged  resistance,  Rising, 
therefore,  after  a  gallant  defence,  surrendered  Fort  Christina 
on  the  following  terms : 

1.  *'That  all  cannon,  ammunition,  provisions,  and  sup- 
plies, together  with  other  things  belonging  to  the  Crown  of 
Sweden,  which  are  in  and  around  Fort  Christina,  shall  belong 
to  and  be  preserved  as  the  property  of  the  Swedish  Crown 
and  the  Southern  Company,  and  shall  be  under  the  power  of 
said  Governor,  to  take  it  away  or  deliver  it  to  Governor 
Stuyvesant,  with  the  proviso  that  it  shall  be  given  up  on 
order. 

2.  *'  Governor  John  Rising,  his  superior  and  inferior  offi- 
cers, his  officials  and  soldiers  shall  march  out  of  the  fort 
with  drums  and  trumpets  playing,  flags  flying,  matches 
burning,  with  hand  and  side-arms,  and  balls  in  their  mouths. 
They  shall  first  be  conducted  toTinnecuck  [Tinicum]  Island, 
to  which  they  shall  be  taken  in  safety,  and  placed  in  the  fort 
which  is  there,  until  the  Governor  sets  sail  upon  the  ship 
Waegb,  [  The  Balance]  upon  which  said  Governor  Rising,  his 
people  and  property ,  shall  be  conducted  to  Sandy  Huck,  situ- 
ated five  Holland  miles  the  other  side  of  New  York,  under 
safe  conduct,  within  at  least  fourteen  days.  Also  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Factor  Elswyk  shall  in  the  meantime  have  allowed 


122  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

them  four  or  five  servants  for  attending  to  their  business, 
whilst  the  others  are  lodged  in  the  Fortress. 

3.  **A11  writings,  letters,  instructions,  and  acts  belong- 
ing to  the  Crown  of  Sweden,  the  Southern  Company,  or  pri- 
vate persons  which  are  found  in  Fort  Christina,  shall  remain 
in  the  Governor's  hands  to  take  away  at  his  pleasure,  with* 
out  being  searched  or  examined. 

**4.  None  of  the  Crown's  or  Company's  oflScers,  soldiers, 
officials,  or  private  persons  shall  be  retained  here  against 
their  wishes,  but  shall  be  allowed  to  go  without  molestation 
along  with  the  governor,  if  they  so  desire. 

5.  "That  all  the  officers,  soldiers,  and  officials  of  the 
Crown  and  of  the  Southern  Company,  and  also  all  private 
persons  shall  retain  their  goods  unmolested. 

6.  "If  some  officials  and  Freemen  desire  to  depart,  but 
are  not  able  to  go  with  the  Governor  and  his  party,  they 
shall  be  allowed  the  time  of  one  year  and  six  weeks  in  which 
to  sell  their  land  and  goods,  provided  that  they  do  not  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  for  the  period  that  they  remain. 

7.  "  If  any  of  the  Swedes  or  Finns  are  not  disposed  to  go 
away.  Governor  Rising  may  take  measures  to  induce  them 
to  do  so;  and  if  they  are  so  persuaded,  they  shall  not  be 
forcibly  detained.  Those  who  choose  to  remain  shall  have 
the  liberty  of  adhering  to  their  own  Augsburg  confession,  as 
also  to  support  a  minister  for  their  instruction. 

8.  "Governor  Rising,  Factor  Elswyk,  and  other  supe- 
rior and  inferior  officers,  soldiers,  and  Freemen,  with  all 
their  property  which  they  wish  to  take  away,  shall  be  pro- 
vided by  the  Governor-General  with  a  sound  ship,  which 
shall  receive  them  at  Sandy  Huck  and  convey  them  to  Texel, 


THE  FIRST  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENT  IN  AMERICA.         123 

and  thence  immediately  by  a  coaster,  galliote,  or  other  suit- 
able vessel  to  Gothenburg,  without  charge;  with  the  proviso 
that  said  coaster,  galliote,  or  other  vessel  shall  not  be  de- 
tained, for  which  the  said  Governor  Rising  shall  be  an- 
swerable. 

9.  "In  case  Governor  Rising,  Factor  Elswyk,  or  any 
other  official  belonging  to  the  Swedish  Crown,  or  the  South 
Company,  has  incurred  any  debts  on  account  of  the  Crown 
or  of  the  Company,  they  shall  not  be  detained  therefor 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Governor-General. 

10.  "Governor  Rising  has  full  fi-eedom  to  make  himself 
acquainted  with  the  conduct  of  Commander  Schute  and  that 
of  his  officers  and  soldiers  in  regard  to  the  surrender  of 
Sandhuk  Fort  [Fort  Cassimir], 

11.  "Governor  Rising  promises  that  between  the  15th 
and  the  25th  of  September,  he  will  withdraw  his  people 
from  Fort  Christina,  and  deliver  it  up  to  the  Governor- 
General. 

"Done  and  signed  the  15-25th  of  September,  1655,  on 
the  parade  between  Fort  Christina  and  the  Govemor-Gener- 
al's  camp.  "  Peter  Stuyvesant, 

"John  Rising." 
secret  article. 

"It  is  further  capitulated  that  the  Captain  who  is  to 
convey  Captain  John  Rising  and  the  Factor  Henry  Elswyk 
shall  be  expressly  commanded  and  ordered  to  put  the  afore- 
said Governor  Rising  and  the  Factor  Elswyk  on  shore, 
either  in  England  or  in  France ;  and  that  the  Director-Gen- 
eral shall  lend  to  Governor  Rising,  either  in  money  or  bills  of 
exchange,  the  sum  of  three  hundred  pounds  Flemish,  which 


124  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

the  said  Governor  Rising  engages  to  repay  to  the  Governor- 
General,  or  his  order,  in  Amsterdam,  within  six  months  after 
the  receipt.  In  the  meantime  he  leaves  as  a  pledge  and 
equivalent  the  property  of  the  Crown  and  Southern  Com- 
pany now  given  up.  Hereof  we  give  two  copies  signed  by 
the  contracting  parties. 

"  Concluded  September  15-25th,  on  the  parade  between 
Fort  Christina  and  Governor-General  Stuy vesant's  camp. 

"Perer  Stuyvesant. 
"John  Rising." 

Nineteen  Swedes  subscribed  to  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
the  Dutch.  Rising  did  not  immediately  return  to  Sweden, 
and  the  arms  and  ammunition  of  the  Crown  were  not  re- 
deemed. 

Thus  fell,  after  an  independence  of  seventeen  years,  the 
Swedish  political  power  on  the  Delaware.  Had  it  not  been 
for  the  rashness  of  Rising  in  stirring  up  the  enmity  of  the 
Dutch,  it  might  still  have  survived.  Yet  the  chief  cause  of 
its  subjugation,  doutless,  lay  in  the  magnificent  maritime  re- 
sources of  Holland,  as  opposed  to  the  poverty  of  Sweden  in 
that  respect.  Help  came  slowly  and  insufficiently  to  the 
Swedes  from  home,  at  this  time,  while  Holland  had  but  to 
beat  the  drum  in  her  streets,  and  the  colony  of  New  Nether- 
land  was  promptly  re-enforced. 

Not  thus  ignominiously  perished  the  seeds  of  moral  in- 
tegrity and  thrift  planted  by  the  Swedes  upon  the  Delaware 
river.  Scattered  broad-cast,  they  bloom  today  in  countless 
American  homes. 


The  First  Norw^an  Immigration, 


OR 


Tbe  Sloop  Party  of  1825. 


— BYr— 

O.  N.  NELSON. 


Many  writers  have  discussed  the  origin,  cause,  and  effect 
of  the  first  Norwegian  immigration  to  the  United  States  in 
Ihe  nineteenth  century.  It  would  be  difficult,  indeed,  to  find 
a  subject  which  has  been  treated  so  extensively,  and  at  the 
same  time  in  such  an  tmsatisfactory  manner,  as  that  topic. 
This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  considering  the  chaotic  condi- 
tion of  the  material  which  had  to  be  relied  upon.  Hardly 
any  of  the  very  first  Norwegian  immigrants,  say  from  1800 
to  1840,  were  educated  men;  and,  of  course,  they  never 
kept  any  kind  of  diaries  or  written  memorandums.  "Kleng 
Peerson  looked  upon  himself  as  the  pathfinder  and  father  of 
the  Norwegian  immigration."  But  the  "father"  does^ot 
seem  to  have  left  behind  him  any  productions  of  his  own  in 
regard  to  his  relation  with  the  early  Norwegian  immigrants; 
and  not  a  single  one  of  the  members  of  the  Sloop  family, 

125 


136  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

who  sailed  from  Stavanger  in  1825,  appears  to  have  pub- 
lished anything  with  reference  to  the  journey  from  Norway 
to  America  tmtil  nearly  fifty  years  later,  and  then  only  a 
brief  and  unimportant  communication  in  a  Norwe^an- Amer- 
ican newspaper  (1). 

As  far  as  is  known,  it  was  not  until  1839,  eighteen  years 
after  Kleng  Peerson's  first  landing  in  America,  that  any 
account  of  the  Sloop  party  appeared  in  print.  This  was 
the  little  book  by  Ole  R3mning,  who  came  to  this  country  a 
couple  of  years  before  its  publication.  The  work  was  in- 
tended to  be  an  emigrant  guide  rather  than  a  history,  and 
hardly  more  than  two  pages  are  devoted  to  the  Sloop  folks. 
The  author  asserts,  however,  that  some  of  the  people  sent 
letters  to  Norway  during  their  first  years  of  residence  upon 
American  soil ;  but  none  has  ever  been  made  public,  and,  in 
all  probability,  not  even  preserved.  From  forty-five  to 
seventy  yedrs  had  passed  before  any  serious  attempts  were 
made  to  gather  materials  with  reference  to  the  Sloop  party, 
and  all  publications  dealing  with  the  subject  are  based  upon 
the  assertions  of  the  immigrants  themselves  or  their  chil- 
dren (2).  The  lack  of  documentary  evidence  in  the  case  is  so 
obvious  that  no  writer  on  the  topic  has  been  able  to  reproduce, 
or  even  to  mention,  a  single  original  document  in  support  of 
his  assertions  or  theories.  A  few  newspaper  notices  referred 
to  the  Norwegians  at  the  time  of  their  arrival  in  New  York 

(1)  B.  B.  Anderson's  ''First  Chapter  of  Norwegian  Imimigration,"  p.  79. 

(2)  Prof  B.  B.  Anderson,  in  his  history,  **The  First  Chapter  of  Norwegian  Iinmigra- 
tlon,**  claims,  on  page  98,  *to  haye  talked  with  eight  of  the  Sloop  passengers,  and  corres- 
ponded  with  two  more.*  Bnt  some  of  these  were  infants  when  they  crossed  the  Atlantic, 
and  consequently  their  assertions  in  regard  to  the  Jonmey  can  only  be  taken  as  hearsay 
eridence.  This  Tolnme  was  published  in  1895,  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century  after 
the  people  had  left  their  natiye  land. 


THB  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.        127 

in  1825,  and  these  notices  are  contradictory  in  detail.  In 
1896  the  writer  of  this  article  received  a  letter  from  Rev. 
Emil  Riis,  Lutheran  clergyman  at  Skjold,  who  had  examined 
Kirke-b&greme  at  that  place  and  at  Tysvar,  from  which 
places  several  of  the  passengers  on  the  sloop  hailed.  But 
there  is  no  record  in  these  books  of  any  persons  having 
removed  to  America  during  the  years  of  1820-28.  The 
entire  absence  of  any  official  account  of  the  movement  is 
remarkable,  especially  as  it  was  not  unlawful  to  emigrate 
in  those  days.  Could  it  be  possible  that  the  Quakers  objected 
to  comply  with  the  dvil  law  of  the  land  in  regard  to  secur- 
ing permission  to  discard  their  citizenship,  which  they  con- 
sidered to  be  a  very  heavy  burden  ?  But,  apparently,  all  the 
emigrants  were  not  Brethren,  or  even  dissenters  from  the 
state  church ;  and  their  motive  for  secretly  deserting  their 
native  land,  as  they  must  have  done,  is  even  more  mysterious 
than  the  conduct  of  the  followers  of  George  Fox.  A  copy  of 
Stavanger's  Toldbog  for  1825  has  been  secured  through 
the  courtesy  of  N.  R.  Bull,  secretary  of  the  government 
statistical  department  in  Kristiania,  who  positively  asserts 
that  there  is  no  record  in  Toldb&geme  of  the  sloop  Restau- 
ration  after  the  year  1825.  But  the  27th  of  June  of  said  year 
the  sloop,  owned  by  Johannes  Stene  and  belonging  to  the 
Stavanger  district,  but  built  in  Egersund,  was  registered  to 
sail  for  America  and  elsewhere  with  a  cargo  of  iron,  shipped 
by  three  or  four  diflFerent  firms.  L.  O.  Helland  is  reported  as 
being  captain,  but  no  mention  is  made  of  any  passengers. 
In  this  connection  it  should  be  observed  that  Helland  is  not 
mentioned  at  all  in  Prof.  Anderson's  Firat  Chapter  of  Nor- 
wegian Ixnxnigration^  although  all  the  people  who  are 


128         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

supposed  to  have  participated  in  the  Voyage  are  enumerated, 
and  it  is  claimed  that  Lars  Olson  was  captain,  and  Lars 
Larson  the  principal  owner  of  the  sloop. 

Under  such  circumstances  it  is  not  strange  that  the  wri- 
ters on  the  subject  should  disagree,  at  least  in  detail;  for  in  the 
absence  of  authentic  records,  and  during  the  lapse  of  a  quar- 
ter to  three-quarters  of  a  century,  what  a  chance  for  imagina- 
tion and  misrepresentation  to  supplant  the  real  facts !  Per- 
haps all  who  have  had  any  experience  in  gathering  historical 
data  on  settlements,  have  found  that  di£ferent  individuals, 
who  have  all  participated  in  the  affairs  of  the  settlement, 
give  conflicting  accounts  of  comparatively  recent  events.  A 
large  number  of  people  are  unable  to  recall  incidents  of 
their  own  lives  which  happened  a  few  years  before.  Several 
of  the  men  consulted  by  the  writer  of  this  article  have  for- 
gotten  when  they  were  married,  and  some  do  not  know 
when  or  where  they  were  bom. 

In  1807  Denmark  and  England  were  at  war  with  each 
other.  During  that  year  some  Norwegians,  who  of  course 
were  subjects  of  the  king  of  Denmark,  were  captured  by 
the  foe.  During  their  confinement  on  a  prison  ship  near 
London  they  received  pamphlets  containing  Barclay's  Apol- 
ogy ;  and  at  one  time,  in  1814,  Stephen  Grellet  preached  to 
seven  hundred  prisoners,  most  of  whom  were  Danes  and  Nor- 
wegians, and  about  forty  of  them  appear  to  have  been  con- 
verted to  Quakerism.  After  peace  had  been  declared  in  1814, 
the  prisoners  returned  to  their  native  land,  and  the  Friends 
began  to  advocate  the  humanitarian  doctrines  of  George 
Fox  among  the  descendants  of  the  savage  Vikings  of  the 
North,  especially  in  and  around  Stavanger  and  Kristiania. 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.        129 

One  of  them,  Lars  Larson,  had  remained  in  London  one  year 
after  his  release,  employed  in  the  family  of  the  noted  Quaker 
and  philanthropist,  William  Allen.  Larson,  on  his  return 
to  his  native  city,  Stavanger,  became  very  active  in  promul- 
gating the  new  doctrines  [in  the  vicinity  of  his  birthplace. 
During  their  seven  years  of  harsh  imprisonment  by  a  pro- 
fessedly Christian  nation,  the  Norwegian  Friends  had  become 
attached  to  the  religion  of  peace,  which  they  tried  to  hand 
down  to  their  children,  and  to  spread  among  their  neighbors. 
But  in  doing  so  they  came  in  conflict  with  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  powers  of  the  land.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  religious  tolerance  was  just  then  becoming  a  virtue,  or 
a  fashion,  in  Europe,  and  a  necessity  in  America.  Norway 
had  not  quite  reached  that  stage.  Skandinaven,  com- 
menting on  this  subject,  said,  among  other  things:  "The 
fact  that  no  state  church  was  established  in  this  country  at 
the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  was  simply  due 
to  an  historical  necessity,  and  was  not  the  result  of  greater 
religious  toleration  than  was  found  in  other  countries  at 
that  time.  Most  of  the  different  church  denominations 
were  represented  in  the  colonies,  and  the  only  religious 
dogma  on  which  they  could  agree,  was  that  no  state  church 
ought  to  be  established." 

The  constitution  of  Norway,  adopted  in  1814,  has  been 
much  praised  for  its  liberal  and  humanitarian  principles. 
But  at  least  certain  parts  of  it  seem  to  have  been  prepared 
with  too  much  haste,  and  approved  without  due  considera- 
tion. This  especially  appears  to  have  been  the  case  in  regard 
to  the  stipulation  about  religion.  By  a  large  majority 
the  convention  at  Eidsvold  adopted  the  following,  which 

9 


130         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

was  intended  to  be  the  constitutional  creed  of  the  na-. 
;tion:  "The  Evangelical  Lutheran  religion  shall  remain  the 
•6fficial  reUgion  of  the  state.  All  Christian  religious  sects 
shall  be  granted  liberty  of  religious  worship ;  but  Jews  and 
Jesuits  shall  be  kept  excluded  from  the  kingdom.  Monastic 
orders  must  not  be  tolerated.  Those  inhabitants  of  the 
country  who  profess  the  public  religion  of  the  state  shall  be 
obliged  to  educate  their  children  in  the  same." 

But  when  the  constitution  became  public  property,  article 
II.,  which  contains  the  legal  religious  dogma  of  Norway, 
reads  as  follows :  "  The  Evangelical  Lutheran  religion  shall 
remain  the  official  religion  of  the  state.  Those  inhabitants 
who  profess  it  shall  be  obliged  to  educate  their  children  in  the 
same.  Jesuits  and  monastic  orders  must  not  be  tolerated. 
Jews  shall  be  kept  excluded  from  the  kingdom."  It  may  be 
proper  to  remark  that  the  prohibition  in  regard  to  the  Jews 
was  removed  in  1851,  principally  through  the  efforts  of 
Henrik  Wergeland.  But  what  became  of  the  sentence,  "  All 
Christian  religious  sects  shall  be  granted  liberty  of  religious 
worship?"  Who  was  responsible  for  the  change?  Where 
did  the  members  of  the  convention  have  their  ears  when  the 
constitution  as  a  whole  was  adopted  ?  These  questions  have 
been  and  are  just  as  much  of  a  conundrum  in  Norway  as 
what  the  Silverites  call  "  the  crime  of  1873  "  and  "  Section  22 
of  the  Dingley  bill"  are  in  this  country.  In  the  absence  of 
any  constitutional  provision  in  regard  to  the  free  exercise  of 
religion  outside  of  the  state  church,  recourse  was  had  to 
older  laws  on  the  subject,  which  greatly  perplexed  the  gov- 
ernment and  became  a  hardship  to  the  few  Friends  who 
resided  in  Norway.    The  Quakers,  as  is  well  known,  not 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.        131 

only  reject  the  sacraments  and  confirmation,  oppose  religions 
ceremonies  at  weddings  and  funerals,  and  object  to  pay  taxes 
to  the  state  church;  but  they  also  refuse  to  take  ji^didal 
oaths,  to  perform  military  duties,  and  to  contribute  to  the 
maintenance  of  military  establishments.  It  is  evident  that 
even  if  the  constitution  of  Norway  had  granted  fiill  religious 
freedom  to  every  individual  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  yet 
the  Friends  would  have  come  in  conflict  with  the  funda- 
mental laws  of  the  kingdom,  which  prescribe  that  every 
citizen,  without  regard  to  birth  or  fortune,  shall  perform  mili* 
tary  service  in  defense  of  his  country.  But  it  is  natural  that 
the  dash  should  first  occur  in  regard  to  the  mode  of  wor- 
ship, rather  than  with  reference  to  the  oath  and  martial 
duties.  To  many  people  religion  is  an  earnest  reality  and  an 
every-day  concern ;  while  judicial  oaths  and  wars  are  gener- 
ally considered  to  be  more  of  necessary  evils  than  indispen- 
sable articles.  It  cannot  be  disputed  that  the  Quakers 
suffered  considerably,  especially  during  the  years  of  1830  to 
1845,  on  accotmt  of  their  refusal  to  comply  with  the  ecclesi- 
astical and  civil  laws  of  the  kingdom.  They  were  compelled 
to  have  their  children  baptized  and  confirmed,  as  well  as  to 
observe  all  the  outward  requirements  of  church  and  state, 
induding  the  pajrment  of  taxes.  They  were  forbidden  to 
propagate  the  doctrines  of  their  sect,  ordered  to  abstain 
from  all  prosdyting,  and  prohibited  from  allowing  any  con- 
verts to  join  thdr  sodety.  On  the  failure  to  observe  these 
conditions  they  were  fined,  and  even  the  dead  who  were  not 
buried  in  consecrated  places  were  exhumed,  and  interred  in 
accordance  with  the  legal  prescriptions.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  Friends  were  often  treated  with  leniency ;  exempted  from 


132         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

paying  the  fines  imposed  upon  them;  and  their  marriages, 
entered  into  contrary  to  law,  permitted  to  remain  in  full 
force.  •  Their  life  and  property  received  the  same  protection 
as  that  of  any  other  subject,  notwithstanding  that  they 
objected  to  pay  the  same  taxes  as  other  people.  Perhaps 
no  cotmtry  has  been  so  little  cursed  with  religious  bigotry 
and  persecution  as  the  Scandinavian  peninsula.  No  institu- 
tion of  inquisition  was  ever  planted  among  them,  no  blood 
of  heretics  ever  stained  their  soil.  Nor  does  it  appear  that  the 
Norwegian  government  intended  to  oppress  the  few  defense- 
less Friends  within  its  dominion ;  for  already  in  1817  a  com- 
mission was  appointed  to  devise  means  by  which  they  could 
be  permitted  to  worship  God  in  their  own  fashion.  It  took 
many  years,  however,  before  that  result  was  obtained ;  but 
what  they  suflFered  in  the  meantime  seems  to  have  been 
more  in  consequence  of  meanness,  on  the  part  of  certain 
officials,  than  of  any  intended  persecution  on  the  part  of  the 
government  (3).  Even  if  some  of  the  Friends  emigrated  on 
account  of  the  lack  of  religious  freedom  in  their  native  places, 
they  appear  to  have  been  more  than  willing  to  return  to  the 
ills  they  knew  of  after  having  enjoyed  the  liberty  of  America 
for  only  a  few  years.  For  according  to  Sandfasdig  Beret' 
ning  om  Aznerika,hj  Ole  Rynning,  the  emigrants  who  had 
settled  at  Kendall,  N.  Y.,  suffered  greatly  during  the  first  four 
or  five  years  for  the  very  necessities  of  life,  and  desired  to 
return  to  old  Norway,  but  did  not  have  the  means  to  do  so. 
By  a  large  number  of  writers,  notably  Prof.  R.  B.  Ander- 

(8)  Host  of  the  faeta  mentioned  in  the  two  paragraphs  ahove  have  been  deducted  from 
**  W.  A.  Wexela's  Liv  og  Tirken,"  by  Rev.  A.  liaa,  pablished  in  Kristiania,  1867,  and  it 
is  oonsidered  to  be  very  reliable  by  Prof.  Gtoorg  Sverdrap,  who  has  made  a  special 
ttady  of  that  interesting  period  of  Norwegian  history. 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.         133 

son,  religious  persecution  has  been  given  as  the  main  cause  of 
the  movement  from  Stavanger  to  America  in  1825.  Conse- 
quently it  was  deemed  wise  to  discuss  that  part  of  the  emi- 
^ation  problem  somewhat  extensively.  But  there  is  no 
authentic  record  to  show  that  a  single  man,  woman,  or  child 
of  the  fifty-two  persons  who  emigrated  in  1825,  ever  came  in 
conflict  with  the  laws  of  Norway  on  account  of  their  religion. 
The  only  Quaker  in  the  Stavanger  district  who  suffered  for 
his  belief,  prior  to  1826,  was  Elias  Tastad,  and  he  did  not 
emigrate.  The  main  hardships  of  the  Norwegian  Friends 
befell  them  from  1830  to  1845.  At  the  latter  date  religious 
freedom  was  virtually  established  in  the  kingdom. 

Stephen  Grellet  and  William  Allen  were  very  zealous 
Quakers,  and  both  became  famous  as  philanthropists.  The 
former  was  a  French  nobleman,  who  had  been  compelled  in 
early  life,  during  the  French  revolution,  to  seek  refuge  in  the 
United  States,  where,  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  1795,  he 
joined  the  society  of  Friends.  After  having  resided  continu- 
ously in  this  cotmtry  for  a  period  of  twelve  years,  he  for  over 
a  quarter  of  a  century  wandered  from  one  European  coun- 
try to  another,  visiting  palaces  and  dungeons,  and  urging 
everybody  to  practice  "peace  on  earth  and  good  will  among 
men."  He  even  preached  to  the  Pope  in  Rome,  who  listened 
with  respect  to  his  exhortations.  He  kept  a  diary,  which 
afterwards  was  published  in  book  form.  In  1818  he  writes : 
*'  I  had  been  under  great  apprehension  as  to  how  I  could  be 
of  the  least  service  in  the  great  work  of  my  dear  Lord  in 
Norway  and  Sweden,  for  neither  dear  Allen  nor  myself  under- 
stand  their  language."  And  again:  " Enoch  Jacobson,  a 
Norwegian,  one  of  those  I  saw  during  my  last  visit  to  this 


134         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

nation,  on  board  the  prison-ship  of  war,  and  who  there 
became  convinced  of  the  Friends'  principles,  having  heard 
that  I  proposed  to  return  from  America  to  visit  Norway, 
etc.,  has  just  arrived  in  London.  He  has  come  under  the 
apprehension  that  he  would  find  me  here,  and  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  come  and  render  me  any  service  in  his  power."  This 
Enoch  Jacobson  together  with  another  man  had  tried,  but 
failed,  to  organize  a  society  of  Friends  in  Kristiania.  Grellet, 
Allen,  and  Jacobson  sailed  directly  from  London  to  Stav- 
anger,  where  they  arrived  in  1818.  In  their  journals  the 
two  former  speak  highly  of  the  morals  of  the  people,  and  of 
the  courtesy  and  intelligence  of  the  officials ;  but  do  not  by  a 
single  word  refer  to  any  persecution  of  their  co-religionists 
in  Norway.  The  Lutheran  clergymen  received  them  with 
open  arms,  and  attended  some  of  their  meetings.  They  both 
mention,  as  an  illustration  of  the  virtue  of  the  people  in  the 
vicinity  of  Stavanger,  that  during  a  quarter  of  a  century 
only  one  person  had  been  sentenced  to  death,  although 
the  district  contained  40,000  inhabitants ;  that  the  prison 
was  kept  by  an  old  woman,  and  she  had  only  one  man 
in  it,  who  was  a  perfect  model  of  a  culprit.  Grellet  and 
his  companions  remained  in  Stavanger  for  about  one 
week,  visited  families,  assisted  the  half  a  dozen  or  more 
Quakers  in  securing  a  suitable  hall  to  meet  in,  and  helped 
them  in  perfecting  the  organization.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  Lars  Larson,  the  founder  of  the  society  of  Friends 
in  Stavanger  in  1816,  had  served  for  some  time  in  the  family 
of  William  Allen.  Considering  the  familiarity  with  which 
Grellet  for  a  whole  week  associated  with  the  people,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  conceive  that  they  should  not  know 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.     134A 

that  America  was  his  adopted  country,  especially  when,  as 
before  noted,  Enoch  Jacobson  was  well  aware  of  the  fact 
that  Grellet  resided  in  the  United  States,  According  to 
George  Richardson's  Society  of  Friends  in  Norwajr^  Lars 
Larson  also,  it  seems,  met  in  1822  a  young  man  from  North 
America,  who  probably  was  a  Norwegian  by  birth.  It  is 
hard  to  believe  that  the  Quakers  were  so  absorbed  in  think- 
ing about  heavenly  things  as  to  neglect  to  inquire  of  visitors 
from  beyond  the  Atlantic  in  regard  to  the  location  and  con- 
ditions of  the  continent  to  which  they  departed  a  few  years 
later.  The  Scandinavian  common  people  are  generally  very 
inquisitive  about  such  matters.  In  fact  B.  L.  Wick— his  ar- 
tide  appeared  in  The  Friend's^  Philadelphia,  1894r— who  in- 
vestigated the  subject  a  few  years  ago  in  London,  maintains 
that  it  was  Grellet  who  first  advised  the  peasants  to  emi- 
gfrate,  partly  on  account  of  their  poverty,  and  told  them 
that  America  oflFered  many  advantages;  for  example,  a 
better  economical  future,  free  exercise  of  religion,  and  relief 
from  miUtary  duties.  The  reason  they  did  not  at  once  act 
upon  his  advice  is  easily  explained.  The  cautious  and  some- 
vehat  slow  Norwegian  peasants  needed  time  to  think  about 
the  matter,  and  to  arrange  their  small  affairs.  There  were 
persons  in  the  North  who  really  decided  to  emigrate  a 
quarter  of  a  century  before  the  feat  was  actually  accom- 
plished. Perhaps  the  Norwegian  prisoners  during  their  con- 
finement in  London  harbor,  or  some  Norwegian  sailors  during 
their  travels,  had  heard  something  about  America,  and  circu- 
lated the  rumor  among  their  countrymen  at  home  years  before 
Grellet's  visit.  At  any  rate  it  must  be  admitted  that  if  the 
Quakers  at  Stavanger  selected,  in  1821,  Kleng  Peerson  and 


134  b    history  of  the  Scandinavians  in  the  u.  s. 

another  man  to  go  to  America  and  investigate  with  a  view 
to  establishing  a  colony  of  Friends  in  the  New  Worid,  as 
some  writers  seem  to  believe,  then  it  is  absolutely  certain  that 
the  people  must  have  had  some  information  about  the  Western 
continent,  as  it  is  purely  nonsense  to  suppose  that  any 
rational  beings  would  try  to  send  men  in  search  of  a  suit- 
able place  in  which  to  locate  a  settlement,  to  a  country 
never  heard  of. 

But  even  though  it  is  virtually  certain  that  the  Quakers 
in  Norway  knew  something  about  America  before  Kleng 
Peerson  emigrated  in  1821,  it  does  not  necessarily  follow 
that  they  sent  him  and  another  man  thither  for  the  pur- 
pose of  finding  a  suitable  place  to  establish  a  Norwegian 
settlement.  Kleng  was  not  a  highly  respected  character  in  the 
vicinity  of  his  home,  partly  on  account  of  his  marriage  with  a 
very  old  but  rich  woman,  whom  he  expected  to  support  him, 
being  too  indolent  to  earn  his  own  bread  and  butter.  It  was 
the  same  shiftless  individual,  who  during  the  greater  part  of 
the  remainder  of  his  life  wandered  on  foot  through  a  large  por • 
tion  of  the  Western  states,  living  upon  charity,  sleeping 
under  the  open  arch  of  heaven,  or  cheating  people  for  his 
lodging;  and  who  in  1843  was  thoroughly  whipped  in  New 
York  because  he  had  defrauded  some  of  his  poor  country- 
men, whom  he  pretended  to  assist  (4).  His  companion  on 
the  supposed  trip  of  investigation  had  an  exceedingly  bad 
reputation  (5).  Both  of  these  men  probably  pretended  and 
were  considered  to  be  Quakers,  or  at  least  favoring  the  ten- 
ets of  that  sect.    But  if  they  had  any  religious  conviction 

(4)  J.  R.  Reieraea's  ^'VeWiser;*  p.  XXVI. 

(5)  "Billed-liaffasin;*  VoL  I.,  p.  102. 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.     134C 

at  all,  it  did  not,  perhaps,  in  any  way  affect  their  thoughts 
or  actions,  except  **to  imbue  them  with  a  strong  belief  in  the 
devil."  Even  assuming  that  most  of  the  Friends  arotmd 
Stavanger  were  not  of  a  high  intellectual  order,  yet  they 
could  hardly  have  been  so  stupid  as  to  expect  to  be  able  to 
deduce  honesty  from  the  united  action  of  two  rascals— to  use 
one  of  Carlyle's  expressions.  But  there  are  also  other  reasons, 
besides  probabilities,  for  believing  that  Kleng  Peerson  and 
his  companion  were  not  sent  out  by  any  one  to  examine  the 
New  World.  It  is  positively  asserted  in  Billed-Magazin 
(6)  that  both  Kleng  Peerson  and  his  companion  secretly 
deserted  their  families  and  went  to  Gothenburg,  Sweden. 
It  may  be  proper  in  this  connection  to  remark  that  at  the  ripe 
age  of  sixty-five,  Kleng  also  wedded,  and  again  abandoned,  a 
Swedish  woman  at  the  Bishop  Hill  colony  in  Illinois,  where 
he  remained  a  very  short  time  as  member  of  Eric  Janson's 
religious  communistic  organization  (7). 

In  Gothenburg  the  two  men  heard  about  America,  which 
country  they  undoubtedly  also  knew  something  about  before, 
and  proceeded  thither  on  a  merchant  vessel.  Kleng  Peerson 
returned  to  Stavanger  in  1824,  after  having  remained  in  the 
state  of  New  York  for  three  years,  and  gave  a  glowing 
description  of  the  New  World,  by  which  he  gained  a  reputa- 
tion as  an  excellent  story-teller,  not  to  say  as  a  perverter  of 
the  truth.  But  in  spite  of  his  shortcomings,  he,  no  doubt, 
exercised  some  influence  in  hastening  the  departure  of  some 
of  the  peasants.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  claimed  that  Kleng 
Peerson  possessed  many  good  traits,  and  evidently  was  a 

(6)  Vol.  Im  p.  102. 

(7)  Andenon^s  "First  Chapter  of  Norwegian  Immigration,"  p.  189. 


134  D     HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

fairly  faithftd  guide  to  several  parties  of  Norwegians  in 
search  of  suitable  land  where  settlements  could  be  estab- 
lished. Prof.  Th.  Bothne,  in  his  Lutherake  Kirkearbeide 
blandt  NordmJkndene  i  Amerika^  calls  him  a  tramp,  and 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  he  possessed  many  of  .the  faults  and 
virtues  of  a  genuine  tramp.  But  it  should  be  remembered 
that  this  class  of  people  often  treat  each  other  with  an 
altruism  that  even  a  Tolstoi  might  admire,  and  possibly 
Kleng  Peerson  gratified  the  better  part  of  his  nature  by 
enduring  and  enjoying  his  wanderings  in  order  to  serve  his 
compatriots  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  He  died  in  Texas 
in  1865,  and  it  seems  that  the  contradictions  of  his  life  fol- 
lowed him  to  the  grave.  The  inscription  on  the  small  stone 
monument,  which  his  countrymen  in  that  state  raised  to  his 
memory,  reads  as  follows:  "Cleng  Peerson,  the  first  Nor- 
wegian Emigrant  to  America.  Came  to  America  in  1821." 
Now  it  is  a  fact,  as  has  already  been  stated  in  the  first  vol- 
ume, page  35,  that  Hans  Hansen  Bergen  came  to  this 
country  as  early  as  1633,  and  there  are  many  reasons 
and  some  evidence  for  believing  that  other  Norwegians  also 
came  at  the  very  dawn  of  the  immigration  period.  At  least 
one  Norwegian,  Thomas  Johnson,  who  had  served  under 
the  famous  Paul  Jones  in  his  naval  victories,  was  in  Amer- 
ica during  the  Revolutionary  era,  and  sat  among  the  gods 
in  the  gallery  in  the  congressional  hall,  Philadelphia,  1781 
(8).  In  1818  Soren  Gustavus  Norberg,  a  native  of  Kristian- 
sand,  came  to  the  United  States  and  settled  at  Salem,  Mass., 
where  he  took  out  his  naturalization  papers  five  years 
later,  calling  himself  Andrew   Peterson.     He  married   an 

(8)  Anderfton*s  "First  Chapter  of  Norwegian  Immigration,**  p.  27. 


TH£  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.     134B 

American  woman,  and  one  of  his  sons,  an  American  Metho- 
dist clergyman^  has  produced  copies  of  original  documents 
in  regard  to  his  father.  Undoubtedly  other  Norwegians, 
besides  those  mentioned,  came  to  this  country  years  before 
Kleng  Peerson  arrived,  but  enough  has  been  said  to  prove 
that  he  was  not  "the  first  Norwegian  immigrant  to  America," 
even  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

Most  authorities  agree  that  on  July  4, 1825,  Restaurap 
tion,  a  small  sloop,  loaded  with  emigrants,  iron,  and  brandy, 
left  the  wharf  of  Stavanger,  destined  for  America.  As  has 
been  asserted  on  pages  107-11  in  the  second  volume,  the 
first  shipload  of  Norwegian  emigrants  who  came  directly 
£rom  their  native  land  to  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  embarked 
at  Skien  the  17th  of  May,  1839.  It  seems  rather  strange 
that  the  departure  of  these  two  noted  emigration  parties 
should  have  occurred  on  the  two  great  national  holidays  of 
the  United  States  and  Norway.  This  coincidence  might, 
accidentally  or  purposely,  have  happened;  but  probably  the 
apparent  agreement  of  dates  is  to  be  found  in  the  human 
desire  to  try  to  harmonize  their  past  actions,  no  matter 
how  insignificant,  with  more  important  events.  The  Sloop 
party  consisted  of  52  persons,  including  women  and  children. 
The  majority  of  them  were  probably  Friends,  although 
there  were  in  1821  only  six  men  and  five  women  in  the 
whole  vicinity  of  Stavanger,  Skjold,  and  Tysvar  (9)— 
where  all  the  Sloop  folks  hailed  from— who  professed  to 
believe  in  the  doctrines  of  George  Fox.  But  some  of  these 
did  not  emigrate  in  1825,  notably,  Elias  Tastad,  the  only 
person  in  that  district  of  the  kingdom  of  whom  there  is,  up 

(9)  Man*s  '*W.  A  Wexela's  Liv  og  Virken/'  p.  174. 


134  F     HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

to  1826,  any  record  of  having  come  in  conflict  with  the  law 
of  the  land  on  account  of  his  religion.  According  to  Prof. 
R.  B.  Anderson,  **Six  heads  of  families  converted  their 
scanty  worldly  possessions  into  money  and  purchased  a 
sloop  which  had  been  built  in  the  Hardanger  flord,  between 
Stavanger  and  Bergen,  and  which  they  loaded  with  a 
cargo  of  iron.  For  this  sloop  and  cargo  they  paid  $1,800 
(Norwegian  money).  While  six  of  the  party  owned  some 
C'vOck  in  the  vessel  the  largest  share  was  held  by  Lars 
Larson,  who  was  in  all  respects  the  leader  of  the  enterprise." 
The  forerunners  of  civilization,  both  in  the  eastern 
and  the  western  states  of  this  country,  have  generally 
been  reckless  men  of  questionable  moral  character. 
The  brute  courage  and  vices  of  our  trappers  and  hunters 
have  been  more  conspicuous  than  their  virtue  or 
humanity.  This  does  not  imply  that  they  have  not 
been  useful  and  necessary  elements;  in  fact,  they  have 
been  indispensable  to  a  higher  development  of  mind  and 
matter.  They  have  been  necessary  vanguards  of  the 
miners,  loggers,  and  farmers;  these,  in  turn,  have  been 
followed  by  the  merchants  and  professional  men,  who  have 
supplied  the  former  with  luxuries,  and  attended  to  their 
spiritual  and  intellectual  needs.  What  has  been  said  about 
the  trappers  and  hunters  is  also  true,  at  least  in  most  cases, 
of  the  very  first  immigrants  from  every  European  country. 
The  cruelty  and  bloodthirstiness  of  the  first  Spaniards  is  too 
well  known  to  need  repetition.  The  English  Puritans  came 
to  this  country  in  order  to  be  allowed  to  worship  God  in 
their  own  fashion,  and  to  deprive  every  one  else  of  the  same 
privilege.    The  majority  of  the  passengers  on  the  first  vessel 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.     134G 

which  carried  Swedish  colonists  to  Delaware  in  1638  were 
transgressors  of  the  law.  During  the  whole  emigration 
period  it  has,  in  general,  been  the  courageous  and  "discon- 
tented classes  who  have  participated  in  the  movement;  for 
the  simple  reason  that  the  contented  always  stayed  kt  home, 
and  the  timid  never  dared  to  go.  But  before  the  movement 
had  become  somewhat  regular,  and  the  knowledge  about 
America  certain,  the  courage  of  the  emigrants  bordered  upon 
recklessness,  and  their  discontent  was  closely  allied  to 
anarchy.  It  was,  with  few  exceptions,  the  extreme  and 
radical  element  of  all  countries,  those  persons  who  had  little 
to  lose  and  everything  to  gain,  who  first  cast  the  die  in 
favor  of  the  New  World.  There  is  no  reason  for  believing, 
and  still  less  for  asserting,  that  the  first  Norwegian 
emigrants,  the  Sloop  party,  were  either  above  or  below  the 
first  emigrants  from  other  countries  at  that  time.  One 
writer  on  the  subject  says:  **They  were  men  of  the  poorest 
classes  of  the  communities  whence  they  came,  but  not 
paupers  or  criminals.  They  were  squeezed  out  fi-om  the 
bottom  of  society,  escaping,  as  it  were,  through  cracks  and 
crevices.  The  average  quality,  however,  steadily  improved 
fi-om  the  first.*'  Most  of  them  were  Quakers,  and  B.  L.  Wick 
claims  that  there  were  three  classes  of  persons  who  had 
accepted,  or  pretended  to  accept,  the  teachings  of  the  Friends: 
First,  those  who  honestly  believed  in  the  doctrines; 
secondly,  those  who  did  not  care  for  Quakerism,  but  disagreed 
with  the  teachings  of  the  state  church;  thirdly,  those  who 
were  poor  and  hoped  to  be  assisted,  and  were  helped  by  the 
society  of  Friends.  He  adds:  '^There  are  perhaps  many 
to-day  in  Norway  who  were  not  Friends,  if  it  were  not  for 


134  H     HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

the  pecuniary  assistance  derived."  To  the  second  class 
should  be  added  those  who  did  not  care  for  any  religion,  but 
joined  any  new  movement  out  of  curiosity  or  to  gain 
notoriety;  in  other  words,  they  were  mere  religious  tramps. 
It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  ascertain  the  proportionate 
number  of  these  respective  classes.  But  the  second  class, 
especially,  must  have  been  quite  large,  considering  that  in 
later  years  a  great  number  of  Quakers  around  Stavanger 
joined  the  Baptists  and  Methodists  when  the  latter  denomi- 
nations began  their  work  in  Norway.  In  this  country  many 
of  the  Friends  became  Mormons  and  infidels,  and  some 
returned  to  the  Lutheran  fold.  While  there  is  no  method  by 
which  it  can  be  absolutely  ascertained  which  of  the  three 
classes  mentioned  predominated  on  Restauration,  yet  the 
actions  of  those  people  during  the  voyage  indicated,  at  least 
to  a  certain  extent,  their  character.  The  Quakers  have  gen- 
erally  prohibited  their  members  from  using  liquors  or 
tobacco,  and  they  have  in  most  cases  practiced  what  they 
preach.  Not  so,  however,  with  Sloop  party  Friends.  For, 
they  not  only  unlawfully  sold  liquor  in  the  English  harbor 
Lisett  in  passing  through  the  British  channel;  but  after  hav- 
ing found  a  cask  of  wine  floating  in  the  ocean  near  the  island 
of  Madeira,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  they  all  became  so  drunk 
that  the  vessel  drifted  into  one  of  the  harbors  of  the  island 
without  any  visible  sign  of  life  on  board,  and  without 
hoisted  flag  (10).  The  oflSicials  at  the  fort,  supposing  that 
some  dreadful  contagious  disease  had  killed  all  the  people  on 
board,  aimed  their  cannons  at  the  sloop;  but  the  party  got  a 
chance  to  sober  up  before  entering  the  other  world,  one  of  the 

(10)  "BillMl-Macaain,**  toL  I.,  p.  71. 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.     134 1 

passengers  staggering  up  and  hoisting  the  Norwegian  flag. 
It  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  while  in  this  intoxicated  state 
they  did  not  address  each  other  in  the  usual  Quaker 
language  of  thee  and  thou^  nor  answered  all  questions  by 
jrea  or  nay^  but  had  recourse  to  some  more  forcible  Norwe- 
gian  expressions.  The  stupidity  and  carelessness  manifested 
on  this  occasion  by  the  so-called  captain  and  officials  deserve 
the  severest  condemnation.  Their  negligence  amounted  to  a 
crime,  and  if  such  a  case  had  been  tried  before  any  maritime 
court  in  Christendom,  the  offenders  would  undoubtedly  have 
been  sentenced  to  several  years'  imprisonment.  The  leader  and 
principal  owner  of  the  sloop,  Lars  Larson,  was  the  one  who 
had  fished  up  the  cask  (11),  notwithstanding  that  he  had 
been  converted  to  Quakerism  in  England,  and  had  been  the 
first  one  in  Stavanger  to  open  up  his  house  for  Friendly 
meetings;  but  this  time  he,  with  the  rest,  seems  to  have 
drowned,  or  perhaps  intensified,  his  religious  enthusiasm 
with  some  excellent  wine. 

It  is  generally  maintained  by  all  writers  on  the 
subject  that  before  the  party  left  the  harbor  of  Fon- 
chal,  into  which  they  had  drifted  during  their  state  of  in- 
toxication, they  were  well  supplied  with  provisions  by  the 
American  consul  at  that  place,  who  also  bestowed  other 
favors  upon  them.  In  Prof.  R.  B.  Anderson's  history,  page 
72,  it  is  claimed  that  J.  H.  March,  who  was  appointed  con- 
sul in  1816,  was  the  man  who  showed  the  Norwegians  such 
courtesies.  But  in  a  recent  letter  to  the  writer  of  this  article 
firom  the  department  of  state,  Washington,  D.  C,  it  is 
asserted  that  the  consul  at  Funchal  was  absent  from  1824 


(11)  Aodenon*!  'Tint  Chap,  of  Nor.  Immiflrration,**  p.  58. 


134j       HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

to  1827,  during  which  time  the  duties  of  the  office  were  per- 
formed  by  his  brother,  Francis  March.  Some  authorities, 
however,  assert  that  the  party  were  not  at  the  island  of 
Madeira  at  all,  but  in  the  harbor  of  Lisbon,  Portugal  (12). 
Fourteen  weeks  after  their  departure  from  Stavanger  they 
reached  New  York.  Here  they  attracted  considerable  atten- 
tion, especially  as  the  so-called  captain  was  arrested  for  hav- 
ing a  larger  cargo  and  more  passengers  than  the  law  per- 
mitted such  a  small  vessel  to  carry;  but  he  was  released. 
They  were  also  duly  referred  to  by  the  American  newspapers. 
But  they  were  in  such  destitute  circumstances  that  the  New 
York  Quakers  had  to  assist  them  financially  before  they 
could  proceed  any  farther.  Besides  the  Friends,  some  other 
persons,  who  came  to  the  wharf  out  of  mere  curiosity,  gave 
the  impoverished  Norwegians  some  money.  The  sloop  and 
cargo  had  cost  them  nearly  $2,000;  they  sold  it  all  in  New 
York  for  about  a  quarter  of  that  amount. 

Most  stories,  real  or  fictitious,  have  a  hero  or  a  heroine ; 
and  a  large  number  of  writers  have  represented  Kleng  Peer- 
son  to  be  the  hero  of  the  Sloop  party.  Although  no 
mention  has  been  made  of  the  means  by  which  he  first 
found  out  that  such  a  continent  existed;  yet  from  the 
general  trend  of  the  presentation  it  appears  as  if  these 
authors  wanted  mankind  to  believe  that  Kleng  Peerson  in 
some  mysterious  way,  perhaps  by  his  "inner  light,*'  dis- 
covered some  information  about  the  New  World,  and  then 
imparted  part  of  his  wisdom  to  some  Norwegian  peas- 
ants, who  at  once  dispatched  him  thither.  After  three  years 
of  thorough  study  of  the  new  country,  he,  according  to  the 

(12)  Wist'a  "Nonke  Indyandring,"  p.  15. 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.     134k 

general  version,  returned  and  conquered  a  portion  of  the 
kingdom  of  Norway  with  his  tongue,  and  then  again 
hturied  across  the  Atlantic  ocean  to  m^e  final  preparation 
for  the  arrival  of  the  Sloop  party.  It  is  the  unpleasant  duty 
of  the  historian  to  cut  through  and  destroy  the  delicate 
veils  which  have  been  woven  around  events  and  individuals, 
and  present  them  to  the  world  in  their  naked  truthfulness,  as 
far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so.  The  improbability,  and  even 
impossibility,  of  Kleng  Peerson  having  been  the  evangelist 
who  first  preached  the  new  gospel  about  America  to  the  Nor- 
wegians, and  the  object  of  his  first  visit  there,  have  already 
been  discussed.  But  the  meager  and  questionable  evidences 
in  regard  to  what  part  he  played,  after  his  return  to  Norway 
in  1824,  in  eflfecting  or  hastening  the  organization  of  the 
Sloop  party,  are  neither  positive  nor  negative,  being  about 
so  equally  balanced  as  to  prevent  any  certain  conclusion.  He 
came  to  Norway  one  year  before  the  party  sailed,  and  prob- 
ably returned  to  New  York  shortly  after,  withput  having 
any  knowledge  whatsoever  of  the  preparations  lor  depar- 
ture going  on  in  the  vicinity  of  Stavanger.  When  the  Sloop 
folks  arrived  in  New  York  in  the  fall  of  1825,  they  appear  to 
have  met  him  there  by  accident,  rather  than  by  previous 
arrangement.  If  he  had  been  the  real  instigator  of  the 
movement  and  the  chief  organizer  of  the  party,  it  seems  he 
would  have  accompanied  the  emigrants  across  the 
ocean.  They  needed  him.  Prof.  R.  B.  Anderson  says :  "  In- 
stead  of  risking  his  life  in  the  sloop  he  had  again  gone  by  the 
way  of  Gothenburg,  Sweden,  and  was  already  in  New  York 
ready  to  receive  his  friends  and  to  give  them  such  assistance 
as  he  was  able."    But  whatever  might  have  been  the  motive 

10 


134  L      HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

of  Kleng  in  proceeding  before  the  other  emigrants,  cowardice 
or  prudence  could  hardly  have  been  the  cause.  His  whole 
life  is  a  protest  against  the  assumption.  The  same  author 
cites  a  New  York  newspaper  notice  of  1825,  which  appears 
to  justify  the  theory  that  Klleng  was  sent  in  advance.  But 
for  historical  accuracy  newspapers  are,  in  general,  not  very 
reliable,  and  this  seems  to  be  the  case  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  as  much  as  at  the  beginning  of  the  twen- 
tieth century,  because  all  the  newspaper  citations  which  said 
writer  quotes  in  regard  to  the  Sloop  party  are  contraditory 
in  detail.  On  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  ablest  Norwegian- 
American  scholars  who  have  studied  the  subject,  question 
the  justice  of  the  honor  accorded  to  Klleng  Peerson, 
refusing  to  ascribe  to  the  Sloop  party  any  special  credit  for 
having  promoted  the  subsequent  Norwegian  emigration. 
For  example,  J.  B.  Wist  not  only  doubts  the  particulars,  as 
generally  stated,  about  Restauration,  but  boldly  asserts  that 
the  passengers  on  the  same  had  little  or  no  influence,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  on  the  Norwegian  immigration,  or  in 
any  way  directed  its  course.  Nicolay  Grevstad  says :  "  What 
gave  the  first  impetus  to  emigration  from  Norway  may  be 
put  under  the  category  of  historical  accidents.  It  was  also 
an  accident  that  the  first  emigrants  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  religious  conditions  under  which  they  had  been  living. 
At  that  time  rumors  about  America  began  to  spread  among 
the  people  along  the  coast  of  Norway.  And  if  Kleng  Peer- 
son  had  not  emigrated,  others  would  have  done  so,  either  at 
that  time  or  a  little  later  on.  Popular  migrations  always 
have  an  economical  root.  The  emigration  firom  Norway,  as 
well  as  from  other  European  countries,  is  a  result  of  the 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.    134-M 

strained  economical  conditions  prevailing  in  the  Old  World, 
and  the  hope  of  doing  better  in  the  New  World.  All  other 
conditions  are  only  tributary  circumstances  of  compara- 
tively subordinate  importance." 

From  New  York  harbor  the  majority  of  the  Norwegians 
proceeded,  late  in  the  fall  of  1825,  to  Kendall,  then  called 
Murray,  in  Orleans  county,  N.Y.,  where,  it  is  asserted,  most 
of  them  bought  land.  Prof.  Anderson  says :  "  Kendall  is  in 
the  northeast  comer  of  Orleans  county  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Ontario.  Here  land  was  sold  to  the  l*Iorwegians  by 
Joseph  Fellows  at  five  dollars  an  acre ;  but  as  they  had  no 
money  to  pay  for  it,  Mr.  Fellows  agreed  to  let  them  redeem 
it  in  ten  annual  installments.  The  land  was  heavily  wooded, 
and  each  head  of  a  family  and  adult  person  purchased  forty 
acres."  In  order  to  be  absolutely  certain  in  regard  to  this 
transaction,  the  writer  of  this  article  sent  a  list  of  names, 
which  included  most  of  the  adult  males  of  the  Sloop  party, 
to  the  district  attorney  of  Orleans  county,  Thomas  A. 
Kirby,  and  requested  him  to  make  a  careful  investigation  of 
the  county  records  in  relation  to  the  supposed  real  estate 
deal  between  Joseph  Fellows  and  the  first  Norwegian  immi- 
grants. He  answered  as  follows :  "  From  my  examination 
of  the  records  of  the  Orleans  county  clerk's  oflSice  I  do  not 
find  that  Joseph  Fellows  ever  deeded  any  property  about 
the  year  1825,  situated  in  the  town  of  Kendall,  or  Murray,  to 
any  of  the  individuals  named  in  your  communication  to  me 
of  October  15th,  1898.  Later  on,  in  1835,  a  Joseph  Fellows, 
of  Geneva,  deeded  property  to  different  individuals,  but  not 
any  of  them  corresponded  with  any  of  the  names  that  you 
have  given  me.    The  records  do  not  disclose,  as  far  as  I  can 


134  N      HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

ascertain,  tkat  Kleng  Peerson  bought  any  land  or  had  any- 
thing  to  do  with  the  transaction ;  but  our  early  records,  of 
course,  are  not  absolutely  accurate."  It  is  useless  to  theo- 
rize about  the  failure  of  the  Norwegian  settlers  at  Kendall  to 
secure  proper  titles  to  their  farms,  or  to  discuss  their  trials 
and  triumphs  at  that  place,  as  nearly  everything  in  regard  to 
them  is  clouded  in  obscurity.  Joseph  Fellows,  who  was  a 
Quaker,  appears  to  have  been  very  generous  to  them,  and  it 
would  be  unfair  to  assume  that  he  tried  to  defraud  them  out 
of  their  property.  Consequently,  they  themselves  must  have 
been  unable  to  comply  with  the  stipulations  about  the  bar- 
gain,  and  probably  he,  on  that  account,  sold  the  land  to  other 
parties  in  1835,  and  at  about  that  time  several  of  the 
original  settlers  sought  new  homes  in  some  of  the  Western 
states,  especially  in  La  Salle  county.  111.  With  probably  one 
or  two  exceptions,  not  a  single  descendant  of  the  Sloop  folks 
now  reside  at  Kendall.  There  are  some  Norwegians  today, 
but  they  are  later  arrivals. 

In  conclusion  it  must  be  said  that  the  real  historical  facts 
about  the  Sloop  party  are  few  and  contradictory.  Taken  all 
in  all,  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  whole  aflfair  seems  to  be 
this :  The  Stavanger  Quakers  had  through  Grellet,  as  well 
as  by  other  means,  learned  about  America  and  discussed  the 
desirability  of  emigrating  some  time  before  Kleng  Peerson's 
first  departure  or  return ;  but,  being  poor  and  slow  to  decide, 
the  execution  of  their  wishes  had  of  necessity  to  be  delayed. 
Parts  of  the  story,  at  least,  have  apparently  been  invented 
by  the  participants  for  the  sake  of  gaining  notoriety.  Judg- 
ing from  the  course  which  they  pursued,  it  would  be  more 
reasonable  to  believe  that  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  was  their 


THE  FIRST  NORWEGIAN  IMMIGRATION  TO  AMERICA.    1340 

intended  destination,  instead  of  New  York.  Considering 
their  unlawful  trade  in  England ;  their  idiotic  conduct  at  the 
island  of  Madeira;  and  their  extreme  poverty,  it  is  useless  to 
argue  about,  or  specify,  the  cause  or  causes  which  led  to  the 
departure.  The  Sloop  party  desired  to  get  out  of  Norway  in 
order  to  improve,  in  some  way,  their  material  condition,  and 
to  taste  the  sweet  experience  of  adventure— exactly  the 
same  motives  which  underlie  the  whole  Viking  and  emigra- 
tion periods.  Religious  persecution  may  have  been  the  pre- 
text, but  in  reality  was  not  the  cause.  The  temperament  of 
most  of  the  people  on  the  Restauration  was  such  that  they 
would  have  tried  to  emigrate,  even  if  the  whole  universe  had 
been  blessed  with  the  utmost  religious  freedom.  The  pro- 
geny of  the  Sloop  people  seem  to  have  been  as  completely 
lost  in  the  ocean  of  cosmopolitanism  as  the  doings  of  their 
forefathers  are  obscured  by  uncertainties.  Even  the  com- 
monly strong  cohesive  power  of  religion  has  been  tmable  to 
hold  any  number  of  them  together  either  in  regard  to  faith 
or  habitation.  Considered  as  a  unit,  the  immigrants  of  1825 
have  practically  exercised  no  influence ;  as  individuals  they 
and  their  offspring  have,  no  doubt,  been  peaceful  citizens  and 
desirable  subjects ;  but,  apparently,  hardly  any  of  them  have 
possessed  those  marked  characteristics  of  push  and  energy 
so  common  to  the  Norwegians  in  the  nineteenth  century. 
Many  Norwegian-Americans  have  made  a  wide  reputation 
for  themselves  in  a  few  years.  But  with  the  possible  excep- 
tion of  Col.  Porter  C.  Olson,  a  brave  Illinois  soldier  during 
the  Civil  war,  not  a  single  descendant  of  the  Sloop  party 
appears  to  have  distinguished  himself  in  any  line  during  the 
seventy-five  years  that  have  passed  since  the  Restauration 


134  P      HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

sailed  from  Stavanger  to  America  with  the  first  party  of 
Norwegian  immigrants. 


Swedish  Colony  at  Bishopshill,  Illinois. 

—BY- 
MAJOR   JOHN    SWAINSON. 


[Poblisbed  in  ScaDdinavia  in  ISSd,"] 

In  a  spirit  of  patriotic  exultation  one  of  the  poets  of 
Sweden  proclaims  his  native  land  the  "  Homestead  of  free- 
dom on  earth."  In  a  political  sensethis  boasting  expression 
may  be  justified.  From  the  earliest  dawn  of  fable-mixed 
history,  when  Sigge  Fridulfson  first  founded  the  embryo 
Swedish  commonwealth,  up  to  the  present  time,  the  king- 
dom of  Sweden  proper  ha^never  been  conquered  by  a  foreign 
foe.  Provinces  beyond  the  sea  were  won  and  lost,  but  the 
sea  and  mountain-girt  eastern  part  of  the  Scandinavian 
peninsula,  the  ancient  Swea  and  Gotha-land  was,  from  time 
immemorial,  inhabited  and  possessed  by  a  people  governed 
by  laws  of  their  own  making  and  by  constitutional  kings 
either  of  their  own  choosing  or  inheriting  the  throne  by  con- 
stitutional succession.  The  practice  of  entailing  estates — 
that  pernicious  inheritance  from  the  feudal  middle-age — 
which  at  onetime  prevailed  to  a  rather  alarming  extent,  was 
checked  in  its  growth  by  the  "reduction"  of  Charles  XI.,  and 
was  finally  abolished  by  legislation  in  the  beginning  of  this 

(13S) 


136  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

century.  As  a  consequence,  the  bulk  of  the  land  always  re- 
mained in  the  hands  of  a  class  of  independent  yeomen,  the 
owners  in  fee  simple  of  small  freeholds,  subject  only  to  taxes 
to  the  crown  and  to  the  municipality,  and  the  owners  them- 
selves entitled  to  representation  in  the  national  legislature. 

But  in  this  so  much  praised  and  cherished  freedom  of  the 
Swedish  people,  there  was  one  essential  element  wanting. 
Religious  liberty  did  not  exist.  According  to  the  law  of  the 
land  every  native  Swede  must  belong  to  the  established  Lu- 
theran church,  wjhether  or  not  his  religious  convictions 
agreed  with  the  doctrines  of  that  denomination.  The  pen- 
alty for  apostacy  was  exile.  It  may  seem  surprising,  almost 
incredible,  that  such  a  law — until  within  the  last  twenty 
years,  when  it  was  abolished,  or,  at  least  greatly  modified — 
could  prevail  among  such  an  enlightened  and  progressive 
people,  but  such  was  nevertheless  the  fact,  and  to  explain 
how  such  a  law  could  remain  in  force  so  long  is  both  difficult 
and  would  require  a  more  extended  review  of  the  history  of 
the  reformation  in  Sweden  than  space  here  will  permit.  It 
may,  however,  not  be  out  of  place  to  say  a  few  words  onthe^ 
subject. 

Gustavus  Vasa,  the  father  of  modem  Sweden,  also  be- 
came its  religious  regenerator.  Under  his  auspices,  at  the 
Diet  in  Westeras,  in  the  year  1527,  the  Swedes  severed  their 
connection  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  adopted  the  prin- 
ciples of  Martin  Luther.  This  was  effected  quite  peaceably, 
the  only  opponent  being  the  primate  of  Sweden,  Gustavus 
Trolle,  archbishop  of  Upsala,  who  made  war  on  the  king, 
but  was  speedily  put  down,  captured  and  sent  out  of  the 
country.    With  this  exception  the  whole  clergy,  more  or  less 


SWEDISH  COLONY  AT  BISHOPSHILL,  ILLINOIS.  137 

willingly,  it  may  be  supposed,  consented  to  the  change.  Ro- 
manism was  done  away  with,  but  the  church  organization 
was  retained.  The  bishops  and  clergy,  now  suddenly  trans- 
formed into  good  Lutherans,  were  in  most  instances  permit- 
ted to  remain  in  charge  of  their  offices ;  a  new  archbishop,  a 
disciple  of  Luther,  was  appointed,  and  thus  the  church  of 
Sweden  became  the  oldest  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  the 
world,  with  its  clerus  comitialis,  successio  apostolica,  and 
every  other  concomitant  for  a  complete  organization. 

During  the  reign  of  Gustavus  Vasa  and  that  of  his  old- 
est son  and  nearest  successor,  Ericus  XIV.,  the  work  of 
strengthening  the  reformation  went  on  peaceably.  Monas- 
taries  and  nunneries  were  abolished  and  their  rich  estates 
turned  over  to  the  crown ;  the  Bible  was  translated  into  the 
Swedish  language,  and  every  measure  adopted  to  put  the 
new-bom  Protestantism  on  a  firm  basis.  But  King  Ericus, 
being  taken  prisoner  dethroned  and  finally  murdered  by  a 
conspiracy  headed  by  his  own  brother,  John,  the  latter 
ascended  the  throne.  His  spouse,  Queen  Catherine,  a  Polish 
princess,  was  a  devoted  Roman  Catholic,  and  by  her  influ- 
ence the  king  became  a  secret  convert.  Their  son  and  heir, 
Sigismund,  was  educated  in  the  Roman  church,  and  strenu- 
ous efforts  made  to  re-establish  Romanism  in  the  kingdom. 
In  the  meantime  Prince  Sigismund,  on  account  of  his 
mother's  family  connections,  had  been  elected  king  of  Poland, 
and  at  the  death  of  his  father  returned  to  Sweden  at  the 
head  of  a  Polish  army  with  the  avowed  purpose  to  crush 
Protestantism  and  once  more  put  the  Swedes  under  the  rule 
of  the  papacy.  The  designs,  however,  were  frustrated.  The 
Protestants  gathered  under  his   uncle,  Duke   Charles,  the 


138  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

youngest  and  most  able  son  of  Gustavus  Vasa,  and  after 
several  bloody  encounters  Sigismund  had  to  return  to  Po- 
land, having  been  unable  to  effect  his  purpose,  was  debarred 
from  the  Swedish  succession  and  lived  and  died  as  king  of 
Poland.  Duke  Charles,  a  staunch  and  devoted  Lutheran, 
was  now  elected  king,  and  the  Lutheran  Protestant  church 
with  an  episcopal  organization,  became  the  established 
church  of  the  kingdom.  But  against  the  secret  machina- 
tions of  the  court  during  the  long  reign  of  John  III.  and  the 
open  attempts  of  Sigismund  to  re-establish  the  dominion  of 
the  papal  power,  the  young  Protestant  church  doubtless  had 
a  hard  struggle  to  maintain  itself,  and  since  it  issued  from 
the  ordeal  victorious,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  strin- 
gent measures  were  taken  forever  to  prevent  a  recurrence, 
and  to  this  source,  in  our  opinion,  must  be  traced  the  laws 
against  religious  freedom  in  Sweden,  which  until  quite  re- 
cently, have  remained  in  force  and  both  at  home  and  abroad 
have  attracted  so  much  criticism ;  mostly,  however,  abroad, 
for  the  Swedish  people  were,  and  we  think,  are  j^et,  most  de- 
voted Lutherans.  Any  apostasy  from  the  established 
church  finds  little  favor  or  sympathy  among  the  Swedish 
community  at  large,  and  there  is  not  in  the  whole  Roman 
calendar  a  saint,  whose  memory  is  held  in  higher  veneration 
among  the  faithful  than  is  among  the  Swedish  Lutherans 
that  of  the  Great  Reformer.  But  while  these  laws  were 
still  in  force,  they  were  in  reality  a  dead  letter  and  almost 
unknown,  because  there  was  no  occasion  for  their  aoplica- 
tion ;  and  we  cannot  remember  many  instances  where  the 
penalty  of  exile  has  been  inflicted.  Public  worship  among 
the  Swedes  in  any  other  form  than  according  to  the  estab- 


SWEDISH  COLONY  AT  BISHOPSHILL,  ILLINOIS.  139 

lished  church,  or  conducted  by  other  persons  than  the  regu- 
lar clergy,  was  forbidden,  and  if  attempted,  would  doubtless 
be  prohibited. 

While  such  a  state  of  things  existed,  there  lived,  some 
forty  years  ago,  in  one  of  the  Middle  Provinces  of  Sweden,  a 
man  by  the  name  of  Eric  Janson.  He  was  bom  December  19, 
1808,  the  son  of  a  small  farmer.  On  account  of  the  poverty 
of  his  parents  he  was  prevented  from  attendance  in  the  pub- 
lic schools,  and  consequently  his  book  learning  was  of  the 
most  limited  kind,  being  principally  acquired  by  the  aid  of 
the  minister  of  the  parish  while  preparing  for  his  first  com- 
munion. The  tendency  of  his  mind  was  religious.  He  main- 
tained that  already  at  an  early  age  he  had  experienced  a 
deep  repentance  of  sin  and  become  a  convert,  feeling  at  the 
same  time  the  greatest  desire  to  gain  knowledge  in  matters 
spiritual.  For  this  purpose  he  read  with  avidity  all  books  on 
such  topics  within  his  reach,  but  he  soon  threw  them  all 
away  as  unsatisfactory,  and  thenceforward  the  Bible  became 
his  only  study  for  guidance  and  consolation. 

Eric  Janson  remained  with  his  father  until  he  was  twen- 
ty-seven years  old,  when  he  married  and  first  rented  but 
afterward  purchased  a  small  farm.  He  was  distinguished 
for  honesty,  sobriety,  and  the  most  untiring  industry,  and  in 
the  whole  neighborhood  he  was  recognized  as  the  hardest 
worker  in  the  field.  During  this  ceaseless  toil  his  interest  in 
religious  matters,  far  from  diminishing,  was  constantly  in» 
creasing.  He  felt  an  unconquerable  desire,  a  glowing  enthu- 
siasm, which  exhorted  him  to  make  known  his  thoughts  out- 
side the  immediate  circle  of  his  home.  With  this  end  in  view, 
in  the  spring  of  1842,  he  made  an  excursion  to  the  adjoining 


140  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

province  of  Helsingland,  where  he  put  himself  in  communica- 
tion with  some  piously  disposed  people  and  held  a  number  of 
religious  meetings.    This  visit  he  repeated  and  in  the  course 
of  two  years  he  returned  time  and  again  to  the  field  of  his 
missionary   work  without   any  molestation.    Those   who 
heard  him,  among  whom  often  were  found  several  of  the 
more  progressive  of  the  regular  clergy,  assert  without  hcsi- 
tation  that  Janson  was  a  most  forcible  preacher,  that  his  re- 
ligious tenets  in  no  essential  respect  were  different  from  the 
fundamental  principles  common  to  all  Evangelical  churches, 
and  that  his  style  of  delivery  and  mode  of  teaching  and  ex- 
hortation nearest  resembled  those  of  the  Methodists.    The 
movement  swept  over  the  Province  with  the  strength  of  a 
tornado.     People  by  thousands  flocked  to  hear  the  new 
preacher;    the  churches  stood  empty;  families  became  sun- 
dered, some  adhering  to  the  old  church,  others  following  the 
new,  and  finally  the  Jansonites,  as  they  were  called,  disdain- 
ing any  other  book  but  the  Bible,  publicly  burned  all  other 
books  of  religious  content,  including  the  Common  Prayer- 
book  of  the  Church  of  Sweden.    This  brought  matters  to  a 
crisis.     The  authorities,  fearing  serious  disturbances,  had 
Eric  Janson  arrested  in  the  spring  of  1844,     After  a  short 
imprisonment  and  a  hearing  before  the  governor  of  his  Prov- 
ince, lie  was  discharged  with  instructions  to  again  appear 
whenever  wanted.    During  the  following  two  years  he  made 
repeated  attempts  to  continue  his  religious  work  among  the 
people,  but  was  each  time  arrested  and  suffered  imprison- 
ment on  three  or  four  occasions.    Finally,  disheartened  and 
despairing  of  success  in  his  native  land,  Eric  Janson,  with  a 
few  faithful  followers,  escaped  over  the  mountains  into  Nor- 


SWEDISH  COLONY  AT  BISHOPSHILL,  ILLINOIS.  141 

-way,  in  January,  1846,  from  whence  he  repaired  to  Copen- 
hagen, where  he  embarked  on  a  vessel  which  landed  him  in 
New  York  in  the  spring  of  the  same  year.  In  the  month  of 
July  following  he  finally  arrived  in  the  hamlet  of  Victoria, 
Knox  county,  Illinois. 

Prompted  by  these  repeated  annoyances  and  persecutions, 
Eric  Janson  and  his  followers  resolved  to  forsake  their  native 
|and  and  find  new  homes  in  America,  for  it  was  not  Eric 
alone  who  suffered.  Several  of  his  adherents  had  been  sub- 
ject to  fine  and  imprisonment  for  the  most  trifling  offenses 
against  the  old  and  obsolete  **Conventicle-law."  Eric,  pre- 
vious to  leaving  the  country,  had  made  all  necessary  prep- 
arations,  and  appointed  four  trusty  friends  as  leaders  of  the 
movement.  But  it  is  safe  to  say,  that  in  his  colonization 
plan,  did  not  enter  any  of  those  communistic  and  socialistic 
principles,  which  afterwards  found  a  practical  application  in 
the  colony.  These  were  the  fruits  of  necessity.  In  preparing 
to  leave,  those  of  the  Jansonites  possessed  of  any  property, 
converted  this  into  ready  cash,  retaining  only  necessary 
clothing  and  bedding.  But  now  it  was  found  that  one  thou- 
sand one  himdred  persons  wished  to  join  the  intended  col- 
ony, and  of  these  only  a  smaller  number  were  able  to  defray 
the  necessary  expenses.  The  aggregate  of  their  means  was 
now  made  a  common  fund  and  put  in  the  hands  of  trustees, 
with  the  object  of  assisting  the  needy  to  follow  their  breth- 
ren. Every  one  contributed  his  all,  some  as  much  as  from 
two  thousand  to  six  thousand  dollars.  Some  of  the  emi- 
grants  had  debts,  and  these  were  paid  from  the  common 
treasury.  Some  were  soldiers,  and  their  release  from  the 
army  was  purchased  with  means  from  the  same  source. 


142  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

In  our  days  of  perfect  communication  by  rail  and 
steamer,  when  a  trip  from  Sweden  to  America  can  be  easily 
and  comfortably  made  in  about  two  weeks,  it  is  hard  to 
imagine  the  hardships  of  such  a  voyage  forty  years  ago. 
Emigration  was  then  unknown  and  no  vessels  found  fitted 
for  that  purpose.  The  only  Swedish  ships  trading  on 
America  carried  cargoes  of  iron  and  were  often  old  hulks  of 
inferior  quality.  In  several  such  vessels,  temporarily  fitted 
up  to  receive  emigrants,  the  first  parties  of  Jansonites  left 
their  native  land  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1846.  One  of 
these  vessels,  with  fifty  passengers,  was  never  heard  of; 
another  was  wrecked  on  Newfoundland,  but  the  people  saved; 
a  third  was  five  months  on  the  way,  during  which  time  the 
unhappy  emigrants  suffered  greatly  from  both  sickness  and 
famine. 

But  one  after  another  these  several  parties  joined  their 
leader  in  Victoria,  Illinois,  so  that  by  the  end  of  the  year 
1846  their  number  amounted  to  about  four  hundred. 

In  the  meantime,  Eric  Janson,  anticipating  the  arrival  of 
his  friends,  had  purchased  several  pieces  of  land  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, some  of  which  had  improvements ;  but  as  town- 
site  for  the  new  settlement  was  selected  the  southeast  quar- 
ter of  section  14,  in  Weller  township,  Henry  county,  which 
was  bought  of  the  government  for  two  hundred  dollars,  and 
the  intended  town  was  named  Bishopshill,  which  is  a  literal 
translation  of  Eric  Janson's  native  place  (BiskopskuUa)  in 
Sweden. 

The  first  care  now  was  to  prepare  shelter  for  all  this  peo- 
ple. For  this  purpose  were  built  several  large  log  houses  and 
two  tents  of  large  dimensions,  besides  which  a  turf  house 


SWEDISH  COLONY  AT  BISHOPSHILL,  ILLINOIS.  143 

served  as  a  kitchen  and  dining-room;  but  these  accommoda- 
tions proving  inadequate,  resort  was  had  to  what  in  the 
west  is  popularly  called  "dug-outs,"  which  are  merelycellars 
-with  a  roof  over,  and  a  door  and  window  in  front,  the  most 
suitable  place  for  such  a  resort  being  a  sloping  hillside.  Of 
these  twelve  were  built,  generally  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  in 
length,  eighteen  in  width,  furnished  with  bunks  on  the  sides, 
a  fire-place  in  the  rear,  and  rooming  twenty-five  to  thirty 
persons. 

It  may  easily  be  understood  that  among  a  people  with 
whom  religion  was  paramount,  the  first  thought  was  to  pre- 
pare a  place  of  worship,  if  ever  so  primitive.  With  this  end 
in  view  they  first  dug  a  ditch  two  feet  deep,  and  in  this,  on  a 
foundation  of  timber,  a  middle  wall  of  logs  was  built,  from 
which  a  roof  of  canvas  was  stretched  to  both  sides.  On  the 
north  side  was  the  pulpit  and  entrance;  on  the  south  the  fire- 
place ;  the  whole  seating  eight  hundred  to  one  thousand  peo- 
ple. In  this  tabernacle,  during  the  fall  and  winter,  service 
was  held  twice  a  day  on  week  days,  and  three  times  on  Sun- 
days. Eric  Janson  himself  rose  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing and  roused  the  people  to  morning  prayer,  which  often 
lasted  two  hours.  The  second  service  was  in  the  evening. 
During  the  summer  these  meetings  were  discontinued  and 
supplemented  by  an  open-air  midday  meeting  in  the  grove. 

Nor  was  school  instruction  neglected.  At  such  times, 
when  the  weather  did  not  permit  outdoor  work,  instruction 
by  competent  teachers,  was  given  to  the  full-grown  people, 
of  whom  many  werp  ignorant  in  reading  and  writing,  the 
above  church-tent  being  used  as  a  school-room,  while  for  the 
children  school  was  kept  in  one  of  the  dug-outs.    Besides 


144  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

these  there  was  also  another  institution  of  learning  of  far 
greater  pretentions.  The  Jansonites,  being  convinced  that 
the  depository  of  all  the  saving  truths  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion was  found  within  their  little  community,  considered  it 
their  duty  to  let  their  light  shine  before  men  by  missionaries 
sent  out  from  the  colony.  For  this  purpose  twelve  of  their 
brightest  young  men  were  selected  to  devote  themselves  to 
the  ministry  and  put  in  system  the  Jansonian  theology,  but 
first  and  foremost  to  learn  the  English  language,  their 
studies  being  led  by  the  more  advanced  members  of  the 
societ3\ 

One  of  the  earliest  diflSculties  the  colonists  had  to  con- 
tend with  was  to  provide  flour  for  bread,  the  nearest  grist- 
mill being  twenty-eight  miles  distant,  and  this,  as  well  as 
some  others,  still  farther  out  of  the  way,  often  out  of  order. 
To  obviate  this  trouble  a  watermill  with  a  large  wheel  was 
built  at  the  creek  running  through  Bishopshill.  Unfortu- 
nately, however,  the  water  supply  in  the  creek  was  often 
so  small  that  it  could  not  furnish  the  mill  with  necessary 
power.  This  new  trouble  was  overcome  in  a  manner  both 
ingenious,  simple,  and  practical;  the  health  of  the  young 
theologians,  the  elders  thought,  might  suffer  by  the  effects  of 
a  too  sedentary  life,  and  to  obviate  this  they  were,  at  inter- 
vals between  their  studies,  invited  to  step  inside  the  wheel  of* 
the  mill,  and  put  this  in  motion  by  tramping  at  such  occa- 
sions when  the  water  supply  was  short  in  the  creek.  Some- 
what later  a  windmill  was  put  up  in  the  other  end  of  the 
village,  and  between  the  wind  power  •  on  one  side  and  the 
tramping  theological  candidates  on  the  other,  the  needs  of  the 
people  for  bread  were  pretty  well  filled.    Some  years  after- 


SWEDISH  COLONY  AT  BISHOPSHTLL,  ILLINOIS.  145 

-wards,  however,  a  fine  steam  mill  was  built  which  supplied 
not  only  the  colony,  but  thewholesurroundingcountry  with 
breadstuff. 

Several  additional  pieces  of  land  were  now  purchased  for 
the  colony,  and  on  two  of  these  were  found  timber  as  well  as 
sawmills,  so  that  hereafter  the  colony  had  ample  supply  of 
lumber.  Nor  was  the  farming  interest  neglected.  Three 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  prairie  land  was  broken  the  first 
year,  of  which  part  was  sowed  with  flax,  and  the  remainder 
-with  wheat.  In  the  native  province  of  a  majority  of  these 
people  the  cultivation  of  flax  and  the  manufacture  of  linen  is 
one  of  the  leading  industries,  and  soon  became  of  the  same 
importance  to  the  colonists  in  their  new  home. 

In  the  summer  of  1847  the  colony  received  an  addition 
of  four  hundred  adult  emigrants,  besides  children.  To  pro- 
vide shelter  for  these  became  of  prime  necessity,  and  several 
more  dug-outs  were  built.  But  the  consequences  of  living  in 
the  unhealthy,  ill-ventilated  dwellings,  showed  themselves 
soon.  Sickness  set  in,  mostly  chills  and  fevers,  and  many 
fell  victims  to  these  diseases.  But  better  buildings  were,  after 
some  time,  provided — first  small  frame  tenements  and  houses 
of  sun-dried  brick,  and  later,  large  and  substantial  brick 
houses.  In  the  summer  of  1849  a  party  of  Norwegians,  on 
their  way  to  join  the  colony,  was  attacked  by  cholera  be- 
tween Chicago  and  Bishopshill,  and  brought  with  them  the 
disease,  to  which  one  hundred  and  forty-three  fell  victims, 
among  them  Eric  Janson's  wife  and  children.  The  following 
year  another  party  of  Jansonites,  numbering  one  hundred 
and  fifty,  was  assailed  by  the  same  fell  destroyer,  on  a 
steamer  between  Buffalo  and  Milwaukee,  and  hardlv  one- 

11 


146  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

half  of  the  number  reaxrhed  their  destination.  But  while  the 
number  of  colonists  was  thus  increased  by  accessions  from 
the  old  country,  their  ranks  were  constantly  diminished  by 
the  influence  of  Jonas  Hedstrom,a  Swede,  and  zealous  Meth- 
odist missionary,  who  persuaded  between  two  and  three 
hundred  of  the  Jansonites  to  leave  the  colony  and  join  his 
communion. 

We  have  above  alluded  to  the  cultivation  of  flax  and 
the  manufacture  of  linen  by  the  colonists.  The  weaving  was 
the  exclusive  work  of  the  women,  who  devoted  themselves 
to  the  work  with  the  most  untiring  energy,  as  evidenced  by 
the  fact  that  during  a  period  of  ten  years,  from  1847  to 
1857,  130,309  yards  of  linen  and  22,569  mats,  besides  what 
was  used  for  home  consumption,  were  disposed  of  at  highly 
remunerative  prices,  the  manufacture  finding  a  ready  sale  in 
the  surrounding  country.  After  the  last  named  period  the 
manufacture  was  discontinued,  except  for  their  own  use,  on 
account  of  competition  from  the  eastern  states. 

Another  and  still  more  important  industry  was  the 
cultivation  and  adaption  for  sale  of  broom-corn,  which  has 
proved  one  of  the  greatest  sources  of  income  for  the  people 
of  Bishopshill. 

Even  to  this  peaceful  and  religious  community  did  the 
California  gold  fever  penetrate.  Their  old  fundamental  prin- 
ciple, **  Godliness  with  a  content  mind  is  winning  enough," 
had  given  way  for  a  desire  to  make  money,  and  in  the  spring 
of  1850  an  expedition  consisting  of  nine  men,  with  necessary 
outfit,  was  sent  to  dig  gold  in  California.  After  many  hard- 
ships the  party  reached  the  gold-land,  but  all,  except  one 
who  died  and  another  who  remained  on  the  Pacific  coast. 


SWEDISH  COLONY  AT  BISHOPSHILL,  ILLINOIS.  147 

returned  the  year  following,  the  trip  merely  paying  expenses. 
In  the  fall  of  1848  there  arrived  at  Bishopshill  a  man 
who  called  himself  Root,  although  many  suspected  that  this 
-was  an  assumed  name.  He  was  a  man  of  education  and 
good  address,  but  a  base  adventurer  and  desperado  withal. 
Having  gained  the  good  will  of  the  community,  he  applied  to 
be  received  as  a  member  of  the  society,  which  was  granted. 
Later  on  he  married  a  young  woman  of  the  colony,  a  cousin 
of  Eric  Janson,  the  express  ante-nuptial  agreement  being, 
that  if  Root  ever  wanted  to  discontinue  his  connection  with 
the  society,  he  should  also  part  with  his  wife  and  the  latter 
be  allowed  to  remain  at  Bishopshill.  Dissatisfaction  with  the 
new  member  soon  was  apparent.  In  this  industrious  hive 
he  was  a  drone,  and  spent  his  time  either  in  hunting  or 
absenting  himself  from  the  colony  at  short  intervals.  On  his 
return  from  one  of  these  trips  he  found  that  his  wife  had  pre- 
sented him  with  a  son.  He  wished  now  to  take  her  away 
from  Bishopshill,  which  was  resisted.  Thwarted  in  an 
attempt  of  forcible  abduction,  and  after  twice  without  suc- 
cess attacking  the  colony  at  the  head  of  a  mob,  he  finally 
sued  Eric  Janson  for  the  possession  of  his  wife.  One  day, 
while  the  litigation  was  going  on,  at  the  May  term,  1 850,  of 
the  court  in  Cambridge,  while  all  had  left  the  court-room  for 
dinner  except  Eric  Janson,  Root  entered,  and  calling  Janson 
by  name,  shot  him  dead.  The  murderer  was  arrested,  and  he 
was  sentenced  to  three  years  in  the  penitentiary.  Having 
served  out  his  term  he  went  to  Chicago,  where  he  soon  after 
died  in  great  misery. 

The  gloom  which  the  death  of  Eric  Janson  had  thrown 
over  the  colony  did  not  slacken  its  industry.    The  material 


148         BISTORT  OP  THB  SCANDINAYIAlfS  IN  THE  U.  8. 


progress  hastened  forward  with  large  strides.  The  annual 
earnings  were  considerable.  Large  tracts  of  land  were  pur- 
chased,  but  the  colony  not  being  incoxporated,  such  lands 
must  be  bought  in  the  name  of  some  member,  which,  in  case 
of  death  of  the  nominal  purchaser,  often  caused  great  trouble 
at  the  probate  court.  In  the  meantime  everTthing  re^ 
mained  without  any  legal  organization.  The  same  men  who 
had  been  nominated  as  leaders  by  Eric  Janson  upon  leaving 
Sweden,  still  had  charge  of  all  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  and 
administered  the  same  according  to  their  own  sweet  will.  It 
had,  however,  always  been  considered  only  a  temporary  ar- 
rangement,  which  in  time  must  be  supplanted  by  something 
permanent. 

In  the  year  1853  the  colony  was  incorporated  under  a 
charter  of  the  legislature  of  Illinois.  By  its  provisions  the 
management  of  all  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  colony  was 
vested  in  seven  trustees,  who  were  to  retain  their  offices  for 
life,  or  on  good  behavior.  It  seems  the  community,  whose 
interests  were  at  stake,  was  never  consulted  or  even  given  an 
opportunity  to  express  a  wish  in  regard  to  the  choice  of 
these  trustees.  As  a  matter  of  course  the  same  persons  who 
had  in  their  keeping  all  the  resources  of  the  colony  ever  since 
the^"  left  Sweden,  had  their  names  put  in  the  charter  to  fill 
these  responsible  positions.  They  were:  Jonas  Olson,  Olof 
Johnson,  Jonas  Erickson,  Jacob  Jacobson,  Swan  Swanson, 
Peter  Johnson,  and  Jonas  Kronberg.  Of  these  five  were 
f5rom  the  parish  of  Soderala,  and  related ;  and  the  rest  of  the 
parishes  from  Sweden  were  represented  by  the  other  two  trus- 
tees. Nobody  at  the  time  seemed  to  understand  the  danger 
of  this  charter.    At  least  nobody  protested.    The  men  had 


SWEDISH  COLONY  AT  BISHOPSHILL|  ILLINOIS.  149 

hitherto  enjoyed  tmlimited  confidence,  why  not  hereafter? 
Besides,  the  spiritual  interests  were  paramount  in  the  hearts 
and  minds  of  the  colonists.  Temporal  matters  were  of  sub- 
ordinate importance  to  the  religious  idea  which  was  the 
foundation  of  the  colony,  and  kept  its  members  together. 

We  had  occasion  this  year  to  visit  the  colony,  and  were 
reoeiTed  with  the  greatest  kindness  and  hospitality.  Every- 
thing, seemingly,  was  on  the  top  of  prosperity.  The  people 
lived  in  large,  substantial  brick  houses.  We  had  never  before 
seen  so  large  a  farm,  nor  one  so  well  cultivated.  One  of  the 
trustees  took  us  to  an  adjacent  hill,  from  which  we  had  in 
view  the  colony's  cultivated  fields,  stretching  away  for  miles. 
In  one  place  we  noticed  fifty  young  men  with  the  same  num- 
ber of  horses  and  plows  cultivating  a  cornfield,  where  every 
furrow  was  two  miles  in  length.  They  moved  with  the  regu- 
larity of  soldiers.  In  another  part  was  a  field  of  a  thousand 
acres  in  broom  corn,  the  product  of  which,  when  baled,  was 
to  be  delivered  to  Boston  parties  at  Peoria,  and  was  sup- 
posed to  yield  an  income  of  fifty  thousand  dollars.  All  their 
live  stock  was  exceptionally  fine,  and  apparently  given  the 
best  care.  There  was  a  stable  of  more  than  one  htmdred 
horses,  the  equals  of  which  would  be  hard  to  find.  One 
evening  I  was  brought  to  an  inclosure  on  the  prairie,  where 
the  cows  were  milked.  There  must  have  been  at  least  two 
hundred  of  them,  and  the  milkmaids  numbered  forty  or  fifty. 
There  was  a  large  wagon,  in  which  an  immense  tub  was  sus- 
pended on  four  posts,  and  in  this  each  girl,  ascending  to  the 
top  by  a  stepladder,  emptied  her  pail.  The  whole  process 
was  over  in  half  an  hour.  On  Stmday  I  attended  service. 
There  was  singing  and  prayer,  and  the  sermon,  by  one  of  the 


150  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  V,  S. 

leaders,  contained  nothing  that  a  member  of  any  Christian 
denomination  might  not  hear  in  his  own  church.  Altogether, 
I  retain  the  most  agreeable  remembrance  of  this  visit. 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  stop  here,  for  the  rest  of  this  lit- 
tle sketch  is  a  mournful  tale,  and  I  shall  pass  through  it  as 
quickly  as  possible. 

The  first  account  of  the  affairs  of  the  colony  was  given 
by  the  trustees  in  the  year  1855.  According  to  the  same  the 
real  and  personal  property  amounted  to  about  $500,000, 
and  the  debts  to  $18,000.  Now  the  trustees,  havingunder 
their  absolute  control  all  the  resources  of  the  colony,  gave 
themselves  up  to  speculation.  They  made  the  new  town  of 
Galva,  a  station  on  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy 
Railroad,  near  Bishopshill,  the  principal  place  of  their  oper- 
ations. Here  they  built  a  large  warehouse  and  also  opened 
a  store  of  general  merchandise.  They  dealt  in  grain  and 
lumber,  speculated  in  railroad  and  bank  stock,  and  carried 
on  a  large  pork-packing  house.  On  all  these  different  under- 
takings, it  is  asserted,  they  lost  heavily;  on  the  pork-pack- 
ing alone  about  $60,000.  Thus  the  resources  accumulated 
by  the  hard  labor  of  the  colonists  were  squandered  in  a  short 
time. 

The  next  report  of  the  trustees,  delivered  in  1860, 
showed  assets  to  the  amount  of  $846,277,  from  which  must 
be  deducted  debts  of  $75,64?5,  leaving  a  balance  of  $770,- 
632  This  statement  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  colonists, 
and  the  accounts  being  given  in  the  hands  of  a  special  Mas- 
ter in  Chancery,  he  discovered  a  further  liability  of  $42,- 
759.33,  which  the  trustees  tried  to  conceal.  This  discovery, 
of  course,  made  the  colonists  lose  confidence  in  their  trustees. 


SWEDISH  COLONY  AT  BISHOPSHILL,  ILLINOIS.  151 

Added  to  this  came  religious  dissensions.  A  party  of  Shalf 
crs  from  Pleasant  Hill,  Kentucky,  had  gained  entrance  in  the 
colony  and  found  not  a  few  adherents  to  their  peculiar  doc- 
trines. Marital  relations  were  interfered  with,  the  young 
people  were  forbidden  to  enter  matrimony,  families  were  sun- 
dered, the  whole  colony  was  broken  up  in  warring  factions, 
and  of  the  strong  religious  feeling  that  kept  them  together 
in  the  days  of  Eric  Janson,  hardly  a  vestige  was  left.  Disso- 
lution was  inevitable  and  was  at  hand.  It  took  place  on 
February  14, 1860,  and  was  still  further  perfected  in  1861. 
Property  to  the  value  of  $592,793  was  divided  among  415 
shareholders.  The  remainder  of  the  property,  according  to 
the  statement  of  1860,  amounting  to  $248,861,  was  put  in 
the  hands  of  the  old  trustees  to  pay  the  accrued  debt  of 
$118,403.33,  and  five  years  time  given  them  to  effect  the 
liquidation ;  but  it  being  soon  apparent  that  the  sum  thus 
put  aside  for  paying  the  debt  was  not  suflScient,  on  account 
of  a  number  of  worthless  items,  a  further  amount  of  $52,- 
762  was  delivered  to  the  trustees  by  the  colonists.  At  the 
expiration  of  five  years  the  trustees  informed  the  people  that 
$100,000  were  still  needed  to  pay  the  debt,  and  actually  col- 
lected in  cash  $56,163.71.  Time  rolled  on.  The  trustees 
never  gave  any  statement  about  payment  of  the  debt,  but 
instead  of  this,  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1868,  came  no- 
tice that  a  still  larger  amount  was  required  to  settle  the 
obligations  of  the  colony.  This  brought  matters  to  a  crisis. 
Forbearance  ceased  to  be  a  virtue.  The  unfortunate  colon- 
ists appointed  a  committee  to  wait  upon  the  trustees  and 
demand  an  account,  and  the  latter  flatly  refused  anything  of 
the  kind,  litigation  commenced,  which  lasted    five  years, 


152  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

when  a  verdict  was  given  by  which  the  colonists  were  made 
to  pay  $57,782.90,  of  which  amount  $46,290  were  expenses 
for  the  suit  and  lawyers'  fees.  Besides  this  the  colonists  dur 
ing  the  litigation  assumed  responsibility  for  the  whole  of  the 
old  colony  debt  with  interest  amounting  to  $158,000  minus 
the  amounts  paid  in  between  the  years  1860-1868.  Thus,  to 
pay  a  debt  in  1860  of  $118,403.33,  these  ill-fated  people 
have  actually  expended  in  cash  $413,124.61,  and  in  prop- 
erty $259,786,  or  in  the  aggregate  $672,910.61.  This  seems 
absurd  and  increditable,  but  the  above  are  all  official 
figures. 

Finally,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  majority  of  those 
now  dwelling  in  this  at  the  outset  so  ultra-religious  colony, 
do  not  belong  to  any  church  organization.  That  they  are 
utterly  indifferent  to  theological  dogmas  is  hardly  to  be  won- 
dered at  when  we  remember  the  chaos  in  this  respect  prevail- 
ing and  the  number  of  schools  they  have  passed  through 
without  finding  anything  tenable.  But  from  this  we  must 
not  conclude  that  the  moral  standard  is  low.  It  may,  on 
the  contrary,  truly  be  said  that  the  general  morality  is  no- 
where better,  and  that  the  population  in  and  around  Bish- 
opshill  is  distin^ished  for  honesty,  strict  sobriety,  peaceful- 
ness,  and  enduring  industry. 


This  artiele,  pabliBhed  in  ^*Se«iidinaTia'*  in  1885,  was  earefnlly  reyised,  espeeiallj 
in  regard  to  faets,  bj  SkordaisTold  and  myself  in  1899.  Wefoand  it  was  largely  based 
npon,  often  being  a  literal  translation  of,  a  chapter  of  *'8?enskame  i  Illinois/*  by  John* 
son  and  Peterson.  The  same  is  troe  of  M  A.  Mikkelsen's  history,  issued  in  1892.  In  the 
latter  work  it  is  asserted  that  the  majority  of  the  Jansonists  became  Methodists ;  that 
the  shore,  mills,  and  factories  in  the  town  are  empty ;  that  ererything  presents  the 
appearance  of  a  deserted  Tillage,  with  only  abont  330  inhabitants.  The  third  Tolnme 
will  contain  a  biography  of  Brio  Jansoo,  uid  additional  information  on  tkie  colony.^ 
Editob. 


The  Fifteenth  Wisconsin,  or  Scandinavian, 

Regiment. 


—  BY  — 

R.  Q.  DIETTRICHSON. 


[Pnbliabed  in  Scandinavia    in  1884,"] 

Already  from  the  very  outbreak  of  our  late  civil  war,  a 
great  many  Scandinavians  in  the  northwestern  states  enter- 
tained the  idea  of  forming  a  volunteer  regiment,  and,  as 
soon  as  the  public  appeal  had  been  issued  by  the  Governor 
of  Wisconsin,  Honorable  Alexander  W.  Randall,  our  coun- 
tryman, responded  with  hearty  promptitude.  The  formation 
of  this  regiment,  which  became  known  as  the  Fifteenth  In- 
fantry of  Wisconsin,  was  commenced  at  Camp  Randall, 
Madison,  in  December,  1861.  Its  members  were  chiefly  com- 
posed of  the  Scandinavian  population  of  that  state.  The 
Honorable  Hans  Heg,  formerly  state-prison  commissioner, 
was  appointed  colonel  of  the  regiment,  and,  under  his  super- 
vision, the  organization  was  effected.  He  had  previously 
been  renominated  as  commissioner,  but  a  desire  to  serve  his 
country  in  the  field  led  him  to  choose  the  duties  of  a  soldier. 
The  regiment  roster  was  as  follows : 

(163) 


154  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

• 

Hans  C.  Hbg,  Colonel. 
K.  K.  Jonea    Lieut.-Colonel.  Charles  M.  Reese,  Major. 

Hans  C.  Borchsenius,  Adj.  Die  He^,  Quartermaster. 

Stephen  0.  Himoe,  Surgeon.  S.  I.  Hansen,  1st  Assist.  Surgeon. 

G.  P.  Newell,  2d  Assist.  Surgeon.         C.  h,  Clausen,  Army  Chaplain. 

CAPTAINS.  FIB8T  LXEUTENANTS. 

Company  A — Andrew  Thorkildson.     Company  A^Emanuel  Engelstad. 

B — Ole  C.  Johnson.  '*  B— Joseph  Mathiesen. 

C— Frederik  B.  Berg.  *'  C— Hans  Hansen. 

D— Charles  Campbell.  "  D— Albert  Skofstad. 

E— John  Ingmundson.  **  E— William  Tjentland. 

F— Charles  Gustavson.  "  F— Thor  SimonBon. 

G— John  A.  Gordon.  "  G— Henry  Haiiff. 

H — Knud  J.  Sime.  '*  H— Andrew  A.  Brown. 

I — August  Gasman.  "  I — Reynard  Cook. 

K — Mons  Grinager.  "  K— Ole  Peterson. 

SECONn   LIEUTENANTS. 

Company  A — Oliver  Thompson.  Company  F — Svend  Samuelson. 

B— George  Wilson.  **         G— Will.  A.  Montgomery. 

C— John  T.  Rice.  "         H— John  L.  Johnson. 

D— Christian  E.  Tandberg.  "         I— Martin  Russell. 

E— John  M.  Johnson.  "        K— Olaus  Solberg. 

On  the  2d  of  March,  1862,  the  regiment  left  Madison 
amid  the  cheers  of  the  people,  having  been  escorted  to  the 
depot  by  the  Sixteenth  Regiment,  Colonel  Allen,  who  gave 
them  their  good  wishes  and  an  earnest  farewell  with  the 
voice  of  a  booming  cannon.  The  Fifteenth  had  nearly  nine 
hundred  men,  a  few  of  them  Americans,  while  some  of  the 
Norwegians  had  been  in  America  less  than  a  year. 

The  material  of  the  regiment  looked  hardy  and  active, 
and  some  of  its  number  had  served  in  foreign  armies.  On 
their  route  to  Chicago,  they  encountered  a  snow-storm,  and, 
at  one  point,  were  obliged  to  shovel  their  way  through  it, 


(t 


(( 


THE  15th  WISCONSIN,  OR  SCANDINAYIAN,  REGIMENT.       155 

but,  at  their  arrival  in  Chicago,  they  were  cordially  met  by 
the  Scandinavian  society,  Nora  Lodge,  and  by  them  pre- 
sented with  a  flag,  having,  on  one  side,  the  American  colors, 
and  on  the  reverse,  the  American  and  Norwegian  arms 
tinited,  the  Norwegian  being  the  picture  of  a  lion  with  an 
axe,  on  a  red  field.  The  committee  that  made  the  presenta* 
tion  consisted  of  Messrs.  S.  T.  Gunderson,  G.  Roberg,  A.  An- 
derson,  A.  Loberg,  and  C.  Dietrichson.  Prom  Chicago  they 
proceeded  to  St.  Louis,  where  they  were  ordered  to  Bird's 
Point,  Mo.,  opposite  Cairo,  and  at  that  place  they  disem- 
barked for  the  purpose  of  going  into  encampment.  How- 
ever, the  regiment  did  not  engage  in  any  action  of  import- 
ance until  they  joined  an  expedition  of  fifteen  hundred  men 
to  Union  City,  Tenn.,  where  a  force  of  rebels  were  to  be  cap- 
tured. They  left  Hickman,  Kentucky,  on  the  11th  of  June, 
in  the  afternoon,  and  went  to  within  four  miles  of  Union 
City,  where  they  camped  for  the  night.  The  march  was  very 
rapid.  Everybody  was  arrested  on  the  road  who  was  likely 
to  advertise  their  approach.  The  next  morning,  shortly  be- 
fore  seven,  the  first  shots  of  the  pickets  were  heard,  and  soon 
after  our  forces  opened  on  the  rebels,  who  fired  their  camp 
and  fled,  leaving  swords,  pistols,  and  much  clothing  behind 
them.  Among  other  trophies  taken  was  a  secession  flag, 
captured  by  Company  G,  on  which  was  inscribed:  "Hill's 
Cavalry;  Victory  or  Death,"  from  which  it  would  be  legiti- 
mately inferred  that  the  whole  regiment  was  killed,  since 
that  was  the  only  alternative  of  victory. 

Thence  the  regiment  moved  to  join  Davis'  division,  and 
entered  Plorence«  Alabama,  on  the  26th  of  August.  But, 
already  on  the  twenty-eighth  they  joined  in  the  march  to 


l^Q         'HISTORY  OF  THS  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

Nashville,  to  intercept  General  Bragg  in  his  raid  into  Ken- 
tucky, and  his  threatened  invasion  across  the  Ohio.  Beyond 
Nashville  they  proceeded  with  BuelPs  army  through  Bowl- 
ing Green  and  Murfordsville,  reaching  Louisville  late  in  Sep- 
tember, wearied,  worn,  ragged,  and  hungry,  on  account  ot 
their  long  and  trying  march,  during  a  part  of  which  they 
had  subsisted  on  half-rations,  and  suffered  greatly  for  want 
of  water. 

In  common  with  the  Union  army,  they  moved  next  to 
Chaplin  Hills,  near  Perryville,  and  of  their  part  in  that  bat- 
tle a  brief  relation  will  be  in  order.  The  Fifteenth  Wisconsin, 
of  General  Gilbert's  corps,  formed  in  line  of  battle  in  the 
woods,  at  some  distance  from  the  severest  fighting.  One 
company  was  sent  forward  as  skirmishers,  and  was  soon 
engaged  with  the  enemy  in  force.  The  brigade,  which  was 
commanded  by  Colonel  Carlin,  supported  Sheridan's  division. 
They  had  scarcely  emerged  from  the  woods  before  the  rebels 
begin  a  retreat  to  the  protection  of  their  artillery.  The  sur- 
face of  the  country  being  broken,  some  shelter  was  afforded 
to  the  brigade,  and,  by  passing  exposed  positions  with 
rapidity,  it  suffered  but  little  loss.  This  advanced  regiment 
continued  to  press  the  enemy,  who  were  constantly  retreat- 
ing, and  planted  their  batteries  where  they  found  it  conven- 
ient. After  the  advance  had  been  made  in  this  manner  for 
about  a  mile, a  brief  halt  was  ordered,  but,  upon  ascertaining 
that  the  rebels  were  yet  in  retreat,  the  Union  soldiers  again 
rallied  and  pursued  them.  Another  halt  was  ordered  within 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  village,  and  the  men  lay  down 
behind  a  small  elevation  of  ground.  The  rebels  kept  up  their 
fire  upon  them  with  canister  and  shell,  while  the  Union  troops 


THB  15th  WISCONSIN,  OR  SCANDINAVIAN.  RBGIMBNT.     157 

replied  with  their  rear  artillery,  which  threw  shell  over  the 
heads  of  their  advanced  troops  into  the  line  of  the  enemy. 
At  leng^,  after  a  running  fire  of  about  two  hours,  the  bri- 
gade was  ordered  to  retire.  In  accomplishing  this  they  cap- 
tured thirteen  wagons  loaded  with  amunition,  and  succeeded 
in  bringing  with  them  over  one  hundred  prisoners.  The  bat- 
tie  continued  until  darkness  closed  the  scene,  being  extremely 
fierce  in  the  latter  part  of  the  afternoon..  But,  as' daylight 
passed  away,  our  flag  was  triumphant,  our  troops  odcupy- 
ing  the  ground  held  by  the  enemy  in  the  morning,  with  his 
right  vring  turned.  The  destruction  of  life  had  been  apalling. 
The  woods,  cornfields,  and  open  spaces  were,  in  many  places, 
strewn  with  the  slain.  The  remaining  soldiers  slept  on  their 
arms,  with  their  dead  comrades  around  them,  and  the  next 
morning  only  the  rear  gaurd  of  the  enemy  was  within  reach 
of  our  guns. 

The  Fifteenth  Regiment  was  next  employed  at  Crab 
Orchard,  as  a  provost  guard,  for  a  week,  and  thence  pro- 
ceeded  to  Edgefield  Junction,  where,  in  November,  they  joined 
an  expedition,  commanded  by  Lieutenant  McKe€,  fifty  miles 
down  the  Cumberland  river,  in  search  of  Morgan's  guerrillas. 
They  returned,  after  five  days,  with  half  a  hundred  prisoners, 
many  horses,  mules,  and  wagons,  having  destroyed  guerrilla 
premises,  a  distillery,  whiskey,  salt,  and  grain.  General 
McCook  complimented  them  in  high  terms  on  their  success. 
The  regiment  moved  then  to  Nashville,  where  they  were 
occupied  with  skirmishing  and  guarding  forage  trains  until 
December  25th. 

On  Christmas  eve,  1862,  the  decision  was  made  to 
advance  the  next  day.    At  dawn  the  troops  broke  up  camp, 


158         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

and  poured  along  the  highways  with  shouts  of  joy,  the  great 
mass  little  thinking  how  many  of  them,  or  who,  were  soon 
to  fall  in  battle.  McCook's  three  divisions  advanced  on  the 
Nolinsville  pike,  meeting  the  enemy's  artillery  and  cavalry, 
skirmishing  all  the  way,  and  closing  the  day  with  a  sharp 
fight.  The  Fifteenth  Wisconsin  was  in  this  force,  and  gradu- 
ally drove  the  rebels  to  a  strong  and  nearly  impregnable 
gorge  in  a  mountain  (Knob  Gap),  which  they  had  fortified 
byaforce  of  dismounted  cavalry  and  eight  pieces  of  artillery . 
The  order  was  given  to  Colonel  Carlin  to  capture  that  bat- 
tery. He  commissioned  Lieutenant-Colonel  McKee,  of  the 
Fifteenth  regiment,  to  undertake  the  desperate  task.  Accord- 
ingly, Colonel  McKee  led  the  brigade  line  of  skirmishers. 
They  approached  to  the  very  mouths  of  the  artillery,  which 
opened  upon  them  with  shot  and  shell.  But  these  intrepid 
men  steadily  advanced,  followed  by  the  brigade,  which  soon 
poured  in  a  tremendous  fire,  which  caused  the  rebels  to  yield, 
leaving  one  brass  six-pounder  behind,  marked  **Shiloh,'* 
they  having  captured  it  in  that  battle.  In  this  charge  Col- 
onel Heg  was  conspicuous  in  his  gallant  attempt  to  reach 
the  before-mentioned  cannon ;  and  he  took  possession  of  it 
in  the  name  of  the  Fifteenth  Wisconsin.  On  the  morning  of 
the  30th,  the  regiment  was  formed  in  line-of-battle,  made  a 
cautious  advance,  and  Company  E,  under  Captain  Ingmund- 
son,  was  sent  out  to  skirmish,  and  encountered  the  enemy 
about  noon.  The  regiment  was  soon  ordered  to  support  the 
skirmishers,  and  in  the  engagement  Captain  Ingmundson 
was  slain.  Colonel  Heg  retreated  slowly,  and  his  men,  tak- 
ing refuge  behind  a  fence,  held  the  position  until  dark,  and 
rested  upon  their  arms  during  the  night,  in  the  severe  cold, 


THB  15th  WISCONSIN,  OR  SCANDINAVIAN,  REGIMENT.     159 

without  fire.  On  the  next  morning,  at  four  o'clock,  the  regi- 
ment was  in  line-of-battle.  They  first  supported  a  battery, 
and  then  took  a  position  from  which  they  at  length  were 
forced  to  retire,  the  rebels  advancing  upon  the  Fifteenth  in 
solid  columns.  At  this  point.  Colonel  McKeeand  some  others 
were  killed,  and  several  wounded.  Colonel  Heg  then  with, 
drew  his  men  to  avoid  an  overwhelming  force  of  the  enemy. 
Again  he  posted  his  troops  behind  a  fence,  within  four  or  five 
hundred  yards  of  the  Murfreesboro'  pike,  and  poured  some 
destructive  volleys  into  the  rebels.  Still  they  were  too  many 
for  him  to  withstand,  and  he  crossed  the  turnpike,  rallied  his 
men,  and  remained  there  the  rest  of  the  day.  The  losses  on 
the  30th  and  31st  of  December  were:  Killed,  fifteen; 
wounded,  seventy;  missing,  thirty-four;  total,  one  hundred 
and  nineteen  men.  The  report  of  Brigadier  General  Carlin 
testified  to  the  great  bravery,  both  of  privates  and  officers, 
in  these  engagements.  The  Scandinavian  blood  was  thor- 
oughly tested,  and  found  to  be  inferior  to  none  in  point  of 
courage  and  endurance. 

After  the  Stone  River  battle  the  regiment  partook  of  the 
suffering  of  Rosecrans'  army  for  want  of  clothing,  provis- 
ions, and  tents.  January  31,  1863,  they  went  on  a  scouting 
expedition  against  Wheeler's  and  Forrest's  forces,  tarried  a 
few  days  at  Franklin,  and  returned.  Other  expeditions  and 
outpost  and  picket  duties  engaged  them  until  the  movement 
of  Rosecrans'  army,  June  24th,  toward  Chattanooga.  In 
August  they  crossed  the  Cumberland  mountains,  and  en» 
camped  at  Stevenson,  Alabama.  Their  brigade  laid  the  pon- 
toons across  Tennessee  river,  and  they  were  the  first  to  pass 
over.      They  crossed  Sand  and  Lookout  mountains,  and 


160  HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

joined  the  main  part  of  the  army,  near  Chicamauga  creek^ 
on  the  18th  of  September.  The  next  morning,  at  eight 
o'clock,  they  were  in  motion,  and  soon  after  noon  hurried 
forward  at  a  double-quick  into  line-of-battle,  to  fill  a  gap 
through  which  the  rebles  were  striving  to  pass  and  cut  our 
army  in  two.  Colonel  Heg's  brigade  was  formed  in  two  lines, 
the  Fifteenth  Wisconsin  and  Eighth  Kansas  in  front,  the 
former  having  the  right.  They  were  at  once  pushed  forward 
through  dense  underbrush,  and  had  not  advanced  more  than 
fifty  yards  when  they  met  and  drove  the  rebel  skirmishers. 
Still  advancing,  they  encountered  a  heavy  fire  from  the 
enemy's  main  line.  After  a  severe  fight,  the  Eighth  Kansas 
wavered  and  left  the  Fifteenth  unsupported,  which  was  soon 
compelled  to  fall  back  also,  bearing  with  them  most  of  their 
wounded.  Captain  Johnson,  of  Company  A,  was  killed  in 
this  action.  An  Illinois  regiment  was  now  sent  forward ,  with 
the  Fifteenth  for  its  support.  After  a  short  but  hard  strug- 
gle, the  Illinois  regiment  was  forced  back,  and  retreated  over 
the  Fifteenth,  which  was  lying  down.  The  regiment  now 
became  hotly  engaged.  The  troops  in  line  of  their  rear,  sup- 
posing that  the  regiment  which  had  fallen  back  was  the  last 
of  the  Federals  in  front,  opened  fire  upon  the  Fifteenth. 
Thus,  placed  between  the  fire  of  friends  and  foes,  there  was 
no  alternative  except  to  break  up  the  regiment  and  escape  as 
they  best  might  manage.  The  enemy  now  attacked  and 
routed  the  rear  line,  continuing  the  pursuit  across  a  field, 
where  the  Federals  rallied,  reformed,  and  checked  the  elated 
foe.  The  regiment  was,  however,  not  organized  again  that 
day,  but  the  men  in  detachments  joined  other  commands 
near  them  and  remained  on  the  field.     At  night.  Lieutenant- 


THB  15th  WISCONSIN,  OR  SCANDINAVIAN,  RBGIMBNT.     161 

Colonel  Johnson  collected  his  scattered  men.  Throughout 
the  day  Colonel  Heg  was  intensely  active  in  encouraging  his 
brigade,  and  himself  set  an  example  of  noble  valor.  Unfortu- 
nately he  was  wounded  by  a  shot  in  the  bowels,  near  the 
dose  of  the  day,  and  died  in  the  field  hospital  during  the. 
night.  In  his  report.  General  McCook  mentions  with  special 
honor  the  name  of  this  fallen  hAo. 

The  regiment  was  called  up  next  morning  at  three  o'clock, 
and  placed  in  a  commanding  position  on  the  Chattanooga 
road,  to  the  right,  and  in  reserve.  At  ten  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing the  battle  commenced  with  terrible  fury.  The  brigade, 
now  commanded  by  Colonel  Martin,  was  ordered  to  fill  the 
gap  made  by  the  withdrawal  of  General  Wood.  Hardly  had 
they  got  into  line  before  they  were  hotly  attacked.  The  n^en, 
protected  by  rude  defenses  of  logs  and  rails,  twice  repulsed 
the  rebels,  with  great  slaughter,  after  which,  both  flanks 
being  turned,  they  still  held  out,  hoping  (or  reinforcements, 
until  nearly  surrounded,  when  they  broke  and  attempted  to 
save  themselves.  They  were  the  last  to  leave  their  position. 
Many  were  captured,  including  Lieutenant-Colonel  Johnson. 
All  efforts  to  rally  the  men  near  the  Chattanooga  road  prov- 
ing fruitless,  the  retreat  was  continued  a  mile,  when  a  tena- 
ble position  was  reached,  and  the  scattered  •  men  of  the  regi- 
ments were  gathered  and  consolidated  into  one  force.  They 
held  a  position  here  until  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when 
they  were  ordered  five  miles  further  to  the  rear,  where  they 
bivouacked  for  the  night,  and  the  fragments  of  their  regi- 
ment were  brought  together.  Captain  Johnson,  of  Company 
A,  and  Captain  Hauff,  of  Company  E,  were  killed.  Major  Wil- 
son and  Captain  Gasman  had  received  some  severe  wounds. 

12 


162  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

Captain  Hansen,  of  Company  C,  and  Second  Lieuten- 
ant C.  E.  Tandberg,  of  Company  D,  were  both  fatally 
wounded. 

The  Fifteenth  Regiment  subsequently  engaged  on  the 
fortifications  at  Chattanooga;  a  part  escorted  a  supply  train 
to  Stevenson,  the  rest  cut  and  rafted  timber  for  pontoon 
bridges,  and,  all  united,  moveH  out  of  Fort  Wood,  at  Chat- 
tanooga, under  command  of  Captain  Gordon,  on  the  25th  of 
November,  tc  engage  in  the  assault  on  Missionary  Ridge.  On 
the  same  morning,  Hooker  set  out  for  Lookout  Mountain 
toward  Rossville,  driving  the  enemy  before  him  down  its  east- 
em  declivity,  and  across  the  valley  toward  theascentof  Mis- 
sionary Ridge  at  our  right.  He  was  detained  three  hours  by 
building  a  bridge  across  the  Chattanooga  creek,  but  at  half- 
past  three  in  the  afternoon  was  approaching  on  the  Rossville 
road.  That  approach  was  to  be  the  sign  for  the  other  forces 
to  move.  At  twenty  minutes  to  four  o'clock,  six  signal  guns 
are  fired,  and  the  long- waiting,  ardent  troops  leap  forth  first 
to  carry  the  rifle-pits  at  the  foot  of  Missionary  Ridge.  As 
they  arrived  at  the  base  of  the  mountain,  the  rebel  pickets 
swarm  out  of  their  pits  in  great  amazement,  and  flee  before 
them.  As  yet  no  command  had  been  given  to  go  beyond  the 
base,  but  they  stop  not  for  orders.  A  few  moments'  delay  is 
caused  to  re-form  the  line,  and  then  they  start  up  the  ascent. 
Front  and  enfilading  shots  from  musketry  and  fifty  cannon 
are  pltmging  down  upon  them.  Some  fall;  the  rest  press 
dauntlessly  on;  they  clamber  up  the  side,  leaping  ditches, 
jumping  logs,  advancing  in  zigzag  lines,  rushing  over  all  ob- 
stacles, dodging,  if  they  can,  the  missiles  of  heavy  stones 
thrown  upon  them  by  the  rebels,  and  thrusting  aside  their 


THE  15th  WISCONSIN,  OR  SCANDINAVIAN,  REGIMENT.     163 

bayonets,  until  they  reach  the  top,  beat  back  the  enemy,  and 
take  the  ridge. 

The  Fifteenth  Wisconsin  then  proceeded  to  reinforce  Bum- 
side,  at  Knoxville,  marching  one  hundred  and  ten  miles  with 
scanty  rations.  From  that  place  they  made  various  short 
marches,  and  December  25th  moved  to  Strawberry  Plains, 
seventeen  miles  from  Knoxville,  and  there  aided  in  building  a 
railroad  bridge.  January  15th,  1864,  at  Dandridge,  they 
were  joined  by  a  party  of  convalescents,  who,  on  their  route 
from  Chattanooga,  had  just  taken  part  in  a  severe  engage- 
ment with  Wheeler's  cavalry  at  Charleston,  Tennessee,  rout- 
ing the  rebels,  whose  loss  was  ten  killed  and  one  hundred  and 
sixty-seven  wounded  and  prisoners.  In  January  they  had 
orders  to  proceed  on  a  veteran  furlough  to  Wisconsin,  but 
the  threatening  movements  of  the  enemy  forbade  their  going, 
and  they  still  kept  at  duty  in  the  field.  Early  in  April  they 
moved  southward  to  join  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland,  and, 
encamping  at  McDonald  Station,  Tennessee,  made  prepara- 
tions for  the  spring  campaign.  The  fifst  design  was  to  reach 
Atlanta,  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  miles  southwest  of 
Chattanooga,  one  of  the  most  important  towns  of  Georgia, 
a  large  manufacturing  place,  where  an  immense  amount  of 
arms,  amunition,  and  clothing  for  the  rebel  army  was  made. 
The  route  to  Atlanta  lay,  in  part,  over  a  rough,  mountain- 
ous country,  but  the  charm  of  spring  was  then  upon  it,  and 
the  desolation  of  war  had  not  yet  come.  On  the  8th  of  May, 
Howard's  corps  (Fifteenth  and  Twenty-fourth  Wisconsin 
Infantry)  carried  a  ridge  near  Buzzard  Roost,  but  found  it 
too  narrow  for  operation  in  order  to  carry  the  pass  near  it. 
The  Rebel-General  Johnson  soon  saw  that  if  he  remained  in 


164  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

the  entrenchment  around  Dalton,his  communications  would 
be  cut  oflf,  and  he  therefore  left  his  cherished  position  on  May 
12th,  retreating  on  a  short  line  to  Resaca,  which  was  eight- 
een miles  farther  toward  Atlanta.  On  the  morning  of  the 
14th,  the  Federal  spies  set  upon  the  enemy  in  their  entrench- 
ment at  Resaca.  During  the  battle  two  of  the  enemy's  guns 
were  silenced  by  the  Fifteenth  Wisconsin,  and  a  desperate 
charge  made  by  the  rebels  was  repulsed  with  heavy  loss  to 
them.  Five  of  the  regiment  were  killed  and  twelve  wounded. 
Yet  our  troops  were  making  such  inroads  upon  the  enemy's 
works  that,  during  the  night  of  the  15th,  they  quietly  evacu- 
ated Resaca,  and  retreated  toward  Kingston,  thirty-two 
miles  farther  south,  and  thence  to  Dallas. 

The  cavalry  division,  under  Sherman  and  McCook,  pur- 
sued the  enemy  on  their  retreat  from  Resaca,  and  the  whole 
army  quickly  followed,  crossing  the  Ostanula  river.  The 
roads  were  very  rough,  the  marching  careful  and  slow. 
Johnston,  meanwhile,  took  a  shorter  route,  and,  with  the 
larger  part  of  his  army,  reached  Dallas  first.  The  Fifteenth 
became  engaged  in  the  heavy  skirmishing  and  fighting  on  the 
27th,  and,  as  they  were  crossing  a  ravine,  exposed  them- 
selves to  a  heavy  fire  from  the  enemy's  artillery.  They  made 
a  desperate  charge,  and  came  so  near  the  rebel  breast-works 
that  some  were  killed  within  a  few  feet  of  them.  They  found 
it  impossible  to  dislodge  the  enemy,  but  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing our  line  within  fifteen  yards  of  their  fortifications. 
They  held  this  position  for  more  than  five  hours,  although 
exposed  to  a  severe  fire  of  musketry.  The  enemy,  having 
been  reinforced,  charged  upon  their  weakened  ranks,  until  at 
length  they  were  forced  to  retire,  leaving   the   dead  and 


THE  15th  WISCONSIN,  OR  SCANDINAVIAN,  RBGIMBNT.     165 

wounded  on  the  field.  On  the  next  day,  May  28th,  the  Fed- 
erals, having  thrown  up  defenses  four  miles  from  Dallas,  were 
attacked  by  the  enemy  in  force.  Our  men  saw  the  attack  as 
it  was  coming,  and,  throwing  up  some  slight  defenses,  re- 
served their  fire  until  the  rebels  were  within  sixty  feet  of 
them.  The  heavy  shot  of  the  enemy  crushed  through  the 
Union  ranks,  but  they  firmly  held  their  ground.  At  given 
signal,  a  thousand  muskets  sped  their  deadly  bullets  with 
unerring  aim  at  the  yelling,  exulting  foe,  and  volley  after  vol- 
ley, in  rapid  succession,  mowed  down  their  deep  and  thick 
ranks.  The  Federal  artillery  joined  their  fire,  and  the  ground 
occupied  by  the  foe  was  soon  strewn  with  the  mangled,  the 
dying  and  the  dead.  Once  driven  back,  they  rallied  and 
rushed  forward  again;  three  times  they  came,  three  times 
they  were  repulsed,  and  then  fled,  leaving  a  great  number  of 
wounded  and  dead.  This  was  the  principal  battle  of  Dallas. 
On  June  23d  the  Fifteenth  Regiment  was  actively  engaged 
in  the  assault  upon  the  rebel  position  at  Kenesaw  mountain, 
w^here  it  suffered  a  loss  of  six  killed  and  wounded.  From  this 
time  to  the  3d  of  July,  when  the  enemy  evacuated,  it  partici- 
pated in  advancing,  skirmishing,  and  driving  the  enemy  from 
line  to  line  of  their  works  on  Pine,  Lost  and  Kenesaw  mount- 
ains. Afterward  they  pressed  forward  in  pursuit  of  them 
toward  the  Chattahooche  river,  and  captured  a  number  of 
rebels.  Again,  and  sadly,  the  rebels  took  up  their  retreat, 
leaving  their  perfected  and  expansive  defenses  on  the  Chata- 
hooche,  removing  their  heavy  guns  seven  miles  to  Atlanta, 
and  falling  back  with  their  main  army  toward  the  fortifica- 
tions of  that  city.  Then  Sherman  moved  a  part  of  his  own 
forces  across  the  river,  took  possession  of  the  rebel  works. 


166  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IX  THE  U.  S. 

and  of  certain  important  strategic  points  in  that  direction. 

The  Fifteenth  was  in  reserve  at  the  battle  of  Peach  Tree 
Creek  on  July  20th,  and  marched  then  toward  Atlanta,  and 
joined  in  the  siege.  The  regiment  was  engaged  in  picket  and 
fatigne  duties  until  August  25th,  when  they  joined  in  the 
movement  to  the  south  of  that  city,  and  participated  in  the 
engagement  at  Jonesboro,  returning  to  Atlanta  the  9th  of 
September.  During  the  fall  they  were  ordered  to  perform 
provost  guard  duty  and  various  functions  of  a  similar  na- 
ture, until  their  final  muster  out,  February,  1865,  at  Chat- 
tanooga. 

The  recruits  and  veterans  of  the  regiment,  seventy-two 
in  number,  were  transferred  to  the  Twenty-fourth,  and  sub- 
sequently to  the  Thirteenth  Wisconsin. 

Three  hundred  Scandinavian  soldiers,  or  just  one-third 
of  the  entire  Fifteenth  Regiment  were  killed  on  fields  of  bat- 
tle or  died  in  our  army  hospitals.  Their  names  will  be  a  roll 
of  honor  in  all  times  to  come ! 


At  far  as  faets  are  eonoenied,  thii  article  wai  earefolly  roTised  by  Skordalsvold  and 
myself  ia  1899.  In  regard  to  other  BeandinaTian  Oiril  War  soldiers  from  Minnesota, 
Jowa^  and  Wisconsin,  see  pp.  308-i,  Vol.  I.,  and  pp.  6S^  and  n9-21,  Vol.  II.  Soldiers  from 
Illinois  and  some  Eastern  states  will  be  referred  to  in  the  third  rolame.— Ediiob. 


Historical  Review  of  the  Danish  Evangel- 
ical Lutheran  Church  in  America. 


—  BY  — 

REV.  ADAKwI   DAN. 


The  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America  is 
an  independent  organization,  and  not  connected  with  any 
of  the  Scandinavian,  German,  or  American  synods  in  this 
country.  The  church  has  its  own  government  and  constitu- 
tion ;  but  as  many  of  her  ministers  have  received  their  edu- 
cation in  Denmark,  and  have  been  assisted  financially,  by  a^ 
annual  sum  appropriated  by  the  Danish  Parliament,  as  well 
as  by  private  contributions  of  some  church  people  at  home, 
the  Danish-American  Lutheran  Church  considers  herself  as  a 
branch  of  the  Church  of  Denmark,  and  is  so  considered  by 
her.  And  in  the  interest  of  our  church  in  this  country  a  com- 
mittee exists  in  Denmark  called  Udvalgetj  consisting  mostly 
of  theological  professors  from  the  Royal  University  of  Den- 
mark, and  clergymen  of  high  rank.  But  no  laws  are  dictated 
to  us  from  abroad,  the  mother  church  has  never  made  any 
attempt  of  ruling  in  purely  local  matters ;  yet  it  has  always 
been  our  practice  to  regard   Udvalget  as  the  highest  au- 

(167) 


168  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

thority  from  which  we  look  for  a  decision  in  all  matters  of 
controversy,  in  fact  the  authority  of  Udvalget  is  recognized 
by  our  church  constitution.  Consequently  the  church  govern- 
ment of  the  Danish-American  Lutheran  Church  is  neither 
episcopal  nor  synodical. 

The  first  beginning  of  our  church  in  this  country  was 
made  in  1871.  Many  Danish- Americans  had  previously  sent 
letters  home  wherein  they  had  stated  their  longing  after 
church  services  in  the  mother  tongue,  which  at  that  time 
could  not  be  satisfied,  as  there  existed  no  Danish  Lutheran 
church  in  this  country.*  Norwegian  ministers  tried  to  meet 
the  religious  wants  of  the  Danes,  but  only  a  few  could  be 
reached  by  them,  and  the  Norwegian  clergymen  joined  the 
Danes  in  sending  a  "  Macedonian  cry  "  to  the  mother  church 
at  home.  This  gave  the  impulse  to  the  formation  of  Udvalget 
in  1869,  with  the  purpose  of  helping  the  Danes  in  this 
country  to  secure  ministers.  In  1871  one  clergyman  and 
two  la3rmen  were  sent  to  the  United  States.  The  clergyman 
visited  and  held  meetings  in  many  Danish  settlements,  and 
investigated  other  matters  in  regard  to  the  Danes  in  this 
country,  then  returned  to  his  native  land. 

One  of  the  laymen,  A.  S.  Nielsen,  was  ordained  shortly 
after  and  became  pastor  at  Cedar  Falls,  Iowa,  then  preached 
in  Chicago  for  fourteen  years.  The  other  layman,  R.  Ander- 
sen, became  a  student  at  Augsburg  Seminary,  was  ordained 
in  1872,  and  has  for  many  years  been  pastor  and  missionary 
among  the  emigrants  and  seamen  in  New  York  and  Brook- 
lyn.  In  1871  both  Rev.  N.  Thomsen  and  the  writer  of  this 
article  arrived  and  took  charge  of  Danish  Lutheran  congre- 
gations in  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  and  Racine,  Wis.,  respectively. 

^Apparently,  two  or  three  purely  Danish  Lutheran  congregations  existed  before 
1871.  For  example,  Bev.  M.  F.  Wiese,  a  Dane,  organised  one  at  Indianapolis,  Ind.,  in 
oonneetion  with  the  Norwegian  Synod,  April  17,  IdaS.— Editor. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DANISH  LUTHERAN  CHURCH.  169 

Both  these  men  had  been  missionaries,  the  former  in  East 
India  and  the  latter  in  Jerusalem,  in  the  Holy  Land.  The 
above  named  four  persons  were  the  first  clergymen  of  the 
Danish  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country. 

In  1872  the  Danish  ministers,  together  with  some  lay- 
men, organized  the  Church  Mission  Society,  at  Neenah,  Wis., 
and  at  the  same  time  commenced  the  publication  of  Kirkelig 
Samler,  which  has  ever  since  been  the  official  organ  of  the 
church.  In  1874  the  society  changed  its  name  to  The  Danish 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America,  effected  a  stronger 
organization,  and  adopted  a  constitution. 

At  first  the  work  was  missionary  in  its  nature,  and  the 
ministers  often  had  tomake  long  and  troublesome  journeys  on 
foot  or  on  horseback,  in  order  to  reach  the  scattered  Danish 
settlements.  In  latter  years  the  clergymen  have  had  more 
regular  charges. 

In  1880  the  church  became  the  owner  of  a  school,  pat- 
terned after  the  Danish  high  schools,  which  had  been  founded 
at  Elk  Horn,  Iowa,  two  years  before;  but  in  1887  the  whole 
plan  of  the  institution  was  changed,  and  we  lost  control  of 
it  in  1890.  Two  or  three  smaller  schools  are  controlled  by 
members  of  our  church.  For  some  years  we  had  a  theological 
seminary  at  West  Denmark,  Wis.,  but  in  1896  we  established 
a  theological  seminary  and  college  combined  in  Des  Moines, 
la.,  at  a  cost  of  about  $20,000.  We  have  also  an  orphans' 
asylum  in  Chicago,  where  many  poor  children  are  cared  for 
and  educated. 

During  the  twenty-nine  years  of  church  life  of  our  church 
there  have  been  many  controversies  of  different  nature.  The 
first  and  one  of  the  most  important  disputes  arose  about 
1872,  between  the  Church  Mission  Society  and  the  Norwe- 


170  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

gian-Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Conference,  together  "with 
other  Norwegian  Lutheran  church  organizations,  in  regard 
to  some  local  church  property,  but  more  especially  in  regard 
to  theological  questions.  The  property  question  was  settled 
by  the  judicial  courts  in  Racine,  Wis.  But  the  teaching  of 
Grundtvigianisniy  the  doctrine  held  by  the  renowned  Danish 
bishop  and  poet,  N.  F.  S.  Grundtvig,  permitting,  among 
other  things,  a  more  liberal  interpretation  of  the  Bible — as  ad- 
vocated especially  by  the  writer  of  this  article — ^has  never  died 
out.*  For  in  late  years  the  same  question  has  been  agitated 
in  our  church  and  has  called  forth  many  articles  in  the  papers 
and  hot  words  at  the  annual  meetings.  Today  there  are  two 
factions  among  us,  the  followers  of  Bishop  Grundtvig,  and 
the  so-called  Mission  People;  both  are  recognized  by  the 
Church  of  Denmark  as  belonging  to  the  Lutheran  church, 
and  they  are  about  equal  in  strength.! 

Our  church  as  a  bodj"  is  small,  having  only  in  1900  about 
50  ministers,  80  congregations,  and  8,000  communicant 
members,  more  than  half  of  whom  are  to  be  found  in  the 
states  of  Iowa,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota.  Yet 
we  have  organizations  in  all  the  central  Northwestern  as 
well  as  some  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  states.  The  value 
of  the  church  property  amounts  to  about  $250,000.  We 
have  a  mission  among  the  Mormons  in  Utah,  \vhere  a  great 
number  of  Danes  have  settled  and  believe  that  faith.  We  in 
this  country  do  not  have  any  mission  of  our  own  among  the 
heathens,  but  we  contribute  annuallj'^  a  fair  sum  to  the  dif- 

*  It  should  be  observed  that  the  well-known  Rev.  C.  L.  Clausen,  also  a  Dane,  who 
for  many  years  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  Lutheran  clergrymen  among:  the 
early  Danish- Norwegian  settlers  in  this  country,  leaned  also,  at  least  at  first,  to- 
wards Grandtvlgianiam. —  Bditok. 


tXhe  controvcTiy  and  seiMtration  of  the  two  parties  are  diwiissed  in  Vol.  II.,  pp.  62-5. 
The  statitties  on  this  page  are  brought  up  to  date  by  myself,  and  the  last  half  of  page 
109  has  been  rewritten  for  this  edition.— Edttob. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  DANISH  LUTHERAN  CHURCH.         171 

ferent  Danish  missions  in  Bast  India  and  among  the  Jews  in 
the  Holy  Land. 

Every  congregation  has  a  Sunday  school.  Some  congre- 
gations support  permanent  teachers  who  every  day  give  re- 
ligious and  secular  instruction,  both  in  Danish  and  English, 
to  the  children.  In  other  places  Danish  students  teach  dur- 
ing the  summer  vacation,  and  in  some  instances  the  clergy- 
men keep  school  every  Saturday  the  whole  year  round. 

The  church  has  successfully  tried  to  establish  Danish 
colonies  or  settlements  in  Shelby  county,  Iowa;  in  Lincoln 
county,  Minn.;  in  Clark  count}',  Wis.;  and  in  the  southern 
part  of  Texas. 


f    , 


N 


Historical  Review  of  Hauge's  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Synod  in  America. 

—  BY  — 

F»ROK.  Q.  O.  BROHOUQH. 


Every  eflFect  has  its  cause.  When  the  church  had  the 
most  temporal  power,  the  distinctive  Christian  doctrines 
were  the  most  neglected .  This  seeming  paradox  becomes  clear 
^when  we  remember  that  Christ's  kingdom,  though  in  the 
^world,  is  not  of  the  world.  Religion  is  an  individual  rela- 
tion and  cannot  be  forced  into  existence  by  the  mandate  of 
a  temporal  rulei;.  During  the  Dark  Ages  church  life  had  sunk 
to  its  lowest  ebb.  Bishops  robbed,  priests  swore,  the  Bible 
was  replaced  by  the**  Picture-book,'* and  prayers  were  mum- 
bled in  a  foreign  tongue.  The  lethargic  soul  could  not  liftits 
drowsy  gaze  beyond  the  symbol.  But  the  onward  sweep  of 
the  glad  tidings  was  not  to  be  stopped,  only  retarded. 
**  Truth  crushed  to  earth  shall  rise  again."  The  great  move- 
ments of  the  crusades  had  given  an  opportunity  to  compare, 
and  comparison  educates.  The  people  had  become  conscious 
of  their  own  strength  and  the  scarecrows  of  the  tyrants  had 
become   exposed.     Scholasticism,  which  for  centuries  had 

(173) 


174  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

skirted  the  ocean  of  free  thought,  breaking  every  wrave  of 
advancing  opinion,  was  rapidly  giving  way.  There  was 
seeming  uniformity  and  peace,  but  not  the  quiet  that  results 
from  the  equipoise  of  the  elements.  It  was  the  calm  that  pre- 
cedes the  storm.  The  ship  of  progress  simply  drifted.  The 
ominous  storm-swallow  circled  about  the  mast-head.  The 
sky  wras  overcast  by  portentious  clouds,  and  the  dark  but 
quiet  sea  gave  indications  of  an  approaching  storm.  Tide 
after  tide  came  rolling  shoreward,  until  finally,  at  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century,  the  crashing  wave  of  the  Reforma- 
tion burst  with  a  terrifying  roar  against  the  timewom  in- 
stitutions, tumbling  them  out  of  the  way.  This  cleared  the 
close  and  stifling  atmosphere.  As  the  dead-weight  of  igno- 
rance and  superstition  was  lifted,  the  human  mind  expanded. 
Thought  advanced  and  colossal  figures  came  upon  the  stage 
to  give  direction  to  that  thought. 

The  Reformation  gave  to  the  world  an  open  Bible.  The 
effect  was  wonderful.  When  that  Bible  was  again  in  danger 
of  being  closed,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  **  the  greatest  Teuton  of 
them  all,"  on  the  plains  of  Liitzen,  sealed  with  his  own  blood 
the  religious  liberties  of  Teutonic  Europe. 

The  pendulum  of  progress  swings  from  one  extreme  to 
another.  During  the  Middle  Ages,  the  **Age  of  Faith,"  an 
appeal  lay  to  authority  only.  At  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  reason  and  experience  were  considered  supreme 
arbiters.  This  tendency  is  called  rationa/is/n.  The  term  was 
first  used  by  Kant.  **  Rationalism  is  that  tendency  in  modem 
thought  which  claims  for  the  unaided  human  reason  the  right 
of  deciding  in  matters  of  faith.  It  asserts  the  prerogative  of 
the  intellect  to  be  supreme  arbiter  in  all  departments  of  re- 


HISTORY  OF  HAUGB'S  SYNOD  IN  AMERICA.  175 

vealed  truth.  It  requires  certainty  as  the  condition  of  its 
favor,  and,  with  Wolf,  promptly  rejects  what  does  not  come 
before  it  with  all  the  exactness  and  clearness  of  a  mathemat- 
ical demonstration.*'  The  sources  of  rationalism  were  va- 
rious, embracing  diflFerent  countries  as  well  as  different  de- 
partments of  investigation.  The  pantheism  of  Spinoza  was 
a  welcome  substitute  for  the  heartless  doctrine  by  which  God 
was  excluded  from  his  own  creation.  The  deism  of  England 
was  industriously  propagated  in  Germany,  where  the  works 
of  Herbert,  Hobbes,  Tyndal,  and  Woolston  were  circulated 
among  the  people.  In  France  the  influence  of  Voltaire  and 
the  encyclopedists  was  unbounded.  It  was  not  till  the  latter 
half  of  the  last  century  that  a  reaction  set  in,  heralded  by 
such  men  as  Jacobi  and  Schleiermacher. 

Rationalism,  like  a  huge  billow,  had  swept  over  the 
whole  of  Christendom  attacking  everything  that  impeded  its 
progress,  leaving  moral  slime  and  desolation  in  its  wake.  It 
even  dashed  up  against  the  rock-ribbed  shores  of  old  Nor- 
way, lashing  its  filthy  scum  far  into  her  peaceful  valleys. 
The  clergy  of  Norway  enjoy  the  reputation  of  being  hospit- 
able and  intelligent ;  but  at  this  juncture  they  seem  to  have 
partaken  of  the  "deep  sleep  "that  had  fallen  on  the  Christian 
church.  Rationalism  was  rampant  at  the  University  and 
thence  spread  to  the  country  districts.  On  Christmas  morn- 
ing, the  worthy  pastor  took  occasion  to  inform  his  flock  on 
improved  methods  of  constructing  stables  and  mangers.  In 
expounding  the  text  about  the  **  sower  and  seed  "  new  or  im- 
proved methods  for  tilling  the  soil  came  in  for  consideration. 
This  was  excellent  information,  no  doubt,  but  it  was  not 
the  Gospel  of  Christ,  which  he  was  commissioned  to  preach. 


176  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

As  the  last  century  drew  to  its  close,  a  peasant  lad, 
Hans  Nilsen  Hauge  (pronounced  Howgey)  appeared  on  the 
scene.  Being  thoroughly  aroused  and  converted  at  an  early 
age,  he  felt  impelled  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  his  kinsmen  and 
neighbors.  For  a  layman  to  preach  was  not  only  unusual, 
hut  unlawful.  He  was  warned — ^he  wavered.  Being  of  a  mod- 
est and  retiring  disposition,  he  seriously  doubted  his  own  fit- 
ness. His  conscience,  however,  would  give  him  no  peace,  and 
soon  his  fearless  and  persuasive  testimony  had  been  heard 
in  every  hamlet  and  valley  in  the  country.  Persecutions 
followed  thick  and  fast.  Meetings  were  broken  up,  the 
worshipers  were  rudely  dispersed,  and  Hauge  himself  was 
dragged  into  prison.  Ten  times  was  he  incarcerated;  he 
literally  rotted  in  a  common  jail.  All  this  for  no  other  crime 
than  admonishing  his  countrymen  to  lead  a  Christian  life 
according  to  the  teachings  of  the  established  church,  and 
assisting  his  followers  to  gain  a  livelihood  by  developing  the 
resources  of  the  country.  In  our  age  of  toleration,  we  are 
astonished  that  such  a  man  should  be  persecuted.  And  yet, 
humanity  has  always  been  prone  to  abuse  its  benefactors. 
Every  age  has  starved  its  Homer,  poisoned  its  Socrates, 
banished  its  Aris tides,  stoned  its  Stephen, burned  its  Savano- 
rola,  or  imprisoned  its  Galileo.  The  imprisonment  of  Hauge 
did  not  have  the  desired  effect.  The  spark  soon  kindled  into 
flame.  Other  laymen  arose  to  continue  the  work  and  a 
mighty  impulse,  that  no  human  power  could  check,  swept 
over  the  land.  This  persecuting  attitude  of  the  church 
toward  the  revival  movement  created  a  wide  cleft  between 
the  state  clergy  and  the  more  zealous  Christian  element  of 
the  laity.    The  difficulty-  was  augmented  by  the  fact  that 


HISTORY  OF  HAUGE*S  SYNOD  IN  AMERICA.  177 

many  of  the  clergy  held  the  tenets  of  Grundtvig,  a  Danish 
divine  of  considerable  influence,  who  differed  from  the  estab- 
lished faith  in  many  points.  This  naturally  created  distrust, 
as  the  laity  were  sticklers  for  pure  doctrine  as  well  as  for 
holy  living. 

It  should  be  stated,  however,  that  in  spite  of  these  diffi 
culties  Hauge  and  his  friends  never  entertained  the  idea  of 
leaving  the  state  church.  They  did  not  desire  to  form  a  new 
and  separate  church  organization.  All  they  wished  was  a 
spiritual  revival — the  introduction  of  spiritual  life  into  the 
dead  forms.  Consequently,  in  Norway,  they  all  worship  and 
commune  in  the  same  church.  The  revival  movement,  on  the 
other  hand,  has  had  a  salutary  influence  on  the  state  church 
and  the  chief  professors  of  theology  at  the  University  of 
Norway  have  of  late  been  the  friends  and  allies  of  the 
movement. 

In  1839,  Elling  Bielsen,  a  lay  preacher  and  a  staunch 
supporter  of  Hauge,  came  to  the  United  States  and  settled 
in  the  Fox  River  settlement,  111.  In  Chicago,  then  but  a 
traders'  post,  he  preached  his  first  sermon  on  American  soil. 
The  first  Norwegian  Lutheran  **  meeting  house  "  was  erected 
under  his  care  at  Fox  River,  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  this 
country.  Bielsen  was  an  energetic  man  and  a  zealous 
preacher.  The  burden  of  his  discourse  was,  **  Repent  and 
believe."  Soon  he  had  visited  all  the  places  in  the  Northwest 
where  his  countrymen  had  settled.  As  an  itinerant  he  suf- 
fered untold  hardships,  but  his  zeal  never  flagged.  As  an 
evangelist,  he  was  emminently  successful;  and  had  he  pos- 
sessed the  talent  for  organizing  that  he  had  for  preaching, 
the  future  church  historian  might  have  had  a  different  story 

13 


178  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

to  tell.  As  an  organizer  he  was  sorely  deficient.  The  peo- 
ple, however,  soon  began  to  feel  the  need  of  a  formal  orga- 
nization. His  friends  at  Fox  River,  therefore,  requested 
Eielsen  to  "  seek  holy  orders."  Accordingly,  Eielsen  repaired 
to  Chicago  and  was  ordained,  Oct.  3,  1843,  by  Rev.  F.  A. 
Hoffman,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  a  German  Lutheran  congregation 
at  Duncan's  Grove,  20  miles  north  of  Chicago.* 

The  ordination  of  Eielsen  satisfied  a  long  felt  want  of  a 
clergyman,  and,  save  Eielsen's  uncompromising  warfare 
against  sin,  peace  and  order  reigned  throughout  the  congre- 
gations. This  condition  of  affairs,  however,  was  not  long  to 
continue.  Soon  after  Eielsen's  ordination.  Rev.  J.  W.  C. 
Diedrichsen,  ordained  in  Norway,  and  C.  L.Clausen, a  Dane^ 
and  ordained  by  Rev.  L.  Krause  in  this  country,  appeared  on 
the  field  and  commenced  preaching  among  the  Norwegian 
and  Danish  settlers.  Both  of  these  men  leaned,  more  or 
less  a vowedlj",  toward  the  teachings  of  Grundtvig,t  Clausen, 
however,  renouncing  these  tenets  in  later  years.  Diedrichsen, 
in  a  patronizing  way,  offered  to  **  affirm  '*  Eielsen's  ordina- 
tion. This  was  rejected  as  an  imposition. $  Eielsen  and  his 
followers  did  not  seem  to  trust  the  late  comer  who  appeared 
in  the  insignia  of  state  church,  vaunting  its  authority.  Eiel- 
sen soon  regarded  Diedrichsen  as  a  rationalist  and  the  lat- 
ter retorted  by  accusing  Eielsen  of  fanaticism.  As  to  the 
truth  of  these  mutual  accusations,  future  historians  will 
have  to  judge.    It  seems  plain,  however,  that  the  two  op- 


*  See  copy  of  credentials  of  ordination  at  Chicago,  Cook  conntj»  111.,  under  date 

of  October  3,  1843. 
tSee  Wisconsinisme,  bj  H.  A.  Preus,  p.  5,  also  Sjrr  Forcdrag  by  him:  quoted 

by  O.  I.  Hattlestad  in  Historiske  Meddelelser,  p.  32. 
tSee  Et.  Eielsen^B  Ur  ,  by  Brohonsh  and  Histensen,  p.  66. 


HISTORY  OF  HAUGE'S  SYNOD  IN  AMERICA.  179 

posing  factions  of  Norway  had  been  transplanted  to  Ameri- 
can soil  where  the  contest  between  true  piety  and  stifling 
formalism  was  to  be  continued.  If  this  be  true,  it  gives  us  a 
reasonable  clue  to  the  schism  in  the  early  Norwegian  Lu- 
theran church  in  America. 

In  1846,  on  Jefferson  Prairie,  Wis.,  Rev.  Elling  Eielsen 
and  his  friends  organized  a  society  called  The  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church  in  America,  adopting  what  has  been  called 
the  **01d  Constitution.**  In  1875  this  constitution  was 
somewhat  modified  and  the  name  changed  to  Hauge*s  Nor- 
wegian Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  in  America.  But  Eiel- 
sen and  a  few  of  his  friends,  being  displeased  with  the  new 
name  and  the  new  constitution,  withdrew,  continuing  to 
labor  in  accordance  with  the  **  Old  Constitution**  and  re- 
tained the  old  name  of  the  organization. 

The  need  of  a  school  was  soon  felt,  and  in  1854  some 
property  was  bought  at  Lisbon,  III.,  with  a  view  of  found- 
ing an  institution  of  learning.  On  account  of  disagreement 
among  the  leaders,  however,  the  project  was  abandoned.  In 
1865,  another  effort  was  made  in  the  same  line  in  Dane 
county,  Wis.,  and  cand.  theol.  Aaserod  was  engaged  as  prin- 
cipal. He  did  not  seem  to  possess  the  sympathy  of  the  peo- 
ple and  the  school  failed  for  want  of  support.  In  1867  the 
Synod  purchased  three  acres  of  land  in  Red  Wing,  Minn.,  and 
commenced  breaking  ground  and  procuring  materials  for  a 
school  building.  Meanwhile  flattering  offers  were  made  by 
parties  at  Chicago,  and  operations  were  transfered  to  that 
place.  A  feeble  attempt  was  made  at  setting  the  machinery 
of  the  school  in  motion,  but  the  wheels  soon  clogged  and  the 
Synod  lost  whatever  means  it  had  invested.    During  all  this 


180  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

time  the  Synod  had  grown,  and  the  increasing  demand  for 
ministers  and  teachers  made  the  want  of  a  school  more 
keenly  felt  from  j^ear  to  year.  In  1878,  by  the  aid  of  H.  M. 
Sande,  of  Goodhue  county,  a  handsome  and  convenient 
school  property  was  bought  at  Red  Wing,  Minn.  It  had 
formerl3''  been  a  first  class  boarding  school,  and  owned  by  a 
corporation.  In  the  fall  of  1879  Red  Wing  Seminary  opened 
its  doors  to  students,  and  classes  were  organized  both  in  the 
collegiate  and  theological  departments.  During  the  school 
year  of  1898-9  there  were  seven  instructors  and  about  150 
students.  Since  the  school  opened,  180  young  men  have 
graduated  from  the  two  departments.  This  is  the  only 
school  controlled;  directly  or  indirectly,  b3^  the  synod. 

During  its  nearly  55  3'^ears  of  existence  the  Synod  has 
given  freely  to  the  cause  of  missions.  A  modest  but  steady 
stream  of  contributions  from  its  congregations  and  mission- 
ary societies  has  poured  into  the  coffers  of  the  Mission  Society 
of  Norway  to  be  distributed  over  a  not  insignificant  mis- 
sionary field.  Of  late  a  great  interest  has  been  aroused  in 
the  missionary  work  in  China.  Several  persons  are  already 
in  the  field  and  are  supported  wholly,  or  in  part,  by  contri- 
butions from  the  Svnod.  The  home  mission  work  has  also 
come  in  for  a  modest  share  of  attention. 

It  is  difficult  to  give  accurate  statistics  as  the  officers 
are  remiss  in  sending  in  the  required  reports.  The  last 
United  States  census  has  palpable  errors.  According  to  the 
official  report  of  1899  there  are  about  100  ministers  and  pro- 
fessors in  the  Synod.  It  numbers  nearly  230  congregations, 
scattered  over  several  of  the  states  in  the  Union,  but  one- 
third  of  the  members  reside  in  Minnesota.    The  Synod  has, 


HISTORY  OF  HAUGH'S  SYNOD  IN  AMBRICA.  181 

in  1900,  in  the  neighborhood  of  30,000  members ;  probably 
18,000  of  them  are  communicant  members,  the  remaining 
being  children  not  yet  confirmed.  The  total  value  of  the 
church  property  amounts  to  about  $600,000. 

Budbaereren  is  the  official  paper  of  the  Sjmod ;  a  child- 
ren's paper  is  also  published. 

Sunday  schools  are  maintained  in  nearly  every  congre- 
gation and  three  or  four  months  parochial  school  is  usually 
taught  during  the  summer  season. 

Oflate  the  aspect  of  the  S3'nod  has  somewhat  changed. 
Many  peculiarities  have  been  modified.  From  the  seminary 
at  Red  Wing  have  come  many  able  and  earnest  young  men 
to  fill  up  the  serried  ranks  of  the  clergy.  With  these  young 
clergymen  have  come  renewed  zeal,  more  liberal  ideas,  and 
broader  views.  In  the  main,  however,  the  organization  has 
maintained  the  characteristics  of  its  youth — a  vigorous  on- 
slaught, both  from  pulpit  and  in  private,  on  the  common 
foibles  of  humanity  and  the  popular  forms  of  vice;  such  as 
drunkenness,  swearing.  Sabbath  breaking,  etc.  Lay  preach- 
ing, under  proper  safeguards,  week-day  prayermeetings,  and 
great  simplicity  in  the  forms  of  worship,  are  favored.  The 
old  questions,  however,  so  hotly  contested  in  earlier  days, 
have  lost  their  spell.  It  is  doubtful  if  the  magical  words  of 
Slavery,  Predestination,  Priestly  Robes,  etc,  can  ever  again 
become  the  rallying  cry  of  any  Lutheran  body  in  America. 
The  dream  of  the  younger  element  in  all  these  bodies  is  a 
strong,  united,  Lutheran  church,  lifting  up  the  war  cry, 
*'  Christ  is  risen! " — advancing  in  solid  phalanx  to  do  battle 
for  Christ  and  His  Kingdom. 


Historical  Review  of  the  Norwegian  £yan- 
gelical  Lutheran  Synod  in  America. 


—  BY- 


REV.  JOHN    HALVORSON. 


Although  a  few  persons  had  previously  arrived  in  this 
country  from  Norway,  the  regular  Norwegian  emigration 
to  the  United  States  did  not  commence  before  1836,  when 
two  ships  from  Stavanger  brought  about  160  people  who 
settled  at  Fox  River,  La  Salle  county,  HI.  From  this  year 
onward  the  emigration  continued  steadily  and  most  of  the 
immigrants  settled  in  Illinois  and  southern  Wisconsin ;  later 
in  Iowa  and  Minnesota.  For  a  number  of  years,  however, 
they  were  without  religious  instruction,  and  had  no  minis- 
ters of  the  Gospel  who  could  preach  to  them  in  the  language 
they  understood,  and  according  to  the  faith  in  which  they 
had  been  baptized  and  confirmed.  The  first  ordained  Nor- 
wegian Lutheran  clergyman  who  came  to  attend  to  the 
spiritual  wants  of  his  countrymen  in  the  Northwest  was 
Wilhelm  Dietrichson.  He  arrived  in  1844.  C.  L.  Clau- 
sen, a  Dane,  who  had  previously  studied  theology  in 
Denmark,  was  ordained  by  a  German  Lutheran  pastor,  Rev. 

(183) 


184  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Krause,ofMilwaukee,and  commenced  to  serve  Norwegian  and 
Danish  congregations  in  1843.  The  next  arrivals  of  ordained 
ministers  were  H.  A.  Stub,  and  A.  C.  Preus,  from  Norway. 

In  1851  the  first  endeavors  were  made  to  combine  the 
scattered  Danish  and  Norwegian  congregations  into  one  or- 
ganization; but  as  the  first  constitution  which  had  been 
adopted  was  found  to  contain  Grundtvigianism,  then  preva- 
lent  in  Denmark,  the  organization  was  dissolved  the  follow- 
ing year.  A  new  constitution  was  adopted  in  1853,  at 
Koshkonong,  Dane  county.  Wis.  The  Synod  of  the  Norwe- 
gian Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America  was  thus  or- 
ganized. Seven  ministers  and  28  congregations  united  in 
forming  the  new  body.  The  constitution  was  revised  in 
1865,  and  ratified  two  years  later. 

The  Synod  adheres  to  the  old  biblical  faith  and  Chris- 
tianity as  taught  in  the  Holy  Scripture  and  confessed  in  the 
three  ancient  symbols,  the  Apostolic,  the  Nicene,  and  the 
Athanasian  creeds,  in  the  unaltered  Augsburg  Confession,  and 
in  Luther's  smaller  catechism.  It  is  strictly  orthodox  and 
conservative  in  matters  of  faith,  and  no  friend  of  new  forms 
of  doctrine.  It  holds  to  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the 
Bible,  not  only  as  to  contents,  but  also  as  to  its  words,  and 
believes  that  it  is  the  only  perfect  rule  and  guide  of  faith  and 
conduct.  The  total  depravity  of  man  by  the  fall  in  Adam, 
justification  by  faith  in  Christ  alone  without  the  works  of 
the  Law,  and  the  efficacy  of  the  Word  of  God  and  the  two 
sacraments  as  means  of  grace,  by  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
potently  calls,  regenerates  and  sanctifies  sinners,  are  the 
three  distinctive  doctrines  which  it  constantly  holds  forth 
without  fear  and  without  compromise. 


HISTORY  OF  THB  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD  IN  AMERICA.       185 

Although  the  first  clergymen  in  the  Synod  were  grad- 
uates of  the  theological  department  of  the  University  of 
Norway  and  were  ordained  ministers  in  their  native  land, 
the  Synod  was  never  financially  supported  by,  nor  was  it 
organically  connected  with,  the  church  in  the  fatherland.  It 
at  once  became  independent  in  its  management.  In  matters 
of  church  government  the  Synod  is  democratic ;  the  congre- 
gations alone  have  the  right  to  call  and  depose  pastors ;  the 
pastor  is  called  not  for  a  definite  term  of  years,  but  to  serve 
for  life  or  during  good  behavior,  unless  called  away  to  places 
of  greater  need  or  importance.  The  Synod  in  its  relation  to 
the  congregations  is  purely  advisory.  Its  object  is,  accord- 
ing to  the  constitution,  **  To  keep  watch  over  the  purity  and 
unity  of  doctrine,  as  well  as  of  the  development  of  Christian 
life ;  to  superintend  and  examine  into  the  official  conduct  of 
its  members,  ( professors,  pastors,  and  religious  instructors) 
as  well  as  into  the  religious  standing  and  work  of  the  con- 
gregations ;  to  reconcile  in  matters  of  dispute  in  regard  to 
church  questions ;  to  erect  and  manage  institutions  of  learn- 
ing for  the  education  of  ministers  and  religious  instructors; 
to  establish  and  carry  on  home  and  foreign  missions;  to  pro- 
mote the  use  and  distribution  of  the  Bible,  religious  text- 
books, hymn-books,  and  devotional  literature." 

Owing  to  the  union  of  church  and  state  in  Norway, 
many  different  religious  tendencies  were  held  together  by 
external  ties  in  one  church.  When  these  tendencies  were 
transplanted  to  a  free  soil,  they  soon  caused  the  formation 
of  distinct  church  parties,  or  synods,  all  claiming  to  adhere 
to  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  faith  and  confession.  Lay 
preaching,  quite  prevalent  in  Norway  in  the  early  part  of 


186  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

this  century,  was  first  carried  on  among  the  Norwegians  in 
this  country  by  Elling  Eielsen,  who  became  the  founder  of 
Hauge*s  Synod;  but  the  Norwegian  Synod,  in  accordance  with 
Article  XIV  of  the  Augsburg  Confession, believes,  " That  no 
man  should  publicly  in  the  church  teach  or  administer  the 
sacraments,  except  he  be  rightly,  or  regularly,  called." 

During  the  Civil  War,  when  the  slavery"  question  was 
everywhere  agitated,  the  question  arose  in  the  Synod,  if 
slavery,  or  the  relation  of  life  servitude,  was  an  injustice  and 
sin  in  itself,  or  if  it  ever  could  exist,  or  had  existed  in  a 
lawful  manner.  The  Synod  took  the  position,  accepted  at  its 
annual  meeting  in  1861 :  ''That,  although  according  to  the 
Word  of  God,  it  is  not  sin  in  itself  to  hold  slaves,  still 
slavery  is  in  itself  an  evil  and  a  punishment  from  God,  and 
we  condemn  all  the  abuses  and  sins  connected  with  it,  as  we 
are  also  willing,  when  the  duty  of  our  calling  requires  it, 
and  when  Christian  love  and  wisdom  demand  it,  to  work 
for  its  abolition."  This  biblical  question  concerning  the  life 
servitude,  permitted  according  to  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments, could  not  be  quietly  considered  in  such  a  time  of  na- 
tional agitation ;  and  much  excitement  with  accusations  and 
threats,  especially  against  the  ministers  of  the  Synod,  was 
the  result.  Hauge's  Synod  and  the  Swedish-Norwegian 
Augustana  Synod  held  the  view  that  slavery  was  sin  in 
itself.  On  account  of  the  controversy  arising  out  of  this  dis- 
cussion, the  Norwegian  Synod  suffered  the  loss  of  Rev.  L.  C. 
Clausen  and  several  congregations. 

In  the  controversy  regarding  the  Christian  Sunday  the 
Synod  adhered  to  Art.  XXVIII  of  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
which  explains  the  Lutheran  "view.    In  the  controversy  on 


HISTORY  OF  THE  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD  IN  AMERICA.       187 

absolution  the  Synod  held  that  absolution  is  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  Gospel,  to  many  or  to  one  individual,  potently 
administering  forgiveness  of  sins  to  sinners,  but  requiring 
faith  for  its  acceptation  and  proper  eflfect.  In  connection 
with  this  doctrine  the  question  was  also  raised  if  forgiveness 
of  sins  was  prepared  for  all  sinners,  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  the 
whole  world  thus  might  be  said  to  be  justified  in  him.  This 
expression  the  Synod  defended  according  to  the  Bible:  Rom. 
5, 18,  "  Even  so  by  the  righteousness  of  one  the  free  gift  came 
tipon  all  men  unto  justification  of  life."  The  other  bodies 
claimed  that  justification  could  only  be  used  with  regard  to 
those  who  accepted  Christ  by  faith,  which  is  the  generally 
accepted  meaning  of  justification.  The  doctrinal  controver- 
sies on  these  questions  were  carried  on  in  conferences  and 
public  meetings  as  well  as  in  the  secular  and  religious  press. 
In  1871,  the  parties  dissatisfied  with  the  strictly  conserva- 
tive policy  and  confessional  rigor  of  the  Synod,  together  with 
seceders  from  the  August  ana  Synod,  organized  a  new  relig- 
ious denomination,  the  Danish-Norwegian  Evangelical  Luth- 
eran Conference. 

But  even  during  these  years  of  controversy  the  Synod  was 
constantly  increasing.  Numerous  congregations  were  or- 
ganized all  over  the  Northwestern  states,  especially  in  Wis- 
consin, Iowa,  and  Minnesota.  The  number  of  ministers  also 
increased  rapidly,  and  it  was  found  expedient  to  divide  the 
Synod  into  three  districts.  This  was  eflfected  in  1876  at  the 
meeting  of  the  church  held  in  Deborah,  la.  The  districts  com- 
prise within  their  limits  all  the  states  and  territories  in  which 
Norwegian  Lutherans  have  settled. 

At  the  district  meetings  each  congregation  is  represented 


188  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

by  one  lay  delegate  and  by  its  minister,  as  voting  members ; 
only  such  ministers  having  the  right  to  vote  as  serve  a  con- 
gregation formally  united  with  the  Synod. 

Every  third  year  the  Synod  holds  its  meetings,  presided 
over  by  Rev.  H.  A.  Preus,  who  has  held  the  oflSce  of  president 
uninterruptedl3'' for  thirty -two  years,*  being  first  elected  in 
1862.  Between  the  synodical  meetings  the  management  is 
exercised  by  the  church  council,  consisting  of  the  four  presid- 
ing officers,  and  of  four  lay  members,  elected  by  the  three  dis- 
tricts, and  one  member  elected  by  the  S3mod  at  large. 

During  the  first  years  of  its  existence  the  Synod  was 
dependent  for  its  pastors  and  instructors  upon  the  university 
and  seminaries  of  Norwav ;  and  from  1848  to  1858  received 
fourteen  theological  candidates  from  the  university  at  Kris- 
tiania,  who  accepted  charges  as  pastors  in  the  Northwestern 
states.  Three  of  them,  however,  returned  to  Norway,  and 
during  the  troubled  times  of  the  war  but  few  accessions 
were  made  from  the  mother  country.  For  this  reason,  and 
also  in  order  to  obtain  men  better  acquainted  with  the  con- 
ditions and  needs  of  our  church  in  America,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  provide  a  theological  seminary  for  the  educa- 
tion of  ministers  in  our  midst.  As  both  the  means  and  men 
for  such  an  undertaking  were  scarce,  the  Norwegian  Synod 
in  the  year  1855  sent  delegates  to  visit  and  confer  with  sev- 
eral English  and  German  Lutheran  synods  in  the  United 
States.  In  the  German  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  of  Mis- 
rouri,  Ohio,  and  other  states,  they  found  a  church  that 
adhered  strictly  to  the  Lutheran  faith  and  principles,  with  a 
college  and  theological  seminary  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  under 
•   the  management  of  the  noted  Prof.  C.  F.  W.  Walther.  Here 

•At  his  death  in  18W,  Rev.  V.  Korea  sacoeeded  him. 


HISTORY  OP  THE  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD  IN  AMERICA.      189 

the  delegates  met  with  a  hearty  welcome,  and  the  German 
Synod  invited  the  students  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  to  at- 
tend their  seminary  on  the  same  conditions  as  their  own. 
With  great  love  and  fraternal  good  feeling  the  German 
brethren  assisted  and  encouraged  the  struggling  Norwegian 
Lutherans  in  the  infancy  and  poverty  of  their  church ;  and 
their  aid  was  gratefully  accepted. 

In  1859  Rev.  Laur.  Larsen,  then  a  pastor  in  Wisconsin, 
was  appointed  by  the  Norwegian  Synod  as  its  professor  at 
Concordia  College  and  Seminary,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  When  the 
classical  department  of  Concordia  College  was  removed  to 
Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  in  1861,  the  Norwegian  Synod  had  so  far 
gained  in  strength  that  it  determined  to  conduct  a  college  of 
its  own,  which  began  its  work  the  same  year  in  the  parson- 
age at  Half  Way  Creek,  near  La  Crosse,  Wis.  Prof.  Laur. 
Larsen  was  appointed  president,  which  position  he  has  filled 
with  great  fidelity  through  all  the  changes  and  improve- 
ments in  the  college  till  the  present  date.  In  1862  the  college 
was  removed  to  Decorah,  la.,  where  land  had  previously  been 
secured.  In  1864  the  cornerstone  was  laid  to  a  large  build- 
ing, and  the  next  year  the  present  Luther  College  was  dedi- 
cated with  imposing  ceremonies  in  the  presence  of  6,000  Nor- 
wegian Lutherans  from  far  and  near.  This  was  the  first 
higher  institution  of  learning  erected  by  the  Norwegians  in 
the  United  States.  That  a  building  of  such  proportions,  at  a 
cost  of  $75,000,  could  be  completed  during  a  period  of  such 
internal  and  external  strife  was  due  mainly  to  the  untiring 
faith,  energy,  and  self-sacrifice  of  Prof  Laur.  Larsen,  and 
Rev.  V.  Koren,  as  well  as  to  the  joint  efforts  of  the  Lutheran 
pastors  and  church  members  in  the  Northwest. 


190  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

The  instruction  at  the  college  was  at  first  given  by  two 
professors,  but  as  the  number  of  students  rapidly  increased, 
others  were  appointed,  and  in  1874  we  find  seven  professors 
and  over  200  students.  In  1874  a  new  addition  was  com- 
pleted at  a  cost  of  $23,000.  Residences  for  the  professors, 
and  a  large  brick  church  were  also  provided,  and  the  grounds 
were  greatly  improved.  As  the  Norwegian  people  American- 
ized, the  college  endeavored  to  keep  up  with  the  transition. 
Engli^  became  more  and  more  the  medium  of  instruction, 
and  other  branches  of  stud3'  were  added,  so  as  to  give  all 
the  facilities  of  an  American  college  and  still  retain  the 
thorough  linguistic  and  historic  training  of  a  European 
gymnasium.  In  1881  the  course  of  stud3'  was  extended  to 
seven  years,  with  a  preparator3',  a  normal,  and  a  classical 
department,  and  the  number  of  professors  and  instructors 
was  increased  to  nine.  In  1889  the  college  buildings  were 
destroyed  by  fire,  but  at  the  meeting  of  the  three  districts  the 
same  year  it  was  resolved  immediately  to  rebuild  them. 
The  next  year  they  were  again  completed  at  a  cost  of  $56,000. 
The  attendance,  which,  during  previous  j^ears  of  doctrinal 
controversies,  had  dwindled  down  to  118,  now  again  in- 
creased, so  that  since  1890  it  has  averaged  about  200 
Luther  College  has  received  four  legacies,  amounting  to 
$9,500. 

It  had  originally  been  the  intent  to  add  a  theological  de- 
partment to  the  college  at  Decorah,  but  men  and  means 
"were  not  at  once  available,  and  the  Norwegian  students  still, 
for  a  number  of  years,  studied  theology  at  the  German  Con- 
cordia Seminary  at  St.  Louis,  although  this  seminary  had, 
for  a  number  of  years,  no  Norwegian  professor,  after  Prof. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD  IN  AMERICA.      191 

Larson  removed.  As  many  as  twenty  Norwegian  students 
at  one  time  pursued  their  studies  here,  and  the  graduates 
from  this  seminary  form  the  main  body  of  the  clergy  of  the 
Nowegian  Synod. 

In  1872,  to  further  promote  the  spirit  of  Christian  fellow- 
ship, the  Norwegian  Synod  joined  with  four  German  Luth- 
eran synods  in  organizing  the  Synodical  Conference,  which 
at  one  time  intended  to  erect  and  support  a  theological  semi- 
nary for  all  the  synods  connected  with  it ;  but  the  plan  was 
frustrated.  The  Norwegian  Synod  then,  in  1876,  bought 
the  Soldier's  Orphan's  Home,  Madison,  Wis.,  for  a  theologi- 
cal seminary.  This  institution,  called  Luther  Seminary,  be- 
gan with  a  practical,  and  afterward  added  a  theoretical 
department ;  the  first  accepts  students  of  Christian  knowl- 
edge and  experience,  who,  on  account  of  advanced  age  or 
other  circumstances,  are  debarred  from  pursuing  a  college 
course,  but  still  possess  abilities  and  a  desire  to  enter  the 
ministry ;  the  latter  requiring  a  classical,  or  college  education 
for  admission.  In  1888  the  seminary  was  removed  to  Rob- 
binsdale,  near  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  where  fine  buildings  had 
been  erected  at  the  cost  of  $30,000.  The  faculty  consists  of 
three  professors,  who  also  edit  the  official  organ  of  the 
Synod,  Evangelisk  Luthersk  Kirketidende.  In  1893,  47 
students  attended  the  seminary. 

Thus  the  Synod  took  charge  of  the  academic  and  theo- 
logical training  of  its  adults,  but  a  still  more  difficult  task 
was  found  in  how  to  provide  relgious  instructors  for  the 
children.  There  was  a  manifest  necessity  of  having  schools 
where  more  extensive  and  systematic  religious  instruction 
could  be  given  than  that  offered  in  the  Sunday  schools.    As 


192  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

no  such  schools  were  provided  for  by  the  state  or  by  the 
American  churches,  the  need  and  the  difficulty  of  this  inrork 
was  seriously  felt.  Instructors  for  the  parochial  schools 
"were  sometimes  taken  from  Norway,  or  men  were  employed 
who  had  received  an  academy  training  in  this  country. 

A  normal  department  for  the  educating  of  instructors  in 
religion  was  attempted  in  connection  with  Luther  Coll^ne, 
and  a  special  professor  was  called  for  this  department  in 
1878 ;  but  the  connection  with  the  classical  department  did 
not  work  well,  and  the  normal  department  at  Luther  Col- 
lege was  given  up  in  1886.  After  several  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts a  normal  school  for  preparing  teachers,  both  for  the 
Bnglish  common  school  and  for  Lutheran  parochial  schools 
was  built  in  Sioux  Falls,  S.  D.,  at  the  cost  of  $16,000.  It 
commenced  work  in  1889,  with  three  professors,  and  in  the 
winter  term  of  1898-9,  had  a  total  attendance  of  115  stu- 
dents, of  both  sexes. 

Besides  these  schools,  owned  and  controlled  directly  by 
the  Synod,  a  number  of  academies  and  high  schools  have 
sprung  up  within  the  last  ten  years,  owned  and  controlled 
by  private  corporations  within  the  Synod.  Among  such  can 
be  mentioned :  Willmar  Seminary,  established  1882,  which 
in  1892  had  an  attendance  of  nearly  400  students ;  Albert 
Lea  Lutheran  High  School,  with  an  attendance  of  200  in 
1892;  Lutheran  Ladies*  Seminary,  Red  Wing,  Minn.,  of 
which  the  cornerstone  was  laid  in  1893.  This  is  the  first  in- 
stitution of  its  kind  among  the  Scandinavians  in  this  coun- 
try. It  is  to  be  exclusively  for  lady  students  who  desire 
instruction  in  all  branches  of  knowledge  especially  useful  to 
women;  business,  art,  housekeeping,  dressmaking,  etc.,  to- 


AUGSBURG  SEMINARY,  MINNEAPOLIS,  MINN. 


ST.  OLAF  COLLEGE.  KOItTBFIEl.D,  Ml 


HISTORY  OF  THE  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD  IN  AMERICA.      193 

gether  with  instruction  in  religion.  Stoughton  Academy, 
Stoughton,  Wis.,has  an  attendance  of  140  students;  Bruflat 
Academy,  Portland,  N.  D.,  90;  Aaberg  Academy,  Devils 
Lake,  N.  D.,  80;  and  Park  Region  Luther  College,  Fergus 
Palls,  Minn.,  2Q0.  The  Pacific  Lutheran  University,  Ta- 
coma,  Wash.,  completed  in  1894,  has  buildings  amount- 
ing to  $100,000. 

The  Synod  also  owns  and  supports  Bethany  Indian  Mis- 
sion, Wittenberg,  Wis.  This  institution  obtains  Indian 
children  from  the  Winnebago  tribe,  and  civilizes  and  Chris- 
tianizes  them.  This  school  is  also  partly  supported  by  the 
United  States  government. 

Martin  Luther's  Orphans'  Home  at  Madison,  Wis.,  con- 
tains 36  orphans,  who  are  cared  for  and  instructed  by  the 
Synod. 

Missions,  supported  partly  by  the  S3mod,  in  connection 
with  other  branches  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  are:  .  The  Jew- 
ish Mission,  in  Montreal,  Canada;  the  Negro  Mission,  in  the 
Southern  states ;  the  Zulu  Mission,  in  South  Africa ;  the  mis- 
sion among  the  Mormons,  in  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah;  and 
Sailors'  Mission,  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn.  The  greatest 
mission  work,  however,  is  the  Home  Mission  among  the 
scattered  Norwegian  immigrants. 

While  the  Norwegian  Synod  was  in  its  greatest  pros- 
perity, a  time  of  great  strife  and  trial  came  upon  it.  In  1880 
a  controversy  arose  between  Dr.  F.  A.  Schmidt,  of  the 
theological  seminary  at  Madison,  Wis.,  and  Dr.  C.  F.  W. 
Walther,  and  others,  in  the  German  Missouri  Synod,  about 
the  doctrine  of  election  and  predestination;  the  former 
claiming  that  the   Missouri   Synod   taught   a   Calvinistic 

On  ppb  8I7-85,  VdL  I.,  and  ppb  2M7. 12Mi,  and  14541,  VoL  IL,  more  recent  BtatlftiM 
and  mora  detailed  aooonnts  may  be  fonnd  in  regafd  to  moet  of  the  institntions  lefarred 
to  OB  Hia  laat  fire  pages,  whieh  praetieally  remain  aa  they  were  pablished  in  18BB.— 


194  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

theory  concerning  election ;  the  latter  maintaining  Schmidt 
and  his  followers  held  synergistic  views.  The  controversy 
which  thus  began  in  the  German,  soon  found  its  way  into 
the  Norwegian  Synod.  The  question  was  discussed  at  min- 
isterial conferences  and  annual  synodical  meetings,  but  no 
agreement  between  the  contending  factions  seemed  possible. 
Excitement  ran  high,  and  public  discussions  were  held  by 
representatives  of  both  parties,  all  through  the  Synod.  At 
the  theological  seminary  and  at  Luther  College  the  faculties 
were  divided ;  the  majority,  however,  adhering  to  the  views 
of  Walther  and  the  Missouri  Synod,  while  Prof.  Schmidt  had 
the  greatest  following  among  the  lay  people.  At  a  confer- 
ence in  Decorah,Ia.,in  1884,  each  faction  drafted  a  fiiU  state- 
ment of  their  faith,  with  proofs  and  testimonies  attached,  for 
the  consideration  of  the  people.  The  Confession  of  Schmidt 
and  his  followers  was  signed  by  72  ministers  and  professors 
in  the  Synod;  the  Explanation  of  the  " Missourians "  by 
107.  The  Schmidt  faction  declared  that  they  could  no 
longer  support  or  attend  the  institutionsof  the  Synod,  which 
were  controlled  by  "Missourians."  An  opposition  college 
and  theological  seminary  was  estabUshed  at  Northfield, 
Minn.,  where  the  opponents  of  the  Synod  controlled  the  St. 
Olaf  School.  Hither  Prof.  Schmidt  removed  with  some  of 
the  theological  students,  and  Luther  Seminary  at  Madison 
w^as  almost  deserted ;  but  instruction  was  still  continued 
with  two  professors  and  seven  students  in  1886.     The  at- 

_  _  • 

tendance  at  Luther  College  also  dwindled  down  to  118,  and 
the  finances  of  the  church  were  in  a  bad  condition. 

At  the  next  joint  synod  in  Stougton,  Wis.,  it  was  re- 
solved, "  That  the  establishment  of  an  opposition  seminary 


HISTORY  OF  THE  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD  IN  AMERICA.      195 

at  Northfield  was  in  violation  of  the  constitution  of  the 
Synod,  a  breach  of  agreement,  a  virtual  division,  and  could 
not  be  tolerated;  therefore,  the  members,  who  had  sup- 
ported this  work,  were  advised  to  acknowledge  their  error 
and  desist  from  it."  Fifty-seven  members  signed  a  protest, 
declaring  their  intention  to  continue  the  seminary  at  North- 
field,  and  seceded  from  the  Synod.  This  example  was  soon 
followed  by  the  congregations,  and  in  the  following  two 
years  ftiUy  one-third  of  the  ministers  and  congregations 
seceded  and  organized  The  Anti-Missourian  Brotherhood. 
Before  the  division,  the  Synod,  according  to  the  parochial  re- 
ports for  1886,  numbered  194  clergymen  in  oflSce,  77,399 
communicants,  and  143,867  souls. 

During  the  last  years  of  the  predestination  controversy 
the  proper  work  of  the  Synod  had  been  almost  at  a  stand 
still.  The  debt  had  increased,  and  missionary  work  had 
languished.  But  when  the  division  was  eflfected,  and  confi- 
dence and  internal  peace  restored,  new  energy  was  awakened 
and  successftil  attempts  were  made  to  restore  finances  to  a 
better  condition.  The  contribution  of  the  churches  for  the 
diflFerent  synodical  and  missionary  purposes  amounted,  in  the 
year  ending  May  1st,  1892,  to  $34,830,  but  has  frequently 
exceeded  $50,000. 

According  to  the  reports  fo**  1809,  the  Synod  contained 
nearly  300  clergymen  and  professors,  '800  congregations, 
70,000  communicant  members,  and  about  125,000  souls. 
The  total  church  property  is  valued  at  about  3,000,000. 

From  1885  to  1891  annual  meetings  were  held  with  the 
other  denominations  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church,  dis- 
cussing the  questions  which  divided  them,  with  a  view  to  fur- 


196  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

ther  an  agreement  and  union.  Although  the  efforts  have  not 
been  void  of  good,  they  have  been  temporarily  given  up, 
pending  the  internal  strife  in  the  United  Church. 

Another  matter  seriously  discussed  at  present  is  the 
transition  from  Norwegian  to  English.  At  all  the  institutions 
of  learning  the  greater  part  of  the  instruction  is  given 
through  the  medium  of  the  English  language,  excepting  at 
the  theological  seminary,  where  a  chair  in  English  has  been  a 
long-felt  want.  English  Lutheran  missions  have  been  estab- 
lished at  Chicago,  and  Minneapolis,  and  many  of  the  clergy 
do  part  of  their  work  in  English.  The  Epiphany  English 
Lutheran  Conference,  organized  in  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  in  1892, 
consists  of  both  Norwegian  and  German  pastors.  Its  aim  is 
to  cultivate  and  promote  the  use  of  the  English  language  in 
the  Lutheran  churches  of  foreign  extraction,  in  order  to  re^ 
tain  the  old  orthodox  faith  and  establish  it  on  American 
soil.  For,  while  the  Norwegian  Synod  is  noted  for  its  conser- 
vatism as  to  doctrine  and  church  principles,  it  endeavors  to 
promote  the  education  and  influence  of  its  people  in  all  good 
objects. 


Historical  Review  of  the  Scandinavian  Bap- 
tists in  the  U.  8.  and  in  the  North. 

— RBVISBD  AND  APPROVED  BY- 
REV.  KRANK.    PETTERSON. 


The  Baptist  faith  was  introduced  into  Denmark  as  early 
as  1839.  In  that  year  Rev.  John  Gerhard  Oncken,  a  Ger- 
man, came  to  Copenhagen,  where  one  of  his  assistants  had 
succeeded  in  gathering  a  few  believers.  These  w^ere  baptized 
by  Oncken  and  organized  into  a  church;  the  first  of  its 
kind  among  the  Scandinavian  people.  These  proceedings, 
very  innocent  in  their  nature,  created  quite  an  excitement  in 
Denmark,  where  the  Lutheran  state  church  was  looked  upon 
as  the  only  orthodox  Christian  body.  The  Baptist  mission- 
aries  were  denounced  and  persecuted  as  a  dangerous  element 
promulgating  heresy  and  disorder.  The  members  and  pas- 
tor of  the  newly  organized  church  were  summoned  before 
the  magistrates  and  admonished  to  desist  from  their  work. 
A  decree  was  passed  by  the  department  of  state  whereby 
they  were  forbidden  to  hold  meetings,  to  baptize,  or  to  ad- 
minister the  Lord's  Supper.  But  persecution  since  the  day 
of  Christ  has  always  been  a  means  of  spreading  the  teach- 

(197) 


198  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

ings  which  it  has  been  endeavoring  to  stamp  out.  It  proved 
so  here.  Private  meetings  were  held,  and  the  attitude  of  the 
state  and  church  towards  the  believers  in  the  faith  onlj 
served  to  make  them  more  zealous  and  devoted.  The  Bap- 
tist  church  in  Copenhagen  soon  numbered  thirty-tw^o  mem- 
bers, and  several  churches  were  organized  in  other  places. 
Meanwhile  the  persecutions  went  on.  Oncken,  and  the  min- 
ister of  the  church  in  Copenhagen,  Peter  Moenster,  were 
hunted  by  the  police,  and  a  reward  was  oflfered  for  their  ap- 
prehension. In  1840  Moenster  and  his  brother  were  ar- 
rested and  imprisoned.  The  latter  was  banished  from  the 
realm,  and,  upon  his  refusal  to  leave  his  native  land,  ^^as 
sentenced  to  a  long  term  of  imprisonment.  The  persecution, 
not  confined  to  the  leaders,  but  carried  on  against  their  fol- 
lowers as  well,  soon  became  unbearable,  and  Oncken  resolved 
to  go  to  England  to  enlist  the  sympathies  of  his  brethren 
in  that  country  in  their  behalf.  He  obtained  a  recognition 
for  these  as  being  regular  and  well  ordered  churches  of  Christ, 
established  upon  apostolic  basis.  A  deputation  of  English 
Baptists  went  over  to  plead  with  the  Danish  government  for 
a  milder  treatment  of  their  brethren,  but  to  no  avail.  An- 
other attempt  to  aleviate  the  harsh  condition  of  the  Danish 
Baptists  was  made  by  the  American  and  Foreign  Publishing 
Societ3'',  which  sent  Professors  Conant  and  Hackett  over  to 
petition  the  King.  Through  their  eflforts  the  King  was  at 
last  persuaded  to  grant  what  was  called  the  Law  of  Am- 
nesty, by  which  certain  privileges  were  granted  the  Bap- 
tists, among  others  that  they  could  assemble  privately,  and 
administer  the  Lord's  Supper.  But  they  were  still  forbidden 
to  administer  baptism,  and  were  required  to  have  their  chil- 


f 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  BAPTISTS.  199 

dren  baptized  by  the  regular  ministers  within  the  age  re- 
quired by  law.  They  were  still  subject  to  fine  and  imprison- 
ment, and  their  children  were  often  taken  by  the  dergy 
to  be  baptized  into  the  state  church,  for  which  they  were 
compelled  to  pay,  or  if  they  refused  their  goods  were 
seized.  To  these  persecutions  the  Danish  Baptists  were 
subject  until  1850,  when  they  at  last  obtained  religious  lib- 
erty. The  church,  however,  during  these  years  of  adversity, 
had  prospered,  and  in  1900  we  find  about  25  Baptist 
churches  and  3,700  members  in  Denmark,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  a  great  number  had  emigrated  to  America  during  the 
long  period  of  religious  persecution. 

The  beginning  of  the  Baptist  church  m  Norway  is  of  a 
more  obscure  origin.  This  faith  was  first  introduced  into 
that  country  by  German  colporteurs,  probably  about  the 
years  1845  or  '50,  but  it  gained  little  ground  at  first,  and 
was  subject  of  no  general  attention  until  1868.  About 
1857,  F.  L.  Rymker,  a  Dane,  arrived  in  the  northern 
part  of  Norway  and  began  his  fruitfiil  missionary  w^or% 
there.  Rymker,  at  first  a  Danish  sailor  who  through  some 
ill  forttme  had  lostone  leg,  was  led  to  his  view  of  Baptism  by 
Mr.  Isaac  T.  Smith,  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church  for  Sea- 
men in  New  York.  After  his  conversion  Rymker  was  sent 
as  a  missionary  to  Denmark,  where  he  worked  for  some 
years  among  the  wounded  and  crippled  of  the  navy.  He 
then  went  to  Norway,  and  after  ten  years  labor  in  that 
country  he  had  ordained  two  ministers  and  organized  six 
churches,  with  an  aggregate  membership  of  two  hundred. 
In  1869  a  Swedish  basket  maker,  O.  Hanson,also  entered  upon 
the  missionary  work  in  Norway,  and  through  his  preaching 


t 


200  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

twenty-eight  persons  were  soon  converted,  and  a  church  was 
organized.  In  1900  flpre  were  about  2,200  Baptists  in 
Norway.  The  variou^churches  scattered  throughout  the 
country  have  of  late  years  been  organized  into  the  Norwe- 
gian Union  of  Baptist  Churches.  In  1892  the  American 
Baptist  Missionary  Union  took  charge  of  the  missionary 
work  in  Norway,  and  steady  accessions  are  being  made  to 
the  church. 

In  Sweden  the  Baptist  mission  began  its  work  a  little 
later  than  in  Denmark,  and  here,  as  in  the  other  countries, 
the  field  was  first  entered  by  independent  missionaries. 
CaAt.  G.W.  Schroeder,  who  had  embraced  the  Baptist  faith  in 
Ne^^ork ,  was  the  first  to  bring  the  faith  to  Sweden.  In  1847 
F.  C^^ilsson,  also  a  sailor,  who  had  been  brought  to  the 
same  views  by  Schroeder,  was  baptized,  and  the  first  Baptist 
church  was  organized  in  1848.  The  following  year  Nilsson 
was  ordained  in  Hamburg,  Germany,  and  returned  to  Sweden 
0m>  preach  the  Gospel  to  his  countrymen  according  to  his 
^kith.  But  being  opposed  by  the  authorities,  he  was  put  in 
prison.  Upon  being  released  he  renewed  his  preaching  and 
was  again  imprisoned.  Three  different  times  Nilsson  was 
thrown  into  prison,  and  twice  he  appeared  before  the  High 
Court.  At  last,  in  1851,  he  was  banished  from  the  country, 
when  he  went  to  Denmark,  and  from  thence  to  America.  In 
Copenhagen  he  met  and  baptized  Rev.  A.  Wiberg,  who  was 
destined  to  continue  the  missionary  work  in  Sweden.  Wi- 
berg was  an  educated  man,  and  a  minister  in  the  state 
church  in  Sweden.  After  his  conversion  and  baptism  he 
went  to  America  and  engaged  in  colporteur  work.  While 
there  he  published  a  book  on  Baptism,  which  gained   a 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  BAPTISTS.  201 

wide  circulation  in  his  native  land,^d  through  which  quite 
a  number  were  converted  to  the  fan.  In  1855  the  Publica- 
tion Society  of  Philadelphia  established  a  system  of  colport- 
age  in  Sweden,  and  Wiberg  was  sent  as  superintendent.  On 
his  return  he  found  about  five  hundred  Baptists  in  Sweden, 
despite  the  fact  that  they  had  been,  and  still  were,  subject  to 
considerable  hardships.  In  1856  Wiberg  began  to  edit  a 
paper  called  Evnngeliaten,  which  soon  gained  a  wide  cir- 
culation. Ten  years  later  he  built  a  chapel  in  Stockholm 
with  money  which  he  had  raised  in  England  and  in  America. 
The  work  progressed  rapidly,  many  more  workers  entered 
the  field,  among  whom  were  Rev.  G.  Palmquist  anflhis 
brothers,  and  soon  the  faith  gained  entrance  into  jKher 
circles.  After  a  visit  to  America,  Wiberg  returned  to  ^^den 
in  1866  and  started  a  theological  seminary  in  Stockholm, 
called  the  Swedish  Bethel  Seminary,  which  began  its  work 
with  two  professors  and  seven  students,  and,  under  the 
presidency  of  K.  O.  Broady,  D.  D.,  still  continues.  In  19^W 
there  were  about  570  Baptist  churches  and  40,000  membel^ 
in  Sweden. 

As  far  as  is  known,  the  first  Swedish  Baptist  in  the  world 
was  John  Asplund,  who  for  some  time  had  served  in  the 
British  navy ;  but  he  deserted  and  came  to  North  Carolina 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  this  country 
he  was  immersed,  ordained,  and  drowned  in  1807.  He 
traveled  on  foot  through  all  the  original  thirteen  states  and 
gathered  materials  for  a  statistical  Baptist  year-book,  which 
was  published  in  1790  and  re-issued  in  new  editions  for  some 
years  afterwards.  It  is  claimed  that  two  copies  of  this 
remarkable  book  are  in  Colgate  University,  Hamilton,  N.  Y. 


t 


202  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

But  it  is  very  doubtful  if  Asplund  ever  tried,  or  had  a  chance, 
to  propagate  his  faith  among  the  Swedes  either  in  the  old 
country  or  in  America.  Although  the  before  mentioned  Capt. 
G.  W.  Schroeder  had  been  immersed  in  East  River,  N.  Y.,  as 
early  as  1844,  thus  becoming  the  second  Swedish  Baptist  in 
the  world,  and  perhaps  some  other  Swedish-Americans  had 
accepted  his  views  before  1852;  yet  no  organization  of 
Swedish  Baptists  existed  in  this  country  before  that  year. 
Consequently,  the  missionary  work  among  the  Swedish  peo- 
ple began  a  little  earlier  at  home  than  in  the  United  States, 
but  in  both  cases  it  was  commenced  by  Swedish-Americans, 
and  the  American  Baptists  have  during  the  last  thirty  years 
paid  out  nearly  one  milUon  dollars  in  order  to  convert  the 
Scandinavians  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Owing  to  the 
hardships  to  which  the  Baptists  in  Sweden  were  subjected 
during  the  fifties  and  sixties,  many  of  them  were  compelled 
to  emigrate  as  soon  as  they  had  accepted  this  faith.  This 
may  partly  explain  why  there  are  about  twice  as  many 
Swedish  Baptists  in  the  United  States,  in  proportion  to  the 
population,  as  there  are  in  Sweden.  One  person  out  of  every 
60  Swedes  in  this  country  is  a  Baptist,  but  only  one  person 
out  of  every  125  in  Sweden  confesses  that  faith. 

The  first  Swedish  Baptist  church  in  this  country  was  organ- 
ized at  Rock  Island,  m.,  the  13th  of  August,  1852,  by  Gustaf 
Palmquist.  Shortly  after,  mainly  through  the  efforts  of 
Palmquist  and  F.  O.  Nilsson,  organizations  sprung  into  exis* 
tence  in  different  parts  of  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Illinois,  so 
that  in  1860  the  various  churches  had  a  total  membership  of 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  communicants.  The  mission- 
ary work  among  the  scattered  settlers  was  often  attended 


BISTORT  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  BAPTISTS.  203 

•with  serious  difficulty,  but  the  zeal  and  faithfulness  of  the 
missionaries  seldom  flagged.  Most  of  them  were  men  who 
were  used  to  hard  manual  toil,  and  few  had  received  the  ad- 
Tantages  of  a  higher  education.  But  in  a  new  country  such 
men  can  generally  accomplish  more  than  persons  of  great 
learning,  the  former  being  nearer  to  the  people.  The  pioneer 
preachers  went  on  foot  long  distances  and  often  suffered 
privations,  but  the  faith  was  preached  to  the  people  even  in 
the  remotest  settlements.  The  church  grew  rapidly  and  has 
always  continued  to  do  so.  Excepting  the  Lutherans,  the 
Swedish  Baptists  in  the  United  States  are  today  more  num- 
erous and  conservative  than  any  other  rehgious  organization 
among  the  Swedes  in  this  country.  Not  including  those  who 
are  members  of  purely  American  congregations,  there  were 
about  12,000  Swedish  Baptists  in  1890 ;  ten  years  later  they 
numbered  in  the  neighborhood  of  21,500,  being  the  greatest 
percentage  of  increase  which  any  Swedish  church  in  the  land 
has  had  during  this  period.  The  value  of  the  property 
amounts  to  nearly  $800,000  in  1900,  having  doubled  in  a 
decade.  There  are  about  310  congregations,  grouped  in  a 
dozen  conferences.  Of  these  conferences  the  one  in  Minnesota 
is  the  largest,  next  in  size  comes  the  Illinois  conference. 

The  Danish-Norwegian  Baptists  in  the  United  States  are 
not  numerous ;  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  write  their  his- 
tory :  consequently,  facts  in  regard  to  them  are  not  easily 
obtained.  It  appears  that  Hans  Valder,  who  lived  among 
the  American  Baptists  at  Indian  Creek,  111.,  accepted  the  reli- 
gious  views  of  his  associates  in  1842.  He  was  licensed  to 
preach,  and  in  a  couple  of  years  about  twenty  Norwegians 
in  La  Salle  and  Kendall  counties  were  immersed,  consti- 


204         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

« 

tuting  a  kind  of  society  without  being  regularly  organized. 
Valder  was  ordained  in  1844,  and  for  some  time  received  a 
salatty  of  $50  a  year  from  the  American  Baptists  and  $13 
from  his  countrymen.  He  worked  at  manual  labor  part  of 
the  time/,  and  was  soon  compelled  to  quit  preaching  alto- 
gether in  order  to  support  his  family.  The  society  was  only 
a  temporary  affair,  as  most  of  its  members  seem  to  have 
moved  to  Iowa  and  Minnesota  in  the  early  fifties.  It  is 
claimed  that  the  first  regularly  organized  Danish-Norwegian 
Baptist  church  in  this  country  came  into  existence  at  Ray- 
mond, Racine  cotmty,  Wis.,  the  10th  of  November,  1856. 
Rev.  L.  Jorgensen,  a  Baptist  fi-om  Denmark,  who  was  sup- 
ported by  the  Americans,  organized  this  church  as  well  as 
several  others.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  fifties,  some 
Danish  Baptists  settled  at  New  Denmark,  Brown  county, 
Wis.,  among  whom  was  Rev.  P.  H.  Dam,  who,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society, 
began,  in  1863,  to  organize  congregations  in  eastern  Wiscon- 
sin. But  even  where  the  cradle  of  the  Danish-Norwegian 
Baptists  stood,  the  progress  of  the  work  has  been  very  slow, 
for  in  1900  they  had  only  about  1,000  communicant  mem- 
bers in  the  whole  state  of  Wisconsin.  In  1880  the  total 
number  of  congregations  in  this  country  was  about  25,  with 
1,700  communicants  and  twenty  ministers.  Today  (1900) 
in  the  neighborhood  of  5,000  persons  belong  to  the  80 
Danish-Norwegian  Baptist  churches,  grouped  in  seven  con- 
ferences. The  value  of  the  property  is  about  $110,000. 
Hardly  more  than  one  person  out  of  300  of  the  Danes  and 
Norwegians  in  the  United  States  is  a  Baptist. 

The  Scandinavian  Baptists  in  this  country  can  hardly  be 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN   BAPTISTS.  204UL 

said  to  exist  as  independent  associations,  because  they  co- 
operate in  organic  connection  with  the  Am^irican  Baptists, 
through  whom  all  missionary  work,  homer  and  foreign,  is 
carried  on.  Yet  the  dozen  Swedish  Baptist  conferences  have 
united  in  farming  the  Swedish  Baptist  General  Gonfer^ice, 
which  holds  meetings  once  a  year.  The  Danish-Norwegian 
Baptists  have  not  eflfected  a  union  of  their  different  confer- 
ences.  The  general  conference  among  the  Swedes  was  organ- 
ized in  1879.  It  has  no  authority  over  the  conferences  or 
individual  congregations  composing  the  same,  but  is  merely 
a  union  of  the  Swedish  Baptists  for  the  purpose  of  facilitat- 
ing the  work,  such  as  missions,  Sunday  school  work,  and 
the  distribution  of  religious  literature.  Each  congregation 
sends  one  or  more  delegates  to  the  meeting  of  the  general 
conference.  The  same  close  connection  with  the  American 
Baptists  is  manifest  in  regard  to  the  education  of  the  young 
men  who  intend  to  become  ministers.  The  Scandinavian 
Baptists  in  this  country  have,  generally  speaking,  never 
operated  a  school  of  their  own,  but  in  1871  Rev.  J.  A.  Edgren, 
a  brother  to  the  learned  linguist,  Hjalmar  Edgren,  began  to 
teach  the  Swedish  students  in  the  American  Baptist  theo- 
logical seminary,  Chicago,  and  in  1881  Rev.  N.  P.  Jensen,  a 
Dane,  became  his  assistant.  In  1884  a  regular  Danish- 
Norwegian  department  was  established  in  connection  with 
the  seminary.  At  the  same  time  the  Baptists  in  Denmark 
and  Norway  decided  to  have  their  candidates  for  the  minis- 
try educated  at  this  institution,  and  about  thirty-five  young 
men  have  during  the  last  fifteen  years  come  directly  from 
those  countries  to  pursue  studies  at  the  school.  In  1884 
the  Swedes  had  their  own  school  in  St,  Paul,  Minn.,  and  then 


204b     history  of  the  Scandinavians  in  the  u.  s. 

for  two  or  three  years  it  was  kept  at  Stromsburg,  Neb.  But 
in  1888  they  again  united  with  the  American  institution  in 
Chicago.  When  the  seminary,  in  1892,  became  a  part  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  regular  Swedish  and  Danish-Norwe- 
gian departments  were  established  in  connection  with  the 
divinity  school  of  this  institution.  From  1871  to  1900 
about  275  Swedish  and  125  Danish-Norwegian  students 
have  pursued  theological  courses,  only  a  part  of  them,  how- 
ever, having  completed  their  studies.  In  later  years  three 
Swedish  professors  and  an  equal  number  of  Danish-Norwe- 
gian instructors  are  employed  in  the  school,  and  the  com- 
bined annual  attendance  averages  about  fifty  in  the  two 
departments.  Besides  the  attempt  to  prepare  young  men 
for  the  position  of  clergymen,  several  Scandinavian-Ameri- 
can  Baptist  newspapers  and  religious  tracts  are  published  in 
the  interest  of  the  work. 


Owinff  to  the  aoaroitjr  of  hifltorieal  dooomaDta  with  reference  to  the  Baptist  work  in 
the  ScandinaTian  oomitriee,  most  of  the  facts  were  gleaned  from  the  histories  of  O.  W. 
Herrey  and  T.  Armitage,  both  American  pablioations.  In  the  second  edition  I  have  per 
sonally  corrected  all  mistakes  of  facts  that  ooold  be  detected ;  but  did  not  change  the 
langoage  of  the  article,  except  pages  201-4,  which  were  rewritten  by  myself,  and  rcTlaed 
by  BeT.  Frank  Peterson.  In  making  corrections  and  additions,  official  church  reports 
kftTs  mostly  been  relied  apon,  bat  In  a  few  cases  I  have  consulted  newspaper  articles 
and  Q.  W.  3<ihroedar*s  history  of  the  Swedish  Baptists.— EoixoB. 


Historical  Review  of  Scandinavian  Method- 
ism in  the  U.  8.  and  in  the  North. 

—  BY  — 

RKV.  N.  M.  LILJEQRKN. 


In  1771  Dr.  C.  M.  Wrangel,  who  for  several  years  had 
been  a  Lutheran  Minister  among  the  Swedes  at  Delaware 
River,  and  who  had  met  John  Wesley  in  England,  became  the 
leader  in  organizing  a  religious  society  in  Stockholm,  Sweden, 
called  Pro  Fide  et  Christianissimo,  which  exists  today.  This 
may  be  said  to  have  been  the  first  Methodistic  attempt  in 
the  North,  for  although  Dr.  Wrangel  was  and  always  re- 
mained a  Lutheran,  yet  he  acted  upon  the  advice  of  Wesley 
and  had  been  very  friendly  toward  the  Methodists  during  his 
ministerial  duties  in  this  country.  When  the  well-known 
English  manufacturer,  Samuel  Owen,  settled  in  Sweden  in 
the  first  part  of  this  century,  he  brought  with  him  two 
Methodist  ministers,  Stephens  and  Scott,  who  were  of  the 
same  faith  as  himself.  Scott  was  an  earnest,  active,  and  bold 
man,  who  fearlessly  attacked  the  religious  and  social  evils, 
built  what  is  now,  Bethlehems  Church,  in  Stockholm,  and 
organized  the  first  temperance  society  in  Sweden.  The  religi- 

(206) 


206  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

ous  movement  at  that  time  became  intense  and  swept 
over  parts  of  the  kingdom  with  the  strength  of  a  tornado. 
In  Helsingland  the  Jansonites,  who  in  their  style  of  delivery 
and  mode  of  teaching  and  exhortation  resembled  the  Metho- 
dists, publicly  burned  all  the  religious  books,  except  the 
Bible.  For  this  great  excitement  and  fanaticiem  Scott  was  nort 
responsible ;  yet  the  opposition,  in  their  passion  and  hatred, 
drove  him  by  force,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  from  Sweden  in 
1842. 

In  1825  O.  G.  Hedstrom,  a  Swede,  landed  in  New  York. 
He  was  converted  to  Methodism,  and  for  some  time  preached 
for  American  congregations.  But  when  the  Scandinavian 
emigrants,  in  the  early  forties,  commenced  to  arrive  in  New 
York  by  the  hundreds  and  thousands,  annually,  he  attended 
almost  exclusively  to  their  spiritual  wants.  He  was  the 
founder  of  the  Swedish  Methodism  in  America,  and  to  a  cer- 
tain extent,  also,  of  the  Norwegian-Danish,  for  in  1847, 0.  P. 
Peterson,  a  Norwegian,  was  converted  to  that  faith  by  him. 
Peterson  visited  his  native  country  two  years  later,  and  for  the 
first  time,  introduced  Methodism  into  Norway.  He  returned 
to  America  in  1850,  and  the  following  year  began  missionary 
work  among  his  countrymen  in  the  Northwest.  Chr.  B.  Wit 
lerup,  a  Dane,  was  the  first  who  introduced  Methodism 
among  the  Nowegian-Danish  people  in  this  country,  in  1850; 
for  five  years  he  preached  for  the  Norwegian  pioneers  in  Wis^ 
cousin.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  although  the  emigration 
from  Norway  preceded  the  Swedish  by  ten  or  fifteen  years, 
yet  the  Methodistic  missionary  work  among  the  former  immi- 
grants began  five  years  later,  at  least,  than  it  did  among  the 
latter. 


HISTORY    OF   SCANDINAVIAN    METHODISM.  207 

As  a  general  thing  the  Methodists  are  noted  for  their 
earnestness  and  strong  religious  convictions.  The  early 
Scandinavian-American  Methodists,  although  most  of  them 
were  uneducated,  were  not  slow  in  appealing  to  their  Ameri- 
can brethren  for  aid  in  carrying  on  missionary  work  in  their 
native  lands.  The  Americans,  with  their  usual  S3rmpathy 
and  liberality,  granted  their  request.*  In  1855  Willerup  was 
sent  as  superintendent  of  the  work  in  the  Northern  countries, 
which  commenced  at  once  in  Norway,  shortly  after  in  Den- 
mark,  but  not  in  Sweden  until  1865.  Soon  a  few  other 
Scandinavian- American  missionaries  followed  him;  yet  it  was 
not  until  V.  Witting  was  appointed  superintendent  of 
Sweden,  in  1868,  that  the  work  progressed  in  that  kingdom. 
After  the  severity  of  the  religious  laws  had  been  relaxed — 
which  was  done  in  Sweden  in  1873,  and  in  Denmark  and 
Norway  a  little  earlier— Methodism  spread  rapidly  over  the 
Northern  countries.  In  1876  conferences  were  organized, 
both  in  Sweden  and  Norway,  but  the  work  in  Denmark  has 
progressed  very  slowly,  until  recent  years.  According  to  the 
report  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  the  year  ending 
1899,  there  were  about  16,000  members  in  Sweden,  5,800  in 
Norway,  and  3,200  in  Denmark,  or  totally  25,000,  distri- 
buted among  a  population  of  about  nine  and  a  half  million 
people.  Each  country  has  a  small  theological  school.  The 
value  of  the  church  property  in  all  the  Northern  countries 
amounts  to  nearly  $800,000. 

The  Methodists  from  the  North  have  done  their  fiiU  share 
in  developing  the  material  resources  of  the  country  and  at- 
tending to  the  religious,  social,  and  moral  uplifting  of  their 
countrymen  in  the  New  World.    They  are,  perhaps,  the  most 

^  Aeoordlng  to  the  annaal  reports  of  the  MissloQary  Sooiety  of  the  Methodlft  Bpli- 
eopal  Chnreh,  said  orgaoisatioQ  has  iwld  out  over  two  and  a  half  miUion  dollars  daring 
the  past  f ortf  years  for  missionary  work  amooff  the  Scandinavians.  One  million  doHais 
has  been  dsToted  to  the  SoandlnaTians  in  this  oonntry ;  the  halanei  of  the  snm  has  beta 
In  the  North.— Bditob. 


16 


208  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  V.  S. 

ardent  temperance  workers  of  any  of  the  Scandinavian- 
American  religious  organizations.  Even  their  opponents  ad- 
mit that  the  two  Hedstrom  brothers  in  many  ways  assisted 
the  immigrants  and  directed  the  whole  Scandinavian  move- 
ment toward  the  Northwest. 

From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  Great  Lakes  to 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  where  any  Scandinavians  are  to  befound, 
there  are  also  Scandinavian  Methodist  churches.  As  a  gen- 
eral thing  the  Swedes,  Norwegians,  and  Danes,  in  a  new  set- 
tlement, unite  and  erect  a  common  church,  where  they  all 
worship  God  together ;  the  diflFerences  in  their  languages  be- 
ing so  small  that  they  easily  understand  each  other.  But  as 
the  membership  increases  they  usually  divide  into  Swedish, 
and  Norwegian-Danish  congregations.  A  Nor wegian- Ameri- 
can historian  says :  **The  Scandinavian  Methodist  Church 
in  America  is  not  a  unity,  not  any  undivided  whole.  It  is 
made  up  of  two  separate  branches,  vis.,  the  Swedish  and  the 
Norwegian-Danish.'*  Yet,  in  nearly  all  the  new  and  smaller 
localities,  the  two  branches  generally  have  churches  in  com- 
mon. 

In  1877  the  Northwestern  Swedish  Methodist  Confer- 
ence  was  organized,  and  in  1892  it  was  agreed  to  divide  said 
organization  into  three  conferences.  The  Norwegian-Danish 
Methodist  Conference  was  organized  in  1880.  Each  confer- 
ence is  divided  into  districts,  each  district  is  presided  over  by 
an  elder.  An  American  bishop  is  chairman  at  the  annual 
conferences.  In  fact,  the  Scandinavian  Methodists  areclosely 
connected  w^ith  their  American  brethren.  In  the  Eastern  and 
Western  states  the  Scandinavian  congregations  belong  to 
American  conferences. 


HISTORY  OP  SCANDINAVIAN  METHODISM.  209 

Not  including  those  who  belong  to  purely  American  con- 
gregations, there  are  about  16,000  Swedish  Methodists  in 
this  country  in  1900,  and  8,000  Norwegian-Danish.  Not  one 
person  out  of  every  300  is  a  Methodist  in  Sweden,  while  over 
one  out  of  every  100  Swedes  in  this  country  belong  to  this 
organization.  In  proportion  to  the  population  there  are 
more  than  twice  as  many  Norwegians  in  America  who  are 
Methodists  as  there  are  in  Norway.  The  Swedish  Methodists 
in  this  country  have  about  170  churches,  valued  at  $800,000 ; 
the  Norwegian-Danish  have  115  churches,  valued  at  $330,- 
000.  This  valuation  of  the  church  property  does  not,  how- 
ever, include  the  parsonages,  which  may  be  estimated  to  be 
worth  $130,000  and  $70,000,  respectively. 

Several  newspapers  are  published  in  the  interest  of  the 
work,  Sandebudet  being  the  Swedish  church  organ,  and 
Dea  Christelige  Talsmand  the  Norwegian-Danish.  There 
are  two  Methodist  theological  departments  connected  with 
the  Northwestern  University  at  Evanston,  111.,  one  Swedish, 
and  one  Norwegian-Danish,  where  young  men  are  prepared 
for  the  ministry. 

Some  of  the  aisertions  in  the  ftnt  para#rraph  of  this  article  are  eTidently  l>a«ed  upon 
uteak  and  questionable  eyidence.  To  affirm  that  Pro  Fide  at  Christianismo  was 
OKsaniaed  upon  the  advice  of  Wesley,  thereby  indicating  that  he  was  the  ori^^inator  of 
the  fundamental  principle!  of  said  society,  does  not  appear  to  coincide  with  the  actual 
facts.  The  society  in  Stockholm  was  modelled  after  the  Society  For  Promoting  Chris- 
tian Knowled^,  the  oldest  and  one  of  the  groatc^t  assoclatious  countcted  with  the 
Choich  of  England,  which  was  founded  in  1688,  five  years  before  the  birth  of  Wesley.  All 
the  Swedish  Methodist  historians  oa  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  and  perhaps  some 
others,  seem  to  have  misinterpreted  the  position  of  Dr.  Wrangel,  even  going  so  far  as  to 
call  him  a  de  facto  Methodist.  For  example,  T.  M.  Erikson,  in  his  history  of  Metho- 
dism in  Sweden,  styles  Wrangel  "the  pioneer  of  Methodism  in  Philadelphia,"  and  asserts 
that  at  his  death  the  inflaonce  of  that  sect  ceased  in  Sweden,  at  least  for  a  time.  The 
same  sentiments  are  ezprssed  ty  the  authors  of  the  semi-official  history  of  Swedish 
Methodism  in  this  country,  Th  se  writers  assume  that  because  C.  M.  Wrangel  was  a 
pietist,  a  friend  and  admirer  of  Wesley  aud  his  work,  therefore  the  former  must  have 
accepted  the  religious  views  of  the  latter  and  becomo  a  converted  Methodist.  But 
would  not  the  following  syllogism  he  equally  correct :   John  Wesley,  being  a  pious  man 


210  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

and  friendly  towarda  Wrangel  and  his  work,  therefore  the  former  mmt  have  accepted 
the  faith  of  the  latter  and  become  a  good  Latheranf  The  relation  between  theee  two 
men,  as  f ar as  reliffiooB  oo-operation  ia  eoneemed,  appears  to  be  as  follows:  Wesley 
cndeaTored  to  reform  the  abases,  real  or  supposed,  of  the  Episcopal  Church  of  England 
—with  which  he  never  acTered  his  connection.  Wrangel,  being  a  progressiye  man, 
sympathised  with  all  morements  of  this  nature,  and  on  his  return  from  the  United 
States  visited  Wesley,  Oct.  14,  1768,  and  requested  him  to  send  some  piously  incliiicd 
persons  thither  to  preach  the  Ck>8pel,  which  was  granted.  Considering  the  need  of 
devout  instructors  in  America  and  the  friendly  rrlation  existing  between  the  churches 
of  Sweden  and  England,  such  request  was  very  natural,  especially  as  separation  from 
the  state  organizations  had  not  at  that  time  become  a  general  practice.  Afterwards 
they  corresponded  with  each  other.  But  not  a  single  letter  or  document  has  been  pro- 
duced to  indicate  that  the  society  in  Stockholm  was  the  result  of  Wesley*s  adyice.  or 
that  Wrangel  had  become  a  Methodist.  It  may  be  that  Wrangel  was  influenced  by 
Methodism,  but  so  was  also  Wesley  by  the  teachings  of  Luther ;  for,  according  to  Wes- 
ley*s  own  assertion,  quoted  in  "Johnson's  Cydopcedia,"  he  became  converted  through 
the  writings  of  the  German  reformer. 

The  opposition  to  Rev.  George  Scott  was  not  so  much  against  his  Methodism  as 
against  his  ingratitude.  At  first  he  had  been  exceptionally  woU  received  in  Stockholm, 
some  of  the  Lutheran  clergymen  even  assisting  him  in  his  missionary  efforts.  But  dur- 
ing a  Journey  in  the  United  States,  in  1841,  he  had  several  times  severely  criticised  the 
morals  and  religion  of  the  Swedes,  who  resented  this  by  driving  him  out  of  the  city. 

The  following  are  aome  of  the  authorities  which  have  been  consulted  in  regard  to  the 
above  note,  or  notes ;  ''International**  and  *'Chamber8*s**  cyclopedias,  **Nordisk  Famll- 
Jebok,**  C.  A  Cornelius's  "Svenska  Kyrkans  Historia  after  Reformationen,**  **We8ley*s 
Journal,**  T.  M.  £rikson*s  *'Metodismen  i  Sverige,**  and  "Svenska  Metodismen  i 
Amerika.**— Bditos. 


Historical  Review  of  the  Swedish  Evan- 
gelical Mission  Covenant  of  America. 

—  BY- 
REV.  E.  A.  SKIOGSBERQH. 


In  order  to  fully  understand  the  origin,  development,  and 

history  of  the  Swedish  Evangelical  Mission  Covenant  of 

America,  it  is  at  first  necessary  to  glance  at  the  religious 

condition  in  Sweden  in  the  nineteenth  century.    In  the  first 

part  of  tliis  century  rationalism^  swayed  the  religious 
thought  of  the  majority  of  the  Swedish  clergy.    Many  of  the 

ministers  in  the  Lutheran  state  church  were  negligent, 
and  spiritual  life  had  in  most  cases  been  supplanted  by  stale 
forms.  In  1842,  a  pious  but  uneducated  peasant,  Eric  Jan- 
son,  commenced  to  hold  devotional  meetings  in  Helsingland, 
in  the  northern  part  of  Sweden.  About  the  same  time  Rev. 
George  Scott,  an  English  Methodist  minister,  began  to 
preach  in  Stockholm,  and  shortly  after  the  Baptists  com- 
menced to  introduce  their  faith  around  Gothenburg. 

All  these  movements  were  more  or  less  hostile  towards 
the  Lutheran  state  church  of  Sweden,  and  the  majority  of 

1  Prof.  G.  O.  Brohaagh'8  history  of  the  Haugre's  Synod,  which  commences  on 
page  173  in  this  volame,  contains  a  discussion  on  rationalism  in  Bnrope  in  gen- 
eral, and  in  Norway  in  particular,  which,  no  doubt,  applies  to  the  Swedish  clergy 
as  well.— [Editor.  (211) 


/ 


212  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

the  clergy  naturally  resisted  any  and  all  encroachments  upon 
their  field.  They  had  also  the  civil  law  on  their  side.  For, 
ever  since  the  introduction  of  Lutheranism  into  Sweden  in  the 
early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  it  had  been,  and  still  was, 
unlawful  to  worship  God  in  any  other  form  than  in  accord- 
ance with  the  rites  of  the  established  church ;  nor  could  re- 
ligious meetings  be  legally  conducted  by  other  persons  than 
the  regular  clergy.  That  such  a  law  could  exist  among  such 
an  intelligent  and  free  people  as  the  Swedes  is  mainly  due  to 
the  fact  that  shortly  after  the  teachings  of  the  great  German 
reformer  had  become  theirnational  religion,  strenuous  efforts 
were  made  to  re-establish  the  Catholic  faith  among  them. 
To  protect  the  Swedish  people  from  relapsing  into  Catholi- 
cism, the  government  made  it  a  criminal  offense  to  teach 
or  preach  any  doctrine  except  the  Lutheran.  But  the  Swedes 
have  always  been  such  devoted  Lutherans  that  for  centu- 
ries there  was  little  occasion  to  apply  the  severe  religious 
laws ;  nor,  perhaps,  would  they  have  been  applied  now,  if  it 
had  not  been  for  the  unwise,  not  to  say  fanatical,  procedure 
of  some  of  the  dissenters  themselves.  In  Helsingland,  for  ex- 
ample, the  Jansonites  publicly  burned  all  religious  books  ex- 
cept the  Bible.  Janson  was  arrested,  imprisoned,  and 
escaped  to  America  in  1846,  where  he  became  the  founder  of 
the  well-known  Bishop  Hill  Colony,  in  Illinois ;  Scott  was 
mobbed  in  1842,  the  Baptist  leader  banished  from  the  king- 
dom in  1851,  and  more  than  one  of  the  separatists  and  re- 
vivalists had  to  suffer  longer  or  shorter  imprisonment.  It 
was  not  until  1873  that  the  harsh  religious  laws  were  abol- 
ished in  Sweden. 

The  persecution,  however,  did  not  have  the  desired  effect. 


THE  SWEDISH  EVANGELICAL  MISSION  COVENANT.       213 

Yet,  as  has  been  stated  before,  the  Swedes  have  always  been, 
and  are,  verj-  devoted  Lutherans.  Any  other  form  of  wor- 
ship finds  little  favor  with  them,  consequently  the  Metho- 
dists, the  Baptists,  and  all  other  dissenters  from  the  estab- 
lished Lutheran  church,  have,  on  the  whole,  not  been  veni- 
successful;  while  the  Mission  movement  within  the  state 
chuich  itself  has  exercised  a  great  influence. 

This  movement,  which  began  about  1840-50,  was  a 
spiritual  awakening  within  the  Lutheran  church.  It  sprang, 
as  has  often  been  the  case  in  all  ages  and  in  all  countries  in 
regard  to  religious  and  social  reforms,  from  the  lower  stratum 
of  society.  The  regular  clergy  and  upper  circles  generally 
kept  aloof,  often  opposed  the  whole  movement.  It  was  the 
laymen  who  commenced  to  read  and  interpret  the  Bible  for 
themselves.  It  was  a  continuation  among  the  Swedes  of  the 
spiritual  awakening  which  had  been  originated  in  Norway 
by  Hans  Nilsen  Hauge  half  a  century  before.  It  was  the 
strong  individuality  of  the  Northmen,  who  had  drenched  in 
blood  the  classical  civilization  of  Rome  and  western  European 
Christendom,  and  sealed  with  their  blood  on  the  battlefield 
of  Liitzen  the  cause  of  Reformation,  that  in  religious  mat- 
ters asserted  their  rights  as  freemen. 

In  the  middle  of  this  century  Fosterlandsstiftelsen  was 
organized  in  Sweden  by  C.  O.  Rosenius  and  others.  Rosenius 
had  previously  co-operated  with  George  Scott,  and  had  con- 
ducted revival  meetings  in  different  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
He  was  also  editor  of  Pietisteziy  a  religious  paper  which  has 
to  this  day  exercised  quite  an  influence  in  religious  matters. 
The  object  of  Fosterlandsstiftelsen,  which  was  composed 
mostly  of  laymen  although  a  few  of  the  regular  Lutheran 


214         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

clergjrmen  also  belonged,  was  to  conduct  a  religious  revival 
movement  within  the  state  church.  For  this  purpose  piously 
inclined  laymen  were  sent  to  every  part  of  the  realm,  where 
they  held  religious  meetings  among  the  farmers  and  labor- 
ing people,  and  distributed  devotional  literature.  These 
meetings  resembled  very  much  an  ordinary  Pietistic 
prayer  meeting,  and  were  called  I^saremoten  (Reading- 
meetings)  or  Miaaionamoten  (Missionmeetings) ;  those 
who  participated  were  at  first  called  Laaare  (Readers), 
later  MiaaionavSinner  {Mission  Friends).  After  a  while, 
however.  Dr.  P.  Waldenstrom — an  ordained  Lutheran  min- 
ister and  professor  in  one  of  the  colleges  of  Sweden,  who, 
after  the  death  of  Rosenius,  had  become  the  leader  of  the 
Mission  movement,  and  is  now  well-known  as  a  preacher 
and  author,  having  also  for  a  number  of  years  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Swedish  Parliament— withdrew  from  Foster- 
landaatiftelaen.  In  1878  he  together  with  others  organ- 
ized Svenaka  Miaaionaforbundet,  an  independent  organ- 
ization, which  a  large  proportion  of  the  Mission  Friends 
joined.  Others  remained  with  Fosterlandsatiftelsen.  The 
former  society  has,  in  1900,  about  100,000  members,  sup- 
ports a  theological  seminary,  and  conducts  missionary 
work  in  foreign  countries. 

Although  several  Mission  Friends  had  emigrated  before 
1868,  it  was  not  until  that  year  that  C.  O.  Bjork  and  J.  M. 
Sanngren  began  at  Swede  Bend,  Boone  county,  Iowa,  and  in 
Chicago,  respectively,  to  gather  together  the  Mission  folks. 
At  the  former  place  an  organization  may  be  said  to  have  been 
effected  July  4,  1868,  which  was  the  first  society  of  its 
kind  in  America;  but  similar  societies  in  a  short  time  sprang 


THE  SWEDISH  EVANGELICAL  MISSION  COVENANT.       215 

Up  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  The  ministers  and  lay- 
men  of  some  of  these  churches  met  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  in  1873, 
and  organized  the  Swedish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Mission 
Synod,  of  which  Sanngren  became  president.  A  similar  or- 
ganization, The  Swedish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Ansgary 
Synod,  was  effected  in  1874;  Prof.  C.  Anderson  being  the 
chief  promoter.  Both  these  synods  called  themselves  Luther- 
an, and  their  constitutions  contained  the  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion ;  yet  the  tendency  of  Dr.  P.  Waldenstrom  was  the  pre- 
dominent  feature.  As  is  well  known  Waldenstrom  differed 
from  the  Lutheran  Church  in  regard  to  the  doctrine  of  atone- 
ment, mode  of  worship,  and  church  government.  For 
awhile  they  both  prospered.  The  Ansgary  Synod  started  a 
school  in  Knoxville,  111.  In  1876-77  the  Mission  Synod, 
which  was  the  truest  specimen  of  the  Mission  movement  in 
Sweden,  i«ceived  great  accession  in  membership.  In  1884-85, 
however,  they  both  ceased  to  exist.  ^  At  the  dissolution  each 
of  them  numbered  about  35  ministers    and  4,000  members. 

In  1885  several  of  those  who  had  formerly  been  connected 
with  the  Ansgary  and  Mission  synods  organized  the  Swed- 
ish Evangelical  Mission  Covenant  of  America.  This  organi- 
zation has— like  the  Svenska  Missionsforbundet  in  SwedGn^ 
which  it  resembles  in  name,  religious  belief  and  practice,  and 
government,  although  they  are  not  oflScially  connected — no 
formulated  creed ;  the  Bible  being  the  only  authority.  Each 
congregation  manages  completely  its  own  affairs,  resembling 

1  It  is  claimed  that  the  dissolution  was  partly  caused  by  the  fact  that  most  of 
the  members  of  the  two  synods  objected  to  requiring:  people  to  subscribe  to  the 
Augsburg  Confession   before  they  could  become  members  of  the  consolations. — 

[BOITOR. 


216  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

in  this  respect  the  Congregationalists.^  The  diflferent  con- 
gregations do  not  allow  any  person  to  join  them  except 
those  who  confess  that  they  are  converted  and  are  willing 
to  live  a  Christian  life,  resembling  in  this  respect,  as  well 
as  in  mode  of  worship,  the  Methodists.  According  to  the 
statistics  of  the  year  ending  1899,  the  Swedish  Evangelical 
Mission  Covenant  of  America  has  about  135  congregations, 
12,000  communicants,  and  church  property  valued  at  $500,- 
000;  but  there  are  at  least  twice  as  many  Swedish  Mission 
Friends  in  this  country,  who  have  independent  church  socie- 
ties not  officially  connected  with  the  Covenant.  The  organi- 
zation has  had  a  school  of  their  own  since  1891,  supports 
missions  in  China  and  Alaska,  and  several  papers  are  pub- 
lished in  the  interest  of  the  work. 

1  In  fact  the  Swedish  Misiiion  Friends  in  this  country  had,  for  a  conple 
of  years,  a  school  in  Chicago  in  connection  with  the  Cont^reKational  theological 
seminary;  and  many  of  the  ministers  claim  to  be  Congregationalists,  being  admit- 
ted and  considered  as  such  at  the  yearly  meetings  of  that  organization. — [BorroR. 


Historical  Review  of  the  Swedish  Lu- 
theran Augustana  Synod. 


—  BY  — 

REV.   C.  J.   RETTRI. 


In  1638  the  Swedes  founded  a  colony  on  the  banks  of 
Delaware  River.  The  same  year  these  colonists  erected,  where 
Philadelphia  now  stands,  the  first  Lutheran  church  buildinor 
in  America.  Ever  since,  Swedish  immigrants  have  settled  in 
this  country,  but  up  to  the  year  1840  they  were  few  and 
came  at  irregular  intervals,  and  both  religiously  and  socially 
became  completely  intermixed  with  other  nationalities. 
From  this  time  on  immigration  became  regular,  but  it  was 
not  heavy,  nor  was  its  direction  definite  till  about  1850, 
when  it  assumed  immense  proportions,  and  poured  in  a 
steady  stream  into  the  states  and  territories  of  the  North- 
west. During  this  early  period,  when  the  life  of  the  immi- 
grants was  chiefl3^  migratory,  religious  affairs  were  naturally 
in  a  similar  unorganized  and  unsettled  condition. 

In  1850  Prof.  L.  P.  Esbjom,  the  father  of  the  Swedish- 
American  Lutheran  church,  organized  congregations  at 
Andover,  Moline,  and  Galesburg,  HI.     But  two  years  previ- 

(217) 


218  HISTORY  OK  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

ous  a  Swedish  Lutheran  church  had  been  organized  at  New- 
Sweden.  Iowa.*  On  Sept.  18,  1851,  The  Synod  of  Northern 
Illinois  was  organized,  which  shortly  afterwards  effected  a 
connection  with  the  General  Synod.  Esbjom  and  some  Nor- 
wegians had  been  invited  to  unite  their  congregations  in 
forming  the  new  body.  They  accepted.  But  Esbjom,  who 
was  sent  by  the  Swedes  as  one  of  their  delegates,  did  not 
reach  Cedarville,  111.,  where  the  conference  was  held,  until 
Sept.  19th,  when  the  constitution  had  already  been  adopted. 
Most  of  the  American  members  believed  in  the  New-Luther- 
anistn^  a  less  strict  Lutheranism,  which  accepted  the  Altered 
Ausburg  Confession.  The  constitution  of  the  Synod  of  North- 
em  Illinois  contained  the  following  sentence  in  regard  to 
faith:  **This  synod  regards  the  Word  of  God  as  the  only 
infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession as  containing  a  summary  of  the  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  religion,  mainly  correct.**  Esbjom 
was  no  disciple  of  the  New-Lutheranism,  but  he  believed  in 
union,  thinking  that  people  holding  different  views  in  relig- 
ious matters  could  co-operate  together  in  Christian  fellow- 
ship. He  joined,  but  insisted  on  having  a  reservation  for 
himself  and  his  congregations  in  the  records  in  regard  to  the 
article  of  faith,  which  was  granted.  In  a  short  time  many 
Scandinavian  immigrants  and  some  ministers  arrived,  who 
organized  churches  in  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  Es- 
bjom became  the  Scandinavian  professor  at  the  seminary 
of  the  Northern  Illinois  Synod,  in  Springfield,  1858.  It  had 
been  deemed  necessary,  in  order  to  attend  to  the  religious 
needs  of  the  Scandinavians  to  educate  in  this  country  men  of 
their  own  nationalities,  as  a  sufficient  number  of  clergymen 

•For  a  more  detailed  diecaseion  of  this  church,  see  ReT.  M.  F.  Hokanson^n  hiojrraphy 
in  Vol.  II,  p.  212.— Editor. 


THE  SWEDISH   LUTHERAN  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD.  219 

could  not  be  secured  from  home.^  But  Esbjom  could  not 
agree  with  the  president  of  the  seminary ,  who  adhered  to  the 
New-Lutheranism,  and  in  1860  he  resigned  his  position.  In 
order  to  carry  on  the  work  among  the  many  arriving  im- 
migrants, the  Scandinavians  had  special  conferences,  namely : 
The  Chicago  conference  which  was  composed  of  Swedes  and 
Norwegians;  the  Mississippi  conference,  Swedes;  and  the 
Minnesota  conference,  mostly  Swedes. 

On  account  of  the  existing  difference  in  views  in  regard 
to  the  Augsburg  Confession,  and  also  owing  to  differences 
in  language  between  the  various  elements  composing  the 
Northern  Illinois  Synod,  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians  met,  in 
the  month  of  April,  1860,  in  Chicago,  for  the  purpose  of  es- 
tablishing a  new  sj^nod.  As  a  result  of  this  meeting,  what  is 
now  called  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Augustana  Synod  was  or- 
ganized, June  5,  1860,  at  a  meeting  on  Jefferson  Prairie,  Wis. 
Dr.  T.  N.  Hasselquist  was  elected  as  the  first  president,  and 
served  for  several  years  in  that  office.  The  name  Augustana, 
was  adopted  at  the  instance  of  Dr.  E.  Norelius.  At  this  meet- 
ing 49  congregations  were  represented  by  27  ministers  and 
15  lay -delegates.  These  were,  of  course,  not  all  Swedes,  some 
were  Norwegians,  and  the  meeting  was  held  in  a  Norwegian 
church  at  Jefferson  Prairie,  near  Clinton,  Wis.  Swedes  and 
Norwegians  were  united  in  one  synod,  and  hence  the  original 
and  incorporated  name  of  the  organization  was  the  Scandi- 


1  It  should  be  observed  that  although  several  ordained  Lutheran  clergymen 
from  Sweden  have,  during  the  whole  immigration  period,  settled  in  this  country 
and  become  pastors  of  Swedish-American  Lutheran  churches,  yet  the  Swedish 
Lutherans  in  America  and  Sweden  have  not  been,  nor  are,  officially  connected  with 
each  other.  But  the  Augustana  Synod  and  the  Lutheran  church  in  Sweden  have 
always  been  on  the  most  friendly  terms.  The  synod  considers  herself  as*  a  daughter 
of  the  mother  church  in  Sweden,  and  is  so  regarded  by  her. — [Bditor. 


220  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

navian  Evangelical  Lutheran  Augustana  Synod  of  North 
America;  it  was  not  tmtil  1894  that  the  word  ''Scandinavian" 
was  dropped.  According  to  their  own  statistics  of  1860,  49 
congregations,  with  4,967  communicants,  and  27  clergymen 
united  to  form  the  Scandinavian  Synod.  Qf  these,  17  clergy- 
men, 36  congregations,  and  3,747  communicants  were 
Swedes.  The  union  of  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians  continued 
until  1870,  when  the  latter,  on  account  of  the  difference  in 
the  languages,  withdrew  and  organized  themselves  into  a  sep- 
arate organization.  This  was  considered  a  wise  movement, 
and  since  that  time  a  strong  and  zealous  work  has  been  car- 
ried on  by  the  different  Scandinavian  Lutherans.  The  Augus- 
tana Synod  has  been  a  member  of  the  General  Council  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America^  from  the  beginning 
of  the  Council,  which  met  in  its  first  regular  convention  at 
Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  Nov.  20-26,  1867.  It  is  at  present  one  of 
the  largest  synods  belonging  to  the  Council. 

From  the  very  beginning  the  Swedish  Lutherans  have 
taken  great  interest  in  educational  work.  Ever^'  congrega- 
tion within  the  Augustana  Synod  endeavors  to  maintain 
good  parochial  schools  and  energetic  Sunday  schools.  Higher 
education  has  received  a  hearty  support,  and  the  success  and 
progress  of  the  Augustana  Sj'nod  in  this  country  must  be 
said  to  have  depended  in  no  little  degree  upon  the  early  and 
great  enthusiasm  toward  higher  education,  which  made 
itself  manifest  among  the  Swedes.  No  sooner  had  the  vener- 
able*' fathers  "  of  our  synod,  such  men  as  Prof  L.  P.  Esbjorn, 

2  The  General  Council,  like  the  General  Synod  and  similar  organizations,  is  com- 
posed of  several  Lutheran  sjnods  which  have  united  for  the  purpose  of  advisingr 
each  other.  The  Council  has  no  authority  over  the  synods,  couf^reg^ations.  or  indi- 
viduals.—[Editor. 


THE  SWEDISH  LUTHERAN  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD.  221 

Dr.  T.  N.  Hasselquist,  Dr.  E.  Carlson,  Rev.  Jonas  Swenson, 
Dr.  E.  Norelius,  etc.,  begun  their  church  work,  than  they 
began  to  work  for  the  establishment  of  colleges  and  schools. 
The  people  in  the  churches  were  ready  and  quick  to  respond. 
In  1860  the  oldest  and  largest  of  the  Swedish-American  col- 
leges, Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary,  was 
founded  at  Chicago;  moved  to  Paxton,  111.,  in  1863,  and 
permanently  located  at  Rock  Island,  the  same  state,  in  1875. 
In  1862  Gustavus  Adolphus  College,  St.  Peter,  Minn.,  was 
founded.  Bethany  College,  Lindsborg,  Kan.,  was  founded  in 
1881.  Since  then  several  academies  have  been  organized, 
namely:  Luther  Academy,  Wahoo,  Neb;  Hope  Academy, 
Moorhead,  Minn. ;  Emanuel  Academy,  Minneapolis,  Minn. ; 
and  in  1893  two  more  were  organized,  namely,  Martin 
Luther  College,  in  Chicago,  111.,  and  Upsala  College,  in 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  All  these  institutions  are  annually  attended 
by  1,500  students,  have  had  a  remarkable  progress,  and  have 
developed  themselves  in  all  directions.  The  [property  of 
these  different  institutions  is  estimated  to  be  worth  about 
$500,000.  They  have  been  a  source  of  great  blessing  and  in- 
fluence to  the  members  of  the  Augustana  Synod.  The  great- 
est number  of  the  450  ministers  of  the  sj^nod  and  many  of 
the  school  teachers  have  received  their  training  at  these  insti- 
tutions. Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary,  how- 
ever, is  the  only  college  where  a  full  theological  training  is 
given;  it  is  also  the  only  college  directly  controlled  by  the  Au- 
gustana Synod.  The  other  schools  are  managed,  either  by 
some  conference  within  the  synod,  or  by  private  corporations 
composed  of  Swedish  Lutherans. 

In  the  work  of  education  the  synod  has  realized  the 


222  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

power  and  influence  of  the  press.  Dr.  T.  N.  Hasselquist 
started  in  1855  the  first  Swedish  newspaper  in  America,  a 
religions  weekly,  now  called  Augiistana,  which  is  today  the 
largest  Swedish  weekly  church-paper  in  the  world.  The 
synod  publishes  also  Sunday  school  papers  in  the  Swedish 
and  English  languages.  The  English  papers  published  by  the 
synod  proves  that  the  Augustana  Synod  is  awake  on  the 
question  of  language.  The  Augustana  Synod  in  America 
does  not  expect  always  to  use  the  Swedish  language.  The 
time  'will  come  when  the  English  language  will  be  commonly 
used  in  our -churches,  and  even  now  most  of  the  young  men 
who  enter  the  ministry  have  received  such  an  education  that 
they  are  able  to  preach  in  English  as  well  as  in  Swedish. 
The  aim  of  the  synod  is,  therefore,  to  furnish  the  people  with 
English  preachers  and  Lutheran  literature  in  English.  The 
Lutheran  Augustana  Book  Concern  at  Rock  Island,  tmder 
the  supervision  of  the  synod,  is  doing  a  grand  and  noble 
work  in  sending  forth  good  Lutheran  literature  in  the  Swed- 
ish and  English  languages. 

In  1860  the  first-  Swedish  Lutheran  orphans'  home  in 
America  was  established  b^^  Dr.  E.  Norelius,  in  Vasa,  Good- 
hue county,  Minn.  At  present  the  synod  supports  six  orph- 
ans' homes  and  three  hospitals.  The  value  of  the  property 
ofthese  institutions  is  put  at  $350,000.  At  the  orphans' 
homes  300  orphans  are  supported  and  educated  annually. 
A  deaconess  institute  is  also  maintained  at  Omaha,  Neb. 

The  syTiod  is  at  present  divided  into  eight  conferences, 
viz.:  The  Illinois,  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Kansas,  New  York, 
Nebraska,  California,  and  Columbia.  Each  conference  car- 
ries on  its  special  misssion  work  within  its  own  territory. 


THE  SWEDISH  LUTHERAN  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD.  223 

The  missionary  work  in  territories  outside  the  conferences  is 
carried  on  by  the  synod  through  its  general  board  of  mis- 
sions.  At  present  this  board  superintends  the  mission  work 
in  Utah,  gives  aid  to  churches  in  Florida,  Maine,  and  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  The  Church  Extension  Society  has  been  organ- 
ized within  the  synod,  the  duty  of  which  is  to  assist  small 
and  weak  congregations  in  building  churches.  The  aim  of 
the  mission  has  been  to  gather  the  thousands  of  Swedes  in 
this  country  around  the  Word  of  God ;  with  this  object  in  view, 
many  large  congregations  have,  during  the  50  years  past, 
been  organized  and  maintained.  The  synod  also  supports  a 
special  immigrant  mission  in  New  York  City.  In  Chicago 
the  immigrant  mission  is  carried  on  by  the  Illinois  con- 
ference. 

Since  the  organization  of  the  synod  numerous  churches  have 
been  organized  so  that  Augustana  Synod  churches  are  today 
to  be  found  in  almost  every  state  and  territory  within  the 
United  States  and  in  different  parts  of  Canada.  The  synod, 
according  to  the  statistics  of  the  year  ending  1899,  numbers 
about  900  congregations,  with  200,000  members,  of  which 
115,000  are  communicant  members.  The  value  of  thechurch 
property  owned  by  these  churches  is  by  a  moderate  estimate 
considered  to  be  $4,200,000,  and  it  may  safely  be  said  that 
during  the  past  40  years  the  people  of  the  Augustana  Synod 
have  used  no  less  than  $1 2,000,000  in  building  and  support- 
ing churches  and  carrying  on  missionary  work.  Adding  then 
thereto  the  amounts  raised  for  schools,  colleges,  the  theologi- 
cal seminary,  orphans'  homes,  and  hospitals,  it  becomes  clear 
to  every  unbiased  observer  that  the  Augustana  Synod  has 
shown  itself  as  an  active  and  wide  awake  institution,  well 

16 


224  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

deserving  the  confidence  of  the  Swedes  in  America  and  the 
love  of  all  Christian  people. 

The  synod  has  always  without  fear  and  with  fervent  de- 
votion defended  the  pure  Lutheranism  in  theory  and  prac- 
tice, planted  itself  on  the  foundation  of  a  pure  Gospel  as  set 
forth  in  the  Unaltered  Augsburg  Confession,  has  carefully 
guarded  the  pulpit  and  the  altar,  has  taken  a  firm  stand 
against  secret  societies  and  questionable  practises,  and  has 
as  a  result,  without  doubt,  made  some  enemies ;  yet,  by  the 
blessing  of  God,  the  synod  has  carried  on  a  noble  and  success- 
ful work  and  is  today,  by  far,  the  leading  and  most  influen- 
tial religious  body  among  the  Swedes  of  America. 

The  history  of  the  Augustana  Synod  during  the  past 
forty  years  shows  what  can  be  done  by  a  united  effort. 
The  Swedish  Lutherans  have  been  a  unit  from  the  beginning. 
No  strifes  and  contentions  of  any  serious  nature  have  existed 
among  the  people.  The  members  of  the  synod  have  been 
surrotmded  by  God's  favor  and  united  in  a  true  faith,  zeal- 
ously doing  their  work  with  a  sacrificing  love.  The  synod 
has  had  a  glorious  past  but  it  expects  a  more  glorious  future. 
Long  live  the  Augustana  Synod ! 


Eistorical  Review  of  the  United  Norwesia 

Litiieran  Qiarcli  of  America. 


— BY— 


KNUTE  GJERSET,  Ph.  D. 


The  higher  unity  of  soul  and  spirit  did  not  exist  among 
the  Norwegian  Lutherans  at  the  time  the  immigration  to 
America  commenced,  a  fact  for  which  we  have  the  best  evi- 
dence in  the  movement  originated  by  Hauge.  The  church  of 
Norway  was  itself  in  the  throes  of  a  bitter  conflict  between 
two  widely  diflferent  tendencies,  which,  when  they  were 
transferred  to  American  soil,  only  assumed  more  definite 
shape  and  expression.  These  tendencies  merit  a  brief  atten- 
tion, since  they  have  had  such  marked  effects  upon  the  reU- 
gious  life  of  the  Norwegian  people  in  America. 

Hans  Nilsen  Hauge  was  a  poor,  but  talented  and  pious 
country  lad,  springing  from  the  yeomanry  of  Norway. 
Through  pure  religious  zeal  he  began  to  preach  to  the  people 
of  the  neighborhood,  not  any  new  doctrine,  but  the  teach- 
ings of  the  state  church.*  His  voice  was  raised  against  the 
godlessness  and  unbelief  which  had  seized  both  clergy  and 

225-7 


228  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

lay  people  by  the  introduction  of  rationalism.  He  de- 
nounced the  worldliness  and  extravagance  of  the  ministers 
of  the  state  church,  and  urged  the  people  to  repent.  A  re- 
vival movement  sprang  up,  which  soon  spread  over  the  en- 
tire country.  A  strong  religious  zeal,  which  was  often  mis- 
taken for  fanaticism,  characterized  the  followers  of  Hauge. 
They  forbade  the  wearing  of  any  ornaments.  Even  works 
of  art  in  the  home  were  classed  among  the  vanities.  They 
held  that  any  one  who  felt  an  inner  calling  had  a  right  to 
preach,  without  any  regulation  or  interference  by  thechurch. 
In  severity  of  life,  as  well  as  in  religious  practice,  they  much 
resembled  the  Puritans  in  England.  Even  after  a  reaction 
against  rationalism  had  begun  in  the  state  church,  and  the 
ministers  within  it  were  characterized  by  zeal  and  devotion 
in  Christian  life,  as  well  as  by  purity  of  doctrine,  this  move- 
ment went  on.  The  state  church,  however,  which  looked 
upon  the  movement  as  a  revolt  against  its  authority,  now 
tried  to  put  a  stop  to  it.  Hauge  was  imprisoned  and  his  fol- 
lowers suffered  many  hardships.  But  this  procedure  only 
increased  the  bitterness  of  the  struggle  and  put  new  hin- 
drances in  the  way  of  understanding  and  reconciliation. 
When  the  two  parties  met  on  American  soil,  where  there  was 
no  compulsion  or  pressure,  the  chasm  which  divided  them 
merely  widened.  Elling  Eielsen,  who  arrived  in  this  country 
in  1839,  was  the  first  preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Norwe- 
gian settlers.  Eielsen  was  a  faithful  disciple  of  Hauge,  and 
already  in  1846  he  and  his  followers  organized  what  they 
called  The  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America,  the  first 
church  organization  among  the  Norwegians  in  this  country. 
As  emigration  continued  to  increase,  several  ordained  minis- 


THE  UNITED  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH.  229 

tcrs  came  over.  They  attempted  to  come  to  an  understand- 
ing with  Elling,  and  several  meetings  were  held  for  the  pur- 
pose,  but  no  results  could  be  reached.  The  old  differences 
soon  made  themselves  manifest.  The  entirely  different  views 
in  regard  to  church  life,  as  well  as  to  internal  and  external 
church  organization,  represented  by  the  two  parties,  made  it 
impossible  for  them  to  come  to  an  agreement.  Moreover, 
the  differences  in  education,  in  mode  of  life,  and  in  general 
training  of  the  representatives  of  the  two  tendencies,  also  laid 
hindrances  in  the  way,  as  they  found  it  diJSicult,  much  on 
that  account,  to  really  understand  and  appreciate  even  each 
others  better  qualities.  Union  was,  of  course,  impossible. 
The  ministers  who  came  from  Norway  then  organized  the 
Norwegian  Lutheran  Synpd  in  1853. 

But  everything  did  not  work  smoothly  in  the  Evangel- 
ical Lutheran  Church  in  America,  established  by  Elling  Eiel- 
sen  and  his  followers.  Elling  conspicuously  lacked  all  talents 
of  an  organizer.  The  constitution  which  they  had  adopted 
was  deficient  in  many  important  respects,  so  that  there 
was  often  no  real  connection  between  the  congregations. 
Dissatisfaction  with  the  condition  of  things  was  general,  and 
Elling,  who  was  pre-eminently  an  evangelist,  was  unable  to 
remedy  it.  Consequently  the  clergymen,  Paul  Anderson  and 
Ole  Andre wson,  left  EUing's  church  and  effected  a  temporary 
union  with  the  Frankean  Lutheran  Synod  of  New  York,  until 
a  Norwegian  synod  could  be  organized  in  the  West.  After  a 
short  time  these  ministers  again  left  the  Frankean  Synod  and 
joined  the  Northern  Illinois  Synod  with  which  they  were  con- 
nected till  1860.  To  this  synod  belonged  also  a  number  of 
Swedish  ministers  and  congregations.     On  the  5th  of  June 


230  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

of  the  last  named  year  the  clergymen,  Paul  Anderson, 
Ole  Andre wson,  O.  J.  Hatlestad,  and  others,  Norwegians; 
and  Hasselquist,  Carlson,  Esbjom,  and  others,  Swedes,  met 
on  Jeflferson  Prairie  to  consider  the  organization  of  a  Scandi- 
navian synod.  The  Scandinavian  ministers  and  congrega- 
tions in  the  Northern  Illinois  Synod  now  left  that  church 
and  organized  the  Scandinavian  Evangelical  Lutheran  Au- 
gust ana  Synod,  consisting  of  both  Swedish  and  Norwegian 
ministers  and  congregations.  According  to  their  own  statis- 
tics of  1861,  60  congregatiShs,  with  5,600  communicant 
members,  and  32  clergymen  belonged  to  the  new  body. 
Of  these,  11  clergymen,  17  congregations,  and  1,4?00  com- 
municants were  Norwegians.  The  synod  erected  a  school 
for  educating  young  men  for  the  ministry,  at  Paxton,  HI. 
This  school,  which  consisted  of  both  a  theological  and  a  col- 
legiate department,  had  for  some  time  only  two  professors, 
and  was  financially  largely  supported  by  the  people  of  Swe- 
den. The  synod  grew  rapidly,  and  it  was  found  necessary  to 
have  a  Norwegian  professor  at  Paxton.  A  call  was  extended 
to  Rev.  A.  Weenaas,  of  Norway,  who  accepted,  and  entered 
upon  his  duties  as  professor  of  theology  in  the  seminary  at 
Paxton  in  1868.  Weenaas,  however,  soon  grew  dissatisfied 
with  his  new  surroundings  and  urged  upon  the  Norwegians 
to  erect  a  school  of  their  own.  In  1869  the  Norwegian  wing 
of  the  Scandinavian  Lutheran  Augustana  Synod,  following 
the  wish  of  Prof.  Weenaas,  bought  a  school  building  at  Mar- 
shal, Wis.,  where  work  was  begun  in  the  fall,  with  Prof. 
Weenaas  as  president,  and  the  Norwegian  students  who  now 
moved  thither  from  Paxton. 
The  diflference  in   language   had   always  been  a  serious 


THE  UNITED  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH.  231 

diflScialty  within  the  synod,  and  in  1870  it  was  thought 
best,  on  account  of  this  diflSculty,  for  the  Norwegians  and 
Swedes  to  separate.  The  Norwegians  then  withdrew  and 
organized  the  Norwegian-Danish  Augustana  Synod,  while  the 
Swedish  branch  of  the  old  synod  continued  under  the  old 
name.  The  two  organizations,  how^ever,  w^ere  on  the  friend- 
liest of  terms,  and  promised  to  co-operate  and  aid  each  other 
as  far  as  possible.  Shortly  after  the  Norwegian-Danish  Au- 
gustana Synod  was  organized,  certain  leading  professors 
and  ministers  within  it  began  to  negotiate  a  union  with  Rev. 
C.  L.  Clausen,  who  a  few  years  previous,  with  the  congre- 
gations in  his  charge,  had  left  the  Norwegian  Synod,  because 
of  the  controversy  regarding  slavery,  or  the  condition  of  life 
servitude.  In  order  to  effect  this  union  with  Clausen,  and 
his,  at  that  time,  quite  large  congregations,  a  few  ministers 
and  lay  delegates  at  a  meeting  in  St.  Ansgar,  Iowa,  resolved, 
without  asking  the  congregations,  to  dissolve  the  Norwe- 
gian-Danish Augustana  Synod  and  reorganize  it  under  a  new 
name.  A  new  organization  was  effected,  called  The  Norwe- 
gian-Danish Evangelical  Lutheran  Conference,  of  which  Rev. 
C.  L.  Clausen  was  elected  president.  But  this  action  was 
not  favorably  received  by  all  the  people  of  the  Norwegian- 
Danish  Augustana  Synod.  At  a  church  meeting  on  Jefferson 
Prairie  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  the  synod  declared  the  St. 
Ansgar  resolutions  null  and  void.  This  led  to  a  division  of 
the  synod ;  about  half  of  the  congregations  and  their  minis- 
ters leaving  it  and  joining  the  Conference.  Among  those  who 
thus  seceded  from  the  Augustana  Synod  was  also  Prof. 
Weenaas,  of  the  seminary  at  Marshall,  together  with  a  ma- 
jority of  the  students.    This  was  a  hard  blow  to  the  Augus« 


232  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

tana  S3nQod.  There  was  a  heavy  debt  on  the  school  build- 
ing ;  Prof.  Weenaas  and  the  students  were  gone,  besides  so 
many  of  the  congregations  whose  financial  aid  had  been 
counted  on.  The  school  at  Marshall  was  now  able  to  con- 
tinue work  only  in  the  academic  department.  This,  however, 
was  of  no  direct  benefit  to  the  synod,  and  involved  consider- 
able expense ;  consequently  attempts  were  again  made  to 
put  the  school  into  condition  for  educating  ministers.  Rev. 
D.  Lysnes  was  chosen  professor  and  president,  and  with  his 
arrival  a  new  epoch  began  in  the  history  of  the  school.  The 
theological  department  again  resumed  its  work ;  the  number 
of  students  increased  rapidly,  and  the  debt  on  the  school 
buildings  was  paid.  In  1881  the  school  was  moved  to  Beloit, 
Iowa,  where  20  acres  of  land  and  commodious  buildings  had 
been  secured.  The  college  department  was  afterward  moved 
to  Canton,  S.  D.,  where  buildings  to  the  amount  of  $8,000 
were  provided.  The  growth  of  the  synod,  however,  owing 
to  repeated  discouragements,  continued  to  be  slow.  Accord- 
ing to  statistics  it  comprised,  in  1887,  30  ministers,  90  con- 
gregations, and  3,500  communicant  members. 

After  the  organization  of  the  Conference  the  school  at 
Marshall  was  divided,  so  that  the  Conference  got  the  theo- 
logical department,  and  the  Augustana  Synod  retained  the 
academic  department.  The  theological  department  was  re- 
organized by  the  Conference  in  1871  into  what  is  now  Augs- 
burg Seminary,  of  which  Prof.  Weenaas  became  president.  It 
was  moved  to  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  in  1872.  The  following 
year  Sven  Oftedal,  from  Norway,  became  professor  at  the 
seminary,  and  in  1874  Georg  Sverdrup,  who  two  years  later 
became  its  president,  arrived.   The  whole  subsequent  history 


THE  UNITBD  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH.  233 

of  the  institution  is  closely  connected  with  the  energetic  ef- 
forts  of  these  two  men.  The  seminary  was  badly  in  debt  till 
1877,  when  Prof.  Oftedal  organized  committees  throughout 
the  congregations  of  the  Conference,  who  by  personal  solici- 
tations raised  the  sum  of  $18,000,  which  was  more  than 
enough  to  liquidate  the  existing  debt.  The  seminary  has 
been  constantly  growing,  in  extent  and  thoroughness  of  the 
courses  of  study,  as  well  as  in  numerical  strength .  The  course 
of  study  for  ministers  is  now  five  years  preparatory  work, 
and  three  years  theological  training.  In  1891  the  seminary 
had  10  professors  and  instructors,  and  188  students  in  at- 
tendance. The  property,  including,  besides  the  seminary  build- 
ings, also  a  dormitory  and  professor's  residence,  and  the 
block  on  which  they  stand,  is  valued  at  $150,000.  The  Con- 
ference was,  undoubtedly,  better  financially  situated  than  any 
of  the  other  Norwegian  Lutheran  bodies.  It  w^as  without 
debts,  and  had  large  funds  at  its  disposal.  It  enjoyed  a 
steady  growth,  and  exhibited  a  remarkable  vigor  in  church 
life.  According  to  statistics  the  Conference  had,  in  the  year 
1887,  101  clerg3rmen,  383  congregations,  and  30,000  com- 
municant members. 

In  1880  a  new  church  controversy  broke  out,  this  time 
w^ithin  the  Norwegian  Synod  itself,  more  serious  in  character 
than  any  of  the  preceeding.  The  controversy  first  arose  in 
the  Missouri  Synod  between  Dr.  C.  F.  W.  Walther,  of  the 
theological  seminary,  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  Dr.  F.  A. 
Schmidt,  of  the  theological  seminary,  at  Madison,  Wis.,  re- 
garding the  doctrine  of  election  and  predestination.  The  con- 
troversy, involving  very  fundamental  tenets  of  the  Lutheran 
faith,  soon  found  its  way  into  the  Norwegian  Synod,  which 


234  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

for  a  number  of  years  had  been  fnendly  related  to  the  Mis- 
souri Synod.  From  year  to  year  the  struggle  grew  more  in- 
tense, involving  not  only  the  ministers,  but  also  the  lay  people 
in  the  contest.  Discussions  were  held  throughout  the  Synod 
at  private  conferences,  and  at  the  yearly  synodical  meetings, 
but  no  agreement  was  reached.  At  a  church  meeting  held  in 
Decorah,  Iowa,  in  1884,  each  party  drafted  a  statement  of 
their  position  in  the  controversy.  Redegjdrelsen  (The  Ex- 
planation) of  the  Missourians,  as  the  followers  of  Dr. 
Walther  were  called,  was  signed  by  107  ministers.  Bekjen^ 
delsen  (The  Confession)  of  the  Anti-Missourians,  as  Dr. 
Schmidt's  followers  were  called,  was  signed  by  72  ministers, 
which  number  was  afterward  increased  to  97.  Dr.  Schmidt 
and  his  followers,  who  considered  the  difference  in  the  doc- 
trine of  the  two  contending  parties  a  fundamental  one,  now 
established  a  theological  seminary  of  their  own  at  North- 
field,  Minn.,  and  here  work  was  begun  in  the  fall  of  1886  with 
Dr.  Schmidt  and  Prof.  Bockman  as  theological  professors. 
This  step,  however,  was  not  tolerated  by  the  Synod.  At  the 
next  joint  sjmodical  meeting  held  in  Stoughton,  Wis.,  it  was 
condemned  as  an  act  of  secession  and  a  virtual  separation. 
The  Anti-Missourians,  however,  claimed  a  right  to  continue 
the  seminary,  and  57  of  their  ministers  signed  a  protest 
against  the  resolutions  passed  upon  them  by  the  meeting, 
and  seceded  firom  the  Synod.  This  step  was  soon  followed 
by  a  large  number  of  congregations.  According  to  reliable 
reports  about  100  ministers  and  over  one-third  of  the  con- 
gregations left  the  Norwegian  Synod. 

These  ministers  and  congregations  did  not,  however,  de- 
sire to  organize  themselves  into  a  new  permanent  church 


THB  U^aTED  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH.  235 

denomination,  which  would  constitute  the  sixth  distinct  body 
among  the  Norwegian  Lutherans  in  America.  They  met  in 
Northfield,  Minn.,  in  1886,  and  effected  a  temporary  organiza- 
tion, known  as  The  Anti-Missourian  Brotherhood,  of  which 
Rev.  L.  M.  Biom  was  elected  president.  It  was  their  pur- 
pose and  hope  to  bring  about  a  union  with  the  other  Norwe- 
gian Lutheran  churches,  as  soon  as  possible.  For  this  pur- 
pose a  series  of  Fri-Konferenser,  or  conferences  for  a  general 
consideration  of  the  subjects  which  divided  them,  were  held, 
in  which  all  the  bodies  belonging  to  the  Norwegian  Lutheran 
church  in  this  country  took  part.  Six  of  these  conferences  were 
held  during  the  years  preceeding  and  following  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Anti-Missourian  Brotherhood ;  in  Roland,  Iowa, 
1882;  Holden,  Minn.,  1883;  St.  Ansgar,  Iowa,  1884;  Chi- 
cago.  111.,  1885;  Gol,  Minn.,  1886,  and  in  Willmar,  Minn., 
1887.  These  conferences,  where  discussion  was  thorough 
and  earnest,  and  conducted  in  a  brotherly  spirit,  helped  the 
difiFerent  parties  to  come  to  a  better  understanding  of  each 
others  true  position,  and  were  largely  instrumental  in  bring- 
ing about  the  union  which  was  soon  afterwards  eflfected. 
The  first  meeting  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  possi- 
bility of  union  was  held  by  the  Anti-Missourians  in  Minne- 
apolis in  February,  1888.  Another  meeting  for  the  same  pur- 
pose was  held  by  all  the  parties,  in  Scandinavia,  Wis.,  in 
November,  of  the  same  year.  At  the  meeting  in  Scandinavia 
the  articles  of  union  were  adopted  for  the  first  time  by  the 
denominations  which  afterward  united.  They  were  then 
submitted  for  consideration  to  the  congregations,  and  to 
each  of  the  organizations  in  particular.  They  were  approved 
of  by  all,  not  a  single  congregation  raising  any  objections  to 


236  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

the  stipulations  made.  At  this  same  meeting  Opgjor  (Settle- 
ment) was  also  made  in  regard  to  the  various  doctrinal  con- 
troversies which  from  time  to  time  had  been  carried  on 
among  the  Norwegian  Lutherans  in  America,  and  an  agree- 
ment was  reached  concerning  the  points  in  dispute.  In  the 
early  part  of  June,  1890,  the  three  organizations.  The 
Norwegian-Danish  Conference,  The  Norwegian  Augustana 
Synod,  and  The  Anti-Missourian  Brotherhood,  held  a  meet- 
ing in  Minneapolis  for  again  to  consider  the  subject  of  union. 
At  first  the  organizations  held  separate  meetings.  But  a 
strong  sentiment  in  favor  of  union  soon  became  predomi- 
nant. They  were  all  tired  of  the  bitter  controversies  which 
for  so  many  years  had  divided  into  hostile  camps  those  that 
ought  to  stand  united.  On  the  13th  the  delegates,  minis- 
ters, and  professors  of  the  three  organizations  met  in  the  old 
Trinity  Church,  belonging  to  the  Conference,  but  as  this 
structure  was  too  small  to  hold  the  large  assembly,  they 
formed  in  procession  and  proceeded  to  the  church  belonging 
to  the  Swedish  Augustana  Synod,  where  they  organized 
themselves  into  The  United  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church  in 
America.  The  articles  of  union,  adopted  at  the  meeting  in 
Scandinavia,  Wis.,  and  sanctioned  by  all  the  congregations, 
and  by  each  of  the  organizations  separately,  were  made  the 
basis  of  the  union.  Some  of  the  stipulations  in  these  articles 
are  as  follows : 

"In  order  that  the  contracting  parties  can  organize  them- 
selves into  a  church,  they  jointly  and  separately  agree  to  the 
follow^ing  stipulations : 

**1.  "The  church  shall  erect  and  operate  one  theological 
seminary. 


THE  UNITBD  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH.  237 

"2.  This  seminary  shall  be  Augsburg  Seminary,  in 
Minneapolis. 

"  3.  The  professors  at  this  seminary  shall  be  paid  by  the 
interest  from  a  fund. 

(a)  The  Augustana  Synod  shall  contribute  a  fund  of 

$15,000. 

(b)  The  Conference  shall  contribute  a  fund  of  $50,000. 

(c)  The  Anti-Missourians   shall  contribute  a  fund   of 

$50,000. 

(d)  The  fund  is  to  consist  of  cash,  or  notes  drawing  in- 

terest, or  other  safe  property. 

"4j.  At  said  seminary  there  shall  be  5  theological  pro- 
fessors. 

(a)  The  Anti-Missourians  shall  employ  two  theological 
professors. 

{b)  The  Augustana  Synod  shall  employ  one  theological 
professor. 

(c)  The  Conference  shall  employ  two  theological  pro- 
fessors. 

**5.  The  constitution  for  said  seminar^'-  shall  be  drawn 
up  as  soon  as  the  union  is  effected. 

**  6.  Theological  students  already  admitted  to  the  theo- 
logical seminaries  of  the  different  organizations  shall  by 
virtue  of  this  admission  be  entitled  to  admission  in  the  new 
theological  seminary. 

"  7.  The  church  shall  be  incorporated  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. 

**  8.  To  this  church  shall  be  transferred  all  school  prop- 
erty— as  well  real  estate  as  funds — which  said  organizations 
may  be  in  possession  of,  at  the  time  of  union. 


288         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

**  9.  This  real  estate  shall,  when  it  is  transferred  to  the 
church,  be  free  from  debt. 

*'  10.  The  preparatory  departments  at  Augsburg  Semi- 
nary, and  at  Canton  Academy,  shall  be  operated  as  usual, 
at  least  one  year  after  the  union  is  efiFected.  InBeloit,  Iowa, 
the  school  shall  also  continue  at  least  one  year  after  the 
union  is  eflfected. 

"  23.  The  board  of  trustees  for  the  respective  organiza- 
tions, such  as  they  have  previously  been  elected  by  said  or- 
ganizations, shall  continue  in  their  office,  after  the  union  is 
eflfected,  until  the  new  church  is  incorporated,  when  they 
shall  immediately  deed  all  property,  which  they  hold  as 
board  of  trustees,  to  the  new  corporation." 

The  part  of  the  contract  relating  to  the  transfer  of  pro- 
perty was  fulfilled  in  due  time  by  the  Augustana  Sjnod  and 
the  Brotherhood ;  but  Augsburg  Seminary,  held  in  trust  by 
•its  board  of  trustees,  was  never  transferred  according  to 
article  eight  above.*  Within  a  year  after  the  organization 
of  the  United  Church  a  number  of  newspaper  articles  began 
to  create  a  feeling  of  distrust  among  the  people,  and  Augs- 
burg Seminary  and  St.  Olaf  College  were  pitted  against  each 
other  as  rival  institutions  by  their  most  devoted  patrons. 
It  was  also  contended  that  the  United  Church  had  violated 
the  stipulations  of  its  organization  bypassing  the  following 
resolution  a  couple  of  days  after  the  date  of  its  origin :  "St. 
Olaf  College  at  Northfield  shall  be  the  college  of  the  United 
Norwegian  Lutheran  Church."  Resolutions  of  a  similar  na- 
ture were  also  passed  at  the  annual  meeting  in  1891,  while 
the  college  department  of  Augsburg  Seminary  was  to  be 

*  See  the  artieles  on  the  tchools  and  the  chnrebes  in  Minnesota. 


THE  UNITED  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH.  239 

maintained  "for  the  time  being.''  This  only  made  the  Augs- 
burg faction  the  less  inclined  to  transfer  the  property,  their 
stock  arguments  being,  in  a  nutshell,  about  as  follows:  "The 
founders  of  Augsburg  Seminary  intended  it  to  be  a  theo- 
logical seminary  and  a  college  combined  under  our  board. 
If  it  is  transferred  to  the  United  Church,  the  college  depart- 
ment may  be  dropped.  But  that  would  be  contrary  to  the 
intention  of  the  founders  of  the  institution :  therefore  it 
ought  not  to  be  transferred  to  the  United  Church."  Prof.  S. 
Oftedal,  the  president  of  the  board,  for  a  long  time  also  con- 
tended that  the  property  could  not  be  legally  transferred.  In 
this  controversy  Oftedal  was  frequently  characterized  as  one 
who  wanted  to  keep  property  to  which  he  had  no  rights ; 
while  he  and  his  followers  made  the  countercharge  that  the 
United  Church  intended  to  violate  the  agreement  on  which 
that  association  was  based.  The  feeling  engendered  by  this 
contention  waxed  quite  bitter  during  the  years  1890-93, 
and  when  the  United  Church,  at  its  annual  meeting  in  1893; 
decided  to  abandon  the  Augsburg  buildings  in  case  the  pro- 
perty was  not  deeded  over  to  the  United  Church  in  the  sum- 
mer of  that  year,  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  fight  to  the 
bitter  end.  The  United  Church  ''removed"  its  school, 
thenceforth  called  the  United  Church  Seminary,  from  the 
Augsburg  buildings  to  rented  quarters ;  the  Augsburg  Pub- 
lishing House  was  wrested  from  the  board  of  trustees  of 
Augsburg  Seminary  in  the  spring  of  1894,  by  means  of 
recourse  to  the  courts ;  legal  proceedings  were  begun  in  1896 
for  the  recovery  of  the  Augsburg  property ;  in  the  fall  of 
1897  the  district  court  handed  down  a  decision  which  was 
favorable  to  the  United  Church ;  in  the  spring  of  1898  this 


240  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

decision  was  quashed  by  the  state  supreme  court ;  the  United 
Church  took  steps  to  have  the  case  tried  in  the  court  of 
equity ;  but  in  the  summer  of  1898  the  matter  was  settled 
out  of  court  by  mutual  agreement.  The  main  stipulations 
of  this  agreement  were  that  the  United  Church  should  have 
the  endowment  fund,  nominally  amounting  to  about  $39,- 
000 ;  and  that  no  more  efforts  should  be  made  to  dislodge 
the  old  board  of  trustees  of  Augsburg  Seminary.  Thus 
ended  one  of  the  most  memorable  struggles  in  the  history  of 
the  Norwegian  Lutheran  churches  in  America. 

The  lawyers*  fees  and  other  expenses  directly  connected 
with  the  law  suit  to  recover  the  Augsburg  property  entailed 
a  total  outlay  of  $11,000  on  the  part  of  the  United  Church. 
It  is  easy  to  appreciate  this  loss,  because  it  may  be  expressed 
in  dollars  and  cents.  But  it  is  not  so  easy  to  estimate  the 
mental  suffering  and  moral  injury  caused  by  the  so-called 
"  Augsburg  Strife ; "  and  much  of  the  good  work  done  in  the 
United  Church  during  the  years  1893-98  was  marred  by  this 
strife.  But  no  reflection  ought  to  be  cast  upon  the  sincerity 
of  the  participants,  for  they  believed  they  were  struggling 
for  a  good  cause,  the  one  party  as  well  as  the  other. 

From  1893  to  1898  the  Augsburg  faction  m  the  United 
Church  was  bent  on  antagonizing  the  work  of  the  latter  at 
every  point.  But  the  real  friends  of  the  United  Church,  con- 
sisting of  the  people  from  the  Brotherhood,  the  Augustana 
Synod  and  most  of  the  Conference  congregations  in  Iowa, 
Wisconsin  and  southern  Minnesota — were  equal  to  the  occa- 
sion. The  United  Church  was  never  seriously  hampered  by 
lack  of  ftmds.  The  treasurer  reported  to  the  annual  meeting 
in  1898 :    ''  We  asked  for  $13,388  for  general  expenses,  and 


THE  UNITED  NORWEGIAN  LUTHERAN  CHURCH.  241 

we  received  $14,971.55."  On  Jan.  1, 1897,  a  dozen  congre- 
gations were  formally  expelled,  and  a  number  of  others  with- 
drew of  their  own  accord. 

The  whole  number  of  churches  served  by  the  330  minis- 
ters who  were  connected  with  the  United  Church  in  1900 
was  1,100.  These  churches  embraced  about  225,000  souls, 
of  whom  125,000  were  communicant  members.  But  the 
whole  number  of  congregations  formally  belonging  was 
only  about  750,  which  had  100,000  communicant  members 
and  185,000  souls.  The  reports  of  the  parochial  schools 
showed  that  on  the  average  almost  30  days  were  taught  in 
each  congregation.  The  finances  were  in  a  healthy  condition. 
The  value  of  the  church  and  school  property  directly  or  in- 
directly controlled  by  the  organization  may  be  put  at  about 
$4,000,000. 

The  Augsburg  Publishing  House  issued  about  120,000 
books,  tracts  and  other  items.  Lutheraneren  and  Lath- 
erak  Bbmeblad  had  a  combined  circulation  of  26,000. 

In  1899  the  United  Church  owned  and  controlled  a  theo- 
logical seminary,  located  in  Minneapolis,  Minn.;  St.  Olaf 
College,  Northfield,  Minn.;  Augustana College,  Canton,  S.D.; 
a  normal  school  at  Madison,  Minn.;  and  an  orphans'  home 
at  Beloit,  Iowa.  The  institutions  mentioned  below  were 
either  wholly  or  partly  supported  by  members  of  the  United 
Church,  and  several  of  them  were  ofl5cially  connected  with 
that  body:  Concordia  College,  Moorhead,  Minn.;  St.  Ans- 
gar  Seminary,  St.  Ansgar,  la.;  Mount  Horeb  Academy, 
Mount  Horeb,  Wis.;  Scandinavia  Academy,  Scandinavia, 
Wis.;  Pleasant  View  Lutheran  College,  Ottawa,  111.;  a  dea- 
conesses' institute  in  Chicago ;  orphans'  homes  at  Lake  Park, 


242         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Minn.,  in  Chicago,  111.,  and  at  Wittenberg,  Wis.;  and  hospi- 
tals at  Austin,  Crookston  and  Zumbrota,  Minn.  Steps  have 
been  taken  to  establish  a  home  for  aged  people,  and  to  put 
ttp  new  buildings  for  the  theological  seminary  in  or  near  the 
Twin  Cities. 

Missionary  work  was  carried  on  at  several  places  in 
southern  Madagascar ;  but  since  the  French  took  possession 
of  that  island  the  Catholics  have  somewhat  hampered  the 
efforts  of  the  Norwegians.  Members  of  the  United  Church 
also  contributed  quite  liberally  to  the  different  missions  in 
Asia. 

The  Augsburg  controversy  and  the  withdrav/al  of  the 
Free  Church  element  subjected  the  United  Church  to  a  great 
strain.  But  its  honest  supporters  only  rallied  the  more 
energetically  to  her  support.  At  this  stage  it  seems  reason- 
able to  anticipate  that  a  body  which  could  not  be  crippled 
by  passing  through  such  a  crisis  will  be  fully  able  to  weather 
the  storms  that  may  rise  on  her  future  course,  and  whatever 
may  happen  in  the  future,  the  organization  of  the  United 
Church  is  the  grandest  attempt  ever  made  by  Norwegian- 
Americans  to  neutralize  the  spirit  of  religious  discord  and 
disintegration  among  them. 

Pa«M  28M2  wwn  KiwilUm  for  the  Moond  •ditlon  bj  J.  J.  SkordAlsrold.— Sdi70». 


Statistics  Regarding  the  Scandinayians  in 

the  United  States. 


—  BY  — 


O.   N.   NELrSON 


Some  one  has  said  that  figures  never  He.  But  certainly 
diflFerent  statistics  on  the  same  subject  disagree  very  much, 
at  least  that  is  the  case  in  regard  to  the  reports  of  immigra- 
tion and  emigration,  by  the  governments  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Scandinavian  countries.  Therefore,  I  publish,  in 
tables  Land  II.,  all  the  statistics  regarding  the  Scandinavian 
immigration  and  emigration  which  I  have  been  able  to  se- 
cure. Everything  in  the  United  States  census  which  refers  to 
the  Scandinavian-Amerians  has  been  compiled  in  convenient 
tables,  or,  when  such  an  arrangement  was  impossible,  the 
facts  have  been  stated  in  this  article. 

But  the  figures,  as  given  in  immigration  and  emigration 
reports  and  in  the  census,  are  not  altogether  correct — far 
from  it — but  they  are,  after  all,  the  nearest  approach  to  the 
truth  which  can  be  had.  And  if  anj-  portion  of  this  book  de- 
serves to  be  studied,  it  is,  perhaps,  the  following  tables ;  they, 
for  example,  contain  a  good  history  of  the  great  Scandi- 

r243) 


24-4'  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

navian  movements  toward  the  Northwest ;  they  show  the 
proportion  of  Scandinavian  paupers,  criminals,  idiots,  etc.,  in 
comparison  with  other  nationalities.  In  my  opinion,  how- 
ever,  the  Scandinavian  statistics,  as  far  as  they  go,  in  regard 
to  the  Northern  immigration  into  this  country,  are  more  re- 
liable than  those  of  the  United  States. 

The  United  States  statistics  regarding  immigration  com- 
menced in  1820.  From  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary-  War 
up  to  1820  it  is  estimated  that  250,000  immigrants  arrived, 
although  the  accurate  number  is  not  known.  Between  the 
years  of  1820-68  only  the  arrival  of  alien  passengers  were 
indicated,  no  distinction  being  made  between  the  real  immi- 
grants and  transient  sojourners,  but  it  is  estimated  that  98 
per  cent  of  all  the  alien  passengers  remained  in  this  country. 
Prior  to  1868  there  was  no  distinction  made  between  the 
immigrants  from  Sweden  and  Norway ;  both  countries  were 
considered  as  one.  Since  1869  the  sex  of  the  immigrants  has 
been  recorded  by  the  United  States;  since  1873,  the  age; 
since  1875,  the  occupation.  Immigrants  from  the  British 
North  American  possessions  and  Mexico,  comprising  about 
one  per  cent  of  the  entire  immigration  into  the  country, 
are  not  included  in  the  United  States  statistics,  from  1885  to 
1893  owing  to  the  absence  of  law  providing  for  the  collec- 
tion of  accurate  data  in  regard  thereto.  The  minister  of  agri- 
culture of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  reports  that  during  the 
years  of  1885-91  over  500,000  European  emigrants  arrived 
at  Canadian  ports  en  route  for  the  United  States.  Of  course 
a  large  proportion  of  these  immigrants  were  Scandinavians, 
but  their  exact  number  cannot  be  ascertained. 

It  was  not  until  1869  that  there  was  a  law  in  Norway 


STATISTICS  REGARDING  SCANDINAVIAN-AMERICANS.        245 

-which  required  the  taking  of  accurate  data  in  regard  to  Nor- 
wegian emigration.  But  from  various  sources  the  Norwegian 
government  has  secured  and  published  facts  in  regard  to  the 
whole  emigration,  which,  although  not  very  correct,  yet  on 
the  whole  are,  perhaps,  more  reliable  than  those  published  by 
the  United  States.  The  Norwegian  statistics  state  that  the 
American  statistics  in  regard  to  the  Norwegian  immigration, 
prior  to  1868,  are  very  inaccurate. 

The  Swedish  statistics  of  emigration  date  from  1851. 
In  a  letter  from  the  statistical  bureau  of  Sweden  it  is  stated 
that  the  figures  regarding  the  Swedish  emigration  to  this 
country  are  too  low  up  to  the  year  of  1884,  and  whenever  the 
American  statistics  are  lower,  they  are  still  more  inaccurate. 
Since  1884  the  Sw^edish  statistics  are  comparatively  correct. 
While  in  latter  years,  even  before  1884,  the  American  reports 
regarding  the  Swedish  immigration  are  too  high,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  many  thousand  Finns,  who  pass  over  Gothen- 
burg, are  recorded  as  Swedes.  But  it  must  also  be  remem- 
bered that  several  persons  w^ho  live  in  Finland  are  Swedes  by 
race,  and  still  more  so  by  education  and  by  language. 

The  Danish  statistics  regarding  emigration  began  in 
1869. 

According  to  the  United  States  statistics,  there  have  ar- 
rived  from  1820-90  over  15,000,000  immigrants  to  thig^ 
country.  Most  of  them  have,  of  course,  come  from  Europe. 
Forexample,  Germany  has  supplied  about  4,500,000,  Ireland 
3,500,000,  England  2,500,000,  the  Scandinavian  countries 
1,250,000,  and  the  immigrants  from  no  other  single  country 
have  exceeded  500,000.  Taking  into  consideration  those 
who  have  been  omitted  from  the  oflScial  reports,  it  is  fair  to 


246  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

estimate  that  1,500,000  Scandinavians  have  settled  in  the 
United  States  since  the  country  began  to  be  colonized,  np  to 

1900 

The  Scandinavian  emigration  began  very  late.  The  Nor- 
wegian, which  is  the  earliest,  did  not  exceed  1,000  a  year 
until  1843,  the  Swedish  not  until  1852,  and  the  Danish  not 
until  1857.  The  Scandinavian  immigration  reached  its  max- 
imum in  1882,  when  nearly  65,000  Swedes,  30,000  Norwe- 
gians, and  12,000  Danes  arrived  in  this  country'.  Since  then 
the  emigration  from  all  Northern  countries  has  declined. 
From  1821-90  the  Scandinavian  emigrants  constituted  seven 
per  cent  of  the  total  immigration.  Sixty-two  per  cent  of  the 
Northern  emigrants  are  male,  65  per  cent  arrive  between  the 
ages  of  15  and  40,  24  per  cent  are  children  under  15,  and  11 
per  cent  are  over  40  years  of  age.  During  the  years  1881-90, 
one  person  out  of  5,914  was  a  clergyman,  one  out  of  every 
5,083  a  musician,  one  out  of  7,236  a  physician  and  surgeon, 
and  one  out  of  3,034  a  teacher — in  other  words,  only  one 
out  of  1,017  had  a  profession,  while  one  out  of  12  was  a 
skilled  laborer,  and  one-half  of  the  Scandinavian  emigrants 
were  either  farmers,  common  laborers,  merchants,  or  serv- 
ants. 

Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  assume  that  they  change  their 
occupations  a  great  deal  when  they  arrive  in  this  country, 
tor,accordingtotheUnitedStatescensusof  1870, 1880, 1890, 
25  per  cent  of  the  Scandinavian-bom  population  were  en- 
gaged in  agriculture,  and  50  per  cent  labored  at  w^hat  w^as 
called  **  All  classes  of  work.'*  It  is  a  notable  fact  that  one 
out  of  every  four  Scandinavian  engages  in  agriculture, 
while  onlv  one  out  of  six  of  the  native  Americans,  one  out 


STATISTICS  REGARDING  SCANDINAVIAN-AMERICANS.  247 

of  seven  of  the  Germans,  and  one  out  of  twelve  of  the  Irish, 
follow  the  same  profession. 

In  1890  only  32  per  cent  of  the  Swedes,  23  per  cent  of 
the  Danes,  and  21  per  cent  of  the  Norwegians,  in  this  coun- 
try lived  in  cities  of  over  25,000  inhabitants. 

When  the  first  census  of  the  United  States  was  taken,  in 
1790,  there  were  about  four  millions  of  people  in  the  country ; 
in  1830  the  population  exceeded  three  times  that  amount. 
It  was  not  until  1850  that  the  foreign  elements  were  taken 
into  account  by  the  census  reports.  In  that  year  one  out  of 
every  1,200  persons  was  a  Scandinavian;  in  1860,  one  out 
of  435;  in  1870,  one  out  of  160;  in  1880,  one  out  of  114; 
and  in  1890,  one  out  of  66.  But  until  recently  the  census  did 
not  take  into  account  the  children  bom  in  this  country  of 
Scandinavian  parents.  In  1880,*  however,  it  was  estimated 
that  635,405  persons  in  this  country,  bom  anywhere  in  the 
world,  had  Scandinavian  fathers,  but  about  four  thousand 
less  had  Scandinavian  mothers — ^these  two  sums  must  not  be 
added  together,  because  most  of  the  Scandinavian  men  and 
women  have  married  among  their  own  nationalities.  About 
84  persons  out  of  100  have  both  Scandinavian  fathers  and 
mothers,  86  have  both  German  fathers  and  mothers,  and  91 
have  both  Irish  fathers  and  mothers.  The  fact  that  the 
Scandinavians  inter-marry  more  frequently  with  other 
nationalities  than  either  the  Germans  or  the  Irish,  although 
less  with  native  Americans,  must  have  a  powerful  eflfect  in 
Americanizing  the  former  more  quickly  than  the  latter. 

In  1880  there  were  440,262  Scandinavian-bom  persons  in 
this  country ;  adding  these  to  those  of  Scandinavian  parent- 
age bom  in  the  U.  S.  must  equal  1,000,000.    But  this  re- 


*  The  oaaaof  bulletin  enamentinff  the  ^nona  of  SoandlnaTlan  pftientairs  in  the 
United  states  for  1890,  did  not  appear  until  the  latter  part  of  1894,  and  the  result  of  said 
report  hai  been  tabulated  on  pace  264« 


248  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

suit  is,  virtually,  also  obtained  by  multiplying  440,262  by 
2%.  Therefore,  if  anyone  desires  to  ascertain  the  exact  num- 
ber of  Scandinavians  and  their  children,  in  proportion  to  the 
total  population,  of  any  year,  state,  territory,  or  city,  he  can 
multiply  the  figures — as  found  in  tables  III.,  IV.,  V.,  VI  , 
VII.  and  VIII.,  in  this  volume — by  2^.  But  the  census  re- 
ports are  far  from  being  correct,  they  omit  many  persons 
of  all  nationalities,  and  frequently  confound  foreigners  as 
well  as  natives ;  but,  as  a  general  thing,  they  fall  below  and 
not  above  the  real  number.  And,  without  doubt,  the  nearest 
approach  to  the  truth  in  regard  to  the  number  of  Danes, 
Norwegians,  Swedes,  and  their  children,  in  this  country,  can 
be  had  by  multiplying  the  Scandinavian-bom — as  recorded 
in  the  United  States  census  for  each  year,  and  in  each  state, 
territory,  and  city— by  3. 

According  to  this  method  of  calculation,  one  person  out 
of  every  25  in  the  United  States  was,  in  1890,  a  Scandinavian, 
either  by  birth,  or  by  parentage.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  conserva- 
tive estimate  to  assume  that  there  are,  in  1900,  three  millions 
of  Northmen  in  this  country.  In  several  of  the  Northwestern 
states  they  are  the  controlling  power.  T we-fiftbs  ^  the  total 
population  in  Minnesota  are  Scandinavians.  There  are  in 
this  country  about  one-fifth  as  many  Danes  as  in  Denmark, 
one-third  as  many  Swedes  as  in  Sweden,  and  one-half  as  many 
Norwegians  as  in  Norway. 

The  United  States  statistics  in  regard  to  the  defective 
population  in  the  country,  by  nationalities,  are  very  incom- 
plete. In  1870,  however,  one  out  of  every  670  of  the  Irish 
in  this  country  was  either  deaf  and  dumb,  or  blind ;  one  out 
of  962  of  the  French ;  one  out  of  980  of  the  English ;  one  out 


STATISTICS  REGARDING  SCANDINAVIAN-AMERICANS.        249 

of  1,033  of  the  native-bom  Americans;  one  out  of  1,142 
of  the  British- Americans ;  one  out  of  1,480  of  the  Germans ; 
and  one  out  of  1,810  of  the  Scandinavians.  In  the  same  year 
one  in  197  of  the  Irish  was  insane  or  idiotic,  one  in  380  of 
the  French,  one  in  465  of  the  Germans,  one  in  584  of  the 
English,  one  in  672  of  the  native-bom  Americans,  one  in  682 
of  the  Scandinavians,  and  one  in  1,075  of  the  British-Ameri- 
cans. 

In  1880,  1  in  165  of  the  Spaniards  was  a  prisoner,  1  in 
199  of  the  Chinese,  1  in  207  of  the  Mexicans,  1  in  260  of  the 
Italians,  1  in  350  of  the  Irish,  1  in  411  of  the  Scotch,  1  in  433 
of  the  French,  1  in  456  of  the  English,  1  in  590  of  the  British- 
Americans,  1  in  813  of  the  Portugese,  1  in  916  of  the  Rus- 
sians, 1  in  949  of  the  native-bom  Americans  and  Germans, 
1  in  1,033  of  the  Poles,  1  in  1,173  of  the  Welsh,  1  in  1,195 
of  the  Belgians,  1  in  1,231  of  the  Swiss,  1  in  1,383  of  the 
Hollanders,  and  1  in  1,539  of  the  Scandinavians. 

The  census  of  1890,  in  regard  to  the  defective  classes,  is 
very  faulty.  Yet  it  appears  that  one  in  132  of  the  Irish  in 
this  country  was  a  pauper,  one  in  356  of  the  Germans,  one 
in  387  of  the  English,  one  in  690  of  the  Bohemians^  one  in 
792  of  the  Scandinavians,  and  one  in  974  of  the  British- 
Americans.* 

Considering  the  excellent  record  of  the  Scandinavians  in 
regard  to  crimes  and  pauperism,  the  readiness  with  which 
they  take  to  farming  and  become  Americanized,  the  com- 
mendable educational  and  religious  training  they  have  re- 
ceived in  the  North,  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  they  are  by 
American  economists  considered  to  be  the  best  immigrants. 


*For  a  eomplete  diaonssioD  of  criminality  and  insanity  see  pp.  1-22,  VoL  II. 


250  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

About  50  per  cent  of  the  Scandinavian  emigrants  arrive 
by  prepaid  passage  tickets  secured  by  relatives  here.  During 
each  year  between  1890  and  1900,  the  postal  money  orders 
issued  in  the  United  States,  payable  in  the  Scandinavian 
countries,  amounted  to  about  $2,250,000,  and  it  is  estimated 
that  something  like  $6,500,000  besides  was  in  one  year  sent 
to  the  North  through  banks  and  by  other  means.  During 
the  same  period  only  about  $500,000  was  annually  sent 
from  the  North  to  the  United  States  by  means  of  postal 
money  orders.  Of  course,  part  of  these  sums  were  settle- 
ments for  business  transactions ;  yet  the  United  States  post- 
office  reports  assert  that  the  excess  noted  is  mainly  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  immigrants  contribute  liberally  to  the  sup- 
port of  their  friends  across  the  ocean. 

It  is  impossible,  however,  to  arrive  at  anything  like  a 
correct  conclusion  in  regard  to  what  amount  of  wealth  in 
the  shape  of  presents,  prepaid  passage  tickets,  and  actual 
cash  which  Scandinavian- Americans  have  transferred  from 
the  United  States  to  the  North.  Smith,  in  his  excellent  book, 
Emigratioa  and  Immigration,  estimates  that  each  immi- 
grant sends  to  his  native  country  $35,  and  from  1820-99, 
according  to  the  United  States  statistics,  not  far  from  1,500,- 
000  Northmen  have  settled  in  this  country.  If  each  of  them 
returned  $35,  the  total  sura  transferred  would  amount  to 
$52,500,000. 

Each  immigrant,  however,  brings  with  him  a  certain 
sum,  which  Smith  estimates  to  average  from  $68  to  $100 ; 
but  no  accurate  statistics  on  this  subject  have  ever  been 
published.  "It  costs,'*  to  quote  the  same  authority, 
"about    $562.50    to    bring    up    a    child    in    Europe   till 


STATISTICS  REGARDING  SCANDIN A VI AN- AMERICANS.        251 

15  years  of  age,  and  twice  that  amount  in  the  United  States. 
But  this  estimate  does  not  mean  the  real  value  of  men ;  they 
are  not  valued  in  dollars  and  cents.  But  every  immigrant 
must  represent  labor  capacity,  worth  at  least  the  value  of  a 
slave,  which  was  $800  or  $1,000  before  the  war,  but  being 
a  free  man  he  may  not  choose  to  work.  But  it  is  figured  that 
each  immigrant  is  worth  $875.*'  Assuming  that  each  Scan- 
dinavian immigrant  has  brought  $75,  which  added  to  $875, 
the  value  of  his  labor  capacity,  amounts  to  $950,  and  multi- 
plying this  by  the  whole  number  of  immigrants, wefind  that 
the  Scandinavian  countries  have  sent — or  rather  permitted 
to  be  transfered — to  the  United  States  one  billion  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  million  dollars  (1,450,000,000)  worth  of  prop- 
erty in  the  form  of  human  beings  and  what  valuables  these 
have  brought  with  them.  Even  subtracting  the  $52,500,000, 
which  have  been  returned  in  the  shape  of  prepaid  tickets, 
presents,  and  cash,  it  3'et  leaves  the  United  States  in  a  debt 
of  $1,397,600,000  to  the  Scandinavian  countries.* 

The  different  Scandinavian  churches  in  this  country  have 
always  exercised  a  great  influence.  But  it  is  impossible  in 
this  article  to  give  very  elaborate  statistics  in  regard  to 
them;  nor  is  it  necessary,  because  this  volume  contains  his- 
torical sketches  of  several  of  the  leading  Scandinavian-Ameri- 
can church  organizations,  and  each  of  these  sketches  deals 
more  or  less  with  the  statistics  of  each  denomination.  Table 
X.,  however,  contains  some  facts  in  regard  to  the  Scandi- 
navian churches  in  this  country-.  These  facts  have  mostly 
been  gathered  from  their  own  published  reports,  but  in  a  few 
cases  from  the  United  States  census  of  1890 ;  and,  although 
they  are  incomplete,  and  in  some  cases  inaccurate,  they  are 

^Aocoidinflr  to  the  immigration  report  of  1898.  the  ScandiDavian  immigrants,  who  in 
wealth  averaged  more  than  the  total  Baropean  immigrants,  had  only  $20  each. 


252  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

unquestionably  a  fair  estimate  of  the  strength  of  the  Scandi- 
navian-American churches.  Of  course,  there  are  other  Scan- 
dinavian church  organizations  in  this  country,  besides  those 
enumerated  in  table  X. ;  but  they  are  small,  their  union  gen- 
erally loose,  and  I  have  been  unable  to  secure  any  data  in 
regard  to  them.  But  I  doubt  if  any  one  of  the  church  or- 
ganizations which  have  been  omitted  in  table  X.  exceeds 
1,000  in  membership.  Yet  there  are  a  great  number  of  Scan- 
dinavian  churches  which  are  independent,  and  not  connected 
with  any  synod,  or  general  organization  of  several  churches; 
besides,  many  Scandinavians  are  members  of  purely  American 
churches ;  and  it  is,  perhaps,  fair  to  assume  that  one-half,  or 
at  least  one-third,  of  the  Scandinavian- Americans  are  mem- 
bers of  some  religious  society.  During  the  last  fifty  years  the 
Scandinavian  churches  in  this  country  have,  no  doubt,  ex- 
pended for  religious,  educational,  and  charitable  purposes* 
between  fifty  and  one  hundred  million  dollars.  Besides  the 
churches,  there  are  in  this  country  many 'Scandinavian  tem- 
perance, benevolent,  and  secret  organizations,  which  have  ex- 
ercised quite  an  influence,  but  it  has  been  impossible  to  secure 
any  statistics  in  regard  to  them.  It  is  a  notable  fact  that, 
although  the  Swedish  population,  first  and  second  genera- 
tions, in  this  country,  exceed,  in  1900,  the  Norwegian  by 
130,000,  yet  the  difierent  Norwegian-American  church  or- 
ganizations have  at  least  50,000  more  communicant  mem- 
bers than  the  Swedish.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  the  various 
church  strifes  among  the  Norwegians  appear  to  have  been 
the  main  cause  of  this  great  diflFerence,  because  there  is  no 
reason  to  assume  that  the  Swedish  people  are  less  religious 
than  the  Norwegian. 


STATISTICS  REGARDING  SCANDINAVIAN-AUBRICANS.         253 


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254  HISTOBY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 


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HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IK  THE  U.  8. 


TABLE  III. 

Showing  thb  numbbr  op  Scandinavians  born  in  thb  Scandinayian 
countries,  together  with  thb  total  population,  in  each  state 
and  territory  in  thb  united  states — according  to  thb  united 
States  census  op  1850. 


8TATB8  AND  TBBUTORIBS. 


Alabama 

Arkansan 

California 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District  of  Columbia.. 

Florida..... 

Crorgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kentticky 

Lonisiana. 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massacbnsetts 

MicbiRan 

Minnesota  Territory. 


Denmark. 


Mississippi 

Missotin 

New  Hampsbire 

New  Jersey 

New  Mexico  Territory. 

New  York 

Nortb  Carolina..  

Ohio 

Oregron  Territory 

Pennsylvania 

Rbode  Island 

Sontta  Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Utah  Territory 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Wisconsin 


Total 


18 

7 
92 
16 

1 

6 
21 
24 
93 
10 
19 

7 

288 

47 

35 

181 

13 

1 
24 
65 

3 
28 

2 
429 

6 
53 

2 
97 
15 
24 

8 
49 

2 


15 
146 


3,838 


Norway. 


3 

1 

124 

1 


17 

6 

2,415 

38 

361 

18 

64 

12 

10 

69 

110 

7 

8 

165 

2 

4 

2 

392 


18 

1 

27 

25 

7 


105 

32 

R 

5 

8,651 


12,678 


Sweden. 


51 

1 

162 

13 

2 

5 

33 

11 

1,123 

36 

231 

20 

249 

55 

57 

253 

16 

4 

14 

37 

12 

34 

1 

753 

9 

55 

2 

133 

17 

29 

8 

48 

1 


16 
88 


Total 
Scandi- 
navians. 


3,569 


72 

9 

378 

30 

3 

11 

71 

41 

3,631 


611 

45 

601 

134 

302 

603 

139 

12 

46 

247 

17 

63 

5 

1,674 

15 

126 

5 

267 

57 

60 

36 

202 

35 

8 

36 

8,885 


18,075 


Total  Popu- 
lation. 


771,628 
209,897 

92,597 
370,79a 

91,613 

51,687 

87,446 
906,186 
861,470 
988,416 
192.214 
982,405 
617.761 
683,169 
683.034 
994.514 
897.664 
6.077 
606.526 
682.044 
33  7.976 
489,556 

61.547 

8,097.394 

869.039 

1,980.329 

13.294 

2,811.786 

147.546 

668.507 

1,002.717 

212.592 

11.380 

814.120 

1,421.661 

305,391 


23,191,876 


STATISTICS  RB6ARDIN6  SCANDIN  AVI  AN- AMERICANS.        257 


TABLE  IV. 

Showing  thb  number  of  Scandinavians  born  in  thb  Scandinavian 
countries,  together  with  the  total  population,  in  bach  state 
and  territory  in  the  united  states— according  to  thb  united 
States  census  of  1860. 


Statbs  and  Tbkkitokibs. 


Alabama .. 

Arkansas 

California 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

Florida 

Georiria. 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Iowa 

Kansas 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maine 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Mictai^ran 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

New  Hampshire 

New  Jersey 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Khode  Island 

South  Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Vermont 

Virginia 

Wisconsin 

Colorado  Territory 

Dakota  Territorr 

District  of  Columbia.... 

Nebraska  Territory 

Nevada  Territorjr 

New  Mexico  Territory. 

Utah  Territory 

Washington  Territory. 

Total 


Denmark. 


92 

7 

1,328 

91 

5 

21 

21 

712 

109 

661 

70 


.S09 

S9 

67 

213 

192 

-  170 

31 

464 

3 

175 

1,196 

11 

164 

50 

234 

10 

38 

32 

150 

3 

41 

1,150 

16 


5 

150 

8 

9 

1,824 

27 


9.962 


Norway. 


51 

5 

715 

22 


11 

13 

4,891 

38 

6,688 

223 

10 

63 

27 

7 

171 

440 

8,425 

15 

146 

5 

65 

539 

4 

19 

43 

83 

38 

4 

14 

326 


8 

21,442 

12 

129 

1 

103 

16 

2 

159 

22 


Sweden. 


43,995 


155 

25 

1,405 

42 

8 

31 

37 

6,470 

329 

1,465 

122 

43 

193 

74 

48 

685 

266 

3,178 

21 

239 

20 

88 

1,678 

9 

117 

56 

448 

33 

38 

32 

153 

1 

57 

673 

27 


16 
70 
41 
3 
196 
33 


Total 
Scandi- 
navians. 


298 

37 

3,448 

155 

13 

63 

71 

12,073 

476 

7,814 

415 

97 

665 

160 

122 

1,069 

898 

11,773 

67 

849 

38 

328 

3,413 

24 

300 

149 

765 

81 

80 

78 

629 

4 

106 

23,265 

55 

129 

22 

323 

65 

14 

2,179 

82 


18,626 


72,582 


Total  Popu- 
lation. 


964.201 

4.35,450 

379,994 

460,147 

112,216 

140,424 

1,057,286 

1,711,961 

1,350,428 

674,913 

107,206 

1,156,684 

708,002 

628,279 

687,049 

1,231,066 

749,113 

172,023 

791,306 

1,182,012 

326,073 

672,036 

3,880,736 

992,622 

2,339,511 

62,466 

2,906,216 

174,620 

703,708 

1,109,801 

604,216 

316,098 

1,596,318 

775.881 

34,277 

4,837 

28,841 

6,857 

93,516 

40,273 

11,594 

76,080 


31,443,321 


18 


HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S, 


TABLE  V. 
Showino  the  kuubbr  op    Scandinavians  bork  a  thb  Scandinavian 

COL-NTRIES,  TOGETHER  WITH  THB    TOTAL    POPULATION,  IN    EACH    STATS 
AND  TaBBITORV  IN  THE   UNITED  STATES— ACCOBDING  TO  THB  UniTBD 

States  censcs  op  1870. 


State »  ma  THHHrroiUHs 

o™..... 

.o™.. 

Sweden. 

Total  , 

lation,*"* 

|;l| 

CdJiTofBiB  -.., 

^ill 

^■o?o 

^■tti 

4,781 

r?ia°^r™' ':::". 

30 

1,1 84!  109 

Illinois. 

11,880 

44,870 

2,339,891 

Indiona 

123 

2.180 

IT, 05* 

10.7B8 

i!i9*!o20 

e[044 

384.399 

181 

1,321.011 

3S8 

Marylniiii 

78o;894 

MM«a>.h„-,u.. 

1,953 

1,467.361 

2,40a 

827:933 

Mi«so.irl 

1.721,295 

1,129 

2,352 

3.967 

43|491 

WewHampsbirc,.:.: 

318300 

Hcwjenc; 

1.134 

906.099 

Mew  Yort 

1,698 

S,522 

8,195 

North  Corollas... 

s 

38 

l!07T!361 

87 

?s 

368 

2  663  2E0 

ol^Siio"'"""-"- ■:"-:■  ::^;"::- 

90;l2i 

sei 

2,942 

'217I3S3 

Booth  Carolina!";".'..!!....  . 

705  608 

1.258:520 

Te.iu 

199 

403 

3S4 

330 :  551 

■Virgin^  ■.::!";::";■::":■.:!::!: 

1,325.163 

■West  VfrjrtniR 

27 

■WiKomln 

8,212 

■M,o*e 

2,799 

Colorado  Tcnitorj 

1,674 

IHstriet  of  ColamblB!!"!!!! 

29 

22 

91 

20:B90 

New  Mmico  Territory 

IS 

26 

4.9B7 

61  a 

1,790 

Wttshlnjrton  Tcrritorj 

Wjomiog  Territory 

51 

2fl 

109 

191 

9'.llS 

30,OUH 

^'"■"^    1      ^■■^-^ 

2+1.008 

STATISTICS  REGARDING  SCANDINATI&N-&1£ER1CANS. 


SbOWING  the 
codntribs, 
and  tbbkttoby 
States  census 


'  Scandinavians  born  in  the  Scandinavuk 

WITH  THB  TOTAI,  POPriJlTIOK,  IN     BACH     STATB 

United  States— Accordikc  to  the  United 


Dcnoiark. 

No™»r- 

Sweden. 

Total 
Si-andi- 

■^"f^jira.^- 

S,D2S 
'bS3 

2S5 

678 
3.013 

e.OTi 

970 

i,ae* 

643 
60 
60 

33 

33 

6 
18,9T0 

63B 
3,5  20 

^373 

7a 

6 

39 

13,248 

7* 

119 

42,415 

"■'1 

4.756 
9.412 

3,174 
10,18+ 

131 

7,557 
63 

8.138 
3,177 

212 
3i033 

214 
65,414 

4R|o4e 

14,403 

457 

230 

1«|494 

92 

3,006 

i:ISi 

887 

17.9B9 
644 

19 

14 

26 

1163 

6: 

l,39t 

'l74 
4,395 

990 

],S42 
l;S91 

1,311! 

143 

78 

CBliTornia 

894 
327 

608 

Delaware 

871 

Si 

B46 

^al'iana 

Marj-lard 

MaMacbnseUn 

Ulchigua 

943 

773 

1 

™1 

SS? 

Rhode  liland 

i 

Teia. 

WCTt^VlriiBia 

«J 

AHiooft  Tenitor.T .. 

440 

TM«tTirt  ofColumbia 

Idaho  Territory 

no 

^'1  T^"^ '^'"^*'"' 

08B 

■Wyoniing  Terrttory 

78S 

6*,19« 

181.729 

194.337 

440,282 

HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  V.  S. 


TABLE  VII. 
Showing  the  nuubbr  op  Scu(dinatians   bokn  in  thb  Scamdinaviui 
couxtbies,  togbtber  with  the  total  population,  in  each  state 

AND  TBBBITORT  IK  THE  UNITED  STATBS— ACCORDING  TO  THE   UNITED 

States  cbnsub  op  1890. 


BTATBI  AMD  TESIITOalll. 

=„„„. 

K.™„. 

Sw,d™. 

Seaodi- 

Total  Popa- 

1G.S18 

33a 

"083 

e-t 
a.uui 

54 
O.Z3» 

"i 
''1 

'■'21 

13,883 

3  702 

fai 

S8 

M7.078 

311 

l.OftT 

=01 
1.317 

aisas 

H32+ 

oa.090 

Si 

10.02 1 

4|e12 
30,278 

18,624 

sItti 

1,210 

3,77* 
19:3*0 

2,806 

aifi 
ilasT 

407 
340 

7a;«73 

■s*o 
'alesi 

405 

alasa 

l^SOt 
7*« 

3.82« 

!|| 

2:09a 
J  "89 

J,*W 

'16S 
1.617 

.ill 

34B 

i:78T 

1.65K 

'■•1 

Mo^flchuKtts 

laa 

1G9 

Sew  Mafcci  TerritOTr 

North  OekitB 

Oklahoma  Territory 

Rbod/l.lflod 

BonthDakptfl 

308 

Wnt  Virginia 

79* 

132.G43 

322,663 

*78,041 

933,3*9 



KTfTISTICS  REGARDING  SCANDIKATUN-AMBRICANS.       261 


Showing  tub 


THE  Scandinavians 

CBKSUS  OF  1890. 


TABLE  VIII. 

'    SCANDINATIANB    J 


25.000  O 

1,000 — AccoRDiHS  m 


THB  Scandinavian 

EVERY   CITV 


B  United  States 


ClT.HS. 

.»..„. 

K-™,. 

s.„„. 

Total 

latiOB. 

1,839 
227 

20* 

i:*Ba 

30D 

'*BT 
1,+*B 

a** 

B4 

4..S73 

21,835 

301 

'704 

ijoa 

B:32a 

'II 

l!328 
3,fiS« 
l.fiSS 
2.227 

4;S5B 

\ 

333 
480 

739 
31-1 
335 

Bie 

SOfl 

1,09S 
106 

BC 

3S 

1,51E 
48 
140 

J.04e 

44 

36 
84 

Chicsgo.^i 

800 

Grand  kapida.  Uicb 

i?i 

I.aCni*K.  Wl» 

PWIadelpbini.  P« 

FOTtlaad,  Org 

frovidence.  K.  I 

iSfSS/cLV 

OM 

146 
843 

Seattle,  wagb 

837 

SKS&i 

"n 

^■^•tW^iSi;:::.:::: ;::::; 

ss 

262 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  €. 


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HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  V.  S. 


TABIiB  XI. 
SHOwino  THB  NUHBHB  OP  PKBSOHS  IK  THE  Ubitbd  Statkb  baviho  Scamdi- 

NATIAI)  PABENTS;  BUT  THE  PEBaOH9  EHUIIXRATED  BELOW  UAV  HAVB  BEEIT 
BOBH  IK    SCAKDWAVIA,  AhBBICA,  OB  AHYWHEBE    ELSE — ACXXIBDINO    TO 

THB  Ukitsd  States  cbnbdb  ox  1890,  ptrBusHED  in  1801. 


Btatks  and  Tebeiti 


C&Utoniia. 

Colorado 

CoDuMtiiiat. 

IWawwa 

Diitrlot  of  Colombia. . . 

Floiidfl 

GeotitlB 

UllMliV.'.V.V.V.'.'.'.'.'V.'.. 

Kemucki 

U^ae...^'.'.'.'.'.'.'."'.'.'.'.'.'. 

Uarrland 

HaBsacbusetts 

Hlohigan 

UlUDBSota 

Ulaiwippi. 

Ularanrl 

Hontana 

Nebraika 

NSTBda 

Naw  Hampahlni 

Nev  Jans; 

New  Usilco 

Naw  York 

North  Dakota, 

North  Caroliaa 

Okliboma 

Pennsy  I  vaaiH 

Rhode  liJand  

Hoctb  Dakota 

South  Carolina 

TsDiieiBea 

T3^..''."..':.".'.'.'."'".'.". 

Tennont 

TiislDlB 

Waihloffton 

WaBtVinrfnia 

WiBoonain 

Wyoming 

Total 


Danmack 

Norway 

Sweden 

Scandi-  1 

fl.W 

«,31i 

a&gar, 

12.231 

"■r. 

"« 

10,3-1 

^ 

l.S35,597 

213,038 

BS8.I31 

7a.«) 

|ftils1||i 

t-Pllfiil 


e|||-I!«>I 
|li-l'j|23 


BBUOGRAPHY 

—OP  THB— " 

Scandinaviaii-American  Historical  literature  of 


the  Nineteenth  Century. 

— BY— 

O.  N.  NELSON. 


It  has  been  the  aim  to  enumerate  in  these  notes  all  of  the  most 
important  books,  pamijhlets,  shurch  reports,  and  magazine  articles  which 
relate  to  the  Scandinavian- American  historical  literature  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  In  order  to  make  the  collection  as  complete  as  possible,  all  the 
leading  libraries  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Wisconsin,  as  well  as 
some  in  the  Hcandinavian  countries,  have  been  consulted;  a  thorough 
search  has  been  made  of  a  large  number  of  book  stores  and  publishing 
houses,  both  in  Europe  and  in  this  country,  and  even  private  libraries 
have  been  ransacked.  But  all  these  establishments  together  do  not  by 
anv  means  contain  all  the  matters  enumerated  in  this  list  There  is  not  a 
public  library  in  the  world  that  has  a  fairly  complete  collection  of  Scandi- 
navian-American historical  literature.  The  Boyal  Library  in  Stockholm 
and  the  Angustana  College  Library  in  Bock  Island  have  a  large  number  of 
books,  etc.,  in  relation  to  Swedish- Americans,  and  Luther  College  in 
Decorah  has  begun  to  collect  materials  in  regard  to  the  Norwesrians.  But 
even  these  collections  are  defective.  Consequently  this  bibliography  has 
been  compiled  from  various  sources.  The  voluminous  "Sabin's  Dictionary 
of  Books*'  has  been  carefully  examined;  and  for  several  years  back,  I 
have  corresponded  with  hundreds  of  Scandinavian- American  writers  and 
book  collectors.  As  a  result  of  all  this,  I  have  collected  in  my  private 
librarjr  a  large  number  of  books  and  pamphlets,  written  by  Scandinavian- 
Americans,  on  various  subjects.  But  even  my  collection,  although  very 
comprehensive,  does  not  contain  all  the  works  enumerated  in  this  biblio- 
graphy. 

Besides  the  books,  pamphlets,  church  annuals,  etc.,  which  are  men- 
tioned in  this  list,  a  large  number  of  emigration  reports,  school  catalogues, 
lejB^slative  manuals,  county  histories,  newspapers,  and  statistics  of  various 
kinds  have  been  consulted  in  the  preparation  of  the  first  and  second 
volumes.  All  the  volumes  of  the  U.  S.  Census  from  1790  to  1890,  and 
several  state  census  reports  of  the  Northwestern  states,  have  been 
carefully  examined.  But  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  enumerate  all  of  it 
here.  Hundreds  of  Scandinavian -American  newspapers  have  been  pub- 
lished during  the  last  fift^  years,  and  most  of  them  have  contained  more 
or  less  matter  of  an  histonciu  nature.  I  have  searched  the  files  of  several  of 
the  most  important  of  such  publications,  and  collected  some  valuable 
newspaper  articles.    Most  journals  in  the  North  and  many  English  papers 

265 


266  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

in  America  have  at  one  time  or  another  referred  to  the  Scandinayian- 
Americans.  Millions  of  private  letters  have  passed  between  the  Scandi- 
navian countries  and  the  United  States,  ana  many  of  them  have  been 
valuable  lustorical  documents.  Evidently,  it  is  beyond  the  power  of 
mortals  to  enumerate  all  historical  materials  in  regard  to  the  Scandi- 
navian-Americans, and  I  have,  rightly  or  wrongly,  limited  the  list  to 
boolra,  pamphlets,  magazine  articles,  and  church  reports. 

Often  it  is  difficult  to  determine  whether  a  book  is  historical,  theo- 
logical, poetical,  or  simply  the  product  of  some  orank  or  stupid  fanatic. 
Nor  has  it  always  been  possible  for  me  to  scrutinize  all  of  the  materials 
enumerated  in  this  bibliography,  and  I  am  undecided  whether  I  have 
sinned  most  by  commission  or  by  omission  in  this  connection.  Considering 
the  various  church  disputes  which  have  been  carried  on  among  the  Nor- 
wegian-Americans, it  was  deemed  wise  to  include  some  productions  which 
can  hardly  be  called  historical.  In  fact,  some  of  these  so  abound  in  truth 
and  falsehood,  personal  abuse  and  religious  bombast,  as  to  deserve  to 
be  cla^fied  as  "insane  or  malicious"  literature.  The  Danes  and  Swedes 
have  issued  less  of  this  class  of  brain  product.  The  Swedish- Americans 
can  boast  of  a  fairly  solid  historical  literature,  which  in  point  of  quality 
excels  by  far  that  of  the  other  two  nationalities  put  together.  Some 
works  of  fiction  often  paint  the  social  life  and  customs  of  a  people  with 
a  brilliancy  and  a  clearness  which  surpass  most  historical  productions.  In 
this  line  of  literature  the  Norwegian- Americans  have  produced  some 
masterpieces,  but  none  of  them  have  been  enumerated  in  this  connection. 

It  nas  been  deemed  unnecessary,  in  this  connection,  to  deal  with  the 
bibliographies  regarding  the  discovery  of  America  by  the  Northmen  and 
the  Swedish  settlement  on  the  Delaware  Biver,  because  the  two  articles  on 
these  subjects  have  been  published  in  this  volume  only  to  make  the 
Scandinavian-American  history  complete;  otherwise  the  main  object  of 
this  work  is  to  relate  the  story  of  the  Scandinavians  in  the  United  States 
In  the  nineteenth  centurv.  Besides,  P.  B.  Watson  has  published,  in  the 
fourth  edition  of  Prof.  K,  B.  Anderson's  '^America  not  Discovered  by 
Columbus,"  a  very  complete  bibliography  regarding  the  Northmen's  dis- 
covery of  America,  and  Marie  A.  Brown,  in  her  work,  "The  Icelandic  Dis- 
coverers of  America,"  treats  the  same  subject;  while  the  fourth  volume  of 
the  **Narrative  and  Critical  History  of  America"  contains  a  very  extensive 
bibliography  regarding  the  Swedish  settlement  on  the  Delaware  River,  by 
Prof.  G.  B.  Keen. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  work,  the  followiner  authorities  have  mainly 
been  relied  upon  in  regard  to  the  history  of  the  Vikings  and  the  history  of 
the  Scandinavian  countries:  Odhner's  "Sveriges,  Norges  och  Danmarks 
Historia";  Geijer's  **Sve^ska  Folkets  Historia";  Montelius's  **Sveriges 
Historia";  Sars's  *'Udsigt  over  den  Norske  Historie";  Boyesen's  **Story  of 
Norwav";  Worsaae's  "banes  and  Norwegians  in  England,  Scotland,  and 
Ireland";  Gibbon's  "Roman  Empire";  Green's  "History  of  the  English 
People";  Frederiksen's  articles  in  "Scandinavia";  Cornelius's  "Svenaka 
Kyrkans  Historia." 

Paees  267-76  were  eleotrotyped  for  the  first  edition,  and  it  was  not 
deemed  necessary  to  rearrange  them,  although  a  few  publications  enumer- 
ated there  might  have  been  omitted.  The  rest  of  this  bibliogn*aphy 
treats  of  works  omitted  in  the  first  edition,  which  appeared  in  18^  and  of 
publications  issued  since  that  time. 


BIBLIOGBAPHY.  267 

1841.     Om  Amerika  samt  om  BmigTant-FSreningeti  i 
^ttwkholm.    Stockholm',  Sweden. 

"Intended  to  fnmlth  Swedltli  enlsTBiita  wltli  the  neccusry  latbisul- 
tjoa  about  the  United  Statei.  It  contains  alio  a  (hort  Utiorical  Introduc- 
tion in   irhlch  tbe  fkte  ot  the  Swedklt  •ettlemcnta  In  NoTth  Ameilcai  la  r»> 

1846.  Reise  blandt  de  Norske  Emigranter  i  de  Forenede 
Kordamerikanske  Friatater.  Rev.  J,  W.  Dietrichson,  Sta- 
Tanger,  Norway, 

1847.  Erik  Jansismen  i  Nord  Amerika. 


1848.  Beretning  om  de  Norske  Setlere  i  Amerika.  C. 
Rudolf,  Bergeo,  Norway. 

1851.  Nogle  Ord  fra  Praedikestolen  i  Amerika  og  Norge. 
Rev,  J.  W.  Dietrichson,  Stavanger,  Norway, 

1851.  Jenny  Lind  in  America.  C.  J.  Rosenberg,  New 
York  City. 

1853.  The  Homes  of  the  New  World;  Impressions  of 
America.    Fredrika  Bremer,  New  York  City, 

Tlieic  twoTolDsiei  sre  moitly  made  np  of  letter*,  written  bjUie  anthdr> 
eii  during  her  vlalt  to  America,  In  1M0.S2,  and  contain  some  Inibrmatlon 
reKarding  the  early  Swedleh  i>Ioneeia  In  thla  conntr^,  aa  well  aa  dCMtlptioni 

of  the  placei  (he  vUited. 

1853.  Geografisk  Politisk  Beskrivelse  over  de  Forenede 
.Nordamerikanske  Stater,  i  saerdeleshed  for  Emigranter.  J. 
fiollin,  Kristiania,  Norway. 

1862.  Minnen,  Rev.  Gustaf  Unonius,  Stockholm,  Sweden, 

Thla  work  !■  bound  In  two  large  TOlnmn.  Rer.  Unonlui  cameft-on 
Sweden  to  the  NorttawcBt  In  lB4,lt  remained  la  America  for  Kventeen  yeart, 
then  returned  to  Sweden.  Hla  work  li,  perhapa,  the  beat  and  the  moat  ad. 
Dlrable  dtacriptloa  of  the  tarly  pioneer  life  that  haa  yet  been  pnbUihed  In 
the  Swedlah  laoxuage. 


I 

I 

V 


268  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

1865.'  Protocol!  och  Handlingar  rorande  Prestmotet  i 
Upsala  &r  1865.    Upsala,  Sweden. 

This  Tolttme  contains  a  lecture  deliTcred  by  Prof.  L.  P.  EsbjOm,  at  the 
conference  of  the  Swedish  Lntheran  cler^ry,  held  in  Upsala  in  1865,  in  which 
he  fives  a  ^rood  historical  review  of  the  early  Swedish-American  Lutheran 
Church.   The  leotnre  is  also  pablished  in  ^'Korsbaneret**  for  1885. 

1865.  The  Emigration  from  Europe  during  the  present 
century;  its  Causes  and  Effects.  A.  Jorgensen,  Quebec, 
Canada. 

Translated  from  Norwegian  statistics  and  reports,  and  from  extracts 
of  other  authorities. 

1866. '  The  Bergen  Family ;  or  the  Descendants  of  Hans 
Hansen  Bergen.    T.  G.  Bergen,  New  York  City. 

This  volume  g:ives  a  complete  biography  of  H.  H.  Bergen,  a  Norwegian, 
-who  came  to  America  in  1633  and  settled  in  New  Amsterdam.  His  name 
has  probably  been  identified  with  the  supposed  Norwegian  settlement  at 
Bergen,  N.  J.,  in  1624,  which  is  referred  to  in  Nordmuendene  i  Amerika,^  by 
Knud  Langeland,  but  undoubtedly  never  existed. 

1867.  Syv  Foredrag  over  de  Kirkelige  Forholde  blandt 
de  Norske  i  America.    Rev.  H.  A.  Preus,  Kristiania,  Norway. 

Containing  a  great  deal  of  valuable  information  in  regard  to  the  early 
history  of  the  Norwegian-American  Lutheran  churches. 

1869.  Det  Skandinaviske  Regiments  Historic.  J.  A. 
Johnson,  La  Crosse,  Wis. 

This  volume  is  one  of  the  first  histories  of  the  famous  Fifteenth  Wiscon- 
sin Regiment,  besides  it  contains  biographies  of  the  leading  officers  in  the 
.  reg^ixnent. 

1868-70.    Skandinavisk  Billedmagazin.    Madison,  Wis. 

This  magasine  contains,  among  other  things,  quite  an  extensive  account 
of  the  first  Norwegian  settlements  in  Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  as  well  as  a 
history  of  the  early  Norwegian  emigration;  written  by  Prof.  Svein  Nilsson. 

1872.  Beskrifhing  ofver  America.  Alex  Nilsson,  Gothen- 
burg, Sweden. 

A  pamphlet  containing  some  valuable  information  in  regard  to  emigra- 
tion, being,  in  fkct,  only  an  emigration  guide-book. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  269 

1874.  Tv4  Ar  i  Amerika  (1872-1874).  Hugo  Nisbeth, 
Stockholm,  Sweden. 

Thia  Toltime  contains  descriptions,  by  the  author,  who  was  a  news- 
paper correspondent  travelins:  through  the  country,  of  sereral  Swedish 
settlements,  especially  in  the  Northwest  and  in  California. 

^1876.    Fra   Amerika.     V.  C.  S.  Topsoe,  Copenhagen, 
Denmark. 

The  author  trareled  through  the  United  States,  describes  the  country, 
and  sometimes  refers  to  the  Scandinavian-Americans,  especiall)  the  Danes. 

1876.  Wisconsinismen  belyst  ved  Historiske  Kjendsgjer- 
ninger.    Prof.  A.  Weenaas,  Chicago,  111. 

This  book  contains  a  lengthy  discussion  of  the  different  theological 
questions  which  have  divided  the  Norwegian-American  Lutherans.  The 
work  is  rather  an  attack  upon  the  teachings  of  some  of  the  ministers  of  the 
Norwegian  Synod,  and  was  answered  by  Rev.  H.  A.  Preus  in  his  book, 
Professoreme  Oftcdals  og  Weenaas's  Wisconsinisme  bctragtet  i  Sandbedenm 
Lra, 

1876.  Professoreme  Oftedals  og  Weenaas's  Wisconsin- 
isme betragtet  i  Sandbedens  Lys.  Rev.  H.  A.  Preus,  Decorah, 
Iowa. 

This  is  an  answer  to  Prof.  A.  Weenaas'  book,  Wiaconainiametit  and  de- 
fends the  teachings  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  and  discusses  the  different 
theological  questions  which  have  divided  the  Norwegian-American  Luther- 
ans. 

1877.  History  of  Henry  County,  111.    Chicago,  111. 

This  book  contains  a  concise  history  of  Bishop  Hill  Colonv. 

1879.  Svenskame  i  St.  Croix-dalen,  Minnesota.  Rob- 
ert Gronberger,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

A  small  pamphlet  containing  a  good  description  of  the  earty  Swedish 
settlements  in  Washington  and  Chisago  counties,  where  the  first  Swedish 
settlements  in  Minnesota  was  made.  It  also  contains  a  long  biography  of 
Jacob  Falstrom.  Gronberger  maintains  that  Oscar  Roos,  who  came  to 
Minnesota  in  1860,  was  the  first  Swedish  settler  in  the  state;  but  Rev.  B. 
Korelius,  in  his  great  and  valuable  w^ork,  De  Svenaka  Lateraka  FOrsaxn- 
Ungamaa  ocb  Svenakamea  Hiatoria  i  Amerika^  asserts  that  the  first  Swed- 
ish settlement  occured  in  1861.  But  in  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  this  work, 
Roos  affirms  Gronberger's  statement. 


270  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1880.  Genom  Den  Stora Vestem.  J.  Stadling,  Stockholm, 
Sweden. 

This  Tolttme  contains  a  very  good  description,  especially  of  the  Pacific 
Coast  and  the  West,  where  the  author  traveled  throttfi^h .  He  vram  very  friend- 
ly towards  America,  bnt  the  work  contains  little  or  nothing  in  regard  to 
Scandinavian-American  history. 

1880.    Svenskame  i  Illinois.     Capt.  Eric  Johnson  and 
C.  F.  Peterson,  Chicago. 

This  book  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  reliable  Swedish-American 
histories.  It  contains  descriptions  of  the  dififerent  Swedish  settlements  in 
Illinois,  and  biographies  and  pictures  of  hundreds  of  Swedes  in  that  state. 
It  also  contains  some  new  matter  in  regard  to  the  Swedish  settlement  on 
Delaware  River.  It  is  the  oldest,  and  among  the  best  authorities  on  the 
Swedish  settlement  at  Bishop  Hill.  The  work  is  well  written  and  impartiaL 

1882.  Svenka  Nationaliteten  i  Forenta  Statema.    Tan- 
cred  Boissy,^ Gothenburg,  Sweden. 

A  small  pamphlet  containing  information  in  regard  to  the  social,  religi- 
ous, and  economical  conditions  of  the  Swedes  in  the  United  States.  The 
main  value  of  the  work  is  the  fact  that  the  author  looks  at  most  things 
from  a  purely  Swedish  standpoint. 

1883.  Ole  Bull.    Sara  C.  Bull,  Boston,  Mass 

This  volume  contains  a  biography  of  Ole  Bull  and  a  short  mention  of 
his  Norwegian  colony  in  Pennsylvania. 

1883.  EUing  Eielsens  Liv  og  Virksomhed.    Revs.  Chr. 
O.  Brohaugh  and  I.  Eisteinsen,  Chicago,  111. 

This  book  contains  a  complete  biography  of  Rev.  B.  Bielsen,  giving  a 
good  review  of  the  religious  conditions  in  Norway  and  among  the  early 
Norwegian  settlers  in  this  country  in  his  time.  It  contains  also  much  valu- 
able information  in  regard  to  Hauge*s  Synod,  Norwegian-American  Lutheran 
church  disputes,  and  in  regard  to  the  hardships  of  the  early  pioneers. 

1884.  Amerika;  Seet  Fra  et  Landbosstandpunkt.     H. 
Andreasen,  Copenhagen,  Denmark. 

The  author  traveled  through  this  country,  described  it,  and  sometimes 
refers  to  the  Scandinavian-Americans,  especially  the  Danes. 

1884.    Det  Pemtende  Wisconsin  Regiments  Historic  og 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  271 

Virksomhed  Under  Borgerkrigen.     P.  G.  Dietrichson,  Chi- 
cago, III. 

A  small  pamphlet  containing  a  history  of  the  Fifteenth  Wisconsin,  or 
Scandinavian,  Regiment,  and  a  list  of  all  the  persons  who  were  enlisted  In 
the  regiment. 

1885.  Rockfords  Svenskar.  Geo.  Kaedeng,  Chicago,  111. 

A  pamphlet  containing  a  sketch  of  the  Swedes  and  their  biographies  in 
Rockford  and  of  the  tmsiness  enterprises  in  which  they  are  engaged. 

1883-86.    Scandinavia.    Chicago,  111. 

This  magazine  contains  sereral  lengthy  and  important  articles  on 
Scandinavan-American  history.  The  last  two  numbers  of  1886  contain 
historical  information  abont  and  biographies  of  the  Scandinavians  in  St. 
Panl  and  Minneapolis,  Minn.  This  Magazine,  published  and  edited  by 
N.  C.  Prederiksen,  was  among  the  best  literary  productions  in  the  English 
language  that  has  yet  been  attempted  by  the  Scandinavian-Americans. 

1886.  Svenska  Tidningar  och  Tidskrifter  utgifha  inom 
Nord  Amerikas  Forenta  Stater.  Bemhard  Lnndstedt, 
Stockholm,  Sweden. 

This  work  is  very  valuable  and  was  published  under  the  direction  of  the 
Royal  Library  of  Sweden.  It  contains  a  complete  history  of  all  of  the 
Swedish  newspapers  and  periodicals  that  have  been,  and  are,  published  in 
the  United  States. 

1886.  The  History  of  the  Baptist  Mission.  Rev.  G.  W. 
Hervey,  St,  Louis,  Mo. 

This  volume  contains  a  history  of  the  Baptists  in  Denmark,  Norway, 
and  Sweden,  and  refers  to  the  Swedish  Baptists  in  this  country. 

1887.  The  Scandinavians  in  the  United  States.  Dr.  Al- 
bert  Shaw. 

This  article,  published  in  The  CbautAuquan  in  Dec.,  1887,  contains  a 
great  deal  of  valuable  statistics  regarding  the  Scandinavian- Americans,  as 
well  as  other  information.  The  calm  and  judicious  views  of  the  writer,  re- 
garding the  topic  of  the  paper,  make  it  of  great  value. 

1887.  Historiske  Meddelelser  om  den  Norske  Augustana 
Synode.    Rev.  O.  J.  Hatlestad,  Decorah,  Iowa. 

This  volume  contains  not  only  a  history  of  the  Norwegian  Augustana 
Synod,  but  also  touches  upon  the  history  of  the  other  Norwegian>American 
Lutheran  churches,  as  well  as  on  the  settlements.  It  is  the  most  complete 
Norwegian-American  history  that  has  yet  appeared. 


272  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1887.  Scandinavian  Studies  in  the  United  States.  Dan- 
iel Kilham  Dodge. 

This  article,  published  in  Science  in  May,  1887,  contains  a  good,  but 
rather  incomplete,  historical  review  of  the  studies  of  the  Scandinavian 
languages  in  American  and  Scandinavian-American  colleges  and  universi- 
ties. Prof.  J.  P.  Uhler,  in  a  letter  published  in  the  same  magaiine  shortly 
after,  adds  some  new  facts  on  the  subject. 

■ 

1887.  Appletons'  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography. 
James  Grant  Wilson  and  John  Fiske,  New  York  City. 

This  great  and  valuable  work  contains  a  few  biographies  of  Scandi- 
navian-Americans. 

1888.  Two  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the 
First  Swedish  Settlement  in  America.  Col.  Hans  Mattson, 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 

Containing  nothing  new,  except  a  letter  from  the  Hon.  T.  P.  Bayard,  in 
'which  he  acknowledges  that  one  of  his  ancestors,  on  the  maternal  side,  'waa 
a  Swede. 

1888.  Praedikener  over  Kirke-Aarets  Evangelier  holdte 
of  Prester  i  den  Norske  Synode  i  Amerika.  Rev.  Einar  Wulfs- 
berg,  Decorah,  Iowa. 

This  volume  contains  several  sermons  and  a  few  short  biographies  of 
ministers  of  the  Norwegian  Synod. 

1888.    Norwegian  Emigration.    Prof.  H.  H.  Boyesen. 

This  article  was  published  in  American,  in  1888. 

1888.  Den  Evanglisk-Lutherske  Kirkes  Historic  i 
Amerika.    Rev.  R.  Andersen,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

This  volume  contains  a  history  of  all  the  American  Lutheran  churches, 
as  well  as  biographies  of  some  of  the  Swedish-American  Lutheran  ministers 
in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  The  last  ten  pages  contain  a 
brief  historical  review  of  the  Scandinavian-American  Lutheran  churches. 

1888.  The  "Foreign  Element"  in  New  York  City.  Geo. 
J.  Mason. 

This  article,  published  in  Harper'a  Weekly,  Sept.l,  1888,  contains  some 
information  regarding  the  Scandinavians  in  the  United  States,  especially  in 
New  York  City. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  273 

1889.    History  of  Utah.    H.  H.  Bancroft,  San  Fran- 
Cisco,  Cal. 

The  sixteeoth  chapter  and  foot-notes  on  pa«e  411  cootain  aome  matters  r»- 
fardinff  the  SeandinaTian  immiflrration  to  Utah. 

1889.    Den  Norske  Indvandring  til  1850  og  Skandinav- 
erne  i  Amerikas  Politik.    Johs.  B.  Wist,  Madison,  Wis. 

A  small  pamphlet  containinfi^  a  fi^ood  history  of  the  Danish  and  Nor- 
wegian immigration,  and  of  the  Norwegian  settlement  in  Texas. 

1889.  Nordmaendene  i  Amerika.  Knud  Langeland,  Chi- 
cago, 111. 

This  work  contains  some  valuable  information  in  regard  to  the  Norwc> 
gian  immigration,  the  first  settlements,  and  the  early  Norwegian-American 
press ;  bnt,  on  the  whole,  it  is  more  of  an  autobiography  of  Knud  Lrangeland 
than  a  history  of  the  Norwegians.  The  author  is  unquestionably  xnlstakcii 
when  he  asserts  that  a  Norwegian  colony  existed  at  Bergen,  N.  J.,  in  1624; 
but  for  a  full  discussion  on  this  point  consult  O.  N.  Nelson's  article  on  H&na 
Hansen  Bergen ,  published  in  The  North ,  Dec.  21, 1892,  and  in  Nordveatea 
about  the  same  time.  A  brief  statement  of  the  facts  regarding  this  point  ia 
also  made  on  page  35  in  this  Tolume. 

1887-90.    Norges  Laeger  i  det  Nittende  Aarhundrede. 
Dr.  F.  C.  Kjaer,  Kristiania,  Norway. 

Contains  biographies  of  the  Norwegian  physicians  of  the  19th  century, 
some  of  whom  now  reside  in  this  country. 

1890.  Norsemen  in  the  United  States.     Rev.  Kristofer 
Janson. 

In  this  article,  published  in  The  Coamopolitan  in  October,  1890,  the 
author  makes  some  assertions  in  regard  to  Norwegian-American  history 
which  hardly  coincide  with  the  actual  facts;  yet  his  discussion  is  valuable, 
both  from  a  literary  and  historical  standfioint. 

1890.    The  Norwegico-Danish  M.  E.  Church  in  America. 

A  small  pamphlet  containing  some  valuable  information  in  regard  to 
the  early  history  of  the  Norwegian-Danish  Methodist  Church  in  this  coun- 
try. No  date  or  place  of  publication  is  mentioned,  the  author's  name  does 
not  appear.  But  the  w^ork  was  w^ritten  by  Rev.  A.  Haagensen,  of  Chicago* 
and,  i>erhaps,  published  in  1890. 

1890.    American  Lutheran  Biographies.    Rev.  J.  C.  Jens- 
son,  Milwaukee,  Wis. 

A  large  volume  containing  biographies  of  over  360  Lutheran-American 
ministers,  a  large  proportion  of  whom  are  Scandinavians.    As  a  work  of 

1» 


262 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  «. 


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276  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

pioneers  in  this  country,  bein^  for  years  one  of  the  leading  Scandinarian* 
Americans,  his  work  contains  much  valnable  information  in  re^^ard  to 
Scandinavian- American  history.  The  Swedish  edition  is  the  best  and  most 
Lcmplete,  althou^rh  the  last  chapter  of  the  English  edition  contains  certain 
statistical  information  in  regard  to  the  Scandinavian^Americans  which 
is  not  contained  in  the  Swedish. 

1892.    The  Scandinavians  in  the  United  States.     Prof. 
H.  H.  Boyesen. 

In  this  article,  published  in  The  North  American  Review  in  Nov.,  1892, 
the  author,  among  other  things,  criticises  the  Scandinavians  for  their  clan- 
nishness.  But  the  article  contains  also  much  valuable  information  in  re- 
gard to  the  Northmen. 

1892.    Scandinavians  in  the  Northwest.    Prof.  Kendric 
C.  Babcock. 

This  article,  published  in  The  Forum  in  September,  1892,  contains  valn> 
able  information  in  regard  to  the  Scandinavian-American  population, 
especially  in  regard  to  statistics.  The  author  being  a  native  Amer  can,  his 
opinions  about  the  Northmen  have  a  specific  value. 

1892.    The  Bishop  Hill  Colony.     Dr.  M.  A.  Mikkelsen, 
Baltimore,  Md. 

This  pamphlet  is  the  most  complete  history  on  the  subject  that  has  yet 
appeared.  It  contains  also  a  discussion  of  the  religious  movement  in  Hels- 
ingland,  which  finally  caused  the  colonists  to  emigrate. 

1892.    Augustana  College  Album.    Rock  Island,  111. 

A  pamphlet  containing  a  history  of  the  school,  and  biographies  of  all 
the  professors  and  instructors  who  have  been,  or  are,  connected  with  the 
institution,  together  with  several  half-tone  pictures. 

1892.    Ett  Hundra  Ar.;  En  Aterblick  pi  det  Nittonde 
Seklet.    C.  F.  Peterson,  Chicago,  111. 

A  large  volume.  Only  the  6th  chapter  is  devoted  to  the  Swedish  im. 
migration  and  biographies  of  noted  Swedish- Americans. 

1892.        Sweden  and  the  Swedes.    Hon.  W.  W.  Thomas, 
Chicago,  111. 

The  last  two  chapters  contain  some  original  matter  in  regard  to  Swed- 
en's commerce  with  the  United  States,  the  Swedish  settlement  on  Dela- 
ware River,  the  Swedes  in  America  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and  a  xeport 
of  John  Ericsson's  funeral. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  277 

1839;    Sand&rdig  Beretning  om  Amerika.  Ole  Rynning, 
Kristiania,  Norway. 

This  little  Tolume  was  the  firat  book  which  was  pabUshed  in  the  Norwegian 
laxiffaage  in  regard  to  Ameriea.  It  was  extensively  read,  and  created  qoite  • 
sensation  which  resulted  in  a  heaT7  emigration  from  Norway  to  this  country  io 
the  early  forties, 

1844.    Veiviser  for  Norske  Emigranter.    J.  R.  Reiersen, 
Kristiania,  Norway. 

It  is  mainly  an  emigration  guide,  although  the  first  part  of  the  work  oon* 
tains  some  Taluable  uiatters  in  regard  to  the  early  Norwegians  in  this  country. 

1846-.    Beretning  om  Hauges  Norsk  Ev.  Luth.  Synode. 

It  is  doubtful  if  any  statistics  were  issued,  or  even  kept,  before  the  reorgani* 
lation  of  the  synod  in  1875.  Since  that  date  annual  reports,  more  or  less  imper- 
fect, have  been  printed. 

1849.    Wagledning  for  Emigranter.    Theodor   Schytte, 
Stockholm,  Sweden. 

This  is  an  emigrant  guide,  but  contains  also  a  description  of  the  condition  of 
the  Scandinavian  settlements  in  America. 

1851.  Walkomst-Helsning  till  den  Swenska,  Norska  och 
Danska  Emigranten.    Rev.  L.  P.  Esbjom,  New  York. 

Every  evidence  seems  to  indicate  that  this  four-paged  pamphlet  was  the  first 
Swedish  publication  printed  in  America  in  the  nineteenth  century.  It  contains 
religious  advice  to  the  Scandinavian  immigrants,  with  directions  how  to  reach 
the  Swedish  settlements  in  Illinois.    Four  thousand  copies  were  published. 

1851-60.    Minutes  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod       A 
of  Northern  Illinois. 

These  reports  contain  statistics  and  other  informations  concerning  the  Swed- 
ish and  Norwegian  congregations  connected  with  this  organisation. 

1852.  Scandinavians  in  the  Northwest.    Rev.   W.   M. 
Reynolds,  D.  D. 

This  article  was  published  in  the  "Evangelical  Beview.'' 

1853.  The  Mission  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 
Rev.  S.  W.  Harkey,  Springfield,  111. 

This  pamphlet  refers  to  the  Scandinavians  in  connection  with  church  woric. 


278  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1853—.  Beretning  om  det  Ordentlige  Synode-mode  af 
Synoden  for  den  Norsk-Bvang.-Luth.  Kirke  i  Amerika. 

It  doas  not  mppear  that  any  regolar  ehozoh  statistics  were  published  by  the 
Norwegian  Synod  until  about  1863,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  this  oonserratiTe 
organisation  has  not  issued  any  lirstHslass  reports.  All  other  Norwegian  and 
Danish  Lutherans  appear  to  bare  modeled  their  statistics  after  thoee  of  the 
Norwegian  Synod,  at  least  as  to  defects  and  omissions.  Consequently,  none  of 
them  keep  any  record  of  the  Talue  of  church  property,  and  omit  many  other 
things  of  importance.  All  the  reports  of  the  Norwegian  and  Danish  Lutberana 
are  poorly  classified  and  badly  summed  up. 

1853-55.  Bref  om  Amerika  till  Hemmavarande  Lands* 
m^.    C.  E.  O.  Svalander,  Halmstad,  Sweden. 

-    It  was  published  in  two  parts,  and  intended  as  an  emigrant  guide-book. 

1854.  Protocoll,  HMlet  vid  ett  Gemensamt  Mote  af 
Chicago  och  Mississippi  Evang.  Lutherska  Conferensen  i 
Chicago. 

This  is  the  first  church  report  published  in  the  Swedish  language  in  America 
in  the  nineteenth  century.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  many  people  that  in  this 
pamphlet  of  a  dosen  pages,  some  space  is  dcToted  to  the  discussion  of  tempeiw 
ance. 

1855-.  Kirkelig  Maanedstidende  and  Evangelisk  Luth- 
ersk  Kirketidende.    Decorah,  Iowa. 

The  last  mentioned  magasine  is  a  continuation  of  the  first,  both  being  the 
ofllcial  organs  of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  It  contains  a  Tast  amount  of  historical 
data  concerning  all  the  Scandinavian-American  churches,  especially  as  long  as  it 
was  issued  only  monthly  or  semi-monthly. 

I860-.  ProtokoU  af  Skandinaviska  Ev.  Lutherska  Au- 
gustana  Synoden. 

This  was  the  ofiBcial  name  of  the  annual  reports  of  the  Augustana  Synod  for 
over  thirty  years.  The  statistical  tables  in  the  reports  of  this  organisation  haTe 
always  been  and  are  master  productions,  covering  every  subject  of  church  work, 
and  having,  perhaps,  no  superior  in  the  world  in  the  line  of  perfect  statistics, 
other  matters  of  importance  are  also  Included  in  these  publications.  Ber. 
Xrland  Carlsson  was  the  man  who  first  systematised  this  work. 

1862.  Forhandlinger  paa  det  3die  Skandinaviske  Kirke- 
m5de  i  Kristiania  29-31  Juli,  1861. 

It  contains  a  lecture  delivered  by  Rev.  O.  C.  T.  Andren  about  the  Augustana 
Synod. 


V 


BIBUOGRAPHY.  279 

1863.  Her  Fremtrader  atter  en  Skare  af  Troende  SjaJc 
Kristiania,  Norway. 

This  little  work  oontaiiu  a  number  of  letters  sndoraiiiir  the  missionaiy  labor 
ofEllinff  Bielsen.   The  general  bombast  of  the  oonteots  resembles  the  rsooi 
mendationi  of  a  mneh  adTertised  patent  medieina. 

1865.  Amerika  og  de  Danskes  Liv  Herovre.  Rev.  L. 
jSrgensen.    Copenhagen,  Denmark. 

This  i^amphlet  is  Tirtnally  ▼aluelees. 

1867.  Hvad  Jeg  Oplevede  under  de  Sex  Forste  Aar  af 
Min  Virksomhed  i  Amerika.  Rev.  C.  I.  P.  Pedersen,  Madison, 
Wis. 

The  author  glTee  an  extensiye  review  of  the  Norwegian  Lntheran  ohnrdi 
disputes  in  Chicago  during  1861-97. 

1867.  Skandinaveme  i  de  Forenede  Stater  og  Canada. 
Johan  Schroder,  La  Crosse,  Wis. 

It  is  Intended  as  an  emigrant  guide,  bat  refers  also  to  the  Beandinavian  set- 
tlements in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 

1868.  Historisk  Fremstilling.    Madison,  Wis. 

This  pamphlet  contains  a  history  of  the  dispntea  concerning  the  slaTwr 
q:nestion  which  was  agitated  among  the  Norwegian  Lntherans  in  1861-^  aspe. 
cially  by  Rst.  C.  L.  dansen  and  some  Norwegian  Synod  ministers.  It  was  pQb> 
lished  under  the  auspices  of  the  church  cooncil  of  the  synod,  and  called  forth 
CUusen's  book  "Gjenm&le.** 

1869.  Gjenmale.    Rev.  C.  L.  Clausen,  Chicago,  111. 

In  this  work  the  author  defends  himself  in  regard  to  his  position  c»  the 
slaTcry  question,  on  which  he  could  not  agree  with  the  majority  of  the  ministecs 
of  the  Norwegian  Synod. 

1870.  Ev.  Lutherska  Augustana  Synoden  i  Nord-Amer- 
ika  och  dess  Mission.    Rev.  E.  Norelius,  Ltmd,  Sweden. 

A  very  concise  and  impartial  history  of  the  Augustana  Synod.  In  many 
respects  it  is  superior  to  the  larger  work  by  the  same  author. 

1870.  Markelige  Tildragelser.  Rev.  T.  A.  Torgerson, 
La  Crosse,  Wis. 

It  deais  only  with  soma  local  church  disputes. 


) 


280  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1870-89.    Beretning  om  den  Norsk-Dansk  Evang.  Luth. 
Konferentse. 

Most  of  these  reports  are,  like  those  of  other  Norwegian  Lutherans,  rather 
defeetlTe* 

1871.    En  Rejse  i  Amerika.    Rev.  A.  C.  L.  Grove-Rasmus- 
sen,  Odense,  Denmark. 

The  anthor  trareled  in  this  oonntry  in  the  interest  of  "UdTalget,**  Denmark* 
and  the  aboTO  is  a  report  of  his  inyestigation,  which  led  to  the  establishment  of 
Lntheran  missionary  work  among  the  Danes  in  this  oonntry. 

1872-.    Referat   af    Forhandlingeme  ved  Frikonferen- 
8er  eg  Fallesmoder. 

A  nnmbsr  of  reports  hare  been  published  in  regard  to  meetings  held  by  the 
▼arions  Norwegian-Ameriean  Lutheran  church  associations  for  the  purpose  of 
uniting  them  or  discussing  certain  subjects.  Such  reports  haye  been  issued  eon* 
ceming  conferences  held  at  Bock  Prairie,  Wis.,  1872;  St.  Ansgar,  Iowa,  1881 ; 
Deoorah,  Iowa,  1884;  Chicago,  IlL,  1886;  Willmar,  Minn.,  1887  and  1892;  Lanee- 
boro,  Minn.,  1887 ;  Austin,  Minn.,  1890,  and  no  doubt  at  other  places. 

1873.  Anteckningar  frdn  en  Svensk  Emigrants  Vistelse 
i  Amerika  1871-72.    J.  E.  Wennstrom,  Upsala,  Sweden. 

1874.  Aaben  Erklaring.    A.  Weenaas  and  S.  Oftedal, 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 

This  is  one  of  the  fiercest  attacks  upon  the  Norwegian  Synod  imaginable, 
being  virtually  a  declaration  of  war,  and  it  called  forth  numerous  replies. 
Weenaas,  in  his  book  '^Wisoonsinismen,**  withdrew  his  name  from  it;  bat 
Oftedal  noTcr  took  back  a  single  word  in  it. 

1875.  Tale  ved  Femti-Aarsfesten  for  den  Norske  Ud- 
Tandring  til  Amerika.    Prof.  R.  B.  Anderson,  Chicago,  111. 

This  small  pamphlet  contains  very  little  concerning  the  Norwegian  emi* 
gration. 

1875-9.    Kvartal-Skrift  for  den  Norsk  Lutherske  Kirke 
i  Amerika.     G.  Sverdrup  and  S.  Oftedal,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

This  magasine  contains  some  Talnable  articles  in  regard  to  the  various 
Norwegian-Ameriean  Lutheran  churches. 

1876.  Vore  Kirkelige  Modstanderes  Vaaben.    Rev.  V. 
Koren,  Decorah,  Iowa. 

It  cites  quotations  from  A.  Weenaas's  book  "Wisoonsinismen,**  as  well  as 
comments  on  them. 


BIBUOGRAPHY.  281 

1876.    Vor  Tids  Muhamed.    John  Ahmanson,  Omaha, 
Neb. 

The  first  two  ohapten  oontain  a  brief  history  of  the  beginning  of  Mormon- 
ism  in  Denmark  and  Norway,  and  the  immigration  of  some  ScandinaTians  to 
Utah  in  1866. 

1876.    Om  Absolutionen.    Rev.  N.  C.  Ylvisaker,  Bergen, 
Norway. 

This  pamphlet  contains  short  definitions  of  the  subject  by  yarions  Nor- 
wegian-Americana. 

1876.  Reseminnen    frdn    Amerika.      C.  J.    N.,  Kristi- 
nehamn,  Sweden. 

The  author,  Rev.  C.  J.  Nyrall,  who  traveled  in  this  country  in  1S75,  refers  to 
the  religious  condition  among  the  Swedes  in  the  United  States. 

1876-93.    Protokoll  af  Metodist   Episkopal   Kyrkans 
Nordvestra  Svenska  Arskonferens. 

These  reports  of  the  Swedish  Methodists  in  this  country  are  fairly  well  pre- 
pared and  quite  complete.  No  statistics,  however,  are  compiled  concerning  the 
annual  appropriations  which  th<)  Swedish-American  Methodists  have  for  many 
years  received  from  the  American  Methodists,  sometimes  amounting  to  over 
$30,000  in  one  year.  Complete  information  on  this  point  may  be  found  in  the 
annual  reports  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
In  comparison  with  other  denominations,  the  Swedish  Methodists  value  their 
church  property  too  high.  Since  the  division  of  the  conference  in  1883,  their 
statistics  have  been  very  unsatisfactory.  But  for  moot  purposes,  the  reports  of 
the  Missionary  Society  can  be  safely  consulted. 

1876-94.     Nordisk  Familjebok.     Konversationslexikon 
och  Realencyklopedi.    Stockholm,  Sweden. 

This  masterly  cyclopedia  in  eighteen  volumes  contains  biographies  of  some 
Scandinavian-Americans,  especially  such  as  have  returned  and  settled  in  Scandi- 
navia. The  article  on  emigration,  "Utvandring,"  is  one  of  the  ablest  on  that 
subject  that  has  ever  appeared  in  any  language,  and  is  superior  to  those  on  the 
same  subject  in  the  English  and  American  cyclopedias.  It  is  boldly  asserted 
that  the  early  Scandinavian  emigrants  were  mostly  adventurers,  unsuccessful 
individuals,  and  criminals ;  but  it  is  admitted  that  in  later  years  the  emigrants 
are  the  cream  of  the  middle  and  working  classes.  In  1886  an  addition  to  the 
original  work  was  issued. 

1877.  FrAn  Nya  Verlden.    Ernst  Beckman,  Stockholm 
Sweden. 

Only  a  few  pages  refer  to  Swedish-Americans,  and  none  of  it  is  of  any  great 
importance. 


282  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1878.    Minnen.    Rev.  J.  A.  Edgren,  Chicago,  111. 

It  eontaina  an  interettinff  aatobiography  of  the  aathor,  as  well  as  other 
matters  of  interest,  especially  to  Swedish-Ameriean  Baptists. 

1878.    De  Kirkelige  Partier  blandt  vort  Folk  i  Amerika. 
Rev.  V.  Koren,  Decorah,  Iowa. 

A  pamphlet  giTin^r  an  excellent  review  of  the  yarions  Norwegian  Lntheram 
chnich  organiaations  in  this  ooontry. 

1878.    Om  Splittelse  i  Kirken.    Decorah,  Iowa. 

In  this  pamphlet  the  predestinatioo  question  is  discnssed. 

1878.  Missourisynoden  og  den  Norske  Sjmodc.    Rev. 
O.  Asperheim,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

This  work  was  written,  apparently,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  the  Not^ 
wegian  Synod  has  been  wrong  in  most  of  its  disputes  with  other  Lutheraa 
organisations.   Bat  it  contains  also  some  other  matters  of  historical  Talne. 

1879.  Trende  Breve.    De  Forest,  Wis. 

It  deals  with  the  schism  of  Hauge's  Synod  and  Elling  Eielsen  in  1875. 

1879.  Falskt  Vidnesbyrd  af  Prof.  A.  Weenaas.  Rev.  B.J. 
Maus,  Decorah,  Iowa. 

In  this  pamphlet  the  author  defends  the  teachings  of  the  Norwegian  Synod 
against  the  attacks  of  Prof.  Weenaas. 

1880.  Om  den  Lutherske   Kirke   i  Amerika.     Rev.  P. 
Andersen,  Chicago,  111. 

This  pamphlet  refers  mostly  to  the  Norwegian  Augnstana  Synod. 

1880-.    Korsbaneret.     Edited   by   various   Augustana 
Synod  clergymen.  Rock  Island,  111. 

This  annual  publication  is  very  yaluable,  containing  an  immense  amount  of 
historical  and  biographical  information  concerning  the  Augustana  Synod  and 
its  men. 

1880-.    Protokol  af  den  Norsk-  Danske  Methodist  Aars- 
konference. 

^^^  « 

These  reports  are  fairly  well  prepared  and  quite  complete.  But  no  statistics 
are  comidled  concerning  the  annual  appropriations  which  the  Norwegian- 
Danish  Methodists  in  this  country  have  for  many  years  receiTcd  from  the  Amer- 
ican Methodists,  sometimes  amounting  to  over  $20,000  in  one  year.    Complete 


BIBUOGRAPHY.  28S 


infomiatioQ  on  this  tahjeett  as  well  as  on  manj  othars,  ean  be  seoored  by 
tnliin^  the  annnal  reports  of  the  Missionary  Society  of  tbe  Methodisi  Bpisoopal 
Charoh.  In  eomparison  with  other  denominations,  the  Norwegian-Daniak 
Methodiets  Talne  their  chnroh  property  too  high. 

1881.    Naadevalg-Striden.     Prof.    F.  A.  Schmidt,  Chi- 
cago, ni. 

It  oontains  lectures  on  predestination,  and  sosne  historical  facts  concerning 
the  Norwegian  Lntherans  during  the  great  predestination  contioTcrsy. 

1881.    Celebration  of  the  Decennial  Anniversary  of  the 
Founding  of  New  Sweden  in  Maine.    Portland,  Me. 

It  contains  a  review  of  the  Swedish  colony  in  Maine,  founded  in  1S70  by  W 
W.  Thomas,  U.  8.  Minister  to  Sweden-Norway. 

1881-2.    I  Amerika.  C.  E.  H.  Gestrin,  Stockholm,  Sweden. 

The  author  resided  in  this  country  for  tweWe  years,  and  refers  to  the  Swedish- 


1882.     The   Scandinavian   Immigration.    Rev.    W.    K. 
Prick. 

This  article  appeared  in  **The  Lutheran  Church  BcTiew**  f6r  Jan.  and  April, 
1882,  and  deals  with  the  Northmen  principally  from  a  religious  and  statistical 
standpoint. 

1882.    Mormonismen.    Rev.  J.  Telleen. 

This  small  pamphlet  refers  very  briefly  to  the  ScandinaTian  Mormons. 

1882.  Fri  Menighed  i  Fri  Kirke.    Svar  paa  de  30's  Er- 
kl9.ring.    Prof.  Georg  Sverdrup,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

This  pamphlet  advocates  individual  and  congregational  liberty  as  against 
high  church  principles  and  practices. 

1883.  Forhandlinger   ved    Synodalkonferensen    i    Chi- 
cago. 

Most  of  the  report  is  devoted  to  the  position  of  Prof.  F.  A.  Schmidt  in  regard 
to  the  predestination  question. 

1883.    Amerikanska  Studier.     Ernst   Beckman,  Stock- 
holm, Sweden. 

It  is  composed  of  two  parts,  one  referring  to  the  Swedes  in  America,  and  tha 
other  describing  the  press  in  the  U.  S. 


284         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1883.  Foredrag  om  Amerika.     Isidor  Kjellberg,  Stock- 
holm, Sweden. 

A  small  pamphlet  referring  to  Swedish- American  conditions. 

1884.  Emigrantmissionen.    Rev.  R.  Andersen,  Brooklyn, 

N.  Y. 

As  an  emi^rrant  flrnide,  and  as  a  treatise  on  the  Lutheran  work  amon^  the 
B^julahtinuiugrants,  it  is  considered  to  be  quite  Talnable. 

1884^  Den  Gamle  og  Nye  Retning.    Rev.  J.  A.  Bergh, 
Chicago,  111. 

This  pamphlet  is  a  protest  against  the  free,  new,  or  loose  tendency  within  the 
Norwegian-Danish  Lntlieran  Conference. 

1884.  Betragtninger  og  Meddelelser  fra  Amerika.    Rev. 
P.  C.  Trandberg,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

It  is  Tirtaally  an  aatobiography. 

1884-96.    Beretning  om  det  Danske  Bvangeliske  Luth- 
erske  Kirkesamfund. 

These  reports  do  not  contain  any  statistics  until  1892,  but  after  that  time  they 
aie  fairly  eomplete. 

1885.  Bidrag  till  Utvandringsfr4gan.     Gustav    Sund- 
bM,rg,  Upsala,  Sweden. 

This  large  volume  is  a  statistical  compilation  in  regard  to  the  emigration 
from  Sweden,  a  subject  on  which  the  author  is  recognised  as  a  high  authority. 

1885-.    Svenska  Ev.  Missions-Forbundets  Arsberattelse. 

The  statistios  of  the  Swedish  Mis>ion  Covenant  of  America  are  undoubtedly 
among  the  worst  in  Christendom.  Up  to  1895  unsuccessful  attempts  were  made 
to  include  in  the  annual  reports  the  ordinary  church  statistics,  but  since  that 
date  only  the  number  of  ministArs  and  congregations  have  been  mentioned,  the 
former  being  about  twice  as  numerous  as  the  latter. 

1886.  Minne.    Rock  Island,  111. 

This  pamphlet  contains  orations  and  poems  in  Swedish,  English,  German, 
Latin,  and  Oreelc,  all  delivered  in  honor  of  Dr.  T.  N.  Hasselquist  on  his  seventy- 
first  birthday. 

1886.    Svenska  Kyrkans  Historia  efter  Reformationen. 
C.  A.  Cornelius,  Stockholm,  Sweden. 

The  second  volume  of  this  valuable  worlc  contains  a  history  of  Eric  Janson^s 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  285 

sect  and  of  the  AutfOftana  Synod,  and  refers  to  many  other  matters  in  oonneetioa 
with  the  Swedish  emigration. 

1886.  HvadJegVil.    Rev.  P.  C.Trandberg,  Chicago,  111. 

It  is  a  general  harangue*  about  himEolf,  the  Lutherans,  and  the  Congrega- 
tiona  lists. 

# 

1887.  Fra  mit  Besog  blandt  Mormoneme.  ^Rev.  And- 
reas Mortensen,  Kristiania,  Norway. 

The  latter  part  of  the  boolc  refers  to  the  Scandinavian  Mormons. 

1887.    Skal  der  Blive  Fred?  Rev.  H.  Halvorsen,  Chicago. 

This  pamphlet  treats  of  the  disputes  in  regard  to  predestination 

1888-9.    Beretning  om  det  Antimissouriske  Broderskab. 

These  reports  do  not  contain  any  statistics  at  all,  and  apparently  are  of  little 
▼aloe. 

1888-.    Statistik  ofver  Svenska  Baptist  Forsamlingama. 

These  reports  of  the  Swedish-American  Baptists  are  fairly  well  prepared  and 
quite  complete.  No  statistics,  however,  are  compiled  concerning  the  annual 
appropriations  which  the  Swedish  Baptists  in  this  country  for  many  years  hare 
received  from  the  American  Baptists,  sometimes  amounting  to  about  $25,000  in 
one  year.  Some  information  on  this  point  can  be  secured  in  the  annual  reports 
of  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society. 

1889.    Vitus    Bering.    Peter  Lauridsen,  translated  by 
Prof.  Julius  E.  Olson,  Chicago,  111. 

This  is  a  biography  of  the  great  Danish  explorer,  the  discoverer  of  Bering 
Strait,  who  was  in  the  service  of  Peter  the  Great. 

1889.    Address.    Rev.  C.  A.  Swensson,  Topeka,  Kan. 

This  pamphlet  refers  to  the  Swedish-American  institutions  of  learning. 

1889.    Minnesotas  Historia.    Robert  Gronberger,  Min- 
neapolis, Minn. 

This  volume  contains  nothing  in  regard  to  Scandinavian-American  history, 
except  biographies  ajid  pictures  of  about  sixty  Scandinavians  in  Minnesota. 

1889.    Ett  Halfar  i  Nya  Verlden.    Alexandra    Gripen- 
berg,  Helsingfors,  Finland. 

The  authoress  was  a  delegate  to  the  international  woman's  congress  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  in  1888,  and  afterwards  traveled  extensively  through  the 
United  States,  visiting  and  describiDg  some  of  the  Finnish  and  Swedish  settle- 
ments, especially  in  Pennsylvania  and  California. 


286  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

1890.    Vid  Hemmets  Hard.      Rev.  C.  A.  Swensson,  Chi- 
cago,  111. 

This  imxnenee  volame  is,  like  most  of  SweDsson's  productions,  yirtually  TaliiA* 
lees  to  an  historian,  often  being  incorrect  and  inisleadincr.  The  same  is  tme  oi 
his  books  ''I  Srerige'*  (1890),  'TargSt  Mi«  Ej'*  (1898),  and  'Again  in  Sweden** 
(1898).  Tet  they  may  be  consulted,  as  sereral  subjects  relating  to  Swedish* 
American  history  are  referred  to. 

1890.    Minnenfr&n  en  Fard  genom  Amerika.    Axel  E. 
Lindvall,  Karlskrona,  Sweden. 

The  author  traveled  through  this  country,  and  refers  to  the  Swedinb-Ameri- 
eans.  -<->k 

1890.    Frugter  fra  Northfi^ld-Skolen,  og  lidt  fra  Augs- 
burg Seminar.    M.  Shirley,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

This  iMimphlet  is  a  ma«8  of  rambling  and  bitter  tirades  against  some  prom* 
inent  members  of  the  United  Church. 

1890.    Mindeblade  eller  Otte  Aar  i  Amerika.    Rev.  A. 
Weenaas,  Volden,  Norway. 

The  author  giTes  an  historical  review  of  the  religious  condition  of  the  Nor- 
wegian-Amerioans  during  1868*76,  especially  in  regard  to  the  separation  of  the 
Swedes  and  Norwegians  in  the  Augustana  Synod  and  the  formation  of  the  Nor- 
wegian-Danish Conference. 

1890.    Afskeden  ogdens  Grunde.    Rev.  P.  C.  Trandberg, 
Chicago,  111. 

It  contains  something  concerning  the  work  of  the  Congregationalists  among 
the  ScandinaTians  in  America. 

1890.    Festtaler.    Chicago,  111. 

This  pamphlet  contains  the  speeches  deliyered  at  the  dedication  of  Luther 
College  in  1890. 

1890.    Hvad  den  Norske  Synode  Har  Villet  og  fremdeles 
Vil,    Rev.  V.  Koren,  Decorah,  Iowa. 

This  pamphlet  contains  the  main  principles  of  what  the  Norwegian  Synod 
teaches. 

1890-.    Beretning  om   den   Forenede  Norsk  Lutherske 
Kirke  i  Amerika. 

The  statistical  tables  in  the  reports  of  the  United  Church  treat  of  about  half 
as  many  topics  as  those  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  but  the  former  occupy  almost 


^  BIBLIOGRAPHY.  287 

twice  as  mocli  space  aa  the  latter.  In  half  a  dooen  different  plaoea.  the  Tarions 
subjects  have  been  tablnlated  in  alphabetic  order  according  to  the  names  of  the 
pastors*  ooTcrinff  nearly  150  padres.  All  of  which  could  easily  have  been  pat 
under  two  headings,  thereby  saying  much  space.  Besides,  on  account  of  the 
statistics  being  classified  on  a  single  basis,  it  is  very  difficult  to  find  any  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  a  certain  congregation  if  the  name  of  the  officiating  clergyman 
is  not  known.  To  ascertain  the  strength  of  the  United  Church  in  a  given  state 
would  require  as  much  labor  as  to  search  in  a  waste-basket  for  a  pin.  Many  of 
the  ministers  report  as  members  all  the  children  they  have  baptised,  notwith- 
standing that  the  parents  do  not  belong  to  the  church,  and  that  some  of  these 
diildxen  will  never  attend  any  service.  In  fact  it  is  impossible  to  tell  the  strength 
of  the  United  Church  until  their  methods  of  keeping  statistics  have  been  thor* 
on^ily  reformed. 

1891.    Amerika.    K.  Zilliacus,  Chicago,  111. 

This  is  only  an  emigration  guide,  full  of  patent  medicine  advertisements. 

1891.    Svenskame  i  Minnesota.    Axel  A.  Ahlroth,  St. 
Pattly  Minn. 

Two  small  pamphlets,  containing  historical  matter  regarding  several  of  the 
Swedish  settlements  in  Minnesota.  The  work  is  unreliable.  The  writer  has 
quoted  several  pages  from  "Svenskame  i  St.  Croix-dalen,  Minnesota,**  by  Bobert 
Gronberger,  without  crediting  the  latter,  or  in  any  way  indicating  that  it  is  not 
the  writer*s  own  production. 

1891.    Den    Stora   Skilnaden   emellan   Svenska  Stats- 
Ikyrkan  och  Augustana  Sjmoden.    Rev.  O.  A.  ToflFteen,  Min- 
\  neapolis,  Minn. 

This  pamphlet  contains  a  general  harangue  about  the  merit  of  the  Apostolic 
Succession  and  the  shortcomings  of  the  Augustana  Synod. 

1891.    Hand-Book  of  Lutheranism.    Rev.  J.  D.   Roth, 
Utica,  N.  Y. 

It  refers  to  the  Scandinavian-American  Lutherans. 

1891.  En  Sommer  i  Amerika.     Anton  Nielsen,  Odense, 
Denmark. 

Only  a  few  pages  in  the  beginning  of  this  small  book  refer  to  the  Danish- 
Americans. 

1892.  Svenskhet  i  Amerika.     Prof.  D.  Nyvall,   Minne- 
apolis, Minn. 

A  small  pamphlet  referring  to  various  matters  concerning  Swedish-Americans. 


288         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1892.      Amerika-bok.       Isidor    Kjellberg,     Linkoping, 
Sweden. 

The  author  traToled  in  thU  ooontry,  and  his  iMunphlet  refers  brieBy  to  some 
Swediah^Amerioan  affairs. 

1892.    Valda  Skrifter.    John  A.  Enander,  LL.  D.,  Chi- 
cago, 111. 

This  volume  eontains  some  historical  information  re^ardins  the  Swedish- 
Americans,  especially  in  regard  to  the  Swedish-American  press. 

1892.    Brydninger  i  den  Forenede  Kirke.      Rev.  K.  B. 
Birkeland,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

It  is  written  from  the  standpoint  of  a  Free  Chnrch  man,  and  contains  a 
history  of  the  disputes  in  the  United  Church  up  to  the  time  of  the  publication  of 
the  book. 

1892.  Geschichte  der  Lutherischen  Kirche  in  Amerika. 
Prof.  A.  L.  Graebner,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

It  reftos  to  the  Scandinayian-Amerioan  Lutherans. 

1892-3.    Aterblick  ofVer  den  Fria  Missionsverksamheten 
bland  Svenskame  i  Amerika.    Rev.  C.  M.  Youngquist. 

This  Talnable  article,  sivins  a  complete  history  of  the  Swedish  Mission 
moTement  in  this  country,  was  published  in  **Hem-lil8sionKren**  in  1892^ 

1892-5.    The  Alumnus,  or  the  Augustana  Journal.  Rock 
Island,  111. 

This  magasine,  when  issued  monthly,  contained  some  yaluable  matters  in 
regard  to  the  Augustana  Synod  and  its  men. 

1893.  Jubel-Album.    Revs.  C.  A.  Swensson  and  L.  G. 
Abrahamson,  Chicago,  111. 

This  large  volume  eontains  some  valuable  historical  matters  concerning  the 
Augustana  Synod.  It  has  been  severely  criticised  by  some  of  the  leading  men  of 
said  organisation. 

1893.    Lutherans  in  All  Lands.  Rev.  J.  N.  Lenker,  A.  M., 
Milwaukee,  Wis. 

Contains  a  great  deal  of  valuable  historical  and  statistical  matter  in  regard 
to  the  Scandinavian  Lutherans  in  all  countries. 


inBLIOGRAPHY.  289 

1893.    Courts  of  Conciliation.    Nicolay  Grevstad. 

Only  the  last  part  of  this  excellent  article,  published  in  ^*The  Atlantic 
Monthly/*  Norember,  1883,  relates  to  the  Norwegians  in  America. 

1893.  Kort  Uddrag  af  den  Norske  Sjnodes  Historic. 
Rev.  Jacob  Aall  Ottesen,  Decorah,  Iowa. 

A  small  pamphlet,  bat  contains  a  fairly  complete  history  of  the  Norwegian 
Synod. 

1893.  Blik  paa  Amerikanske  Forhold.  H.  I.  S.  Astrup, 
Kristiania,  Norway. 

A  small  work  of  little  importance. 

1893.  Augsburgs  Historic.  Rev.  C.  Satigstad,  Min- 
neapolis, Minn. 

It  contains  a  brief  history  of  Aagsbarg  Seminary, 

1893.  A  History  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church 
in  the  United  States.    Rev.  H.  E.  Jacobs,  New  York. 

It  refers  to  the  Scandinavian  Lutheran  associations  in  this  country. 

1893-.    Beretningom  Augsburgs  Venner  and  Frikirken. 

In  these  reports  no  attempt  has  been  made  in  regard  to  statistics,  excepting 
that  everything  is  avoided  that  might  give  a  cine  to  the  strength  of  the  organisa- 
tion. 

1894.  En  Emigrants  Resa.    A.  G.  Carlsson,  Chicago,  111. 

The  anthor^s  observations  are  narrated,  bnt  the  pamphlet  is  of  little  value. 

1894.  Xr  Episkopalkyrkans  Mission  bland  Vara  Lands- 
man i  Amerika  Berattigad?  Dr.  C.  A.  Blomgren,  Rock 
Island,  111. 

This  pami^ilet  is  a  protest  against  the  attempt  of  the  Episcopalians  to 
proselyte  among  the  Swedes. 

1894.  Hemlandstoner.  K.  H.  Gez.  von  Scheele,  Stock- 
holm,  Sweden. 

It  contains  many  valuable  facts  concerning  the  Augubtana  Synod  and  the 
Swedish-Americans. 

1894.  Bland  Svenskar  och  Yankees.  Hj.  Cassel,  Stock- 
holm,  Sweden. 

The  anthor,  being  a  newspaper  editor  and  spending  much  of  his  time  among 
20 


290  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

the  Swedes  in  St.  Paul,  MinxL,  has  painted  in  fine  colors  the  Tirtnes  and  faults  of 
the  people  became  in  contact  with.  Ernst  Skarstedt  says :  '^Ihis  author  has 
given  a  better  description  of  the  religious,  social,  and  political  conditions  of 
the  Swedes)  residing  in  the  American  oitiee  than  any  other  writer.*' 

1894.    Minde  fra  Jubelfesteme  paa  Koshkonong.    De- 
corah,  Iowa. 

This  Yolume  gives  much  information  about  the  Norwegian  Synod,  especially 
in  regard  to  its  work  in  Wisconsin.  In  it  is  published  Bev.  A.  Bredesen^s 
address,  containing,  besides  other  matters,  an  excellent  summing  up  of  the 
peculiar  social  conditions  prevalent  among  the  Norwegian  pioneers. 

1894.    A  Norwegian-American  College.    Prof.  Andrew 
Estrem. 

This  article,  published  in  "The  Midland  Monthly,**  June,  18M,  contains  a  good 
history  of  Luther  College. 

1894.    Det  Femtende  Regiment.    O.  A.  Buslett,  Decorah, 
Iowa. 

This  is  the  most  extensive  historical  and  biographical  work  on  the  Scandi> 
navian  Begiment  that  has  yet  appeared.  But  it  is  not  compiled  with  the  best 
care  and  judgment. 

1894.    Den  Norsk-Danske  Methodismes  Historic.    Paa 
Begge  Sider  Havet.    Rev.  A.  Haagensen,  Chicago,  111. 

It  is  supposed  to  be  a  complete  history  of  the  Norwegian*Danish  Methodist 
churches,  but  a  large  portion  of  the  book  is,  virtually,  only  a  reproduction  of  the 
annual  church  reports  of  the  Norwegian-Danish  Methodists  in  this  country. 
Consequently,  it  is  not  a  critical  or  carefully  prepared  production. 

1894.    Thomas  Brown's  Scandinavian   Newspaper  Di- 
rectory.   H.  O.  Oppedale,  Chicago,  lU. 

It  contains  quite  an  extensive  historical  review  of  several  Scandinavian- 
American  newspapers,  as  well  as  some  other  matters.  Some  of  the  informations, 
however,  are  not  very  reliable. 

1894.    Den  Forenede  Kirke.     Rev.  T.  H.  Dahl,  Stough- 
ton,  Wis. 

It  is  written  from  the  standpoint  of  the  "majority/*  and  contains  a  history 
of  the  disputes  In  the  United  Church  up  to  the  time  of  the  publication  of  the 
book. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  291 

1894.    The  Norwegians  in  the  United  States.     Nils  P. 
Haugen,  Washington,  D.  C. 

This  speech,  contoining  some  Talnable  hints,  was  deliyered  at  the  World^s 
Fair  in  Chicago,  in  1988. 

1894.  Redegjorelse  for  Mine  Anker  mod  Prof.  H.  Bergs- 
land.    Rev.  O.  S.  Meland,  Red  Wing,  Minn. 

The  object  of  this  pamphlet  is  to  prove  Prof.  Bergsland^s  incapacity,  and 
God  is  called  npon  to  witness  the  assertions.  Personal  spite  and  religions  bciii- 
bast  are  the  predominant  featores  of  this  publication. 

1894-8.    Legal  documents  in  regard  to  Augsburg  Semi- 
nary vs.  the  United  Norwegian  Church,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

This  collection  inclndes  varions  published  briefs  and  decisions,  some  of 
which  give  a  minute  history  of  some  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  associations 
and  of  Augsburg  Seminary. 

1895.  Den  Norsk-Lutherske   Kirkes   Grundlaggelse  i 
Amerika.    Rev.  S.  M.  Krogness,  Kristiania,  Norway. 

This  article  was  published  in  "Luthersk  Kirketidende**  for  January  26th, 
IMS,  and  appears  to  be  quite  valuable. 

1895.    Gjensvartil  Pastor  Melandsi?ede^ore7fie.  Prof. 
H.  H.  Bergsland,  Red  Wing,  Minn. 

This  is  an  answer  to  Bey.  O.  8.  Meland's  attack  upon  the  author. 

1895.    The   First   Chapter  of  Norwegian  Immigration 
(1821-1840).    Prof.  R.  B.  Anderson,  Madison,  Wis. 

The  main  value  of  this  Tolume  consists  of  a  somewhat  minute  information 
in  regard  to  the  doings  of  each  individual  of  the  Sloop  party  and  his  or  her 
descendants.  A  large  portion  of  the  work  is  virtually  a  translation  of  Prof. 
Svein  Nilsson^s  articles,  published  in  "Billed-Magazin''  in  1868-70.  The  optimistic 
view  which  the  author  takes  of  the  Sloop  party  is  hardly,  it  seems,  warranted  by 
facts.  From  an  historical  and  literary  point  of  view,  the  book  is  lacking  in 
generalization,  and  an  unexpectedly  large  amount  of  space  is  devoted  to  the 
author  himsftlf  and  his  relatives. 

1895.    Metodismen   i    Sverige.    Rev.  T.    M.    Erikson, 
Stockholm,  Sweden. 

This  volvme  refers  also  to  the  Swedish  Methodists  in  this  country. 


292  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1895.    Svenska  Metodismen  i  Amerika.    N.  M.  Liljegren, 
N.  O.  Westergreen,  och  C.  G.  Wallenms,  Chicago,  HI. 

This  is  quite  a  large  voliime,  and  gives  a  detailed  account  of  nearly  all 
Swedish-American  Methodist  congregations  and  clergymen.  If  the  work  had 
been  better  generalized,  it  would  have  been  more  valuable.  As  has  already  been 
stated  on  pages  209-10  in  this  volume,  the  authors  have  no  authority  for  asserting 
that  Dr.  C.  M.  Wrangel  was  a  Methodist. 

1895.  Enskilda  Skrifter  af  Pastor  A.  A.  Sward.    Ernst 
Skarstedt,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

This  pamphlet  contains  some  brilliant  expressions  concerning  the  merits  and 
shortcomings  of  some  of  tAe  Swedish-American  poets. 

1896.  The    Scandinavian    Contingent.     Prof.     K.    C. 
Babcock. 

This  article  was  published  in  "The  Atlantic  Monthly,"  May.  1896,  and  is 
well  written,  but  contains  nothing  new  concerning  the  Scandinavians. 

1896.    Afholdssagens   Historic.    Prof.    J.    L.   Nydahl, 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 

The  author  does  not  pretend  to  give  a  full  history  of  the  Scandinavian- 
American  temperance  movementf  yet  abo  it  one-sixth  of  the  volume  is  devoted  to 
that  subject. 

1896.    Amerika  i  Vor  Tid.    Carl  W.  Moller,  Helsingor, 
Denmark. 

It  is  only  a  large  emigration  guide. 

1896.    Knute  Nelson.  L.  A.  Stenholt,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

It  contains  an  extensive  biography  of  Knute  Nelson,  which  the  author  claims 
is  based  upon  the  anthority  of  Knute  Nelson  himself. 

1896.    Immigration.    Knute  Nelson,  Washington,  D.  C. 

This  speech,  delivered  in  the  United  States  Senate,  contains  some  valuable 
hints  in  regard  to  Immigration  in  generaL 

1896.    Samftmds  Haandbog.    Rev.  J.  C.  Jensson,  Min- 
neapolis, Minn. 

Thia  volume  enumerates  the  institutions  connected,  directly  or  indirectly, 
with  the  United  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church. 

1896.    A  Histoiy  of  the  Danes  in  America.    John  H. 
Bille,  Madison,  Wis. 

This  pamphlet  is  rather  incomplete  and  sometimes  unfair ;  but  at  the  same 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  293 

time  it  is  TorF  Talnable,  bein^  the  only  work  of  its  kiad,  containinff  also  a  biblio* 
graphy. 

1896.    Nodvetidige  Bemarkninger.    H.  Hjertaas  and  H. 
H.  Bergsland,  Red  Wing,  Minn. 

It  is  one  of  those  namerona  Norwegian  pamphlets  dealing  with  theological 
and  personal  disputes. 

1896.  Bihang  till  Minnen.  Rev.  Gustaf  Unonius,  Stock- 
holm, Sweden. 

This  pamphlet  is  a  reply  to  some  of  the  statements  made  by  Rot.  E.  Norelioa 
in  his  large  history  of  the  Swedish  Lutherans  in  America.  Unonios  accuses  the 
latter  author  of  unfairness,  partiality,  and  misrepresentation.  In  the  fitst  num- 
ber of  ^Tidskrift/*  ltJ98,  Norelius  answers  Unonius,  and  the  two  old  men,  both  on 
the  brink  of  eternity,  shake  their  fists  at  each  other  across  the  Atlantic  ocean. 

1896-.    Beretning  om  den  Forenede  Danske  Evangelisk- 
Lutherske  Kirke. 

The  statistics  of  this  organization  are  very  incomplete  and  badly  generalised 

1897.  Fra    Amerika.     Henrik    Cavling,    Copenhagen, 
Denmark. 

These  two  large  volumes  were  written  in  haste  by  a  Danish  editor  who 
trsTeled  in  this  country.  From  an  historical  standpoint,  the  work  is  more 
conspicuous  for  its  faults  than  for  its  merits.  Nor  do  the  hundred  odd  pages  in 
the  second  volume,  dealing  with  the  Norwegians  in  America  and  written  by  P. 
Qroth,  Ph.  D.,  appear  to  be  any  better.  The  latter  writer  has  translated  several 
of  our  biographies  of  Scandinavians  in  Minnesota,  without  giving  us  proi>er 
credit.  A  Swedish  translation  by  Petrus  Hedberg  was  published  in  Stockholm^ 
in  1898. 

1897.    Det  Norske  Luther  College.    Prof.  Gisle  Bothne, 
Decorah,  Iowa. 

Only  a  small  portion  of  this  volume  of  nearly  500  pages  is  an  original  produc- 
tion, the  remaining  part  of  the  book  being  a  reprint  of  some  catalogues  and 
other  works.  Apparently,  this  publication  has  not  been  prepared  with  care  and 
good  judgment,  although  the  author,  who  is  considered  to  be  a  man  of  ability, 
has  been  working  on  it  for  over  ten  years.  Only  fourteen  pages  are  devoted  to 
the  biography  of  Prof.  L.  Larsen,  who  for  over  a  third  of  a  century  has  been  the 
soul  of  Luther  College,  and  nine-tenths  of  the  biography  relates  to  the  celebra- 
tion of  his  twenty-five  years*  Jubilee,  in  1834 ;  but  some  twenty  pages  are  devoted 
to  men  who  have  been  connected  with  the  institution  only  for  a  few  years.  The 
author  quotes  liberally  from  the  expressions  of  different  individuals,  but  not  a 
single  one  of  Prof.  Larsen's  utterances  has  been  mentioned,  and  virtually  no  clue 
is  given  in  regazd  to  the  trials,  triumphs,  and  make-up  of  this  important  man* 


294         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

who,  it  seemB,  ehonld  be  treated  at  considerable  length  in  a  hiatory  of  an  inati* 
tation  of  which  he  haa  been  the  chief  man  ever  since  it  was  founded. 

1897-     Valkyrian.    New  York. 

This  excellent  magazine,  published  by  0.  K.  Johansen  and  edited  by  E. 
Sondell,  contains  several  articles,  in  relation  to  the  Swedish-Americans,  of  great 
historical  and  literary  Talue. 

1897.  vara  Pennfaktare.    Ernst  Skarstedt,  San  Fran- 
Cisco,  Cal. 

This  Tolume  contains  biographies  of  nearly  all  the  Swedish-American  editors 
and  writers,  living  and  dead,  with  specimens  of  their  productions.  It  is  virtually 
the  only  attempt  ever  made  to  produce  a  history  of  the  Swedish-American  litera- 
ture, a  subject  on  which  the  author  is  undoubtedly  the  highest  authority.  The 
introductory  chapter,  especially,  gives  an  excellent  and  masterly  summing  up  of 
the  Swedish-American  literature. 

1898.  Pennteckningar  och  Reseskildningar.  F.  A.  Lind- 
strand,  Chicago,  111. 

It  contains  some  sketches  in  regard  to  Swedish-American  history. 

1898.    Svenskame  i  Worcester,  1868-98.  Hj.  Nilson  and 
Eric  Knutson,  Worcester,  Mass. 

Contains  an  historical  and  biographical  review  of  the  Swedes  in  Worcester. 

1898.    Red  Wing  Seminarium.    M.  G.  Hanson  og  H.  H. 
Elstad,  Red  Wing,  Minn. 

This  pamphlet  contains  a  brief  and  good  history  of  the  school  of  Hauge*s 
Synod. 

1898.    Norge  i  Amerika.    L.  A.  Stenholt,  Minneapolis, 
Minn. 

The  presentation  is  somewhat  original,  but  otherwise  no  new  historical  mat- 
ters have  been  produced. 

1898.    Kort  Udsigt  over  det   Lutherske   Kirkearbeide 
blandt  Nordmandene  i  Amerika.    Prof.  Th.  Bothne,  Chicago, 

m. 

This  is  the  first  attempt  ever  made  to  write  a  critical  history  of  the  different 
Norwegian-American  Lutheran  organizations.  Considering  the  many  strifes 
which  have  divided  the  Norwegian-American  Lutherdom  into  different  factions, 
in  which  some  of  the  ablest  minds  and  some  of  the  most  stupid  simpletons  have 
participated,  it  ia  doubtful  if  any  mortal  ever  can  rightly  interpret  the  pas- 


BIBLIOGRAPHY.  295 

Bions  and  motiyet  of  all  the  men  who  have  fonffht  these  theological  battlee ;  and 
the  author,  as  he  eaya  himself,  is  not  even  a  theologian.  The  constant  harangue 
against  the  ofiScial  class  of  Norway  is  out  of  place  in  a  church  history ;  and  the 
baneful  influence  which  this  class  has,  according  to  the  author,  exercised  upon 
Norwegian-American  church  affairs,  is  undoubtedly  much  exaggerated.  Every-^ 
thing  considered,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  book  has  been  seTerely  criticised,  eren 
by  men  who  can  speak  with  authority,  and  many  errors  have  been  pointed  out. 
Yet  the  work  appears  to  have  been  written  in  a  manly  and  fearless  spirit,  and 
deserves  to  be  carefully  studied  by  persons  who  are  interested  in  Norwegian- 
American  church  history. 

1898-.    Tidskrift.  Edited  by  Dr.  E.Norelius,  Rock  Island, 

The  reproduction  of  historical  documents  in  relation  to  Swedish-Lutheran 
congregations,  which  existed  before  the  Augustana  Synod  was  organized,  in  I860, 
appears  to  be  the  main  object  of  this  magazine,  although  the  first  number  con- 
tains a  lengthy  discussion  in  regard  to  Bev.  G.  Unonins. 

1898.    History  of  the  Swedish  Baptists  in  Sweden  and 
America.    Capt.  Gustavus  W.  Schroeder,  New  York. 

This  is  the  first  work  of  the  kind  that  has  appeared  so  far,  but  only  about 
one-fifth  of  the  book  deals  with  the  Swedish  Baptists.  Throughout  most  of  the 
remaining  250  pages  the  author  carps  at  the  religious,  political,  and  social  con- 
ditions of  the  Swedish  people. 


ni. 


111. 


1898.    Frdn  Canada.    Rev.  Svante  Udden,  Rock  Island, 

This  pamphlet  giTes  a  history  of  the  work  of  the  Swedish  Lutherans  in 
Canada. 

1898.    Sverige  i  Amerika.    C.  F.  Peterson,  Chicago,  111. 

This  large  volame  is  more  of  a  history  of  civilization  in  regard  to  the 
Swedish-Americans  than  a  history  of  facts,  being  about  the  only  attempt  ever 
made  in  that  line.  It  contains  also  a  number  of  biographies  and  some  statistical 
tables ;  the  latter,  however,  are  not  very  accurate.  Most  of  the  chapters  dealing 
with  Swedish-American  churches,  schools,  language,  press,  arts,  political  influ- 
ence, etc.,  constitute  a  masterly  and  original  presentation  of  those  subjects. 

Autobiography  of  Rev.  A.  Cedarholm. 

This  is  a  small  pamphlet  translated  from  the  Swedish  language  into  English, 
by  Mrs.  Caroline  Cedarholm.  It  contains  no  date  or  place  of  publication.  Bev. 
A.  Cedarholm  appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  early  Swedish  Methodist  mission- 
aries, both  in  the  American  Northwest  and  in  Sweden.  The  work  is  written  in 
the  most  unsystematic  manner  imaginable,  and  as  a  specimen  of  religious 
enthusiasm  and  fanaticism  it  is  valuable. 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Scandinavians  in 

Minnesota. 

— BY— 

O.  N.  NELSON. 


Minnesota  occupies  the  exact  center  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can continent,  being  located  midway  between  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  oceans,  and  between  Hudson  Bay  and  the  Guli 
of  Mexico.  In  area  it  is  the  ninth  state  in  the  Union,  con- 
taining about  84,000  square  miles,  or  nearly  fifty-four  mil- 
lion acres,  being  half  as  large  as  Sweden  and  six  times  the 
size  of  Denmark.  There  are,  it  is  estimated,  ten  thousand 
lakes  in  the  state,  and  nearly  four  million  acres  of  land  is 
covered  with  water.  Minnesota  has  numerous  rivers  and 
w^ater-courses  which  drain  the  country,  make  navigation 
practicable,  and  furnish  power  for  manufacturing  purposes. 
One  of  the  world's  greatest  rivers,  the  Mississippi,  rises  in 
the  northern  part  of  Minnesota.  The  natural  resources  of 
the  state  are  great  and  various,  mineral  and  timber  abound, 
the  soil  is  rich  and  productive,  the  scenery  is  beautiful  and 
diversified. 

I.    Pioneers  and  Settlements. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  history  of  Minnesota  commenced 

297 


298         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

yesterday.  About  200  years  ago  the  Jesuits  visited  the  state, 
but  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  not  a  single 
settlement  of  the  whites  existed.  In  1823  the  first  steam- 
boat ascended  the  Mississippi  as  far  as  Fort  Snelling,  which 
was  just  then  built ;  yet,  for  years  after,  the  savage  Indians 
were,  virtually,  the  sole  occupiers  of  the  land  on  which  now- 
over  one  and  a  half  million  civilized  people  dwell.  In  1850 
there  were  only  6,000  inhabitants  in  the  state. 

But  if  the  history  is  brief,  the  development  has  been 
rapid,  and  the  Scandinavians  have,  during  the  whole  period, 
been  powerful  agents  in  developing  the  natural  resources  and 
promoting  the  intellectual  and  religious  welfare  of  the  state. 
The  marvelous  material  development  of  the  state  is  largely 
due  to  the  industrious  Scandinavian  immigrants.  Their  great 
love  and  fitness  for  farming,  their  frugality  and  energy,  have 
subdued  a  wilderness  and  made  it  inhabitable  for  civilized 
people.  It  is  true  that  the  Northmen  have  been  the  greatest 
gainers  themselves,  for  as  a  general  thing  they  arrived  poor, 
while  they  now  often  live  in  wealth  and  splendor.  Yet  a 
state,  or  a  nation  as  a  whole,  is  always  benefited  by  the 
prosperity  of  its  citizens.  And  an  American  educator,  who 
has  made  special  study  of  the  Scandinavians  in  the  North- 
west, believes  that  he  can  prove  that  in  counties  where  many 
Scandinavians  have  settled,  a  more  rapid  material  develop- 
ment has  occurred  than  in  counties  occupied  by  other 
nationalities.  His  conclusion  is  perhaps  correct.  At  any 
rate,  the  state  and  the  coming  generations  are  under  great 
obligations  to  the  Northern  immigrants,  who  by  struggle, 
hard  toil,  suflfering,  and  self-sacrifice  laid  the  material,  social, 
political,  intellectual,  and  religious  foundations  of  the  State 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        299 

of  Minnesota ;  and  who,  when  the  Civil  War  threatened  to 
destroy  the  nation,  enlisted  in  the  defense  of  the  Union  and 
of  human  freedom. 

As  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  give  the  fall  facts  concern- 
ing all  the  Scandinavian  settlements,  or  even  of  one-half  of 
them,  only  a  few  of  the  earliest  will  be  mentioned.  At  the 
end  of  this  article,  however,  the  population  of  each  county 
has  been  enumerated,  which  maybe  of  some  value  in  tracing 
the  migratory  movements.  But  it  is  to  be  regretted  that 
the  state  census  reports  for  1865  and  1885  did  not  enumer- 
ate the  various  nationalities  in  the  different  counties  of  Min- 
nesota, and  most  of  the  national  census  reports  are  also 
defective  in  this  respect. 

Danish.  The  man  who  established  the  first  bank  in 
Minnesota,  in  1853,  was  a  Dane,  Dr.  C.  W.  W.  Borup,  who 
settled  permanently  in  St.  Paul,  in  1848,  although  he  un- 
doubtedly had  been  in  the  state  years  before  that  time, 
having  been  in  the  far  West  before  1830.  The  well-known 
Rev.  C.  L.  Clausen  is  said  to  have  visited  that  part  of  Min- 
nesota where  St.  Cloud  now  is  located,  in  company  with  a 
dozen  Norwegians,  in  1850.  The  biographies  of  both  these 
important  men  can  be  found  in  this  volume.  But  no  Danish 
settlement  seems  to  have  been  started  in  the  state  very 
early,  as  in  1850,  according  to  the  United  States  census, 
there  were  only  one  Dane  in  Minnesota,  and  170  ten  years 
later.  Since  1880,  however,  their  number  has  materially  in- 
creased, and  in  1900  there  were  in  the  neighborhood  of 
40,000  Danish-bom  or  having  Danish  parents  within  the 
state. 

Norwegian.    It  is   claimed   that   several  Norwegians 


300         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Sfettled  below  St.  Paul  on  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi  river 
in  1851.  In  1852  and  1853,  however,  the  Norwegians  com- 
menced to  settle  in  Houston  and  Fillmore  counties,  and 
Tosten  Johnson  and  Hans  Valder  were  among  the  very  first 
Norwegian  settlers  in  Minnesota.  According  to  the  United 
States  census,  there  were,  in  1850,  seven  Norwegians  in  the 
state,  and  they  numbered  nearly  10,000  ten  years  later. 
Since  they  have  greatly  increased,  and  undoubtedly  have 
exercised  a  greater  power  and  influence  in  the  commercial 
and  public  aflfairs  of  the  state  than  any  other  single  foreign 
nationality.  In  several  counties  they  are  the  controlling 
element  in  regard  to  business,  politics,  and  society.  South 
of  an  imaginary  line  drawn  due  west  from  the  Twin  Cities, 
there  is  hardly  a  single  city  or  village  of  over  500  inhabit- 
ants in  which  there  is  not  some  Norwegian  merchant  or 
business  man.  With  some  exceptions,  especially  in  the  dis- 
tricts lying  between  Minneapolis  and  Willmar  and  between 
St;  Paul  and  Duluth,  where  the  Swedes  greatly  predominate, 
this  is  also  true  of  other  portions  of  the  state.  There  must 
be  at  least  300,000  Norwegians  of  the  first  and  second  gen- 
erations residing  in  Minnesota  in  1900. 

Swedish.  One  of  the  first  pioneers  and  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries among  the  Indians  in  Minnesota  was  a  Swede, 
Jacob  Falstrom,  who  came  to  the  stat^  before  1819, 
in* which  year  Fort  Snelling  was  established ;  and,  although 
he  did  little  or  nothing  in  promoting  civilization  because  he 
h^d  degenerated  into  savagery  himself,  yet  he  was  a  noted 
character.  He  was  the  Brst  Northman  in  the  Northwest. 
The  first  Swedish  settlement  in  the  state  was  commenced 
at  Marine,  Washington  county,  in  1850,  by  Oscar  Roos  and 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIAJIS  IN  MINNESOTA.       301 

two  other  Swedes.  Dr.  E.  Norelius,  in  his  great  -^ork, 
De  Srenaka  Luteraka  Foraamlingarnaa  och  Svenak- 
amea  Hiatoria  i  Amerika,  asserts  that  the  first  Swedish 
settlers  arrived  in  1851;  this,  however,  is  a  mistake.  Both 
Roos  himself  and  Svenakarne  i  St  Croijr-dalen,  Minne- 
aota — the  latter  is  a  small  but  excellent  pamphlet  by  Robert 
Gronberger — contradict  Norelius.  By  settlers,  in  this  con- 
nection, w^e  refer  especially  to  those  who  either  located  in 
certain  places  in  company  with  other  Northmen,  or  tried  to 
form  Scandinavian  colonies  there.  Falstrom  and  Borup 
were  traders  and  adventurers,  not  settlers. 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  notice  that  a  family  from  the 
neighborhood  of  Motala,  Sweden,  made  a  trip  exclusively 
by  boats  from  that  place  to  Taylor's  Falls  as  early  as 
1850—51,  making  one  of  the  most  remarkable  journeys  ever 
performed  by  a  Scandinavian  immigrant  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  It  took  eight  weeks  to  cross  from  Gothenburg  to 
New  Orleans,  and  when  the  party  reached  St.  Louis  they 
were  destitute  and  starving,  but  at  this  juncture  they  met 
the  famous  Jenny  Lind,  who  assisted  them  so  they  could 
proceed  to  their  destination. 

In  no  state  in  the  Union,  with  the  probable  exception  of 
nUnois,  have  the  Swedes  played  such  an  important  part  as 
they  have  done  in  Minnesota.  This  they  have  done  mostly 
because  they  have  been  more  numerous  than  the  Swedes  in 
any  other  state.  According  to  the  United  States  census 
there  were  four  Swedes  in  Minnesota  in  1850,  twenty  years 
later  they  numbered  over  twenty  thousand,  and  in  1900 
there  must  be  at  least  280,000  Swedes  of  the  first  and 
second  generations  in  the  state.    Excepting  the  Germans, 


302  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

the  Swedish-bom  people  in  the  state  are  more  numerous 
than  any  other  foreign-bom  nationality,  but  the  Norwegians 
outnumber  them  by  about  20,000  when  both  the  first  and 
second  generations  are  taken  into  account. 

II.    Causes  of  Immigration  to  Minnesota. 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  the  causes  which  have  been 
operative  in  directing  the  Northern  immigration  to  Minne- 
sota. The  great  resources  of  agriculture,  timber,  and  min- 
ing ;  the  varied  and  beautiful  scenery— all  of  which  resemble 
the  resources  and  scenes  of  the  North — might  have  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  movement.  The  climate  of  Minnesota, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  extremely  dry,  and  often  severe,  while 
the  climate  of  the  Scandinavian  countries,  on  the  whole,  is 
moist  and  temperate ;  consequently  that  could  be  no  induce- 
ment. But  the  chief  reason  has  been,  perhaps,  the  same  as 
that  which  directed  the  movement  towards  the  Northwest 
in  general,  namely,  the  Scandinavian  immigration  on  a  large 
scale  and  the  opening  of  the  state  for  settlement  occurred 
about  the  same  time.  Then  add  the  great  impulse  and  the 
direction  which  the  early  Scandinavian  pioneers  gave  to  the 
whole  movement,  and  the  question  is  undoubtedly  solved. 
Such  well-known  pioneers  as  Col.  H.  Mattson  and  Rev.  E. 
Norelius  have  done  a  great  deal  in  directing  the  Swedish 
immigration  towards  the  state.  The  Danish-Norwegian- 
American  historical  literature  is  very  limited,  in  comparison 
with  the  Swedish,  consequently  it  is  no  easy  task,  on  account 
of  lack  of  materials,  to  determine  who  were  the  real  leaders 
in  directing  the  Norwegian  immigration  into  the  state. 
F.  S.  Christensen  undoubtedly  did  much  to  draw  the  atten- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.       303 

tion  of  the  Danes  towards  Minnesota.  But  the  honor  and 
credit  of  settling  the  state  with  a  good  class  of  people  does 
not  belong  exclusively  to  one  or  a  few,  but  to  hundreds  and 
thousands  of  Scandinavian  immigrants  who  induced  their 
relatives  and  friends  to  join  them. 

III.    The  Civil  and  Spanish  Wars. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  Colonel  Hans  Mattson 
organized,  in  Goodhue  county.  Company  D,  which  became 
part  of  the  Third  Regiment  of  Minnesota.  This  company, 
containing  about  100  men,  was  composed  exclusively  of 
Scandinavians.  Not  a  single  one  of  them  had  been  drafted, 
nor  did  any  of  them  desert.  But  the  Northmen  who  en- 
listed in  that  company  are  small  in  numbcpin  comparison 
with  the  total  number  of  Scandinavians  from  the  state  who 
fought  against  the  Rebellion.  According  to  the  Annual 
Report  of  the  Adjutant  General  of  the  State  of 
Minnesota,  published  in  1866,  not  less  than  1,500  North- 
men from  the  state  participated  in  the  defense  of  the  Union, 
and  fought  against  the  enslavement  of  men.  Of  these, 
about  25  were  Danes,  800  Norwegians,  and  675  Swedes. 
As  the  Norwegians  were  more  than  twice  as  numerous  in 
the  state  at  that  time  as  the  Swedes,  it  is  evident  that  the 
latter  nationality  enlisted  in  much  greater  proportion  than 
the  former.  In  numerous  instances  the  nativity  of  the  sol- 
diers is  omitted ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  count  correctly  all  the 
names  in  such  publications ;  hence  it  is  fair  to  estimate  that 
2,000  Scandinavians  from  Minnesota  enlisted  under  the 
Stars  and  Stripes.  According  to  the  United  States  census  of 
1860,  Minnesota  had  a  population  of  172,000.    Twenty- 


304         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

three  thousand  soldiers,  or  one-eighth  of  the  total  popula- 
tion of  the  state,  enlisted  under  the  Union  flag ;  while  at  the 
same  time  one  out  of  every  six  Scandinavians  in  Minnesota, 
as  well  as  in  Wisconsin,  fought  for  his  adopted  country. 

The  state  of  Minnesota  has  the  distinguished  honor  of 
having  off"ered  the  first  volunteer  regiment  to  the  federal 
government  and  of  having  enlisted  the  first  volunteer  soldier 
in  the  United  States.  The  Scandinavians  in  the  state  flew 
to  arms  at  the  very  beginning  of  hostities.  Nearly  fifty 
Northmen  served  in  the  First  Regiment,  and  more  than 
three  times  that  number  fought  in  connection  with  the 
Second  Regiment,  in  which  A.  R.  Skaro,  a  Norwegian,  was 
captain  of  Cpnmany  E.  But  excepting  him  and  Col.  H. 
Mattson,  not  t^ifttm  Scandinavian^om  Minnesota  rose  to 
the  position  even  of  captaincy,  although  several  held  minor 
commands. 

Attempts  were  made  in  Minnesota,  chiefly  through  the 
efforts  of  Christian  Brandt,  to  muster  into  service  a  full- 
fledged  Scandinavian  regiment  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Span- 
ish War  in  1898,  but  the  regiment  was  not  accepted  by  the 
authorities,  and  the  undertaking  came  to  naught.  About 
ninety  Danes,  five  hundred  Swedes  and  Norwegians,  equally 
divided  between  the  two  nationalities,  and  a  few  Icelanders 
enlisted  in  the  four  volunteer  regiments  which  the  state  fur- 
nished. Many  other  persons  bom  in  this  country  of  Scan- 
dinavian parents  also  participated,  but  their  number  cannot 
be  ascertained.  One  person  out  of  every  three  hundred  in 
the  state  enlisted  against  the  Spaniards,  and  about  one  out 
of  every  four  hundred  of  the  Scandinavian-bom  individuals 
was  engaged  in  that  occupation.    Minnesota  supplied  5,313 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.       305 

soldiers,  among  whom  were  some   influential   Northmen, 
notably  John  Lind,  afterwards  governor  of  the  state. 

IV.    Political  Influence.. 

The  Northmen  have  always  exercised  a  great  influence 
upon  the  political  affairs  of  the  state.  They  have  often  been 
able  to  run  politics  according  to  their  own  sweet  will,  not 
because  they  have  specially  excelled  in  intelligence  or  politi- 
cal sagacity,  but  on  account  of  their  numerical  strength. 
There  is  no  reason  to  assume  that  they,  on  an  average,  are 
brighter  than  the  Northmen  in  other  portions  of  the  Union; 
yet  most  states  might  safely  try  to  manage  their  politics 
without  much  regard  to  the  Scandinavian-Americans.  In 
Minnesota  such  an  attempt  would  wreck  any  party  or 
politician;  and  the  real  or  supposed  hostility  to  the  Scandi- 
navians on  the  part  of  the  Republican  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor in  1898,  was  one  of  the  causes  which  defeated  him  by 
over  20,000  votes,  although  the  rest  of  the  state  ticket 
went  Republican  by  about  40,000  majority.  Many  of  the 
Scandinavian  politicians  in  the  state  are  very  ordinary 
mortals.  Some  of  them  cannot  write  a  correct  letter  either 
in  their  own  language  or  in  English.  It  applies  to  the 
Scandinavians,  as  well  as  to  the  other  nationalities,  of 
course,  including  the  native  Americans,  what  a  member  of 
the  state  legislature  said  on  the  floor  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives: "The  first  I  came  here  I  wondered  how  I  got 
here,  but' the  longer  I  stay  the  more  I  wonder  how  the  rest  of 
you  got  here."  For  it  is  certainly  a  surprise  to  some  of  the 
Scandinavian  politicians  themselves  and  to  everybody  else 
'•how  they  got  there."    There  are  only  a  few  of  the  255 

21 


306         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Scandinavians  who  have  represented  their  districts  in  the 
two  bodies  of  the  state  legislature  that  have  had  more  than 
a  common  school  education — some  of  them  have  not  even 
had  that—although  many  of  them  are  men  of  more  than 
ordinary  ability.  For  several  years  past  the  so-called 
leader  of  the  house  of  representatives  has  been  J.  F.  Jacob- 
son,  of  Lac  Qui  Parle  county,  a  coarse-grained,  boisterous, 
uneducated,  bankrupt  individual,  who  "among  his  col- 
leagues was  feared  rather  than  trusted."  In  later  years, 
however,  there  has  been  considerable  improvement  in  regard 
to  the  Scandinavian  legislators. 

We,  of  course,  do  not  in  any  sense  intend  to  say  or  indi- 
cate that  the  Scandinavian  politicians  in  Minnesota  have 
not  been,  both  in  regard  to  educational  qualifications  and  in 
regard  to  natural  abilities,  equal  to  any  other  politicians 
in  the  state.  On  the  contrary,  they  have,  perhaps,  been 
superior  to  many  others,  especially  as  they  have  had  experi- 
ence in  more  than  one  country,  which  ought  to  have  a 
tendency  to  make  a  person  broad-minded.  And  certainly 
some  of  them  have  made  a  most  excellent  record  during 
their  political  career,  and  their  names  are  inseparably  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  the  state  and  nation.  Others, 
again,  hav,e  received  the  highest  scholastic  training  both  in 
the  North  and  here. 

Minnesota  was  organized  as  a  territory  in  1849,  and  a 
state  constitution  was  adopted  in  1857.  During  that  time 
not  a  single  Scandinavian  was  elected  to  any  of  the  terri- 
torial legislative  bodies.  Rci .  P.  A.  Cederstam,  a  Swedish 
Lutheran  minister,  was  the  only  Northman  who  sat  in  the 
constitutional  convention  and  signed  the  constitution  of 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.       307 

Minnesota.  But  the  Norwegians  were  not  much  behind  the 
Swedes  in  regard  to  Minnesota  legislation.  For  in  1857—8, 
Hans  Hanson  and  T.  G.  Fladeland^both  Norwegians — 
were  in  the  state  legislature,  being,  therefore,  the  first  Scandi- 
navian law-makers  in  Minnesota.  Since  over  255  descend- 
ants of  the  Vikings  have  exhibited  their  wisdom  or  ignor- 
ance in  the  arena  of  the  capitol.  Of  these,  5  were  Danes, 
170  Norwegians,  and  80  Swedes.  Some  of  them,  however, 
have  been  re-elected  several  times.  In  some  years,  one  out 
of  every  six  of  the  representatives  and  senators  was  a 
Northman.  But  the  Scandinavian  population  in  the  state 
constitutes  two-fifths  of  the  total,  consequently  they  were 
not  represented  according  to  their  due  proportion.  The 
Norwegians  have  been  more  numerous  in  the  state,  their 
immigration  is  older,  they  settle  more  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts, and  they  take  a  greater  interest  in  politics  than  the 
Swedes;  that  is,  no  doubt,  the  reasons  why  they  have  had  a 
larger  representation.  Today  (1900)  the  Germans-bom 
persons  outnumber  by  far  the  Norwegians,  and  the  Swedes 
nearly  equal  them;  but  taking  the  history  of  the  state  as  a 
whole,  the  Norwegians  have  wielded  a  more  powerful  politi- 
cal influence  than  the  Swedes  and  Germans  put  together. 
L,  J.  Stark,  in  1865,  was  the  first  Swede  who  served  in  the 
state  legislature.  Soren  Listoe,  being  the  first  Dane,  entered 
ten  years  later,  J.  Lindall,  Ole  Peterson,  and  A,  Railson 
were  in  the  state  senate  in  1872,  being,  therefore,  the  "first 
Northmen  who  represented  their  districts  in  that  body. " 

There  are  many  counties  in  the  state  whic"S^have  for 
years  elected  Scandinavian  county  officials,  and  in  some 
counties  all  the  officials  are  Northmen.    In.  a  lecture  de- 


308         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

livered  in  1897,  Prof.  D.  Magnus  said:  'Today  the  Scandi- 
navians in  Minnesota  hold  338  county  offices,  and  if  we 
count  16  offices  to  a  county,  there  is  enough  of  them  to  fill 
every  office  in  21  counties.  In  18  counties  they  hold  the 
office  of  county  superintendent  of  public  instruction;  in  26, 
that  of  auditor;  in  33,  that  of  register  of  deeds;  and  in  36, 
nearly  one-half  of  all  the  counties  in  the  state,  that  of  treas- 
urer.' There  is  enough  of  Scandinavian  officials  in  Minne- 
sota to  govern  a  fair-sized  kingdom  in  Europe. 

As  has  been  related,  they  have  ever  since  the  state 
constitution  was  adopted  been  well  represented  in  the  two 
legislative  bodies.  But  it  was  not  until  1869  that  any  of 
them  was  elected  to  a  state  office.  F.  S.  Christensen  seems 
to  have  conceived  the  idea,  and  commenced  to  agitate  the 
same  in  his  paper,  in  1869,  which  resulted  in  calling  a 
Scandinavian  convention  at  which  Col.  Hans  Mattson  was 
nominated  for  secretary  of  state,  being  shortly  after  en- 
dorsed by  the  Republicans,  and  was  elected  in  1869.  At 
the  Republican  state  convention  where  Col.  Mattson  was 
nominated  he  made  the  following  speech,  in  which  he 
undoubtedly  echoed  the  sentiments  of  the  majority  of 
Scandinavians  at  that  time  as  well  as  today:  **The  time 
does  not  admit  of  any  extensive  remarks  upon  my  part, 
yet  so  much  has  been  said  lately  regarding  the  Scandi- 
navian element  that  the  subject,  perhaps,  requires  an 
explanation  from  me;  and  as  the  chosen  representative  of 
the  Scandiig^fjvian  people  of  this  state  in  the  present  cam- 
paign, I  atn  authorized  to  express  their  views,  and  I  do  so 
from  a  thorough  knowledge  of  them.  It  is  true  that  we 
have  left  our  beloved  land;  we  have  strewn  the  last  flowers 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        309 

Upon  the  graves  of  our  forefathers,  and  have  come  here  to 
stay,  come  here  to  Uve,  come  here  to  die.  We  are  not  a 
clannish  people,  nor  do  we  desire  to  build  up  a  Scandinavian 
nationality  in  your  midst.  You  have  known  us  here  for 
many  years;  you  have  seen  us  come  among  you  unac- 
quainted with  your  language  and  your  customs,  and  yet  I 
know  that  you  will  bear  me  witness  how  readily  and  fra- 
ternally we  have  mingled  with  you,  learned  your  language 
and  adopted  your  ways,  and  how  naturally  our  children 
grow  up  as  Americans,  side  by  side  with  yours.  We  have 
been  cordially  received  in  this  great  West  by  your  own 
pioneers,  and  have  become  prosperous  and  happy.  Yes,  we 
love  this  great  country  of  freedom,  and  we  wish  to  be  and 
remain  Americans.'* 

Col.  Mattson  was,  of  course,  elected  secretary  of  state, 
being,  therefore,  the  first  Scandinavian  state  oflBicial  in  Min- 
nesota, and  was  re-elected  eight  years  later.  Besides  him, 
John  S.  Irgens  and  Frederick  P.  Brown,  both  Norwegians,  and 
Albert  Berg,  a  Swede,  have  been  elected  to  the  same  position. 
The  following  Scandinavians  have  also  held  high  oflBicial 
positions  in  the  state:  for  example,  Charles  Kittelson  was 
elected  treasurer  in  1879;  A.  E.  Rice,  lieutenant-governor 
in  1886;  Adolph  Biermann,  auditor  in  1890;  and  Knute 
Nelson  and  John  Lind,  governors  in  1892  and  1898, 
respectively.  Knute  Nelson  was  re-elected  in  1894,  but 
resigned  the  following  year  when  he  was  elected  to  the 
United  States  senate. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  Scandinavians  have  held 
nearly  all  the  important  state  oflBices,  and  generally  filled 
them  with  credit.    But  it  will  also  be  observed  that  the 


v^ 


^^v. 


310         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

positions  they  have  been  elected  to  have  not  required  any 
special  training  or  high  scholastic  educational  qualifica- 
tions; natural  abilities  and  experience  could  fill  the  bill. 
While,  for  example,  the  offices  of  attorney-general,  superin- 
tendent of  public  instruction,  and  chief  and  associate 
justices  of  the  supreme  court,  which  require  the  highest 
college  and  professional  training,  have  never  been  held  by 
any  Northmen.  They  have  men  in  the  state  who  could  fill 
these  places,  yet  so  far  they  have  failed  to  do  so.  Knute 
Nelson,  who  was  elected  in  1882,  has  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  Scandinavian  who  sat  in  the  United  States  Congress, 
and  John  Lind,  who  was  elected  in  1886,  is  the  first  and 
only  Swede  who  has  ever  been  elected  to  that  body. 
Both  these  men  have  represented  their  constituencies  well, 
and  have  been  an  honor  to  the  race  from  which  they  sprung. 
Since,  Kittel  Halvorson  and  H.  E.  Boen,  both  Norwegians, 
have  also  been  elected  to  Congress. 

Most  of  the  Scandinavians  in  Minnesota,  as  well  as  in 
other  states,  have  been  and  are  Republicans,  yet  no  party 
has  a  mortgage  on  them,  for  some  of  their  best  educated 
men  belong  to  the  Democratic,  People's,  or  Prohibition 
parties. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  in  this  article,  nor  in  this  volume 
for  that  matter,  to  advocate  any  theory  of  Scandinavism, 
yet  it  is  an  historical  fact  that  the  Danes,  Norwegians,  and 
Swedes  in  this  state  have  always  been  on  very  intimate 
terms  with  each  other.  In  some  states  the  three  nationali- 
ties live  at  sword's  point.  In  Minnesota,  on  the  contrary, 
they  join  hands  in  nearly  all  great  social,  financial,  political, 
and  religious  undertakings.    Many  social  affairs  on  a  large 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.       311 

scale  are  neither  Swedish,  Norwegian,  nor  Danish,  but 
Scandinavian.  At  the  Republican  national  convention  in 
Minneapolis,  in  1892,  all  the  Northmen  of  all  political  par- 
ties organized  a  Scandinavian  club  in  order  to  entertain 
their  visiting  countrymen.  It  is  true  that  petty  strifes  and 
jealousies  sometimes  occur  between  them,  but,  on  the  whole, 
the  Danes,  Norwegians,  and  Swedes  in  Minnesota  consider 
themselves  to  be  closely  related  and  to  have  common  inter- 
ests. A  forcible  illustration  of  this  was  had  in  1896, 
when  John  Lind  ran  for  governor  on  the  fusion  ticket.  He 
received  by  far  more  Norwegian  votes  than  Swedish,  even 
in  Norwegian  Republican  counties,  as  compared  with  Swed- 
ish Republican  counties.  Many  Norwegian  Republicans, 
no  doubt,  voted  for  Lind  partly  because  they  admired  the 
man,  and  partly  because  they  desired  to  return  a  favor  to 
the  Swedes,  who  had  always  stood  by  the  Norwegian 
Republican  candidates. 

V.    Occupation. 

Of  course,  most  of  Minnesota's  Scandinavians  have  been 
and  are  common  laborers,  servants,  and  farmers.  Yet 
today  there  is  not  a  single  learned  profession  in  which  they 
cannot  be  found,  and  in  some  they  have  distinguished  them- 
selves and  become  famous  both  in  this  country  and  abroad. 
Some  of  the  Northmen  in  the  state  do  business  amounting 
to  millions  of  dollars  annually,  and  pay  out  thousands  of 
dollars  every  year  in  taxes.  There  are  Scandinavian  busi- 
ness men  in  nearly  every  fair-sized  city  and  village  in  the 
state,  and  hundreds  of  lawyers  and  physicians  of  Scandi- 
navian extraction,  especially  Norwegian,  practice  their  pro- 


312         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

fessions  in  Minnesota.  Literarily  the  Northmen  in  Minne- 
sota are  well  supplied.  About  thirty  Scandinavian  weekly 
newspapers,  a  few  monthly  publications,  and  several  books 
are  published  in  the  state.  Some  of  the  Scandinavian 
editors  and  writers  in  the  state  are  famous  in  the  literary 
world,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Europe.  Over  one- 
fourth  of  all  the  Scandinavian-American  newspapers  and 
periodicals  are  published  in  Minnesota.  Here  the  North- 
men have  had  intellectual  advantages  and  connections  with 
their  native  lands  which  their  countrymen  in  many  other 
parts  of  the  Union  have  never  enjoyed.  They  have  had  the 
pleasure  to  hear  and  come  in  contact  with  some  of  the 
greatest  and  noblest  men  and  women  that  the  North  has 
ever  produced.  For  example,  Fredrika  Bremer,  Ole  Bull, 
Bjomstjeme  Bjomson,  Kristina  Nilsson,  P.  Waldenstrom, 
and  Bishop  K.  von  Scheele  visited  the  state  in  1850,  1877, 
1880,  1884,  1889,  and  1893,  respectively. 

VI.    Statistics. 

According  to  the  census  of  1850,  there  were  twelve 
Scandinavians  in  Minnesota.  That  is,  one  out  of  every  fifty 
persons  was  bom  in  the  North.  In  1860  one  out  of  every 
seventeen  persons  in  the  state  was  bom  in  the  Scandinavian 
countries;  in  1870  and  1880  one  out  of  seven;  and  in  1890 
one  out  of  six.  But  taking  into  consideration  those  who 
have  Scandinavian  parents,  two-fifths  of  the  entire  popula- 
tion of  the  state  are  Northmen.  Today  (1900)  there  are 
in  Minnesota  about  620,000  Scandinavian-bom  or  having 
Scandinavian  parents.  No  state  in  the  Union  has  such  a 
great  number  or  large  proportion;  in  fact,  nearly  one-fourth 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.       313 

of  all  the  Northmen  in  the  United  States  reside  in  Minne- 
sota, which  has  seven  Scandinavians  to  each  square  mile, 
while  Norway  has  only  thirteen  persons  to  the  square  mile. 
There  are  more  Northmen  who  reside  in  Minneapolis  than 
in  any  other  city  in  the  world,  save  Copenhagen,  Stock- 
holm, Kristiania,  Gothenburg,  and  Chicago.  Taking  into 
consideration  only  the  first  and  second  generations,  there 
are  about  40,000  Danes,  300,000  Norwegians,  and  280,000 
Swedes  in  the  state.  In  most  cases  a  fair  estimate  of  the 
Scandinavian-American  population  of  the  first  and  second 
generations  may  be  obtained  by  multipl3ring  the  number  of 
Scandinavian-bom  by  2^.  In  Minnesota,  however,  this  is 
not  exactly  true  in  regard  to  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians. 
According  to  the  United  States  census  of  1890,  each  of  these 
nationalities  in  the  state  numbered  about  100,000  persons 
bom  in  the  old  country,  but  counting  also  those  who  had 
Norwegian  parents,  the  number  was  195,764?,  against  155,- 
089  Swedish-bom  or  having  Swedish  parents.  Considering 
the  omission  which  all  census  reports  are  guilty  of,  and  the 
increase  of  population  since  1890,  it  is  undoubtedly  a  con- 
servative estimate  to  add  about  100,000  to  each  of  the  two 
nationalities.  The  greater  number  of  persons  bom  in  this 
country  of  Norwegian  parents,  in  comparison  with  the  same 
class  among  the  Swedes,  is  due  mostly  to  the  earlier  immi- 
gration of  the  former  people;  and  this  fact  is  one  of  the 
main  causes  why  the  Norwegians  in  the  Northwest  have 
been  able  to  exercise  a  greater  influence  than  the  Swedes  in 
the  public  affairs.  A  large  proportion,  probably  a  majority, 
of  the  leading  public  and  professional  men  among  the  Nor- 
wegians in  this  state   and   elsewhere  were   bom   in   this 


314         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

country  of  Norwegian  parents  who  were  able  to  give  their 
sons  a  good  start  in  life.  The  second  generation  of  the 
Swedes  in  the  state  are  just  beginning  to  come  to  the  front. 
Ten  years  ago  they  were  virtually  an  unknown  quantity  as 
far  as  political  and  professional  activity  is  concerned. 
According  to  the  state  census  of  1895,  there  were  16,143 
Danish-bom  persons  residing  in  Minnesota;  107,319  Nor- 
wegian-bom; and  119,554  Swedish-bom.  No  statistics  or 
even  estimates  can  be  given  in  regard  to  Scandinavians  of 
the  third  generation  which,  especially  among  the  Norwe- 
gians, is  quite  numerous.  A  fourth  generation  of  Scandi- 
navian-Americans cannot  be  said  to  exist  yet.  According 
to  the  state  census  of  1895,  there  resided  in  Minnesota 
7,652  Finns  and  457  Icelanders.  Most  of  the  former  nation- 
ality have  settled  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  espe- 
cially in  St.  Louis  county,  where  nearly  half  of  the  total 
number  lived.  Of  course,  a  large  proportion  of  these  Finns 
are  virtually  Swedes.  Nearly  all  the  Icelanders  in  Minne- 
sota seem  to  reside  in  Lyon  and  Lincoln  counties.  But  as 
an  illustration  of  the  defectiveness  of  statistics,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  although  about  fifty  or  sixty  Icelanders  live 
in  Minneapolis,  no  one  is  put  down  for  that  place  in  the 
state  census  of  1895. 


HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDIKATUNS  IN  MINNESOTA.       315 


TABLE  XIL 

SHOWDtG    THE  NiniBRB  OF   BCAHDIHATUDa   BOBM    Dt   TBZ  SCAIfDIKAVIAll 

CooitTRiBB,  AifD  TBB  TOTAL  PoFOLATioH  itr  Each  Coohtt  or   Mur- 
nmoTA. 


U.8.CBNSD8OF1M0. 

8TATB  CEN8D8  OF  ISTS. 

STATE  OEN8n8  OF  1895. 

._. 

P 

i 

fl 

is 

1 

I 

s 
a 

li 

n 

1 

"J 

11 

206 

"i;BJ4 

20,942 

"S 
iS 

l.« 
!.87 

II 

2S|337 

91 

a 

392 

«] 

i 
"1 

i 

1,9« 
HI 

i.Bi; 

j 

3^ 
3 

i 
1 

1,81 

S 

969 
K 
205 
63 
133 

"% 

SI 
3E 

,« 

lis 

,1 

'  i 

:j 
'1 

BS3 
I.2IS 

% 

3S0 
«7 

1 
.i 

8U 

i 
-•1 

1,43 

'1 

&81 
Bl 

IS 
'tffi 

sn 

^i 

gjlframl 

•■ii 

ll 

^ 

iJms 

■■SI 

367 

"1 

1,743 

U.154 

CimWing 

i 
f 

1 
■i 
i 

1,16! 

i.S^ 

tl4 

2,263 

301 

J 

12* 
2,878 

2S7 

?Sfe::::  -. 

k;S 

■as 

1 

» 

» 

B.ae 

3,B(0 

900 

"V.eio 

IS 

8,083 

KaudlTobL 

i 

1 

1 

9 
1,15 

ll 
11 

S^( 

„ 
1. 

SSE3i:::;v.;;: 

1.28B 

i 

S 

HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 
TABLE  XII.— CoNTimjKD. 


□.  S.  CENSOa  OF  I860. 

STATE  CENSUS  OF  187S. 

STATE  CENSUS  OF  18SS. 

c.™ 

I 

-3 

i 
1 

1 

1 

li 

a 

1 

i 

i 

s 

li 

818 

8- 

.....J 

i 

1 

2.12! 

172 

7S 
6 

SIti 
321 
44 

,1 

1 

37( 

J 
■1 

if 

3K 

,1 
1 

St 
Ml 

1,161 

J 

'fi 

'i 

1,B51 
123 

3 

S7 

•■1 

■a 
a 

92! 

1 

'1 
'1 

%M 

B,S21 

1* 

1,0U 
2,011 

102 

2U,94« 

%? 

240 

J 

4( 
IS 

1,381 
339 

'■1 

131 

937 
1.07 

i.aai 

39,2(» 

12,]W 

13,S33 

7,BI3 

*1^ 

62 

i 
1 

19 

i 

i 

n 

;<ia 

!f 

1 

■■■'WB 

1 

3,018 
8,^ 

Is 

li 

tS!     51 

11,B4S 
17,674 

ij^i-" 

i 

HJ5 

27,385 
13775 
2,184 

1 

41 

7,^28 

fl 

Z,S01 

8 

14.713 
6,200 

li 

liSss----- 

a.72B 

SSffivv;:::.: 

Total 

i.ce 

w«l  «..™ 

[191.407 

TB,U1 

mm 

11G.S51 

1,574.619 

Historical  RcYiew  of  tlie  Scandinavian  Scliools 

in  Minnesota. 


-BY— 


J.  J.  SKORDALSYOLD. 


The  state  of  Minnesota  is  not  lacking  in  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning.  On  the  contrary,  time  and  again 
academies  and  colleges  have  been  equipped  for  efficient  work 
long  before  students  could  be  secured  in  sufficient  numbers 
to  form  good-sized  classes.  And  pupils  of  Scandinavian 
stock  are  welcome  at  all  kinds  of  schools.  Yet  the  Scandi- 
navians of  the  state  have  made  and  are  still  making  strenu- 
ous efforts  to  build  up  and  equip  schools  of  their  own,  which 
must  necessarily  compete  with  other  private  and  public 
institutious  of  the  same  kind. 

The  earliest  Scandinavian  schools  were  started  by 
Lutheran  church  people  for  the  purpose  of  educating  minis- 
ters, and  teachers  for  parochial  schools;  and  three-fourths  of 
those  w^hich  have  survived  the  ordeal  of  competition  are 
still  controlled  by  men  who  support  this  work  for  the  sake 
of  keeping  their  countrymen  within  the  fold  of  the  church  of 
their  forefathers,  and  of  making  them,  if  possible,  better  and 
nobler  American  citizens  than  it  is  supposed  they  would 

317 


318         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

have  been  if  those  particular  educational  advantages  had 
not  been  oflFered  to  them.  The  great  bulk  of  the  work  per- 
formed at  this  class  of  schools  is  of  a  decidedly  secular 
nature.  But  in  many  cases  the  secular  branches  are  taught 
mainly  in  order  to  secure  attendance  in  our  age  of  commer- 
cialism. In  the  course  of  the  last  few  years  some  business 
colleges  have  been  started  by  young  Scandinavians  as  busi- 
ness enterprises  pure  and  simple.  These  have  had  even 
greater  odds  than  the  former  to  contend  against,  and  some 
of  them  have  expired  after  a  short  and  troublous  career. 

No  less  than  a  score  of  educational  institutions  in  Min- 
nesota are  owned  and  controlled  by  Scandinavians.  About 
one-half  of  the  whole  number  devote  more  or  less  time  to 
Hebrew  or  the  classical  languages,  and  a  majority  of  them 
offer  business  courses.  Over  two  thousand  young  persons 
have  graduated  from  these  institutions  during  the  last  quar- 
ter of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  nearly  one-third  of  them 
completed  a  theological  course  in  Lutheran  seminaries. 
Today  (1900)  about  160  professors  and  teachers  are 
engaged  in  teaching  over  3,000  students  who  attend  Scandi- 
navian schools  in  the  state.  These  institutions  represent  a 
value  of  about  half  a  milUon  dollars. 

A  large  majority  of  the  students  were  bom  in  America, 
but  over  ninety  per  cent  of  them  are  of  Scandinavian  extrac- 
tion. The  Scandinavian  languages  are  losing  ground  from 
year  to  year  in  these  schools,  and  in  most  of  them  EngUsh  is 
used  almost  exclusively  in  daily  intercourse.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  very  many  young  Americans  of  Scandinavian 
stock  will  rather  attend  schools  managed  by  Scandinavians 
than  other  schools  even  when  the  latter  are  better  equipped: 


SCANDINAYIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  MINNESOTA.  319 

they  feel  more  at  home  among  their  own  kinsmen.  As  a 
rule,  those  who  attend  schools  managed  by  Scandinavian 
church  people  learn  to  take  life  seriously,  and  in  after  life 
they  are  found  to  be  the  strong  men  and  women  of  their 
communities.  The  more  ambitious  ones  continue  their 
studies  in  the  state  university  or  some  university  in  the 
East,  and  a  few  of  them  will  round  oflF  their  education  in 
Europe. 

None  can  be  more  fond  of  American  liberty  than  are  the 
Scandinavians,  none  can  be  more  ardently  devoted  to  the 
essentials  of  American  civilization.  And  yet  it  must  be 
admitted  that  their  leading  minds  do  not  take  kindly  to  the 
idea  of  being  unconditionally  swallowed  up  and  losing  their 
identity  in  the  new  nation,  to  the  up-building  of  which  they 
contribute  such  a  great  share.  They  believe  they  famish 
good  timber  for  this  nation ;  they  also  believe  they  ought  to 
have  something  to  say  about  the  construction  of  it.  This 
sentiment  has  found  its  loftiest  expression  in  their  schools. 

The  clergy,  especially  that  of  the  Norwegian  Sjmod 
and  the  Augustana  Sjmod,  have  worked  hard  and  persist- 
ently for  regular  parochial  schools,  and  the  result  is  that 
such  schools  are  taught  at  least  two  months  a  year  in  most 
of  the  congregations.  They  are  generally  located  in  public 
school  houses  or  church  buildings,  and  are  taught  when  the 
public  schools  are  closed.  Quite  a  number  of  congregations 
have  built  parochial  school  houses,  especially  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  state,  and  in  certain  parts  of  Goodhue  county, 
for  instance,  they  are  about  as  numerous  as  the  public 
school  houses. 

A  few  words  must  also  be  said  about  the  relation  of  the 


320         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Scandinavians  to  other  schools  in  the  state.  One  of  the  first 
concerns  of  a  Scandinavian  after  he  has  settled  on  a  piece  of 
land  is  to  provide  some  sort  of  schooling  for  his  children ; 
and  no  matter  how  seriously  he  may  take  religious  aflfairs, 
an  English  common  school  education  is  apt  to  find  great 
favor  with  him.  He  wants  a  cheap  teacher,  however,  and 
he  is  generally  in  favor  of  as  short  terms  as  possible.  About 
one-half  of  the  pupils  of  the  public  schools  of  Minneapolis 
are  of  Scandinavian  blood. 

Swedish.  Gustavus  Adolphus  College,  in  St.  Peter, 
practically  dates  from  1862.  In  that  year  Rev.  E.  Norelius 
started  a  school  in  Red  Wing,  but  the  next  year  it  was 
removed  to  East  Union,  Carver  county,  and  named  St. 
Ansgar's  Academy.  In  1874  twenty-three  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  Minnesota  Conference  formed  a  corporation  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  and  maintaining  **an  institution 
of  learning  and  instruction  in  the  arts  and  sciences,*'  and  in 
the  course  of  the  next  two  years  a  suitable  building  was  put 
up  in  St.  Peter.  In  1876  the  academy  mentioned  above  was 
removed  into  the  new  building.  From  that  time  the  school 
has  been  known  as  Gustavus  Adolphus  College,  and  it 
is  supported  and  controlled  by  the  Minnesota  Conference 
of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Augustana  Synod.  The  growth  of 
it  has  been  steady  and  vigorous,  and  for  years  past  it  has 
ranked  with  the  best  colleges  of  the  Northwest.  It  com- 
prises college,  academic,  commercial,  musical  and  normal 
departments.  The  main  object  of  the  school  is  to  give  young 
people  **a  thorough  liberal  education,  based  upon  and 
permeated  by  the  principles  of  Christianity  as  confessed  by 
the  Lutheran  Church,*'  and  some  aspect  of  the  Bible  or  of 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  MINNESOTA.  321 

the  history  of  the  church  receives  marked  attention  in  every 
class.  **A  musical  atmosphere  pervades  the  entire  institu- 
tion," says  the  catalogue,  and  great  eflForts  have  been  put 
forth  to  make  the  conservatory  of  music  correspond  to  the 
fastidious  demands  of  a  musical  race.  The  library  contains 
9,000  volumes;  the  specimens  in  the  museum  number  several 
thousand;  and  the  laboratory  is  well  supplied  with  chemical, 
physical,  mathematical  and  astronomical  apparatuses.  The 
Minnesota  Conference  has  always  treated  this  college  gener- 
ously, and  the  faculty  has  been  a  strong  one.  And  yet  the 
high  standing  of  the  institution  is  very  largely  due  to  the 
eminent  fitness  of  Prof.  M.  Wahlstrom  as  president,  which 
position  he  has  held  since  1881.  There  are  sixteen  profes- 
sors and  instructors,  several  of  whom  hold  doctors'  degrees 
from  the  leading  universities  of  Sweden  and  this  country. 
About  220  students  have  graduated  from  the  college,  and 
the  Augustana  Theological  Seminary  at  Rock  Island,  111., 
draws  some  of  its  best  material  from  this  source.  The 
attendance  is  about  300,  more  than  one-fourth  of  whom  are 
ladies.  The  campus,  which  is  twenty-five  acres  in  extent, 
commands  a  fine  view  of  the  surrounding  country.  There 
are  six  college  buildings,  the  largest  one  of  which  is  a 
massive  structure  of  Kasota  stone.  The  current  expenses 
amount  to  about  $18,000  a  year,  and  the  value  of  the  col- 
lege property  is  $75,000. 

The  Northwestern  Collegiate  and  Business  Institute,  in 
Minneapolis,  was  established  by  Rev.  E.  A.  Skogsbergh,  in 
1885,  and  he  has  been  closely  connected  with  the  school 
since  that  time.  At  present  it  is  owned  and  operated  by  a 
corporation,  the  most  of  whose  members  are  co-operating 

22 


322  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

with  the  Swedish  Mission  Covenant.  For  years  past  the 
annual  enrolment  has  been  about  150.  There  are  from  eight 
to  ten  instructors,  and  the  school  oflfersfour  courses  of  study. 

Crookston  College,  in  the  city  after  which  it  is  named, 
was  estabUshed  in  1896,  without  capital,  and  it  is  owned 
by  private  parties.  Its  catalogue  offers  about  ten  courses  of 
study,  and  the  work  is  carried  on  by  as  many  instructors. 
In  later  years  the  attendance  has  been  not  far  from  300.  The 
college  property  is  worth  at  least  $7,500. 

Hope  Academy  was  founded  at  Moorhead  in  1888  by  the 
Red  River  Valley  District  of  the  Minnesota  Conference  of  the 
Swedish  Augustana  S3niod,  and  was  discontinued  in  1896. 
The  faculty  consisted  of  five  members,  and  the  school  offered 
the  same  number  of  departments.  The  enrolment  for  the 
last  year  of  its  existence  was  84. 

Emanuel  Academy  was  founded  in  Minneapolis  in  1888 
by  members  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  and  was  discontinued 
in  1892.  Five  instructors  were  employed  in  the  cQurse  of 
the  last  year  of  its  existence,  and  the  enrolment  for  that 
year  was  91. 

Norwegian.  Augsburg  Seminary,  in  Minneapolis,  has 
passed  through  many  vicissitudes.  The  Norw^egian  mem- 
bers of  the  Scandinavian  Augustana  Synod  decided  to  estab- 
lish a  theological  seminary  of  their  own  in  1869,  and  this 
was  located  at  Marshall,  Wis.  It  was  named  Augsburg 
Seminary,  though,  in  the  words  of  its  first  president,  **many 
may  have  desired  a  name  of  a  more  Northern  origin.**  A 
building  originally  erected  for  school  purposes  was  bought 
for  $4,000,  and  the  work  was  begun  under  favorable  aus- 
pices.   But  a  part  of  those  Norwegians  who  were  in  the 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  MINNESOTA.  323 

deal  organized  themselves  into  a  new  association,  the  Nor- 
wegian-Danish Evangelical  Lutheran  Conference,  in  1870, 
and  the  professors  and  students  left  the  building  almost  to 
a  man  and  continued  their  work  in  connection  with  the  new- 
association.  The  class  was  crowded  into  Cooper's  Hall,  the 
dimensions  of  which  were  18x10  feet  and  eight  feet  to  the 
ceiling.  In  the  winter  of  1870-71  there  were  two  professors 
and  about  a  score  of  students,  and  they  were  all  contending 
against  grim  poverty  and  other  odds  of  an  equally  serious 
nature.  In  1872  the  school  was  removed  to  its  present 
location,  Rev.  O.  Paulson  having  been  instrumental  in 
securing  grounds  and  erecting  a  suitable  building.  Indeed, 
his  eflforts  in  this  respect  have  justified  his  friends  in  calling 
him  "the  father  of  Augsburg.*'  Prof.  A.  Weenaas  was  the 
president  of  the  seminary  from  the  start  to  the  spring  of 
1876.  He  was  an  able  man,  and  his  main  strength  lay  in 
his  ability  to  arouse  fanatical  enthusiasm  in  his  associates — 
he  was  a  typical  Norwegian-American  chieftain  in  religious 
warfare.  The  removal  to  Minneapolis  marks  an  era  of 
expansion,  not  only  of  Augsburg  Seminary,  but  of  the  Con- 
ference as  well.  Since  1873  Prof.  Sven  Oftedal  has  occupied 
a  chair  of  theology,  and  Prof.  G.  Sverdrup  has  served  as 
president  since  1876.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  these  two 
men  have  made  Augsburg  Seminary  the  great  storm  centre 
of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  church  in  America,  and  their 
work  is  of  such  character  that  it  may  yet  take  decades 
before  the  historian  can  put  it  in  its  true  light.  It  may  be 
said  even  at  this  stage,  however,  that  they  aim  at  the 
greatest  possible  simplification  of  religious  doctrines ;  con- 
gregational independence ;  and  a  vigorous  religious  life  in 


324         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S 

the  individual.  During  the  seventies  the  seminary  was 
loaded  down  with  debt,  but  Prof.  Oftedal  succeeded  in  rais- 
ing $18,000  for  the  liquidation  of  it.  During  the  years 
1890-93  the  seminary  was  operated  under  the  auspices  of 
the  United  Church,  and  it  was  officially  regarded  as  the 
theological  seminary  of  said  association.  But  as  the  board 
of  trustees  failed  to  transfer  the  property  to  the  United 
Church,  the  latter  ** removed"  its  seminary  from  the  Augs- 
burg buildings  into  rented  quarters  in  the  summer  of  1893. 
Those  who  remained  at  Augsburg,  and  their  friends,  on  the 
contrary,  have  always  maintained  that  at  this  critical 
moment  the  United  Church  simply  withdrew  from  Augsburg 
and  started  a  **  new  '*  seminary  of  its  own.  In  the  course  of 
time  the  Augsburg  faction  was  organized  into  the  Free 
Church,  and  the  controversy  between  this  body  and  the 
United  Church  about  the  ownership  of  the  Augsburg  Semi- 
nary property  aroused  great  bitterness,  and  many  harsh 
words  were  used.  The  matter  was  fought  in  the  courts  from 
1896  to  1898,  which  involved  a  combined  expenditure  of 
about  $17,000.  In  the  summer  of  1898  the  case  was  settled 
by  mutual  agreement  to  the  effect  that  the  Augsburg  Semi- 
nary corporation  should  keep  the  property,  while  an  endow- 
ment fund  amounting  to  about  $39,000  was  to  be  turned 
over  to  the  United  Church.  Legally,  the  seminary  is  owned 
and  controlled  by  a  corporation.  There  are  eight  profes- 
sors, and  the  seminary  oflFers  three  departments,  namely,  a 
preparatory,  a  classical  and  a  theological.  About  260 
students  have  been  graduated  from  the  theological,  and  120 
from  the  classical  department.  The  annual  enrolment  is 
about  200.    The  present  value  of  the  property  is  $60,000. 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  MINNKSOTA.  325 

Red  Wing  Seminary  is  the  college  and  theological  semi- 
nary of  Hauge*s  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod.  This  institu- 
tion was  located  in  Red  Wing  and  at  its  present  quarters 
largely  through  the  prompt  and  timely  action  of  a  single 
man,  H.  M.  Sande.  From  the  middle  of  the  fifties  to  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventies,  several  attempts  to  establish  a 
permanent  seminary  were  made  in  said  synod,  but  without 
success.  In  the  fall  of  1877  Sande  was  advised  that  the 
building  now  used  by  Red  Wing  Seminary  could  be  bought 
for  $10,000,  though  it  had  cost  about  $20,000.  He  and  a 
few  of  the  leading  men  of  the  sjmod  felt  confident  that  the 
sjmod  w^ould  buy  the  property,  and  In  order  to  prevent  it 
from  passing  into  other  hands  before  the  synod  was  able  to 
take  the  necessary  formal  steps  to  make  a  purchase,  he 
bought  the  property  at  his  own  risk  Jan.  8,  1878.  As  soon 
as  possible  the  synod  endorsed  his  action,  and  March  1, 
1878,  the  property  was  deeded  to  the  synod.  The  seminary 
was  publicly  opened  Sept.  17,  1879,  with  Rev.  I.  Eisteinsen 
as  president.  Prof.  G.  O.  Brohough  has  been  teaching  in  the 
school  since  its  opening,  excepting  the  years  1893-95.  No 
president  has  been  retained  for  any  great  length  of  time^ 
and  seven  different  men  have  served  in  that  capacity  since 
the  seminary  was  opened.  There  are  two  departments,  a 
theological  and  a  preparatory ;  and  the  former  is  in  charge 
of  three  professors,  the  latter  of  four.  The  work  has  been 
hampered  by  frequent  changes  in  the  faculty ;  but  the  school 
has  turned  out  a  large  number  of  able  and  fearless  men  who 
generally  are  a  power  for  good  in  their  spheres  of  action. 
Over  one  hundred  young  men  have  graduated  from  the 
preparatory,  and  about  eighty  from  the  theological  depart- 


326  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

ment.  Over  seventy  of  the  latter  have  entered  the  ministry 
of  the  Gospel.  Graduates  from  the  preparatory  department 
may  enter  the  State  University  without  examination.  The 
total  annual  enrolment  is  from  140  to  150.  Some  money 
has  been  raised  for  a  new  dormitory,  which  will  be  named 
after  H.  M.  Sande.    The  value  of  the  property  is  $20,000. 

St.  Olaf  College,  at  Northfield,  was  originally  called  St. 
Olaf  s  School.  Rev.  B.  J.  Muus  may  justly  be  called  the 
father  of  this  institution,  for  he  was  the  soul  and  backbone 
of  the  movement  which  resulted  in  its  establishment.  A 
number  of  prominent  members  of  the  Norwegian  Synod 
held  a  meeting  in  Northfield  Nov.  6,  1874,  and  adopted  arti- 
cles of  incorporation  for  the  school,  and  this  was  finally 
opened  Jan.  8,  1875,  in  a  frame  building  formerly  used  as 
a  public  school  house.  The  school  was  removed  into  quar- 
ters of  its  own  in  the  fall  of  1878.  To  begin  with,  it  was 
only  an  academy;  but  in  1886  a  college  department  was 
added.  The  languages  predominate  in  the  collegiate  depart- 
ment, and  even  Hebrew  is  taught  in  the  classical  courses. 
The  college  was  originally  owned  and  controlled  by  a  cor- 
poration, most  of  whose  members  joined  the  United  Church 
in  1890,  and  in  1899  the  ownership  and  control  of  the 
institution  were  formally  transferred  to  the  United  Church, 
the  articles  of  incorporation  being  amended  so  as  to  substi- 
tute this  body  for  the  old  corporation.  Prof.  Th.  N.  Mohn 
served  as  president  from  1875  to  1899,  and  at  the  latter 
date  Rev.  J.  N.  Kildahl  was  elected  to  succeed  him.  The 
faculty  is  composed  of  a  dozen  members.  For  a  number  of 
years  Prof  H.  T.  Ytterboe  devoted  his  whole  time  to  his 
duties  as  financial  secretary,  and  his  success  in  collecting 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  MINNESOTA.  327 

voluntary  contributions  to  the  college  was  very  great. 
About  55  persons  have  graduated  from  the  collegiate,  220 
from  the  academic  department.  The  attendance  was  stead- 
ily decreasing  for  years,  the  enrolment  for  1891-92  being 
184;  that  of  1897-98,  113.  The  property  of  the  college  is 
valued  at  $40,000. 

Luther  Seminary,  the  theological  seminary  of  the  Nor- 
wegian Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod,  was  established  in 
1876,  at  Madison,  Wis.,  where  it  remained  until  1888. 
During  this  period  Prof.  F.  A.  Schmidt  and  Prof.  H.  G. 
Stub  successively  served  as  president  of  the  institution. 
The  work  carried  on  here  during  the  eighties  was  marred 
by  doctrinal  controversies,  in  which  Prof.  Schmidt  was  the 
central  figure,  and  in  1886  only  seven  students  were  in 
attendance.  Nevertheless,  over  fifty  young  men  were 
graduated  from  the  seminary  while  it  was  located  at  Madi- 
son. In  1888  the  seminary  was  removed  to  Minneapolis, 
where  the  school  building  of  Our  Savior's  Church  served  as 
temporary  quarters  during  the  winter  of  1888—89.  In  the 
fall  of  the  latter  year  it  was  removed  to  Robbinsdale,  where 
it  was  located  in  a  magnificent  building  erected  for  the  pur- 
pose at  a  cost  of  $30,000.  This  building  was  destroyed  by 
fire  Jan.  11,  1895,  and  for  the  next  four  years  the  work  of 
the  seminary  w^as  carried  on  in  a  frame  building  in  Robbins- 
dale, which  formerly  had  been  used  as  a  hotel.  With 
admirable  determination  the  synod  secured  new  grounds  at 
Hamline,  St.  Paul,  on  which  a  building  was  put  up  at  a  cost 
of  $60,000,  and  the  seminary  has  been  located  there  since 
the  fall  of  1899.  The  seminary  offered  only  a  practical 
course  during  the  years  1876-78,  but  a  theoretical  course 


328         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVAINS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

• 

was  added  at  the  latter  date.  At  first  only  two  professors 
were  employed,  but  for  a  number  of  years  past  the  faculty 
has  consisted  of  four  professors.  Prof.  J.  B.  Frich  has 
served  as  president  since  1888.  This  seminary  in  one  respect 
holds  a  unique  position,  being  the  only  Scandinavian-Amer- 
ican institution  of  learning  which  educates  ministers,  but 
which  has  no  other  department  connected  with  it  as  a 
feeder  to  the  theological  department.  The  main  reason 
given  for  this  isolation  is,  that  it  is  not  desirable  that 
young  men  should  be  kept  constantly  under  the  influence  of 
the  same  mind  or  minds  from  the  time  they  enter  col- 
lege until  they  enter  the  ministry — ^it  would  stunt  their 
mental  development  and  make  them  caricatures  of  some 
favorite  teacher  or  teachers.  The  whole  number  of  gradu- 
ates up  to  date  is  about  225,  and  the  attendance  is  about 
45.  The  value  of  the  seminary  property  is  at  least  $80,000. 
The  United  Church  Seminary,  Minneapolis.  In  1886  the 
Anti-Missourians  established  a  theological  class  in  connec- 
tion with  St.  Olaf  College,  at  Northfield,  Minn. ;  but  when 
the  Anti-Missourians,  in  1890,  joined  two  other  associa- 
tions in  organizing  the  United  Church,  the  professors,  M.  O. 
Bockman  and  F.  A.  Schmidt,  removed  from  Northfield  to 
Augsburg  Seminary,  Minneapolis,  which  institution  was  to 
be  the  theological  seminary  of  the  United  Church.  But 
as  the  old  board  of  trustees  of  Augsburg  Seminary  failed 
to  transfer  the  property,  the  United  Church  **removed*'  its 
seminary  and  located  it  in  rented  quarters  at  the  comer  of 
Franklin  and  Twenty-sixth  avenues  south,  Minneapolis. 
This  occurred  in  1893,  and  since  that  year  the  institution 
has  been  known  by  its  present  name.    Prof.  M.  O.  Bockman 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  MINNESOTA.  329 

has  served  as  president  since  1893.  There  are  nine  profes- 
sors and  instructors,  and  the  annual  enrolment  is  about 
200.  The  number  of  graduates*  is  about  150  from  the  theo- 
logical, and  40  from  the  classical  department.  In  1899  the 
United  Church  resolved  to  discontinue  the  college  depart- 
ment in  the  spring  of  1900,  leaving  the  school  a  theological 
seminary  pure  and  simple.  At  the  same  time  it  was  also 
resolved  to  secure  permanent  grounds  and  to  erect  buildings 
for  the  seminary  in  or  near  the  Twin  Cities. 

The  United  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church,  at  the  time  of 
its  organization  in  Minneapolis,  in  1890,  resolved  to  estab- 
lish a  teachers'  seminary.  Accordingly,  the  Normal  School 
of  said  church  association  was  built  at  Madison,  Minn. 
The  dedication  of  the  first  building  took  place  Nov.  10, 
1892,  and  ever  since  that  date  the  work  at  the  school  has 
been  carried  on  with  great  regularity.  The  school  is  man- 
aged by  a  board  of  regents  and  a  board  of  trustees  elected 
by  the  annual  meetings  of  the  United  Church.  As  indicated 
by  the  name,  **the  aim  of  the  school  is  to  qualify  young 
men  and  women  for  teachers  in  our  public  schools  and  in 
the  Norwegian  parochial  schools.*'  Only  two  courses,  a 
preparatory  and  a  normal,  are  oflFered,  and  English  and 
Norwegian  are  the  only  languages  meddled  with.  On  the 
whole,  the  program  of  this  school  is  comparatively  modest, 
and  perhaps  for  that  very  reason  its  attendance  has  been 
growing  rather  slowly.  But  the  work  is  done  thoroughly 
and  enthusiastically,  and  as  a  power  for  good  this  institu- 
tion stands  high.    For  ^ears  the  work  has  been  performed 


*  For  the  years  1891-93  the  erradaates  of  the  United  Church  Seminary,  as  given  by 
its  catalogue,  are  the  same  as  those  given  by  the  catalogue  of  Augsburg  Seminary. 


330        HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE   U.  S. 

by  five  instructors,  under  the  able  and  popular  leadership  of 
Prof.  O.  Lokensgaard,  and  the  annual  enrolment  is  about 
120.  The  value  of  the  main  building  is  $26,000,  and  a 
dormitory  has  just  been  erected  at  a  cost  of  $10,000. 

The  Willmar  Seminary,  at  Willmar,  has  been  in  opera- 
tion since  the  fall  of  1883.  It  was  established  through  the 
efforts  of  members  of  the  Norwegian  Synod,  and  it  is  owned 
by  a  corporation  which  was  organized  in  1882  and  reorgan- 
ized in  1890.  The  school  offers  five  courses ;  but  these  actu- 
ally embrace  more  than  some  schools  parading  twice  that 
number  of  courses  in  their  catalogues.  There  are  eight  pro- 
fessors and  instructors.  H.  S.  Hilleboe,  who  for  a  long 
series  of  years  held  the  position  of  president,  deserves  special 
mention  because  he  was  the  chief  instrument  in  building  up 
the  school.  In  the  early  nineties  the  attendance  reached 
almost  400 ;  but  hard  times  and  competition  reduced  it  very 
materially.  The  annual  enrolment  now  averages  about 
225,  and  it  is  on  the  increase.  The  whole  number  of  grad- 
uates is  about  160.  The  cost  of  the  estabUshment  is 
$20,000,  and  it  now  affords  class-room  accommodation  for 
500  students. 

The  Lutheran  Ladies'  Seminary,  at  Red  Wing,  is  the 
only  Norwegian  school  of  its  kind  in  America.  From  the 
start  it  has  been  owned  and  operated  by  a  corporation 

whose  members  belong  to  the  Norwegian  S3mod.    A  dozen 

» 

persons  are  connected  with  the  school  as  instructors,  and  it 
offers  seven  courses  of  study,  four  of  which  cover  five  years 
each.  The  number  of  branches  taught  is  great,  ranging  from 
cooking  and  dressmaking  to  German,  French  and  Latin.  The 
corporation  has  made  strenuous  efforts  to  render  the  school 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  MINNESOTA.  331 

a  first-class  institution  of  learning,  and  its  career  since  it 
was  established,  in  1894,  has  been  encouraging.  The  dis- 
cipline is  very  strict.  The  attendance  for  the  first  year  in 
the  history  of  the  seminary  was  57,  but  in  the  course  of  time 
this  number  has  more  than  doubled.  The  seminary  building 
is  a  noble  structure,  and  large  enough  to  accommodate  150 
students.  "The  seminary  grounds  are  unsurpassed,"  and 
occupy  eighteen  acres.  The  whole  property  is  worth 
$80,000. 

Luther  Academy,  at  Albert  Lea,  was  opened  in  the  fall 
of  1888.  It  was  established  and  is  still  owned  and  con- 
trolled by  a  corporation  within  the  Norwegian  Synod. 
"Luther  Academy  aims  to  build  up  character  and  manhood 
on  Christian  principles,"  and  "religious  instruction  is  given 
a  prominent  place  among  the  branches  taught."  The  school 
offers  six  branches  of  study,  and  the  class  work  is  conducted 
by  an  equal  number  of  instructors.  The  whole  number  of 
graduates  up  to  date  is  over  one  hundred,  and  the  annual 
enrolment  is  from  150  to  200.  The  main  building  is  a  large, 
fine  brick  structure,  and  the  value  of  the  whole  property  is 
$25,000. 

Concordia  College,  at  Moorhead,  has  been  in  operation 
since  1891.  It  is  owned  and  managed  by  a  corporation 
within  the  United  Church,  and  its  chief  aim  is  to  educate 
teachers  for  public  and  parochial  schools.  It  offers  classical, 
normal,  business,  music  and  domestic  industry  courses,  and 
the  number  of  instructors  is  from  six  to  twelve.  The  aver- 
age annual  enrolment  is  about  250,  and  the  whole  number 
of  graduates  up  to  date  is  nearly  100.  The  value  of  the 
property  is  $40,000. 


332         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

The  Park  Region  Luther  College,  in  Fergus  Falls,  was 
opened  in  1892.  It  was  established  by  ministers  and  lay- 
men of  the  Norwegian  Synod  and  is  controlled  by  a  corpo- 
ration. The  school  offers  a  commercial  and  an  academic 
course,  and  the  studies  are  especially  adapted  to  the  needs 
of  those  who  intend  to  teach  public  and  parochial  schools. 
There  are  six  professors  and  instructors ;  the  whole  number 
ofgraduates  from  the  school  is  about  60;  and  the  annual 
enrolment  is  almost  200. 

Glenwood  Academy,  at  Glenwood,  has  been  in  opera- 
tion since  1894.  It  is  owned  and  managed  by  a  corpora- 
tion composed  wholly  of  members  of  the  Norwegian  S3mod. 
The  school  olBFers  only  four  courses  of  study,  but  each  one  is 
quite  comprehensive,  and  the  work  is  thorough.  The  annual 
enrolment  is  about  100.  The  property  belonging  to  the 
school  is  worth  $8,000. 

The  Minnesota  Normal  School  and  Business  College  is 
located  in  Minneapolis.  It  was  established  in  1896.  In 
1899  its  proprietors  bought  the  Minneapolis  Normal  Col- 
lege, which  institution  was  opened  at  Crookston,  Minn.,  in 
1893,  but  was  removed  to  Minneapolis  in  1894.  The  con- 
solidation of  the  two  schools  raised  the  attendance  of  the 
former  to  about  400.  Th^e  catalogue  offers  almost  a  dozen 
diifferent  courses  of  study,  and  the  faculty  numbers  almost 
a  score  of  professors  and  instructors. 

The  Southern  Minnesota  Normal  College,  at  Austin, 
was  started  at  Kenyon,  Minn.,  in  1895,  and  was  removed 
to  its  present  location  in  1897.  The  enrolment  for  the  year 
1897-98  was  207,  and  since  that  time  the  attendance  has 
materially  increased.    The  corps  of  professors  and  instruct- 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  MINNESOTA.  333 

ors  numbers  ten,  more  than  half  of  whom  devote  their 
whole  time  to  the  work  in  the  school.  There  are  about  ten 
diflFerent  courses  of  study;  and  the  value  of  the  property 
belonging  to  the  institution  is  $7,000. 

Wraaman^s  Academy  has  been  in  operation  in  South 
Minneapolis  since  1890.  Its  enrolment  never  reached  100, 
and  the  present  attendance  is  about  20. 

Northwestern  Free  Church  Mission  School  has  been  at 
Belgrade  since  1897.  Its  aim  is  religious  edification  and 
instruction,  and  its  attendance  is  about  50. 

Danish.  The  Danebod  High  School,  at  Tyler,  is  an 
adaptation,  on  American  soil,  of  the  imique  Dalfish  institu- 
tions known  for  the  past  fifty  years  as  **the  people^s  high 
schools.*'  Accordingly,  the  students  at  Danebod  may 
choose  any  study  they  please;  there  are  no  examinations; 
no  degrees  are  conferred;  only  practical  and  character-build- 
ing branches  are  taught;  and  the  boys  attend  in  winter,  the 
girls  in  summer.  The  school  dates  from  1888,  and  is 
owned  by  a  corporation;  but  the  buildings  are  rented  by 
A.  Bobjerg,  the  principal.  The  enrolment  is  about  60.  The 
property  of  the  school  is  worth  $5,000. 

The  above  account  includes  all  Scandinavian  schools  of 
any  account  in  this  state;  but  we  have  intentionally  left 
out  several  defiinct  schools  which  we  did  not  consider  to  be 
of  such  importance  as  to  deserve  mention  in  this  work. 

Other  Institutions.  The  attendance  at  the  four  state 
normal  schools  is  about  3;000.  Of  this  number,  about  525, 
or  18  per  cent,  are  evidently  of  Scandinavian  parentage. 
It  is  estimated  that  40  per  cent  of  the  population  of  the 
state  are  of  Scandinavian  stock;  hence  the  Scandinavians 


334         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

do  not  fiimish  quite  one-half  of  their  natural  share  of  the 
attendance  at  the  Minnesota  state  normal  schools.  Only 
thirteen  per  cent  of  the  university  students  are  of  Scandi- 
navian extraction;  but  they  constitute  forty  per  cent 
of  the  attendance  at  the  agricultural  school  connected 
with  the  university.  The  former  percentage  is  surprisingly 
low.  But  this  is  not  due  to  any  interference  from  the  Scan- 
dinavian schools.  In  fact,  the  latter  seem  to  serve  as  feed- 
ers to  the  university.  The  main  cause  is  the  general  dis- 
inclination of  the  rich  Scandinavian  farmers  to  keep  their 
children  in  a  purely  secular  school  which  requires  the 
student  to  toil  on  for  years  and  years  before  his  education 
is  finally  finished,  and  which  even  at  the  best  does  not 
oflFer  any  highway  to  wealth  or  honor.  This  statement  is 
indirectly  substantiated  by  the  fact  that  a  very  large  pro- 
portion of  this  class  of  students  have  to  fight  their  way 
single-handed  through  their  imiversity  course.  Prof.  O.  J. 
Breda  for  a  number  of  years  occupied  the  chair  of  Scandi- 
navian languages  and  literatures  at  the  State  University, 
and  his  acknowledged  scholarship  made  him  one  of  the 
strongest  men  at  that  institution.  In  1899  he  removed  to 
Norway,  and  J.  S.  Carlson,  an  able  educator,  succeeded 
him.  The  number  of  Scandinavian  professors  and  instruct- 
ors in  the  state  institutions  is  strikingly  small.  At  Carle- 
ton  College,  Northfield,  a  Scandinavian  department  has  been 
in  operation  since  1885,  and  twenty  per  cent  of  the  stu- 
dents at  that  college  are  of  Scandinavian  stock.  Prof.  D. 
Magnus  is  at  the  head  of  the  Scandinavian  department, 
and  through  his  elBForts  many  of  his  young  countrymen  and 
countrywomen  have  been  induced  to  attend  this  college. 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Scandinavian 
Qurclies  in  Minnnesota. 

— BY— 

O.  N.  NELSON  AND  J.  J.  SKORDALSYOLD. 


The  Scandinavians  have  been  powerful  agents  in  pro- 
moting the  intellectual  and  religious  welfare  of  the  people 
of  the  state  of  Minnesota.  One  of  the  first  pioneers  and 
Protestant  missionaries  among  the  Indians  in  Minnesota 
was  a  Swede,  Jacob  Falstrom,  who  came  to  the  state  before 
Fort  Snelling  was  established,  in  1819;  and,  although  he 
did  little  or  nothing  in  promoting  civilization  because  he 
had  degenerated  into  savagery  himself,  yet  he  was  a  noted 
character.  He  was  the  Brst  Northman  in  the  Northwest. 
Since  that  time  some  other  Scandinavians  have  endeavored 
to  Christianize  the  savage  as  well  as  the  civilized  natives  of 
the  North  Star  State.  But  the  main  effort  of  the  majority 
of  the  religiously  inclined  Northmen  has  been  directed 
towards  maintaining  and  promoting  the  religious  principles 
among  their  own  people.  In  this  respect  they  have  been  so 
successful  that  in  1900  there  were  in  the  neighborhood  of 
1,600  Scandinavian  congregations  in  the  state,  with  an 
aggregate  membership,  including  the  children,  of  nearly  two 

335 


336         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

hundred  and  fifty  thousand.  That  is,  over  one-third  of  the 
Minnesota  Scandinavians  belong  to  some  leading  religious 
association.  But  several  thousand  Northmen  are  members 
of  purely  American  churches,  and  some  even  associate  them- 
selves reUgiously  with  other  nationalities,  for  example,  with 
the  German  Lutherans,  and  a  very  few  have  joined  the 
Irish  Catholics.  This  class  of  people  together  with  those 
who  do  not  belong  to  any  church,  but  yet  attend  regularly 
a  certain  place  of  worship,  would  probably  increase  the 
number  of  church-going  Scandinavians  in  the  state  to 
about  half  a  million,  or  over  two-thirds  of  their  total  num- 
ber. There  are  about  1,100  church  edifices;  and  the  value 
of  these  buildings,  parsonages,  schools,  and  other  institu- 
tions owned  and  controlled  by  the  Northmen  in  the  state  in 
the  interest  of  religion,  education,  and  benevolence  seems  to 
be  nearly  $4,000,000. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  religious  work  has  been  and  is 
done  by  the  Lutherans.  Out  of  the  250,000  Northmen  in 
the  state  who  are  church  members,  about  215,000  belong 
to  the  Lutheran  associations.  They  control  all  the  im- 
portant Scandinavian  schools,  and  own  six  hospitals  and 
four  orphans' homes.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  by  the 
different  American  denominations  to  do  missionary  work 
among  the  Scandinavians  in  the  state.  More  money  has 
been  expended  and  more  brain-work  wasted  for  this  purpose 
in  Minnesota,  especially  in  the  Twin  Cities,  than  in  any 
other  state  in  the  Union.  American  Baptists,  Methodists, 
Episcopalians,  Congregationalists,  Adventists,  Presbyteri- 
ans, Unitarians,  and  others  have  endeavored  to  convert  the 
Scandinavians  to  their  respective  creeds.  Some  of  them  have 


SCANDINAYIAN  CHURCHES  IN  MINMKSOTA.  337 

succeeded  fairly  well,  but  hardly,  it  seems,  in  proportion  to 
the  expenditure.  The  Methodist  Missionary  Society,  for 
example,  has  paid  out  about  $50,000  annually  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  to  the  Scandinavian  Methodists  in  the  United 
States.  Of  course,  Minnesota  has  received  a  large  share  of 
these  appropriations.  Besides,  wealthy  Methodists  have 
assisted  poor  churches  in  their  neighborhoods;  yet,  in  spite  of 
all  this,  there  were  only  about  3,000  Scandinavian  Metho- 
dists in  the  state  in  1900.  Other  denominations  have  also 
been  very  generous;  but,  with  the  probable  exception  of  the 
Baptists,  have  not  been  any  more  successful.  A  Scandi- 
navian Unitarian  church  in  Minneapolis  has  received  over 
$25,000  from  the  Americans  during  the  last  sixteen  years, 
and  for  several  years  past  each  member  of  this  church  has 
cost  the  Americans  over  $15.00  a  year.  A  Scandinavian 
Presbyterian  church  cost  the  American  Presbyterians  about 
$1,000  a  year  for  half  a  dozen  years,  or  nearly  $100 
annually  for  each  communicant.  In  pursuing  missionary 
work  among  a  people  who  all  have  received  at  least  the 
rudiments  of  a  Christian  training,  prosel3rting  can  hardly 
be  avoided  even  by  conscientious  men,  and  some  of  the 
so-called  missionaries  have  been  merely  unscrupulous  ad- 
venturers. The  noblest  religious  zeal  and  the  basest  methods 
of  prosel3rting  have  been  practiced  in  order  to  regenerate  the 
Scandinavians  in  this  state,  or  to  change  their  religious 
belief.  But  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  neither  money,  devotion, 
nor  moral  scruples  have  been  spared,  yet  the  result  has  not 
been  very  great.  The  main  causes  of  this  meagemess  in 
results  are  the  conservatism  of  the  Scandinavians  and  their 
devotion  to  the  Lutheran  faith.     Many  Northmen,  both. 

23 


338         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

church  members  and  outsiders,  also  feel  it  as  a  humiliation 
that  they  should  be  treated  as  fit  subjects  for  missionary- 
work  the  same  as  are  the  savages  of  Africa.  Nor  should  it  be 
overlooked  in  this  connection  that  the  Scandinavians  are 
very  fond  of  self-government  in  religious  as  well  as  in  politi- 
cal matters.    And  when  the  zealous  devotees  or  paid  emis- 
saries have  tried  to  convert  to  their  views  Lutheran  church 
members  of  good  standing,  the  Lutherans  have  sometimes 
publicly  denounced  such  practice.    They  have  maintained 
that  as  independent  and  self-sustaining  church  organiza- 
tions, they  were  entitled  to  the  considerations  and  courte- 
des  which  are  supposed  to  be  practiced  among  the  differ- 
ent denominations.     As  good  American  citizens  and  orderly 
Christians,    the    Scandinavian-American    Lutherans    have 
opposed   to   the   bitter   end   all   attempts   to  make  their 
countrymen  the  tail  end  of  any  sect;  and  they  have  always 
believed,  justly  or  unjustly,  that   they  could  take  care  of 
their  religious  instruction  and  promote   their  Americaniza- 
tion in  as  satisfactory  manner  as  anyone  else,  if  not  a  little 
better.    With  the  Americans,  and  to  a  certain  extent  among 
the  Scandinavians,  religious  selfishness  and  national  bigotry- 
have  apparently  played  a  part  in  all  this  activity.    Yet  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  Christian  zeal  has  in  the  main  prompted 
the  contending  parties  to  such  energetic  exertions,  and  as 
the  Northmen  stand  as  victors  in  the  field,  little  complaint 
is  nowadays  heard  from   them.     The  other  parties  have 
paid  out  large  sums  of  money,  and  some  continue  to  do  so 
yet,  and  all  have  received  valuable  lessons  of  experience. 

The  typical  Norwegian  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  rest- 
less and  impatient.    On  his  native  soil  he  has  given  vent  to 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHURCHES  IN  MINNESOTA.  339 

this  restlessness  and  impatience  through  his  national  poli- 
tics; in  America,  partly  through  his  church  work.  Indeed, 
no  set  of  emigrants  of  the  nineteenth  century  have  carried 
on  such  extensive  and  persistent  church  controversies 
among  themselves  as  have  the  Norwegians  and  their 
descendants  from  the  time  of  the  exodus  of  the  Sloop  folks 
down  to  our  day.  Singularly  enough,  however,  the  conten- 
tions of  the  church  members,  instead  of  scaring  away  out- 
siders, have  actually  attracted  them.  Accordingly,  though 
the  Norwegians,  as  a  nationality,  are  not  naturally 
more  religious  than  other  Indo-Europeans,  those  of  them 
who  have  landed  upon  our  shore  during  the  past  sixty 
years  enjoy  the  unique  distinction  of  having  joined  some 
church  in  larger  numbers,  proportionately,  than  any  other 
immigrants  of  the  same  period.  The  Norwegian  Lutherans 
in  the  state  for  thirty-five  years  past  have  been  engaged  in 
mutual  controversies  of  different  kinds.  Many  of  them — ^in 
fact  the  most  of  them — ^have  at  one  time  or  another  deplored 
this  internecine  warfare  and  protested  that  it  would 
destroy  the  church.  But  on  the  whole  it  has  actually  stimu- 
lated the  church  work,  and  close  observation  has  convinced 
us  that  if  there  had  been  peace  instead  of  war,  the  Nor- 
wegian Lutherans  in  the  state  would  have  numbered  several 
thousand  less  than  they  do  now.  It  may  not  seem  pious  to 
say  so,  but  many  a  worldly-minded  Viking  has  become  so 
interested  in  the  fight  that  he  has  joined  the  faction  with 
which  he  sympathized  in  order  to  assist  in  beating  the 
opposing  faction.  Thus,  what  might  be  supposed  to  keep 
the  Norwegians  out  of  the  church  has  actually  drawn  them 
into  it. 


340         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

The  United  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church.  The 
Minnesota  contingent  of  the  United  Church  came  from  three 
sources.  The  Anti-Missourian  Brotherhood  deserves  to  be 
treated  first  because  its  former  adherents  now  constitute 
the  mainstay  of  the  United  Church  in  this  state.  Up  to  the 
middle  of  the  eighties  the  Brotherhood  was  an  integral  part 
of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  The  people  that  formed  the 
Brotherhood  deprived  the  S3mod  of  some  of  its  largest 
and  most  prosperous  congregations  in  Minnesota,  notably 
those  in  Goodhue  county,  which  locality  for  twenty  years 
had  been  the  great  stronghold  of  the  S3mod  in  the  state. 
About  80  Minnesota  congregations  belonging  to  the 
Brotherhood  became  a  part  of  the  United  Church  in  1890. 
The  whole  number  of  souls  belonging  to  these  congrega- 
tions and  some  fifteen  others  served  by  nearly  forty  Brother- 
hood ministers  who  joined  the  United  Church  was  about 
28,000.  The  corporation  controlling  St.  Olaf  College  at 
Northfield,  consisted  mainly  of  adherents  of  the  Brother- 
hood, and  the  latter  operated  a  theological  class  in  connec- 
tion with  the  college  from  1886  to  1890.  At  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  United  Church  this  class  and  its  two  professors 
were  transferred  to  Augsburg  Seminary,  which  was  then  to 
be  regarded  as  the  theological  seminary  of  the  United 
Church.  Nearly  all  of  the  Brotherhood  congregations  have 
remained  true  to  the  United  Church  during  a  decade  of 
trials  and  tribulations. 

The  Norwegian-Danish  Lutheran  Conference  was  the 
most  vigorous  and  energetic  of  the  three  organizations  that 
formed  the  United  Church.  The  leading  pioneers  of  the 
Conference  in  Minnesota  were  the  Revs.  O.  Paulson  and 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHURCHES  IN  MINNESOTA.  341 

T.  H.  Dahl,  who  obtained  footholds  in  Mmneapolis  and 
elsewhere  at  the  close  of  the  sixties.  The  career  of  the  Con- 
ference during  the  years  of  1870-90  was  an  unbroken  series 
of  victories,  and  though  the  internal  strifes  at  times  were 
quite  bitter,  the  losing  faction,  represented  by  certain  con- 
gregations  in  the  southern  part  of  this  state  and  in  Iowa, 
never  withdrew  from  the  association.  From  Minnesota  the 
Conference  contributed  about  forty  ministers  and  170  con- 
gregations to  the  United  Church.  One  hundred  and  forty  of 
these  congregations  actually  joined  the  association,  and  the 
aggregate  number  of  souls  belonging  to  all  of  them  was 
about  27,500.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  Conference  and 
the  Brotherhood  furnished  an  equal  number  of  ministers 
and  practically  an  equal  number  of  $ouls  to  the  United 
Church  from  this  state ;  but  the  former  had  almost  twice  as 
many  congregations  as  the  latter. 

The  Augustana  S3mod  was  by  far  the  smallest  of  the 
three  associations  that  were  merged  into  the  United  Church. 
The  oldest  congregation  of  the  Augustana  S3mod  in  Minne- 
sota was  organized  by  Rev.  P.  Asbjomsen,  June  8,  1857,  at 
Newburg,  and  this  was  one  of  the  oldest  Norwegian  Lutheran 
churches  in  the  state.  The  growth  of  this  synod  was  checked 
by  the  organization  of  the  Conference  within  its  ranks,  and 
it  required  great  courage  to  keep  up  the  organization  in  the 
face  of  its  powerful  rivals.  In  this  state  the  United  Church 
received  from  the  Augustana  S3mod  eleven  congregations 
which  embraced  over  2,000  souls,  and  three  ministers. 

The  state  of  Minnesota  contributed  to  the  United 
Church,  in  1890,  about  275  congregations,  45  of  which, 
however,  did  not  formally  join  the  association,  but  were 


342         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

served  by  ministers  who  did  so ;  and  the  whole  number  of 
souls  embraced  by  the  movement  was  between  55,000  and 
60,000.  During  the  years  1890-93  the  membership 
increased  materially,  chiefly  by  the  admission  of  new  congre- 
gations, and  the  parochial  reports  of  the  United  Church  for 
the  year  1893  give  the  names  of  more  than  350  congrega- 
tions in  the  state.  But  that  has  been  the  highest  mark  so 
far.  The  internal  struggles  which  seemed  to  shake  the  very 
foundations  of  the  association  during  the  years  1893-98 
retarded  the  growth  of  the  body  as  a  whole,  and  in  this 
state  the  number  of  congregations  dropped  from  about  355 
in  1893  to  285  in  1898.  In  1900  the  total  number  of  souls 
belonging  to  the  United  Church  in  the  state  was  not  quite 
65,000.  The  people  of  this  association  have  manifested  a 
commendable  zeal  for  higher  education,  and  they  support 
four  important  schools,  four  hospitals,  and  one  orphans' 
home  in  the  state.  There  are  about  230  church  buildings, 
and  the  value  of  the  property  owned  either  by  the  United 
Church  or  by  its  congregations  in  the  state  was  about 
$850,000  in  1900. 

The  Lutheran  Free  Church.  This  association  is  a 
resuscitation  of  a  certain  faction  of  the  Norwegian-Danish 
EvangeUcal  Lutheran  Conference,  which  in  1890  became 
a  part  of  the  United  Church.  During  the  years  1890-93  two 
contending  factions  arose  within  the  United  Church,  and 
when  this  body,  in  the  summer  of  1893,  took  practical  steps 
to  "remove**  its  theological  seminary  from  the  Augsburg 
Seminary  buildings,  the  "Friends  of  Augsburg"  held  an 
informal  meeting  and  resolved  to  rally  around  their  favorite 
institution.     At  this  stage  they  were  often  called  simply 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHURCHES  IN  MINNESOTA.  343 

"the  minority,"  and  their  opponents  "the  majority."  After 
the  summer  of  1893  there  could  be  no  co-operation  between 
the  two  factions.  "The  minority"  held  regular  annual 
meetings  of  their  oWn,  calling  themselves  "the  Friends  oi 
Augsburg"  from  1893  to  1896,  and  the  Lutheran  Free 
Church  from  June  12,  1897.  The  Free  Church  has  its 
stronghold  in  the  northern  part  of  Minnesota  and  in  North 
Dakota,  while  the  most  of  the  old  Conference  people  living 
elsewhere  remain  in  the  United  Church.  The  leaders  of  the 
Free  Church  are  an  exceedingly  aggressive  set  of  men,  and 
opposition  only  seems  to  spur  them  on  to  greater  activity. 
And  they  have  actually  endeavored  to  accomplish  some- 
thing new  under  the  sun.  This  endeavor  is  embodied  in  the 
Practical  Rules  of  the  Free  Church,  §  6,  which  grants  any 
member  of  any  Lutheran  church  the  right  to  vote  at  the 
annual  meetings  of  the  Free  Church,  provided  he  or  she 
endorses  the  principles  and  rules  of  said  body,  and  promises 
to  co-operate  with  it.  Augsburg  Seminary  is  the  heart  and 
soul  of  the  movement.  This  is  not  accidental ;  for  while  the 
other  Lutheran  church  organizations  have  started  schools 
in  dilBFerent  parts  of  the  country,  the  leading  Augsburg 
minds  have  given  but  scant  encouragement  to  such 
endeavors  outside  their  own  institution.  The  watchword 
of  the  Free  Church  is  congregational  independence  and 
individual  edification.  Being  yet  in  its  formative  period,  it 
has  neglected  its  statistics.  According  to  the  estimates  of 
Prof.  Georg  Sverdrup,  the  Free  Church  contains  alto- 
gether in  the  United  States  about  40,000  souls,  25,000  of 
whom  are  communicants,  and  these  are  organized  into 
about  300  local  churches.    According  to  the  same  authority 


344         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

the  association  owns  property  to  the  value  of  about 
$1,000,000.  The  Free  Church  has  about  two-thirds  of  its 
strength  in  Minnesota.  The  Free  Church  people  have 
always  contributed  liberally  to  the  work  carried  on  by  the 
association.  The  annual  contributions  in  this  state  in  1898 
aggregated  about  $15,000 ;  and  the  chief  items  of  expendi- 
ture of  the  Free  Church  were  $5,500  to  foreign  missions, 
$4,000  to  Augsburg  Seminary,  and  $2,500  to  home 
missions.  The  Norwegian  Lutheran  Deaconesses'  Institute 
in  Minneapolis  is  largely  supported  by  Free  Church  people. 
Most  of  the  congregations  have  church  buildings  of  their 
own,  but  there  are  comparatively  few  parsonages. 

Hauge's  Synod.  This  association,  originally  called  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  of  America,  for  years  had  its 
stronghold  in  Wisconsin.  But  during  the  fifties  and  sixties 
its  center  of  population  moved  westward,  and  in  1876, 
thirty  years  after  its  organization,  more  than  one-half  of  its 
congregations  were  located  west  of  the  Mississippi  river. 
The  organization  received  its  present  name  and  its  ^^new 
constitution*'  at  the  annual  meeting  of  1875,  which  was 
held  June  5-13,  at  Arendahl,  Minn.  Since  the  establishment 
of  the  theological  seminary  and  college  of  the  synod  in  Red 
Wing,  in  1879,  this  state  has  been  the  chief  scene  of  activity 
within  the  sjmod.  In  1900  about  40  out  of  a  total  of  100 
ministers  and  professors  resided  in  Minnesota;  and  about 
65  out  of  a  total  of  230  congregations  are  located  in  the 
same  state.  The  whole  synod  consists  of  about  18,000 
communicants  and  30,000  souls,  and  almost  exactly  one- 
third  of  them  reside  in  Minnesota.  The  growth  of  this  body 
is   healthy   and   steady,    its   membership    having   almost 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHURCHES  IN  MINNESOTA.  345 

doubled  during  the  past  fifteen  years.  Of  the  155  church 
buildings  belonging  to  the  synod,  fully  one-third  are  located 
in  Minnesota — Elling  Eielsen  and  a  few  others  kept  up  a 
separate  organization  from  the  middle  of  the  seventies, 
abiding  by  the  "old  constitution,"  and  they  are  represented 
by  three  congregations  in  this  state. 

Swedish  Mission.  The  oldest  congregation  belonging 
to  the  Mission  Covenant  in  the  state  was  organized  at 
Salem,  Olmsted  county,  in  1870.  About  half  a  dozen  others 
were  organized  during  the  seventies.  The  development  of 
the  covenant  was  most  rapid  during  the  eighties,  and  since 
that  time  its  stronghold  has  been  in  the  Twin  Cities.  The 
statistics  of  the  covenant  are  very  defective  in  this  state  as 
elsewhere,  and  the  figures  given  do  not  indicate  the  work 
actually  carried  on.  There  are  about  30  congregations 
formally  belonging  to  the  covenant,  and  they  have  an 
aggregate  membership  of  about  5,000,  counting  the  child- 
ren. There  are  over  50  ministers,  or  about  two  for  each 
congregation.  But  a  large  number  of  these  men  have 
received  no  theological  training  whatever,  and  several  sup- 
port themselves  mainly  by  manual  labor.  Most  of  the  con- 
gregations have  church  buildings  of  their  own.  One  of  them, 
the  Minneapolis  Tabernacle,  has  a  seating  capacity  of 
3,000,  and  is  worth  $35,000.  The  value  of  all  the  church 
property  in  the  state  exceeds  $100,000.  The  only  institu- 
tion of  learning  connected  with  the  covenant  in  the  state  is 
the  Northwestern  Collegiate  and  Business  Institute,  which 
is  located  in  the  MinneapoHs  Tabernacle.  The  30  congrega- 
tions contribute  on  the  average  about  $1,000  each  to  the 
diiBferent  branches  of  work  performed  by  the  congregations 


346         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

and  the  covenant — ^The  Free  Mission  people,  according  to 
the  estimates  of  Rev.  N.  Wickstrom,  are  represented  by 
about  130  churches,  which  have  a  communicant  member- 
ship of  about  3,900,  and  church  property  valued  at  $65,000. 
The  Scandinavian  Congregationalists,  who  are  mostly 
Swedish  Mission  Friends,  have  about  100  congregations 
and  7,000  communicants  in  the  United  States,  and  they  are 
well  represented  in  Minnesota. 

Baptists.  The  first  Swedish  Baptist  church  in  the  state 
was  organized  by  Rev.  F.  O.  Nilsson  in  Houston,  Aug.  18, 
1853,  with  a  membership  of  nine.  By  the  year  1860  there 
were  eight  churches  with  162  members.  The  Minnesota 
conference  dates  from  the  year  1858,  and  its  growth  since 
its  organization  has  been  steady  and  healthy.  In  1900  it 
consisted  of  80  churches,  which  are  cared  for  by  50  pastors. 
The  number  of  communicants  is  about  5,500.  One-fourth 
of  the  members  reside  in  the  Twin  Cities.  There  are  about 
60  church  edifices  valued  at  $140,000. 

Fifteen  Danish  Baptists  organized  a  congregation  Oct. 
11,  1863,  at  Clark's  Grove,  Freeborn  county,  and  this  is  the 
oldest  Danish  organization  of  its  kind  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. Several  other  Danish  Baptist  congregations  were 
started  in  the  southern  part  of  the  state  during  the  next  few 
years,  and  in  the  eighties  Norwegian  Baptist  congregations 
grew  up  in  the  Twin  Cities.  The  Norwegian  and  Danish 
Baptists  of  Minnesota  and  Iowa  formed  the  Western  confer- 
ence in  1883;  but  this  was  divided  along  the  state  line  eight 
years  later,  the  Minnesota  conference  having  been  organ- 
ized May  30, 1891,  at  Stillwater.  In  1900  a  score  of  congre- 
gations belong  to  the  conference,  and  the  number  of  com- 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHURCHES  IN  MINNESOTA.  347 

mtinicants  is  about  1,400.  There  are  twelve  preachers,  and 
the  value  of  the  property  owned  by  the  congregations  is 
$35,000. 

Methodists.  Two  Norwegian  girls  who  were  mem- 
bers of  a  Norwegian  Methodist  congregration  at  Washing- 
ton Prairie,  Iowa,  came  to  St.  Paul  in  the  course  of  the 
years  1851—53,  and  they  were  doubtless  the  pioneers  of  the 
Scandinavian  Methodist  churches  in  the  state.  The  first 
movement  crystallized  in  the  organization  of  a  Scandina- 
vian church  in  St.  Paul,  in  1853.  The  movement  made  but 
little  progress  during  the  next  ten  years,  but  in  the  early 
sixties  several  new  congregations  were  started.  Up  to  1877 
the  Norwegian  Minnesota  conference  worked  in  connection 
with  the  American  conferences,  but  since  that  date  the  Nor- 
wegian Methodists  of  several  Northwestern  states,  includ- 
ing Minnesota,  have  managed  their  affairs  somewhat  inde- 
pendently. In  1900  there  are  about  40  congregations  in  the 
state,  which  are  served  by  twenty  odd  ministers,  and  an 
epual  number  of  local  preachers.  The  total  number  of 
communicant  members  is  1,400.  The  value  of  the  30  church 
buildings  and  the  15  parsonages  has  been  put  at  $83,000. 

Since  1893  the  Swedish  Methodist  churches  in  Minne- 
sota have  constituted  a  part  of  the  Northern  Mission  Con- 
ference. In  1900  there  are  35  congregations  in  the  state. 
Their  total  membership  is  about  1,600,  and  about  2,000 
children  attend  their  40  Sunday  schools.  Nearly  every 
congregation  has  a  church  building,  and  the  aggregate 
value  of  the  church  buildings  and  the  parsonages  is  put  at 
$115,000.  There  are  over  20  regular  ministers  and  about  a 
dozen   local  preachers. — It  should   be   observed   that  the 


348         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Methodists  generally  put  a  high  value  on  their  church 
property.  Often  it  is  estimated,  in  their  reports,  to  be 
v^orth  twice  as  much  as  another  denomination  would  rate 
similar  possessions.  But  it  was  deemed  best  to  retain  their 
own  figures. 

Danish  Lutherans.  The  United  Danish  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church,  which  was  organized  in  Minneapolis,  in 
1896,  has  about  a  score  of  congregations  in  this  state  in 
1900.  The  total  number  of  persons  coimected  with  them  is 
about  3,000.  Some  twenty  children  are  cared  for  at 
an  orphans'  home  in  Albert  Lea. — The  Danish  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church  had  seven  congregations  in  the  state  in 
1899,  and  the  number  of  souls  coimected  with  these-  was  a 
little  over  1,600.  The  Danebod  high  school,  at  Tyler,  is 
operated  in  coimection  with  the  latter  association. 

Icelandic  Lutherans.  The  Icelandic  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church  of  America  was  organized  the  25th  of 
January,  1885.  A  very  large  proportion  of  the  members, 
about  3,500  communicants  and  6,000  souls,  reside  in 
Canada;  yet  about  650  persons  belong  to  the  four  congre- 
gations in  the  state,  all  located  in  Lincoln  and  Lyon  coun- 
ties. The  church  property  is  estimated  to  be  worth  $9,000 
The  religious  work  among  the  Icelanders  in  said  places  was 
begun  in  1879  by  Rev.  J.  Bjamason,  and  for  some  time  a 
newspaper,  Kenuarinn^  has  been  published  in  the  interest 
of  the  church  at  Minneota,  by  Rev.  B.  B.  Jonsson. 

Unitarians.  Several  Norwegian  Unitarian  churches 
were  started  during  the  eighties  in  Minnesota  and  Wiscon- 
sin by  Kristofer  Janson.  But  the  movement  has  made  no 
progress  during  the  past  ten  years,  and  the  bona  fide  mem- 


SCANDINAYIAN  CHURCHBS  IN  MINNESOTA.  349 

bership  of  the  four  congregations  in  the  state  is  not  quite 
300.  The  Nazareth  congregation  in  Minneapolis  has  a 
church  building  worth  $8,000.  A  Swedish  Unitarian  church 
in  Minneapolis  was  discontinued  several  years  ago. 

Episcopalians.  A  Swedish  Episcopal  congregation  was 
organized  in  Minneapolis,  in  1892,  by  Rev.  O.  A.  Toffteen, 
and  since  that  time  the  Episcopalian  propaganda  has  been 
pushed  with  considerable  energy  among  the  Swedes.  In 
1899  there  were  nine  congregations  in  the  state,  and  they 
had  a  total  membership  of  about  1,500,  including  1,000 
communicants. 

Nearly  all  the  great  denominations  not  treated  above 
under  separate  heaos  have  at  one  time  or  another  carried 
on  missionary  work  among  the  Scandinavians  of  the  state. 
The  Adventists,  Universalists,  Presbyterians,  and  Disciples 
of  Christ  are  all  represented  by  Scandinavian  congregations; 
but  their  following  is  not  strong  numerically,  and  the  work 
is  spasmodic  rather  than  systematic.  The  Salvation  Army 
has  a  considerable  following  among  the  Scandinavians,  and 
they  are  organized  into  a  number  of  vigorous  corps.  The 
total  membership  in  the  state  is  several  hundred. 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Minnesota  District  of 

tlie  Norwegian  Synod. 

—BY- 
REV.  JOHN  HALVORSON. 


The  Minnesota  District  of  the  Norwegian  S3mod  did  not 
receive  its  separate  organization  and  officers  until  1876;  but 
its  history  goes  back  to  settlements  and  churches  founded 
by  Norwegian  immigrants  and  pastors  during  the  latter 
days  of  the  territory.  The  first  Norwegian  clergyman  who 
visited  the  settlers  in  the  present  Minnesota  District  was 
N.  Brandt,  of  Rock  Prairie,  Wis.,  who  arrived  at  Red  Wing 
in  June,  1855.  Together  with  a  companion,  he  visited  on 
foot  his  newly  arrived  countrymen  in  other  portions  of 
Goodhue  county.  During  the  summer  of  1856  some  of  the 
settlers  organized  a  Lutheran  congregation  and  secured  100 
acres  of  land  for  church  purposes,  the  present  Holden  par- 
sonage.* In  September  of  the  same  year  they  were  visited 
by  Rev.  H.  A.  Stub,  of  Coon  Prairie,  Wis.,  who  conducted 
several  meetings  and  assisted  them  in  framing  a  constitu- 


*See  "S5ger  Hjem/'  by  Bey.  B.  J.  Muob,  p.  133.  If  the  author  is  correct,  then  this 
seems  to  haye  been  the  first  Norwegian  Lutheran  church  organization  in  the  state  of 
Minnesota.  No  clergyman  appears  to  haye  been  present  when  the  church  was  organised. 

351 


352  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

tion  and  issuing  a  call  for  a  pastor.  The  minutes  of  the 
meeting  were  subscribed  to  by  72  voting  members,  and  the 
letter  authorizingthe  church  council  of  the  S3mod  to  call  a 
pastor  for  them  was  signed  by  four  trustees,  namely,  Knut 
K.  Finseth,  Kjostel  G.  Naeseth,  Halvor  Olsen  Huset,  and 
Christopher  Lockrem.  In  1857  Rev.  Munch  and  Prof. 
Larsen  visited  the  settlements  in  Goodhue  county.  The 
latter  preached  six  days  in  succession  to  large  audiences, 
many  following  him  from  place  to  place.  During  one  week 
in  June  he  baptized  100  children,  of  which  33  were  baptized 
at  one  service  near  Nestrand,  Rice  county,  and  14  were  con- 
firmed at  this  place.  The  next  year  he  preached  in  St.  Paul, 
Stillwater,  Carver,  St.  Peter,  Mankato,  and  other  places. 
At  one  time,  after  a  fourteen  days'  journey,  mostly  afoot. 
Prof.  Larsen— who  resided  in  Pierce  county,  Wis.— came  to 
Knut  Finseth  sorefooted,  his  shoes  being  entirely  worn  out. 
Finseth  sent  to  Kenyon  for  shoes ;  but  as  no  small  number 
of  men's  shoes  could  be  found  there,  a  pair  of  ladies'  shoes 
was  procured,  and  in  these  Goodhue  county  was  traversed. 
Rev.  A.  C.  Preus  also  visited  the  pioneers  who  were  under 
Prof.  Larsen's  charge  up  to  1859,  when  B.  J.  Muus,  from 
Norway,  who  had  been  called  by  the  church  council,  arrived 
in  November,  and  became  the  first  resident  pastor  of  the 
Norwegian  Sjmod  within  the  present  Minnesota  District. 
Up  to  this  time  some  of  the  settlements  were  visited  only 
once  a  year  by  a  sjmod  clergyman,  as  the  ministers  were 
few  in  number  and  most  of  them  resided  hundreds  of  miles 
from  the  outposts  in  Minnesota.  Rev.  P.  A.  Rasmussen, 
residing  at  Lisbon,  111.,  but  not  belonging  to  the  synod,  had 
charge  of  a  congregation  in  Goodhue  county  for  some  years; 


MINNESOTA  DISTRICT  OF  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD.  353 

but  as.  he  became  a  member  of  the  S3mod  in  1862,  his  parish- 
ioners the  following  year  joined  the  churches  tended  by  Rev. 
Muus.  In  1859-60  a  parsonage  was  built  for  Rev.  Muus, 
and  in  the  latter  year  a  church  building  was  erected.  In 
1860  the  first  subscription  for  Luther  College  was  made, 
amounting  to  $603,  contributed  by  forty-two  church  mem- 
bers in  Goodhue  county.  According  to  the  statement  of 
Rev.  Muus,  about  $10,000  was  contributed  by  the  churches 
of  bis  charge  to  higher  institutions  of  learning  during  the 
first  twenty-five  years  of  his  ministry.  This  shows  the  zeal 
and  love  for  God's  word  and  His  kingdom  among  the  early 
settlers.  In  1862,  June  12-20,  the  S3mod  held  its  annual 
meeting  in  the  East  Holden  church,  when  the  congregation 
was  formally  accepted  as  a  member  of  the  synod. 

The  Indian  outbreak  in  1862  drove  the  settlers  of  Kan- 
diyohi and  other  western  counties  eastward,  many  taking 
refiige  in  the  older  settlements  in  Rice  and  Goodhue  counties, 
and  for  about  three  years  immigration  to  the  western  parts 
of  the  state  virtually  ceased;  but  when  peace  and  quiet  was 
restored  the  settlers  returned.  In  1863  Thomas  Johnsen 
was  ordained,  and  took  charge  of  churches  in  Nicollet  and 
other  western  counties,  thus  relieving  Rev.  Muus,  who  up 
to  this  time  had  served  all  the  congregations  as  far  west  as 
Norway  Lake  and  as  far  south  as  Blue  Earth  and  Waseca 
counties.  Rev.  Johnsen  for  several  years  visited  the  Norwe- 
gian settlements  extending  from  Emmet  county,  Iowa,  to 
Douglas  county,  Minn.,  a  distance  of  about  300  miles. 
Many  of  the  congregations  could  be  reached  only  twice  a 
year;  but  the  people  were  glad  to  hear  the  Word  of  God,  to 
have  marriage  rites  properly  performed,  to  have  their  chil- 

24 


354         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

dren  baptized,  and  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Any 
further  pastoral  care  of  the  souls  was  impossible,  but  the 
pioneers  waited  patiently  and  hoped  the  time  would  arrive 
when  they  could  have  a  pastor  located  in  their  midst. 
The  ^eat  need  of  pastoral  visits  is  seen  from  the  number  of 
infant  baptisms.  On  a  journey  through  Meeker  and  Kan- 
diyohi counties,  in  1867,  Rev.  Johnsen  baptized  55  children 
in  three  days,  and  nearly  200  during  the  year.  Rev.  Muus 
and  Rev.  N.  Quammen,  the  latter  having  settled  in  Dakota 
county  in  1866,  baptized  in  1867  about  250  and  100 
infants,  respectively.  Before  1868  synod  congregations  had 
been  organized  in  all  the  counties  in  the  state  where  many 
Norwegians  had  settled,  even  in  counties  bordering  on  the 
Dakota  line,  for  example,  Yellow  Medicine.  At  that  time 
the  Norwegian  immigration  to  Minnesota  was  very  large, 
and  great  demands  were  made  for  permanent  pastors.  N. 
Th.  Ylvisaker,  a  well-known  lay-preacher  from  Norway, 
arrived  in  1868,  was  ordained,  took  charge  of  churches  in 
and  around  Red  Wing,  and  organized,  in  1869,  the  first 
sjmod  congregation  in  Minneapolis,  Our  Savior*s  church. 
Four  of  the  fourteen  men  who  were  ordained  in  1869 
located  in  Minnesota  the  same  year,  namely,  J.  A.  Thorsen, 
Olmsted  county;  L.  J.  Markhus,  Norway  Lake;  Peter 
Reque,  Pope  county ;  and  O.  Norman,  St.  Paul.  The  last 
mentioned,  especially,  made  long  missionary  journeys  in  the 
northwestern  part  of  the  state;  and  Otter  Tail 
county,  in  particular,  became  a  promising  field  for  church 
work.  Rev.  A.  Jakobsen,  traveling  on  skis,  visited  Kandi- 
yohi county  before  1867;  and  two  years  later  Rev.  N. 
Brandt,  vice-president  of  the  synod,  made  an  extensive  trip  of 


MINNESOTA  DISTRICT  OF  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD.  355 

three  months,  and  preached  in  nearly  every  comer  of  the 
state  where  a  few  Norwegians  could  be  gathered  together. 
In  1870  Rev.  H.  A.  Preus,  the  president  of  the  synod,  visited 
nine  pastors  and  sixteen  churches  in  Minnesota,  going  as  far 
west  as  Pope  county.  These  visits  of  the  chief  officers  of  the 
S3mod  show  the  care  and  supervision  exercised  by  them  in 
the  mission  work  and  resulted  in  the  organizing  of  several 
congregations  and  consequent  calling  of  pastors,  who 
settled  in  the  new  field.  According  to  the  parochial  reports 
of  1869,  Minnesota  had  39  churches  and  13  pastors ;  but 
some  of  the  congregations  covered  whole  counties,  thickly 
settled  by  Norwegians. 

One  of  the  greatest  missionaries  of  the  Norwegian 
Sjmod,  Rev.  L.  Carlsen,  commenced  to  work  in  Douglas 
and  Grant  counties  in  1872.  After  a  few  years  of  earnest 
labor  and  extensive  travel,  he  removed  to  San  Francisco, 
Cal.,  then  to  Australia;  but  returned  to  the  United  States 
later  on.  Rev.  K.  Bjorgo  settled  in  Becker  county  in  1872, 
and  became  the  first  missionary  of  the  sjmod  in  the  Red 
River  Valley  on  the  Minnesota  side.  At  the  same  time  Rev. 
J.  Hellestvedt  commenced  work  at  Sheyenne  river,  N.  D„ 
being  the  first  pastor  west  of  the  Red  river.  A  great  immi- 
gration to  the  Red  River  Valley  took  place  in  the  early 
seventies.  Rev.  B.  Harstad  located  at  Mayville  in  1874, 
and  did  a  grand  work  in  founding  churches  on  the  wide 
prairies  of  Dakota.  Later  on  Rev.  O.  H.  Aaberg  was  called 
to  Grand  Forks  county,  and  took  charge  of  the  immigrants 
as  far  west  as  Devils  Lake.  Numerous  churches  were  organ- 
ized on  both  sides  of  the  Red  river,  especially  in  the  vicinity 
of  Crookston  and  Grafton.    Even  as  far  north  as  Pembina, 


356         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

where  some  Icelanders  had  formed  a  settlement,  the  synod 
pursued  its  labor  by  securing  Thorlakson,  an  Icelandic  min- 
ister, to  attend  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  his  countrymen. 

At  the  annual  meeting  in  Decorah,  Iowa,  in  1876,  it  was 
found  expedient  to  divide  the  synod  into  three  districts,  so 
that  the  people  of  each  section  of  the  country  might  have  a 
better  opportunity  to  attend  to  and  become  acquainted 
with  the  increasing  work  of  the  church.  The  Minnesota 
District  did  not  include  the  southern  tier  of  counties  in  Min- 
nesota, but  it  extended  clear  to  the  Pacific  ocean.  But  in 
1893  the  territory  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  organ- 
ized into  the  Pacific  District.  The  Minnesota  District  was 
the  smallest  of  the  three  in  regard  to  church  members,  the 
poorest  in  regard  to  wealth;  but  it  oflfered  the  greatest 
missionary  field  and  had  the  best  prospect  of  growth. 
Missionaries  were  in  demand,  and  one  clergyman  preached 
at  twenty-one  places.  It  took  him  several  weeks  to  make  the 
circuit.  During  the  whole  history  of  the  district,  the  main 
work  has  been  to  gather  the  scattered  Norwegian  settlers 
into  congregations,  to  preach  to  them  the  Word  of 
God,  and  to  have  them  partake  of  the  sacraments  of  Jesus 
Christ.  The  missionary  work  is  superintended  by  a 
board  of  three  members,  and  the  president  of  the  district  is 
ex-officio  chairman. 

Rev.  B.  J.  Muus  was  chosen  president  of  the  district  in 
1876 ;  Rev.  N.  Th.  Ylvisaker,  vice-president ;  O.  K.  Finseth, 
lay  member  of  the  church  counsil ;  Rev.  H.  G.  Stub,  secre- 
tary; and  H.  G.  Rasmussen,  treasurer.  Rev.  Muus  was 
president  of  the  district  for  seven  years.  He  was  a  leading 
spirit,  a  powerful  character,  an  organizer;  but  unyielding 


MINNESOTA  DISTRICT  OF  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD.  357 

and  harsh  in  dealing  with  human  frailties.  He  was  a 
pioneer  in  educational  work,  and  through  his  eflforts  a 
Lutheran  academy  was  started  at  the  H  olden  parsonage 
about  the  year  1868.  Only  two  terms  were  taught;  but  in 
1874  Muus  and  a  few  others  founded  what  is  now  St.  Olaf 
College,  at  Northfield,  thereby  demonstrating  that  a  higher 
institution  of  learning  could  be  established  and  maintained 
by  the  Norwegian  Lutherans  in  spite  of  a  number  of  similar 
institutions  supported  by  the  state  or  by  private  people  of 
other  nationalities. 

When  the  controversy  on  predestination  started  in 
1880,  many  of  the  pastors  and  church  members  of  the  dis- 
trict were  for  some  time  in  doubt  which  party  to  join.  Rev. 
Muus  sided  against  the  synod,  and  soon  became  the 
acknowledged  leader  of  the  opposition  in  the  state ;  this, 
together  with  troubles  of  a  personal  nature,  was  the  main 
reason  for  his  defeat  as  president  of  the  district  in  1883, 
when  Rev.  B.  Harstad  was  elected  to  succeed  him.  During 
the  turbulent  times  when  the  predestination  controversy 
was  raging,  the  meetings  and  discussions  of  the  district 
resembled  very  much  the  proceedings  of  a  Polish  parHa- 
ment.  At  the  meeting  of  the  synod  in  Minneapolis,  in  1884, 
the  two  parties  were  so  evenly  divided  that  hardly  any 
resolutions  could  be  passed.  Prof  Larsen  was  elected  editor 
oi Kirketidende  by  a  majority  of  one  vote;  and  the  oppo- 
sition endeavored  to  prevent  the  ordination  of  those  theo- 
logical candidates  from  Luther  Seminary  who  sided  with 
the  Missouri  Synod.  At  the  meeting  of  the  district  at 
Norway  Lake,  in  1885,  Rev.  Muus  refused  to  recognize 
Rev.    Harstad    as   president,  and    boldly  advocated   that 


358  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

pastors  who  taught  the  tenets  of  the  Missouri  Synod 
should  be  deposed  from  their  pulpits.  Some  congregations 
ousted  their  pastors,  in  some  instances  legal  suits  followed 
in  regard  to  the  possession  of  church  property,  and  it  may 
be  said  that  terror  and  anarchy  reigned  supreme  in  the 
district  for  a  while.  Nowhere  was  the  struggle  more  bitter 
and  determined  than  in  the  two  large  congregations  at 
Norway  Lake.  By  large  majorities  both  of  them  deposed,  in 
1886,  their  pastor,  L.  J.  Markhus,  who  sided  with  the 
Missouri  S3mod ;  but  the  minority,  consisting  of  about  50 
families  protested,  declared  the  deposition  of  Rev.  Markhus 
unconstitutional  and  a  violation  of  the  by-laws,  and  by  main 
force  entered  the  church  buildings  which  the  opposition 
had  without  authority  closed  against  them.  The  majority, 
however,  carried  Rev.  Markhus  bodily  out  of  the  churches, 
and  he  soon  died  a  broken-down  man.  The  minority  tried 
to  retain  the  parsonage,  but  w^ere  sued  for  the  possession  of 
the  same.  The  lawsuit  continued  for  four  years,  went  to 
the  supreme  court  of  Minnesota,  and  the  minority  was 
forced  to  give  up  all  the  property  and  pay  damages  and 
costs.  But  the  Norwegian  S3mod,  at  its  annual  meeting  at 
Stoughton,  Wis.,  in  1887,  endorsed  the  position  of  the 
minority.  As  a  result  of  the  predestination  controversy, 
fiilly  one-third  of  the  church  members  in  the  district  left  the 
synod.  Almost  the  whole  of  Goodhue  county,  with  its 
large  congregations,  and  all  of  the  Red  River  Valley  north 
of  Goose  river,  seceded.  In  several  places,  however,  the 
synod  people  organized  new  congregations  and  built  new 
church  edifices,  having  generally  lost  all  they  had  paid  to 
the  old  buildings.    In  other  places  again  the  synod  congre- 


MINNESOTA  DISTRICT  OF  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD.  359 

gations  remained  untouched,  for  example,  in  Minneapolis, 
St.  Paul,  Sacred  Heart,  Fergus  Falls,  Benson,  Glenwood, 
etc.  In  some  instances  people  left  the  synod  and  joined 
other  Lutheran  associations  or  organized  independent  con- 
gregations. 

Of  late  years,  however,  the  district  has  enjoyed  a  rapid 
growth,  partly,  herhaps,  on  account  of  the  split  in  the 
United  Norwegian  Church,  and  today  it  is  stronger  than  it 
has  ever  been.  The  strongholds  of  the  district  are  the 
country  churches,  especially  those  of  Olmsted,  Otter  Tail, 
Pope,  Renville,  and  Chippewa  counties  in  Minnesota,  and 
those  in  Traill  and  Cass  counties  in  North  Dakota.  A  num- 
ber of  churches  have  in  recent  years  also  been  added  to 
the  synod  in  Polk,  Marshall,  Kittson,  Todd,  and  Mille  Lacs 
counties  in  Minnesota.  According  to  the  S3modical  report 
for  1899,  the  Minnesota  District  contained  nearly  350 
congregations,  served  by  100  pastors.  The  number  of  souls 
was  about  50,000,  with  30,000  communicants.  Nearly 
3,000  infants  were  baptized  in  one  year,  and  over  7,000 
services  held.  One  hundred  school  teachers,  some  of  whom 
were  theological  students,  instructed  the  children  in  reli- 
gion in  the  parochial  schools.  At  the  synodical  meeting 
held  at  Spring  Grove,  Minn.,  June  15-21,  1899,  it  was 
reported  that  during  the  past  year  fourteen  new  clergymen 
had  taken  up  the  work  in  the  district,  while  only  three  had 
moved  out,  and  one  who  had  formerly  seceded  repented  oi 
his  errors;  nine  churches  had  been  dedicated;  and  nine  new 
congregations,  principally  from  the  northern  parts  of  the 
state,  applied  for  membership.  A  farm  of  160  acres  and 
suitable   buildings   have   lately   been   secured   in   Norman 


360         HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

county,  Minn.,  where  a  new  orphans'  home  has  been  started, 
of  which  Rev.  H.  A.  Blegen  is  superintendent. 

A  large  number  of  academies  and  other  higher  institu- 
tions of  learning,  treated  of  more  fully  in  another  portion 
of  this  volume,  are  controlled  by  members  of  the  Minne- 
sota District,  which  shows  the  interest  taken  in  education. 

Since  1892  Rev.  K.  Bjorgo  has  been  president  of  the 
district,  and  since  1898  has  devoted  all  his  time  to  the 
duties  as  president,  having  no  regular  congregation  under 
his  charge.  The  president  receives  an  annual  salary  of 
$1,200  and  free  house.  His  responsibilities  are  great,  and 
he  constantly- travels  from  place  to  place  in  the  district, 
encouraging  and  instructing  pastors  and  people  in  the 
right  use  of  the  privileges  God  has  given  the  church,  as  well 
as  seeing  that  harmony  and  order  prevail. 

While  the  Wisconsin  and  Iowa  districts  contain  more 
of  the  old  pioneers,  both  of  the  clergy  and  the  lay 
members,  the  Minnesota  District  is  known  for  its  youthfiil 
spirit,  energy,  and  impatience  of  restraint.  But  the  dis- 
tricts work  together  in  brotherly  love  and  Christian  fellow- 
ship. 


Historical  Reylew  of  tlie  Minnesota  Conference 

of  tlie  Augustana  Synod. 

—BY- 
REV.  C.  J.  PETRI. 


The  Minnesota  Conference  was  organized  two  years 
before  the  Augustana  Synod,  in  Centre  City,  Minn.,  on  the 
8th  of  October,  1858.  The  organizers  were  Revs.  E.  Nore- 
lius,  P.  Beckman,  P.  Carlson  and  J.  P.  C.  Boren.  The  lay- 
delegates  were  H&kan  Svedberg,  Centre  City;  Daniel  Nelson, 
Marine;  Ole  Paulson,  Carver;  Hans  C.  Bjorklund,  Ruseby. 
The  conference  numbered  on  the  day  of  its  organization  five 
ministers,  and  thirteen  congregations  with  900  communi- 
cant members.  The  thirteen  congregations  of  the  confer- 
ence were  all,  except  one  at  Stockholm,  Wis.,  located  in 
the  state  of  Minnesota,  namely,  at  Centre  City,  Marine, 
St.  Paul,  Vasa,  Red  Wing,  Cannon  River,  St.  Peter,  Scan- 
dian  Grove,  Spring  Garden,  Union,  Gotaholm  and  Vista. 
Within  the  conference  were  five  church  buildings,  the  first 
having  been  built  in  Red  Wing,  in  1856.  During  the  first 
year  of  its  existence  the  expenses  of  the  conference  amounted 
to  about  $1,500.  The  pioneers  of  the  conference  started 
out,  from  the  first  meeting  of  the  conference,  full  of  hope 

361 


362  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

and  courage  in  their  missionary  work.  In  fact  it  was  then 
and  is  now  the  hopeful  missionary  work  that  gave  and  still 
gives  to  the  Minnesota  Conference  its  character  and  success. 
Speaking  of  the  first  meeting  of  the  conference  in  1858,  Dr. 
Norelius,  about  forty  years  later,  says :  "I  have  been  pre- 
sent at  many  meetings  since  then,  and  I  have  seen  greater 
gatherings  of  people,  but  I  have  never  witnessed  such  deeply 
felt  interest,  such  sincerity  and  so  much  enthusiasm  as  I  saw 
at  this  our  first  meeting.  The  movement  was  not  only  new 
to  us,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  was  mighty  in  our  churches. 
The  meeting  was  filled  with  a  holy  inspiration  and  spiritual 
power.  Our  souls  were  embued  with  a  joyful  courage. 
When  we  had  succeeded  in  organizing  our  forces,  we  felt  that 
we  had  made  a  great  progress.  We  heeded  no  difficulties, 
everything  seemed  to  us  possible." 

Part  of  the  minutes  of  this  first  meeting  reads  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Services  w^ere  held  every  afternoon,  and  on  Sunday 
two  services  were  held.  The  church  was  always  filled  with 
attentive  hearers.  The  members  of  the  conference  were 
cordially  and  royally  entertained,  and  many  of  our  dear 
countrymen  will  long  cherish  the  memory  of  this  meeting. 
On  Sunday  a  collection  for  the  treasury  of  the  conference 
was  taken,  amounting  to  $5.09.'*  The  Swedish-Lutherans 
in  Minnesota  were  united  and  ready  to  take  up  the  mis- 
sionary work  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare  of  the 
Swedes  in  the  Northwest.  They  have  during  the  past  forty 
years  not  only  taken  an  active  part  in  the  work  of  the 
Swedish-Lutheran  church  throughout  the  United  States,  but 
also  and  especially  labored  with  faithfiilness  and  sacrifice  for 
the  advancement  of  the  material  and  spiritual   interests 


MINNESOTA  CONFERENCE  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD.         363 

amongst  the  hundreds  of  Swedish  settlements  in  Minnesota, 
the  Dakotas  and  Wisconsin.  At  a  very  early  date  in  the 
history  of  the  conference  efforts  were  put  forth  for  the 
promotion  of  higher  education.  The  people  of  Minnesota 
felt  it  to  be  their  duty  to  have  in  their  midst  an  institution 
of  learning,  and  in  1862  a  beginning  was  made  by  the 
establishment  of  a  school  which  today  is  Gustavus  Adolph- 
us  College,  in  St.  Peter,  one  of  the  leading  educational 
institutions  in  the  Northw^est.  A  few  years  later,  in  1865> 
Dr.  Norelius  began  the  w^ork  of  caring  for  orphans,  and  so 
was  established  the  orphans'  home  at  Vasa,  Minn.,  which  is 
today  supported  by  the  conference.  This  institution,  where 
on  the  average  50  children  are  annually  cared  for,  has  been 
very  liberally  supported,  although  the  misfortunes  of  the 
institution  has  tried  the  liberality  of  the  people;  once  the 
home  was  destroyed  in  a  tornado  and  once  by  fire.  This 
institution  is  governed  by  a  board  of  trustees  elected  by  the 
conference.  In  harmony  with  this  work  of  mercy,  the  con- 
ference has  also  maintained  a  hospital,  the  Bethesda  Hos- 
pital, in  St.  Paul.  This  institution  was  established  in  1881 
and  is  today  one  of  the  best  equipped  hospitals  in  the  North- 
west. These  institutions  are  indications  of  the  united  and 
faithful  work  and  consecration  of  the  Swedish-Lutherans  in 
Minnesota.  Much  has  been  done,  but  much  more  could  have 
been  done  had  not  the  conference  had  its  hands  full  with 
missionary  efforts;  congregations  had  to  be  organized; 
churches  and  parsonages  had  to  be  built,  and  schools  estab- 
lished. Realizing  the  fact  that  they  are  in  America,  and  that 
they  and  their  children  must  naturally  more  and  more  make 
use  of  the  language  of  the  country,  the  Swedish-Lutherans 


364         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

in  the  eighties  began  to  estabHsh  English  churches  tinder  the 
auspices  of  the  conference.  But  owing  to  the  large  immi- 
gration, and  also  to  the  opposition  the  Lutherans  encoun- 
tered on  the  part  of  other  missionary  eflforts  made  by  those 
who  labored  for  the  tearing  asunder  of  the  Lutheran 
churches,  the  conference  had  its  hands  full  in  taking  care  of 
its  own  churches,  and  the  English  work  was  somewhat 
neglected. 

The  conference  is  now  stronger  than  ever,  having  been 
faithful  in  its  defense  of  the  doctrines  and  practices  of  the 
Lutheran  church.  The  conference  today,  after  more  than 
forty  years  of  zealous  work,  numbers  nearly  140  ministers, 
340  congregations  with  a  total  membership  of  70,000,  out 
of  whom  40,000  are  communicant  members.  There  are 
within  the  conference  about  275  church  buildings  and  100 
parsonages,  valued  at  more  than  one  million  dollars.  In 
one  year  the  parochial  schools  had  an  attendance  of  7,132 
scholars,  and  the  Sunday  schools  13,536. 

In  order  more  effectively  to  carry  on  the  w^ork,  the  con- 
ference is  divided  into  15  mission  districts,  viz :  Chisago 
district  with  22  congregations ;  St.  Paul,  18 ;  Goodhue,  20 ; 
N.  Minnesota  Valley,  20 ;  Pacific,  35 ;  St.  Croix  Valley,  24 ; 
Alexandria,  27 ;  S.  Minnesota  Valley,  19 ;  N.  E.  Dakota,  16 ; 
Big  Stone,  22 ;  Lake  Superior,  28 ;  Central,  13 ;  James  River, 
12 ;  Red  River,  33 ;  Mississippi,  15 ;  and  Canada  Mission,10. 
With  such  an  arrangement  the  different  parts  of  the  confer- 
ence fill  their  mission  in  their  special  field  and  at  the  same 
time  present  to  the  world  one  undivided  and  strong  Luther- 
an church  among  the  thousands  of  Swedish-Americans  in 
promising  Northwest. 


Biographies  of  Scandinavians  in 

Minnesota. 


Aaker,  Lars  K,, state  senator  and  pioneer— Alexandria — 
bom  19  Sept.,  1825,  in  Lardal,  Telemarken,  Norwa3^;  died 
1895.  He  graduated  from  Hviteseid  normal  school;  emi- 
grated to  the  U.  S.  at  the  age  of  twenty;  settled  in  Dane 
county,  Wis.,  where  he  taught  school  for  a  while;  then 
farmed,  and  moved  to  Goodhue  county,  Minn.,  in  1857. 
Here  he  took  a  claim;  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature  at 
the  time  of  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  but  enlisted  in 
the  Third  Minnesota  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  was  commis- 
sioned first  lieutenant  in  company  D,  which  w^as  composed 
of  Scandinavian  soldiers,  with  Col.  H.  Mattson  as  captain. 
He  served  in  Kentucky  and  in  Tennessee,  but,  on  account  of 
ill  health,  resigned  in  1862.  Aaker  represented  his  district 
in  the  legislature  in  1859,  1860,  1862,  1867,  1869,  and  was 
state  senator  in  1881.  He  lived  on  his  farm  in  Goodhue 
county  until  1869;  then  moved  to  Alexandria,  where  for  six 
years  he  was  register  of  the  U.  S.  land  office,  and  engaged 
in  general  merchandise  for  nine  years;  was  receiver  of  the  U. 
S.land  office  inCrookston  in  1884-93.  Aaker  was  one  of  the 
first  Scandinavian  legislators  in  the  state,  an  active  Repub- 

365 


366  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

lican,  and  a  delegate  to  the  first  convention  of  the  party 
held  in  Wisconsin  in  1856.  He  was  widely  and  favorably 
known  throughout  the  whole  Northwest;  was  married 
twice,  and  had  children  by  both  wives. 

Almen,  Louis  G.,  clergyman— Balaton— bom  30  March, 
1846,  in  Tosso,  Dalsland,  Sweden.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
four  he  emigrated  to  this  country;  w^orked  at  first  as  a 
common  laborer;  was  a  railroad  contractor  in  Minnesota 
and  Wisconsin  for  a  couple  of  years;  and  after  having 
attended  Augustana  College,  Rock  Island,  111.,  for  three 
years,  he  graduated  from  the  theological  department  of 
this  institution  in  1876.  His  first  charge  was  at  Beaver, 
Iroquois  county,  111.;  but  after  having  remained  there  for 
about  three  years,  he  became  for  one  year  a  traveling  mis- 
sionary in  Yellow  Medicine  and  Lac  qui  Parle  counties, 
Minnesota;  then  accepted  a  call  to  New  London,  and  set- 
tled at  his  present  place  in  1893.  For  over  twelve  years  he 
w^as  editor  of  the  church  and  temperance  departments  of 
Skaffaren — the  semi-ofiicial  organ  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran 
Minnesota  Conference.  For  a  long  time  he  has  been  the 
most  ardent  temperance  advocate  of  any  of  the  ministers 
of  his  denomination  in  the  state  of  Minnesota,  and  is  one 
of  the  ablest  parliamentarians  in  the  conference.  Almen 
was  married  to  Alice  C.  Johnson  in  1876;  they  have  several 
children  living. 

Anderson,  Abel,  clergyman  and  educator — Montevideo 
— ^bom  5  Dec.,  1847,  in  Dane  county.  Wis.  His  mother's 
ancestors  had  been  officers  in  the  Norwegian  army  for 
several  generations;  in  1830  she  married  Bjom  Anderson,  a 
farmer's  son  and  a  Quaker,  but  a  marriage  between  the 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        367 

daughter  of  an  officer  and  a  farmer  was  in  those  days,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  is  yet,  looked  upon  with  great  disfavor; 
besides,  the  young  couple  had  not  only  sinned  against  the 
social  rank,  but,  what  was  worse  still,  Anderson  did  not 
belong  to  the  state  church,  the  Lutheran.  To  avoid  all 
social  and  religious  unpleasantness,  they  emigrated  to  the 
U.  S.  in  1836;  lived  a  year  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  and  four  years 
in  Illinois;  settled  in  Wisconsin  in  1841,  being  therefore 
among  the  very  earliest  Scandinavian  immigrants  in  this 
country.  Abel  Anderson,  who  is  a  brother  to  the  well- 
known  Prof.  R.  B.  Anderson,  attended  Albion  Acad- 
emy two  years  and  the  University  of  Wisconsin  for  a 
couple  of  years;  graduated  from  Luther  College,  Decorah, 
Iowa,  in  1872,  and  two  years  later  completed  his  theo- 
logical studies  at  Concordia  Seminary,  St.  Louis,  Mo. 
From  1874-87  he  had  charge  of  a  church  belonging  to  the 
Norwegian  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  at  Muskegon, 
Mich.,  being  also  school  inspector  for  several  years;  took 
active  part  in  politics;  was  a  delegate  to  the  Republican 
national  convention  which  nominated  Blaine  for  president 
in  1884,  being  one  of  the  first  Scandinavians  in  this  country 
who  was  a  delegate  to  a  national  convention  of  this  party; 
was  a  candidate  for  representative  to  the  state  legislature 
twice,  but  his  party  being  in  the  minority,  was  defeated 
both  times.  Anderson  came  to  Appleton,  Minn.,  in  1887, 
and  settled  in  Montevideo  the  following  year,  having 
charge  of  churches  at  both  places.  He  has  been  instructor 
in  ancient  and  modem  languages,  in  which  he  is  considered 
to  be  quite  proficient,  at  Windom  Institute,  and  was  one  of 
its  trustees.     He  has  contributed  frequently  to  the  Chicago 


368        HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE   U.  S. 

Tribune  and  other  papers,  both  in  the  Norwegian  and  the 
English  language.  In  1874  he  was  married  to  Mary  Olson, 
of  Cambridge,  Wis.  Anderson  has  two  brothers  who  are 
married  to  two  of  his  wife's  sisters.  They  have  several 
children  living,  of  whom  two  daughters  have  studied  at 
Carleton  College,  Northfield,  Minn. 

Anderson,  Bemdt,  joumalist—St.  Paul—bom  2  Aug., 
1840,  in  Lund,  Sweden.  After  having  completed  a  course 
at  the  University  of  Lund,  he  was  employed  in  the  depart- 
ment of  the  interior,  Stockholm,  from  1865-73,  then  went 
abroad,  studying  the  natural  sciences  in  Denmark  and 
Germany.  In  1880  he  emigrated  to  this  country,  and  has 
most  of  the  time  since  been  editor-in-chief  of  Skaffaren — 
the  latter  being  the  organ  of  the  Minnesota  Conference  of 
the  Swedish  Lutheran  church,  and  advocating  Republican 
principles.  The  predominant  features  of  Anderson's  writ- 
ings are  clearness  and  learning.  In  1893  he  was  appointed 
dairy  and  food  commissioner  by  Governor  Nelson,  being  the 
first  Swede  in  Minnesota  who  was  ever  appointed  chief  of 
a  state  department,  and  was  re-appointed  twice.  At  the 
time  of  his  appointment  certain  individuals  seemed  to  think 
that  it  was  not  wise  to  appoint  to  such  responsible  posi- 
tion any  one  except  a  practical  farmer — ^in  most  cases  the 
male  members  of  the  farming  community  have  neither  a 
practical  nor  a  theoretical  knowledge  of  how  cheese  and 
butter  are  made.  It  did  not,  however,  take  long  before 
Anderson  proved  that  he  was  the  right  man  for  the  place, 
and  soon  became  a  terror  to  the  oleomargarine  dealers, 
several  of  whom  he  successfully  prosecuted.  On  account  of 
his  thorough  scientific  knowledge  of  dairy  products  and  his 


Pilot*.  II.  II.  BBItOHI.ANII.  ItKD  WI.NC.  HKV.  L.  M.  RIOltN.  ZUMUItOTA. 


9 

^ 


'.  IIIIANDT,  ST.  TAIL.  C.  I,.  BHISLKTTKX,  KEXVON 


BIOGRAPHIKS  OF  SCANDINAYIAAS  IN  MINNESOTA.        369 

conscientious  attention  to  the  duties  imposed  upon  him,  he 
did  much  to  raise  the  standard  of  Minnesota  cheese  and 
butter;  and  certainly  was  one  of  the  ablest  dairy  and  food 
commissioners  the  state  ever  had.  Anderson  has  for  several 
years  taken  a  very  active  part  in  politics  and  has  been  a 
delegate  to  many  Republican  local  and  state  conventions. 
He  is  married  and  has  grown  children. 

Anderson,  Daniel,  state  legislator— Cambridge — ^bom 
3  Feb.,  1842,  in  Hassela,  Helsingland,  Sweden.  He  came 
-with  his  parents  directly  from  Sweden  to  Chisago  Lake, 
Minn.,  in  1851.  They  moved  to  Freeborn  county  in  1857. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  Anderson  joined  the  Tenth 
Minnesota  Infantry,  fought  at  Tupelo,  Miss.,  and  served  in 
the  army  for  three  years.  He  came  to  Isanti  county  in  1868 
and  w^as  elected  county  auditor  the  same  year ;  since  he  has 
been  county  surveyor,  county  commissioner,  and  judge  of 
probate.  He  was  a  member  of  the  state  legislature  in  1873, 
1875-77, 1879,  and  1889.  Anderson  is  a  plain,  unassuming 
man,  who  has  hardly  a  common  school  education,  though 
Col.  Mattson  taught  him  how  to  drive  oxen.  In  the  legis- 
lative manuals  he  was  always  styled  *  laborer;"  yet  he  is 
considered  to  have  been  one  of  the  most  influential  Scan- 
dinavian legislators  in  the  state.  He  has  gone  through  all 
the  adversities  of  pioneer  life.  Anderson  is  a  life-long 
Republican,  and  was  married  in  1869. 

APCtander,  J.  W,,  lawyer— Minneapolis— bom  2  Oct., 
1849,  in  Stockholm,  Sweden.  His  father,  who  belonged  to 
one  of  the  oldest  families  of  Norway,  was  for  some  years 
a  professor  in  Sweden,  but  returned  to  his  native  land  in 
1854.    Young  Arctander  received   a   college  education  in 


370         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYAINS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Skien,  graduated  with  honors  from  the  University  of  Nor- 
way, was  a  journalist  for  a  while,  but  his  radical  views 
brought  him  into  trouble,  and  he  became  a  political  exile 
and  emigrated  to  America  in  1870.  For  a  couple  of  years 
he  w^as  connected  with  a  Norwegian  paper  in  Chicago,  where 
he  also  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Minne- 
sota, in  1874.  For  about  ten  years  he  practiced  law  at 
Willmar,  and  has  been  located  in  Minneapolis  since  1886. 
Arctander  has  a  great  reputation  as  a  criminal  lawyer,  and 
has  been  very  successful  in  handling  personal  damage  cases. 
He  is  author  of  Practical  Handbook  of  Laws  of  Minne- 
aotay  published  in  the  Norwegian  language  in  1876,  and 
thoroughly  revised  and  published  in  Norwegian  and  Swedish 
twenty  years  later.  He  has  also  translated  Henrik  Ibsen's 
play.  The  Maaterbuilder,  into  English.  The  17th  of  May, 
1897,  a  magnificent  statue  of  the  famous  Norwegian  violin- 
ist, Ole  Bull,  was  put  up  in  the  main  park  of  Minneapolis, 
mostly  through  the  untiring  energy  and  self-sacrifice  of 
Arctander.  For  about  two  years  he  spoke,  wrote,  stormed, 
until  his  efforts  were  crowned  with  success ;  and  in  connec- 
tion with  the  Ole  Bull  statue — the  only  statue  in  the  public 
parks  of  Minneapolis — Arctander's  name  will  long  be 
remembered  with  gratitude  throughout  the  Northwest.  In 
1898  he  made  a  great  stir  by  publicly  announcing  that  he  had 
been  converted  to  God,  although  he  at  the  time  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  American  Methodist  Church,  which  he  had  joined 
in  1897  and  which  is  supposed  to  accept  as  members  only 
such  persons  as  profess  to  have  been  converted. 

Arosin,  0.   H„   county   treasurer— St.    Paul — bom   14 
May,  1861,  in  Stockholm,  Sweden.     He  received  a  high 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        371 

school  education  in  his  native  city;  learnt  the  printer's 
trade;  emigrated  to  America  in  1879,  coming  directly  to  St. 
Paul;  was  connected  with  the  Swedish  paper  Skaffaren 
for  a  couple  of  years;  started  a  jeweler  store  in  1883; 
worked  in  the  postoffice  in  1883-7;  was  elected  assembly- 
man in  1894,  being  re-elected  two  years  later,  and  served 
as  president  of  the  assembly  for  two  years;  and  was  elected 
county  treasurer  in  1898  by  a  small  majority!  During  all 
these  years  of  public  activity,  Arosin  has  retained  his  jeweler 
store.  He  is  a  member  of  the  English  Lutheran  church; 
affiliates  with  the  Republican  party;  belongs  to  the  orders 
of  Free  Masons  and  Odd  Fellows;  was  married  to  Laura 
Nelson,  of  St.  Paul,  in  1891,  by  whom  he  has  a  couple  of 
children. 

Askeland,  Hallward  Tobias,  librarian  and  musician- 
Minneapolis — bom  30  Nov.,  1860,  in  Stavanger,  Norway. 
He  completed  a  course  in  the  Latin  school  of  his  native  city; 
emigrated  in  1875,  coming  directly  to  Minneapolis ;  gra- 
duated from  the  Uterary  department  of  Augsburg  Seminary 
in  1882;  taught  music  for  a  few  years;  was  editor  of 
Felt'Raabet,  the  first  Norwegian  prohibition  paper  pub- 
lished in  Minnesota,  from  1886-89,  but  the  paper  ceased; 
and  he  has  ever  since  1889  been  librarian  of  the  Franklin 
Avenue  branch  of  the  public  library.  Askeland  takes  great 
interest  in  music  and  literature,  and  for  several  years  was 
organist  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Trinity  Church,  and 
secretary  of  what  is  now  the  Minnesota  Total  Abstinence 
Association.  In  1883  he  was  married  to  Julia  Skallerud  of 
Minneapolis.    They  have  several  children. 

BendekOf  Karl,  physician  and  surgeon — Minneapolis — 


372         HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

bom  1841,  in  Kristiania,  Norway.  After  going  through  the 
regular  old  country  college  course,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
University  of  Norway  as  a  student  in  1859.  He  studied 
medicine  there  from  1863-68,  when  he  was  appointed  sur- 
geon on  board  an  emigrant  vessel  which  brought  him  to 
this  country.  He  settled  first  in  Chicago,  where  he  practiced 
his  profession  for  two  years;  moved  to  Minnesota  in  1870; 
located  in  Minneapolis  in  1875,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
Bendeke  has  at  diflFerent  times  visited  foreign  medical  insti- 
tutions for  the  purpose  of  extending  his  studies  in  certain 
specialties,  principally  diseases  of  the  eye  and  ear.  In  1877 
he  visited  the  eye  clinics  of  London  and  Paris ;  in  1881 
attended  the  New  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary  for  three 
months,  and  in  1891  spent  about  the  same  length  of  time  at 
the  university  cUnics  of  BerUn,  Germany,  where  he  studied 
the  most  modem  methods  of  research  and  treatment  in  the 
various  branches  of  medicine  and  surgery.  His  professional 
skill  in  conjunction  with  his  long  residence  in  the  country 
has  naturally  given  him  a  reputation  as  one  of  the  leading 
Scandinavian  physicians  of  the  Northwest.  In  1869  he  was 
married  to  Josephine  Fauske,  of  Bergen,  Norway.  They 
have  one  daughter,  who  is  an  accomplished  violinist. 

Bennet,  C.  C,  merchant — Minneapolis — bom  1847,  in 
Malmo,  Sweden.  He  is  the  son  of  Baron  Wilhelm  Bennet, 
who  was  an  officer  in  the  Swedish  army.  Young  Bennet  re- 
ceived a  good  education ;  went  to  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  at 
the  age  of  fifteen,  to  learn  the  farrier's  trade;  emigrated  to 
Montreal,  Canada,  in  1867,  where  he  worked  at  his  trade 
for  over  a  year ;  then  traveled  through  several  of  the  Eastern 
states,  but  returned  to  Montreal  to  become  a  member  and 


BIOGRAPHIKS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MANNESOTA.       373 

manager  of  a  fur  company.  In  1877  he  went  to  Omaha, 
Neb.,  and  opened  a  wholesale  house  in  furs ;  but  as  the  busi- 
ness proved  unprofitable,  he  moved  shortly  afterwards  to 
MinneapoUs,  where  he  has  ever  since  been  engaged  in  his 
trade.  Always  taking  an  active  interest  in  the  social  life  of 
his  countrjrmen,  Bennet  has  several  times  been  president  of 
the  Swedish  society  Norden.  He  has  been  a  prominent 
speaker  at  many  important  Scandinavian  festivals  and 
other  great  gatherings.  He  was  the  chief  promoter  in 
organizing,  in  1888,  Battery  B  of  the  First  Battalion,  which 
is  composed  mostly  of  Swedes;  Bennet— generally  known 
as  Captain  Bennet — has  been  commander  of  the  battery 
ever  since  its  organization.  In  1874  he  was  married  to  a 
Canadian  lady.    They  have  grown  children. 

Berg,  Albert,  secretary  of  State— Centre  City— bom  25 
June,  1861,  in  Centre  City,  Minn.  His  parents  were  among 
the  early  Swedish  settlers  at  Chisago  Lake.  He  attended 
Carleton  College,  Northfield,  in  1876-78;  then  studied  at 
Gustavus  Adolphus  College,  St.  Peter,  for  a  couple  of  years. 
Berg  traveled  as  a  salesman  through  the  Western  states  for 
four  years,  then  taught  school  for  three  years,  was  elected 
register  of  deeds  of  Chisago  county  in  1886,  and  was 
re-elected  two  years  later.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Repub- 
lican national  convention  at  Minneapolis  in  1892,  and  at 
the  state  convention  that  year  was  a  strong  candidate  for 
secretary  of  state.  In  1894  he  was  elected  secretary  of 
state,  and  has  since  been  re-elected  twice.  Berg  is  a 
Lutheran,  quite  a  good  singer,  and  is  married. 

BergBland,  H.  H,,  educator— Red  Wing— bom  23  Jan., 
1858,  in  Fillmore  county,  Minn.    His  father  emigrated  from 


374         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S 

Telemarken,  Norway,  to  the  United  States  in  1846,  and  his 
mother  came  from  the  same  place  a  few  years  later.  They 
settled  in  Fillmore  county  a  couple  of  years  before  he 
was  bom.  After  having  received  a  common  school  educa- 
tion, young  Bergsland  entered  Red  Wing  Seminary  in 
1880,  and  graduated  from  the  theological  department  of 
this  institution  five  years  later ;  then  attended  a  theological 
school  in  Kristiania,  Norway,  for  two  years,  after  which  he 
accepted  the  position  of  theological  professor  in  Red  Wing 
Seminary.  From  1889  to  1897  Bergsland  was  president  of 
this  institution,  but  at  the  latter  date  he  again  became 
theological  professor.  In  1895  he  published  a  small  pam- 
phlet in  answer  to  the  fanatical  attack  made  upon  him  by 
Rev.  O.  S.  Meland.  In  1887  he  was  married  to  Anna  L. 
Thompson,  of  Fillmore  county,  Minn. 

Blermann,  Adolph,  state  auditor— Rochester— bom  19 
Nov.,  1842,  in  Kristiania,  Norway.  Biermann  emigrated  to 
America  at  the  age  of  nineteen  and  at  once  entered  the 
Union  army,  enlisting  in  company  I  of  the  Twenty-fourth 
Wisconsin  Volunteers,  serving  till  the  close  of  the  war,  and 
participating  in  the  battles  of  Perry sville,  Ky.,  and  Mur- 
freesboro,  Tenn.  In  1866  Biermann  made  a  visit  to  Nor- 
way, and  upon  his  return  settled  at  Rochester.  He  was 
elected  county  auditor  of  Olmsted  county  in  1874,  which 
position  he  held  till  1880.  In  1875  and  1882  he  was  placed 
in  nomination  by  the  Democratic  party  as  secretary  of 
state;  in  1884,  as  representative  to  Congress;  in  1883,  as 
candidate  for  governor.  He  was  defeated.  In  1885  he  was 
appointed  collector  of  internal  revenue  for  Minnesota  by 
President  Cleveland.    In  1890  he  was  elected,  on  the  Demo- 


^ 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.         375 

cratic  ticket,  to  the  office  of  state  auditor,  but  after  having 
served  one  term  was  defeated  for  the  same  position  in  1894. 
Biermann  is  still  a  bachelor. 

Blorn,  Ludvlgr  Marlnns,  clergyman— Zumbrota— bom  7 
Sept.,  1835,  in  Moss,  Norway.  His  father  was  a  minister 
in  the  state  church  of  Norway,  and  some  of  his  ancestors 
held  high  military  and  ecclesiastical  positions  in  Slesvig. 
Biom  became  a  student  at  the  University  of  Norway  in 
1855,  graduating  as  cand.  theol.  in  1861.  The  following 
year  he  emigrated  to  America,  being  called  as  pastor  by  the 
congregation  of  the  Norwegian  Sjmod  in  Manitowoc 
county.  Wis.  Here  Biom  met  with  all  the  hardships  inci- 
dent to  pioneer  life.  The  war,  too,  added  to  the  diffi- 
culty ;  company  F  of  the  Fifteenth  Wisconsin  Regiment  was 
mostly  taken  from  his  congregation.  In  1879  he  removed 
to  Goodhue  county,  Minn.,  to  the  congregations  of  Land 
and  Minneola.  Biom  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Anti- 
Missourians  in  the  great  predestination  controversy,  and 
when,  after  the  division  of  the  synod,  the  United  Church 
was  organized  out  of  three  Norwegian  Lutheran  denomina- 
tions, Biom  became  the  vice-president  of  the  new  body. 
The  North,  in  1893,  says:  **Biom  has  a  frank,  honest, 
prepossessing  face.  He  is  a  thoroughbred  gentleman,  a 
popular  preacher,  an  able  writer,  and  last  but  not  least, 
there  is  a  vein  of  true  poetry  in  his  psychical  make-up  which 
has  found  expression  in  a  number  of  poems,  two  or  three  of 
which  are  gems  of  their  kind.*'  One  of  his  sons  is  practicing 
law  in  St.  Paul. 

Bjorgro,  K.,  clergyman— Red  Wing— bom  2  Oct.,  1847, 
in  Voss,  Bergen  stift,  Norway.  He  came  to  the  United  States 


376  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

in  his  infancy;  graduated  from  Luther  College,  Decorah, 
Iowa,  in  1870,  and  three  years  later  completed  his  theologi- 
cal studies  at  Concordia  Seminary,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  was 
pastor  of  several  churches  at  and  around  Lake  Park,  Becker 
county,  Minn.,  for  about  fifteen  years,  and  accepted  a  call  to 
Red  Wing  in  1888.  Bjorgo  was  elected  president  of  the 
Minnesota  District  of  the  Norwegian  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Synod  in  1891,  and  has  been  one  of  the  chief  promoters  in 
establishing  the  Young  Ladies*  Lutheran  Seminary  at  Red 
Wing— the  only  Scandinavian  institution  of  its  kind  in 
America.  He  was  married  to  Ingeborg  Lien,  of  Decorah, 
Iowa,  in  1876 ;  they  have  several  children. 

Boekman,  Hareus  Olaus,  clergyman  and  educator — 
Minneapolis — bom  9  Jan.,  1849,  in  Langesund,  Kristian- 
sand  stift,  Norway.  His  father  was  receiver  of  customs  at 
Ekersund,  where  young  Bockman  received  his  early  school 
training,  and  after  having  completed  the  course  at  Aars  and 
Voss'  Latin  school,  Kristiania,  he  graduated  with  high  hon- 
ors from  the  theological  department  of  the  University  of 
Norway  in  1874,  was  ordained  and  accepted  a  call  from  a 
congregation  in  Goodhue  county,  Minn.,  the  following  year, 
remaining  there  for  eleven  years.  Rev.  J.  C.  Jensson,  in 
American  Lutheran  Biographies,  says:  *  When  the 
great'controversy  concerning  election  and  conversion  arose 
in  the  Norwegian  S3ntiod,  Bockman  took  part  with  the  Anti- 
Missourians  and  became  one  of  the  leaders  in  opposing  the 
Missourians.  In  1886  the  Anti-Missourian  faction  estab- 
lished a  theological  seminary  of  their  own  at  Northfield, 
Minn.,  and  Bockman  was  called  to  fill  one  of  the  chairs  at 
this  institution.    From  1887-90  he  was  one  of  the  editors 


nil.    KAIII,   BENDEKE.   MINNEAPOLI& 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        377 

of  Lutherake  Vidneabj^rd,  the  church  paper  of  the  Anti- 
Missourians.  In  1890  Bockman  became  a  member  of  the 
faculty  of  Augsburg  Seminary.  He  is  a  bright  scholar  and 
one  of  the  most  eloquent  Norwegian  preachers  in  this  coun- 
try.' Since  1893  he  has  served  as  president  of  the  United 
Church  Seminary.  Bockman  has  been  married  twice,  and 
has  several  children. 

Boeekmann,  Eduard,  physician  and  surgeon— St.  Paul- 
bom  25  March,  1849,  in  Ostre  Toten,  Hamar  stift,  Norway. 
His  father  was  an  officer  in  the  army,  and  later  became  post- 
master at  Moss.  Young  Boeckmann  received  a  carefiil  col- 
lege education ;  graduated  from  the  medical  department  of 
the  University  of  Norway  in  1874;  visited  Copenhagen, 
Utrecht,  Paris,  and  Heidelberg,  for  the  purpose  of  studying 
the  diseases  of  the  eye ;  practiced  his  profession  in  Bergen  for 
ten  years,  meanwhile  visiting  the  United  States  three  times 
and  practicing  medicine  at  shorter  periods  in  different  parts 
of  this  country.  He  came  to  America  first  in  1882 ;  has 
crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean  over  twenty  times ;  and  located 
permanently  in  St.  Paul  in  1886,  where  he  has  ever  since 
resided.  Boeckmann  at  first  became  noted  as  a  specialist  of 
the  diseases  of  the  eye,  but  has  since  engaged  in  every  branch 
of  medical  practice  and  surgical  operations — in  all  of  which 
he  has,  by  general  consent,  become  skillful.  He  was  married 
to  Anne  Sophie  Dorothea  Gill,  of  Bergen,  in  1875 ;  they  have 
children. 

Boen,  Haider  E.,  congressman — Fergus  Falls — bom  2 
Jan.,  1851,  in  Sondre  Aurdal,  Valders,  Norway.  At  the  age 
of  seventeen  he  left  his  native  country  and  came  to  Mower 
county,  Minn.,  but  settled  in  Otter  Tail  county  three  years 


378  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

later.  Here  he  worked  in  the  county  auditor's  office  for 
a  while,  taught  in  the  public  schools  for  five  years,  and  was 
an  active  agitator  of  the  Farmers'  Alliance  and  People's 
party  movement.  In  1880  he  was  count}*-  commissioner, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  acted  as  deputy  sheriff.  During 
the  years  of  1885-89  he  was  a  member  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  state  Alliance.  He  was  elected,  oil  the  Repub- 
lican ticket,  register  of  deeds  of  Otter  Tail  county  in  1888, 
and  re-elected  on  the  Alliance  ticket  two  years  later.  In 
1892  the  People's  party  nominated  him  for  Congress,  and 
he  was  elected  by  a  very  small  majority ;  but  was  defeated 
in  1894.  Boen  introduced  a  number  of  radical  bills  while  in 
Congress,  and  succeeded  in  getting  one  measure  through. 
The  Boen  Law  provides  that  criminal  cases  in  the  U.  S. 
courts  must  be  tried  in  the  district  where  the  offense  was 
committed.  Boen  does  not  seem  to  possess  the  educational 
qualifications  or  the  mental  and  moral  make-up  to  properly 
fill  the  high  position  to  which  he  was  elected.  Since  1895  he 
has  been  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Fergus  Falls  Globe. 
In  1874  he  was  married  to  Margit  G.  Brekke ;  they  have 
several  children. 

Borup,  Charles  William  W.,  pioneer— St.  Paul— bom  10 
Dec,  1806,  in  Copenhagen,  Denmark;  died  in  1859.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-one  he  came  to  the  United  States,  remained 
in  New  York  for  about  a  year,  then  went  to  Lake  Superior, 
and,  as  an  Indian  trader,  entered  the  service  of  the  Amer- 
ican fur  company,  of  which  concern  he  finally  became  the 
chief  agent,  residing  at  La  Pointe  for  several  years.  Borup 
moved  to  St.  Paul  in  1849,  and  four  years  later  he,  in  con- 
nection with  his  brother-in-law,  Charles  H.  Oakes,  organ- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        379 

ized  the  first  bank  in  the  territory  of  Minnesota.  As  an 
illustration  of  the  banking  capacity  in  those  early  days,  it 
may  be  mentioned  that,  for  lack  of  funds,  the  banking  con- 
cern was  unable  to  pay  a  check  of  $130  which  a  customer 
desired  to  get  cashed.  But  Borup  soon  improved  the  bank- 
ing business,  and  became  the  best  financier  in  the  territory. 
It  is  claimed  that  his  parents  and  ancestors  were  prominent 
people,  and  that  he  received  a  careful  education  in  Denmark, 
graduating  as  a  physician,  but  never  practiced  the  pro- 
fession. It  is  not  known  what  caused  him  to  sacrifice  his 
high  standing  and  bright  future  in  his  native  country.  Here 
he  endured  the  hardships  of  a  Western  pioneer,  associating 
for  years  a  great  deal  with  the  Indians;  he,  like  many 
other  early  pioneers,  married  a  woman  who  had  Indian 
blood  in  her  veins,  by  whom  he  had  many  children.  One  of 
his  sons  became  a  captain  in  the  United  States  army;  his 
daughters,  who  are  claimed  to  have  been  very  handsome,  were 
all  married  to  men  of  prominence.  Borup  was  not  only  the 
first  banker  in  Minnesota,  he  was  also  the  first  consul  who 
represented  a  Scandinavian  country  in  Minnesota,  and 
donated  a  lot  in  St.  Paul  to  the  Methodists,  in  1853,  on  con- 
dition that  a  Scandinavian  church  should  be  built  thereon, 
and  this  was  the  first  Scandinavian  religious  organization 
in  the  state.  His  son,  Theo.  Borup,  is  a  leading  business 
man  in  St.  Paul. 

Boyesen,  Alf  E.,  lawyer— St.  Paul— bom  21  April,  1857, 
in  Kristiania,  Norway.  His  father  was  a  captain  in  the 
Norwegian  army,  and  he  is  a  brother  to  the  well-known 
author  Hjalmar  Hjort  Boyesen.  At  the  age  of  thir- 
teen  Boyesen    emigrated   to   this   country,    attended   Ur- 


380  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

bana  University,  Urbana,  Ohio,  for  four  years;  studied 
law  a  short  time  with  his  brother  I.  K.  Boyesen  in  Chicago; 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  where  he 
also  had  studied  in  private  offices,  in  1880;  practiced  his 
profession  in  Fargo,  N.  D.,  for  seven  years;  moved  to  St. 
Paul  in  1887;  in  1890  entered  into  partnership  with  M.  D. 
Munn  and  N.  M.  Thygeson;  and  formed  a  partnership 
with  P.  J.  McLaughlin  in  1897.  Few  law  firms  in  St.  Paul 
have  a  larger  practice  than  the  one  of  which  Boyesen  is  a 
member,  and  Boyesen  himself  had  an  extensive  practice  in 
North  Dakota,  and  is  now  recognized  as  one  of  the  leading 
Scandinavian  attorneys  in  the  Northwest.  In  1883  he  was 
married  to  Florence  Knapp,  a  daughter  of  Frederick  M. 
Klnapp,  of  Racine,  Wis. 

Brandti  Christian*  journalist— St.  Paul— bom  28  Jan., 
1853,  in  Vestre  SUdre,  Valders,  Norway.  His  ancestors 
came  from  'Germany  to  Denmark,  and  moved  from  there  to 
Norway  at  the  fall  of  the  Struense  and  Brandt's  adminis- 
tration. He  received  a  college  and  military  education  in 
Kristiania,  was  appointed  second  Ueutenant  in  the  army  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one,  went  to  Germany  the  following  year 
to  study  civil  engineering  at  the  polytechnic  school  in 
Aachen,  and  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in  1876.  His 
intention  was  to  engage  in  civil  engineering,  but  failing  to 
find  employment,  he  became  for  two  years  city  editor  of 
Daglig  Skandinaven  in  Chicago;  was  assistant  editor  of 
Faedrelandet  og  Emigranten,  La  Crosse,  Wis.,  for  a 
couple  of  years;  bought  Red  River  Poaten,  which  was 
published  in  Fargo,  N.  D.,  but  sold  it  the  following 
year;  became  editor-in-chief  of  Nordveaten  in  1881,  and 


BIOGRAPHIHS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        381 

later  publisher.  From  1887-89  he  was  inspector  general  of 
the  National  Guard  of  Minnesota,  with  the  rank  of  briga- 
dier-general. In  1890  he  was  appointed  deputy  collector  of 
internal  revenue;  started  the  Norwegian  newspajper,  Heizn- 
dal,  the  following  year,  but  sold  it  in  1893.  He  was  for  two 
years  assistant  editor  of  Minneapolia  Tidende^  and 
returned  in  the  spring  of  1897  to  Nordveaten,  of  which 
paper  he  at  present  is  editor-in-chief.  During  the  war 
with  Spain  Brandt  organized  a  Scandinavian  regiment,  of 
which  he  was  elected  colonel,  but  it  was  not  called  into  ser- 
vice. He  was  the  first  to  advocate  the  election  of  two  Scan- 
dinavians to  state  offices,  which  resulted  in  the  electiom  of 
Col.H.  Mattson  as  secretary  of  state  and  A.  E.  Rice  as  lieu- 
tenant-governor, in  1886.  In  1878  he  was  married  to 
Bessie  Sorenson,  of  Chicago;  they  have  children. 

Breda,  0,  J,,  educator— Minneapolis— bom  29  Apr., 
1853,  in  Horten,  Norway.  He  received  a  classical  educa- 
tion; graduated  from  the  University  of  Norway;  proceeded 
to  this  country  in  1873;  graduated  from  Concordia  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  of  St.  Louis,  in  1875;  accepted  a  call  to 
St.  Paul,  but  soon  embraced  the  opportunity  offered  him 
to  fill  a  professor's  chair  in  Luther  College.  Before  entering 
upon  his  new  duties,  however,  he  returned  to  Noway,  where 
for  two  years  he  busied  himself  with  philological  studies,  and 
from  1879  to  1882  did  very  creditable  work  as  professor  of 
Latin  and  Norwegian  in  Luther  College.  After  another 
year's  study  in  Norway  he  received  a  call  to  the  professor- 
ship of  Scandinavian  languages  just  then  established  in  the 
University  of  Minnesota.  A  leave  of  absence  of  one  year 
was  improved  in  further  fitting  himself  for  his  new  duties, 


382  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

which  he  assumed  in  the  fall  of  1884.  The  chair  of  Scandi- 
navian languages,  or  ** Scandinavian  language,'*  as  the 
intelligent  lawmakers  had  styled  the  study  thus  first  raised 
to  the  dignity  of  a  professorship  in  Minnesota,  for  some 
time  called  for  but  little  attention,  and  Breda  assisted 
regularly  at  teaching  Latin,  his  ability  and  learning  being 
generally  acknowledged.  In  1899  he  resigned  and  returned 
to  his  native  land.  He  was  married  in  1886  in  Horten, 
Norway,  to  Emilie  Braarud.    They  have  no  children. 

Brohougrh,  G.  0.,  educator— Red  Wing— bom  in  Eidsvold, 
Norway.  He  came  to  Red  Wing  in  his  early  boyhood,  where 
he  attended  the  city  public  schools.  At  an  early  age  he 
entered  the  State  Normal  School  at  River  Falls,  Wis.  After 
graduating  from  this  institution  he  taught  several  terms  in 
the  public  schools.  Not  finding  his  thirst  for  knowledge 
satisfied,  he  entered  the  state  university  at  Minneapolis, 
graduating  with  the  class  of  1889.  Since  then  he  took  a 
course  in  the  law  department  of  his  alma  mater,  receiving 
the  degree  of  LL.  B.  in  1892.  During  his  senior  year  he 
received  a  prize  offered  by  the  American  Institute  of  Civics 
for  the  best  thesis  on  economics.  For  several  years  he  has 
been  professor  at  the  Red  Wing  Seminary.  Brohough  was 
superintendent  of  the  public  schools  of  Red  Wing  for  some 
time.  His  brother,  Chr.  O.  Brohough,  came  to  America  in 
1869,  and  has  since  been  pastor  of  Hauge's  S3mod  congre- 
gations in  Red  Wing,  Chicago,  and  the  Twin  Cities.  He  has 
pubUshed  several  books,  among  which  may  be  mentioned: 
Vaegterea,  San^bog'  for  Sonda^sskolen,  Elling  Eiel- 
aenss  Liv  og  Virkaomhed,  Guitar  Laere,  etc. 

Brown,  Fred  P.,  secretary  of  state— Blue  Earth  City— 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        383 

bom  12  Aug.,  1838,  in  Kobbervig,  Kristiansand  stift,  Nor- 
way. His  grand-father  was  Bishop  Nordahl  Brun.  At  the 
age  of  nine  Brown  went  to  sea  as  a  cabin  boy,  and  for  nine 
years  led  the  hard  and  hazardous  life  of  a  sailor.  In  1854 
he  emigrated  to  America,  settling  in  Dane  county,  Wis.  In 
1862  he  moved  to  Rochester,  Minn.,  and  located  at  Blue 
Earth  City,  his  present  home,  in  the  year  following.  Brown 
was  register  of  deeds  of  Faribault  county  for  eighteen  years. 
In  1890  he  was  elected  secretary  of  state  on  the  Republican 
ticket,  and  re-elected  two  years  later.  He  is  married,  and 
has  several  children. 

Brasletten,  C.  L.,  legislator — Kenyon — bom  2  Sept., 
1853,  in  Hallingdal,  Norway.  He  came  to  America  with 
his  parents  in  1858,  settling  in  the  neighborhood  of  his 
present  home.  He  attended  the  district  school  in  winter 
and  worked  on  the  farm  in  summer.  In  1879  he  graduated 
from  the  Northwestern  Business  College  at  Madison,  Wis., 
and  since  that  time  has  been  engaged  in  the  mercantile  busi- 
ness. Brusletten  was  postmaster  at  Kenyon  for  eight  years 
and  held  many  of  the  most  important  offices  of  his  town- 
ship and  village.  The  farmers'  elevator  at  Kenyon  was 
built  largely  through  his  efforts,  and  he  has  served  as  treas- 
urer of  this  and  as  vice-president  of  the  Citizen's  State  Bank 
of  Kenyon,  since  those  institutions  were  established.  He 
also  owns  a  large  and  valuable  farm  in  Kenyon,  and  has 
farms  in  other  places  in  the  Northwest.  He  was  elected  to  a 
seat  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  state  legislature  in  1896,  and 
re-elected  to  the  same  position  in  1898.  His  legislative 
record  was  creditable. 

Cappelen,  F,  W.,  engineer— Minneapolis— bom  31  Oct., 


384         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1857,  in  Drammen,  Norway.  He  received  his  early  educa- 
tion in  Fredrikstad,  and  came  out  at  the  head  of  his  class. 
Having  completed  a  course  and  graduated  at  a  technical 
school  in  Orebro,  Sweden,  he  continued  his  studies  at  the 
polytechnic  institute  in  Dresden,  Germany,  and  was  the 
first  Norwegian  who  distinguished  himself  at  a  final 
examination  in  that  institution.  In  1880  he  emigrated  to 
America ;  was  appointed  assistant  engineer  on  the  Northern 
Pacific  R.  R.,  in  Montana,  and  bridge  engineer  on  the  same 
road  in  1883.  At  the  latter  date  he  removed  to  Minne- 
apolis, and  from  1886  to  1892  served  as  bridge  engineer  of 
the  city  of  MinneapoUs.  By  this  time  he  was  generally 
admitted  to  rank  among  the  leading  engineers  of  the  North- 
west, and  he  was  appointed  city  engineer,  which  position 
he  held  for  half  a  dozen  years.  The  most  noteworthy  monu. 
ments  to  his  engineering  skill  are  the  Northern  Pacific 
railroad  bridge  near  the  state  university  of  Minnesota  and 
the  reservoirs  of  the  public  waterworks  of  Minneapolis. 
His  wife  is  of  German  birth ;  they  have  several  sons. 

Carlsen,  L.  A.  K.,  clergyman — Brandon — bom  6  Nov., 
1842,  in  Trondhjem,  Norway.  His  father  was  pastor  in  the 
state  church  of  Norway.  Young  Carlsen  was  educated  in 
his  native  city  and  at  the  University  of  Norway;  accepted  a 
call  from  a  couple  of  Norwegian  S3ntiod  congregations  in 
Douglas  and  Grant  counties,  Minn.,  in  1872 ;  was  called  to 
San  Francisco,  Cal.,  in  1877,  and  to  Sydney,  Melbourne, 
and  other  places  in  Australia,  in  1879 ;  returned  to  Douglas 
county  in  1887 ;  made  another  trip  to  Australia,  visiting  the 
Hawaii  Islands  and  New  Zealand,  in  1890;  and  was  again 
called  to  take  charge  of  the  missionary  work  among  the 


I'HOr.  J.  S.  rAllLSi)\,  MIXXKAI'O 


H.  J.  GJERTSEN,  MIXXEAPOI-IS. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        385 

Norwegians  in  those  distant  colonies,  but  for  some  time  has 
been  located  at  Great  Falls,  Montana.  Carlsen  is  considered 
to  be  one  of  the  greatest  missionaries  in  the  Norwegian 
Synod. 

Carlson,  Johan  S., educator^Minneapolis — ^bom  8  Nov., 
1857,  in  Frodinge,  Sm^land,  Sweden.  He  came  with  his 
parents  to  the  United  States  when  he  was  quite  young, 
and  was  brought  up  on  the  farm.  After  having  attended 
Oustavus  Adolphus  College,  St.  Peter,  Minn.,  for  a  couple 
of  years,  he  graduated  from  Augustana  College,  Rock 
Island,  111.,  in  1885;  then  studied  for  two  years  at  the 
University  of  Upsala,  Sweden,  and  completed  the  course  for 
candidate  of  philosophy  at  that  institution  in  1887.  The 
same  year  he  accepted  a  call  to  Gustavus  Adolphus  college 
as  assistant  professor  of  English  and  mathematics;  was 
elected  professor  of  history  and  philosophy  of  that  institu- 
tion the  following  year,  which  position  he  occupied  for  ten 
years,  and  in  which  capacity  he  made  an  excellent  record. 
Atigustana  College  conferred  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts 
upon  Carlson  in  1889,  and  in  1894  he  again  went  to 
Sweden  and  completed  the  course  for  doctor  of  philosophy, 
trhich  degree  was  conferred  upon  him  by  the  famous  Uni- 
versity of  Upsala  in  1895,  his  thesis  being  Oxn  FiIoso£en  i 
A^xnerika,  He  was  elected  editor-in-chief  of  Minnesota 
State  Tidning,  the  semi-official  organ  of  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  Minnesota  Conference,  in  1898,  and  the  next  year 
he  was  called  to  the  State  University  as  professor  of  Soan- 
dinavian  languages  and  literatures.  Carlson  is  a  member 
of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 
as  well  as   of  the   American   Statistical    Association.    He 

26 


386  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

was  Republican  presidential  elector  in  1892,  has 
stumped  the  state  for  his  party,  is  considered  to  be  one  of 
the  best  Swedish  public  speakers  in  the  land,  writes  able 
editorial  articles,  and  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Swed- 
ish Lutheran  church,  having  for  years  been  one  of  the  lead- 
ing lay-delegates  at  the  annual  meetings  of  said  organiza- 
tion. In  1890  he  was  married  to  Maria  M.  Anderson,  of 
Carver,  Minn.    They  have  four  children. 

Chrlstensen,  Ferdinand  Sneedorff,  vice-consul  for  Den- 
mark and  banker— Rush  City— bom  18  April,  1837,  in 
Copenhagen,  Denmark;  died  1896.  He  received  a  college 
education  in  his  native  country,  wrote  some  poems  in  his 
younger  days,  and  participated  in  the  Danish  war  with  Ger- 
many in  1864.  Christensen  came  to  the  U.  S.  in  1866, 
stopped  in  Chicago  for  two  years,  then  moved  to  Rochester, 
Minn.  Here  he  commenced  the  publication  of  Nordisk 
Folkeblad,  which  was  one  of  the  first  Danish-Norwegian 
newspapers  in  Minnesota,  and  Christensen  was  the  first 
Scandinavian  in  the  state  who  commenced  to  agitate  the 
election  of  a  Scandinavian  state  official,  which  resulted  in 
the  nomination  and  election  of  Col.  Hans  Mattson  as 
secretary  of  state  in  1869.  Christensen  became  land  agent 
for  the  St.  Paul  and  Duluth  Railroad  company,  and  moved 
to  Rush  City  in  1870.  In  1882  he  started  the  Bank  of  Rush 
City.  He  was  assistant  secretary  of  state  from  1880-82, 
was  appointed  vice-consul  for  Denmark  in  1883,  represented 
his -district  in  the  state  legislature  in  1878,  and  held  various 
local  offices.  Christensen,  who  for  years  was  the  most 
prominent  Dane  in  Minnesota,  had,  on  his  arrival  in  this 
country,  to  endure  the  usual  hardships  common  to  all  immi- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MANNESOTA.       387 

grants,  and  for  some  time  he  earned  his  bread  by  blacking 
stoves  for  a  hardware  store  in  Chicago.  In  1869  he  was 
married  to  Zelma  A.  Willard,  w^ho  survives  him. 

Clausen,  Clans  Lauritz,  clergyman  and  pioneer— Austin 
—bom  3  Nov.,  1820,  on  the  island  of  Aero,  Fyen  stift,  Den- 
mark; died  in  Paulsbo,  Wash.,  1892.  His  father,  who  kept 
a  country  store,  intended  to  let  his  son  study  law.  And 
young  Clausen  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  after  he  had  received  a 
good  common  school  education  and  some  instruction  in  the 
German  language,  commenced  to  study  law  in  the  office  of 
one  of  the  officials,  where  he  remained  for  three  years.  But 
the  legal  principles  soon  tired  Clausen ;  and,  being  very  reli- 
gious, he  decided  to  become  a  missionary  of  the  Gospel.  For 
two  years  he  studied  theology  under  private  instruction, 
but,  being  poor,  he  was  compelled  to  seek  employment  as  a 
tutor.  In  1841  he  visited  Norway,  and  soon  decided  to  go 
to  Zululand,  South  Africa,  to  preach  for  the  natives.  But 
the  reputation  of  his  missionary  zeal  had  been  circulated  to 
the  Norwegian  settlement  at  Muskego,  Racine  county.  Wis. 
These  people  felt  the  need  of  a  preacher  and  a  teacher,  espe- 
cially were  they  anxious  to  have  their  young  children 
instructed  in  the  religion  and  language  of  their  fathers. 
They  called  Clausen.  He  accepted.  And,  after  having 
returned  to  Denmark  and  married  there,  he,  in  company 
with  his  bride,  arrived  at  Muskego,  Wis.,  in  1843.  Shortly 
after  his  arrival  he  was  examined  by  a  couple  of  German 
Lutheran  ministers,  was  ordained  Oct.  18,  and  organized 
what  is  generally  supposed  to  be  the  first  Scandinavian 
Lutheran  church  in  America,  since  the  Swedish  settlement  at 
Delaware  River  in  the  seventeenth  century.    This,  however. 


388  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

is  a  mistake.  For  three  or  four  years  previously  to  Clausen's 
arrival,  Elling  Eielsen  had  built  a  log  meeting  house  at  Fox 
River,  111.  This  may  be  called  the  first  Norwegian  church 
building  and  church  organization  in  the  U.  S.,  and  Eielsen 
was  ordained  by  a  Lutheran  minister  fifteen  days  before 
Clausen.  On  the  other  hand  it  must  be  admitted  that  Eiel- 
sen was  not  friendly  towards  any  attempts  to  eflfect  solid 
churchforganizations,  and  seems  to  have  ridiculed  ordained 
clergymen  both  before  and  after  his  own  ordination.  He 
certainly  had  not  the  educational  qualifications  which  a 
Lutheran  pastor  is  supposed  to  possess,  and  virtualh^ 
remained  during  his  whole  life  an  itinerant  lay-preacher.  In 
1844  Rev.  J.  W.  C.  Dietrichson  arrived  at  Muskego  from 
Norway ;  he  was  a  disciple  of  Bishop  Grundtvig  and  suc- 
ceeded, at  least  for  a  while,  in  convincing  Clausen  to  his 
views.  But  Dietrichson's  Grundtvigianism  terrified  Eielsen 
and  the  friends  of  Hauge.  In  1851  A.  C.  Preus,  H.  C.  Stub, 
and  C.  L.  Clausen  met  at  Rock  Prairie,  Wis., — Dietrichson 
being  in  Europe  at  the  time — and  organized  the  Norwegian 
Synod.  Clausen  was  elected  president  of  the  synod.  The 
constitution  of  this  organization,  which  it  was  claimed  con- 
tained too  much  leaven  of  Grundvigianism,  was  revoked 
the  following  year ;  Clausen  objected  to  the  change  and  de- 
sired the  leaven  to  remain.  But  in  later  years  Clausen 
changed  his  views  on  this  subject.  When  Emigranten, 
which  w^as  one  of  the  first  Norwegian  newspapers  in  this 
country,  was  started  in  1851,  Clausen  became  its  editor, 
remaining  in  that  position,  however,  only  a  short  time,  as 
his  ill-health  compelled  him  to  go  farther  West.  For  several 
years  after  his  arrival  to  this  country,  his  lungs  had  been  in 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        389 

a  bad  condition.  To  restore  his  health  he,  in  1852,  with- 
drew from  the  regular  ministry,  went  to  Iowa,  and  located 
at  St.  Ansgar,  Mitchell  county,  where  soon  a  prosperous 
Norwegian  settlement  sprang  up.  For  a  number  of  years 
Clausen  was  engaged  in  farming  and  business  ventures  of 
various  kinds,  as  well  as  in  politics.  Having  regained  his 
health  and  again  entered  the  ministry,  he,  in  June,  1861, 
attended  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Norwegian  Synod,  held 
at  Rock  Prairie,  Wis.,  and  upon  application  was  admitted 
to  membership.  At  this  meeting,  a  declaration  from  the 
ministers  in  regard  to  slavery  having  been  called  for,  the 
following  resolution,  agreed  to  by  all  the  ministers,  Clausen 
included,  was  offered:  **  Although,  according  to  the  Word 
of  God,  it  is  not  a  sin  per  ae  to  hold  slaves ;  yet  slavery  is 
per  se  an  evil  and  a  punishment  from  God,  and  w^e  condemn 
all  the  abuses  and  sins  connected  with  it,  and,  when  our 
ministerial  duties  demand  it,  and  when  Christian  love  and 
wisdom  require  it,  we  will  work  for  its  abolition."  This 
resolution  on  **slavery  per  se*'  (in  itself)  was  afterwards 
supplemented  by  two  other  statements,  both  well  known, 
to- wit:  **No  Christian  can  be  a  pro-slavery  man,"  and 
**  *  American  slavery  \  or  slavery  as  constituted  by  American 
laws  and  customs,  was  per  se  sinful  and  abominable." 
Clausen,  however,  soon  pubUcly  withdrew  his  consent  from 
the  resolution  of  1861,  and  declared  that  slavery  is  a  sin 
per  se,  that  is  in  every  case  and  under  all  circumstances ; 
but,  being  the  only  one  that  did  so,  and  dissenting  on  other 
important  questions,  he  decided  to  leave  the  S3mod  in  1868, 
asserting  that  the  majority  of  its  ministers  were  too  narrow- 
minded.    No  other  of  the  many  Norwegian-American  church 


390         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

disputes  has  been  so  thoroughly  debated  and  generally  mis- 
understood as  has  the  slavery  question.  The  Norwegian 
Synod  has  never  to  this  day  receded  from  the  position  it 
took  in  1861 ;  but  the  majority  of  the  Norwegian  lay-people, 
practically  all  of  whom  were  strong  sympathizers  with  the 
Northern  cause,  have  always  failed  to  comprehend  the  real 
attitude  of  the  S3rnod  on  this  topic.  Consequently  Clausen 
had  the  popular  side  of  the  argument,  as  he  denounced, 
principally,  the  evils  of  the  American  slavery,  while  the 
leaders  of  the  sjmod  maintained  and  tried  to  prove  from  the 
New  Testament  that  the  condition  of  servitude  is  not  sinful 
per  se.  In  regard  to  the  attitude  of  Clausen  and  the  Nor- 
wegian Synod  on  the  slavery  question  a  great  deal  can  be 
learnt  by  reading  Clausen's  book,  Gjenmsile,  and  Hiatorisk 
Fremstilling  by  the  sjmod  church  council.  The  former 
work,  especially,  is  a  master  production.  At  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War  Clausen  enlisted  in  the  Fifteenth  Wisconsin 
Regiment — better  known  as  the  Scandinavian  Regiment — 
under  the  brave  Col.  H.  C.  Heg;  was  appointed  chaplain, 
but  his  poor  health  compelled  him  to  resign  in  1862.  In 
1870  he  became  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Norwegian- 
Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Conference,  and  was  its  presi- 
dent for  the  first  two  years,  then  he  resigned.  In  1856—57 
he  represented  his  district  in  the  legislature  of  Iowa ;  took  a 
trip  to  Norway  in  1867,  being  at  the  same  time  appointed 
by  the  governor  of  Iowa  as  commissioner  of  the  state  to 
the  exposition  in  Paris,  France.  After  having  resided  in 
Iowa  for  nineteen  years,  he  moved  to  Virginia,  then  to 
Philadelphia,  where  he  preached  for  one  year;  accepted  a 
call  to  Austin,  Minn.,  1878 ;  spent  the  last  few  years  of  his 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAYIAAS  IN  MINNESOTA.        391 

eventful  life  with  his  son  at  Paulsbo,  Wash.,  where  he  died. 
He  is  buried  at  Austin.  Jensson,  in -^mericaxi  Lutheran > 
Biographies,  says  of  Clausen:  "Since  his  arrival  at 
Muskego,  in  184-3,  Rev.  Clausen's  name  is  woven  into  the 
principal  events  of  the  history  of  the  Norwegian  Lutherans 
of  this  country,  down  to  recent  years.  Zealously  and  faith- 
fully he  administered  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  pioneers, 
travelling  continually  between  the  small  and  scattering 
settlements  throughout  the  Northwest.''  He  was  married 
to  Martha  F.  Rasmussen,  of  Langeland,  Denmark,  in  1842, 
by  whom  he  had  one  son.  She  died  in  184-6 ;  since  he  married 
Mrs.  Birgitte  I.  Pedersen.  One  of  his  sons  is  practicing  law 
at  Austin,  and  is  one  of  the  leading  lay-members  of  the 
United  Norwegian  Church. 

Clausen,  Peter,  artist— Minneapolis— bom  1830,  in 
Denmark.  *At  an  early  age  he  evinced  marked  artistic 
ability,  and  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years  was  apprenticed  to 
a  fresco  painter  and  decorator,  at  the  same  time  studying 
drawing  at  Ringsted.  After  serving  his  time  he  went  to 
Copenhagen,  stud3ring  two  years  at  the  Royal  Art 
Academy,  receiving  a  diploma  for  excellence  in  ornamenta- 
tion, model  figure  drawing,  and  oil  painting.  While  decor- 
ating the  Royal  Palace  in  Stockholm,  Sweden,  he  attended 
the  Roj^al  Academy  of  Arts  in  that  city,  receiving  a  diploma 
from  the  Antique  school.  He  afterwards  devoted  several 
years  to  scene  painting,  finally  coming  to  the  United  States 
in  1866.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  here  his  services  were 
secured  to  decorate  the  First  Universalist  Church  in  Minne- 
apolis, Minn.,  and  many  churches,  public  buildings,  and 
private  edifices  in  that  city   bear   evidences   of  his   skill. 


392  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Every  summer  Clausen  devotes  a  portion  of  his  time  to 
■studying  natural  scenery.  Among  his  studies  from  nature 
the  most  remarkable  is  the  picture  of  St.  Anthony  falls, 
including  both  sides  of  the  island,  painted  in  1869.  His 
large  paintings  of  the  Yellowstone  Park  and  the  Great 
Northwest  have  placed  him  high  in  the  rank  of  scenic  artists 
in  this  country.  He  is  an  active  member  of  Dania  Society, 
and  of  some  secret  organizations.* 

Colberg',  A.  P.  J«  journalist — St.  Patd— bom  19  Aug., 
1854,  in  Bittema,  Vestergotland,  Sweden.  At  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  came  with  a  brother  and  a  sister  to  this  country; 
they  settled  in  Carver  county,  Minn.,  where  he  for  a  while 
worked  as  a  common  laborer,  and  later,  after  having  entered 
college,  taught  ajid  preached  during  vacations.  Colberg 
attended  Gustavus  Adolphus  College,  St.  Peter,  Minn.,  for 
two  years,  and  studied  at  Augustana  College,  Rock  Island, 
111.,  for  four  years.  In  1886  he  became  associate  editor  and 
business  manager  of  what  is  now  called  Minnesota  Stats 
Tidning-,  the  oldest  Swedish  newspaper  in  Minnesota, 
having  been  established  in  1877;  it  has  always  been  the 
organ  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Conference  of  Minnesota, 
but  is  owned  by  private  individuals ;  since  Colberg  became 
manager  its  circulation  has  been  doubled  and  is  now  about 
15,000.  Colberg  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  church,  and  has  held  several  important  offices  in 
the  same.  In  1886  he  was  married  to  Anna  E.  Nelson,  of 
Nicollet  county,  a  daughter  of  Andrew  Nelson,  who  is  one 
of  the  wealthiest  Swedish  farmers  in  the  country;  they  have 
several  children. 

Darelius,  August  B,,  lawyer  and  legislator— Minneapolis 


111.   J.   II.   SKAltll.   MINNEAPOLIS, 


REV.   H.    F.  GJERTSEX,   MINNEAPOLIS.  Ui:V.  J.  C.  JENSSON.  AUSTIN. 


BEV.   J.    J.    KII.llKHl.    Ar.ilKUr   I.1:A,    I'ltOF.  T.  S.  UBIMICSTAD.  UINNBAPOUS. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        393 

— ^bom  3  July,  1859,  in  Skolvened,  Vestergotland,  Sweden. 
He  came  to  the  United  States  in  1873,  "to  acquire  freedom 
of  action,  liberty  of  thought,  and  independence  in  life."  At 
first  he  worked  on  farms,  then  clerked  in  stores,  kept 
books,  was  interested  in  a  grocery  business  for  two  years, 
graduated  from  the  law  department  of  the  University  of 
Michigan  in  1889,  and  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature 
of  Minnesota  in  1890.  In  the  house  of  representatives  he 
wa§  the  author  of  the  bill  which  repealed  the  obnoxious 
struck  jury  law,  and  secured  the  passage  of  the  same. 
Darelius  has  resided  in  Minneapolis  since  1876.  He  is  a 
Democrat,  and  was  nominated  by  his  party  for  judge  o/ 
probate  in  1898,  but  was  defeated  with  the  rest  of  the 
ticket.  He  is  one  of  the  trustees  and  secretary  of  the 
Swedish  hospital,  and  has  a  very  large  practice.  In  1894 
he  was  married  to  Tillie  Anderson  of  Minneapolis. 

Eggexif  J.  Hueller,  clergyman  and  author — Lyle — bom 
20  Apr.,  184-1,  near  Trondhjem,  Norway.  He  clerked 
in  Trondhjem  for  his  uncle  for  some  time,  at  the  same 
time  taking  private  instruction  with  the  view  of  entering 
the  University  of  Norway,  where  he,  after  having  spent  a 
couple  of  years  in  Tromso,  attended  lectures  for  two  years. 
Afterwards  he  taught  languages  in  Bergen  for  a  short  time, 
prepared  himself  for  the  stage,  and  appeared  in  a  number 
of  theatrical  performances.  He  studied  at  a  seminary  for 
one  year ;  established  a  high  school  in  Tryssil,  of  which  he 
was  principal  for  several  years.  In  1865  he  accepted  a  call 
to  take  charge  of  a  Norwegian  high  school  in  this  coun- 
try, but  after  his  arrival  he  changed  his  mind  and  entered 
the  theological  department  of  Augustana  College,  Paxton, 


394         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

111.,  graduating  the  following  year.  Eggen  preached  at 
Racine  and  vicinity,  Wis.,  for  about  five  years;  had  charge 
of  a  congregation  at  Luther  Valley,  Wis.,  from  1871-82; 
and  has  ever  since  been  pastor  in  Mower  county,  Minn.  He 
belonged  to  the  Scandinavian  Augustana  Synod,  of  which 
he  was  secretary  for  some  time,  until  the  Conference  was 
organized  in  1870,  when  he  joined  that  body,  which  became 
part  of  the  United  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church  in  1890. 
For  nine  years  he  was  secretary  of  the  Conference,  served  as 
vice-president  for  two  years,  and  was  elected  president  in 
1886,  but  on  accoimt  of  ill  health  declined  to  accept  the 
position.  He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  United 
Church,  and  became  its  missionary  secretary,  a  position  he 
had  also  occupied  in  the  Conference.  Eggen  has  written 
considerably  for  the  Norwegian-American  press,  as  well  as 
several  books.  He  uses  a  flowery  language,  but  there  is  not 
much  depth  to  his  literary  productions^  In  1858  he  was 
married  to  Henrietta  Rossow ;  they  have  several  children. 

Engrstrom,  Augustus  Erlcson,  educator— Cannon  Falls 
— ^bom  22  March,  1851,  in  Vestergotland,  Sweden.  His 
ancestors  on  his  father's  side  came  from  Germany  to 
Sweden  at  the  time  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  young  Engstrom  emigrated  to  this  country; 
worked  his  own  way  through  Carleton  College,  Northfield, 
Minn.,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  in  1878,  and  of 
which  he  has  been  one  of  the  trustees  since  1890.  Ever 
since  his  graduation  he  has  been  principal  of  the  high 
school  at  Cannon  Falls;  was  elected  superintendent  of 
schools  of  Goodhue  county  in  1882,  and  has  been  re-elected 
ever  since  without  opposition;  was  elected  president  of  the 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        395 

state  association  of  county  superintendents  in  1889;  was 
elected  president  of  the  Minnesota  state  teachers'  reading 
circle  in  1892,  at  the  same  time  being  appointed  chairman 
of  the  state  committee  on  common  school  exhibits  at  the 
World's  Columbian  Exposition.  He  ranks  as  one  of  the 
ablest  school  superintendent  in  the  state.  In  1880  Eng- 
strom  was  married  to  Mary  A.  Conley,  of  Burlington, 
Iowa;  they  have  several  children. 

Falstrom,  Jacob,  pioneer— Afton— bom  25  July,  1793 
or  1795,  in  Stockholm,  Sweden;  died  1859.  His  father  is 
said  to  have  been  a  wealthy  merchant,  but  the  young  man 
left  home  at  the  age  of  twelve  or  fourteen  years  and  sailed 
with  his  uncle.  Of  the  six  or  seven  different  authorities 
which  have  been  consulted  in  regard  to  Falstrom,  there  are 
not  two  that  agree.  Some  maintain  that  he  lost  his  way 
in  London,  England,  and,  being  unable  to  find  his  uncle's 
ship,  took  passage  for  North  America;  others  again  assert 
that  his  uncle  was  cruel  to  him,  and  that  he,  on  that 
account,  ran  away,  intending  to  return  to  Sweden,  but 
instead  was  landed  in  Canada,  where  he  soon  became 
acquainted  with  the  Indians,  whose  habits  and  modes  of 
life  he  adopted.  He  seems  to  have  arrived  in  Minnesota,  at 
least,  before  1819,  being  employed  by  the  American  fur 
company  to  trade  with  the  Indians  around  Lake  Superior. 
He  spoke  French  and  several  Indian  languages,  married  an 
Indian  woman,  by  whom  he  had  several  children,  some  of 
whom  now  live  in  Washington  county,  Minn.,  and  in  nearly 
every  respect  lived  and  acted  as  the  aborigines.  In  later 
years  he  became  very  religious,  and  for  a  long  time  acted  as 
a  kind  of  Methodist  missionary  among  the  Indians.     He 


396         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

took  a  claim  in  Washington  county  in  1837.  Falstrom 
was  unquestionably  the  first  Scandinavian  in  Minnesota, 
but  unlike  his  contemporary  Northman,  Borup,  he  exer- 
cised no  influence  upon  the  aflfairs  of  the  state.  The  former 
simply  degenerated  into  savagery,  while  the  lajbter  rose 
above  his  surroundings. 

Felland,  Ole  G.,  educator— Northfield— bom  10  Oct., 
1853,  in  Koshkonong,  Dane  county,  Wis.  His  parents  came 
from  Telemarken,  Norway,  in  1846,  and  settled  on  the  farm 
where  he  was  bom.  Young  Felland  graduated  from  Luther 
College  in  1874,  being  one  of  the  first  who  received  the 
degree  of  B.  A.  of  this  institution.  Afterwards  he  studied, 
for  two  years,  the  classical  and  German  languages  at  the 
Northwestern  University,  Watertown,  Wis.,  and  received 
the  degree  of  A.  M.  of  this  institution  in  1892;  and  becom- 
ing interested  in  theology  he  commenced  to  study  this 
branch  of  knowledge  at  Concordia  Seminary,  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
completing  his  course  there  in  1879.  Then  he  had  charge  of 
the  Norwegian  Lutheran  churches  at  Kasson  and  Rochester, 
Minn.,  for  a  couple  of  years,  and  became  a  teacher  in  St. 
Olaf  College  in  1881.  Felland  has  taught  English,  Norwe- 
gian, German,  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  history,  and  botany. 
At  the  time  of  the  controversy  on  predestination,  in  1880, 
he  sided  with  the  Anti-Missourians  and  joined  the  United 
Church  in  1890.  In  1888  Felland  visited  England,  France, 
Germany,  Denmark,  and  Norway.  He  was  married  in  1883 
to  Thea  Johanna  Midboe,  of  Vernon,  Minn. ;  they  have  several 
children. 

Fjelde,   Jacob,    sculptor— Minneapolis— bom  10  April, 
1859,  in  Aalesund,  Norway;  died  1896.  One  of  his  ancestors 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        397 

married,  in  1750,  a  daughter  of  a  French  Huguenot  family; 
his  father  was  a  wood  carver,  and  Fjelde  worked  at  this 
trade  until  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  studied  sculp- 
ture with  Bergslien,  in  Kristiania,  for  about  a  year  and  a 
half;  studied  nearly  three  years  at  the  Royal  Academy, 
Copenhagen,  Denmark,  and  spent  two  years  in  Rome,  study- 
ing the  classical  masterpieces.  Before  emigrating  to  this 
country  in  1887,  he  produced  The  Bcry  and  the  Cats, 
Spring,  and  other  figures,  besides  a  bust  of  Henrik  Ibsen, 
etc. —  all  of  which  received  favorable  comments  of  the 
Scandinavian  and  the  Roman  press,  and  of  art  critics.  Most 
of  his  early  productions  are  preserved  in  the  museums  of 
Bergen  and  Kristiania.  Fjelde,  during  his  residence  in 
Minneapolis,  made  busts,  both  in  marble  and  in  bronze,  of 
some  of  the  best  known  Scandinavians  and  Americans  in  the 
country,  and  such  works  as  his  statues.  The  /heading 
Woman,  in  the  Minneapolis  Public  Library,  and  the 
Gettysburg^  Monument — both  in  bronze — have  gained  a 
national  reputation.  Fjelde's  works  have  received  high 
commendation  of  the  critics  and  of  the  public,  and  the 
Ole  Bull  statue,  in  the  main  park  of  Minneapolis,  is  un- 
doubtedly his  greatest  work.  In  1888  he  was  married  to 
Margarita  Madsen,  of  Copenhagen,  Denmark. 

Fliesburgy  Oscar  Alf.,  physician  and  poet  —  Minne- 
apolis—bom 5  April,  1851,  in  SmMand,  Sweden.  His  grand- 
father was  a  German  who  settled  in  Sweden  in  the  eighteenth 
century;  his  father  was  an  officer  in  the  Swedish  navy. 
Fliesburg  studied  a  few  years  at  a  college  in  Kalmar;  gradu- 
ated as  a  pharmacist  in  1869;  followed  his  profession  for  a 
few  years  in  Stockholm,  Gothenburg,  and  other  places  in 


\ 


398  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S 

Sweden;  visited  most  of  the  European  countries,  as  well  as 
parts  of  Africa  and  South  America;  arrived  in  the  United 
States  in  1874;  has  clerked  in  drug  stores  in  New  York, 
Baltimore,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  and  in  different  places  in 
Minnesota,  besides  having  traveled  through  nearly  every 
state  in  the  Union.  Fliesburg  studied  medicine  at  spare 
times  for  several  years,  passed  his  medical  examination  be- 
fore the  Minnesota  state  medical  board  in  1883,  and  gradu- 
ated from  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  Chicago, 
in  1885;  practiced  his  profession  in  Hudson,  Wis.,  for  three 
years,  then  resided  in  St.  Paul  for  several  years,  and  settled 
in  Minneapolis  in  1894.  Here  he  took  an  active  part  in  the 
establishment  of  the  Swedish  hospital  in  1898,  and  has  built 
up  a  large  practice.  Fliesburg  devotes  part  of  his  time  to 
literary  pursuits,  having  published  several  poems  in 
Svenaka  Folketa  Tidningj  Valkj^rian,  and  Svea,  etc., 
besides  writing  bn  medical  questions  for  American  journals. 
In  1893  he,  in  connection  with  Lewis  P.  Johnson,  published 
in  the  English  language  Criatoforo  Colon,  a  lengthy  epic 
poem  dealing  with  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus; 
and  in  1899  he  issued  Vildrosor  och  Tistlar,  a  large  volume 
of  over  300  pages,  w^hich  is  a  collection  of  the  author's 
poems,  much  of  which  had  previously  appeared  in  some 
Swedish  newspapers.  If  the  critics  are  to  be  relied  upon, 
Fliesburg  is  a  poetical  genius,  whose  fault  in  poesy  is  said, 
by  some  of  his  critics,  to  consist  in  ignoring  strict  poetical 
rules  and  not  adhering  strictly  to  the  severe  grammatical 
construction  of  the  Swedish  language,  permitting  himself 
more  freedom  than  is  usually  allowed.  Consequently,  his 
productions  have  been  highly  praised  and  severely  criticised. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        399 

It  is  generally  admitted,  however,  that  his  conceptions  are 
sublime,  perhaps  too  much  so  to  be  properly  understood. 
In  1879  he  was  married  to  Mina  Birgitta  Opsahl,  of  Chicago; 
she  died  in  1880,  and  in  1889  he  was  married  to  Brita 
Sundkvist,  of  St.  Paul. 

Fosmark,  0.  N.,  clergyman—Fergus  Falls— bom  17 
Nov.,  1853,  in  Columbia  county.  Wis.  His  parents  came 
from  Norway  to  the  United  States  in  1845.  He  graduated 
from  Luther  College  in  1875,  and  completed  his  theological 
studies  at  Concordia  Seminary  three  years  later;  and  has 
ever  since  been  pastor  of  a  church  belonging  to  the  Nor- 
wegian Synod  in  Furgus  Falls,  and  is  also  president  of 
Park  Region  Luther  College.  In  1879  Fosmark  was  mar- 
ried to  Sarah  Norman,  of  Otter  Tail  county,  Minn.  They 
have  several  children. 

Fosnes,  C.  A.,  lawyer  and  legislator — Montevideo — 
bom  2  July,  1862,  in  Gloppen,  Bergen  stift,  Norway.  At 
the  age  of  four  he  came  with  his  parents  to  this  country; 
they  settled  in  Winona  county,  Minn.,  but  moved  to  Fari- 
bault county  two  years  later.  Fosnes  received  a  common 
school  education,  attended  the  state  normal  school  at 
Winona  for  two  years,  and  studied  law  in  a  private  office 
in  Winona.  Since  1884  he  has  practiced  his  profession  in 
Montevideo,  and  was  the  Prohibition  candidate  for  Con- 
gress in  1888.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  school  board 
in  his  district,  and  city  attorney  and  mayor.  In  1897  and 
1899  he  served  in  the  state  legislature,  having  been  elected 
on  the  Fusion  ticket,  although  he  is  independent  in 
politics.  Fosnes  made  an  excellent  record  as  a  legislator, 
and  was  especially  successfiil  in  defeating  several  pernicious 


400  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVAINS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

bills.  If  his  party  had  been  in  the  majority  instead  of  in 
the  minority  some  of  the  liighly  deserving  measures  which 
he  tried  to  pass  would  undoubtedly  have  been  enacted.  He 
is  a  Freemason  and  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  was 
married  to  Sarah  Ameson,  of  Montevideo,  in  1883.  They 
have  children. 

Fobs,  H.  At,  journalist  and  author— Minneapolis— bom 
25  Nov.,  1851,  in  Modum,  Norway.  He  enjoyed  a  common 
school  and  commercial  education;  came  to  America  in  1877; 
worked  on  farms  in  Minnesota  and  wrote  some  for  Nor- 
wegian newspapers;  settled  at  Portland,  N.  D.,  where  he 
was  postmaster  in  1885-87;  published  and  edited  Norman- 
den  at  Grand  Forks,  N.  D.,  in  1887-92;  removed  to  Min- 
neapolis in  1893;  and  has  since  spent  his  time  in  editing 
a  weekly,  iV^^e  Normanden,  owned  partly  by  himself.  Foss 
was  a  Prohibitionist  in  the  eighties  and  took  active  part 
in  the  anti-saloon  campaign  in  North  Dakota;  but  for  the 
past  ten  years  he  has  been  a  radical  Populist,  his  campaign 
editorials  being  choice  samples  of  the  so-called  "calamity 
howling' '  of  the  reform  press  of  the  early  nineties.  In  1892 
he  was  candidate  for  congress  on  the  People's  party  ticket 
in  North  Dakota.  Foss  has  written  several  books,  some  of 
which  are  very  popular,  and  five  of  them  have  been  re-pub- 
lished in  Norv^'^ay.  He  was  married  to  Inga  O.  Fjeld  in 
1886;  they  have  several  children. 

Foss,  Louis  0.,  legislator— Wendell— bom  1854,  in 
Portage,  Wis.  His  parents  were  Norwegians,  and  he  re- 
ceived a  common  school  education  at  Portage;  removed 
to  Minnesota  in  1879;  has  been  engaged  in  farming  since 
that   date   in  Grant  county;  was  justice  of  the  peace  for 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        401 

twelve  years,  town  clerk  for  ten  years,  and  judge  of  probate 
for  eight  years;  has  been  a  member  of  the  lower  branch  of 
the  legislature  since  1894,  being  elected  on  the  Republican 
ticket.  In  the  legislature  of  1899  he  was  looked  upon  as 
one  of  the  most  combative  members  of  his  house.  He  is 
the  head  of  a  family. 

Fremling,  John,  clergyman— Vasa— bom  21  June,  1842, 
in  Frammestad,  Vestergotland,  Sweden.  After  having 
received  a  high  school  education  in  Skara,  FremHng  for  two 
years  attended  the  Lyceum  in  Upsala,  and  had  decided  to 
become  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  in  his  native  country ;  but 
in  1870  Prof.  Hasselquist,  who  had  just  returned  to  Sweden 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  young  men  to  enter  the  Swedish- 
American  ministry,  induced  him  to  emigrate  to  the  United 
States.  Before  he  was  ordained,  howe^ner,  he  studied  one 
year  at  Augustana  College,  Paxton,  111.  From  1871-82 
Freinling  had  charge  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  church  in 
Sabylund,  Wis.;  was  pastor  in  Welch,  Minn.,  for  five  years, 
and  at  Fish  Lake  for  two ;  and  came  to  Vasa  in  1889.  He 
was  president  of  the  Minnesota  Conference  in  1883-87  and 
has  held  the  same  position  since  1897.  When  Fremling 
was  thirty  years  of  age  he  was  married  to  Emelia  A. 
Edholm,  a  sister  of  A.  E.  Edholm,  of  Stillwater.  They  have 
one  child. 

Frich,  Johannes  BJerch»  educator  and  clergyman— 
Hamline — bom  15  July,  1835,  in  Nannestad,  Romerike,  Nor- 
way.  He  is  the  son  of  G.  J.  Frich,  pastor  in  the  state  church 
of  Norway.  After  having  finished  his  Latin  school  course 
at  Kristiania,  he  entered  the  University  of  Norway  and  was 
graduated  as  theol.  cand.  in  1861.    The  following  year  Frich 

?7 


402         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

was  ordained  minister,  and  in  the  summer  of  the  same  year 
emigrated  to  America  to  take  charge  of  twelve  congrega- 
tions belonging  to  the  Norwegian  Sjmod,  and  located  in  La 
Crosse,  Trempealeau,  and  Jackson  counties  in  Wisconsin; 
served  as  minister  for  twenty-six  years;  was  for  a  number  of 
years  secretary  of  the  sjmod ;  became  president  of  the  Bast- 
em  District  in  1876,  which  position  he  held  till  1888.  He 
was  then  called  as  professor  of  theology  at  Luther  Seminary, 
of  which  institution  he  is  now  president.  In  1894-9  he  was 
vice-president  of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  Frich  was  married 
to  CaroUne  Nilsen  in  1862.    They  have  several  children. 

Oausta,  Herbjorn  N.,  artist— Minneapolis— bom  1854, 
in  Telemarken,  Norway.  He  came  with  his  parents  to 
the  U.  S.  in  1867 ;  attended  Luther  College  for  three  years; 
.  then  went  to  Europe,  and  for  seven  years  studied  painting 
in  Kristiania,  Norway,  and  Munich,  Germany ;  returned  to 
America  in  1882;  lived  in  Chicago,  Madison,  La  Crosse,  and 
Decorah,  until  1887,  when  he  went  to  Italy,  Germany,  and 
his  native  country.  Gausta  has  resided  in  Minneapolis  since 
1889  and  has  made  portrait  paintings  of  some  of  the  best 
known  people  in  the  United  States.  Prof.  Breda  said  of  him: 
**He  does  not  know  how  to  advertise  or  put  himself  for- 
ward; but  he  is  one  of  the  best  Scandinavian  artists  in  this 
country;  his  landscapes  are  beautiful,  original,  and  natural." 
The  Literajjr  Northwest  ior  January,  1893,  in  speaking 
about  Minneapolis  artists, refers  to  Gausta  as  follows:  "He 
is  an  admirable  figure  painter  and  also  strong  in  land- 
scape.'^ 

GJertseiit  Henry  J„  lawyer— Minneapolis — ^bom  8  Oct., 
1861,  near  Tromso,  Norway.   Gjertsen  came  to  this  country 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        403 

when  six  years  of  age,  living  with  his  parents  on  their  farm 
at  Lake  Amelia,  Minn.,  and  attending  the  common  school 
during  the  winter  months  until  he  was  fifteen.  When  seven- 
teen he  requested  his  parents  to  permit  him  to  go  to  college, 
and  his  father  finally  consented  to  let  him  go  to  the  Red 
Wing  Seminary,  where  he  completed  the  six  years'  course  in 
the  collegiate  department.  In  the  last  year  of  his  college 
course  he  determined  to  enter  the  legal  profession,  and 
already  began  the  study  of  law  privately  before  leaving  the 
seminary.  He  continued  the  study  of  law  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  at  the  age  of  twenty-three.  While  studjring  law 
Gjertsen  was  employed  in  a  number  of  small  cases,  one  of 
which  as  a  test  case  was  appealed  by  his  opponent  to  the 
supreme  court,  Gjertsen  thus  receiving  the  distinction  of 
being  acknowledged  attorney  of  record  in  the  supreme  court 
before  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Since  his  admission  to 
practice  Gjertsen  has  conducted  a  general  law  business  in 
Minneapolis,  where  he  has  built  up  a  wide-spread  and 
lucrative  practice,  having  also  successively  conducted  a 
number,  of  important  cases  before  the  higher  courts.  He 
has,  within  the  last  few  years,  with  ability  conducted  cases 
against  railroad  companies  and  other  corporations  before 
the  United  States  courts.  He  has  also  been  admitted  to 
practice  before  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  at  Wash- 
ington. He  has  several  times  been  a  delegate  to  state 
conventions,  served  as  a  member  of  different  Republican 
county  committees,  and  was  appointed  a  member  of  the 
charter  commission  of  Minneapolis  in  1897.  For  many 
years  he  has  edited  the  legal  departments  of  Skandinaj^en^ 
Minneapolis    Daglig   Tidende,   and    Svenska   Ameri- 


404         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

kanaka  Poaten.  In  1897  he  published  a  hand  book  of 
American  law  in  Norwegian  and  Swedish,  which  received 
much  praise  by  the  press  and  the  critics.  In  1899  Gov. 
Lind  appointed  him  inspector  general  of  the  state  militia, 
with  the  rank  of  brigadier  general.  At  the  age  of  twenty- 
one  Gjertsen  was  married  to  Gretchen  Goebel,  a  German 
lady.    They  have  one  child. 

Gjertsen 9  Helchior  Falk,  clergyman — Minneapolis— bom 
19  Feb.,  1847,  in  Amle,  Bergen  stift,  Norway.  Gjertsen 
had  passed  several  classes  in  the  Latin  school  at  Bergen 
when  he  emigrated  with  his  parents  to  America  in  1864. 
Shortly  after  their  arrival  the  family  came  west,  and  young 
Gjertsen  found  employment  in  Milwaukee.  It  was  his  desire 
to  enter  the  commercial  life,  but  a  severe  illness  made  him 
change  his  plans,  and,  according  to  his  father's  wishes,  he 
began  to  study  for  the  ministry.  He  entered  the  Augustana 
College  and  Seminary  at  Paxton,  111.,  from  which  institu- 
tion he  graduated  in  1868.  The  same  year  Gjertsen  was 
ordained  minister  of  the  Gospel  and  took  charge  of  the  con- 
gregation at  Leland,  111.,  where  he  remained  for  four  years. 
He  then  moved  to  Stoughton,  Wis.,  where  he  was  pastor  for 
nine  years.  He  has  since  resided  in  Minneapolis,  where  he  is 
minister  of  a  church  now  belonging  to  the  Norwegian  Free 
Church.  In  1870  Gjertsen  was  a  delegate  to  the  meeting 
which  organized  the  Norwegian-Danish  Conference,  to 
which  organization  he  belonged  till  the  establishment  of  the 
United  Church,  and  in  1873  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the 
general  meeting  of  the  Norwegian  missionary  society  held 
in  Drammen,  Norway.  He  published  a  volume  of  songs 
called  Bjemlandaaange,     Gjertsen  is  a  very  active  worker 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        405 

in  the  field  of  education,  of  temperance,  of  charity,  etc.  He 
was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Associated  Charities  of 
Minneapolis,  as  well  as  of  the  first  stable  temperance 
society  among  the  Norwegians  in  Minneapolis,  the  Norwe- 
gian Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  deaconess'  home.  In  1889  he  was 
elected  member  of  the  Minneapolis  board  of  education,  of 
which  body  he  was  secretary  and  preisident.  Gjertsen  did 
some  excellent  work  while  serving  on  the  board.  In  1869 
he  was  married  to  Sarah  Mosey;  they  have  several 
children. 

Grinager,  HonSy  soldier — Minneapolis — bom  7  Oct., 
1832,  in  Hadeland,  Harmar  stift,  Norway ;  died  1889.  His 
father  was  a  well-to-do  farmer,  who  gave  his  son  a  fair 
education.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  came  to  this  coun- 
try, directly  to  St.  Paul,  but  moved  to  Decorah  the  follow- 
ing year,  where  he  was  in  the  mercantile  business  for  three 
years.  In  1857  he  took  a  claim  in  Freeborn  county,  Minn., 
and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  enlisted  in  the 
Fifteenth  Wisconsin  Regiment,  better  known  as  the  Scandi- 
navian Regiment,  in  which  he  became  captain.  At  the 
battle  of  Stone  River  he  was  severely  wounded  and  had  to 
retire  from  the  army  for  a  while.  After  the  close  of  the  war 
he  returned  to  his  farm;  held  various  local  offices;  was 
revenue  assessor  for  some  time  of  the  first  district  of  Minne- 
sota, which  included  twenty-nine  counties ;  was  register  of 
the  U.  S.  land  office  in  Worthington  from  1874-82;  settled  in 
Minneapolis  in  1886,  where  he  was  vice-president  of  Scandia 
Bank;  owned  also  several  farms  in  Freeborn  county,  and 
had  commercial  relations  in  Dakota.  Grinager  was  the 
Republican  nominee  for  state  treasurer  in  1873,  defeated; 


406         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

was  one  of  the  presidential  electors  in  1888,  and  served  as 
vice-president  for  Minnesota  of  the  Republican  national 
league  for  a  few  years.  His  son  Alex  Grinager  is  quite  a 
noted  artist. 

Grindelandy  Andrew,  lawyer  and  state  senator — War- 
ren—bom 20  Nov.,  1856,  in  Winnesheik  county,  Iowa.  His 
parents  were  from  Voss,  Norway.  He  received  an  academic 
education  in  Decorah,  Iowa;  taught  in  the  public  schools  of 
Iowa  and  in  Dodge  county,  Minn.,  for  a  while;  graduated 
from  the  law  department  of  the  University  of  Iowa  in 
1882,  and  has  ever  since  practiced  his  profession  in  Warren. 
Here  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  city  council,  judge  of  the 
probate  court,  chairman  of  the  school  board,  and  has  held 
various  other  offices;  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Grand 
Forks  College;  assisted  in  organizing  the  State  Bank  of 
Warren,  of  which  he  is  one  of  the  directors.  Grindeland  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  every  political  campaign  ever  since 
Knute  Nelson  ran  for  Congress;  he  is  a  Republican  and  a 
member  of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  For  four  years  he  was  a 
member  of  the  State  Normal  school  board,  and  was  elected 
to  the  state  senate  in  1898,  being  one  of  the  most  active 
men  of  the  session  in  1899.  In  1882  he  was  married  to 
Ingrid  Frode,  of  Winnesheik  county,  Iowa;  they  have  sev- 
eral children. 

Oronbergeri  Robert,  humorist  and  writer — Forest  Lake 
—bom  2  Oct.,  1840,  in  Kalmar,  Sweden.  He  received  a  col- 
lege education  in  his  native  city.  In  1869  he  emigrated  to 
the  U.  S.;  lived  in  Wisconsin  for  three  years;  then  moved  to 
St.  Paul,  and  remained  there  until  1877,  when  he  settled  at 
Forest  Lake.    Gronberger  is  a  Democrat  and  has  been  asses- 


BIOGRAPHmS  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        407 

sor  of  the  town  for  twenty  years.  He  is  not  married,  and 
seems  to  stick  to  his  bachelorship  with  a  certain  degree  of 
stubbornness;  no  wonder  he  claims  to  have  had  "plenty  of 
adversities,  but  of  successes,  none,  so  far."  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, as  a  politician  or  as  an  unsuccessful  lover  that  Gron- 
berger  has  become  noted,  but  as  a  humorous  writer.  Every- 
one who  knows  anything  about  the  Swedish-American 
literature,  knows  also  Mjnself— that  is  Gtonberger.  For 
under  this  nom  de  plume  he  has  for  many  years  contributed 
a  large  number  of  correspondences  and  humorous  sketches 
to  Minnesota  Stata  Tidning^  Svenska  Amerikanaren, 
Sjrenaka  Folketa  Tidning,  and  other  Swedish  papers.  Be- 
sides, he  is  the  author  of  three  Swedish  books,  Svenskarne 
i  St.  Croijcdalen,  Minn.,  and  Minneaotas  Hiatoria  and 
Kalie  Frojdelin — the  latter  is  a  novel,  written  in  a  natural 
and  agreeable  vein  of  humor.  Gronberger  has  devoted  much 
time  to  the  study  of  Swedish-American  history.  Svens- 
karne i  St.  Croijrdalen,  Minneaota,  is  the  best  and  most 
correct  history  of  the  Swedes  in  that  part  of  the  country 
that  has  yet  been  published.  In  it  he  describes  the  first  Swe- 
dish settlement  in  Minnesota  with  more  exactness  than  any 
other  author. 

Outtersen,  G„  legislator— Lake  Crystal — bom  13  May, 
1859,  in  Fremont,  Winona  county,  Minn.  His  father  came 
from  Telemarken;  his  mother  from  Stavanger,  Norway. 
Guttersen  received  a  common  school  education,  and  com- 
pleted a  course  at  the  Mankato  normal  school  in  1884.  He 
taught  school  about  four  years;  was  engaged  in  farming 
until  1895;  and  after  that  date  was  manager  of  a  corpora- 
tion, running  a  store  and  creamery  at  Butternut.    Guttersen 


408         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

has  held  a  number  of  minor  positions  of  trust  in  his  locality, 
including  that  of  postmaster.  In  1889  he  was  elected 
engrossing  clerk  of  the  house  of  representatives  of  the  state 
legislature,  and  in  1892  and  1894  was  elected  to  a  seat  in 
the  same  body.  In  1896  he  declined  the  nomination  for  the 
same  position,  but  was  again  elected  in  1898,  receiving  a 
phenomenally  large  majority  and  being  the  only  man  in  his 
county  who  served  three  terms  in  the  state  legislature. 
Guttersen  is  a  Republican  and  a  member  of  the  United 
Church.  He  was  married  to  Alma  Pettersen,  of  Butternut, 
in  1889;  they  have  children. 

Halgni^en,  C.  G.,  state  legislator — Watertown — bom 
1840,  in  Ulricehamn,  Vestergotland,  Sweden.  He  received  a 
common  school  education  in  his  native  country;  emigrated 
to  the  United  States  at  the  age  of  fourteen;  settled  with  his 
parents  at  Fulton,  111.,  where  he  served  a  four  years'  apipren- 
ticeship  at  the  printer's  trade;  and  came  to  Carver  county, 
Minn.,  in  1858.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  he  enlisted 
as  a  private  in  company  B  of  Ninth  Minnesota  Volunteer 
Infantry,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the  war;  was  post- 
master from  1877-85  in  Watertown,  where  he  also  has  a 
drug  store;  was  elected  to  the  lower  branch  of  the  state 
legislature  in  1880,  1882,  and  1888.  Halgren  is  a  Repub- 
lican,  is  married,  and  has  a  son  practicing  medicine  at 
Watertown. 

HalvorsoD,  John,  clergyman — Minneapolis — born  4  Dec., 
1861,  in  Stavanger,  Norway.  He  came  with  his  parents  to 
the  United  States  at  the  age  of  nine;  graduated  from  Luther 
College  at  the  age  of  nineteen;  studied  one  year  at  the  Ger- 
man Northwestern  University,  Watertown,  Wis.,  and  gra- 


PROF,  n,  i.oki:ns«aaiiii.  maihson 


iHiMi'sos.  1'hkstox. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        409 

duated  from  this  institution  in  1881;  then  studied  theology 
both  at  Concordia  Seminary  and  Luther  Seminary,  and  was 
ordained  in  1884.  He  served  as  assistant  pastor  at  May- 
ville,  N.  D.,  for  a  couple  of  years;  then  had  charge  of  the 
church  at  Norway  Lake,  Minn.,  for  four  years,  and  accepted 
the  call  of  the  Zion  Church,  MinneapoUs,  in  1890.  Halvor- 
son  belongs  to  the  Norwegian  Synod,  but  is  an  ardent 
advocate  of  the  use  of  the  English  language,  and  believes  in 
the  future  of  the  Lutheran  church  in  this  country  only  when 
it  retains  our  fathers'  faith  and  uses  our  children's  language. 
He  was  English  lecturer  at  Luther  Seminary  from  1890  to 
1894.  During  his  missionary  work,  both  in  Dakota  and  at 
Norway  Lake,  he  quite  frequently  preached  in  English,  being 
also  a  contributor  to  several  English  theological  periodicals, 
as  well  as  Norwegian.  In  1889  he  was  married  to  Bertha 
Glesne,  of  Norway  Lake,  who  was  the  first  child  of  Euro- 
pean parents  bom  in  the  settlement.  They  have  several 
children. 

HalvorsoDy  Kittel,  congressman — Belgrade — bom  15  Dec, 
1846,  in  Hjertdal,  Telemarken,  Norway.  He  came  with  his 
parents  to  the  U.  S.  when  he  was  an  infant  of  only  two 
years  of  age;  they  settled  in  Wisconsin,  where  young  Halvor- 
son  attended  the  common  schools.  At  the  outbreak  of  the 
Civil  War  he  enlisted  in  company  C,  First  Wisconsin  Heavy 
Artillery,  and  served  until  the  close  of  the  war;  then  settled 
on  a  homestead  in  Steams  county,  Minn.,  where  he  has  been 
engaged  in  farming,  stock  raising,  and  dealing  in  agricultural 
implements.  Halvorson  was  elected  to  the.  United  States 
Congress  in  1890  by  the  Farmers'  Alliance  and  the  Prohi- 
bitionists, but  was  by  no  means  successful  as  a  lawmaker. 


410         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

He  frankly  acknowledged  his  incapacity  by  the  following 
utterance  just  before  election:  **I  do  not  think  I  am  the 
proper  man  to  send  to  Congress;  but  if  you  elect  me  anyway, 
I  assure  you  that  I  shall  do  my  best.*'  He  is  a  Lutheran, 
takes  interest  in  the  temperance  movement,  has  a  family, 
and  represented  his  district  in  the  state  legislature  in  1887. 

Hanson,  Oesten,  clergyman— Aspelund— bom  8  July, 
1836,  in  Norway;  died  4  Aug.  1898.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he 
emigrated  with  his  parents  to  this  country;  they  settled  in 
Wisconsin,  but  moved  to  Goodhue  county,  Minn.,  in  1856. 
Here  young  Hanson  was  ordained  in  1861,  and  served  the 
same  congregation  until  his  death.  In  1875—6  he  was 
president  of  Hauge*s  Synod,  was  its  vice-president  for  about 
twenty  years,  was  president  of  the  board  of  regents  of  Red 
Wing  Seminary  for  several  years,  and  was  again  elected 
president  of  the  synod  in  1887.  His  son,  M.  G.  Hanson, 
was  bom  11  July,  1853;  graduated  from  Red  Wing  Seminary 
in  1884;  had  charge  of  congregations  in  St.  Paul  for  eight 
years;  was  located  at  Grand  Forks,  N.  D.,  for  six  years; 
became  principal  of  Red  Wing  Seminary  in  1898;  and  was 
elected  president  of  Hauge's  S3mod  the  same  year,  and  re- 
elected in  1899.    He  is  married  and  has  children. 

HlUeboe,  H.  S.,  educator— Benson— bom  28  Oct.,  1858, 
in  Roche-a-Cree,  Adams  county.  Wis.  His  father  and  grand 
parents  came  from  Norway  to  the  United  States  in  1853. 
Young  Hilleboe  worked  on  the  farm  and  attended  the  dis- 
trict school  till  the  age  of  sixteen;  then  taught  some  in  the 
public  schools.  In  the  fall  of  1875  he  entered  Luther  Col- 
lege, from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1881.  In  1886  he 
received  the  degree  of  master  of  arts  from  that  institution. 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        411 

During  his  college  days  and  after  his  graduation  he  taught 
in  the  public  schools  and  occasionally  in  the  parochial 
schools.  In  1884  he  began  to  teach  in  Willmar  Seminary, 
and  during  the  years  1886—99  he  was  eminently  successful 
as  principal  of  that  institution.  At  the  latter  date  he  was 
appointed  superintendent  of  the  public  schools  of  Benson. 
Hilleboe  is  one  of  the  most  aggressive  Prohibitionists  in  the 
state,  and  was  nominated  for  governor  by  his  party  in  1894. 
He  was  married  in  1887  to  Antonilla  Thykesen,  of  Calmar, 
Iowa. 

Hobe,  E,  H.,  Swedish-Norwegian  vice-consul — St.  Paul- 
bom  27  Feb.,  1860,  in  Risor,  Norway.  While  yet  a  boy, 
Hobe  took  up  his  residence  with  his  uncle  at  Tvedestrand, 
where  he  received  a  good  school  training,  and  having  com- 
pleted his  studies  here  he  was  employed  in  a  ship  brokerage 
house  in  the  city  of  Arendal.  Already  in  his  early  years 
Hobe  gave  evidence  of  a  marked  business  ability,  so  that  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  he  was  employed  as  head  clerk  in  one 
of  the  large  wholesale  and  retail  establishments  in  that  city. 
In  1879  he  went  to  Copenhagen,  Denmark,  where  he  studied 
for  some  time  at  the  noted  Gruner's  business  college,  and 
upon  his  return  to  Norway  became  bookkeeper  for  a  large 
wholesale  house  in  Kristiania.  Having  finished  the  required 
military  duties,  Hobe  emigrated  to  America  in  1883,  coming 
directly  to  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  where  he  began  his  career  as 
clerk  in  the  business  department  of  the  paper  Nordvesten, 
His  ability,  however,  was  soon  noticed,  and  after  a  short 
time  Hobe  became  associate  editor.  In  this  capacity  he 
served  for  about  two  years,  when  he  opened  up  business  as 
dealer  and  broker  in  real  estate.    In  1887  Hobe  made  a  trip 


412  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

to  Europe,  visiting,  among  other  places,  Copenhagen,  Den- 
mark, where  he  was  married  to  Johanna  Mueller.  Upon  his 
return  to  America,  Sahlgaard,  then  Swedish-Norwegian  vice- 
consul  in  St.  Paul,  and  the  owner  of  an  extensive  business, 
invited  Hobe  to  become  his  partner.  Hobe  accepted,  and 
shortly  before  Sahlgaard's  death  bought  out  the  latter's  in- 
terest in  the  business.  Under  his  management  it  has  since 
grown  to  be  one  of  the  largest  land  dealing  firms  in  St.  Paul. 
In  1893  Hobe  was  appointed  Sahlgaard's  successor  as 
Swedish-Norwegian  vice-constd,  in  which  capacity  he  has 
done  some  excellent  work,  and  ranks  today  as  one  of  the 
leading  Scandinavian  business  men  in  the  Northwest. 

Hoegrby  Knut,  physician  and  surgeon  —  Minneapolis  — 
bom  15  April,  1844,  in  K^afjord,  Tromso  sift,  Norway. 
After  being  graduated  from  the  Latin  school  of  Trondhjem, 
Hoegh  entered  the  University  of  Norway,  and  graduated 
from  the  medical  department  in  1869.  Shortly  after  his 
graduation  he  emigrated  to  America,  coming  to  La  Crosse, 
Wis.,  where  he  followed  his  profession  till  1889,  when  he 
moved  to  Minneapolis.  While  in  La  Crosse  Hoegh  built,  in 
1871,  a  private  hospital  to  facilitate  the  treatment  of  the 
many  patients  from  far  and  near  who  sought  his  profes- 
sional aid.  In  1880  he  went  to  New  York  City  to  pursue 
some  special  studies  in  his  profession,  and  in  1887  he  went 
to  England  and  Germany,  where  he  made  a  special  study  of 
surgery.  Hoegh  has  been  a  member  of  many  medical  asso- 
ciations, and  of  the  Minnesota  board  of  health,  being 
appointed  to  the  latter  position  by  Gov.  Nelson.  He  was 
also  a  member  of  the  health  commission  of  the  state  of  Wis- 
consin, and  a  member  of  the  board    of  inspectors   of  the 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        413 

insane  asylum  of  the  same  state.    Hoegh  was  married  in 
1870  to  Anna  Dorthea  Moen;  they  have  children. 

Holt,  AndreWf  lawyer— Minneapolis— bom  20  May,1855, 
in  East  Union,  Carver  county,  Minn.  His  parents  were 
among  the  early  Swedish  settlers;  they  came  to  this  country 
in  1853.  He  received  a  Swedish  education  at  Gustavus 
Adolphus  College;  graduated  from  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota in  1880,  being  the  first  Scandinavian  who  completed  a 
course  at  this  institution.  He  studied  law  in  Glencoe,  and 
commenced  to  practice  in  Minneapolis  in  1882,  being  shortly 
after  admitted  as  a  member  of  the  firm  Ueland  &  Holt.  He 
is  one  of  the  organizers  of  St.  John's  English  Lutheran 
Church;  is  an  advocate  of  temperance,  but  afliliates  with  the 
Republican  party.  In  the  summer  of  1894  Knute  Nelson 
appointed  him  judge  of  the  municipal  court  of  Minneapolis, 
and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  he  w^as  elected  to  the  same  posi- 
tion. In  1885  Holt  was  married  to  Hilda  C.  Tumquist,  and 
they  have  children. 

Husher,  Ferdinand  A.,  journalist  and  state  legislator — 
Minneapolis — bom  16  June,  1825,  in  Viborg,  Denmark;  died 
1895.  His  father  was  for  a  number  of  years  collector  of 
customs,  and  afterwards  an  actor.  While  very  young 
Husher  removed  to  Norway,  entering  the  university  there, 
and  graduating  in  1845.  From  1851-64  he  held  various 
positions,  and  for  the  five  years  following  was  assistant 
pastor  at  Nissedal,  but  emigrated  to  America  in  1869,  going 
to  La  Crosse,  Wis.,  where  he  became  assistant '  editor  of 
Faedrelandet  og  Emigrstnten,  From  1873-75  Husher 
became  editor  and  part  owner  of  Budstikken,  Minne- 
apolis; was  register  of  the  U.  S.  land  office  at  La  Crosse 


414         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

from  1878-83;  became  managing  editor,  and  later  also  pro- 
prietor of  the  first-named  paper,  with  which  he  removed  to 
Minneapolis  in  1886.  In  1888  Husher  was  elected  member 
of  the  state  legislature  of  Minnesota,  but  resigned  when,  in 
1890,  he  was  appointed  U.  S.  consul  at  St.  Thomas, 
Ontario,  Canada.  From  1879-84  Husher  was  a  member  of 
the  Republican  state  central  committee  in  Wisconsin,  and  in 
1884  was  presidential  elector  at  large  for  the  same  state. 
After  his  return  from  Canada,  in  1894,  he  went  to  Grand 
Forks,  N.  D.,  to  assume  editorial  charge  oi Norznanden. 

Jacksoiiy  Andrew,  clergyman — ^Rush  Point — bom  11 
Feb.,  1828,  in  Valla,  Bohus  Ian,  Sweden.  He  studied  in  a 
college  for  six  or  seven  years,  and  taught  in  private  families; 
became  a  sailor;  emigrated  to  this  country  in  1852;  worked 
in  saw  mills  on  Hudson  River  for  five  years;  and  took  a 
claim  in  Kandiyohi  county,  Minn.,  in  1858.  After  having 
studied  in  Chicago  for  a  couple  of  years  he  was  ordained  in 
1861,  and  took  charge  of  Swedish  Lutheran  congregations 
in  Kandiyohi  county  until  1862,  when  he  together  with  the 
settlers  was  driven  away  from  their  homes  by  the  Indians. 
Jackson  taught  the  first  public  school  in  Meeker  county, 
and  when  a  Swedish  school,  which  later  became  Gustavus 
Adolphus  College,  was  opened  at  Carver  in  1863,  be  became 
principal  of  that  institution,  a  position  he  retained  until  the 
school  was  moved  to  St.  Peter  in  1876.  For  twenty-five 
years  he  had  charge  of  churches  in  Carver  county,  moved  to 
St.  Paul  in  1890,  and  has  since  been  pastor  at  Rush  Point. 
Jackson  was  married  in  1863,  his  wife  died  in  1875,  and  in 
1877  he  was  married  the  second  time.  His  son  J.  A.  Jackson 
was  bom  17  July,  1868, in  Carver  county,  Minn.;  graduated 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAYIAAS  IN  MINNESOTA.        415 

fron  Gustavus  Adolphus  College  in  1891  and  from  the  law 
department  of  the  state  university  in  1893;  and  since  the 
latter  date  has  been  practicing  law  in  St.  Paul,  having  for 
years  been  the  only  Swedish  attorney  in  that  city.  In  1898 
Jackson  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature,  and  worked 
hard  and  faithfully,  especially  as  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  public  buildings,  and  as  a  result  of  his  labor  the  new 
capitol  will,  undoubtedly ,  be  completed  in  1903  instead  of  in 
1910.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  church  and 
a  Republican. 

Jacobson,  Jacob  F.,  state  legislator — Madison — bom  13 
Jan.,  1849,  in  Hjelmeland,  Kristiansand  stift,  Norway.  At 
the  age  of  seven  he  came  with  his  parents  to  this  country; 
they  settled  in  Fayette  county,  Iowa,  where  young  Jacob- 
son  worked  on  his  father's  farm  until  1871,  when  he  moved 
to  Lac  qui  Parle  county,  Minn.,  and  commenced  to  deal  in 
agricultural  implements,  and  he  claimed  in  1892  to  do  an 
annual  business  of  $75,000.  But  he  failed  a  couple  of  years 
later,  and  it  is  said  that  he  settled  up  his  troubles  in  a  sort 
of  a  private  way;  some  of  his  creditors  receiving  ten  cents 
on  the  dollar,  and  others  about  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar. 
From  1873-79  he  was  county  auditor,  has  served  in  the 
lower  branch  of  the  state  legislature  since  1889,  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Republican  national  convention  at  Minneapolis 
in  1892,  and  has  held  several  local  offices.  He  is  a  member 
of  Hauge's  Synod,  and  takes  a  very  active  part  in  the  social, 
financial,  and  political  affairs  of  the  community  and  of  the 
state,  being  an  ardent  temperance  advocate  and  a  Republi- 
can, who  often  addresses  public  meetings  in  the  interest  of 
his  party.    But  his  oratorical  qualifications  consist  mostly 


416  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

in  his  strong  lungs.  Both  in  his  conversation  and  in  his 
speeches  he  yells  to  the  top  of  his  voice.  He  seldom  knows 
when  silence  would  be  wisdom.  These  peculiarities  of 
Jacobson  have  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  his  success  in 
public  life,  for  it  has  been  asserted  that  many  people  in  Lac 
qui  Parle  county  vote  for  him  simply  because  he  is  such  a 
good  advertisement  for  the  county,  being  always,  of  course, 
referred  to  in  the  legislature  as  "the  gentleman  from  Lac 
qui  Parle.''  Such  mention  of  a  new  community  has  a  tend- ' 
ency  to  raise  the  value  of  real  estate.  Yet  he  must  be  a  man 
of  ability,  since  he  has  been  the  recognized  leader  in  the  leg- 
islature  for  some  years.  Many  of  the  measures  he  has 
advocated  have  been  wise,  and  his  tactics  are  shrewd. 
The  St.  Paul  Dispatch  cartooned  him  in  1899  as  "the 
red  dragon  of  Lac  qui  Parle;"  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
on  account  of  his  rudeness  and  brutal  treatment  of  other 
people's  opinions  and  honesty,  he  is  "feared  rather  than 
trusted."  Jacobson  was  married  in  1873,  and  his  wife  died 
in  1879;  married  again  in  1883,  and  became  a  widower  four 
years  later;  married  the  third  time  in  1889.  He  has  had 
children  by  all  his  wives. 

Jaeg^er,  Luth,  journalist — Minneapolis — bom  4  Aug., 
1851,  near  Arendal,  Norway.  He  received  a  classical  educa- 
tion; was  admitted  to  the  University  of  Norway  in  1870, 
but  after  having  studied  for  one  year  at  that  institution,  he 
emigrated  to  this  country  at  the  age  of  twenty;  clerked  in 
Madison  and  La  Crosse,  Wis.,  from  1871-76;  was  connected 
with  a  Norwegian  weekly  paper,  Norden,  in  Chicago,  one 
year;  became  editor  of  Badstikken,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  in 
1879,  a  position  which  he  held  for  about  eight  years;  and 


■fi ' 

SOltKN  LISTOE,  ST.  PAUL. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        417 

the  next  four  years  he  was  deputy  collector  of  internal 
revenue.  Jaeger  was  in  the  real  estate  business  in  Minne- 
apolis for  a  short  time  and  lived  in  New  Mexico  during  part 
of  one  year.  In  1886  the  Democratic  party  nominated  him 
for  secretary  of  state,  but  with  the  rest  of  the  ticket  he  was 
defeated.  In  1890  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  board  of 
education,  in  which  work  he  took  great  interest  and  rend- 
ered valuable  services.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  The 
North  in  1889,  remaining  in  editorial  charge  of  the  paper 
until  its  discontinuance  in  1894.  The  North  was  a  weekly 
journal  published  in  the  English  language  and  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  the  Scandinavians  as  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  As  such  it  became  the  repository  for  much  valuable 
information,  while  ably  and  forcibly  preaching  the  need  of  a 
more  rigid  and  intense  Americanization  of  the  foreign-bom 
than  the  latter  themselves  usually  think  desirable.  Jaeger 
is  a  clear  and  forcible  writer,  uninfluenced  by  any  political, 
religious,  or  national  prejudices.  He  unquestionably  ranks 
among  the  very  best  Scandinavian-American  writers.  His 
opinions  on  the  leading  questions  of  the  day,  as  published  in 
The  North,  were  extensively  quoted  by  the  Scandinavian- 
American  press.  By  the  native  Americans  and  foreign- 
Americans,  not  Scandinavians,  The  North  was  considered 
the  representative  organ  of  Scandinavian-American  opin- 
ions. To  the  leading  journalists  in  Stockholm,  Copenhagen, 
and  Kristiania,  Jaeger's  name  is  very  familiar.  He  was  for 
several  years  an  officer  in  the  Security  Savings  and  Loan 
Association,  his  connection  with  this  now  defunct  corpora- 
tion being  severed  under  circumstances  alike  creditable  to 
him  as  an  oflScial  and  man.    In  1897  Jaeger  was  appointed 

28 


418         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

receiver  of  the  Scandia  Bank  of  Minneapolis  and  is  also 
engaged  in  the  real  estate,  loaning,  and  insurance  business. 
In  1883  he  was  married  to  Nanny  Mattson,  only  daughter 
of  the  well-known  Col.  Hans  Mattson,  a  lady  who  takes 
great  interest  in  educational  aflFairs  and  charitable  institu- 
tions.   They  have  three  boys. 

Janson,  Kristofer  N.,  clergyman  and  author— Minne- 
apolis— ^bom  5  May,  1841,  in  Bergen,  Norway.  His  father 
was  a  business  man  and  American  consul  at  Bergen;  his 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  Bishop  Neumann,  who  was 
bishop  of  Bergen  stift.  After  having  completed  the  course 
at  the  Latin  school  of  his  native  city,  Janson  entered  the 
University  of  Norway,  and  graduated  from  this  institution, 
with  the  highest  honor,  as  a  theological  candidate.  During 
his  university  career,  as  well  as  afterwards,  he  was  the 
leader  of  a  movement,  having  in  view  the  re-placing  of  the 
Danish-Norwegian  language  and  literature  which  was 
forced  upon  the  Norwegian  people  at  their  connection  with 
Denmark  in  the  fourteenth  century.  He*  devoted  himself  to 
private  teaching,  and  was  one  of  the  promoters  in  founding 
people's  high  schools  in  Gudbrandsdalen  and  other  places, 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  intellectual  level  of  the  peas- 
ants. He  wrote  extensively,  both  poetry  and  novels,  and  it 
is  generally  considered  that  he  produced  his  best  literary- 
works  during  his  younger  days.  In  1882  he  accepted  a 
call  to  become  minister  of  a  liberal  society  in  Minneapolis, 
and  organized  Unitarian  churches  among  his  countrymen 
in  Minneapolis,  in  Brown  and  Otter  Tail  counties,  Minne- 
sota, and  at  Hudson,  Wis.  Janson  took  active  part  in  all 
movements  in  the  nature  of  social  reforms  and  intellectual 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        419 

improvements.  After  his  emigration  to  this  country  he 
returned  to  Europe  and  visited  Italy,  France,  Germany, 
Holland,  the  Faroe  Islands,  Iceland,  and  the  Scandinavian 
countries.  It  is  generally  acknowledged  that  Han  og  Ho 
and  Den  Bergtekne  are  the  best  of  his  numerous  literary 
productions.  The  latter  has  been  translated  into  English 
under  the  title  The  Spellbound  Fiddler,  His  experiences 
as  a  minister  in  the  Northwest  have  been  described  in 
Piaetiens  Saga.  In  1868  Janson  was  married  to  Drude 
Blrog,  a  daughter  of  a  Lutheran  minister;  they  had  seven 
children,  and  two  of  their  sons  are  practicing  physicians. 
Mrs.  Janson  not  only  assisted  her  husband  in  his  literary 
endeavors,  but  also  produced  original  literary  works  of  her 
own,  for  example:  En  Saloon-Keepers  Batter,  etc.  With 
all  his  brilliancy,  however,  Janson  did  not  seem  to  be  well- 
balanced.  He  became  a  Spiritualist,  returned  to  Noway  in 
1894,  was  divorced,  and  married  a  medium. 

Jensson,  Jens  Christian,  clergyman  and  author— Aus- 
tin— ^bom  25  March,  1859,  in  Sandnes,  Kristiansand  stift, 
Norway.  He  came  to  America  in  1862  with  his  parents, 
who  first  settled  in  Neenah,  Wis.  Later  they  moved  to  Fill- 
more county,  Minn.  Having  availed  himself  of  the  educa- 
tional facilities  oSered  by  the  common  and  high  schools  of 
that  neighborhood,  he  attended  for  two  years  the  theo- 
logical school  conducted  by  the  Norwegian  Augustana 
Synod  near  Decorah,  Iowa.  In  1876  he  entered  the  acad- 
emy, then  located  at  Marshall  Wis.,  where  he  remained 
until  1880.  His  theological  course  he  completed  at  the 
Philadelphia  Lutheran  Theological  Seminary  in  1882. 
Since  his  ordination  to  the  ministry  in  1880,  he  has  also 


420         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

done  some  work  in  connection  with  the  post-graduate 
course  of  the  Chicago  Lutheran  Seminary.  Jensson  has 
served  Norwegian  Lutheran  churches  in  the  following 
places:  At  Wiota,  Iowa,  a  few  months;  at  Leland,  111., 
from  1882  to  1885;  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  from  1885  to  1890; 
and  at  Clinton,  Wis.,  from  1885  to  1899,  settling  at  his 
present  place  in  the  latter  year.  From  1886  to  1890  he 
served  as  secretary  of  the  Norwegian  Augustana  Synod; 
and  since  1894  as  secretary  of  the  United  Church.  In  1890 
Jensson  published  Atnerican  hutherttn  Bi'  graphites. 
This  is  a  bulky  volume  of  900  pages,  and  is,  perhaps,  the 
largest  original  literary  work  published  in  English  by  a 
Scandinavian-American.  As  a  work  of  reference  it  is  very 
valuable,  throwing  much  light  upon  the  church  history  of 
the  different  Lutheran  denominations  in  this  country, 
including,  of  course,  the  Scandinavian  organizations.  In 
1896  he  collected  and  edited  Shoj funds  Hantidbog.  This 
work  enumerates  and  describes  all  the  diflFerent  missionary, 
charitable,  and  educational  institutions,  etc.,  which  were 
controlled  or  owned  by  members  of  the  United  Church, 
or  which  were  in  any  way  directly  or  indirectly  connected 
with  that  organization.  He  was  married  in  1879  to  Rosa 
Andrina  Thompson,  of  Marshall,  Wis.  They  have  children. 
Jensvold,  John,  lawyer— Duluth— bom  25  March,  1857, 
in  Albany,  Wis.  His  parents  were  among  the  first  Nor- 
wegians in  this  country,  coming  here  as  children.  Brought 
up  on  a  farm  he  received  his  education  in  the  public  schools; 
at  the  State  Normal  school,  Winona;  in  Luther  College, 
Decorah;  and  in  the  law  department  of  the  State  University 
of  Iowa,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1880.    He  practiced 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        421 

his  profession  in  Iowa  until  1888,  and  since  at  Duluth, 
where  he  ranks  as  one  of  the  leading  lawyers,  and  occupies 
a  prominent  position  in  political  and  social  circles.  He  was 
married  in  1888  to  Lena  Darrah,  of  Dubuque,  Iowa. 

JohnseOy  Thomas,  clergyman — Norseland — bom  27 
April,  1837,  in  Valders,  Norway.  He  is  the  youngest  of 
nine  children,  and  lost  his  parents  at  an  early  age.  At  the 
age  of  fourteen  he  came  with  three  of  his  brothers  to  the 
United  States,  and  for  some  years  was  engaged  in  farming, 
then  entered  Concordia  College,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  grad- 
uated from  the  theological  department  of  this  institution 
in  1863.  Since  he  has  been  located  at  his  present  place  in 
Nicollet  county,  as  pastor  of  Norwegian  Synod  congrega- 
tions. For  several  years  Johnsen  had  charge  of  a  large 
missionary  field  in  Minnesota,  including  Blue  Earth,  Fari- 
batdt.  Brown,  Watonwan,  Jackson,  Carver,  McLeod,  Ren- 
ville, Meeker,  Kandiyohi,  Steams,  Pope,  Douglas,  Chippewa, 
Yellow  Medicine  counties.  Some  of  his  charges  were 
about  300  miles  apart,  and  could  be  visited  only  once  or 
twice  a  year.  He  has  done  more,  perhaps,  than  any  other 
man  to  build  up  Norwegian  Synod  congregations  in  the 
state,  and  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  Norwegian 
Lutheran  pioneer  clergymen  in  the  Northwest.  In  1863  he 
married  Maren  E.  C.  Sahlgaard.  She  died  in  1898,  leaving 
three  children. 

Johnson,  C,  J.*  lumber  manufacturer  —  Minneapolis  — 
bom  12  Sept.,  1849,  in  Hofmantorp,  Sm&land,  Sweden.  He 
received  a  common  school  education;  came  to  America  in 
1869,  stopping  for  a  short  time  at  Vasa,  Minn.;  proceeded 
to  Stillwater,  where  he  worked  in  a  saw  mill;  removed  to 


422        HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE   U.  S. 

Minneapolis  in  1870,  where  he  worked  in  saw  mills  and  lum- 
ber yards  and  clerked  in  a  store;  completed  a  course  in  the 
high  school  and  attended  the  state  university;  was  engaged 
in  the  retail  lumber  business,  in  company  with  C.  A.  Smith, 
at  Evansville  and  other  places,  living  at  that  place  in  1879- 
84;  and  at  the  latter  date  he  and  Smith  started  a  wholesale 
and  manufacturing  lumber  business  in  Minneapolis.  John- 
son withdrew  from  active  business  in  1899,  and  the  same 
year  he  and  his  family  visited  Sweden  and  other  European 
countries.  He  is  a  Republican,  a  member  of  the  Swedish- 
Lutheran  church,  an  excellent  mechanic,  and  a  great  reader, 
having  one  of  the  largest  libraries  of  any  Scandinavians  in 
the  Northwest.  Johnson  was  married  to  Mary  S.  Craft,  of 
Vestergotland,  Sweden,  in  1882.    They  have  three  sons. 

Johnson,  Gustavus,  musician  —  Minneapolis  —  bom  2 
Nov.,  1856,  in  Hull,  England.  His  father  was  a  Swede, 
his  mother  an  English  lady.  Johnson  w^as  only  a  child  when 
the  family  moved  to  Stockholm,  Sweden;  here  he  studied 
music  under  the  direction  of  A.  Lindstrom,  G.  Mankell,  Con- 
rad Nordquist,  and  Prof.  Winje.  He  left  the  "Venice  of  the 
North"  in  1875,  and,  after  a  brief  stay  in  the  East,  came 
West,  appearing  in  concerts  in  all  the  leading  cities  in  Illi- 
nois, Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Minnesota.  Since  1880  Johnson 
has  resided  in  Minneapolis,  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  lead- 
ing pianists  in  the  Northwest,  and  in  the  many  concerts  in 
w^hich  he  performs  he  always  receives  the  most  flattering 
comments.  As  a  teacher  Johnson  ranks  among  the  fore- 
most, his  instruction  being  sought  by  students  from  all  over 
the  Northwest.  In  1898  he  founded  a  piano  school,  and 
next  year  he  established  the  Johnson   School   of   Music, 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        423 

Oratory  and  Dramatic  Art,  an  institution  which  has  a  high 
reputation.  He  is  also  highly  spoken  of  as  a  composer.  In 
1882  he  was  married  to  CaroUne  F.  Winslow,  an  American 
lady,  of  Royalton,  Vt.    They  have  one  child. 

Johnson,  Marcus,  state  senator — Atwater— bom  14  July, 
1849,  in  the  northern  part  of  Helsingland,  Sweden.  When 
an  infant  of  only  two  years  of  age  he  came  with  his  parents 
to  the  United  States;  they  settled  at  Waupaca,  Wis.,  but 
moved  to  Kandiyohi  county,  Minn.,  five  years  later,  where 
Johnson  has  resided  ever  since.  In  1880*  he  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Republican  national  convention  which  met  in  Chicago 
and  nominated  Garfield  for  president,  represented  his  district 
in  the  state  legislature  in  1883,  and  served  in  the  state  sen- 
ate during  the  sessions  of  1887-89.  In  1890  President  Har- 
rison appointed  him  collector  of  internal  revenues  for  Min- 
nesota. He  is  interested  in  elevators,  flouring  mills,  and 
other  large  enterprises  in  different  parts,  of  the  state.  John- 
son is  not  married. 

Johnson,  Tosten,  pioneer  and  state  senator  —  Black 
Hammer— bom  21  July,  1834,  in  Valders,  Norway.  At  the 
age  of  twelve  he  learned  the  blacksmith's  trade;  came  to  this 
country  in  1851;  resided  for  one  year  in  Dane  county.  Wis.; 
then  settled  in  Houston  county,  Minn.,  where  he  has  ever 
since  been  engaged  in  farming.  The  first  Norwegian  settle- 
ments in  the  state  seem  to  have  been  started  in  Houston 
and  Fillmore  counties  in  1852  and  1853,  and  Johnson  and 
his  brother  are  the  first  Norwegian  settlers  in  Minnesota 
that  have  yet  been  recorded.  He  was  drafted  into  the  army 
in  1864,  and  says  that  **being  discharged  at  the  close  of  the 
war  without  any  wounds"  is  the  chief  success  he  has  had  in 


424         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

life;  represented  his  district  in  the  state  legislature  during  the 
sessions  of  1869,  1871,  and  1873;  was  elected  state  senator 
in  1886  and  re-elected  two  years  later;  and  has  held  various 
local  offices,  having  been  county  commissioner  for  four  years 
and  railway  postal  clerk  1880-85.  Johnson  is  one  of  the 
leading  and  most  influential  Scandinavians  in  Houston 
county.    He  is  a  Republican  and  was  married  in  1861. 

Johnston,  L.  A.,  clergyman — St.  Paul — bom  12  Aug., 
1855,  in  Sugar  Grove,  Pa.  His  parents  were  natives  of 
Hesleby,  SmMand,  Sweden,  and  came  to  this  country  in 
1846,  being  among  the  earUest  Swedish  arrivals  in  the  nine- 
teenth century.  They  first  settled  at  Buffalo,  but  removed 
to  Sugar  Grove  two  years  later.  Young  Johnston  received  a 
common  school  education;  studied  music  about  four  years 
under  a  private  instructor;  attended  the  high  school  at 
Sugar  Grove  for  three  years;  and  continued  his  studies  at 
Augustana  College,  graduating  from  the  college  department 
in  1879,  and  from  the  theological  department  in  1881. 
From  1881  to  1886  he  was  pastor  of  a  Swedish  Augustana 
congregation  in  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  While  located  there  he 
was  office  editor  of  Betbania,  a  religious  bi-monthly,  and 
vice-president  of  the  Iowa  Conference  for  one  year.  His 
^work  at  Des  Moines  was  successful,  and  his  congregation 
erected  a  $20,000  church  building  during  his  stay  there. 
Johnston  next  removed  to  Rockford,  111.,  where  he  served  the 
First  Lutheran  Church,  the  largest  congregation  of  Augus- 
tana Synod,  until  1894,  and  since  that  year  he  has  been  pastor 
of  the  First  Swedish  Lutheran  Church  of  St.  Paul.  He  was 
vice-president  of  the  Illinois  Conference  for  three  years,  and 
n  1894  was  elected  president  of  the  same  body;  was  a  mem- 


w^ 


■1        «#i 


■,  J.  ri;Tiu.  Jii.sM:ArOLis. 


Kiev.  L.  A.  joir 


iii;v.  i:.  NOiti'Xius,  vasa. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        425 

ber  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Augustana  Hospital  in 
Chicago  for  three  terms;  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Augustana  Book  Concern  ever  since  the 
synod  took  charge  of  it;  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  Augustana  College  since  1893,  and  chairman  of 
the  same  for  two  years;  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  direc- 
tors of  Gustavus  Adolphus  College  for  three  years,  and 
chairman  of  the  same  for  3  years;  and  has  been  a  member 
of  the  board  of  directors  of  the  Bethesda  Hospital  for  three 
years,  and  chairman  for  the  same  length  of  time.  Johnston 
has  often  lectured  on  social,  economic,  and  historical  topics, 
within  as  well  as  outside  the  Augustana  Synod;  and  he  pre- 
pares his  sermons  with  great  care.  He  was  married  to 
Anna  S.  Lindgren,  of  Rock  Island,  111.,  in  1881;  they  have 
several  children. 

Kildahl,  J.  N.,  clergyman  and  educator — ^Northfield — 
bom  4  Jan.,  1857,  near  Trondhjem,  Norway.  His  father 
being  a  school  teacher,  young  Kildahl  received  a  carefal 
Christian  training;  came  with  his  parents  to  Goodhue 
county,  Minn.,  in  1866;  was  a  regular  attendant  at  common 
and  parochial  schools;  attended  Luther  College,  graduating 
in  1879;  and  closed  his  studies  at  Luther  Seminary,  Madison, 
Wis.,  in  1882,  by  passing  his  theological  examinations.  He 
was  at  once  ordained,  and  served  congregations  in  Goodhue 
county  from  1882  to  1889,  excepting  one  year  (1885-86), 
when  he  occupied  a  chair  of  theology  in  the  Red  Wing  Semi- 
nary. In  1889  he  accepted  a  call  from  the  Bethlehem  church 
in  Chicago,  which  he  served  during  the  next  ten  years. 
Per  some  years  he  was  secretary  of  the  United  Church.  In 
the  fall  of  1899  he  entered  upon  his  duties  as  president  of 


426  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

St.  Olaf  College,  Northfield.  Rev.  J.  C.  Jensson,  in  his 
American  Lutheran  Biographies,  says:  **Kildahl's  ser- 
mons  coinbine  the  instructive,  the  rhetorical,  the  logical,  and 
the  emotional  in  fair  proportions.  His  genial,  generous 
spirit,  his  faciUty  at  adapting  himself  to  persons  of  every 
character  and  condition,  and  his  disposition  to  identify 
himself  with  them  in  all  their  joys,  and  sorrows,  and  inter- 
ests, give  him  an  influence  over  them  which  few  pastors 
possess."  Kildahl  for  years  has  been  a  leading  mind  in  the 
United  Church,  and  even  in  the  most  heated  controversies 
friend  and  foe  alike  would  agree  that  his  fair-mindedness  is 
more  than  ordinary.  He  was  married  to  Bertha  Soine  in 
1882;  they  have  children. 

Klldsig,  Jens  Jensen,  clergyman— Albert  Lea— bom  30 
Jan.,  1856,  in  Brejning,  near  Ringkobing,  Denmark.  He 
received  a  mihtary  education  at  Viborg,  having  taken  the 
corporal  .and  sergeant  examinations;  bought  his  father's 
farm  and  worked  it  for  a  couple  of  years;  emigrated  in  1881, 
coming  directly  to  Chicago,  111.,  where  he  had  a  market 
garden,  but  lost  all  his  property  by  a  flood  in  1885;  and 
entered  Chicago  Theological  Seminary,  completing  his 
studies  in  1889.  He  associated  himself  with  the  Danish 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Association  in  America,  becoming  one 
of  the  leading  men  in  that  organization.  After  his  ordina- 
tion in  1889  he  organized  a  church  at  Racine,  Wis.,  and  was 
elected  visitor  to  the  northern  district  in  1891,  and  the  same 
year  accepted  a  call  to  Minneapolis,  Minn.  He  has  served 
as  a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Trinity  Seminary, 
Blair,  Neb.,  as  well  as  treasurer  of  Kirke  Bladet  He 
returned  to  his  old  congregation  in  Racine  in  1895;  but  the 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        427 

next  year  he  consented  to  take  charge  of  the  Danish 
emigrant  mission  work  in  New  York  and  Brookl3m,  besides 
serving  some  congregations  in  the  vicinity,  and  accepted  a 
call  to  his  present  place  in  1898.  Through  the  union  of  the 
Danish  Lutheran  churches,  Kildsig  became  a  member  of  the 
United  Danish  Lutheran  Church  in  1896,  being  the  same  year 
appointed  district  president  of  the  eastern  district  of  the 
latter  organization.  Kildsig  was  married  in  1887  to  Ane 
Marie  Kristine  Mose,  a  daughter  of  a  well-to-do  farmer  in 
Denmark,  where  he  had  gone  for  the  purpose  of  celebrating 
his  marriage. 

Klttelson,  Charles,  state  treasurer— Montevideo— bom 
1837,  in  Sigdal,  Kristiania  stift,  Norway.  He  came  to  this 
country  at  the  age  of  thirteen;  resided  for  seven  years  in 
Wisconsin;  then  moved  to  Albert  Lea,  Minn.,  where  he 
resided  for  several  years,  and  was  county  treasurer  of  Free- 
bom  county  for  six  terms.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War  he  enlisted  in  the  Tenth  Minnesota  Infantry,  was  suc- 
cessively promoted  to  second  lieutenant,  first  lieutenant, 
and  captain  of  company  E  of  his  regiment.  In  1872  he 
was  presidential  elector;  served  as  state  treasuer  in  1880-87; 
was  for  a  few  years  connected  with  a  couple  of  banks  in  St. 
Paul;  moved  to  Minneapolis  in  1890,  where  he  was  presi- 
dent of  Columbia  National  Bank  until  it  failed  about  seven 
years  later;  and  has  since  together  with  a  son  been  operat- 
ing a  flour  mill  in  Montevideo.  Kittelson  seems  to  have 
been  out  of  place  as  a  public  servant.  His  bookkeeping  as 
treasurer  of  Freeborn  county  could  not  be  disentangled  by 
experts.  Ignorance  rather  than  dishonesty  appears  to 
have  been  his  main  fault.    He  is  a  Republican. 


428  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Knatvold,  T.  V.,  legislator  and  banker— Albert  Lea — 
bom  2  Oct.,  1853,  in  Norway.  He  came  to  this  country 
in  1862  with  his  parents,  settling  in  Freeborn  county, 
Minn,;  received  a  common  school  and  high  school  educa- 
tion; and  in  1877  engaged  in  the  hardware  business  at 
Albert  Lea.  Since  1893  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  banking 
business.  Knatvold  served  as  alderman  of  the  city  of 
Albert  Lea  for  several  years,  and  was  elected  maj-or  in 
1893,  and  re-elected  in  1894.  In  1890  he  was  nominated 
for  state  senator  by  the  Republicans,  but  was  defeated  by 
the  combined  forces  of  the  other  parties.  In  1896  he  was 
elected  to  that  position  by  a  majority  of  almost  one  thous- 
and, and  re-elected  in  1898.  Klnatvold  is  a  Republican,  and 
belongs  to  the  Norwegian  Synod.    He  is  married. 

LagTBrstrom,  R.,  musician — St.  Peter— bom  12  June, 
1861,  in  Spring  Garden,  Minn.  His  parents  came  from 
Sweden  to  the  U.  S.  in  the  early  fifties.  He  commenced  to 
study  music  when  only  four  years  old;  continued  his  studies 
at  Northfield,  and  completed  his  musical  education  at  the 
Royal  Conservatory  of  Music,  Stockholm,  Sweden,  where 
he,  after  three  years'  attendance,  graduated  in  1888.  Since 
he  has  had  charge  of  the  musical  department  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  College.  In  1890  he  received  the  degree  of  master 
of  music  of  Alfred  University,  Alfred  Center,  N.  Y.,  and 
two  years  later  the  degree  of  doctor  of  music  was  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  the  Grand  Conservatory  of  Music,  New 
York.  Both  degrees  were  bestowed  upon  him  on  the  merits 
of  his  compositions.  He  composed  the  excellent  Cantata, 
rendered  in  1883,  at  the  great  celebration  of  the  three 
htmdredth  anniversary  of  the  adoption  of  the  Upsala  decree. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        429 

Lagerstrom  was  married  to  Mary  Carlson,  of  East  Union, 
Minn.,  in  1888. 

Langum,  Samuel,  state  legislator— Preston— bom  18 
Aug.,  1857,  in  Fillmore  county,  Minn.  His  parents  were 
Norwegians.  He  attended  an  academy  in  Wisconsin,  the 
high  school  of  Decorah,  Iowa,  and  Augsburg  Seminary, 
Minneapolis.  After  having  completed  his  education  he 
returned  to  Fillmore  county,  where  he  taught  school  for  a 
while;  was  deputy  register  of  deeds  for  four  years;  was 
elected  sheriflF  in  1881;  was  warden  of  the  penitentiary  at 
Stillwater  for  some  time;  became  editor  and  proprietor  of  a 
local  newspaper  in  Preston;  was  elected  to  the  state  legis- 
lature in  1892;  has  been  secretary  of  the  state  senate  for 
some  years.  Langum  was  married  to  Emma  C.  McCoUum 
in  1878;  they  have  children. 

Liljegren,  N.  M„  clergyman — Minneapolis— bom  9  Dec., 
1846,  in  Vemmerlof,  SkS.ne,  Sweden.  His  parents  were 
farmers,  but  young  Liljegren  received  a  college  education  in 
Gothenburg;  joined  the  Methodist  church  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two;  preached  and  delivered  temperance  speeches  in 
different  parts  of  the  kingdom  until  he  emigrated  in  1886; 
had  charge  of  a  church  in  Chicago  for  three  years,  then 
moved  to  Marinette,  Wis.;  came  to  Minneapolis  in  1890; 
and  later  on  settled  at  Aurora,  111.  Liljegren  has  written 
some  books,  contributes  regularly  to  newspapers,  is  an 
ardent  temperance  man  and  a  good  speaker.  In  1876  he 
was  married  to  Sofie  Witting  of  Gothenburg.  They  have 
children. 

Lind,  Alfred,   physician   and   surgeon— Minneapolis — 
bom  11  March,  1862,  in  Tr&fvad,  Vestergotland,  Sweden. 


430         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYAINS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

His  parents  were  fanners.  He  came  to  America  in  1880, 
and  his  life  since  that  date  has  been  chiefly  that  of  the 
indomitable  student,  as  may  be  seen  by  a  glance  at  the  fol- 
lowing record:  In  1887  he  received  the  degree  of  A.  B.  at 
Augustana  College;  that  of  B.  S.  in  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota in  1889;  graduated  from  the  medical  department  of  the 
same  institution  in  1891;  practiced  medicine  for  two  years 
at  Lake  Park,  Minn.;  studied  one  year  at  the  University  of 
Berlin,  Germany,  and  received  the  doctor's  degree  of  this 
institution  in  1894;  practiced  for  two  years  in  Minneapolis; 
studied  a  few  months  in  New  York;  completed  a  one  year's 
course  in  Gymnastiska  Centralinstitutet,  Stockholm, 
Sweden,  graduating  in  1897;  practiced  for  some  time  in 
Minneapolis;  and  graduated  as  candidate  of  medicine  from 
the  University  of  Upsala,  Sweden,  in  1898,  and  as  physician 
and  surgeon  from  Karolinska  Institutet,  Stockholm,  Sweden, 
in  1899.  Probably  no  other  Scandinavian-American  physi- 
cian can  point  to  such  a  record  as  the  above.  But  Lind  has 
not  only  obtained  a  thorough  theoretical  medical  educa- 
tion, but  has  also  been  very  successful  in  his  practice,  and 
imdoubtedly  ranks  as  one  of  the  leading  Swedish  physicians 
in  this  country.  For  the  third  time  he  began  to  practice  his 
profession  in  Minneapolis  in  1899.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Augustana  Synod,  and  afliliates  with  the  Republican  party. 
In  1892  he  was  married  to  Hannah  Johnson,  of  Axtell,  Neb.; 
they  have  a  couple  of  children. 

Lind,  John,  governor— Uew  Ulm— bom  25  March,  1854, 
in  K&nna,  Sm&land,  Sweden.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  Lind 
came  to  America,  settling  in  Goodhue  county,  Minn.,  where 
he  was  obUged  from  the  outset  to  aid  his  parents  in  sup- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNBSOTA.        431 

porting  the  family.  In  the  fall  of  1868,  having  been  in 
this  country  only  a  few  months,  he  was  so  unfortunate 
as  to  lose  his  left  arm  in  handUng  a  gun,  or  rather  on 
account  of  the  stupidity  of  a  surgeon  who  appears  to  have 
made  an  unnecessary  amputation.  But  with  untiring 
energy  and  preseverance  Lind  was  still  able  to  make  his 
way  with  one  arm,  and  at  the  same  time  to  attend  school, 
so  that  in  1870  he  obtained  a  teacher's  certificate.  In  1873 
he  moved  to  Sibley  county,  Minn.,  and  came  to  New  Ulm 
the  year  following.  From  1875—76  he  attended  the  Univer- 
sity  of  Minnesota.  Lind  had  for  some  time  cherished  the 
idea  of  entering  the  legal  profession,  and  with  this  object  in 
view  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  law  in  private, 
partly  by  himself  and  partly  in  an  attorney's  office  in  New 
Ulm.  In  1876  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  opened  a 
law  office  of  his  own  the  year  following,  when  he  was  also 
elected  superintendent  of  schools  for  Brown  county,  a  posi- 
tion he  held  for  two  years.  In  1881  Lind  was  appointed 
receiver  in  the  U.  S.  land  office  at  Tracy,  a  position  he  held 
till  1885.  These  duties,  however,  did  not  prevent  him  from 
continuing  in  his  legal  profession,  in  which  his  eminent 
talents  soon  made  him  distinguished.  But  not  only  did 
Lind  become  noted  as  one  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  his  part  of 
the  state,  but  his  great  ability  in  public  life,  and  his  excellent 
qualities  as  a  man  soon  convinced  the  people  of  the  state  of 
Minnesota  of  his  eminent  fitness  for  representing  their  com- 
monwealth in  Congress.  Consequently,  in  1886,  he  was 
elected  congressman  for  the  second  district,  and  so  well  did 
he  discharge  his  duties  that  he  was  elected  for  a  second  term 
by  an  overwhelming  majority,  while  nearly  all  the  other 


432         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCAXIHXATIAXS  DC  THE  U.  S. 

candidates  on  thejcepnbliran  ticket  were  defeated,  a  £act 
which  illustrates  Lind's  popnlaritj.  While  in  Congress, 
Lfind  introduced  and  succeeded  in  passing  a  great  number  of 
important  measures,  such  as,  a  bill  by  which  all  foreign 
books  not  published  in  England  are  admitted  to  the  United 
States  free  of  duty,  and  an  amendment  to  a  bill  by  i^rhich 
foreigners  who  serve  on  United  States  men-of-war  may 
become  citizet^,  as  well  as  if  they  were  on  land.  He  also 
secured  the  location  and  erection  of  an  Indian  school  at 
Pipestone  City,  a  United  States  court  house  at  Mankato, 
and  the  passage  of  a  law  dividing  the  state  into  six  districts 
for  holding  United  States  court,  instead  of  one.  The  two 
first  mentioned  measures  are  very  important  to  the  adopted 
citizens,  and  Lind  deserves  great  credit  for  having  procured 
the  passage  of  such  wise  laws,  w^hich  have  directly  greatly 
benefited  the  Scandinavian-Americans.  He  declined  a  third 
nomination,  and  intended  to  devote  his  whole  time  to  his 
personal  affairs.  But  when  the  silver  issue  became  the  pre- 
dominent  feature  of  the  presidential  campaign  in  1896,  he 
sided  with  the  Silverites,  and  the  Fusion  forces  nominated 
him  for  governor.  Lind  refused,  to  accept  the  nomination. 
But  after  having  been  besieged,  for  about  two  weeks  by  a 
large  number  of  honest  Silverites  and  some  unscrupulous 
demogogues,  he  consented  to  accommodate  them.  During  a 
campaign  of  much  bitterness,  he  was  severely  criticized  by 
most  of  his  former  Republican  friends,  and  mistrusted  by 
many  of  his  new  allies.  But  in  spite  ,of  this  he  received 
about  fifty  thousand  votes  more  than  Uis  party  colleagues, 
and  came  within  three  thousand  votes  of  being  elected,  and 
many  believed  that  he  actually  beat  his  opponent,  whose 


BIOGRAPHESS  OF  SCANDINAYIAAS  IN  MINNESOTA.        433 

party  had  controlled  the  politics  of  the  state  for  more  than 
a  third  of  a  century.  Lind's  success  was  remarkable,  con-^ 
sidering  that  the  majority  of  the  leading  men  of  his  own 
nationality,  especially  the  Swedish  Lutheran  clergymen, 
bitterly  opposed  him.  He  probably  did  not  receive  over 
twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  Swedish  votes  in  the  state,  as 
most  of  them  are  ardent  Republicans.  He 'received  by  far 
more  Norwegian  votes  than  Swedish,  even  in  Norwegian 
Republican  counties,  as  compared  with  Swedish  Republican 
counties.  Consequently,  the  result  of  the  election  was  due 
more  to  Lind's  popularity  and  his  opponent's  weakness 
than  to  any  other  cause  or  causes.  The  congressional 
records  show  that  Lind  virtually  made  the  same  speeches 
during  the  campaign  on  the  silver  question,  as  he  had  done 
in  Congress  a  few  years  before  when  he  was  considered  a 
loyal  Republican.  Yet  his  standpoint  on  this  issue  has  made 
an  epoch  in  the  political  history  of  the  state  of  Minnesota. 
Lind  was  quarter  master  in  the  army  during  the  Spanish 
War  in  1898,  and  was  elected  governor  the  same  year, 
running  about  60,000  ahead  of  his  ticket,  thus  becoming  the 
first  Swedish-bom  governor  in  the  United  States,  as  well  as 
being  the  only  man  of  that  nationality  who  ever  served  in 
Congress.  In  1898  the  Swedes  in  general,  and  the  Lutheran 
clergy  in  particular,  did  not  oppose  him  with  the  same 
fierceness  as  in  1896.  Yet  it  is  very  doubtful  if  he  received  a 
majority  of  the  Swedish  votes  in  the  state.  All  people  admit 
that  Lind  made  an  excellent  record  in  Congress.  It  is  not 
time  yet  to  express  an  opinion  in  regard  to  his  executive 
abihty.  He  has  a  difficult  position  to  fill,  being  opposed  by 
a  hostile  legislature,  and  surrounded  by  a  hungry  crowd  of 

29 


436  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

bom  11  Oct.,  1864,  in  Tryssil,  Hamar  stift,  Norway.  He 
emigrated  to  America  in  1867,  and  spent  his  boyhood  and 
early  manhood  on  his  father's  farm  near  Holmes  City,  Minn.; 
"dug  on  the  farm  in  the  day,  and  read  literature  in  the 
night";  and,  yielding  to  a  yearning  for  a  better  education 
than  the  common  schools  could  afford,  studied  successively 
at  Augsburg  Seminary,  Wraaman's  Academy,  the  State 
University  of  Minnesota,  all  at  Minneapolis,  and  Willmar 
Seminary.  Some  years  ago  he  began  to  lecture  on  temper- 
ance, and  so  successful  did  he  prove  in  this  line  of  work  that 
at  present  he  is  one  of  the  most  popular  Scandinavian  tem- 
perance lecturers  in  America.  His  chief  points  of  strength 
are  his  evident  devotion  to  the  cause  which  he  advocates; 
his  self-forgetting,  contagious  enthusiasm;  his  fluency  of 
speech;  his  tremendous  voice;  and  last,  but  not  least,  his 
magnificent  physique.  Lobeck  frequently  contributes  both 
prose  and  poetry  to  Norwegian  papers,  chiefly  Reform  and 
Ungdotnmena  Ven.  In  1894  he  published  a  small  collec- 
tion of  poems,  Forglemmigei,  the  first  edition  of  which 
was  exhausted  in  a  few  months,  and  five  years  later  issued 
Billeder  fret  Dbdena  Dal,  a  temperance  and  prohibition 
argument  cast  in  the  form  of  a  novel.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Swedish  Augustana  Synod,  a  "prohibitionist  from  head 
to  foot,"  and  was  president  of  the  Wisconsin  Total  Absti- 
nence Association  in  1896.  In  1896  he  was  married  to 
Martha  Nordby,  a  graduate  of  the  Fargo  high  school,  in 
North  Dakota.    They  have  children. 

Lokensgfaard,  0.,  clergyman  and  educator— Madison — 
bom  23  Nov.,  1854,  in  Aal,  Kristiania  stift,  Norway.  At 
the  age  of  three  he  came  with  his  parents  to  the   United 


BIOGRAPHD^  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        437 

States;  they  settled  in  Rice  county,  Minn.;  but  four  years 
later  moved  to  Dakota,  remaining  there,  however,  only  one 
year;  since  1862  they  have  resided  in  Nicollet  county,  Minn. 
Lokensgaard  graduated  from  Luther  College,  Decorah, 
Iowa,  in  1878,  and  completed  his  studies  at  Luther  Semi- 
nary three  years  later.  Then  had  charge  of  a  church  at 
Granite  Falls,  Minn.,  until  1892,  when  he  became  principal 
of  the  normal  school  at  Madison,  which  position  he  has 
filled  with  great  credit  ever  since.  Lokensgaard  is  the  most 
influential  Norwegian  advocate  of  total  abstinence  in  the 
Minnesota  valley.  In  1881  he  was  married  to  Ellen  Kravik, 
of  Dane  county,  Wis.;  she  died  in  1892.  In  1894  he  was 
married  to  Anna  Romtvedt,  of  Cottonwood  county,  Minn. 
He  has  several  children. 

Lomen,  Q.  J,,  lawyer  and  state  legislator — St.  Paul — 
bom  28  Jan.,  1854,  near  Decorah,  Iowa.  His  parents  came 
from  Valders,  Norway,  in  1850,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in 
Iowa.  Young  Lomen  attended  Luther  College  for  six  years, 
and  graduated  from  the  law  department  of  the  University  of 
Iowa  in  1875;  then  moved  to  Caledonia,  Houston  county, 
Minn.,  where  he  practiced  his  profession,  was  clerk  of  court 
for  eight  years,  and  held  various  local  trusts.  In  1885  he 
located  in  St.  Paul;  represented  his  ward  in  the  state  legis- 
lature in  1891;  was  the  Republican  candidate  for  municipal 
judge  in  1890,  and,  with  the  rest  of  the  ticket,  was  defeated. 
Lomen  has  conducted  several  important  professional  cases, 
and  is  by  general  consent  considered  to  be  one  of  the  leading 
lawyers  in  St.  Paul.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Norwegian 
Synod,  and  was  married  to  Julia  E.  M.  Joys,  of  Manistee, 
Mich.,  in  1878;  they  have  several  children. 


438  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

Lnndy  E.  G.,  educator  —  Minneapolis  — bom  10  Aug., 
1852,  in  Arendal,  Norway.  Lund  came  with  his  parents  to 
Springfield,  111.,  in  1853;  there  they  remained  four  years; 
then  moved  to  St.  Paul,  returning  to  Springfield,  however, 
in  1862.  In  1871  he  entered  the  college  at  Springfield,  and 
after  having  studied  there  two  years  went  to  Thiel  College, 
Greenville,  Pa.,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  in  1877. 
He  then  began  the  study  of  theology  at  the  General  Council 
Theological  Seminary,  Philadelphia,  graduating  in  1881. 
Lund  was  then  ordained  for  the  ministry,  and  accepted  a 
call  to  four  congregations  in  Westmoreland  county.  Pa.  In 
1883  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Norwegian-English  Lutheran 
church  at  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  belonging  to  the  Norwegian 
Augustana  Synod.  Two  years  later  he  was  called  to  an 
English  Lutheran  church  at  Greensburg,  Pa.,  where  he 
remained  for  six  years.  In  1888  he  was  called  to  the  presi- 
dency of  Thiel  College,  but  declined.  In  1891  the  home  mis- 
sion committee  of  the  General  Council  extended  a  six  months' 
call  to  Lund  as  home  missionary  at  Tacoma,  Washington. 
In  1891  he  accepted  a  call  to  become  English  professor  of 
theology  at  the  theological  seminary  of  the  United  Church* 
Lund  is  considered  to  be  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  the 
United  Church,  and  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  was 
conferred  upon  him  in  1899  by  Wittenberg  College,  Spring- 
field, 111.,  one  of  the  leading  English  Lutheran  institutions 
in  the  country.  He  is  said  to  be  the  only  Norwegian-Ameri- 
can Lutheran  who  has  ever  received  such  degree.  In  1891 
he  was  married  to  Anna  Hippee,  an  American  lady  of 
Greenville,  Pa.    They  have  one  daughter. 

Lundeen,  John  August,   officer   in  the  U.  S.  army — 


BIOGSAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        439 

St.  Peter— bom  6  March,  1848,  in  Hvetlanda,  SmMand, 
Sweden.  At  the  age  of  five  he  came  with  his  parents  to  the 
U.  S.;  they  settled  in  Minnesota.  Young  Ltmdeen  attended 
the  Swedish  school  in  Carver  for  about  a  year;  studied  at 
Augustana  College,  Paxton,  111.,  in  1865-66,  and  graduated 
from  the  United  States  Military  Academy,  West  Point,  N.Y., 
in  1873,  being  the  fifth  in  his  class.  Since  his  graduation  he 
has  served  with  his  regiment,  the  Fourth  United  States 
Artillery,  in  various  garrisons;  for  example,  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, Oregon,  Alaska,  Virginia,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island, 
Boston,  Minnesota,  Georgia,  and  Baltimore.  From  1876- 
79  he  was  professor  of  military  science  and  tactics,  as  weU 
as  teacher  of  mathematics  and  the  Swedish  language,  in  the 
University  of  Minnesota.  From  1887-92  he  was  assistant 
professor  of  mathematics  in  the  United  States  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
mathematical  instruction  in  that  institution  is  considered  to 
be  the  most  thorough  of  any  schools  in  the  world,  and 
Lundeen's  appointment  as  instructor  in  this  branch  of 
knowledge  was  a  high  recognition  of  his  ability.  Besides 
Lundeen  there  are  only  three  Scandinavian-bom  (all  Swedes) 
who  have  graduated  from  West  Point.  He  was  promoted 
captain  of  artillery  in  1898  and  assigned  to  the  Seventh 
Artillery,  which  was  then  organized  at  Fort  Slocum,  N.  Y., 
and  commanded  Fort  Greble,  R.  I. — a  fort  that  com- 
mands the  western  entrance  to  Narragansett  Bay — during 
the  Spanish-American  War.  Lundeen  is,  of  course,  in 
appearance,  speech,  and  sentiments,  a  thorough  American, 
yet  he  is  proud  of  his  Swedish  birth  and  his  Scandinavian 
ancestry,  and  takes  pains  to  let  Us  nationaUty  be  known. 


440         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

In  1879  he  was  married  to  Mary  Cutler  Johnson,  of  Minne- 
apolis, Minn.    They  have  two  daughters. 

Lnndholm,  Brlk  Maurltz,  physician    and  surgeon — St. 

Paul — ^bom  20  June,   1858,  in   Venjan,    Dalame,    Sweden. 

After  having  completed  his  college  education  at  Falun,  he 

entered  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of  Upsala 

in  1881,  remaining  there  five  years;  and  then  continued  his 

studies  at  the  Karolinska  Institutet  located  in  Stockholm, 

from  which  he  graduated  in  1890.    It  must  be  remembered 

that  the  laws  of  Sweden  require  the  medical  students  to 

take  their  first  examination  at  one  of  the  universities  of 

Upsala  or  Lund,  the  second  and  third  examinations  may  be 

taken  either  at  one  of  the  universities  or  at  the  Karolinska 

Institutet  in  Stockholm;  besides,  the  students  must  do  certain 

hospital  work,  and  their  last  hospital  work  must  be  done 

in  Stockholm.    And  the  students,  to  save  expense  and  time, 

generally  complete  the  first  five  or  six  years  of  their  medical 

studies  at  one  of  the  universities,  and  the  last  four  at  the 

Karolinska  Institutet.  Lundholm  also  followed  this  custom. 

For  three  summers  he  served  as  assistant  physician  at  the 

springs  of  Satra,  Vestmanland,  and  in  Djursatra,  Vester- 

gotland;  then  visited  the  United  States  in  1888,  passed  his 

examination  in  St.  Paul  before  the  state  medical  board  of 

Minnesota,  and  returned  to  Sweden  to  complete  his  studies. 

Since  1891  he  has  successfully  practiced  in  St.  Paul,  besides 

being  connected  with  Bethesda  Hospital  in  St.  Paul,  having 

had  charge  for  some  years  of  the  gynecalogical  and  surgical 

department  of  this  institution,  and  is  recognized  as  one  of  the 

ablest  surgeons  in  the  Northwest.    Lundholm  was  married 

to  Anna  Olson,  of  Gestrikland,  in  1890.   They  have  children. 


:.  f.  SUNWALL,  SIINM:Ari)LlS. 


BIOGRAPHEBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        441 

Lunnow,  MagfnuSt  journalist  —  Minneapolis  —  bom  25 
Sept.,  1854,  in  Broby,  SkAne,  Sweden.  Lunnow  received  a 
college  education  in  Kristianstad,  served  for  some  time  as 
private  tutor,  and  emigrated  to  America  in  1874,  coming  to 
Canada,  where  he  supported  himself  as  a  common  laborer, 
later  as  a  shipping  clerk.  In  1878  he  accepted  a  position  on 
the  editorial  staflf  of  Srenaka  Tribunen,  and  became 
managing  editor  of  Minnesota  Stats  Tidning  two  years 
later.  After  some  time  Lunnow  became  editor  and  part 
proprietor  of  Svenskai  Folkets  Tidning,  in  Minneapolis, 
with  which  paper  he  is  still  connected.  Svenska  Folkets 
Tidning,  which  may  be  regarded  as  a  continuation  of 
Minnesota  Stats  Tidning,  and  as  the  exponent  of  the 
progressive  and  liberal  ideas  once  represented  by  the  latter, 
has  had  a  marked  success,  which  is  largely  due  to  Lunnow's 
able  service.    Lunnow  is  unmarried. 

Magnu8»  DanleL  educator  —  Northfield  •— bom  1851,  in 
Vermland,  Sweden.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  emigrated  to 
this  country;  graduated  from  the  classical  department  of 
Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  in  1881,  and  from  the  theological  de- 
partment of  that  institution  three  years  later;  then  studied 
one  year  in  Sweden  and  Germany,  and  attended  the  Univer- 
sity of  Upsala,  Sweden,  in  1891-92.  Since  1885  he  has  been 
professor  in  Carleton  College,  Northfield,  being  one  of  the 
most  successful  Swedish  educators  in  the  state,  and  through 
his  eflforts  many  young  Scandinavians  have  been  induced  to 
attend  Carleton  College.    Magnus  is  unmarried. 

Hattson,  Hans,  pioneer  and  soldier— Minneapolis— bom 
23  Dec.,  1832,  in  Onnestad,  Skane,  Sweden;  died  5  March, 
1893.    The  North,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  gave  the  fol- 


442         HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  V.  S. 

lowing  biography  of  him:  "He  received  a  good  education 
in  Kristianstad;  served  a  year  and  a  half  in  the  Swedish 
army  as  cadet  of  the  artillery.  Emigrated  in  the  spring  of 
1851,  arriving  at  Boston  June  29.  'SuflFered  the  hardships 
and  disappointments  mcident  to  ignorance  of  the  EngUsh 
language,  and  inabihty  to  perform  hard  manual  labor. 
Went  West,  to  Illinois,  in  1852,  settling  the  next  year  in 
Minnesota,  which  henceforth  remained  his  home.  Was  mar- 
ried in  1855  at  Vasa,  Goodhue  county,  Minn.,  to  Cherstin 
Peterson,  who,  with  five  children,  survives  him.  Quit  farm- 
ing and  went  into  mercantile  business,  but  was  caught  in 
the  crisis  of  1857.  Read  law  at  Red  Wing,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  but  soon  gave  up  practice  to  become 
county  auditor  of  Goodhue  county.  Commenced  to  take 
active  part  in  politics  as  a  Republican.  During  the  summer 
of  1861,  organized  a  company  of  young  Goodhue  county 
Swedes  and  Norwegians,  with  whom,  in  the  fall,  he  reported 
at  Fort  Snelling;  was  elected  its  captain,  and  went  South 
with  the  Third  Regiment  in  Nov.  Was  promoted  to  major 
the  following  year;  was  on  his  way  back,  after  having  been 
home  sick  on  furlough,  when  the  regiment  surrendered  at 
Murfreesboro.  Was  made  a  lieutenant  colonel  after  the 
surrender  of  Vicksburg,  and,  in  April,  1863,  was  promoted 
to  colonel,  remaining  in  command  of  the  regiment  until 
Sept.  16, 1865,  when  it  was  mustered  out  at  Fort  Snelling, 
Minn.  Assisted  in  establishing  Srenaka  Amerikanaren 
in  Chicago.  Was,  in  1867,  appointed  secretary  of  the  Min- 
nesota board  of  emigration.  Returned  on  his  first  visit  to 
Sweden  in  1868.  Was  in  1869  elected  secretary  of  state 
for  Minnesota,  but  left  before  the  expiration  of  his  term  with 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        448 

his  family  for  Sweden,  as  general  agent  in  northern  Europe 
for  the  Northern  Pacific  R.  R.  Co.  Returned  to  the  United 
States  early  in  1876.  Was  elected  a  presidential  elector  the 
same  year.  Helped  to  establish  Svenska  Tribunen,  of 
Chicago,  having  previously  commenced  the  publication  of 
Minnesota  Stats  Tidning,  at  Minneapolis,  with  which 
latter  he  remained  identified  tmtil  1881.  On  July  2, 1881,  was 
appointed  consul  general  to  India.  Filled  this  important 
position  with  great  credit  for  two  years,  when  he  returned 
home  and  tendered  his  resignation.  Was  appointed  man- 
ager of  a  land  grant  company  in  New  Mexico  and 
Colorado.  In  1886  was  elected  secretary  of  state  for  Min- 
nesota, and  re-elected  in  1888,  serving  two  terms.  In  1887 
he  organized  the  Security  Savings  and  Loan  Association,  of 
Minneapolis,  whose  president  he  was  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  Two  years  later  he  formed  a  company  for  the  pub- 
lication of  The  North,  Was  one  of  the  principal  promoters, 
in  1888,  of  the  250th  anniversary  celebration  of  the  landing 
of  the  first  Swedish  settlers  on  the  Delaware,  and  collected 
the  addresses  delivered  on  this  occasion  in  a  small  Souvenir. 
In  1891  wrote  and  published  a  volume  of  recollections, 
which  in  the  Swedish  version  is  known  as  Minn  en,  while 
the  English  edition  is  entitled  The  Story  of  an  Emigrant. 
Mattson's  knowledge  was  confined  to  no  particular  class  of 
people.  Swedish- Americans  naturally  looked  up  to  him  as 
a  leader,  for  he  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  many  of  the 
requirements  of  leadership.''  Valkyrian  for  August,  1897, 
says  of  Mattson:  **His  character  shows  us,  in  general  fea- 
tures, the  product  of  the  two  factors,  Swedish  birth  and 
education  combined  with  a  long  and  active  life  under  the 


44?4         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

protection  of  the  American  flag.  Very  few  Swedish-Ameri- 
cans have  led  such  a  romantic  life  as  his.  It  was  rich  in 
sudden  changes  and  new  departures;  and  behind  the  out- 
lines of  this  Ufe  lay  an  interesting  world  which  at  first 
sight  looks  less  important,  but  which  in  fact  is  more  instruc- 
tive to  him  who  desires  to  study  it  in  the  light  of  the  spirit 
of  the  times  in  which  he  most  vigorously  appeared  as  the 
Swedish  pioneer  in  America." 

Megraarden,  Philip  Tollef,  sheriff— Minneapolis— bom  2 
Oct.,  1864,  in  Alamakee  county,  Iowa.  His  parents  were 
bom  in  Norway,  and  his  father  served  three  years  in  the 
Fourth  Iowa  Cavalry  during  the  Civil  War.  Young 
Megaarden  attended  public  schools  in  Dickinson  county, 
Iowa,  and  in  MinneapoUs,  and  he  has  resided  in  that  city 
since  1877.  In  1878  he  entered  Augsburg  Seminary,  but 
the  death  of  his  father  compelled  him  to  discontinue  his 
college  education  and  enter  the  everyday  battle  of  life  in 
order  to  support  a  number  of  little  brothers  and  sisters. 
At  first  he  performed  manual  labor,  but  later  on  he  suc- 
cessively held  the  positions  of  clerk  in  a  fiiel  office,  book- 
keeper, and  court  officer.  Meanwhile  he  continued  his 
studies  as  best  he  could,  and  often  did  he  pore  over  his 
books  into  the  small  hours  of  night.  In  the  course  of  time 
he  managed  to  take  a  course  in  a  business  college,  and  in 
1892  completed  a  three  years'  course  in  the  law  department 
of  the  State  University,  receiving  the  degree  of  LL.  B. 
Megaarden  was  admitted  to  the  bar  the  same  year;  com- 
pleted a  post-graduate  course  in  his  alma  mater  the  next 
year,  receiving  the  degree  of  LL.  M.;  practiced  law  for  some 
time;  served  as  chief  deputy  sheriff  of  Hennepin  county  in 


BIOGSAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        4455 

1895-96;  resumed  the  practice  of  law;  but  on  Jan.  1, 1899, 
entered  upon  his  duties  as  sheriflF  of  Hennepin  county.  As 
deputy  sheriflF  Megaarden  made  an  excellent  record,  and 
demonstrated  his  ability  to  manage  public  aflfairs.  Hence- 
forth it  was  generally  admitted  that  he  was  one  of  the 
leading  Scandinavian  public  men  in  the  city  of  Minneapolis. 
He  is  a  rock-ribbed  Republican,  and  belongs  to  more  than  a 
dozen  diflferent  political  clubs  and  secret  organizations,  of 
which  may  be  mentioned  the  K.  of  P.,  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  the 
Freemasons,  the  Elks,  the  Viking  League,  the  Modem 
Woodmen,  the  Red  Men,  the  Modem  Samaritans,  and 
Sonner  af  Norge.  He  is  also  secretary  of  the  interstate 
sheriflFs'  association.  Megaarden  was  married  to  Angeline 
Erickson,  of  Lake  Crystal,  Minn,,  in  1897. 

Hobn,  Thorbjopn  N.,  educator— Northfield— bom  15 
July,  1844,  in  Saude,  Nedre  Telemarken,  Norway.  At  the 
age  of  nine  he  came  with  his  parents  to  this  country;  they 
settled  in  Columbia  county.  Wis.,  but  moved  to  Dodge 
county,  Minn.,  in  1860.  Young  Mohn  attended  the  public 
schools;  worked  on  his  father's  farm  for  some  time;  gradu- 
ated from  Luther  College  in  1870;  and  completed  his  theo- 
logical studies  at  Concordia  Theological  Seminary  three 
years  later.  After  having  been  ordained  by  the  president  of 
the  Norwegian  Synod,  he  was  pastor  of  congregations  in 
Chicago  and  St.  Paul,  and  from  1875  to  1899  was  president 
of  St.  Olaf  College,  Northfield,  Minn.  But  as  soon  as  the 
school  became  the  property  of  the  United  Church  in  1899, 
he  was  dispensed  with  as  president,  but  retained  as  a 
teacher.  Mohn  is  considered  to  be  an  educator,  but  was 
not  successful  as  manager  of  the  school,  and  the  attendance 


446         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

was  steadily  diminishing  during  the  last  decade  of  his 
administration.  Rev.  J.  C.  Jensson,  in  American  Luth- 
eran BiographieSj  says:  'Mohn  has  labored  faithfully  to 
build  up  a  good  school,  and  was  for  several  years  chairman 
of  the  ministerial  conference  of  the  Norwegian  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Synod  for  the  district  of  Minnesota,  and  in  1888 
he,  together  with  many  others,  severed  his  connection  with 
the  synod,  and  eflfected  the  organization  known  as  Anti- 
Missourians,  which  in  1890  joined  in  forming  the  United 
Norwegian  Lutheran  Church.*  In  1875  he  was  married  to 
Anna  Elizabeth  Ringstad,  of  Decorah,  Iowa;  they  have 
several  children. 

Muu8,  Bemt  Julius,  clergyman— Norway— bom  15  Mar., 
1832,  in  Snaasen,  Trondhjem  stift,  Norway.  His  father 
kept  a  country  store;  his  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the 
rector  of  the  parish,  Jens  Ryuning,  in  whose  home  Muus 
was  brought  up,  as  his  mother  died  when  he  was  an  infant. 
At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  graduated  from  the  Latin  school 
in  Trondhjem;  then  entered  the  University  of  Norway,  not 
knowing  exactly  whether  he  should  prepare  for  the  ministry 
or  become  a  civil  engineer;  but  his  father's  entreaties  pre- 
vailed, and  in  1854?  he  received  his  degree  as  candidate  of 
theology.  After  having  been  engaged  in  teaching,  both  as 
tutor  for  children  and  as  teacher  in  a  couple  of  schools  in 
Kristiania  for  five  years,  Muus  in  1859  accepted  a  call  from 
a  Norwegian  Lutheran  church  in  Holden,  Goodhue  county, 
Minn.  Rev.  J.  C.  Jensson,  in  American  Lutheran  Bio- 
graphieSj  says:  "The  church  government  kindly  allowed 
him  to  be  ordained  without  taking  the  usual  minister's 
oath,    which   he   could  not   take    without    conscientious 


BIOGSAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MANNESOTA.       447 

scruples."  Having  been  received  as  a  member  of  the  Nor- 
-wegian  Synod,  he  commenced  his  ministerial  duties  in  Good- 
hue and  Rice  counties.  Muus  held  meetings  in  twenty-eight 
preaching  stations  scattered  throughout  Minnesota  and  the 
iwestem  part  of  Wisconsin.  Most  of  these  stations  could 
be  visited  only  twice  a  year.  In  later  years,  however,  he 
received  assistance.  When  the  Minnesota  District  of  the 
synod  was  organized  in  1876,  Muus  was  elected  its  presi- 
dent, a  position  he  held  for  nine  years,  and  was  the  chief 
promoter  in  founding  St.  Olaf  College.  Muus  had  had  con- 
siderable experience  in  newspaper  work  when  he  came  to 
America,  and  has  written  numerous  articles  for  the  Norwe- 
gian as  well  as  for  the  Norwegian-American  press,  besides 
being  the  author  of  a  few  smaller  religious  books.  He 
served  the  same  congregation — ^which  is  now  part  of  the 
United  Church-^ver  since  his  arrival  in  this  country  up  to 
1899,  when  he  returned  to  Norway.  During  the  predistina- 
tion  controversy  he  sided  with  the  Anti-Missourians,  being 
for  years  one  of  the  fiercest  opponents  of  some  of  the  prin- 
ciples advocated  by  the  Norwegian  Synod,  from  which 
organization  he  never  withdrew,  until  he  was  expelled  in 
1898.  He  attempted  reformation,  not  revolution.  He  held 
a  unique  position,  being  both  conservative  and  radical.  Yet 
it  seems  that  his  standpoint  was  more  logical  than  that  of 
his  brethren  who  withdrew  from  the  synod.  Rev.  .John 
Halvorson  says:  **Muus  was  a  leading  spirit,  a  powerful 
character,  an  organizer;  but  unyielding  and  harsh  in  dealing 
with  human  frailties."  He  was  married  just  before  leaving 
Norway,  but  his  family  life  was  not  happy.  His  wife  sued 
him  for  cruelty  and  harsh  treatment,  in  1880,  which  resulted 


448         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  S 

in  a  separation;  and  although  the  people  at  large  considered 
Muus  the  suffering  party,  yet  he  lost  much  of  his  influence. 

Myran,  Ole  H,,  state  senator— Ada— bom  18  Jan.,  1853, 
in  Nore,  Numedal,  Norway.  He  received  a  common  school 
education  at  his  birthplace  and  in  this  country;  came  from 
Norway  with  his  parents  in  1868,  stopping  one  year  in 
Illinois,  and  settling  in  Goodhue  county,  Minn.,  the  follow- 
ing year.  He  worked  on  farms  around  Zumbrota  and 
clerked  in  that  town  for  years;  was  engaged  in  farming  on 
his  own  account  in  Lincoln  county;  and  settled  at  Ada  in 
1881.  Here  he  kept  a  hotel  for  three  years,  and  since  the 
middle  of  the  eighties  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  mercantile 
business.  In  1898  he  was  elected  to  the  senate  and  served 
as  chairman  of  the  drainage  committee.  He  is  a  Republican 
and  a  member  of  the  Order  of  Odd  Fellows  and  of  the 
Knights  of  Pythias.  Myran  has  been  married  twice,  and  at 
present  is  a  widower.    He  has  several  children. 

Nelson,  Andrew,  state  senator— Litchfield— bom  15  Dec., 
1829,  in  Fronnenge,  Halland,  Sweden.  After  having  received 
a  common  school  education  he  emigrated  to  the  U.  S.  in 
1856,  and  spent  the  next  two  years  in  Galesburg,  lU.,  work- 
ing  as  a  common  laborer;  came  to  Minnesota  in  1858; 
stayed  near  Willmar  for  five  years,  working  on  his  daim, 
but  the  Indians  drove  him  to  St.  Paul  in  1862.  The  next 
year  he  went  to  Washington  county  and  engaged  in  fieirm- 
ing,  staying  there  about  five  years;  came  to  Meeker  county 
in  1869,  and  bought  a  large  farm.  In  1871  he  engaged  in 
general  merchandising  in  Litchfield,  continuing  the  business 
until  1876;  since  then  he  has  been  in  the  banking  business 
most  of  the  time.    He  was  president  of  Meeker  County 


REV.   F.    O.    N1L8SON,    HOI'STON.  VICTOH  MI-SRON,  MINNRAPOL18. 


BIOGRA.PHIBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        449 

Bank  for  a  \\rhile,  has  since  held  the  same  position  in  the 
Bank  of  Litchfield,  and  owns  considerable  property.  Nelson 
represented  his  district  in  the  state  legislature  in  1874,  and 
in  the  state  senate  in  1875-6;  has  been  county  commissioner 
and  member  of  the  city  council,  and  has  held  various  local 
offices.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  church,  of 
-which  he  has  been  a  trustee  for  several  years;  belongs  to  the 
Republican  party;  was  married  to  Ellen  Johnson  in  1868. 

Nelson,  Andrew,  legislator — Norseland — bom  12  July, 
1837,  near  Kristianstad,  Sweden.  In  1855  he  came  with  his 
parents  to  this  country.  They  settled  in  Nicollet  county, 
Minn.,  where  Nelson  now  owns  and  cultivates  several  large 
farms,  and  is  considered  to  be  one  of  the  wealthiest  Swedish 
farmers  in  Minnesota.  Rev.  E.  Norelius  in  his  history  says 
that  Nelson  has  taken  great  interest  in  the  Swedish  Luth- 
eran church,  and  been  a  constant  financial  contributor  to 
Gustavus  Adolphus  College.  He  represented  his  district  in 
the  legislature  in  the  seventies.  In  1863  he  was  married  to 
Carolina  Pehrson;  they  have  several  children. 

Nelson,  Knute,  United  States  senator— Alexandria — 
bom  2  Feb.,  1843,  in  Voss,  near  Bergen,  Norway.  His 
parents  and  their  ancestors  for  generations  back  belonged 
to  the  yeomanry  of  the  country.  At  the  age  of  three  years 
he  lost  his  father,  and  a  little  more  than  three  years  later  he 
came  with  his  mother  to  the  U.  S.,  arriving  at  Chicago  in 
July,  1849.  The  cholera  then  raged  in  the  city,  in  most 
instances  with  fatal  effect.  Nelson  was  stricken  with  the 
dread  disease,  but  was  among  the  few  fortunate  ones  who 
survived  the  plague.  In  1850  he  moved  with  his  mother 
to  Walworth  county.  Wis.,  and  from  there  to  Dane  county, 

30 


450         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

in  the  same  state,  in  1853.  After  having,  through  consider- 
able obstacles,  obtained  a  fair  common  school  education,  he 
entered  Albion  Academy  as  a  student  in  1858,  and  pursued 
his  studies  there  till  1861,  when  he,  with  a  score  of  school- 
mates, enlisted  in  the  4th  Wisconsin  Regiment.  He 
remained  in  the  service  as  private  and  non-commissioned 
officer  till  1864,  when  he  returned  and  resumed  his  studies 
at  the  academy,  graduating  in  1865.  '  He  participated  with 
his  regiment  in  the  capture  of  New  Orleans,  the  first  siege  of 
Vicksburg,  the  battles  of  Baton  Rouge  and  Camp  Bisland, 
and  the  siege  of  Port  Hudson.  In  the  great  charge  of  this 
siege,  on  the  14th  of  June,  1863,  he  was  woimded  and  cap- 
tured, and  remained  a  prisoner  until  the  place  surrendered 
on  the  9th  of  July.  In  1865  he  became  a  law  student  in  the 
office  of  Senator  Wm.  F.  Vilas,  Madison,  Wis.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  circuit  court  for  Dane  county  in 
1867,  and  immediately  entered  on  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. That  year  he  was  elected  member  of  the  assembly  for 
the  then  second  district  of  Dane  county,  his  home,  and  was 
re-elected  in  1868.  In  1871  he  moved  to  Alexandria,  Doug- 
las county,  Minn.,  where  he  has  ever  since  been  engaged  in 
farming  and  practicing  law.  As  a  lawyer  he  has  had  an 
extensive  practice  in  that  part  of  the  state.  In  1872-74  he 
was  county  attorney  for  Douglas  county,  and  in  1875-78 
he  was  state  senator  in  the  thirty-ninth  legislative  district, 
composed  of  five  counties.  In  the  senate  he  was  instru- 
mental in  securing  the  legislation  under  which  the  unfinished 
lines  of  the  St.  Paul  &  Pacific  Railway  were  completed.  In 
1880  he  was  presidential  elector  on  the  Garfield  and  Arthur 
ticket.  In  the  fall  of  1882,  in  a  campaign  of  unparalleled  heat 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        451 

and  bitterness,  he  was  elected  member  of  Congress  for  the 
fifth  district  of  Minnesota,  by  a  plurality  of  4,500  votes. 
He  was  re-elected  in  1884  by  a  plurality  of  12,500  votes, 
and  in  1886  he  was  re-elected  by  an  almost  unanimous 
vote.  While  in  Congress  he  was  a  member  of  the  committee 
on  Indian  affairs,  and  was  especially  instrumental  in  secur- 
ing the  passage  of  a  law  for  the  opening  of  the  Red  Lake 
and  other  Indian  reservations  in  Minnesota,  and  for  civiliz- 
ing the  Indians,  and  allotting  lands  to  them  in  severalty  for 
farming  purposes.  In  Congress  he  was  an  ardent  tariflF 
reformer  not  altogether  in  harmony  with  his  party,  even 
going  so  far  as  to  vote  for  the  Mills  bill.  This  subjected  him 
to  some  criticism  among  the  politicians,  but  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  were  with  him  and  approved  of  his  independ- 
ent course.  He  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the 
state  university  from  1882  imtil  1893,  and  has  taken  a  deep 
interest  in  the  welfare  and  growth  of  that  institution.  In 
1892  he  was  unanimously  nominated,  by  acclamation,  can- 
didate for  governor,  of  the  Republican  party,  and  was 
elected  in  November  following,  by  a  plurality  of  14,620 
votes.  Nelson  made  an  excellent  record  as  governor,  and 
was  again  unanimously  re-nominated  in  1894  and  re-elected 
by  a  plurality  of  60,000  votes.  But  in  January  the  following 
year  he  was  elected  U.  S.  senator  by  the  legislature  for  a  term 
of  six  years,  thus  becoming  the  first  Scandinavian  who  has 
been  chosen  to  represent  his  new  country  in  the  capacity  of 
senator,  governor,  and  congressman;  and  Nelson  has  fiUed 
all  the  positions  mentioned  with  great  credit  to  himself  and 
has  been  an  honor  to  the  state  of  Minnesota.  It  may  be  fair, 
however,  to  mention  that  his  election  to  the  U.  S.  senate  did 


452         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

not  seem  to  be  popular  with  a  large  majority  of  the  people. 
They  wanted  him  to  be  their  governor,  they  voted  for  him 
as  such,  and  did  not  desire  a  substitute  to  occupy  his  chair. 
Nelson's  popularity  suflFered  severely,  yet  the  state  did  not 
lose  an3rthing,  for  as  senator  he  has  worked  hard  and  con- 
scientiously.   He  is  married  and  has  grown  children. 

Nelson,  Peter,  state  senator— Red  Wing— bom  14  Apr., 
1843,  in  Skatelof,  SmMand,  Sweden.  He  received  a  common 
school  education  in  his  native  country;  emigrated  to  the 
U.  S.  at  the  age  of  twenty-three;  lived  in  Rockford,  111.,  a 
short  time,  then  moved  to  Mississippi,  where  for  a  few  years 
he  was  engaged  in  Oxford  as  a  building  contractor  and 
hardware  merchant  Since  1873  he  has  been  in  the  hard- 
ware business  in  Red  Wing.  Nelson  is  one  of  the  few  Swedes 
who  have  joined  the  Democratic  party,  of  which  he  is  a  lead- 
ing member,  and  was  the-party's  nominee  for  secretary  of 
state  in  1892,  but  with  the  rest  of  the  state  ticket  was 
defeated.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Democratic  central  com- 
mittee for  several  years.  In  1887  he  was  state  senator  and 
secured,  among  other  things,  the  passage  of  a  bill  which 
provided  for  the  removal  of  the  State  Reform  School  from 
St.  Paul  to  Red  Wing.  Nelson  married  Olivia  Olson  in 
1871.    They  have  grown  children. 

Neumann,  C.  F.,  writer  and  sign  painter — St.  Paul — 
bom  17  Jan.,  1850,  in  Jonkoping,  Sweden.  His  father  was 
a  musical  director,  a  German  by  birth,  who  traveled  through 
the  Scandinavian  countries,  but  resided  otherwise  in  Den- 
mark, of  which  country  young  Neumann's  mother  was  a 
native.  Neumann  attended  a  Latin  school  in  Copenhagen 
for  four  years;  became  a  sailor  at  the  age  of  fourteen  and 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        453 

followed  this  life  for  three  years,  visiting  both  the  Arctic  and 
the  Tropical  regions  and  most  of  the  European  countries; 
landed  in  Philadelphia  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and,  having 
no  money,  he  walked  to  Chicago,  which  took  him  seven 
weeks.  After  having  worked  as  a  common  laborer  for  a 
short  time  he  learnt  the  painting  business;  started  a  shop  of 
his  own  in  Chicago,  in  1871;  located  in  Minneapolis,  in 
1880,  and  here  followed  his  trade  for  eight  years;  then 
moved  his  business  to  St.  Paul.  He  was  one  of  the  chief 
men  in  promoting  the  building  of  DaniaHall  in  Minneapolis. 
Neumann  has  contributed  quite  extensively  to  the  American 
daily  papers  in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis,  as  well  as  to  the 
Danish-Norwegian  press.  He  has  been  married  three  times, 
and  he  had  children  by  all  his  wives. 

Nilsson,  F.  0-,  clergyman  and  pioneer — Houston — bom 
28  July,  1809,  in  Varo,  Halland,  Sweden;  died  1881.  His 
mother  died  when  he  was  seven  years  of  age,  and  his 
father,  who  owned  a  small  farm,  was  a  confirmed  drunkard 
and  had  to  be  put  under  guardianship.  Consequently, 
young  Nilsson  enjoyed  few  or  no  educational  advantages, 
and  at  the  early  age  of  fourteen  commenced  to  earn  his  own 
living  by  learning  the  shoemaker^s  trade,  and  for  four  years 
followed  his  master  from  house  to  house  assisting  him  in 
making  shoes.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  became  a  sailor, 
and  visited,  among  other  places,  also  New  York,  where  he 
deserted  his  vessel  in  1832.  A  couple  of  years  later  a  Metho- 
dist revivalist  converted  him,  but  he  continued  the  life  of  a 
sailor  until  his  thirtieth  year.  It  does  not  appear  that 
Nilsson  was  dissipated  before  his  conversion,  but  on  the 
contrary  was  during  his  youth  rather  religiously  inclined, 


/ 


454         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

which  cukninated  in  an  intense  fear  of  damnation.  In  the 
fall  of  1839  he  visited  his  relatives  in  Sweden.  He  did  not 
return  to  America  as  he  had  intended,  but  began  to  urge  peo- 
ple to  repent  of  their  sins,  wandering  on  foot  from  house  to 
house,  from  village  to  village.  In  1842  the  Seamen's  Friend 
Society  in  New  York  appointed  him  missionary  for  the 
sailors  in  Gothenburg,  with  $100  salary  a  year.  When  he 
was  married,  in  1844  or  1845,  his  wages  were  raised  to 
$175  a  year,  on  which  he  supported  himself  and  family  for  a 
number  of  years.  At  times  he  also  visited  the  surrounding 
country  as  well  as  Norway.  Nilsson  remained  a  member  of 
the  Lutheran  state  church  up  to  1845,  although  he  was 
arrested  a  couple  of  times  for  breaking  the  conventicle  law. 
At  this  time  a  Swedish-American  sailor  and  Baptist,  Capt. 
G.  W.  Schroeder,  visited  Gothenburg  and  became  acquainted 
with  Nilsson.  Through  Schroeder's  influence  he  began  to 
study  the  question  of  infant  baptism,  and  was  soon  con- 
vinced that  it  was  all  wrong.  As  a  consequence  he  went  to 
Hamburg,  Germany,  in  1847,  in  order  to  be  immersed  by 
Rev.  J.  G.  Oncken.  .On  his  return  to  Sweden  he  commenced 
with  great  discretion  to  preach  the  new  doctrine.  During 
the  night  of  Sept.  21,  1848,  Nilsson's  wife  and  four  other 
persons,  most  pf  whom  appear  to  have  been  his  relatives, 
were  immersed,  and  the  first  Swedish  Baptist  church  in  the 
world  was  at  the  same  time  organized  in  Landa  village, 
Halland.  A.  P.  Forster  had  been  sent  from  Hamburg  to 
perform  the  ceremonies.  Nilsson  was  ordained  in  Hamburg 
the  next  spring,  when  the  Baptists  in  his  native  land  num- 
bered thirty-five  persons.  Religious  toleration  was  not  a 
virtue  or  a  fashion  in  Sweden  at  that  time.    Nilsson  was,  in 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        455 

1850,  mobbed,  arrested,  and  condemned  to  be  banished 
from  the  kingdom  by  Gota  hofratt,  in  Jonkoping,  simply 
because  he  had  tried  to  spread  the  doctrines  of  the  Baptists 
in  his  native  land.  He  appeared  in  person  before  King 
Oscar  I.,  and  asked  him  to  commute  the  sentence;  then 
wrote  to  him  to  the  same  eflfect,  at  the  same  time  suggesting 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Lutheran  clergymen  to  try  to  re- 
convert dissenters  to  Lutheranism,  which  had  not  been  pro- 
perly done  in  Nilsson's  case;  and  at  last  appealed  to  the 
mercy  of  the  monarch.  But  nothing  availed.  He  left 
Sweden  July  4,  1851,  probably  being  the  last  person  who 
had  to  be  a  fugitive  from  that  kingdom  for  the  sake  of  reli- 
gion. His  banishment  created  a  stir  in  the  civilized  world, 
and  for  a  while  Sweden  was  considered  to  be  a  land  of 
intolerance  and  bigotry.  The  public  opinion  of  the  world — 
that  great  power  before  which  monarchs  and  mobs  tremble 
— had  undoubtedly  a  great  deal  to  do  in  swinging  Sweden, 
at  about  this  time,  into  line  with  the  most  progressive  lands 
in  regard  to  religious  liberty.  Yet  some  of  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  clergymen,  who  generally  have  been  blamed  for  all 
the  religious  shortcomings  in  their  country,  had  for  years 
before  advocated  the  utmost  religious  freedom.  Before 
Nilsson  left  Sweden  he  selected  leaders  for  his  four  small 
congregations;  then  visited  Copenhagen,  Hamburg,  London, 
and  Norway.  On  his  return  from  the  latter  country  he 
stopped  at  Gothenburg  to  take  his  wife  with  him,  and  con- 
ducted a  few  meetings  in  secret,  but  the  police  sent  him  to 
Denmark.  After  having  remained  in  Copenhagen  a  couple 
of  years,  he  emigrated  to  America  in  1853;  preached  for 
some  time  in  Burlington,  Iowa;  bought  land  and  settled 


456  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

near  Houston,  Minn.,  in  1855;  and  during  five  years 
organized  seven  Swedish  Baptist  congregations  in  Minne- 
sota. He  was  sent,  in  1860,  by  an  American  Baptist  con- 
gregation in  New  York  as  a  missionary  to  Sweden.  On  his 
return  he  was  pardoned  by  King  Carl  XV.,  and  soon  located 
in  Gothenburg,  where  for  seven  years  he  had  charge  of  the 
small  Baptist  congregation  in  that  city.  When  about  sixty 
years  of  age,  Nilsson  returned  to  America,  partly,  it  seems, 
because  other  Baptist  clergymen  excelled  him  in  learning 
and  abiUty;  but  principally  because  he  had  by  reading  some 
of  Theodore  Parker's  works  commenced  to  doubt  the  truth 
of  parts  of  the  Bible.  Yet  for  a  few  years  afterwards  he  was 
pastor  of  the  Swedish  Baptist  church  at  Houston;  but  his 
religious  doubts  were  discovered,  and  most  of  his  former 
friends  deserted  him.  It  has  been  asserted  that  he  became  a 
rank  infidel;  this  has  been  denied  by  the  Baptists,  who, 
however,  admit  that  he  could  not  be  called  an  orthodox 
Christian  during  the  last  days  of  his  eventful  life,  and  one  of 
their  historians.  Rev.  A.  G.  Hall,  says  that  the  seed  of  infidel- 
ity had  undoubtedly  remained  in  Nilsson's  soul  ever  since 
his  youth  as  the  result  of  having  read  Thomas  Paine's 
writings.  Nilsson's  boldness  and  combativeness  made  up 
for  what  he  lacked  in  education  and  talent.  He  converted 
many.  The  Baptists  maintain  that  Nilsson  was  an  honest 
enthusiast  who  sacrificed  much  for  his  religion;  the  Luth- 
erans and  Methodists  who  came  in  contact  with  him  in  the 
Northwest  claim  that  he  was  a  coarse  and  unscrupulous 
adventurer  who  shrank  from  no  means  to  accomplish  his 
purpose.  Both  opinions  are  probably  correct,  as  he  appears 
to  have  lacked  the  proper  balance-wheel,  and  flung  from 


OFTRI>Ar„   MIXNKArOI.IS. 


c»» 


rnoi-'.  GEOiu;  kvhuukli'.  mixneatolis. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        457 

one  extreme  to  another,  partly  because  his  nature  craved 
excitement. 

Nllssony  Victor,  author  and  critic— Minneapolis — bom 
10  Mar.,  1867,  in  Ostra  Torp,  Sk^ne,  Sweden.  His  father 
owned  this  estate  on  the  southermost  point  of  southwest- 
em  Sweden,  where  Victor  was  bom,  but  the  family  resided 
in  Gothenburg  from  1870  to  1885.  Young  Nilsson  received 
a  careful  college  education  in  the  latter  city,  where  his 
father  was  a  prosperous  merchant.  The  whole  family 
came  to  America  in  1885.  He  was  connected  with  the  edi- 
torial staffs  of  various  Swedish  papers  in  the  Twin  Cities 
up  to  1891,  when  he  was  appointed  librarian  of  the  East 
Side  Branch  of  the  Minneapolis  Public  Library.  For  a  number 
of  years  he  attended  lectures  in  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota, making  a  thorough  study  of  Romance  and  Teutonic 
philology,  with  Old  Norse  history,  language,  and  literature 
as  a  specialty.  In  1897  this  institution  conferred  the  degree 
of  doctor  of  philosophy  upon  him.  His  thesis  on  the  occa- 
sion was  a  scientific  treatise  on  Havaznal  in  the  older 
Edda,  and  has  been  recognized  by  scholars  on  both  sides 
of  the  Atlantic.  Nilsson  has  always  been  an  enthusiastic 
admirer  of  Northern  culture,  especially  of  all  pertaining  to 
literature,  art,  and  music;  and  on  these  subjects  has  con- 
tributed many  critical  articles  to  the  Swedish-American 
and  Anglo-American  journals  and  magazines.  He  possesses 
a  fine  literary  judgment;  and  as  a  critic  probably  outranks 
all  other  Scandinavian- Americans.  His  book  Fbrenta 
Staternas  Preaidenter  has  been  well  spoken  of;  and  his 
history  of  Sweden,  a  large  volume  of  nearly  500  pages  and 
published  in  the  English  language  in  1899,  contains  a  com- 


458         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

plete  history  of  the  Swedish  people  from  the  earliest  period 
down  to  the  present  time,  and  the  presentation  of  recent 
events  is  especially  masterly  and  critical.  He  has  written  a 
number  of  short  stories,  and  delivered  several  lectures  in 
diflFerent  parts  of  the  country.  He  was  secretary  of  the 
executive  committee  of  five  for  the  great  Scandinavian 
singing  festival  in  Minneapolis  in  1891.  Nilsson  has  been  presi- 
dent of  the  Orpheus  Singing  Society;  financialsecretary  of  the 
United  Scandinavian  Singers  of  America,  and  of  the  Amer- 
ican Union  of  Swedish  Singers;  and  was  the  official  speaker 
during  the  concert  tour  to  Sweden,  in  1897,  of  Swedish- 
American  singers,  and  at  the  same  time  visited  several  other 
European  countries.  He  is  not  married.  His  sister  Bmma 
Nilsson  has  a  high  reputation  as  a  singer,  having  for  years 
studied  in  Berlin,  Germany,  where  she  made  a  successful 
debut  in  grand  opera  in  1884.  His  younger  sister,  Mrs. 
Bertha  Nilsson  Best,  has  made  quite  a  reputation  as  an 
opera  singer. 

Norellus,  £•,  clergyman  and  author — Vasa— bom  26 
Oct.,  1833,  in  Hassela,  Helsingland,  Sweden.  His  parents 
were  pious  farmers,  who,  like  most  of  the  Swedish  people  of 
the  same  class  in  those  days,  did  not  believe  in  any  higher 
education  than  was  necessary  for  confirmation;  but  young 
Norelius  succeeded  in  persuading  them  to  permit  him  to 
attend  a  college  in  Hudiksvall  for  a  couple  of  years.  He 
was  religiously  inclined  from  his  early  childhood,  and  was 
an  enthusiastic  believer  in  the  pietism  advocated  by  Rev.  F. 
G.  Hedberg,  the  noted  Finnish  divine.  Without  any  spe- 
cific reason  or  any  certain  plans  for  the  future,  he,  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  emigrated  to  this  country,  spending  eleven 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        459 

weeks  on  the  ocean.  After  having  landed  in  New  York  he 
proceeded  to  Chicago,  where  he  met  the  well-known  Swed- 
ish pioneer  Rev.  G.  Unonius,  who  advised  him  to  go  to  the 
Episcopal  seminary,  at  Nashota,  Wis.,  and  there  prepare  to 
enter  the  Episcopalian  ministry.  But  Norelius  was  too 
much  of  a  Lutheran  to  even  dream  of  any  such  thing.  He 
concluded,  in  his  perplexity  as  to  what  to  do  and  where  to 
go,  to  seek  the  advice  of  the  pioneer  of  the  Swedish-Amer- 
ic€m  Lutheran  ministers,  Prof.  L.  P.  Esbjom,  with  whom 
he  was  not  personally  acquainted;  but  he  knew  that 
Esbjom  had  come  to  America  the  year  before  and  settled  at 
Andover,  Henry  county,  111.  Believing  that  Esbjom  was 
the  right  person  to  give  the  best  advice,  Norelius  set  out 
from  Chicago  to  hunt  him  up,  going  by  canal  a  hundred 
miles  to  La  Salle,  and  footing  the  rest  of  the  road  for  some 
sixty  miles  to  Andover.  Here  he  found  Esbjom  living 
among  his  countrymen  in  a  primitive  way,  in  great  poverty 
and  sickness;  but  he  received  Norelius  kindly,  and  advised 
him  to  enter  Capital  University,  Columbus,  Ohio,  where 
support  had  been  offered  to  a  poor  Swedish  student  who 
would  prepare  for  the  Lutheran  ministry.  The  famous 
Jenny  Lind  had  also  given  $1,500  to  the  school  in  order  that 
a  Swedish  professorship  might  be  established  there.  Esbjom 
accompanied  Norelius  to  this  institution  in  the  spring  of 
1851,  where  the  latter  spent  about  five  years.  For  defray- 
ing the  expenses  of  the  journey  from  Illinois  to  Ohio,  and 
for  some  clothing,  Dr.  Passavant,  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  sent 
Norelius  twenty-two  dollars.  His  vacations  were  spent  in 
various  ways:  for  example,  working  on  farms,  chopping 
wood,  selling  books,  teaching,  and  preaching.    During  his 


460        HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE   U.  S. 

last  vacation  he  preached  and  taught  school  at  Chisago 
Lake,  Minn.;  previously  to  this  he  had  done  the  same  thing  in 
Chicago.  In  1855  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  of 
Northern  Illinois  licensed  him  to  preach  for  the  Swedes  in 
several  places  in  Tippecanoe  county,  Ind.;  but  these  people 
had  recently  arrived  from  the  old  country,  and  were  too 
poor  to  buy  the  expensive  land  in  the  Eastern  states,  there- 
fore no  permanent  Swedish  settlement  in  this  part  of  the 
country  was  to  be  expected.  Norelius  and  another  gentle- 
man were  delegated  to  go  to  Minnesota  in  search  of  a  suit- 
able place  for  a  settlement;  they  came  to  Vasa,  Goodhue 
county,  Minn.,  in  1855 — where  Col.  H.  Mattson  and  his 
party  had  already  a  couple  of  years  before  commenced  a 
prosperous  Swedish  settlement — and  Norelius  at  once  organ- 
ized churches  in  Red  Wing  and  Vasa,  of  which  he  became 
pastor  the  following  year,  when  he  was  ordained.  He  had 
to  suffer  all  the  inconveniences  and  trials  of  a  pioneer  life; 
many  settlements  were  founded  and  churches  organized;  he 
had  to  spend  his  time  more  as  a  traveling  missionary  than 
as  a  settled  pastor.  In  1858  he  was  elected  county  auditor 
of  Goodhue  county,  but  at  the  same  time  received  an  offer 
to  become  editor  of  Hemlandet,  in  Chicago,  which  he 
accepted,  resigned  his  pastoral  duties,  and  proceeded  to 
Chicago.  In  1859  Norelius,  on  account  of  ill  health, 
moved  to  Attica,  Ind.,  and  he  took  charge  of  the  Swed- 
ish Lutheran  church  there,  but  the  following  year  accepted 
a  call  as  a  traveling  missionary  in  Minnesota.  During  this 
time  he  passed  through  many  thrilling  events,  experienced 
many  perils  and  self-denials,  visited — on  foot  or  on  horse- 
back— every  nook  and  comer  where  any  Swedes  had  settled, 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        461 

preached  and  organized  churches  in  many  places.  He  has 
undoubtedly  sacrificed  more  in  order  to  elevate  his  country- 
men in  Minnesota,  and  has  benefited  them  more  than  any 
other  Swede.  His  salary  amounted  to  about  $400  a  year, 
out  of  which  he  had  to  pay  all  his  traveling  expenses,  and 
at  the  end  of  the  year  he  might  have  saved  souls,  but 
nothing  of  his  salary  remained.  In  1861  he  moved  from 
St.  Paul,  where  his  family  had  resided  for  a  year,  to  Good 
hue  county,  and  took  charge  of  his  old  congregations  in 
Red  Wing  and  at  Vasa.  Ever  since  his  ministerial  labor 
has  been  chiefly  confined  to  Goodhue  county,  although  he 
has  done  some  missionary  work  on  the  Pacific  Coast  and  in 
various  other  parts  of  the  country.  His  health  has  been 
delicate  during  the  greater  part  of  his  ministry.  Besides 
his  regular  work  in  the  ministry,  he  founded  an  orphanage 
at  Vasa  in  1865,  and  conducted  it  himself  for  eleven  j'-ears. 
In  1862  he  commenced  a  private  school  in  Red  Wing,  which 
has  grown  up  to  be  Gustavus  Adolphus  College,  in  St. 
Peter.  Norelius  was  in  1874  elected  president  of  the 
Augustana  Synod,  serving  in  that  capacity  for  seven  years, 
and  was  elected  to  the  same  position  in  1899.  (Most  of 
the  above  facts  in  this  biography  have  been  collected  from 
American  Lutheran  Biographies,  by  Rev.J.  C.  Jensson). 
At  Red  Wing,  in  1857,  he  commenced  to  publish  Minnesota 
Posten,  the  first  Swedish  newspaper  in  Minnesota;  the 
venture  was  too  early,  and  proved  to  be  a  financial  failure, 
and  after  one  year's  starveling  existence,  the  paper  was 
united  with  Heznlandet  in  Chicago,  of  which  Norelius,  as 
before  stated,  became  editor.  It  may  be  of  interest  to 
note  that  the  first  six  numbers  of  Minnesota  Poaten  con- 


462        HISTORY  OF  THE  8CANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

tained  the  following  notice:    ' 'Because  ready  cash  in  these 
times  is  scarce,  the  editor  will,  for  the  subscription  for  the 
paper,  take  farm  and  other  products,  which  will  be  valued 
at  market  prices,"  and  the  last  number  announces  that  "the 
paper  must  cease,  because  many  subscribers  failed  to  send 
in  their  subscriptions."     In    1872    he    started   Laterak 
Kfrkotidning,  which  was  merged  into  Auguatana  the 
following  year.    Norelius  and  P.  Sjoblom  commenced   to 
publish   Bvangeliak  Laterak    Tidakrift    in    1877,    but 
changed  the  name  to  Skatffaren  the  following  year.    He 
has  also  contributed  extensively,  especially  on  religious  and 
historical  subjects,   to   many  Swedish-American  journals. 
In  1889  he  was  called  to  the  editorial  chair  of  Auguatana, 
the  official  paper  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  published  at 
Rock  Island,  111.,  but  his  ill  health  compelled  him  to  resign  the 
following  year.    He  has  for  a  number  of  years  been  editor 
of  Korabaneretj    which  is   an   annual  published   by  the 
Augustana  Synod.    Norelius  is  the  author  of  the  following 
books:      Salema    Sknger   (1859),    Handbok  f6r    Son- 
dagaakolan  (1865),  Ev,  Luteraka  Auguatana  Sj^noden 
i  Nord  Amerika    och    deaa   Miaaion    (1870),    and  De 
Svenaka  Luteraka  Foraamlingamaa  och  Sv^enakamea 
Hiatoria  i  Amerika  (1890).    Only  the  first  volume  of  the 
last  mentioned  work,  which  deals  with  the  Swedes  in  Amer- 
ica from  the  earliest  emigration  of  the  nineteenth  century 
to   1860,    has    yet    appeared.      His    history  is    intensely 
Lutheran,  somewhat  partial,  poorly   classified,    and    not 
indexed.    The  author  relates  his  experiences  and  the  experi- 
ences of  others  very  minutely,  without  much  attempt  to 
condense  the  whole  to  a  scientific  historical  treaty.    The 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        463 

facts  on  the  whole  are  fairly  correct,  except  in  regard  to 
the  first  Swedish  settlement  in  Minnesota,  which  was  not 
stated  in  1851,  as  he  asserts,  but  in  1850,  when  Oscar  Roos 
and  two  other  Swedes  made  the  first  settlement  at  Marine, 
Washington  county,  which  is  substantiated  both  by  Roos 
himself  and  in  a  little  excellent  pamphlet,  Svenakarne  i 
St.  Ciolr-dalen,  Minneaota  (1879),  by  Robert  Gron- 
berger.*  Norelius's  description  of  the  natural  appearance  of 
the  country  in  the  early  days  is  excellent,  but  in  many 
respects  his  earlier  and  smaller  history  is  superior  to  his 
later  and  larger  book.  All  his  writings  contain  a  great 
deal  of  wit,  humor,  and  imagination.  Col.  H.  Mattson,  in 
his  admirable  book,  Minnen  (1890),  refers  to  Norelius  in 
the  following  manner:  **In  the  beginning  of  the  month 
of  September,  1855,  Rev.  E.  Norelius  visited  the  settlement 
(Vasa),  and  organized  a  Lutheran  church.  Thirty-five 
years  have  elapsed  since  that  time,  and  many  of  those  who 
belonged  to  the  first  church  at  Vasa  now  rest  in  mother 
earth  close  by  the  present  stately  church  edifice  which  still 
belongs  to  the  same  congregation  and  is  situated  only  a 
short  distance  from  the  place  where  the  latter  was  organ- 


*  In  regard  to  this  sentence,  which  was  also  in  the  first  edition  of  this  volnme,  Nore- 
lins  remarks :  *'It  depends  npon  what  you  mean  by  the  word  'settlement/  If  it  can  be 
called  a  settlement  where  two  or  three  single  men,  bachelors,  make  a  claim  without 
making  snch  claim  a  constant  habitation,  then  of  course  I  do  not  dispute  the  priority 
of  the  Marine  colony.  But  if  by  a  settlement  is  meant  a  permanent  habitation,  espe- 
cially by  one  or  more  families,  then  the  Swedish  colony  at  Marine  is  not  older  than  the 
one  at  Chisago  Lake."  As  I  understand  it,  a  settlement  may  bs  permanent  or  tempo- 
rary, and  may  be  composed  of  families,  bachelors,  or  old  maids.  The  early  arrival  in 
this  state  of  Oscar  Roos  and  his  companions  has  been  mentioned  in  a  few  places  in  this 
▼olume  simply  because  it  was  deemed  to  be  of  considerable  historical  importance,  and 
not  as  a  reflection  ui>on  Norelius  for  having  failed  to  refer  to  those  pioneers.  The  con- 
stant reference  to  this  omission  on  my  part  is  a  mistake  which  can  hardly  be  avoided  in 
a  cyclopedic  work  like  this,  and  I  prefer  the  repetition  of  important  histerical  facts 
to  the  omission  of  those  facts.— Editor. 


462        HISTORY  OF  THE  8CANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  V.  S. 

tained  the  following  notice:  ^'Because  ready  cash  in  these 
times  is  scarce,  the  editor  will,  for  the  subscription  for  the 
paper,  take  farm  and  other  products,  which  will  be  Tahted 
at  market  prices,"  and  the  last  number  announces  that  "the 
paper  must  cease,  because  many  subscribers  failed  to  send 
in  their  subscriptions/'  In  1872  he  started  Latermk 
Kfrkotidning,  which  was  merged  into  Augustana.  the 
following  year.  Norelius  and  P.  Sjoblom  commenced  to 
publish  JBvangeliak  Luterak  Tidakrift  in  1877,  but 
changed  the  name  to  Skttffaren  the  following  year.  He 
has  also  contributed  extensively,  especially  on  religious  and 
historical  subjects,  to  many  Swedish- American  journals. 
In  1889  he  was  called  to  the  editorial  chair  of  Auguatana^ 
the  official  paper  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  published  at 
Rock  Island,  111.,  but  his  ill  health  compelled  him  to  resign  the 
following  year.  He  has  for  a  number  of  years  been  editor 
of  Korabaneret,  which  is  an  annual  published  by  the 
Augustana  Synod.  Norelius  is  the  author  of  the  following 
books:  Salema  Sknger  (1859),  Handbok  f6r  Son- 
dagaakolan  (1865),  Ev.  Lateraka  Augaatana  Sj^noden 
i  Nord  Amerika  och  deaa  Miaaion  (1870),  and  De 
Svenaka  Luteraka  Foraamlingamaa  och  Svenakamea 
Hiatoria  i  Amerika  (1890).  Only  the  first  volume  of  the 
last  mentioned  work,  which  deals  with  the  Swedes  in  Amer- 
ica from  the  earliest  emigration  of  the  nineteenth  century 
to  1860,  has  yet  appeared.  His  history  is  intensely 
Lutheran,  somewhat  partial,  poorly  classified,  and  not 
indexed.  The  author  relates  his  experiences  and  the  experi- 
ences of  others  very  minutely,  without  much  attempt  to 
condense  the  whole  to  a  scientific  historical  treaty.    The 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        463 

facts  on  the  whole  are  fairly  correct,  except  in  regard  to 
the  first  Swedish  settlement  in  Minnesota,  which  was  not 
stated  in  1851,  as  he  asserts,  but  in  1850,  when  Oscar  Roos 
and  two  other  Swedes  made  the  first  settlement  at  Marine, 
Washington  county,  which  is  substantiated  both  by  Roos 
himself  and  in  a  little  excellent  pamphlet,  Svenakarne  i 
St  CioLT'dalen,  Minnesota  (1879),  by  Robert  Gron- 
berger.*  Norelius's  description  of  the  natural  appearance  of 
the  country  in  the  early  days  is  excellent,  but  in  many 
respects  his  earlier  and  smaller  history  is  superior  to  his 
later  and  larger  book.  All  his  writings  contain  a  great 
deal  of  wit,  humor,  and  imagination.  Col.  H.  Mattson,  in 
his  admirable  book,  Minnen  (1890),  refers  to  Norelius  in 
the  following  manner:  **In  the  beginning  of  the  month 
of  September,  1855,  Rev.  E.  Norelius  visited  the  settlement 
(Vasa),  and  organized  a  Lutheran  church.  Thirty-five 
years  have  elapsed  since  that  time,  and  many  of  those  who 
belonged  to  the  first  church  at  Vasa  now  rest  in  mother 
earth  close  by  the  present  stately  church  edifice  which  still 
belongs  to  the  same  congregation  and  is  situated  only  a 
short  distance  from  the  place  where  the  latter  was  organ- 


*  In  regard  to  this  sentence,  which  was  also  in  the  first  edition  of  this  volnme,  Nore- 
lius remarks :  *'It  depends  upon  what  you  mean  by  the  word  'settlement/  If  it  can  be 
called  a  settlement  where  two  or  three  single  men,  bachelors,  maice  a  claim  without 
making  such  claim  a  constant  habitation,  then  of  course  I  do  not  dispute  the  priority 
of  the  Marine  colony.  But  if  by  a  settlement  is  meant  a  permanent  habitation,  espe- 
cially by  one  or  more  families,  then  the  Swedish  colony  at  Marine  is  not  older  than  the 
one  at  Chisago  Lake."  As  I  understand  it,  a  settlement  may  bs  iMrmanent  or  tempo- 
rary, and  may  be  comi>o8ed  of  families,  bachelors,  or  old  maids.  The  early  arrival  in 
this  state  of  Oscar  Roos  and  his  companions  has  been  mentioned  in  a  few  places  in  this 
▼olume  simply  because  it  was  deemed  to  be  of  considerable  historical  imx)ortance,  and 
not  as  a  reflection  upon  Norelius  for  having  failed  to  refer  to  those  pioneers.  The  con- 
stant reference  to  this  omission  on  my  part  is  a  mistake  which  can  hardly  be  avoided  in 
a  cyclopedic  work  like  thi9,  and  I  prefer  the  rex)etition  of  important  histerical  facts 
to  the  omission  of  those  facts.— Editor. 


462        HISTORY  OF  THE  8CANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  V.  8. 

tained  the  following  notice:  ' 'Because  ready  cash  in  these 
times  is  scarce,  the  editor  will,  for  the  subscription  for  the 
paper,  take  farm  and  other  products,  which  will  be  Tahicd 
at  market  prices,"  and  the  last  number  announces  that  "the 
paper  must  cease,  because  many  subscribers  failed  to  send 
in  their  subscriptions."  In  1872  he  started  Luterak 
KfTkotidning,  which  was  merged  into  Aagnstetna  the 
following  year.  Norelius  and  P.  Sjoblom  commenced  to 
publish  Bvangeliak  Luterak  Tidakrift  in  1877,  but 
changed  the  name  to  Skauffkren  the  following  year.  He 
has  also  contributed  extensively,  especially  on  religious  and 
historical  subjects,  to  many  Swedish-American  journals. 
In  1889  he  was  called  to  the  editorial  chair  of  Augruatana^ 
the  official  paper  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  published  at 
Rock  Island,  m.,  but  his  ill  health  compelled  him  to  resign  the 
following  year.  He  has  for  a  number  of  years  been  editor 
of  Korabanerety  which  is  an  annual  published  by  the 
Augustana  Synod.  Norelius  is  the  author  of  the  following 
books:  Salema  Sknger  (1859),  Handbok  f&r  S6ii- 
dagaakolan  (1865),  Ev,  Luteraka  Auguatana  Sj^noden 
i  Nord  Amerika  och  deaa  Miaaion  (1870),  and  De 
Svenaka  Luteraka  Fbraaznlingamaa  och  Svenakamea 
Hiatoria  i  Amerika  (1890).  Only  the  first  volume  of  the 
last  mentioned  work,  which  deals  with  the  Swedes  in  Amer- 
ica from  the  earliest  emigration  of  the  nineteenth  century 
to  1860,  has  yet  appeared.  His  history  is  intensely 
Lutheran,  somewhat  partial,  poorly  classified,  and  not 
indexed.  The  author  relates  his  experiences  and  the  experi- 
ences of  others  very  minutely,  without  much  attempt  to 
condense  the  whole  to  a  scientific  historical  treaty.    The 


aesans: 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        463 

facts  on  the  whole  are  fairly  correct,  except  m  regard  to 
the  first  Swedish  settlement  in  Minnesota,  which  was  not 
stated  in  1851,  as  he  asserts,  but  in  1850,  when  Oscar  Roos 
and  two  other  Swedes  made  the  first  settlement  at  Marine, 
Washington  county,  which  is  substantiated  both  by  Roos 
himself  and  in  a  Uttle  excellent  pamphlet,  Svenakarne  i 
St  CioLr-dalen,  Minneaota  (1879),  by  Robert  Gron- 
berger.*  Norelius's  description  of  the  natural  appearance  of 
the  country  in  the  early  days  is  excellent,  but  in  many 
respects  his  earlier  and  smaller  history  is  superior  to  his 
later  and  larger  book.  All  his  writings  contain  a  great 
deal  of  wit,  humor,  and  imagination.  Col.  H.  Mattson,  in 
his  admirable  book,  Minnen  (1890),  refers  to  Norelius  in 
the  following  manner:  **In  the  beginning  of  the  month 
of  September,  1855,  Rev.  E.  Norelius  visited  the  settlement 
(Vasa),  and  organized  a  Lutheran  church.  Thirty-five 
years  have  elapsed  since  that  time,  and  many  of  those  who 
belonged  to  the  first  church  at  Vasa  now  rest  in  mother 
earth  close  by  the  present  stately  church  edifice  which  still 
belongs  to  the  same  congregation  and  is  situated  only  a 
short  distance  from  the  place  where  the  latter  was  organ- 


*  In  regard  to  this  sentence,  which  was  also  in  the  first  edition  of  this  volnme,  Nore- 
lius remarks :  *'It  depends  npon  what  you  mean  by  the  word  'settlement/  If  it  can  be 
called  a  settlement  where  two  or  three  single  men,  bachelors,  maice  a  claim  without 
making  such  claim  a  constant  habitation,  then  of  course  I  do  not  dispute  the  priority 
of  the  Marine  colony.  But  if  by  a  settlement  is  meant  a  permanent  habitation,  espe- 
cially by  one  or  more  families,  then  the  Swedish  colony  at  Marine  is  not  older  than  the 
one  at  Chisago  Lake."  As  I  understand  it,  a  settlement  may  be  permanent  or  tempo- 
rary, and  may  be  comi>o8ed  of  families,  bachelors,  or  old  maids.  The  early  arrival  in 
this  state  of  Oscar  Roos  and  his  companions  has  been  mentioned  in  a  few  places  in  this 
▼olume  simply  because  it  was  deemed  to  be  of  considerable  historical  imi>ortance,  and 
not  as  a  reflection  upon  Norelius  for  having  failed  to  refer  to  those  pioneers.  The  con- 
stant reference  to  this  omission  on  my  part  is  a  mistake  which  can  hardly  be  avoided  in 
a  cyclopedic  work  like  this,  and  I  prefer  the  repetition  of  important  historical  facts 
to  the  omission  of  those  facts.— Editor. 


462         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

tained  the  following  notice:  ''Because  ready  cash  in  these 
times  is  scarce,  the  editor  will,  for  the  subscription  for  the 
paper,  take  farm  and  other  products,  which  will  be  valued 
at  market  prices,"  and  the  last  number  announces  that  "the 
paper  must  cease,  because  many  subscribers  failed  to  send 
in  their  subscriptions."  In  1872  he  started  Luterak 
KfTkotidning,  which  was  merged  into  Aaguatana  the 
following  year.  Norelius  and  P.  Sjoblom  commenced  to 
publish  JBvangeliak  Luterak  Tidakrift  in  1877,  but 
changed  the  name  to  Skatffaren  the  following  year.  He 
has  also  contributed  extensively,  especially  on  religious  and 
historical  subjects,  to  many  Swedish-American  journals. 
In  1889  he  was  called  to  the  editorial  chair  of  Auguatana^ 
the  official  paper  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  published  at 
Rock  Island,  111.,  but  his  ill  health  compelled  him  to  resign  the 
following  year.  He  has  for  a  number  of  years  been  editor 
of  Korabaneret,  which  is  an  annual  published  by  the 
Augustana  Synod.  Norelius  is  the  author  of  the  following 
books:  Salema  Sknger  (1859),  Handbok  f&r  Son- 
dagaakolan  (1865),  Ev.  Luteraka  Aaguatana  Sj^noden 
1  Nord  Amerika  och  deaa  Miaaion  (1870),  and  De 
Svenaka  Luteraka  Fbraamlingamaa  och  Svenakamea 
Hiatoria  i  Amerika  (1890).  Only  the  first  volume  of  the 
last  mentioned  work,  which  deals  with  the  Swedes  in  Amer- 
ica from  the  earUest  emigration  of  the  nineteenth  century 
to  1860,  has  yet  appeared.  His  history  is  intensely 
Lutheran,  somewhat  partial,  poorly  classified,  and  not 
indexed.  The  author  relates  his  experiences  and  the  experi- 
ences of  others  very  minutely,  without  much  attempt  to 
condense  the  whole  to  a  scientific  historical  treaty.    The 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        463 

fkcts  on  the  whole  are  fairly  correct,  except  in  regard  to 
the  first  Swedish  settlement  in  Minnesota,  which  was  not 
stated  in  1851,  as  he  asserts,  but  in  1850,  when  Oscar  Roos 
and  two  other  Swedes  made  the  first  settlement  at  Marine, 
Washington  county,  which  is  substantiated  both  by  Roos 
himself  and  in  a  little  excellent  pamphlet,  Svenakame  i 
St.  Ciolr-dalen,  Minnesota  (1879),  by  Robert  Gron- 
berger.*  Norelius's  description  of  the  natural  appearance  of 
the  country  in  the  early  days  is  excellent,  but  in  many 
respects  his  earlier  and  smaller  history  is  superior  to  his 
later  and  larger  book.  All  his  writings  contain  a  great 
deal  of  wit,  humor,  and  imagination.  Col.  H.  Mattson,  in 
his  admirable  book,  Minnen  (1890),  refers  to  NoreUus  in 
the  following  manner:  **In  the  beginning  of  the  month 
of  September,  1855,  Rev.  E.  Norelius  visited  the  settlement 
(Vasa),  and  organized  a  Lutheran  church.  Thirty-five 
years  have  elapsed  since  that  time,  and  many  of  those  who 
belonged  to  the  first  church  at  Vasa  now  rest  in  mother 
earth  close  by  the  present  stately  church  edifice  which  still 
belongs  to  the  same  congregation  and  is  situated  only  a 
short  distance  from  the  place  where  the  latter  was  organ- 


*  In  regard  to  this  sentence,  which  was  also  in  the  first  edition  of  this  volnme,  Nore- 
lins  remarks :  *'It  depends  npon  what  you  mean  by  the  word  'settlement/  If  it  can  be 
called  a  settlement  where  two  or  three  single  men,  bachelors,  make  a  claim  without 
making  such  claim  a  constant  habitation,  then  of  course  I  do  not  dispute  the  priority 
of  the  Marine  colony.  But  if  by  a  settlement  is  meant  a  permanent  habitation,  espe- 
cially by  one  or  more  families,  then  the  Swedish  colony  at  Marine  is  not  older  than  the 
one  at  Chisago  Lake."  As  I  understand  it,  a  settlement  may  bs  permanent  or  tempo- 
rary, and  may  be  composed  of  families,  bachelors,  or  old  maids.  The  early  arrival  in 
this  state  of  Oscar  Roos  and  his  companions  has  been  mentioned  in  a  few  places  in  this 
▼olnme  simply  because  it  was  deemed  to  be  of  considerable  historical  importance,  and 
not  as  a  reflection  ui>on  Norelius  for  having  failed  to  refer  to  those  pioneers.  The  con- 
stant reference  to  this  omission  on  my  part  is  a  mistake  which  can  hardly  be  avoided  in 
a  cyclopedic  work  like  this,  and  I  prefer  the  rex)etition  of  important  histerical  facta 
to  the  omission  of  those  facts.— Editor. 


464         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYAINS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

ized.  Rev.  Norelius  himself  lives  only  a  few  hundred  yards 
from  the  church  building.  Thirty-five  years  have  changed 
the  then  cheerful,  hopefiil  young  man  into  a  veteran, 
crowned  with  honor,  and  fiiU  of  wisdom  and  experience. 
His  beneficent  influence  on  the  Swedes  of  Goodhue  county 
and  of  the  whole  Northwest  will  make  his  name  dear  to 
coming  generations  of  our  people."  Norelius  visited  his 
native  land  in  1868  for  the  purpose  of  improving  his  health, 
but  returned  in  a  worse  condition.  In  1855  he  was  married 
to  Inga  C.  Peterson,  of  West  Point,  Ind.,  by  whom  he  has 
had  four  sons  and  one  daughter. 

Oftedal,  Sven,  educator— Minneapolis— bom  22  March, 
1844,  in  Stavanger,  Norway.  He  graduated  from  the  Latin 
school  of  his  native  city  in  1862;  completed  his  theological 
studies  at  the  University  of  Norway  in  1871,  having  also 
devoted  much  of  his  time  to  the  study  of  ancient  and  modem 
languages,  literature,  and  philosophy;  studied  one  year  in 
Paris,  France;  traveled  through  several  of  the  European 
countries;  and  accepted  a  call  as  theological  professor  at 
Augsburg  Seminary,  Minneapolis,  in  1873,  where  he  has 
since  remained.  The  great  success  of  the  seminary  is  largely 
due  to  OftedaPs  energy  and  perseverance.  In  1878  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  education,  a  position  he 
held  for  ten  years,  being  president  of  that  body  for  four 
years;  and  in  1886,  when  the  Minneapolis  Public  Library 
was  established,  he  was  elected  by  the  legislature  as  one  of 
the  chartered  members  of  that  library,  and  has  been  chair- 
man of  the  library  committee  ever  since.  In  these  two  capa- 
cities he  has  been  able  to  do  more  than  any  other  person  to 
have  the  Scandinavians  in  the  city  recognized  by  the  public 


lYKAN.  AUa.  f,    A.    KICK,    WII.I.UAR. 


nR.  O.  V.  SANDBBitn.  ST.  PWh.  J.    9HALEKN, 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDIKAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        465 

at  large.  He  was  the  originator  of  the  present  high  school 
system  in  Minneapolis  and  the  branch  system  of  the  Minne- 
apolis Public  Library.  Oftedal  has  taken  an  active  part  in 
temperance  and  church  work,  being  one  of  the  organizers  of 
the  first  stable  Norwegian  temperance  society  in  Minne- 
apolis, and  was  for  years  one  of  the  leading  men  in  the  Nor- 
"wegian-Danish  Conference.  Oftedal  occupies  a  unique  posi- 
tion in  the  history  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  churches  in 
America.  Most  of  the  leaders  in  those  churches  have  at  one 
time  or  another  been  engaged  in  controversies  bristling  with 
harsh  words.  But  he  alone  has  time  again  been  in  the 
midst  of  the  fiercest  of  these  battles.  Indeed,  he  has  spent 
years  in  a  perfect  calm;  but  again  and  again  the  storm  has 
gathered  around  that  man  as  around  no  other  Norwegian- 
American.  At  some  future  date  he  may  possibly  be  taken 
as  the  ablest  and  grandest  expounder  of  that  remarkable 
hatred  of  conventional  restraint  which  characterized  the 
Norsemen  of  his  time.  Even  at  close  range  it  is  not  very 
difficult  to  see  that  Oftedal  could  have  spent  a  life  of  ease 
and  unruffled  honor  if  he  had  chosen  to  devote  his  magni- 
ficent mental  gifts  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  existing  institu- 
tions of  the  majorities,  instead  of  repeatedly  siding  with 
apparently  hopeless  minorities.  His  is  surely  a  mind  that 
rebels  against  power  as  such;  but  it  aims  rather  at  the 
destruction  of  what  is  conceived  as  banefiil  influences  than 
at  self-aggrandizement;  bitter  as  it  may  be  at  times,  it  is, 
after  all,  more  altrustic  than  egotistic.  Oftedal  cannot  be 
properly  judged  until  some  time  after  his  life-work  is  com- 
pleted.   He  is  married,  and  has  grown  children. 

Olson,  C.  0,  Alexias,  lawyer   and   legislator  —  Minne- 

31 


466  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

apolis— bom  5  April,  1872,  in  Long,  Vestergotland,  Sweden. 
At  the  age  of  two  years  he  emigrated  with  his  mother  to 
America,  coming  directly  to  Minneapolis,  where  later  he 
attended  the  pubUc  schools,  graduating  from  the  North 
Side  High  School  in  1891;  employed  his  ont-of-school  hours 
as  carrier  on  the  daily  papers,  and  as  clerk  in  stores  and 
offices;  graduated  from  the  academic  department  of  the 
University  of  Minnesota  in  1895,  from  the  law  department 
in  1896,  and  in  1897  received  the  degree  of  LL.M.  from  the 
same  institution;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  by  the  Minnesota 
supreme  court  in  June,  1896,  and  has  since  been  engaged  in 
the  general  practice  of  law;  at  the  University  was  actively 
interested  in  student  affairs,  serving  successively  as  class 
president,  editor  of  The  Ariel  (the  students'  paper),  and 
as  cadet  major  of  the  University  Battalion;  is  a  member  of 
the  general  college  fraternity  Zeta  Psi,  and  of  Delta  Chi 
(Law);  in  1892  traveled  in  Europe,  visiting  Germany,  Den- 
mark, Sweden,  Norway,  and  England;  during  the  summer  of 
1893  was  employed  at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair;  is  presi- 
dent of  the  Minneapolis  High  School  Alumni  Association, 
and  secretary  of  the  John  Ericsson  Memorial  Association; 
in  religion  a  Lutheran;  in  politics  a  Republican;  at  the  gen- 
eral election  in  1898  was  elected  to  the  office  of  representa- 
tive in  the  Minnesota  state  legislature.  j     .  >  \  \ 

Olson,  Seaver  Elbert,  merchant— MinMkpolis— bom 
1846,  in  Ringsaker,  near  Hamar,  Norway.  <^His  boyhood 
was  spent  partly  in  assisting  his  father  in  his  profession  as 
carpenter,  partly  at  school.  From  earl3i^  childhood  he 
showed  himself  to  possess  singular  abilities.  Already  at  the 
age  of  ten  he  became  a  teacher  and  conducted  his  own  little 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        '467 

school.  Olson  came  with  his  parents  to  this  country  in 
1858,  and  they  settled  on  a  farm  near  La  Crosse,  Wis.  He 
attended  Beloit  College,  Wis.,  for  one  year;  commenced 
business  for  himself  in  Rushford,  Minn.,  in  1867,  but  the 
entire  stock  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  less  than  a  month 
after  he  started.  He  rebuilt  the  store  and  for  about  three 
years  had  a  good  trade;  then  entered  into  partnership  with 
his  former  employer  in  La  Crosse,  Wis.;  but  three  years 
later  the  firm  was  dissolved,  and  Olson  continued  in  the 
business  until  1878,  when  he  came  to  Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Here  he  united  himself  with  N.  B.  Harwood.  They  failed 
in  1880,  and  Olson  was  again  made  penniless,  with  nothing 
but  an  unimpeachable  credit  and  an  excellent  record  as  a 
business  man.  He  next  went  into  partnership  with  Ingram. 
This  firm  was  afterwards  changed  to  S.  E.  Olson  &  Com- 
pany, now  being  one  of  the  largest  dry  goods  establish- 
ments in  the  West,  and  perhaps  the  greatest  Scandinavian 
store  in  the  United  States,  doing  an  annual  business  of 
about  $2,000,000.  Olson  is  a  stockholder  of  several  banks, 
is  also  connected  with  many  other  large  enterprises,  and 
has  a  family. 

Ustrom,  0,  N.,  banker  and  grain  dealer— Minneapolis — 
bom  29  Jtdy,  1850,  in  Aby,  near  Kristianstad,  Sweden; 
died  1893.  He  emigrated  to  America  in  1867,  staid  the  first 
year  at  Afton,  Minn.,  then  went  to  St.  Peter.  Being  a 
builder  and  contractor,  he  erected  here,  among  other  build- 
ings, Gustavus  Adolphus  College.  Ostrom  moved  to  Minne- 
apolis in  1877,  and  two  years  later  he  engaged  in  the  gener- 
al merchandise  and  wheat  business  at  Evansville;  this  large 
wheat  trade  compelled  him  subsequently  to  build  twenty- 


468         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

five  elevators  along  the  Great  Northern  R.  R.  In  1882 
Ostrom  became  one  of  the  stockholders  and  directors  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of  Alexandria;  the  following  year  he 
established  the  Bank  of  Evansville,  of  which  he  assumed  the 
management  as  cashier^  Ostrom  returned  to  Minneapolis 
in  1887,  and,  in  company  with  other  prominent  Swedes,  or- 
ganized the  Swedish  American  Bank,  with  a  capital  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  In  1889  he  organized  the  Inter- 
State  Grain  company  —  a  half  million  dollars'  concern. 
Ostrom  was  president  and  manager  of  the  Inter-State  Grain 
company,  and  president  of  the  Swedish  American  Bank.  At 
the  age  of  twenty  he  was  married  to  Helena  Elg;  they  have 
grown  children. 

Ostlundt  0.  W.,  educator— Minneapolis— bom 27  Sept., 
1857,  in  Attica,  Ind.  His  parents  were  among  the  earliest 
Swedish  immigrants  in  this  country;  they  came  from  Oster- 
gStland.  Young  Ostlund  graduated  from  Augustana  Col- 
lege in  1879,  and  eight  years  later  his  alma  mater  conferred 
the  degree  of  master  of  arts  upon  him.  He  studied  natural 
sciences  for  two  years  at  the  University  of  Minnesota;  has 
been  entomologist  of  the  natural  history  survey  of  Minne- 
sota since  1884,  having  published  numerous  reports  on  his 
specialty,  and  contributes  occasionally  to  some  of  the  lead- 
ing magazines  on  scientific  subjects.  Since  1890  he  has 
been  assistant  professor  of  zoology  at  the  State  University; 
was  entomologist  of  the  State  Horticultural  Society  from 
1887-90;  is  a  member  of  the  Davenport  Academy  of  Sciences, 
and  of  the  Minneapolis  Academy  of  Science.  Ostlund  is  an 
active  member  of  the  English  Lutheran  church,  having  been 
one  of  its  trustees  for  several  years.    He  is  unmarried. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        469 

Pederson,  Knud,  legislator— Underwood  —  born  1844, 
in  Norway.  He  came  to  this  state  in  1868,  and  has 
been  engaged  in  farming  in  Otter  Tail  county.  He  served 
as  town  supervisor,  treasurer,  and  assessor  for  six 
years,  and  as  county  commissioner  for  thirteen  years.  Since 
1896  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives 
of  the  state  legislature.  Pederson  owes  the  position  last 
mentioned  to  the  Populist  party.    He  is  a  widower. 

Petersen,  Ole  P.,  clergyman  and  pioneer — Minneapolis 
— ^bom  28  April,  1822,  in  Fredrikstad,  Norway.  He  became 
an  orphan  at  the  age  of  six,  was  brought  up  by  a  well-to-do 
family,  was  a  sailor  for  a  few  years,  and  emigrated  to  this 
country  in  1843.  He  was  converted  to  Methodism  by  the 
well-known  Swedish  pioneer  and  missionary,  O.  G.  Hed- 
strom,  in  1846;  returned  to  his  native  land  three  years  later, 
and  was  the  first  who  introduced  the  faith  of  Methodism 
in  Norway;  came  back  to  America  in  1850,  and  the  next 
year  commenced  to  preach  among  his  countrymen  in  Winne- 
sheik  county,  Iowa.  With  the  exception  of  C.  B.  Willerup, 
a  Dane,  Petersen  was  the  first  Methodist  minister  among 
the  Norwegian  pioneers  in  this  country.  He  often  had  to 
travel  on  foot  during  the  hot  summers  and  cold  winters 
through  the  Western  states,  suflFering  all  the  hardships 
incidental  to  frontier  life.  In  1850  he  was  married  in  Nor- 
way to  Anne  Amundsen.  They  had  two  children,  and  for 
some  years  past  he  has  been  living  with  one  of  them  in 
the  East. 

Petersen,  W.  M.  H.,  clergyman  and  educator— St.  Paul 
— bom  26  Nov.,  1854,  in  Ringerike,  Norway;  died  1899.  He 
came  to  this  country  in  1862,  settling  with  his  widowed 


470         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

mother  in  Rochester,  Minn.;  stayed  for  sometime  at  Pointed 
Creek,  Iowa;  completed  courses  at  Luther  College  and  at 
Concordia  Seminary,  graduating  from  these  institutions  in 
1875  and  1878,  respectively.  During  the  remainder  of  his 
life  he  served  a  Norwegian  Synod  congregation  in  St.  Paul. 
Having  a  strong  memory  and  being  an  untiring  student,  he 
gradually  accumulated  a  great  amount  of  well-digested  and 
carefially  systematized  knowledge.  He  was  a  great  specia- 
list. In  order  to  make  proper  use  of  this  valuable  treasure 
he  was  appointed,  in  1894,  to  a  chair  of  theology  in  Luther 
Seminary.  But  his  health  began  to  fail,  and  in  1898  he 
made  a  trip  to  Europe  in  hopes  of  gaining  strength.  Peter- 
sen prepared  his  sermons  with  great  care,  and  some  of  them 
have  been  preserved  in  the  collection  printed  by  the  synod. 
He  wrote  considerably  for  the  official  paper  of  the  synod, 
and  his  most  noted  efiFort  as  an  author  treats  of  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  Bible.  He  was  married  to  Anna  K.  Soraas,  of 
Dodge  county,  Minn.,  in  1880;  they  had  six  children. 

Peterson,  Andrew  P ,  state  legislator— Cokato— bom  7 
Sept.,  1851,  in  Sweden.  At  the  age  of  nine  he  came  with  his 
parents  to  this  country;  they  settled  in  Carver  county,  Minn., 
where  young  Peterson  received  a  good  common  school 
education.  He  was  in  the  mercantile  business  in  Cokato  for 
a  few  years,  and  has  since  1880  been  the  proprietor  of  a 
drug  store.  Peterson  has  held  various  local  offices,  been 
county  commissioner  of  Wright  county,  and  represented  his 
district  in  the  state  legislature  in  1877.  In  1878  he  was 
married  to  Anna  S.  Anderson,  of  Minneapolis.  They  have 
children. 

Petersoiit  Frank,  clergyman— Minneapolis  — bom  19 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MANNBSOTA.       471 

Nov.,  1847,  in  Stockseryd,  Ostergotland,  Sweden.  At  the 
age  of  four  he  came  with  his  parents  to  this  country;  they 
settled  in  Rock  Island,  111.,  and  moved  to  Lansing,  Iowa,  in 
1855,  where  young  Peterson  received  a  good  common  school 
education.  In  1863,  while  not  yet  sixteen  years  old,  he  en- 
listed in  the  Ninth  Iowa  Cavalry,  which  was  almost  con- 
stantly engaged  in  fighting  the  Texas  Rangers  and  Quan- 
treirs  Band  in  Missouri,  Texas,  and  Arkansas.  So  depleted 
were  the  ranks  of  his  regiment,  that  but  few  remained  after 
the  war  to  return  home.  After  the  war  he  studied  one  year 
at  a  university  in  Chicago;  took  a  trip  to  Sweden,  in  order 
to  improve  his  health,  where  he  spent  a  year;  taught  in  the 
public  schools  in  Iowa  and  Minnesota  for  several  years;  and 
intended  to  study  law,  when  he  finally  concluded  to  enter 
the  ministry,  and  accepted  a  call  of  the  Swedish  Baptist 
church  in  Worthington,  Minn.,  in  1875.  After  having  re- 
mained there  for  a  while,  he  took  charge  of  a  congregation 
in  Chicago;  came  to  Minneapolis  in  1881,  and  for  eleven 
years  served  the  First  Swedish  Baptist  church,  which  had 
a  great  prosperity  during  his  ministry.  In  1890  he  accepted 
the  appointment  as  district  secretary  of  the  American  Bap- 
tist Missionary  Union,  which  is  one  of  the  strongest  mis- 
sionary societies  among  Protestants,  either  in  America  or 
on  the  continent,  employing  2,500  workers,  scattered 
throughout  twenty  nations  of  the  world.  This  society 
expends  over  a  million  dollars  annually.  Peterson  was  a 
successful  teacher,  is  an  able  speaker  both  in  Swedish  and 
English,  and  has  collected  a  great  deal  of  material  for  a  his- 
tory of  the  Swedish  Baptist  church.  In  1878  he  was 
married  to  Emma  C.  Johnson,  of  Chicago. 


472         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Peterson,  James  A.,  lawyer  —  Minneapolis  —  bom  18 
Jan.,  1859,  in  Dodge  county.  Wis.  His  parents  were  Nor- 
wegians. He  graduated  from  the  literary  department  of  the 
University  of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  Wis.,  in  1884,  and  three 
years  later  from  the  law  school  of  the  same  institution, 
having  made  his  own  way  through  college  by  teaching 
school.  Since  he  completed  his  education  he  has  been  prac- 
ticing his  profession  in  Minneapolis,  being  recognized  as  one 
of  the  leading  Scandinavian  attorneys  in  the  state  of  Min- 
nesota. In  1893  Peterson  was  appointed  assistant  county 
attorney,  and  in  1897  and  1898  he  served  as  county 
attorney.  While  occupying  this  position  he  became  a  terror 
to  evil-doers;  and  the  ability  with  which  he  prosecuted  some 
public  officers  belonging  to  his  own  political  party  is  claimed 
to  have  had  something  to  do  with  his  failure  to  receive  the 
renomination  for  a  second  term  which,  had  become  tradi- 
tional in  that  party  with  regard  to  certain  county  officers. 
Peterson  is  a  Republican.  In  1889  Marie  Emily  Dahle,  of 
Dane  county,  Wis.,  who  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Wisconsin,  and  was  a  classmate  of  Peterson,  became  his 
wife.    They  have  children. 

Peterson,  John,  -collector  of  customs^ — St.  Peter — ^bom 
6  July,  1841,  in  Kil,  Vermland,  Sweden.  His  parents  were 
farmers,  who  gave  their  son  a  good  common  school  educa- 
tion, and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  he  commenced  to  work  in 
a  large  factory.  Later  on  he  held  the  position  of  shipping 
clerk;  was  engaged  in  building  at  Stockholm  and  Sundsvall 
for  some  time  •  and  in  constructing  railroad  stations  and 
bridges  during  a  couple  of  years;  and  in  1867-9  was  located 
near  Karlstad   as   superintendent  of  the   construction  of 


li[;V.    FltANK    riOTKItSON.    MlXNKArOLlS. 


ui:v,  Tv.  A.  sKncsnKiidH.  miweiapolis. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        473 

government  railroad  bridges.  In  1869  he  emigrated  to 
America,  coming  directly  to  St.  Peter,  and  after  having 
worked  as  a  common  laborer  for  a  short  time;  he  began,  in 
company  with  others,  operations  as  a  railroad  contractor, 
and  for  eighteeen  years  the  firm  of  which  he  was  a  member 
carried  on  a  large  business  throughout  the  Northwest. 
Since  he  has  followed  the  same  occupation  on  his  own 
responsibility,  and  has  also  been  interested  in  bank- 
ing and  farming.  Peterson  has  taken  an  active  part  in 
public  affairs.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  city  council  of 
St.  Peter,  serving  as  its  president  for  a  couple  of  years;  was 
a  member  of  the  congressional  committee  of  his  district  for 
several  years;  has  been  a  delegate  to  numerous  RepubHcan 
conventions;  was  elected  to  the  state  senate  in  1894;  and 
in  1897  President  McKinley  appointed  him  collector  of 
customs.  He  has  also  been  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  State  Hospital  for  the  Insane,  having  been 
appointed  by  Gov.  Merriam  and  Gov.  Nelson,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  board  of  directors  and  treasurer  of  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  College  for  several  years.  Peterson  is 
a  member  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  church;  and  was  mar- 
ried in  1873  to  Fredrika  Elisabeth  Lundberg.  They  have 
several  children. 

Petersony  J.  W.,  state  senator— Vasa— bom  30  Mar., 
1838,  in  SmAland,  Sweden.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  came 
with  his  parents  to  this  country;  they  settled  in  Chisago 
county,  Minn.,  where  young  Peterson  worked  on  the  family 
homestead  until  1862,  when  he  enlisted  in  company  I  of 
Sixth  Minnesota  Volunteers.  He  served  against  the 
Indians  in  Minnesota  and  Dakota;  was  promoted  to  the 


474         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

rank  of  sergeant;  honorably  discharged  in  1865,  and  has 
ever  since  farmed  at  Vasa.  Peterson  was  in  the  state 
senate  during  the  sessions  of  1873-74,  in  the  lower  branch 
of  the  legislature  in  1885,  and  again  in  the  senate  in  1891- 
93;  besides,  he  has  held  several  local  offices.  The  general 
opinion  is  that  he  is  one  of  the  most  influential  Scandina- 
vian legislators  of  Minnesota.  Peterson  is  a  Republican 
axld  a  Lutheran,  and  was  married  in  1868  to  Carrie  John- 
son, who  is  twelve  years  his  junior. 

Petlersen,  Wilhelm  Hauritz,  educator  and  poet— Min- 
neapolis— ^bom  17  Dec,  1860,  in  Mandal,  Kristiansand 
stift,  Norway.  His  father  was  a  sea  captain  of  German 
extraction,  his  mother  belonged  to  the  old  Norwegian 
farmer  stock.  After  having  graduated  from  Mandal's 
iniddelskole,  he,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  went  to  sea;  passed 
a  first  mate's  examination;  sailed  as  second  mate,  both  on 
Norwegian  and  American  vessels;  and  came  to  MinneapoKs 
in  1882.  Two  years  after  his  arrival  he  graduated  from 
Augsburg  Seminary,  Minneapolis;  afterwards  studied  Greek 
and  English  literature  for  a  couple  of  terms  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Minnesota;  and  was  appointed  professor  of 
history  and  mathematics  of  his  alma  mater  in  1889. 
Pettersen  is  a  poet  of  considerable  repute,  having  inherited 
a  poetical  taste  and  ability  from  his  mother,  who  wrote 
verses  occasionally;  a  volume  of  his  collected  Nor- 
wegian poems  was  published  in  1891;  and  a  drama,  En  Njy 
Slagt,  appeared  in  1895.  It  is  generally  admitted  that 
Pettersen  has  written  some  excellent  poetical  productions. 
He  has  also  considerable  experience  as  a  journalist,  but  his 
prose  writings  lack  clearness  and  generalization.    He  is  a 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        475 

member  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Free  Church,  is  a 
Democrat,  has  delivered  campaign  speeches  throughout  the 
state,  and  has  a  family. 

Petri,  Carl  J.,  clergyman — Minneapolis— bom  16  June, 
1855,  in  Rockford,  111.  His  parents  came  from  Sm&land, 
Sweden,  to  this  country  in  1852.  They  settled  in  Chicago, 
111.,  but  moved  to  Rockford  two  years  later,  where  they 
have  resided  ever  since.  Petri  received  his  early  education 
in  the  parochial  and  public  schools  in  Rockford.  In  1871 
he  entered  Augustana  College,  Paxton,  111.,  from  which  insti- 
tution he  was  graduated  in  1877,  being  therefore  a  member 
of  the  first  class  sent  out  from  this  institution,  and  has 
since  received  the  degree  of  A.  M.  of  his  alma  mater.  He 
took  special  interest  in  languages  and  history,  in  which 
subjects  he  had  the  best  standing  in  the  college.  Petri  pur- 
sued the  study  of  the  English  language  with  a  view  to 
become  an  educator  in  this  branch,  and  when  he  came  to 
MinneapoKs  in  1878,  the  board  of  directors  of  Augustana 
College  advised  him  to  continue  his  study  of  English  with  a 
view  to  teach  it  in  that  institution.  He  studied  English 
and  Anglo-Saxon  at  the  University  of  Minnesota  for  one 
year;  then  went  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  took  charge  of  a 
Swedish  Lutheran  congregation;  and  attended  for  one  year 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  taking  a  special  course  in 
history  and  English,  also  attending  Dr.  Krauth's  lectures 
on  philosophy.  In  1880  he  consented  to  be  ordained.  He 
remained  in  Philadelphia  until  1884,  when  he  became  pro- 
fessor of  history  at  Gustavus  Adolphus  College,  in  which 
capacity  he  made  an  excellent  record.  In  1888  Petri 
accepted  a  call  as  pastor  of  the  largest  Swedish  Lutheran 


478         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Indian  outbreak,  in  1862,  Andrew  and  his  brother  Even 
were  among  the  bravest  defenders  of  life  and  property;  but 
nevertheless  they  were  driven  away  from  their  homes  by 
the  fierce  Redskins,  and  did  not  return  until  1865.  He  has 
been  county  treasurer  of  Kandiyohi  county  for  five  years; 
was  receiver  of  the  U.  S.  land  oflSce  at  Redwood  Falls  from 
1884-87;  represented  his  district  in  the  state  legislature  in 
1871;  served  in  the  state  senate  during  the  sessions  of  1873- 
73,  and  has  held  various  local  offices.  Andrew  Railson, 
Jonas  Lindall  of  Chisago  county,  and  Ole  Peterson  of  Pope 
county  were  the  first  Scandinavians  who  were  elected  state 
senators  in  Minnesota;  but  many  other  Northmen,  how- 
ever, had  served  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  legislature  ever 
since  the  state  constitution  was  adopted,  in  1857.  Railson 
was  again  elected  to  the  state  legislature  in  1892.  In  1860 
he  was  married  to  Bertha  Johnson.    They  have  children. 

Bast*  Gustaff  clergyman  —  Red  Wing  —  bom  13  July, 
1857,  in  Fristad,  Vestergotland,  Sweden.  He  emigrated  to 
the  U.  S.  in  1873,  after  having  received  a  common  school 
education  in  Sweden;  attended  the  literary  department  of 
Augustana  College  for  four  years;  and  graduated  from  the 
theological  department  of  this  institution  in  1884.  For 
nearly  three  years  he  had  charge  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran 
church  at  Stockholm,  Wis.,  and  has  since  1887  been  pastor 
in  Red  Wing.  He  has  been  secretary,  vice-president,  and 
treasurer  of  the  Minnesota  Conference  of  the  Augustana 
Synod;  served  six  years  on  the  board  of  directors  of  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  College,  and  has  held  the  offices  of  secretary 
and  president  of  said  board;  has  during  the  biggest  part  of 
his  ministry  served  in  the  executive  committee  of  the  con- 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        479 

ference,  and  always  taken  an  active  part  in  the  educational 
and  missionary  work  of  his  church.  In  1884  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Hanna  Anderson,  of  Princeton,  111.  They  have  several 
children. 

Reimestad,  Theodor  S.»  educator— Minneapolis— bom 
28  Apr.,  1858,  at  Jaderen,  Norway.  He  received  a  high 
school  education  in  his  native  land;  emigrated  with  his  par- 
ents to  this  coimtry  in  1872,  coming  directly  to  Iowa, 
where  he  attended  the  graded  school  at  Ackley;  continued 
his  studies  at  Augsburg  Seminary,  Minneapolis,  graduating, 
in  1880,  from  the  college  department,  and  in  1883  from  the 
theological  department;  was  pastor  of  churches  in  Dane  and 
Green  counties.  Wis.,  for  two  years;  and  in  1885  settled 
down  to  his  life-work,  accepting  a  position  as  professor  at 
his  alma  mater,  his  chief  subjects  being  the  history  of  Nor- 
wegian and  Danish  literature  and  Latin.  Reimestad  has 
for  years  taken  great  interest  in  temperance  work,  having 
lectured  very  extensively  on  total  abstinence  and  prohibition 
in  the  Northwest  as  well  as  written  considerably  on  the 
same  subjects.  He  is  also  one  of  the  most  widely  known 
Scandinavian  tenor  singers  in  America,  and  is  instructor  in 
vocal  music  at  the  seminary.  He  was  the  originator  and 
organizer  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Singers'  Union,  being 
its  first  president  and  later  on  its  director-in-chief.  He  has 
published  Kampmelodier,  acoWtction  of  temperance  songs 
and,  in  company  with  Rev.  M.  F.  Gjertsen,  Sangbo^en,  a 
huge  collection  of  religious  songs,  including  some  of  Reime- 
stad's  best  eflForts  as  composer  and  writer  of  songs.  In 
1888  he  organized  the  Augsburg  Quartette,  which  devoted 
four  seasons  to  the  cause  of  total  abstinence  and  prohibi- 


480         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

tion,  traveling  through  several  northwestern  states;  for 
years  was  president,  and  in  1895  secretary,  of  the  Minnesota 
Total  Abstinence  Association;  and  has  been  president  of  the 
Total  Abstinence  Congress  since  it  was  organized.  In  1888 
the  Prohibitionists  nominated  him  for  lieutenant-governor. 
Reimestad  has  made  two  noted  trips  to  Norway.  In  1895 
he  went  there  upon  invitation  and  gave  a  series  of  success- 
ful temperance  concerts  in  the  cities;  and  in  1898  he,  in  com- 
pany with  Rev.  Gjertsen,  spent  most  of  the  summer  in  sing- 
ing and  preaching  to  large  audiences  in  all  the  large  cities 
and  most  of  the  principal  towns. 

Rleey  Albert  E.,  lieutenant-governor  —  Willmar  —  bom 
1847,  in  Yinje,  Kristiansand  stift,  Norway.  He  received  a 
common  school  education  in  his  native  country,  emigrated 
to  the  U.  S.  in  1860,  and  settled  in  Wisconsin.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  War  he  enlisted  in  the  famous  Fifteenth 
Wisconsin  Regiment  of  Volunteers,  better  known  as  the 
Scandinavian  Regiment;  was  wounded  in  his  left  hand  at 
the  battle  of  New  Hope  Church;  settled  in  Minneapolis  after 
the  war;  but  moved  to  Willmar  in  1870,  to  engage  in  gen- 
eral merchandise;  and  has  later  also  become  interested  in 
banking.  Rice  represented  a  Minneapolis  district  in  the 
state  legislature  in  1870,  served  in  the  state  senate  during 
the  sessions  of  1874-75  and  1878-85,  and  was  lieutenant- 
governor  from  1887-91.  Rice  was  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
vention in  Philadelphia,  which  nominated  Grant  for  presi- 
dent in  1872,  and  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  board  of 
regents  of  the  University  of  Minnesota  in  1897.  His  long 
and  honorable  legislative  career  has  largely  been  devoted  to 
measures  opposing  railroad  and  elevator  monopolies,  for 


K,   WlI.l.MAIi. 


PROF.  J.  B.  FRICH.   HAMI.IMi:.  RKV.  T.  JOHNSF.S.  NORSBI^KD. 


PKOF.    H.   G.    STUR,    HAMI.lXi:.  PROF.  J.  YLVISAKER,   R0BBIK8DALB. 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNBSOTA.        481 

the  protection  of  the  farmers  against  the  ravages  of  the 
grasshoppers,  and  for  the  taxation  of  telegraph  and  tele- 
phone companies.  As  a  parliamentarian,  Rice  has  few,  if 
any,  equals  in  the  state.  He  is  a  Republican.  Rice  is  mar- 
ried to  a  Swedish  lady,  who  possesses  considerable  literary 
ability.  Their  son,  Cushman  A.  Rice,  was  bom  in  Willmar 
March  15, 1878.  He  graduated  from  Willmar  high  school  at 
the  age  of  sixteen;  entered  the  State  University  one  year 
later;  enlisted  as  first  lieutenant  in  company  D  of  Fifteenth 
Minnesota  Volunteers  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Spanish  War 
in  1898;  was  mustered  out  with  his  regiment  in  the  spring 
of  1899;  and  shortly  after  President  McKinley  appointed 
him  first  lieutenant,  assigning  him  to  the  Thirty-fourth 
U.  S.  Infantry.  Since  he  has  been  promoted  captain  of  com- 
pany M,  of  the  above  mentioned  regiment,  and  served  in  the 
Philippine  Islands  since  the  fall  of  1899.  Rice  is  probably 
the  only  Scandinavian-American  who  ever  held  the  high 
rank  of  captaincy  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-one. 

Ringnell,  Carl  Johm,  physician  and  surgeon—  Minne- 
apolis— bom  3  June,  1864,  in  Vissefjerda,  Sm&land,  Sweden. 
After  having  attended  school  for  five  years,  he,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  emigrated  to  this  country;  attended  Gustavus 
Adolphus  College,  St.  Peter,  Minn.,  for  three  years,  and 
graduated  from  the  medical  department  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota  in  1891;  has  also  been  studying  at  the  principal 
hospitals  in  Europe.  Ringnell  has  gained  the  confidence  of 
the  people  and  has  a  very  large  practice;  has  been  appointed 
attending  physician  at  the  Free  Dispensary,  which  is  a  part 
of  the  University  of  Minnesota,  and  the  Nurses'  Training 
School;  is  a  member  of  the  Minnesota  Medical  Society,  and 

S2 


482         HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

of  the  American  Medical  Association.  In  1896  he  took  a 
post  graduate  course  at  Tulane  University,  New  Orleans, 
La.,  and  has  traveled  extensively  in  Mexico  and  Central 
America.  In  1891  he  was  married  to  Carrie  Morris  Wilkins, 
of  New  York  City,  she  being  a  grand  niece  of  Gov.  Morris, 
who  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence.   They  have  one  daughter. 

Boos,  Oscar  9  pioneer  and  county  official—Taylor's  Falls 
—bom  1827,  in  Skara,  Sweden;  died  1896.    He  crossed  the 
Atlantic  ocean  in  1850,  being  therefore  one  of  the  earliest 
Swedish  emigrants  in  this  country.    He  lived  the  first  sum- 
mer at  Rock  Island,  111.    In  October,  1850,  he,  together 
with  two  other  Swedes,  and  upon  the  advice  of  the  well- 
known  Rev.  Unonius,  moved  to  Minnesota  and   took  a 
claim  where  Marine,  Washington  county,  is  now  located. 
This  was  the  first  Scandinavian  settlement  in  the  state. 
After  having  resided  at  Marine  and  worked  in  the  pineries 
for  ten  years,  Roos  in  1860  moved  to  Taylor's  Falls.    He 
was  register  of  deeds  of  Chisago  county  fi-om  1860-70, 
receiver  of  the  U.  S.  land  office  from  1870-75,  and  county 
treasurer  from  1875-83.    He  has  always  taken  an  active 
part  in  public  aflfairs  and  been  deeply  interested  in  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  welfare  of  Chisago  county,  in  which 
he  was  the  first  Scandinavian  who  held  an  office,  as  well  as 
the  first  Scandinavian  settler.    Roos  was  married  to  Hanna 
Swanstrom  in  1870. 

Rosing,  August  O. ,  secretary  of  the  Minnesota  Scandina- 
vian Relief  Association  of  Red  Wing— Red  Wing— bom  1  Sept., 
1822,  in  Ljungby,  Vestergotland,  Sweden.  He  received  a 
good  education  in  his  native  land,  was  bookkeeper  in  a  gov- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCAMDINAYIANS  IK  MINNESOTA.        483 

emment  office  in  Stockholm  from  1844-48,  then  followed  the 
same  profession  in  Sk&ne,  until  he  emigrated  to  America  in 
1868.  He  came  directly  to  Goodhue  county,  Minn.,  where  he 
rented  a  farm,  and  farmed  until  he  accepted  his  present  posi- 
tion in  1888.  He  has  been  county  commissioner  for  several 
years,  and  has  held  various  local  offices.  Rosing  was  mar- 
ried in  1851.    He  has  children. 

Rosing,  L.  Am  chairman  of  the  state  central  committee 
of  the  Democratic  party — Cannon  Falls— bom  29  Aug., 
1861,  in  Malmo,  Sweden.  He  is  the  son  of  A.  G.  Rosing,  in 
Red  Wing;  came  with  his  mother  to  this  country  in  1869; 
received  a  common  school  education  in  Goodhue  county; 
worked  on  his  father's  farm  until  the  age  of  twenty;  then 
clerked  in  stores  in  Cannon  Falls;  and  since  1888  has  been 
conducting  a  shoe  store  of  his  own  in  that  city.  In  the 
campaign  of  1890  he  began  to  take  an  active  part  in  politics, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  next  ten  years  he  distinguished  him- 
self as  a  very  able  organizer,  holding  diflFerent  positions  in 
the  Democratic  organization;  among  which  may  be  men- 
tioned that  of  member  of  the  congressional  committee  in 
1892,  candidate  for  state  senator  in  1894,  and  chairman  of 
the  state  central  committee  since  1896.  He  conducted  the 
campaigns  of  1896  and  1898  with  great  ability,  and  it  was 
largely  through  his  masterly  management  that  the  Fusion 
forces  succeeded  in  electing  John  Lind  as  governor  in  1898, 
the  first  anti-Republican  governor  in  the  state  of  Minnesota 
for  forty  years.  Gov.  Lind  appointed  him  his  private  secre- 
tary in  1899.  Rosing  was  married  to  May  B.  Season,  an 
American  lady,  in  1886.    They  have  children. 

Sandberg,  G.  P.,  dentist—St.  Paul— bom  17  Feb.,  1861, 


484         HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

at  Saltkalla,  Vestergotland,  Sweden.  At  the  age  of  twelve 
he  came  to  this  country,  directly  to  St.  Patd,  Minn.,  to  join 
his  father,  who  had  emigrated  before.  He  received  a  common 
school  education  in  his  native  country,  studied  dentistry  in 
a  private  office  in  St,  Paul,  and  has  since  1885  successfully 
practiced  his  profession  in  that  city.  For  years  he  has  been 
the  only  Swedish  dentist  in  St.  Paul.  In  1899  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  Dr.  L.  R.  Hoelzle.  They  employ  several 
assistant  dentists.  Sandberg  belongs  to  ten  different  secret 
societies,  and  has  taken  the  highest  degree  in  Freemasonry. 
He  was  married  in  1888  to  Margarete  E.  Moran,  an  Ameri- 
can lady.    They  have  children. 

Sandbei^,  J,  H.,  botanist  and  physician — Minneapolis 
—bom  24  July,  1846,  in  Broby,  Sk&ne,  Sweden.  He  received 
a  college  education  in  Lund,  and  studied  pharmacy  in  his 
native  land;  came  to  this  country  in  1868;  lived  in  Michigan 
for  a  while;  located  in  Minneapolis  in  1887.  Sandberg 
studied  medicine  in  this  country,  but  he  is  better  known  as 
a  botanist  than  as  a  physician,  having  for  a  few  years  been 
employed  by  the  United  States  as  botanical  collector  on 
the  Pacific  Coast.  He  already  ranks  among  the  leading 
botanists  of  the  country.  Sandberg  has  discovered  several 
new  plants,  to  which  he,  according  to  a  universal  custom 
among  scientists,  has  given  his  name.  He  is  married,  and 
has  a  married  daughter. 

Saug^stadf  Christian,  clergyman — Crookston — born  13 
June,  1838,  in  Ringsaker,  Kristiania  stift,  Norway;  died 
1897.  In  1850  his  father  emigrated  to  the  United  States 
and  settled  in  Vernon  county.  Wis.;  the  following  year  the 
mother  and  her  two  younger  children  crossed  the  Atlantic 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        485 

to  join  her  husband,  leaving  young  Saugstad,  his  two 
brothers,  and  one  sister  in  their  native  land  to  take  care  of 
themselves,  but  if  possible  to  follow  their  parents.  After 
having  lived  in  Kristiania  for  three  years,  he  secured  an 
opportunity  to  work  his  way  across  the  ocean;  landed  at 
the  age  of  sixteen  in  Quebec,  Canada,  and  followed  the  rest 
of  the  passengers  to  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  where  he,  on  account 
of  being  short  of  ftinds,  was  left  alone  on  the  pier  among 
strangers,  with  only  ten  cents  in  his  pocket.  But  after 
having  worked  for  three  months  in  Milwaukee  he  was  able 
to  start  on  his  journey  towards  his  parents,  and  his  mother 
died  three  days  after  his  arrival.  By  working  on  farms  in 
the  summers  and  in  the  pineries  during  the  winters,  he  soon 
bought  a  farm  of  his  own;  but  finally  entered  Augsburg 
Seminary,  Marshall,  Wis.,  and  was  ordained  in  1872. 
Saugstad  commenced  his  first  pastoral  work  in  Douglas 
and  adjoining  counties,  Minnesota,  having  charge  of  a 
large  field,  and  resided  at  Holmes  City  for  eight  years;  then 
moved  to  Polk  county,  and  settled  in  Crookston  in  1886. 
Until  the  union  of  the  difierent  Norwegian  churches  he 
belonged  to  the  Norwegian-Danish  Conference,  of  which  he 
-was  vice-president  from  1886-90.  In  the  early  nineties  he 
established  a  Norwegian  colony  in  Bella  Coola,  B.  C,  where 
he  died.  In  1893  he  published  a  brief  history  of  Augsburg 
Seminary.  He  was  married  twice,  and  had  eleven  children. 
Searle,  Olaf  0.,  emigration  agent  and  banker — Minneapolis 
— ^bom  23  June,  1859,  in  Fredrikshald,  Norway.  He  came 
to  America  in  1881.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  began 
work  in  the  emigration  department  of  the  St.  Paul,  Minne- 
apolis and  Manitoba  Railway,  remaining  there  till  1883, 


486         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

when  together  with  A.  E.  Johnson  he  opened  business  as 
emigration  agent.  This  firm,  known  as  A.  B.  Johnson  and 
Company,  is  now  doing  a  very  extensive  business  in  the  sale 
of  passage  tickets  for  the  various  steamship  companies,  and 
also  in  the  sale  of  lands.  The  firm  has  offices  in  New  York 
City,  Boston,  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis,  Duluth,  Tacoma,  and 
Seattle.  Searle  is  also  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Scandina- 
vian American  Bank  in  Tacoma,  and  vice-president  of  the 
Scandinavian  American  Bank  in  Seattle;  owns  considerable 
farm  lands  in  central  Minnesota  and  other  real  property  in 
Western  cities,  notably  at  Little  Falls,  Minn.  Ever  since  the 
partnership  was  formed,  he  has  been  the  manager  of  the 
Northwestern  headquarters  of  the  firm's  business,  and  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  public  and  financial  matters,  espe- 
cially those  in  which  the  Scandinavians  have  been  interested. 
He  located  in  Minneapolis  in  1898,  but  in  the  summer  lives 
at  Lake  Minnetonka,  where  he  owns  a  fine  house  and  125 
acres  of  land  on  Big  Island,  being  one  of  the  finest  places 
on  the  lake.  Searle  was  married  in  1887  to  Dagmar  John- 
son.   They  have  one  child. 

Sbaleen,  Johny  state  senator — Lindstrom — ^bom  15 
Nov.,  1835,  near  Vexi5,  Sweden.  He  received  a  common 
school  education  in  his  native  country,  and  has  since  been 
an  extensive  reader.  His  parents  and  the  whole  family  emi- 
grated to  the  U.  S.  when  he  was  twenty  years  of  age;  they 
settled  at  Chisago  Lake,  Minn.,  where  both  John  Shaleen 
and  his  brother  Peter— who  died  in  1898,  land  was  one 
of  the  leading  men  in  that  part  of  the  country — worked  on 
the  family  homestead  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War, 
when  John   Shaleen   enlisted  in  company  I  of  the  Sixth 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        487 

Minnesota  Volunteer  Infantry.  For  some  time  he  served 
against  the  Indians  on  the  western  frontier  of  Min- 
nesota; then  was  on  duty  in  the  South,  iSghting  against  the 
Confederates  at  Spanish  Fort  and  at  Fort  Blakeley  in 
Alabama.  At  the  end  of  the  war  he  returned  to  his  farm; 
was  sheriflF  of  Chisago  county  from  1870-76;  represented 
his  district  in  the  state  senkte  during  1878-86;and  has  been 
judge  of  probate  since  1888.  He  is  an  independent  Republi- 
can and  a  Lutheran,  and  one  of  the  first  Swedish  settlers  in  the 
state  of  Minnesota,  having  passed  through  the  usual  hard- 
ships incidental  to  pioneer  life.  He  is  considered  to  have 
been  one  of  the  most  influential  Scandinavian  legislators  in 
the  state;  public  economy  has  been  his  hobby.  He  was 
married  to  Annie  S.  Stendahl  in  1869;  they  have  several 
children,  all  of  whom  have  received  a  liberal  education. 

SJoblom,  P.,  clergyman— Fergus  Falls— bom  17  Mar., 
1834,  in  Snostorp,  Halland,  Sweden.  He  came  to  this 
country  in  1866;  was  ordained  the  same  year;  had  charge  of 
a  Swedish  Lutheran  congregation  in  Indiana  for  a  couple  of 
years;  settled  in  Red  Wing,  Minn.,  in  1869;  and  moved  to 
Fergus  Falls  in  1886.  Since  1895  he  has  been  located  at 
Wakefield,  Neb.  Sjoblom  has  been  vice-president  and  secre- 
tary of  the  Augustana  Sjmod,  and  served  on  various  legal 
and  constitutional  committees.  He  has  been  the  parlia- 
mentarian of  the  S3mod,  and  one  of  the  most  influ- 
ential among  the  Swedish-American  Lutheran  ministers, 
and  has  for  years  been  associate  editor  of  Skatffaren.  He 
was  married  in  1855,  and  has  children. 

SkarOy  J.  G.,  physician  and  surgeon  —  Minneapolis  — 
bom  10  Jan.,  1859,  in  St.  Peter,  Minn.    He  is  the  son  of 


488         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCAMDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Captain  A.  K.  Skaro,  who  was  bom  in  Hallingdal,  Norway, 
4  June,  1829,  came  to  the  United  States  in  1846,  and  was 
killed  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  in  1865.  Captain  Skaro  served 
in  the  United  States  army  as  a  private  at  Fort  Snelling  from 
1847-52,  then  settled  at  St.  Peter,  and  enlisted  in  the  Union 
army  in  1862,  being  one  of  the  few  Scandinavians  from 
Minnesota  who  rose  to  a  higher  position  in  the  army  dur- 
ing the  Civil  War.  Young  Skaro  received  a  high  school 
education  in  his  native  city,  graduated  from  a  medical  col- 
lege in  Keokuk,  Iowa,  in  1880,  studied  medicine  also  in 
Louisville,  Ky.,  in  1884-85,  and  attended  the  Post  Graduate 
Medical  College,  New  York  City,  in  1890.  Skaro  has  prac- 
ticed his  profession  in  Minneapolis  since  1880,  having  been 
exceptionally  successful,  especially  in  handling  difficult 
female  diseases.  Indeed,  in  this  line  of  practice  he  has  few 
equals  or  superiors  in  the  Northwest.  Two  of  his  brothers 
are  also  practicing  medicine  in  Minneapolis.  In  1890  he  was 
married  to  Olive  Stewart,  of  Nova  Scotia. 

Skogsbergh,  Erik  August,  clerg3rman— Minneapolis^ 
bom  30  June,  1850,  at  BlgS.,  Vermland,  Sweden.  His 
father  was  a  nail  manufacturer,  his  mother  a  farmer's 
daughter.  Young  Skogsbergh  attended  the  public  schools 
until  twelve  years  of  age;  studied  three  years  at  a  college 
at  Arvika;  took  charge  of  his  father's  affairs  and  did  a  large 
business  in  Norway  and  Sweden;  became  interested  in  a 
religious  movement;  attended  for  a  while  a  missionary 
school  in  Kristinehamn,  with  the  intention  to  prepare  to  go 
as  a  missionary  to  Africa;  entered  a  missionary  school  in 
Sm&land;  and  studied  privately  for  four  years  at  Jonkoping, 
with  the  purpose  of  entering  the  theological  department  in 


O.  SEAnLE,  UINNEAI>0r.l8. 


J.  A,  PETKUSdN.  MINNKAI'ni.IS  G,  A.  rirrill.  MINNRAPOt.IS. 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        489 

the  University  of  Upsala;  but  instead  accepted  a  call  to 
Chicago,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six.  Skogsbergh  traveled  as 
a  missionary  throughout  Vcrmland,  Sm&land,  and  Vester- 
gotland,  preaching  often  in  the  open  air  to  large  crowds. 
In  Sweden  he  was  still  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  church, 
and  his  work  was  a  kind  of  mission  inside  of  the  state 
church.  Since,  however,  this  movement  has  been  separated 
from  the  Lutheran  church  both  in  this  country  and  in 
Sweden.  The  organization  of  which  he  is  a  member  is 
called  the  Swedish  Mission  Covenant  of  America,  and  its 
church  government  resembles  that  of  the  Congregational- 
ists;  but  the  mode  of  worship  is  more  like  that  of  the 
Methodists.  Skogsbergh  remained  in  Chicago  for  seven 
years,  built  a  large  church  with  a  seating  capacity  of 
1,500,  preached  in  several  other  places,  and  conducted 
revival  meetings  among  his  countrymen  throughout  the 
Western  states.  Since  1884  he  has  resided  in  Minneapolis, 
and  erected  the  Swedish  Tabernacle,  which  has  a  seating 
capacity  of  3,000,  and  is  the  largest  church  building  in  Min- 
neapolis. The  membership  is  about  400,  yet  the  audi- 
torium is  often  crowded  with  people.  For  a  number  of  years 
he  has  also  been  editor  of  a  Swedish  newspaper  in  Minne- 
apolis. In  1879  he  was  married  to  TiHie  S.  Peterson  of 
Chicago.    They  have  several  children. 

Skordalsvold,  John  J.,  journalist — Minneapolis— bom 
29  Oct.,  1853,  in  Meraker,  Trondhjem  stift,  Norway.  He 
came  with  his  parents  to  this  country  in  1869,  directly  to 
Goodhue  county,  Minn.,  but  the  family  moved  to  Todd 
county  the  following  year.  Young  Skordalsvold  cleared 
his  father's  farm;  graduated  from  the  Uterary  department 


490         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IK  THB  U.  S. 

of  Augsburg  Seminary  in  1881,  and  from  the  University  of 
Minnesota  seven  years  later;  then  studied  over  a  year  at 
the  University  of  Berlin,  Germany,  making  his  own  way 
through  school;  taught  some  in  Augsburg  Seminary;  was 
editor  of  Folkebladet  in  1883;  is  known  as  an  active  and 
earnest  temperance  worker,  and  lost  considerable  money  a 
few  years  ago  in  connection  with  the  Scandinavian  coflFee 
house  which  he  organized  in  Minneapolis;  has  served  for 
many  years  as  secretary  of  the  Minnesota  Total  Abstinence 
Asssociation  and  as  superintendent  of  the  educational  de- 
partment of  the  Total  Abstinence  Congress;  and  has  made 
greater  sacrifices  for  the  cause  of  temperance  than  any 
other  Norwegian  bom  person  in  the  state.  For  some  ten 
years  he  was  connected,  both  as  principal  and  as  teacher, 
with  the  public  evening  schools  of  the  city,  and  has  for 
several  years  been  a  contributor  to  many  Norwegian- Amer- 
ican and  English  newspapers  and  magazines.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Unitarian  church,  and  a  Prohibitionist.  Skor- 
dalsvold  was  married  to  Anne  Romundstad  in  1890.  She 
is  one  of  the  few  women  who  write  for  the  Norwegian- 
American  press.    Skordalsvold  has  children. 

Smith,  Charles  A.«  lumber  manufacturer— Minneapolis — 
bom  11  Dec,  1852,  in  Boxholm,  Ostergotland,  Sweden.  He 
came  with  his  father,  who  was  a  soldier  in  the  Swedish 
army  for  a  third  of  a  century,  to  the  United  States  at  the 
age  of  fifteen,  and  settled  in  Minneapolis,  Minn.  He  received 
a  common  school  education,  both  in  Sweden  and  here,  then 
attended  the  University  of  Minnesota  for  one  year,  being 
one  of  the  first  Swedes  who  attended  that  institution.  He 
received  his  business  training  in  ex-Gov.  J.  S.  Pillsbury's 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDIKAYIANS  IK  MINNESOTA.        491 

hardware  store  in  Minneapolis,  where  he  worked  for  five 
years;  then,  in  company  with  his  former  employer,  btiilt  an 
elevator  at  Herman,  Minn.,  remaining  there  until  1884, 
when  he  returned  to  Minneapolis.  Smith  has  since  been 
extensively  engaged  in  the  manufacturing  of  lumber;  besides, 
he  owns  lumber  yards  in  several  places  in  North  Dakota; 
and  is  one  of  the  directors  of  the  Swedish-American 
National  Bank  in  Minneapolis.  '^Smith  is  the  coming  man 
among  the  Swedes,''  said  a  prominent  business  man  during 
the  National  Republican  convention  at  Minneapolis  in 
1892.  But  it  is  doubtfiil  whether  Smith  has  any  political 
aspirations.  He  is  a  business  man,  and  as  such  not  many 
Scandinavian-Americans  in  the  country  are  his  equals. 
Smith  is  a  Republican,  and  was  one  of  the  presidential 
electors  of  his  party  in  1896;  but  his  extensive  business 
interests  prevent  him  from  taking  an  active  part  in  politics, 
except  as  counsellor,  and  as  such  he  is  undoubtedly  one  of 
the  most  influential  Swedes  in  the  state.  BQs  active  co-ope- 
ration in  nearly  every  movement  calculated  to  benefit  his 
countrymen  or  the  public  at  large  has  made  Smith's  name 
honored  and  respected  far  beyond  the  limits  of  his  home 
city.  But  the  noiseless  assistance  which  he  has  bestowed 
upon  poor  people  and  young  men  endeavoring  to  start  in 
Ufe,  has,  perhaps,  even  been  greater  than  his  public  gener- 
osity. Smith's  great  popularity  and  success  may  be  due 
to  his  liberality,  economy,  good  judgment,  keen  understand- 
ing of  human  nature,  or  to  that  unknown  something  often 
called  luck.  In  all  probability  Smith  does  not  know  him- 
self. Mankind  generally  calls  such  men  well  balanced. 
Smith  deserves  that  distinction.    He  is  a  prominent  member 


492  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

of  the  English  Lutheran  church,  and  has  been  treasurer  of  the 
English  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  of  the  Northwest  for 
several  years.  Johanna  Anderson,  a  daughter  of  Olof  Ander- 
son, a  riksdagaznan  from  Sweden,  and  one  of  the  early 
settlers  in  Carver  county,  became  Smith's  wife  in  1878. 
They  have  several  children. 

Soderstrom,  Alfred*  newspaper  manager— Minneapolis 
—bom  1848,  in  Stockholm,  Sweden.  After  having  received  a 
good  education  in  his  native  city,  he,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  emigrated  to  this  country;  resided  in  Chicago  for  two 
years;  then  moved  to  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  where  for  some 
time  he  was  a  teacher  in  Barnard  Business  College.  Later 
he  associated  himself  with  Col.  Mattson  as  general  man- 
ager of  Minneaota  Stats  Tidning;  but  when  this  paper 
was  sold  to  a  syndicate  composed  of  Swedish  LutheranSi 
Soderstrom  retired  and  became  the  chief  promoter  in 
organizing  a  stock  company  which  commenced  to  publish 
Svenaka  Folketa  Tidning  in  1881,  and  of  which  he  was 
business  manager  up  to  1899.  Since  he  has  been  preparing 
a  Swedish  history  of  Minneapolis,  which  he  should  be  able  to 
make  very  thorough  and  complete,  as  he  has  resided  in  that 
city  for  nearly  thirty  years,  and  has  participated  in  all  the 
leading  events  pertaining  to  the  Scandinavians  in  that 
place.  He  was  nominated  for  county  treasurer  of  Henne- 
pin county  in  1892,  and  was  the  only  Republican  candidate 
in  the  county  that  was  defeated;  the  general  opinion  was 
that  he  had  been  knifed  by  the  poUtical  bosses.  He  is 
married. 

Sohlberg,  Olof,  physician  and  surgeon — St  Paul — ^bom 
6  July,  1859,  in  Ostersund,  Sweden.    After  receiving  a  col- 


BIOGRAPHESS  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  BONNESOTA.        493 

lege  training  in  his  native  country,  SoUberg  emigrated  to 
America  with  his  parents  in  1879;  spent  one  year  at  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphiis  College,  and  then  entered  Minnesota  Col- 
lege Hospital  (now  the  medical  department  of  the  state 
university)  at  Minneapolis;  graduated  from  this  institution 
after  three  years  of  study,  receiving  first  prizes  for  the  best 
examinations  in  pathology,  medical  and  surgical  dentistry, 
and  clinical  medicine.  SoUberg  was  the  first  foreign-bom 
that  graduated  as  a  medical  doctor  in  Minnesota.  Since 
1884  he  has  successfiiUy  practiced  his  profession  in  St.  Paul. 
During  the  years  of  1890-91  Sohlberg  traveled  abroad  for 
study  and  observation  of  treatment  in  the  European 
hospitals,  making  surgery  and  diseases  of  women  his 
special  study.  He  is  a  member  of  Ramsey  County  Medical 
Society  and  of  Minnesota  State  and  American  medical 
associations.  He  is  also  member  of  the  medical  and  surgical 
stafi"  of  Bethesda  Hospital.  He  is  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  College,  and  takes  an 
active  part  in  church  and  public  affairs.  Sohlberg  was 
married  in  1886  to  Helvina  A.  Wold.    They  have  children. 

Solem,  A.,  journalist— Fergus  Falls— bom  27  April, 
1850,  near  Trondhjem,  Norway.  He  graduated  from  Klabo 
seminary,  near  Trondhjem,  in  1870.  After  five  years  spent 
in  teaching  school  in  the  northern  part  of  Norway,  he 
attended  the  polytechnic  school  in  Trondhjem  three  years. 
Solem  came  directly  from  Norway  to  Otter  Tail  county  in 
1879,  and  there  commenced  life  as  a  carpenter.  He  soon 
learned  the  t3rpe-setting  business  and  worked  on  both  Nor- 
wegian and  English  papers.  In  1884  he  bought  the  Fergus 
Falls  Ugebladj  of  which  he  is  still  editor  and  proprietor. 


494         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Solem  was  an  exponent  of  the  principles  of  the  People's 
party,  but  he  did  not  endorse  the  methods  of  some  of  the 
leaders  of  the  party.  On  the  whole,  his  paper  will  gener- 
ally be  found  on  the  side  of  fair  play  and  justice  whether  it 
brings  pecuniary  returns  or  not.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
United  Church.  He  was  married  to  Marith  Ronning  in 
1880. 

Sorensen,  Sigvart,  journalist— Minneapolis— bom  18 
Nov.,  1849,  in  Kristiania,  Norway.  Attended  a  Latin 
school  at  Kristiania  from  1861—66,  then  emigrated  to  this 
country  with  his  parents.  Stayed  in  Chicago  from  1866-68; 
in  Madison,  Wis.,  from  1868-70;  and  in  La  Crosse,  Wis., 
from  1870-89,  when  he  again  removed  to  Chicago,  where 
he  stayed  until  1891.  Sorensen  was  elected  city  assessor  of 
La  Crosse  for  seven  terms;  h^  been  connected  with  some 
newspaper  or  other  since  1873;  was  for  some  time  one  of 
the  editors  of  Norsk  Maanedaakrift,  published  by  Soren- 
sen and  Luth  Jaeger;  was  editor  of  Norden,  Chicago,  from 
1890-91;  came  to  Minneapolis  in  1891,  becoming  editor  of 
Badatikken,  now  Minneap^lia  Tidende.  Sorensen  is  an 
able  and  careful  writer,  and  in  1899  wrote  a  history  of 
Norway  in  the  English  language,  containing  about  500 
pages.  He  was  married  in  1873  to  Hanna  Husher,  a 
daughter  of  F.  A.  Husher.    They  have  two  children. 

Stark,  L«  J.,  state  legislator— Harris— bom  29  Jtily, 
1826,  in  Lidkoping,  Vestergotland,  Sweden.  He  came  to 
this  country  in  1850,  settling  at  Galesburg,  HI.,  where  he 
remained  about  a  year  and  a  half;  then  moved  to  Chisago 
Lake,  Minn.  During  the  Civil  War  he  was  clerk  in  the 
quartermaster  department  in  St.  Paul.    In  1864  Stark  was 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        495 

elected  to  the  state  legislature,  and  re-elected  ten  years 
later,  being,  therefore,  the  first  Swede  who  served  in  that 
capacity  in  Minnesota,  though  several  Norwegians  had 
preceded  him.  He  had  been  engrossing  clerk  in  the  house  of 
representatives  before  his  election  to  this  body.  Stark  has 
held  many  local  trusts  in  his  county,  is  interested  in  mer- 
chandising and  farming,  is  a  Lutheran  in  religion,  and 
belongs  to  the  Republican  party.  He  has  been  married 
twice,  and  has  grown  children  by  both  wives. 

Steenerson,  Halvor,  lawyer  and  state  senator  — Crook- 
ston— bom  30  June,  1852,  in  Pleasant  Spring,  Dane  county, 
Wis.  His  parents  came  from  Norway  in  1850,  moved  to 
Houston  county,  Minn.,  in  1853,  and  were  therefore  among 
the  very  earliest  Norwegian  settlers  in  Minnesota.  Young 
Steenerson  attended  the  high  school  at  Rushford,  Minn., 
worked  on  his  father's  farm,  taught  school  for  several  years, 
and  graduated  from  Union  College  of  Law  in  Chicago,  in 
1878.  For  two  years  he  practiced  his  profession  in  Lanes- 
boro,  Fillmore  county,  moved  to  Crookston  in  1880,  and 
has  for  years  been  considered  as  one  of  the  ablest  attorneys 
in  the  state,  making  criminal  cases  his  specialty.  He  insti- 
tuted, conducted,  and  won,  on  behalf  of  the  farmers  and 
grain  shippers,  the  noted  Steenerson  grain  case,  which 
attracted  national  attention  and  resulted  in  state  control 
and  regulation  of  railroad  charges  on  grain  shipments.  He 
was  elected  county  attorney  of  Polk  county  in  1880,  serving 
two  years,  and  represented  his  district  in  the  state  senate 
during  the  sessions  of  1883-85.  During  his  legislative  career 
he  took  special  interest  in  securing  the  establishment  of  rail- 
road warehouses  and  the  regulation  of  the  same.    He  is  a 


496         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Republican,  was  his  party's  delegate  to  the  national  conven- 
tion in  Chicago,  in  1884,  which  nominated  Blaine  for  the 
presidency,  and  also  to  the  convention  at  which  Harrison 
was  nominated  four  years  later.  Steenerson  has  been  city 
attorney,  and  a  member  of  the  city  council  and  board  of 
education;  is  vice-president  of  Scandia  American  Bank  of 
Crookston,  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  a  Lutheran.  In 
1878  he  was  married  to  Mary  Christopherson;  they  have 
two  children. 

Stoekenstrom,  Herman,  journalist— St.  Paid— bom  13 
Mar.,  1853,  in  Stjemsund,  Dalame,  Sweden.  His  ancestors 
belonged  to  a  noble  family  of  Sweden,  and  he  has  inherited 
a  great  deal  of  property.  He  received  a  college  education  in 
Falun,  afterwards  attended  Stockholm's  gymnasium  and 
Schartau's  commercial  college,  in  Stockholm.  In  1874  he 
went  as  a  sailor  to  Philadelphia;  studied  for  a  couple  of 
years  at  Augustana  College,  where  he  also  taught,  both  in 
the  college  and  privately;  was  editor  of  Skandia  in  Moline, 
111.,  for  about  one  year;  and  came  to  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  in 
1877.  For  two  years  Stockenstrom  attended  the  University 
of  Minnesota,  Minneapolis,  then  accepted  a  position  as 
editor  of  Skaffaren;  but  when  this  paper  and  the  Minne- 
sota Stata  Tidning  were  consolidated  in  1882,  he  became 
both  e  ditor  and  manager,  a  position  which  he  exchanged  in 
1884  for  another  of  the  same  kind  as  the  northwestern 
editor  of  Heznlandet,  which  position  he  held  for  eleven 
years.  He  has  taken  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  politics;  has 
been  a  delegate  to  several  stat^  and  county  conventions; 
was  a  strong  candidate  for  the  office  of  secretary  of  state  in 
1886,  but  retired  in  favor  of  his  personal  friend.  Col.  Matt- 


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BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        497 

son,  by  whom  he  was  twice  appointed  assistant  secretary 
of  state;  and  was  twice  appointed  by  Brown  to  the  same 
position.  During  more  than  a  decade  Stockenstrom  worked 
faithfully  for  the  Republican  party  as  a  campaign  speaker; 
but  in  recent  years  he  has  not  devoted  much  time  to  political 
questions.  Ernst  Skarstedt,  in  his  admirable  book, 
Svenak'Aznerikanska  Poeter,  says:  "Stockenstrom  is  an 
excellent  orator  and  declaimer,  and  a  poet  of  more  than 
ordinary  talent."  As  a  newspaper  correspondent  he  has 
contributed  many  articles  to  several  of  the  leading  Swedish- 
American  papers,  and  is  as  familiar  with  the  English  lan- 
guage as  with  his  native  tongue.  Since  1895  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  editorial  staff  of  Sveaska  Aznerikanaka 
JPoaten  in  Minneapolis.  His  poem,  Det  Nya  Modersznklet, 
is  an  excellent  illustration  of  how  the  Swedish  language,  as 
used  in  this  country,  becomes  mixed  with  English  words 
supplied  with  Swedish  endings.  Stockenstrom  is  a  member 
of  the  English  Lutheran  church,  is  one  of  the  most  popular 
Swedes  in  Minnesota,  and  was  married  in  1881  to  Anna 
Maria  Nelson,  of  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

Stub,  Hans  Gerhard,  educator— Hamline— bom 23  Feb., 
1849,  in  Muskego,  Racine  county.  Wis.  His  parents  are 
Norwegians,  his  father  being  the  well-known  Rev.  H.  A. 
Stub,  pastor  in  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod.  In  1866 
he  graduated  from  Luther  College,  Decorah,  Iowa;  in  1869 
he  graduated  with  distinction  from  Concordia  College,  Fort 
Wayne,  Ind.,  and  in  1872  from  the  Concordia  Theological 
Seminary  at  St.  Louis.  He  was  ordained  a  minister  the 
same  year  and  accepted  a  call  from  a  Norwegian  Synod  con- 
gregation in  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  serving  this  congregation 

33 


498  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINi:YIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

till  1878,  when  he  became  professor  of  theology  in  Luther 
Seminary,  Madison,  Wis.  Of  this  institution  Stub  i?eas 
president  from  1879-88,  when  he  resigned  from  the  presi- 
dency on  account  of  ill  health,  but  for  many  years  retained 
the  professorship;  then  was  clergyman  in  Decorah  for  a  few 
years,  and  returned  to  Luther  Seminary  in  1899.  The 
North  says:  **The  entire  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod  in 
this  country  recognizes  Prof.  Stub  as  its  ablest  and  most 
erudite  scholar  in  his  special  branch  of  study.  His  learning 
is  of  a  high  order,  and  in  addition  he  is  a  man  of  the  high- 
est personal  attainments."  He  has  been  married  twice,  and 
his  second  wife  is  the  noted  musician  Valborg  Hovind  Stub, 
editor  of  Song  a  from  the  North. 

Sverdrup,  <}eorg,  educator— Minneapolis— bom  16  Dec., 
1848,  in  Balestrand,  Bergen  stift,  Norway.  He  received  a 
careful  training  at  home,  graduated  with  the  highest  honors 
from  the  classical  department  of  a  Latin  school  inKristiania 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and  completed  his  theological 
course  at  the  University  of  Norway  in  1871.  He  had  made 
a  special  study  of  the  Oriental  languages  during  his  school 
career,  and  after  his  graduation  he  spent  considerable  time 
in  Paris,  France,  for  the  purpose  of  farther  investigating  his 
specialty.  For  years  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  church  in  this 
country  had  suffered  from  many  severe  storms,  bitter  dis- 
putes had  prevailed  and  rent  the  church  asunder.  At  last, 
in  1870,  the  Norwegian-Danish  Conference  was  organized— 
an  event  which  forms  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Nor- 
wegian churches  in  America.  The  Conference,  of  which  the 
well-known  Rev.  C.  L.  Clausen  was  the  first  president,  began 
at  once  the  erection  of  Augsburg  Seminary  in  Minneapolis, 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        499 

Minn.  When  it  was  completed,  Sverdrup  received  a  call  to 
become  professor  of  theology.  He  accepted,  and  arrived  at 
his  destination  and  entered  upon  his  new  duties  in  1874; 
two  years  later  Prof.  A.  Weenaas  resigned  from  his  position 
as  theological  instructor  and  president  of  the  institution. 
Sverdrup  succeeded  him  in  the  presidency,  and  under  his  able 
management  Augsburg  Seminary  has  in  about  twenty- 
five  years  become  one  of  the  foremost  Scandinavian  educa- 
tional institutions  in  America.  When  the  Conference,  in 
1890,  was  merged  into  the  United  Norwegian  Lutheran 
Church  of  America,  Sverdrup  was  again  chosen  president  of 
Augsburg  Seminary.  When  the  United  Church  withdrew  its 
support  from  Augsburg  Seminary  in  1893,  Sverdrup 
remained  at  the  head  of  the  institution  during  the  years  of 
bitter  struggle  in  which  the  United  Church  in  vain  tried  to 
obtain  possession  of  the  school.  When  finally  the  matter 
was  amicably  settled  in  1898  by  a  division  of  the  property 
of  the  seminary  between  the  United  Church  and  the  Augs- 
burg Seminary  corporation,  this  important  settlement  was 
due  in  part  to  the  pronounced  stand  taken  by  Sverdrup 
against  lawsuits  in  connection  with  the  affairs  of  the 
church.  Rev.  J.  C.  Jensson  in  American  Lutheran  Bio- 
graphiea  says:  **He  is  a  nephew  of  ex-minister  Johan 
Sverdrup,  for  many  years  premier  of  Norway,  and  his  father 
was  a  noted  minister  in  the  state  church  and  a  member  of 
the  Storthing  of  his  native  country.  Bom  of  illustrious 
parentage,  endowed  with  rare  mental  qualities,  thoroughly 
educated,  and  having  inherited  no  small  degree  of  the  family 
characteristics  which  have  made  the  name  so  prominent, 
Sverdrup  possesses  in  an  eminent  degree  the  conditions  for 


500        HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB   U.  S. 

being  a  leader  among  the  Norwegian  Lutherans  in  this 
country."  Sverdrup  has  been  married  twice:  in  1874  to 
Katharine  E.  Heiberg,  who  died  thirteen  years  later,  and  in 
1890  to  Elsie  S.  Heiberg,  a  younger  sister  of  his  first  wife. 
He  has  had  children  by  both  wives. 

Swalnson,  John,  pioneer  — St.  Paul  — bom  1816,  in 
Stockholm,  Sweden;  died  1890.  He  graduated  from  the 
University  of  Upsala;  emigrated  to  the  U.  S.  in  1848;  settled 
in  1854  at  Chisago  Lake,  Minn.,  where  he  farmed  for  a 
while,  then  moved  to  St.  Paul.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil 
War  he  was  appointed  quarter-master,  with  major's  rank; 
and  was  stationed  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  remaining  there  until 
the  war  ended.  From  1871-76  he  was  employed  as  gener- 
al land  agent  for  the  Great  Northern  R.  R.,  residing  in  St. 
Paul;  farmed  for  a  couple  of  years  at  Hallock,  Minn.; 
returned  to  St.  Paul,  where  he  was  engaged  in  the  real  estate 
business  until  he  was  accidentally  killed  by  a  street  car. 
The  general  opinion  is  that  Swainson  left  a  mysterious  his- 
tory behind  him  in  Sweden;  yet  he  was  the  leader  of  several 
farmers  who  emigrated  at  the  same  time  as  he  did.  This 
open  way  of  leaving  his  native  country  would  hardly  have 
been  possible  if  he  had  been  a  criminal.  But  whatever 
might  have  been  his  career  in  Europe,  here  he  became  widely 
and  most  favorably  known,  especially  among  the  Swedes. 
He  was  a  friend  to  the  poor  people,  and  his  wealth  was 
often  invested,  with  little  or  no  security,  for  the  benefit  of 
needy  Swedes.  He  quite  frequently  was  the  orator  at  festi- 
vals, and  contributed  extensively  to  the  best  Swedish  and 
English  periodicals,  but  many  of  his  so-called  literary  pro- 
ductions were  plagiarized. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        501 

Sward,  P.  J.,  clergyman — St.  Paul— bom  1  April,  1845, 
in  Styra,  Ostergotland,  Sweden.  At  the  age  of  twenty-three 
he  graduated  from  Johannelund  mission  institute  in  Stock- 
holm. This  school  has  special  royal'privileges,  and  gradu- 
ates from  there  may,  after  being  examined,  be  ordained  as 
ministers  of  the  foreign  missions  and  seamen's  missions  in 
foreign  ports.  He  served  one  year  as  assistant  minister  in 
Ostergotland;  went  to  Constantinople,  Turkey,  in  1869,  as 
chaplain  of  the  Swedish-Norwegian  legation  and  missionary 
for  the  Scandinavian  seamen;  remained  there  four  years, 
visited  Egypt  and  Palestine,  and  for  sometime  was  chaplain 
of  the  German  embassy;  came  from  Turkey  to  New  York  to 
take  charge  of  the  Scandinavian  seamen's  mission,  and 
while  there  organized  the  first  Swedish  Lutheran  church  in 
Brooklyn,  in  1874;  went  to  Baltimore  in  1877  to  organize 
a  Scandinavian  seamen's  mission;  but  on  account  of  ill 
health  accepted,  the  following  year,  a  call  to  Vasa,  Minn., 
where  he  remained  for  eight  years,  then  moved  to  St.  Paul. 
Sward  was  president  of  the  Minnesota  Conference  for  two 
years  and  vice-president  for  six  years;  was  theological 
professor  in  Augustana  College,  Rock  Island,  111.,  during  the 
school  year  of  1888—89,  but  not  desiring  to  leave  his  work 
in  St.  Paul  unfinished,  he  resigned;  was  elected  vice-president 
of  the  Augustana  Synod  in  1889;  and  served  as  president  of 
the  synod  from  1891  to  1899.  The  Augustana  College  and 
Theological  Seminary  conferred  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
divinity  on  Sward  in  1894,  and  the  same  year  he  was  creat- 
ed commander  of  the  order  of  the  North  Star,  second  class, 
by  King  Oscar.  II.  of  Sweden.  For  several  years  he  was  one 
of  the  editors  of  Skaffaren]   served   a   congregation   in 


502         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYAINS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Omaha,  Neb.,  from  1894  to  1899;  and  at  the  latter  date 
entered  the  service  of  the  state  church  of  his  native  land. 
Sward  ranks  high  as  a  pulpit  orator.  Some  of  his  ser- 
mons, especially  those  xielivered  at  gatherings  of  clergymen 
and  theological  students,  were  masterpieces.  His  mild, 
somewhat  humorous,  temper,  his  conscientious  attention  to 
the  duties  imposed  upon  him,  his  great  knowledge  of  the 
world,  his  clear  understanding  of  human  nature,  made  him 
an  exceptionally  able  president  in  a  free  church.  The  whole 
bearing  of  the  man  was  democratic,  and  it  is  claimed  that 
he  returned  to  Sweden  principally  because  a  position  there 
offered  more  time  for  contemplation  and  rest  and  a  safer 
livelihood  in  old  age  than  it  is  possible  to  secure  here.  Sward 
himself  said  that  he  returned  partly  because  he  desired  to 
leave  the  direction  of  the  Swedish- American  Lutheran  church 
in  younger  and  abler  hands,  which  shows  the  modesty  of 
the  man.  He  was  married  to  Selma  Maria  Thermaenius,  of 
Sodermanland,  Sweden,  in  1872.    They  have  six  children. 

Swenson,  John,  state  legislator  and  banker — Canby— 
bom  1842,  in  Norway.  He  came  to  Minnesota  in  1872, 
and  has  since  been  engaged  in  merchandising,  milling,  and 
banking.  He  owns  several  banks  in  the  western  part  of  the 
state;  and  is  very  liberal  with  his  wealth,  having  in  a  quiet 
way  assisted  a  host  of  needy  people.  He  is  married,  and 
represented  his  district  in  the  state  legislature  in  1883. 

Swenson,  Lars,  state  senator — Minneapolis — born  10 
July,  1842,  in  Hallingdal,  Norway.  His  great  grandfather 
was  a  Scotchman.  When  fifteen  years  of  age  Swenson  came 
with  his  parents  to  the  United  States;  they  settled  in  Nic- 
ollet county,  Minn.,  where  he  worked  on  the  farm   and 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        508 

attended  school.  He  studied  for  some  time  at  Luther  Col- 
lege, and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  enlisted  in 
the  Second  Regiment  of  Minnesota  Volunteers.  He  was 
wounded  and  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Chicamauga. 
After  the  war  he  returned  to  Nicollet  county,  where  he  was 
clerk  of  court  for  four  years.  Swenson  came  to  Minne- 
apoUs  in  1879.  He  was  treasurer  of  Augsburg  Seminary 
for  thirteen  years,  and  has  ever  since  1879  been  manager  of 
the  Augsburg  Publishing  House,  and  treasurer  of  the  United 
Church  since  1890.  He  was  elected  alderman  in  1884?,  and 
served  in  the  state  senate  in  1887-89.  Swenson  is  a  Repub- 
lican and  a  widower. 

Swenson,  L.  S.,  educator  and  U.  S.  minister  to  Denmark 
— ^Albert  Lea— bom  12  June,  1865,  in  New  Sweden,  Nicollet 
county,  Minn.  His  grandfather  and  father  were  natives  of 
Hallingdal,  Norway;  both  emigrated  to  the  United  States 
and  settled  in  Nicollet  county,  Minn.,  in  1857.  His  father 
represented  his  district  in  the  state  legislature  in  1887. 
Young  Swenson  entered  St.  Olaf  College,  Northfield,  Minn., 
at  the  age  of  fourteen;  graduated  from  Luther  College, 
Decorah,  Iowa,  in  1886;  then  studied  for  some  time  at 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  Baltimore.  When  Luther  Acad- 
emy, in  Albert  Lea,  was  opened  in  1888,  Swenson  accepted 
the  call  as  its  principal,  in  which  capacity  he  served  until 
1897.  Ever  since  he  located  in  Albert  Lea,  Swenson  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  politics.  In  some  way  or  another 
he  succeeded  in  being  regularly  sent  as  a  delegate  to  county, 
congressional,  and  state  conventions;  stumped  the  state  in 
favor  of  Knute  Nelson  as  governor  in  1892;  was  appointed 
a  member  of  the  board  of  regents  of  the  State  University  in 


504         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

1895;  and  the  next  year  was  a  delegate  to  the  Republican 
convention  at  St.  Louis,  which  nominated  Wm.  McElinley 
for  president.  Through  the  efforts  of  Knute  Nelson  more 
than  on  account  of  any  diplomatic  experience  on  the  part  of 
Swenson,  he  received  the  appointment  as  minister  to  Den- 
mark in  1897.  In  1887  he  was  "married  to  Ingeborg  Ode- 
gaard.    They  have  two  daughters. 

Sunwall,  6.  F.,  grain  merchant— Minneapolis— bom  11 
April,  1852,  in  Oppeby,  Ostergotland,  Sweden.  He  received 
a  college  education  in  his  native  country,  graduating  from 
the  e/ementer/aroFark  at  Eksjo  in  1867.  Two  years 
later  he  emigrated  to  America,  coming  directly  to  Carver 
county,  Minn.,  and  clerked  in  stores  in  Carver  village  for 
three  years.  Then  started  in  business  for  himself  at  Wal- 
nut Grove  in  1873,  which  village  he  also  founded  at  the 
same  time.  After  having  remained  in  the  general  mercan- 
tile business  at  that  place  for  a  couple  of  years,  he  com- 
menced to  buy  grain  at  different  points  along  the  Omaha 
R.  R.,  which  occupation  he  followed  for  about  five  years. 
In  1880  he  returned  to  Carver,  where  he  remained  until 
1885,  engaged  in  the  grain  business.  At  the  latter  date 
Sunwall  settled  in  Minneapolis,  where  he  organized  the 
Central  Elevator  Company,  a  quarter  million  dollars'  con- 
cern, of  which  he  was  manager  for  about  ten  years;  then 
sold  out  his  interest  in  said  company,  and  started  a  large 
grain  commission  business  in  his  own  name  in  1895.  Sun- 
wall is  the  only  Swede  in  Minneapolis  doing  a  grain  com- 
mission business,  and  is  one  of  the  leading  business  men  of 
that  nationality  in  the  Northwest.  In  1877  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Annie  E.  Kelly. 


i;r:v,  r.  j.  swahh.  rt.  i'ait.. 


I'ltOF.   M.  WAHI.STKOM.  ST.  I'ETICR. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        505 

Tharaldsen,  Iver,  clergyman— Madison— bom  10  Nov., 
1847,  near  Stenkjar,  Trondhjem  stift,  Norway.  He  received 
a  common  school  education;  attended  an  agricultural  col- 
lege for  a  couple  of  terms;  and  went  to  the  Lofoten  Islands, 
where  two  clergymen  gave  him  private  instruction  for  a 
period  of  two  years.  In  1870  he  emigrated  to  America, 
and  the  next  few  years  were  devoted  to  studies  as  follows: 
at  Marshall,  Wis.,  for  one  year;  at  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin for  one  year;  at  the  University  of  Minnesota  and 
Augsburg  Seminary  for  two  years;  and  he  completed  a 
theological  course  at  the  latter  institution  in  1874.  During 
the  next  seven  years  he  served  a  number  of  congregations  in 
Otter  Tail  county,  Minn.,  besides  organizing  several  new 
churches  in  the  northwestern  part  of  Minnesota.  While 
laboring  in  this  part  of  the  country  he  at  one  time  had 
charge  of  sixteen  congregations,  covering  a  district  more 
than  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  length,  which  had  to  be 
covered  either  driving  or  on  horseback.  In  1881  he  removed 
to  Grand  Forks,  N.  D.,  where  he  remained  three  years.  Also 
here  he  worked  as  a  missionary  among  the  new  settlers  on 
the  prairies  in  the  surrounding  country  in  Minnesota  and 
Dakota,  and  organized  a  number  of  new  congregations. 
His  health  being  impaired  by  overwork,  he  sought  a  less 
laborious  field  of  action,  and  in  1884  located  at  Chippewa 
Falls,  Wis.,  where  he  resided  about  fourteen  years,  having 
since  resided  at  his  present  home.  From  1886  to  1890 
Tharaldsen  was  secretary  of  the  Conference,  and  for  some 
time  served  as  secretary  of  the  board  of  missions  of  said 
association.  Since  1890  he  and  his  congregations  have 
belonged  to  the  United  Church.    In  the  first  part  of  1896 


506         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

he  traveled  extensively  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  districts, 
Colorado  and  Utah,  to  recuperate  after  a  long  and  severe 
siege  of  sickness  of  the  preceding  year.  He  was  married  in 
1876  to  Caroline  A.  Engerud,  of  Racine,  Wis.,  a  sister  of 
the  wife  of  Prof.  Peter  Hendrickson;  they  have  five  children, 
and  their  oldest  daughter  and  oldest  son  are  graduates  of 
the  Chippewa  Falls  high  school. 

Thompson,  R*  E.,  state  senator  and  lawyer— Preston — 
bom  7  Mar.,  1857,  in  Fillmore  county,  Minn.  His  parents 
were  Norwegians.  He  was  educated  in  the  common  schools 
of  Newburg,  Minn.;  in  the  Institute  of  Decorah,  Decorah, 
Iowa;  and  in  the  State  Normal  School,  Winona,  Minn. 
After  having  taught  school  for  some  time,  he  commenced  to 
study  law;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1881;  served  as 
deputy  clerk  of  court  for  some  time;  represented  his  district 
in  the  state  legislature  during  the  sessions  of  1883—85;  and 
was  in  the  state  senate  from  1895  to  1901,  being  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  influential  members  of  that  body. 
Thompson  is  a  hard  worker;  very  independent,  and  as  a 
consequence  does  not  always  follow  the  party  whip  of  the 
Republican  bosses;  and  has  a  large  legal  practice.  In  1884 
he  was  married  to  Anna  Thompson;  they  have  two  children. 

Thorpe,  Lars  O.,  banker  and  state  senator — Willmar— 
bom  24  Dec.,  1846,  in  Ostenso,  Hardanger,  Norway.  He 
came  talone  to  the  United  States  when  not  quite  seventeen 
years  old,  having  been  a  sailor  a  couple  of  years  before. 
He  worked  on  a  farm  during  the  summer,  and  attended 
school  for  a  while  during  the  winter  at  Jefferson  Prairie, 
Wis.;  went  to  Winona,  Minn.,  in  1865,  where  for  a  couple 
of  years  he  worked  on  farms  and  taught  school.    In  1867 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        507 

he  visited  his  native  land,  bringing  his  sister  and  brother 
with  him  on  his  return;  was  a  railroad  contractor  and 
printer  in  different  places  for  a  few  years,  but  settled  perma- 
nently in  Kandiyohi  county,  Minn.,  in  1871,  where  he  assisted 
in  publishing  a  paper  in  Kandiyohi  village ;  and  in  the  fall 
of  that  year  moved  to  a  farm  located  seven  miles  north  of 
WiUmar.  For  four  years  he  worked  on  his  farm,  encounter- 
ing many  struggles  and  vicissitudes  common  to  frontier  life. 
In  the  fall  of  1875  he  was  elected  register  of  deeds,  which 
position  he  filled  for  six  years.  His  official  duties  requiring 
him  to  stay  much  of  the  time  in  the  city,  he  found  it  neces- 
sary to  move  from  his  farm  and  settle  in  Willmar,  where  he 
has  ever  since  resided.  In  1881  he  accepted  his  present 
position  as  cashier  of  Kandiyohi  County  Bank.  Thorpe  is 
a  Republican,  was  a  presidential  elector  for  his  party  in 
1884,  has  been  a  member  of  the  school  board  of  Willmar 
for  several  years,  is  president  of  Willmar  Seminary,  has 
been  president  of  the  city  council,  represented  his  district  in 
the  state  senate  in  1895-7,  and  has  held  nearly  every  local 
office.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Norwegian  Synod,  and  is  a 
temperance  man,  being  one  of  the  most  active  workers  in 
the  religious,  social  reform,  political,  and  financial  move- 
ments of  the  city  and  county,  and  takes  more  than  ordi- 
nary  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  state.  In  1870  he  was 
married  to  Martha  Quale.    They  have  several  children. 

Thorsony  A.,  pioneer  and  county  official— Norseland — 
bom  13  Feb.,  1823,  in  Va,  near  Kristianstad,  Sweden.  He 
clerked  for  eleven  years  in  Kristianstad  and  Solvesborg; 
emigrated  in  1847,  in  company  with  a  couple  of  other 
young  men,  to  this  country,  via  France;  it  took  them  over 


508  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

four  months  to  reach  Charleston,  S.  C,  where  the  vessel,  on 
account  of  being  damaged,  had  to  anchor,  instead  of  at 
New  York.  He  happened  to  have  a  letter  of  introduction 
to  a  Swedish  merchant  who  had  emigrated  to  the  U.  S.  in 
his  younger  days,  and  was  now  an  old  man;  but  this  mer- 
chant had  relatives  who  had  settled  in  America  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  which  goes  to  show  that  Swedish  emi- 
grants have  in  very  early  days  crossed  the  Atlantic.  In  a 
short  time  Thorson  and  his  companions  started  for  New 
Orleans;  here  they  ran  short  of  money  and  food;  but  he 
soon  secured  a  place  as  waiter  in  a  hotel.  In  1848  Thorson 
went  to  California,  via  Panama,  working  for  his  passage; 
at  that  time  there  were  only  a  few  houses  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, and  not  a  single  one  in  Sacramento.  After  having 
dug  gold  for  about  three  years  and  saved  about  $2,000,  he 
returned  to  Sweden,  via  Nicaragua,  Jamaica,  Cuba,  and 
New  York.  He  farmed  for  two  years  in  the  vicinity  of  his 
birthplace;  returned  to  America  in  1855,  being  the  leader  of 
thirty  emigrants  who  accompanied  him  to  the  New  World, 
among  others  his  wife's  parents  and  other  relatives.  Thor- 
son and  his  party  examined  diflferent  places,  but  soon  set- 
tled at  Scandian  Grove,  Nicollet  county,  Minn.,  where  they 
were  the  first  Swedish  settlers,  though  a  few  Norwegians 
had  preceded  them.  Here  he  has  farmed  ever  since,  was 
register  of  deeds  for  four  years,  held  various  local  offices, 
and  has  passed  through  many  hardships  incidental  to 
pioneer  life.  In  Sweden,  in  1852,  he  married  Anna  Nelson; 
they  have  several  children. 

Thygeson,  N.  M.,  lawyer— St.  Paul— bom  11  Sept.,  1862, 
in  Martell,  Pierce  county.  Wis.    His  parents  came  from  the 


BIOGRAPHIKS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        509 

northern  part  of  Norway  in  the  early  forties.  He  grad- 
uated from  a  normal  school  at  River  Falls,  Wis.,  1882, 
and  from  the  scientific,  metallurgical  engineering,  and 
modem  classical  courses,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin  in 
1885,  completing  his  legal  studies  at  the  same  institution  a 
couple  of  years  later.  In  1888  Thygeson  located  in  St. 
Paul,  and  is  now  considered  to  be  one  of  the  ablest  Scandi- 
navian  lawyers  in  the  Northwest.  In  1891  he  was  married 
to  Sylvie  G.  Thompson  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.  They  have 
children. 

Trandberg,  P.  C,  clergyman— Minneapolis — bom  18  Aug., 
1832,  in  Bomholm,  Denmark;  died  1896.  In  his  boyhood  he 
attended  school  at  his  birthplace  and  at  Ronne,  and  during 
the  years  1846-51  pursued  a  course  in  the  Latin  school  at 
Ronne,  finally  graduating  with  the  highest  honors.  He  con- 
tinued his  studies  in  Copenhagen  and  was  graduated  from 
the  theological  department  of  the  university  in  1858.  Soren 
Kirkegaard,  the  philosopher  and  denunciator  of  "oflGicial 
Christianity,'*  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  upon  the 
mind  of  Trandberg,  and  the  conversion  which  he  experienced 
in  1858  made  him  wage  war  against  the  easy-going  life  of 
the  church  people  in  his  country.  He  was  ordained  for  the 
ministry  the  same  year,  and  began  to  serve  congregations 
at  Tjele  and  Vinge,  Jylland;  but  he  felt  hampered  by  the  rules 
and  regulations  of  oflScialdom,  and  in  1860  he  resigned  his 
charge  and  returned  to  Bomholm,  where  he  spent  eighteen 
years  in  the  most  intense  religious  work.  Indeed,  the  stir 
that  he  made  among  the  people  of  Bomholm  in  the  early 
sixties  made  him  famous  throughout  the  Scandinavian  cotm- 
tries.    In  1863  he  formally  withdrew  from  the  state  church 


510         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

and  organized  an  independent  congregation.  This,  however, 
was  gradually  torn  to  pieces  by  fierce  internal  contentions, 
and  in  1878  he  left  his  native  island  with  a  sad  heart.  He 
spent  the  next  three  years  as  itinerant  preacher  in  Jylland, 
and  enugrated  to  America  in  1882.  Though  a  Lutheran, 
but  holding  very  liberal  views,  he  was  appointed  theological 
professor  at  the  Chicago  Theological  Seminary  (Congrega- 
tional)  in  1885,  but  as  he  failed  to  bring  any  material  addi- 
tions to  the  Congregational  church  he  was  dismissed  from 
that  institution  in  1890.  An  attempt  made  by  him  to  estab- 
lish an  independent  theological  seminary  did  not  prove  a 
success,  and  it  was  abandoned  in  1893.  During  the  nineties 
Trandberg  published  Hj-rderbaten^  a  religious  periodical, 
and  preached  occasionally  until  his  death.  He  spent  the 
last  two-and-half  years  of  his  life  in  Minneapolis.  Trand- 
berg was  married  in  1863.  A  bust  has  been  raised  to  his 
memory  at  his  birthplace,  and  in  1899  the  Danish  Lutheran 
church  people  in  America  were  raising  money  for  another 
monument  in  his  honor. 

Turnblad,  Magnus,  journalist—  Minneapolis  —  bom  28 
Jan.,  1858,  in  Vislanda,  SmMand,  Sweden.  He  came  to  this 
country  with  his  parents  in  1868  and  settled  in  Vasa,  Good- 
hue county,  Minn.,  where  he  attended  school  for  some  time. 
He  afterwards  sought  the  more  advanced  educational  insti- 
tutions of  Red  Wing  and  St.  Paul,  always  distinguishing 
himself  as  an  excellent  scholar.  After  completing  his  school 
work  Tumblad  established  himself  as  a  grocery  merchant  at 
Red  Wing,  continuing  in  business  for  ten  years,  when  more 
ambitious  plans  induced  him  to  move  to  Minneapolis.  He 
again  engaged  in  the  grocery  business  in  that  city  for  some 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  MINNESOTA.        511 

years,  and  also  identified  himself  with  the  Swedish  weekly 
paper,  Svenaka  Amerikanaka  Poaten^of  which  he  became 
editor  in  1889.  This  paper  has,  under  the  able  management 
of  his  brother,  S.  J.  Tumblad,  met  with  an  almost  pheno- 
menal success,  having  now  the  largest  circulation  of  any 
Swedish  paper  in  the  country,  although  it  is  considerably 
younger  than  most  of  its  colleagues,  having  been  establish- 
ed in  1885.  This  astonishing  success  is  largely  due  to  the 
skill  and  ability  with  which  Magnus  Tumblad  is  editing  the 
paper.  For  years  he  has  taken  an  active  part  in  temper- 
ance work.  He  has  been  married  three  times,  his  first  wife 
leaving  one  daughter. 

Turnblad,  Swan  J.,  newspaper  publisher— Minneapolis — 
bom  7  Oct.,  1860,  in  Vislanda,  Sm&land,  Sweden.  At  the 
age  of  nine  he  came  with  his  parents  directly  from  his  native 
land  to  Vasa,  Goodhue  county,  Minn.  Here  he  attended  the 
common  schools  and  Lindholm's  high  school  for  several 
years,  taught  school  for  a  couple  of  terms,  and  worked  on 
his  father's  farm.  When  nineteen  years  of  age  he  moved  to 
Minneapolis,  where  he  worked  as  typesetter  on  Minnesota 
Stata  Tidning  and  Svenaka  Folketa  Tidning  for  a  few 
years.  In  1887  he  became  manager  of  Svenaka  Ameri- 
kanaka Poaten^  which  at  that  time  had  only  1,400  sub- 
scribers and  was  financially  in  a  bad  condition;  but  under 
Tumblad's  able  management  it  has  today,  1900,  a  circula- 
tion of  40,000,  having  had,  undoubtedly,  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  time,  the  greatest  success  of  any  Swedish 
paper  in  America,  as  well  as  being  the  largest  in  size.  It  is 
independent  in  politics,  and  advocates  temperance  princi- 
ples.   Tumblad  has  for  years  taken  an  active  part  in  tem- 


512  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

perance  work,  having  assisted  in  organizing  several  Scan- 
dinavian temperance  societies  in  Minneapolis  and  throtigh- 
out  the  state.  For  a  couple  of  terms  he  was  secretary  of 
the  g^and  lodge  of  I.  O.  G.  T.,  and  also  organized  lodges  in 
connection  with  this  society  in  diflferent  parts  of  Minnesota. 
He  was  the  chief  promoter  in  organizing,  in  about  1880,  the 
first  Scandinavian  temperance  society  in  Minneapolis,  which 
as  an  open  and  independent  organization  was  the  means  of 
accomplishing  a  great  deal  of  good.  Already  in  his  early 
age  Tumblad  showed  thdt  he  possessed  singular  abilities. 
He  learned  to  set  type  by  himself,  and  published  an  arithme- 
tic, all  set  by  himself,  when  he  was  only  14f-16  years  of  e. 
In  1883  he  invented  a  secret  letter  writing  machine,  w  «h 
he  patented,  and  which  has  been  largely  sold  all  over  the 
country.  In  1892  he  became  interested  in  The  Norths  of 
which  he  was  manager  for  a  short  time,  and  was  also  man- 
ager for  Hemmet  a  couple  of  years.  Tumblad  is  a  member 
of  the  American  Presbyterian  church,  and  has  taken  the 
highest  degrees  in  Freemasonry.  He  and  his  family  made 
extensive  European  trips  in  1895, 1897,  and  1899.  La  the 
latter  year  Gov.  John  Lind  appointed  him  a  member  of  the 
board  of  managers  of  the  State  Reformatory  at  St.  Cloud. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he  was  married  to  Christine  Nel- 
son, of  Worthington,  Minn.    They  have  one  daughter. 

Ueland,  A.,  lawyer— Minneapolis— bom  21  Feb.,  1853, 
at  Heskestad,  Stavanger  amt,  Norway.  His  father  was  Ole 
Gabriel  Ueland,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Norwegian  Stor- 
thing from  1833  till  his  death  in  1870,  and  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  liberal  party  in  Norwegian  politics.  In  1871 
young  Ueland  emigrated  to  this  country,  coming  directly  to 


'.  J.  JoiixsoN,  mixni:ai"<ii,is.  I'lmr.  o.  johnbon,  minxf.ai-olis. 


DK.  A,  I.IXD,  MlNNKAfOUS.  J.  I'ETEKBON,  ST.  rKTER, 


BIOGRAPHIB8  OF  SCANDINAYIilNS  IN  MINNB80TA.         513 

Minneapolis,  where  for  the  following  three  years  he  worked 
hard  at  manual  labor  in  the  summer,  and  attended  private 
school  during  the  winter.  He  then  began  the  study  of  law, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1877.  In  1881  he  was 
elected  judge  of  the  probate  court,  and  has  a  very  large  law 
practice.  Ueland  was  married  to  Clara  Hampson  in  1885. 
They  have  half  a  dozen  children. 

Valder,  Hans,  state  legislator  and  pioneer— Newburg— 
bom  18  Oct.,  1813,  in  Stavanger  amt,  Norway.  His  father 
was  an  officer  in  the  army.  Young  Valder  received  a  good 
common  school  education  in  his  native  country,  and  taught 
for  a  while  in  the  public  schools.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four 
he  came  to  the  U.  S.;  the  journey  from  Stavanger  to  New 
York  on  a  sailing  vessel  took  three  months;  resided  in 
La  Salle  county,  111.,  for  seventeen  years;  and  for  some  time 
lived  among  the  American  Baptists  at  Indian  Creek,  HI., 
accepting  the  religious  views  of  his  associates  in  1842.  He 
was  licensed  to  preach,  and  in  a  couple  of  years  about 
twenty  Norwegians  in  La  Salle  and  Kendall  counties  were 
immersed,  constituting  a  kind  of  society  without  being 
regularly  organized.  Valder  was  ordained  in  1844,  being 
undoubtedly  the  first  Norwegian  Baptist  preacher  in  the 
United  States,  and  for  some  time  received  a  salary  of  $50  a 
year  from  the  American  Baptists  and  $13  from  his  country- 
men. He  worked  at  manual  labor  part  of  the  time,  and 
was  soon  compelled  to  quit  preaching  altogether  in  order  to 
support  his  family.  He  organized  a  small  party  of  emi- 
grants who  settled  in  1853,  at  Newburg,  Minn.  —  this  beii^g 
one  of  the  first  Norwegian  settlements  in  the  state  —  where 
he  has  ever  since  been  engaged  in  farming  and  hotel  keeping. 

84 


516         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

tion  he  traveled  for  one  year  as  missionary  among  the 
Indians,  through  Colorado,  New  Mexico,  and  Indian  Terri- 
tory; but  his  health  failed,  and  Indian  missionary  work 
proved  to  be  impracticable,  as  far  as  the  conversion  of  the 
natives  to  Lutheranism  or  any  other  Christian  religion  was 
concerned.  In  1880  he  accepted  a  call  as  professor  at  Gus- 
tavus  Adolphus  College,  St.  Peter,  Minn.,  and  the  following 
year  he  became  the  president  of  this  institution,  which 
under  his  able  management  has  prospered  beyond  expecta- 
tion, having  an  average  attendance  of  nearly  300  students, 
and  employing  sixteen  instructors.  Wahlstrom  is  a  remark- 
ably clear  and  forcible  speaker,  and  was  married  in  1879. 
Werner,  Nils  0.,  lawyer  and  banker— Minneapolis — 
bom  19  Jan.,  1848,  in  Fjelkestad,  Skine,  Sweden.  Werner 
was  graduated  from  a  college  in  Kristianstad,  in  1868,  and, 
lacking  the  necessary  means  for  pursuing  his  studies  at  the 
universities,  he  emigrated  to  America,  where  his  parents  had 
already  gone  some  time  previously.  He  came  directly  to 
Princeton,  111.,  where  his  parents  had  settled.  Here  Werner 
remained  for  two  years,  studying  law  in  private  oflGices.  In 
1870  he  moved  to  Red  Wing,  Minn.,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  the  year  following.  Werner  was  elected  judge  of 
probate  in  1874,  remaining  in  oflGice  for  ten  years;  was  a 
member  of  the  city  council,  and  also  member  of  the  board 
of  education  in  Red  Wing.  From  1886—88  he  was  member 
of  the  Republican  state  central  committee.  In  1888  Werner 
became  cashier  of  the  Swedish  American  Bank  in  Minne- 
apolis, which  had  been  organized  shortly  before  by  leading 
Swedes  in  the  state,  and  was  elected  its  president  in  1894. 
The  great   success  with   which   this   important   financial 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  MINNBSOTA.        517 

undertaking  has  met  is  due  in  no  small  degree  to  Werner's 
able  service.  Werner  is  a  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the 
English  Lutheran  Church.  He  was  married  in  1872  to 
Eva  Charlotte  Anderson.  They  have  children,  and  one  of 
their  sons  is  practicing  law  in  Minneapolis. 

Widstrand,  Frans  Herman,  socialist— Litchfield— bom 
1824,  in  Stockholm,  Sweden;  died  1891.  He  received  a 
careful  education  at  the  University  of  Upsala;  was  employed 
in  the  governmental  department  in  Stockholm  for  a  while; 
but  his  radical  ideas  soon  made  it  impossible  for  him  to 
retain  such  a  position,  especially  as  he  began  to  publish  an 
anarchical  paper.  In  1855  he  emigrated  to  this  country; 
resided  for  quite  a  long  time  in  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  and 
vicinity,  then  started  a  social  community  in  Wright  county. 
In  this  settlement  all  property  was  common,  all  shotdd 
work  alike;  no  liquor,  tobacco,  meat,  or  women  were 
allowed  in  the  community,  which  was  intended  to  be  a 
heaven  on  earth,  and  in  a  certain  sense  it  became  a  para- 
dise, for  no  one  worked.  Such  a  gathering  of  idealists  and 
idlers— not  to  say  idiots — had  soon  to  disband.  A  Yankee 
succeeded  in  securing  the  deed  for  all  the  property;  Wid- 
strand  lost  everything,  and  moved  to  Litchfield  in  1880. 
Here  he  endeavored  to  avenge  himself  upon  mankind  by  pub- 
lishing Rothuggaren — a  paper  which  made  war  upon  re- 
ligion, government,  and  the  human  race.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  eccentric  Swedes  in  America,  and  possessed  many  noble 
qualities,  but  was  so  unpractical  that  he  seemed  insane. 

YlvisakeP,  John,  educator— Robbinsdale — bom  24  April, 
1845,  in  Sogndal,  Bergen  stift,  Norway.  After  being  con- 
firmed Ylvisaker  entered  a  teachers'  seminary,  and  after 


The  Nationality  of  Criminal  and  Insane  Persons 


in  the  United  States. 

—  BY  — 


I.    Criminals. 

A  high  authority  on  mental  and  moral  depravity  has 
said  that  there  are  three  classes  of  criminals :  ''First,  those 
who  are  driven  to  crime  by  want  or  adversity ;""  secondly, 
those  who  have  in  their  natures  a  taint  of  crime  which  may 
be  corrected  by  favorable  circumstances ;  and,  thirdly,  those 
of  radically  bad  organization."  But  as  the  present  article  is 
intended  to  deal  principally  with  culprits  as  represented  by 
the  various  nationalities  in  this  country,  it  would  be  out  of 
place  to  extensively  discuss  whether  men  become  criminals 
by  predestination  or  by  their  own  choice.  Yet,  since  each 
nationality  and  race  has  certain  characteristics  of  virtue  and 
vice — due,  perhaps,  mainly  to  climate,  heredity,  religious 
belief,  and  educational  training — a  careful  examination  of 
the  proportionate  number  of  convicts  by  nationalities,  may 
serve  as  a  key  to  arrive  at  the  causes  which  lead  people  to 
commit  offenses  against  the  law.  Such  a  test  can  more 
properly  be  made  in  this  country  because  our  population,  as 
a  whole,  is  undoubtedly  more  cosmopolitan  than  that  of  any 


2  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

other  part  of  the  world.  Each  of  the  many  and  numerous 
foreign  elements  is,  at  least  in  the  census  reports,  placed  on 
an  equal  footing,  and  may  justly  be  compared  with  each 
other  as  to  their  respective  virtues  and  vices.  But  the  diflfer- 
ent  governments  of  Europe  pursue  so  many  diflferent  meth- 
ods in  collecting  and  computing  statistics,  that  a  reliable 
comparison  can  not  be  made  in  regard  to  the  amount  of 
crimes  committed  by  the  people  of  each  country.  Deeds 
which  one  nation  considers  and  punishes  as  a  crime  are  no 
offense  whatsoever  in  another  country. 

But  while  a  comparison  of  the  foreigners  in  our  land  is 
perfectly  proper,  a  comparison  of  them  with  the  native-bom 
Americans  is  not  exactly  fair.  In  the  first  place,  the  latter 
have  become  fully  assimilated  with  the  climate  and  other 
physical,  as  well  as  intellectual  and  spiritual,  conditions; 
and  as  a  consequence  they  have  had  a  much  better  chance  to 
improve  their  moral  and  mental  capacity  than  the  foreign- 
bom  population.  Secondly,  nearly  all  the  foreign-bom  arc 
adults,  while  the  native-bom  include,  besides  their  own 
children,  also  the  children  of  the  foreign-bom  parents.  This 
fact  becomes  very  important  when  it  is  remembered  that 
most  crimes  are  committed  by  grown  persons.  As  a  conse- 
quence, the  comparison  between  the  proportionate  number 
of  foreign-bora  and  of  native-bora  criminals,  as  given  in 
most  of  the  following  statistical  figures,  does  not  give  the 
real  relation,  because  the  bases  of  computation  are  not 
alike.  But  it  has  been  impossible  to  remedy  the  defect. 
Yet  H.  H.  Hart,  secretary  of  the  state  board  of  corrections 
and  charities  of  Minnesota,  has  proved  conclusively  that 
the  foreign-bom  people,  as  a  whole,  have,  proportionately, 


THE  NATIONALITY  OF  CRIMINALS.  3 

less  prisoners  than  the  native-born;  and  those  native  per- 
sons  having  foreign-bom  parents  have  the  worst  record  of 
all  classes  of  people.  His  able  article  dealing  with  this  sub- 
ject was  published  in  the  American  Journal  of  Sociology  in 
November,  1896. 

In  1880  there  were,  according  to  the  United  States 
census,  58,6©9  * 'prisoners"  in  the  country.  In  other  words, 
one  person  in  every  856  of  the  total  population  was  a  crim- 
inal; one  in  1,309,  of  the  native  white;  one  in  949,  of  the 
native-bom ;  one  in  523,  of  the  foreign-bom ;  and  one  in  396, 
of  the  colored.  Ten  years  later  the  total  number  of  culprits 
had  increased  to  82,329 ;  but  the  proportion  of  the  various 
elements  mentioned  above  was  about  the  same  as  in  1880, 
although  a  slight  deterioration  of  all  of  them  was  notice- 
able. 

In  1880  the  Chinese-bom  had  one  prisoner  for  every  190 
inhabitants ;  the  Irish,  one  for  350 ;  the  Scotch,  one  for  411 ; 
the  French,  one  for  433 ;  the  English,  one  for  456 ;  the  Cana- 
dians, one  for  590 ;  the  Germans,  one  for  949 ;  and  the  Scan- 
dinavians, one  for  1,539. 

The  census  for  1890,  dealing  with  "prisoners,"  is  peculiar, 
specifying  only  the  nativity  of  the  parents  of  the  culprits, 
without  stating,  for  example,  how  many  of  our  criminals 
were  bom  in  Ireland,  Germany,  and  other  foreign  countries. 
While  this  method  oflFers  a  comparison  of  the  descendants  of 
the  various  nationalities  in  the  second  generation,  it  is 
impossible  to  compare  the  immigrants  themselves  with  their 
offspring.  If  this  omission  had  not  occurred,  it  wotdd 
undoubtedly  have  been  possible  somewhat  to  estimate  the 
effect  which  our  conditions  have  exerted  upon  our  moral 


4  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

deyelopment ;  then  an  approximation  could  have  been 
secured,  with  more  exactness  than  now,  whether  the  present 
conditions  here  are  less  favorable  to  moral  elevation  than, 
for  example,  in  Germany  and  the  Scandinavian  countries. 
At  the  same  time  it  is  surely  not  accidental  that  the  Scandi- 
navians have,  in  nearly  every  instance,  the  best  record  in 
regard  to  crimes  of  any  nationalities,  and  that  the  Germans 
make  such  a  fine  showing ;  but  must  be  largely  due  to  the 
ei^ellent  compulsory  educational  and  religious  training 
which  is  prevalent  in  their  countries. 

In  1890  there  were  8,085,019  white  persons  bom  in  the 
United  States  of  foreign-bom  parents.  Of  this  number, 
12,601  were  prisoners,  giving  a  proportion  of  one  prisoner 
to  every  641  persons.  This  is  a  very  bad  showing  as  com- 
pared with  the  standing  of  the  native  whites  of  native 
parentage,  who  had  a  proportion  of  one  to  1,638.  But  the 
record  of  those  natives  whose  parents  were  bom  in  Ireland 
is  still  worse,  the  number  of  prisoners  of  this  class  being 
7,935  out  of  a  total  population  of  2,164,397,  giving  the 
shockingly  large  proportion  of  one  criminal  to  every  273 
persons.  There  are  reasons  for  believing  that  the  second 
generation  of  the  Irish  in  this  country  has  a  worse  record 
than  the  first.  Nearly  two-thirds  of  all  the  native-bom 
prisoners  having  white  foreign  parents  were  of  Irish  descent. 
In  the  case  of  the  natives  of  Scotch  and  English  parentage, 
the  proportion  was  one  to  559,  and  one  to  816,  respectively. 
Natives  of  Canadian  parentage  had  a  proportion  of  one  to 
999,  and  the  natives  of  German  parentage  had  a  slightly 
better  record  than  the  natives  of  native  white  parentage. 
Of  the  eight  classes  treated  of  in  this  paragraph,  the  second 


THK  NATIONALITY  OF  CRIMINALS.  6 

generation  of  ScandinaYian-Americans  stands  very  far  above 
all  the  rest,  the  proportion  being  one  to  7,566.  As  a  matter 
of  fairness,  however,  it  must  be  observed  that  the  majority 
of  the  latter— as  well  as  some  of  the  other  classes — are  too 
young  to  commit  crimes,  because  the  Northern  emigration 
is  of  comparatively  recent  date.  It  is  another  illustration  of 
the  great  defectiveness  of  this  department  of  the  census  lor 
1890,  which  was  in  charge  of  Rev.  F.  H.  Wines. 

In  the  United  States  census  reports  for  1880  and  1890, 
all  grades  of  prisoners  were  enumerated,  whether  confined  in 
the  penitentiaries,  county  jails,  or  any  other  places;  but  in 
this  article  only  those  nationalities  which  had  a  population 
of  over  100,000  have  been  referred  to.  In  treating  of  the 
four  following  states,  however,  only  the  penitentiary  culprits 
have  been  dealt  with,  except  in  the  case  of  Iowa ;  and  all 
nationalities  having  a  population  of  about  25,000  in  1890 
have  been  compared.  In  1890  the  total  Scandinavian-bom 
population  in  Illinois,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Wisconsin  was 
516,723,  or  more  than  one-half  of  the  whole  number  in  the 
United  States.  The  Irish  in  these  states  numbered  223,168, 
and  the  Germans,  842,402.  A  thorough  test  of  the  criminal 
standing  of  the  foreign  representatives  in  the  four  states 
mentioned  will  undoubtedly  reduce  the  element  of  mere 
chance  to  a  minimum,  especially  when  the  investigation 
covers  a  period  of  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

Illinois.  In  the  fall  of  1880  there  was,  according  to 
the  penitentiary  reports,  one  convict  in  the  two  peniten- 
tiaries of  Illinois  for  every  1,774  inhabitants  in  the  state. 
The  record  of  the  native-bom  population  was  a  little  better, 
and  that  of  the  foreign-born  a  little  worse  than  the  total. 


6  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Those  bom  in  Canada  have  by  far  the  worst  showing,  the 
proportion  of  conviets  to  the  whole  number  being  one  to 
479.  The  standing  of  the  Irish-bom  is  slightly  inferior  to 
that  of  the  total  foreign-bom.  The  German-bom  stand 
above  the  rest,  the  proportion  being  one  to  3,368 ;  and  the 
Scandinavian-bom  come  close  to  them,  the  proportion  being 
one  to  3,115. 

A  calculation  based  on  the  number  of  convicts  ''on 
hand  "  in  the  fall  of  1892,  shows  great  changes  in  the  course 
of  twelve  years.  In  most  cases  a  decided  improvement  is 
noticeable  in  regard  to  the  foreigners.  The  showing  of  the 
total  foreign-bom  is  now  three  and  a  half  per  cent,  better 
than  that  of  the  native-bom.  The  proportion  of  total  and 
native  criminals  are  about  the  same  as  in  1880.  The  Ger- 
man-bom, however,  show  a  striking  deterioration,  the 
proportion  being  one  to  2,333,  while  the  Scandinavian-bom 
now  stand  far  above  all  the  rest,  with  a  proportion  of  one 
to  4,158.  The  showing  of  the  Canadian-bom  is  five  times, 
and  that  of  the  Irish  and  English-bom,  three  times  as  bad 
as  the  standing  of  the  Scandinavians. 

Iowa.  Every  person  convicted  of  a  crime  of  some  kind 
figures  in  the  official  records  of  the  state.  Hence,  the  criminal 
statistics  of  Iowa,  unlike  the  insanity  records,  are  tolerably 
complete ;  and  they  put  the  Scandinavian-bom  inhabitants 
of  the  state  in  an  exceedingly  favorable  light.  The  reports 
of  the  two  penitentiaries  in  Iowa  do  not,  however,  like  the 
Illinois  reports,  mention  the  nativity  of  prisoners  '*  on  hand" 
at  a  certain  time ;  but  only  refer  to  the  number  of  culprits 
"admitted"  during  biennial  periods.  The  following  result 
was  obtained  by  dividing  the  population  of  1885  and  1895 


THE  NATIONALITY  OF  CRIMINALS.  7 

by  the  annual  average  of  the  number  of  convicts  received 
during  the  biennial  periods  of  1884-5  and  1894-5.  By  this 
method  any  accidentally  large  or  small  proportion  of  prison- 
ers **  sent  up  "  for  one  specific  year  is  practically  avoided. 

There  was  one  convict  sent  to  one  of  the  state  peniten- 
tiaries for  every  5,106  inhabitants  in  the  state  in  1885,  and 
one  for  every  3,000  in  1895.    The  Irish-bom  population  has 
the  most  unenviable  record,  the  proportion  of  the  number  of 
Irish-bom  convicted  to  the  whole   number   of  Irish-bom 
inhabitants  being  one  to  4,050  in  1885,  and  one  to  541  in 
1895.    The  Germans  make  a  lair  showing,  the  proportion 
for  1885  and  1895  being  one  to  8,304,  and  one  to  1,883 
respectively.    The  Scandinavian-bom  population  had  by  far 
the  most  splendid  record  at  the  latter  date,  the  proportion 
of  the  number  of  convictions  to  the  whole  number  of  inhabi- 
tants of  Scandinavian  birth  being  one  to  7,720  in  1885, 
and  one  to  4,200  in  1895.    These  figures,  however,  being 
only  based  on  the  reports  of  the  penitentiaries,  can  be  sup- 
plemented by  the  reports  of  the  secretary  of  state  relating 
to  convictions  of  criminals,  which  reports  are  absolutely 
complete  inasmuch  as  tuey  give  the  whole  number  of  convic- 
tions of  all  offenses  against  the  law  in  every  county  of  the 
state  for  each  year.    In  Illinois,  Minnesota,  and  Wisconsin 
no  such  reports  are  published.    Those  of  Iowa  have  one 
fault,  namely,  that  although  the  nativity  of  the  culprits  is 
recorded,  no  general  summing  up  of  the  various  nation- 
alities has  been  made,  consequently  it  is  almost  impossible 
to   compare   them  with  each  other.     According  to  these 
reports  of  the  secretary  of  state  the  following  result  has 
been  obtained :    In  1880  one  out  of  every  743  foreign-bom 


8  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

persons  was  convicted  of  some  crime;  in  1885,  one  out  of 
every  709 ;  and  in  1890,  one  out  of  every  1,223.  As  to  the 
American-bom  inhabitants,  the  record  was  not  half  so  ugly, 
the  proportion  being  one  to  2,015,  one  to  2,224,  and  one  to 
2,500,  for  the  years  1880,  1885,  and  1890,  respectively. 
But  the  proportion  of  the  whole  number  of  Scandinavian- 
bom  persons  convicted  of  crimes  to  the  total  Scandinavian- 
bom  population  for  the  same  years  was  only  one  to  5,756, 
2,807,  and  3,312. 

Minnesota.  The  numerical  strength  of  the  Scandi- 
navian element  is  greater  in  Minnesota  than  in  any  other 
state  in  the  Union.  Thus,  the  United  States  census  of  1890 
shows  that  the  whole  number  of  Scandinavian-bom  persons 
in  Minnesota  that  year  was  215,215.  This  fact  alone  gives 
great  weight  to  the  statistical  data  bearing  on  them  in 
said  state,  the  factor  of  mere  chance  being  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. Moreover,  the  reports  of  the  penitentiary  of  Minne- 
sota are  more  complete  and  thorough  than  those  of  similar 
institutions  in  the  neighboring  states.  Hence,  the  following 
criminal  statistics,  as  well  as  the  deductions  made  therefrom, 
ought  to  be  of  exceptional  significance.  In  1882  the  Cana- 
dian-bom had  one  convict  in  **  confinement "  in  the  peniten- 
tiary to  every  1,743  inhabitants  in  the  state.  The  Germans 
and  Irish  had  a  proportion  of  one  to  2,148,  and  one  to 
2,358,  in  the  order  given.  In  the  case  of  the  foreign- 
bom  population,  the  native,  and  the  total  of  all,  the 
proportion  was  one  to  2,731,  one  to  2,835,  and  one  to 
2,798,  respectively.  But  the  Scandinavian-bom  had  a  pro- 
portion of  one  to  4,145.  In  other  words,  the  standing  of 
the  latter  was  more  than  46  per  cent,  better  than  that 


THE  NATIONALITY  OF  CRIBONALS.  9 

of  their  closest  rival,  namely,  the  native  population.  A 
computation  made  on  the  number  of  convicts  in  "confine- 
ment "  in  1894  and  on  the  state  census  of  1895  shows  some 
very  marked  changes  during  a  period  of  about  fourteen 
years.  In  the  case  of  the  Irish-bom,  there  was  a  deteri- 
oration  of  64  per  cent.  The  Canadian-bom,  the  foreign- 
bom,  and  the  grand  total  had  a  far  brighter  record 
than  before.  The  native  population  had  a  proportion  of 
one  to  3,146,  and  the  Germans  one  to  4,054.  The  latter  is 
the  best  record,  excepting  that  of  the  Scandinavian-bom, 
which  had  a  proportion  of  one  to  6,075. 

Wisconsin.  The  criminal  statistics  of  Wisconsin  afford 
a  double  basis  for  computing  the  proportionate  representa- 
tion of  the  different  nationalities  in  the  state  penitentiary. 
For  fourteen  years  past,  from  1882-96,  the  nativity  of  all 
convicts  * 'received"  has  been  specified,  and  in  1882  the  nativ- 
ity of  the  whole  number  of  convicts  confined  was  recorded. 
By  proceeding  in  the  same  manner  and  by  the  same  method 
in  regard  to  Wisconsin  as  was  done  in  regard  to  Iowa, 
using  the  penitentiary  biennial  report  for  1881-2  of  the  for- 
mer state  as  the  basis  for  computation,  the  result  obtained 
is  as  follows:  One  out  of  every  3,021  inhabitants  of  the 
Canadian-bom  was  annually  convicted  of  some  penitentiary 
offense;  one  of  5,539,  of  the  English;  one  of  5,986,  of  the 
Irish;  one  of  7,584,  of  the  native  Americans;  one  of  9,453, 
of  the  Germans ;  and  one  of  9,469,  of  the  Scandinavians. 
The  native  bom  Americans,  the  total  foreign-bom,  and  the 
whole  population  have  nearly  the  same  standing.  Exactly 
ten  years  later,  one  in  1,442  of  the  Canadian-bom  received  a 
sentence  for  some  crime ;  one  in  5,551,  of  the  Irish;  one  in 

35 


10  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

6,346,  of  the  native  Americans ;  one  in  7,876,  of  the  English ; 
one  in  10,499,  of  the  Scandinavians ;  and  one  in  10,605,  of 
the  Germans.  Canada,  it  should  be  noticed,  not  only  retains 
her  position,  but  her  standing  is  more  than  twice  as  ugly  as 
ten  years  before,  and  Ireland  shows  only  one-fourth  as  large 
a  proportion  of  convicts  as  Canada.  The  native-bom  Ameri- 
cans, the  foreign-bom,  and  the  total  population  show  a  gen- 
eral deterioration  of  nearly  13  per  cent,  in  the  course  often 
years.  The  Scandinavian  and  the  German-bom,  which  were 
far  ahead  of  all  the  rest  in  1880-82,  have  made  a  further 
advance  of  over  11  per  cent.,  and  the  mutual  position  of  the 
two  is  changed  in  favor  of  the  latter. 

It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  the  figures  just  given 
do  not  afford  a  key  to  the  actual  representation  of  the  differ- 
ent nationalities  at  the  penitentiary,  because  tne  mere  con- 
viction of  a  person  does  not  show  the  gravity  of  the  crime, 
nor  the  length  of  the  term.  Hence,  other  facts  are  sub- 
mitted, showing  the  proportion  of  convicts  confined  at  the 
penitentiary  at  a  certain  time  to  the  total  number  of  inhab- 
itants. In  1882  there  was  confined  in  the  Wisconsin  peni- 
tentiary one  convict  to  every  3,780  persons.  One  out  of 
3,296  of  the  total  foreign-bom  population  was  a  prisoner, 
and  one  out  of  4,045  of  the  native  Americatis.  Canada  had 
one  culprit  for  every  1,284  inhabitants  in  the  state;  Ireland, 
one  for  2,328 ;  England,  one  for  2,492 ;  the  German  Empire, 
one  for  4,388;  and  the  Scandinavian  countries,  one  for 
6,026.  These  figures  throw  a  new  and  most  important 
light  on  the  criminality  of  the  different  nationalities.  The 
Canadians  retain  their  position,  clearly  proving  themselves 
to  be  the  most  vicious  class  of  citizens  in  the  state,  the  record 


THE  NATIONALITY  OP  INSANB  PERSONS.  11 

of  the  second  worst  class,  the  Irish,  being  much  brighter. 
There  is  one  surprising  diflference  between  these  and  the  other 
figures,  namely,  the  distance  between  the  Scandinavians  and 
the  Germans.  In  the  former  figures  the  two  nationalities 
in  question  were  far  ahead  of  all  the  rest.  They  still  retain 
their  former  vantage  ground.  But  while  the  Germans  have 
one  convict  to  every  4,388  inhabitants,  the  Scandinavian- 
bom  have  one  to  6,026.  In  other  words,  the  record  of  the 
latter  is  over  37  per  cent,  better  than  that  of  the  former.  If 
this  signifies  anything  at  all  it  proves  that  the  average 
length  of  term  served  by  Scandinavian-bom  convicts  is 
between  30  and  40  per  cent,  shorter  than  that  served  by  the 
German-bom,  which,  again,  points  to  a  corresponding  differ- 
ence  in  the  gravity  of  the  crimes  committed,  in  favor  of  the 
former. 

II.    Insane  Persons. 

Several  causes  conspire  to  produce  the  real,  or  apparent, 
frequency  of  mental  aberration  among  the  foreign-bom 
element  in  this  country.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  undoubt- 
edly general  causes  which  operate  among  all  the  foreigners, 
and  give  them,  perhaps,  a  much  higher  percentage  of  insanity 
than  the  nativcnbom  Americans.  Upon  the  whole,  emigra- 
tion is,  probably,  impelled  more  by  fear  than  by  hope ;  more 
by  fear  of  the  evils  of  the  Old  World  than  by  hope  of  happi- 
ness in  the  New  World.  So  many  tender  associations  must 
be  sacrificed,  so  many  ties  of  kinship  and  friendship  must  be 
severed.  The  average  emigrant  leaves  the  old  sod  with  a 
heart  more  or  less  wounded.  To  emigrate  to  a  foreign  land 
is  a  good  deal  like  tearing  up  a  plant  by  the  roots  and  trans- 


12  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

planting  it  into  another  locality;  but  with  this  difFertncc^ 
plants  are  removed  in  accordance  with  certain  scientific  and 
systematic  methods,  while  people  exchange  countries  in  the 
most  irregular  fashion.  Taking  into  consideration  the  com- 
plete change  of  climate,  the  new  social  conditions,  and  the 
severe  struggle  for  existence,  which  all  new-comers  have  to 
submit  to,  together  with  the  general  causes  which  produce 
insanity,  it  is  no  wonder  that  a  large  number  of  the  immi- 
grants mentally  succumb.  At  the  same  time  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  the  foreigners  in  this  country  have  a  much 
greater,  if  any,  percentage  of  insanity  than  the  natives. 
Nearly  all  the  foreign-bom  are  adults,  while  the  native-bom 
include,  besides  their  own  children,  also  the  children  of  the 
foreign-bom  parents.  This  fact  becomes  very  important 
when  it  is  remembered  that  in  most  cases  only  mature 
persons  become  insane.  As  a  consequence,  the  comparison 
between  the  proportionate  number  of  lunatic  foreigners  and 
insane  natives,  as  given  in  most  of  the  following  statistical 
figures,  does  not  give  the  real  relation,  because  the  bases  of 
computation  are  not  alike.  Besides,  the  native-bom  popu- 
lation, as  a  whole,  has  achieved  material  independence  to  a 
greater  extent  than  the  foreigners,  and,  as  a  consequence,  the 
former  are  in  a  much  better  position  than  the  latter  to  take 
care  of  their  insane  relatives,  especially  the  less  dangerous 
ones.  In  general,  the  only  available  figures  on  insanity  are 
those  obtained  from  the  various  state  hospitals  for  insane ; 
but  the  wealthy  Americans  do  not  send  their  lunatic  kin- 
dred to  a  state  institution,  but  to  a  private  asylum,  from 
which  it  is  difiicult  to  secure  any  reliable  statistical  reports 
relating  to  the  nativity  of  the  patients. 


THE  NATIONALITY  OF  INSANE  PERSONS.  13 

According  to  the  United  States  census  for  1860,  the  Irish- 
born  had  one  insane  and  idiotic  person  to  every  464  inhab- 
itants in  the  country ;  the  French,  one  to  600 ;  the  Ameri- 
cans, one  to  700;  the  English,  one  to  715;  the  Germans, one 
to  859 ;  the  Scandinavians,  or:.Q  to  896 ;  and  the  Canadians, 
one  to  957.  Ten  vears  later  all  the  nationalities  above 
mentioned  had  deteriorated  from  25  to  40  percent.,  except 
the  Canadians  and  Americans  who  had  slightly  improved. 
In  1870  the  Scotch  and  English  had  virtually  the  same 
record. 

The  census  reports  of  1860  and  1870  enumerate  the 
nativity  of  the  insane  and  idiotic  persons,  and  since  no  such 
enumeration  has  been  available;  but  in  this  article  only 
those  nationalities  which  had  a  population  of  over  100,000 
at  the  latter  date  have  been  referred  to.  In  treating  the 
four  following  states,  however,  all  the  nationalities  having 
a  population  of  about  25,000  in  1890  have  been  compared. 

Illinois.  The  insanity  statistics  of  Illinois  must  neces- 
sarily be  defective,  because  the  yearly  published  Proceedings 
of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Cook  County,  and  the 
reports  from  the  Cook  county  insane  asylum  in  those  vol- 
umes, present  the  appearance  of  having  been  prepared  and 
edited  by  the  idiots  themselves.  By  a  great  amount  of 
original  research,  however,  some  of  the  worst  gaps  were 
filled;  and  the  following  deductions  are  tolerably  reliable, 
being  based  on  the  official  reports  of  the  four  state  institu- 
tions, and  on  personal  investigation  of  the  diary  of  Cook 
county  insane  asylum.  The  average  number  of  German- 
bom  patients  annually  admitted  to  the  insane  asylums  in 
Illinois  for  the  two  years  ending  in  the  summer  of  1892  was 


14  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

nearly  285,  while,  according  to  the  United  States  census  for 
1890,  the  total  German  population  of  the  state  was 
338,382.  Thtjis,  out  of  every  1,189  German-bom  inhab- 
itants, one  was  committed  to  an  insane  asylum  during  one 
year.  As  to  the  Scandinavian  population,  the  proportion 
was  one  to  769.  But  the  Irish-bom  present  a  still  worse 
showing,  the  proportion  in  that  case  being  one  to  660. 
Using  the  same  data  as  above,  but  leaving  out  entirely  the 
returns  from  the  insane  asylum  of  Cook  county,  the  follow- 
ing proportion  was  obtained :  For  the  native-bom  Ameri- 
cans,  one  to  3,242;  the  whole  population,  one  to  2,236;  the 
British-Americans,  one  to  1,796;  the  Germans,  one  to  1,659; 
the  English,  one  to  1,453 ;  the  total  foreign  population,  one 
to  1,431;  the  Scandinavians,  one  to  1,102;  and  the  Irish, 
one  to  965. 

Iowa.  Insanity  evidently  is  on  the  increase  in  Iowa. 
In  1880-81  there  was  one  patient  annually  admitted  to 
the  hospitals  for  every  3,056  inhabitants  in  the  state ;  and 
in  1892-93,  one  for  every  2,012.  The  record  of  the  foreign- 
bom  population  is  much  worse  than  that  of  the  state,  as  a 
whole.  Thus,  in  1880-81  there  was  one  German  patient 
annually  committed  for  every  1,358  Germans  in  the  state; 
and  in  1892-93,  one  for  every  1,552.  The  proportion  of 
British-born  patients  to  the  British  population  for  the  same 
years  was  one  to  1,216  and  1,084,  respectively.  The  record 
of  the  Scandinavians  for  1880-81  was  one  patient  annually 
received  at  the  state  hospitals  for  insane  for  every  2,092 
inhabitants  bom  in  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden;  but 
the  number  of  patients  increased  so  fast  that  the  proportion 
was   one  to  1,048   in    1892-93.    Thus   the  proportionate 


THK  NATIONALITY  OF  INSANB  PERSONS.  l6 

number  of  Scandinayian  patients  was  exactly  doubled  in 
twelve  years,  while  the  proportionate  increase  for  the  whole 
state  was  only  a  little  over  one-third.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  insanity  records  of  Iowa  are  very  incomplete,  and  the 
above  statistics  by  no  means  give  the  whole  truth  as  to  the  . 
proportionate  prevalence  of  insanity  among  the  diflferent 
nationalities.  In  1885,  for  instance,  there  were  1,238 
patients  in  the  hospitals.  But,  according  to  the  state  census 
of  that  year,  there  were  1,720  insane  and  idiotic  persons 
outside  of  the  hospitals.  Since  the  nativity  of  the  latter  is 
not  given,  the  reports  of  the  hospitals  may  even  convey  a 
wrong  impression  as  to  the  proportionate  representation  of 
the  diflferent  nationalities,  and  this  undoubtedly  is  the  case 
in  regard  to  the  Scandinavians.  In  1885  the  combined  pop- 
ulation of  the  filve  counties  containing  the  largest  number  of 
Scandinavians  of  all  the  counties  in  the  state  was  about 
98,000 ;  but  the  number  of  insane  and  idiotic  persons  kept 
in  those  counties  was  only  sixty-one,  or  one  for  every  1,606 
inhabitants.  On  the  other  hand,  the  combined  population 
of  five  other  counties  containing  altogether  only  a  few  hun- 
dred Scandinavians  was  about  82,000,  while  the  number  of 
insane  and  idiotic  persons  kept  in  these  counties  was  eighty- 
five,  or  one  for  every  965  inhabitants.  This  indicates  that 
the  Scandinavian-bom  inhabitants  of  Iowa  send  a  larger 
proportion  of  their  insane  to  the  state  hospitals  than  some 
other  nationalities  do. 

Minnesota.  The  insane  asylum  reports  of  Minnesota  for 
the  years  1880-82  and  1892-94  seem  to  prove  that  insanity 
is  increasing  in  that  state.  So  general  is  the  downward 
movement  that  every  nationality  represented  l^  at  least 


16  HISTORY   OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

25,000  persons  in  the  state  was  carried  along  with  it  during 
that  period.  Thus,  in  the  case  of  the  natives,  which  have  by 
far  the  best  record,  the  proportion  of  the  number  of  persons 
annually  admitted  to  the  insane  asylums  in  the  state  for  the 
years  1880-82  was  one  to  every  4,008  inhabitants;  but  in 
the  course  of  the  next  twelve  years  the  proportion  was  one 
to  3,016,  or  an  increase  of  nearly  25  per  cent.  Making 
similar  computations  for  the  different  groups  of  foreigners, 
using  the  United  States  census  for  1880  and  the  state  census 
for  1895  as  the  bases  in  estimating  the  population,  it 
appears  that  the  Canadians  have  deteriorated  about  44  per 
cent,  during  twelve  years,  having  in  1892-94  one  insane 
annually  committed  to  the  state  institutions  for  every  1,188 
persons.  At  the  latter  date  the  Germans  sent,  on  a  yearly 
average,  one  lunatic  to  the  insane  asylums  for  every  1,262 
German-bom  inhabitants;  the  Scandinavians,  one  for  every 
953;  the  total  foreign-bom,  one  for  every  937;  and  the 
Irish,  one  for  every  544.  In  other  words,  the  Germans, 
Scandinavians,  total  foreign-bom,  and  Irish,  made,  during 
twelve  years,  a  slide  downwards  of  ten,  twenty-four,  thirty, 
and  forty  per  cent.,  respectively. 

Wisconsin.  The  Irish-bom  in  Wisconsin  have  the  worst 
record  as  to  insanit^^  an  average  of  one  person  out  of  every 
1,061  inhabitants  of  that  nationality  having  been  annually 
admitted  to  the  insane  asylums  of  the  state  during  the  years 
1881  and  1882.  The  Scandinavians,  however,  have  the 
second  poorest  showing,  or  one  to  1,411;  England  and 
Germany  follow  at  no  great  distance,  with  one  to  1,555  and 
one  to  1,624,  respectively,  and  Canada  has  one  lunatic  to 
every  2,233  inhabitants.    The  total  foreign-bom  population 


L/A 


CRIAiKS  AND  INSANITY.— CONCLUSIONS.  17 

in  the  state  had  one  insane  patient  to  every  1,615  sane 
persons,  and  the  native  Americans,  one  to  4,233.  Ten  years 
later  the  Irish,  the  Canadians,  and  the  native-bom  had  deter- 
iorated about  thirt3^-five  per  cent.;  the  Scandinavians  and 
Germans  had  a  five  or  ten  per  cent,  worse  showing  in  1892 
than  in  1882,  but  a  better  record  than  the  total  foreign 
element.  The  English  were  the  only  people  who  improved 
during  the  decade. 

III.    Conclusions. 

The  final  result  of  all  the  investigations  may,  with  more 
or  less  accuracy,  be  summed  up  in  the  following  table.  The 
number  of  prisoners,  as  enumerated  in  the  United  States 
census  reports  for  1880  and  1890,  together  with  the  number 
of  convicts  in  confinement  in  the  penitentiaries  of  Illinois, 
Minnesota,  and  Wisconsin  at  the  end  of  a  certain  3^ear,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  time  when  the  census  was  compiled, 
have  been  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  computation — it  being 
impossible  to  reduce  the  reports  of  Iowa  to  harmonize  with 
the  statistics  of  the  other  three  states.  The  reports  of  the 
insane  asylums  of  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Wisconsin  mention 
only  the  nationalities  of  those  received  each  year,  without 
referring  to  the  number  of  lunatics  on  hand  at  a  specific 
time;  consequently,  it  is  the  annual  admittance  to  the 
insane  hospitals  of  these  states  that  has  been  tabulated. 

In  1880  or  '82, 1  out  of  2,302  Persons  was  a  criminal ;  in  1890  or  *94, 1  out  of  1,999. 

In  18S0  or  'c^2, 1  out  of  2.  H3  Araoricans  was  a  criminal ;   in  1890  or  '94, 1  out  of  2,013. 

In  1880  or  '82, 1  out  of  2,035  Foreigners  was  a  criminal;  in  1890  or  '94, 1  out  of  1,887. 

In  1880  or  '82, 1  out  of  1,02 1  Canadians  was  a  criminal ;   in  1800  or  '94, 1  out  of  1,080. 

In  1880  or  '82, 1  out  of  J  ,:338  English  was  a  criminal ;  in  1890  or  '94, 1  out  of  1,103. 

In  1880  or  '82, 1  out  of  1,600  Irish  was  a  criminal ;   in  1890  or  '04. 1  out  of  860. 

In  1880  or  '82, 1  out  of  2,713  Germans  was  a  criminal ;  in  1890  or  '94, 1  out  of  2,715. 

In  1880  or  '82, 1  out  of  3.706  Scandinavians  was  a  criminal ;  in  1890  or  '94, 1  out  of  5,983. 


18  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

In  1881  or  *82, 1  oat  of  2,718  Penons  became  insane ;  in  1892  or  *94, 1  ont  of  1,719. 

In  1881  or  *82, 1  oat  of  4,120  Americans  became  insane;    in  1892  or  *94, 1  oat  of  3,000. 

In  1^1  or  '82, 1  oat  of  1,480  Foreigners  became  insane ;  in  1892  or  '94, 1  oat  of  1,144. 

In  1881  or  '82, 1  oat  of  2,174  Canadians  became  insane ;   in  1892  or  '94, 1  oat  of  1.325. 

In  1881  or  '82, 1  oat  of  1,278  English  became  insane ;  in  1892  or  '94, 1  oat  of  1,378. 

In  1881  or  *82, 1  oat  of  1,061  Irish  became  insane ;   in  1892  or  '94, 1  oat  of  789. 

In  1881  or  '82, 1  oat  of  1,461  Gtormans  became  insane ;  in  1892  or  '94, 1  oat  of  1,439. 

In  1881  or  '82, 1  oat  of  1,588  Scandinarians  became  insane ;   in  1892  or  '94, 1  oat  of  819. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  regard  to  crimes  the  Scandi- 
navians had  not  only  the  best  record  in  1880,  but  that  they 
improved  nearly  fifty  per  cent,  in  ten  or  fifteen  years, 
while,  virtually,  all  the  other  nationalities  deteriorated.  It 
is  commendable  in  the  Northmen,  to  say  the  least,  that  they 
can  morally  become  better  in  this  country,  where,  according 
to  such  high  authority  as  Andrew  D.  White,  more  crimes, 
proportionately,  are  committed  every  year  than  in  any 
other  Christian  land.  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the 
excellent  compulsory  educational  system  of  the  Scandi- 
navian countries,  and  the  conservative  and  systematic 
religious  training  which  every  child  receives  there,  have, 
probably,  been  the  main  forces  that  have  moulded  and 
assisted  in  developing  stronger  moral  characters  than  can, 
perhaps,  be  done  in  this  country  under  the  present  condi- 
tions. It  must  also  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  Northern 
emigrants,  on  the  average,  are  mentally  and  morally  supe- 
rior to  those  who  remain  at  home.  In  the  United  States 
there  is  free  trade  in  religion ;  school  children  sometimes  flog 
the  teacher,  and  in  a  school  in  Michigan  it  was  once  discov- 
ered that  thirteen  youngsters  carried  pistols  in  their  pockets ; 
the  family  relations  are  loose,  the  husband  often  being  the 
willing  slave  of  his  wife,  who,  in  turn,  obeys  her  offspring 
and  permits  the  baby  to  assume  the  dictatorship  of  the 


CRIMES  AND  INSANITY— CONCLUSIONS.  19 

household ;  and  the  frequency  of  cyclones  and  floods  seem  to 
indicate  that  even  nature  itself  is  more  out  of  joint  than  in 
any  other  portion  of  the  civilized  world.  In  such  a  land,  it 
is  to  be  expected  that  the  morality,  as  well  as  the  general 
characteristics  of  the  people,  will  be  different  from  the  results 
obtained  in  other  countries  where  conditions  are  almost  the 
reverse.  The  constant  lack  of  order  and  system  in  many  of 
the  essential  affairs  of  the  family,  church,  and  state  must 
have  a  greatly  demoralizing  effect,  especially  upon  the  grow- 
ijig  generation.  The  large  proportion  of  criminals  in  this 
country  is  probably  one  of  the  prices  that  has  to  be  paid  for 
the  blessings  of  freedom;  and,  applied  in  a  different  sense 
from  that  in  which  it  was  originally  uttered,  the  exclama- 
tion of  the  French  heroine  might  with  justice  be  repeated: 
*  *  Oh  liberty !  what  crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name ! ' '  That 
the  Scandinavians  in  the  Western  continent  have  been  able 
to  rise  above  all  other  nationalities  in  regard  to  crimes,  not 
only  points  toward  the  superiority  of  the  religious  and 
educational  training  of  their  native  lands  as  the  main  cause, 
but  it  is  a  high  endorsement  of  the  work  of  those  men  who, 
through  parochial  schools,  colleges,  and  churches,  have 
endeavored  to  perpetuate  the  virtues,  the  characteristics, 
and  the  religious  beliefs  of  their  ancestors.  The  apparently 
great  moral  improvement  of  the  Scandinavians  during  the 
past  decade  may  be  due,  partly,  to  the  betterment  in  recent 
years  of  the  common  schools  in  their  own  countries,  and  the 
more  intense  Christian  earnestness  which  has  penetrated  the 
state  churches,  and  consequently  a  moral  improvement  of 
recent  immigrants ;  partly,  to  the  fact  that  the  character- 
making  elements  on  this  side  of  the  water  have  been  better 


20  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

able  to  take  care  of  new-comers  than  formerly ;  and,  partly, 
to  poor  criminal  statistics,whicli,  however,  are  quite  reliable, 
and  far  superior  to  those  dealing  wuth  insanity. 

From  1860  to  1880  the  Scandinavians,  in  regard  to 
insanity,  had  almost  the  best  record  of  any  foreigners  in  the 
United  States.  Since,  with  the  exception  of  the  Irish,  they, 
apparently ,  have  had  the  worst;  and  their  downward  march 
towards  lunacy  has  even  been  a  little  more  rapid  than  their 
jpward  march  towards  moral  perfection,  being  in  the  former 
case  a  deterioration  of  nearly  fifty  per  cent,  in  about  ten 
years.  Science  has  not  yet  been  able  to  decide  whether  it  is 
the  most  brilliant  or  the  most  stupid  who  become  insane. 
But  it  is  often  asserted  that  the  gulf  between  the  lunatic  and 
the  genius  is  not  great.  Maudsley,  however,  says,  **Most 
instances  lie  between  these  extremes  of  strong  and  weak 
mental  organizations."  Yet,  Lombroso  maintains  that  the 
brilliant  Jewish  people  pay  a  heavy  penalty  for  their 
brilliancy  by  becoming  insane  in  greater  proportion  than 
any  other  race  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  although,  it  is 
claimed,  they  have  an  excellent  record  in  regard  to  crimes. 
It  is  difficult  to  assign  any  predominating  cause,  or  causes, 
for  the  appalling  increase,  real  or  apparent,  of  mental 
derangement  among  the  Scandinavians  in  America,  and 
\nore  difficult  still  to  discover  a  check,  or  remedy,  for  the 
evil,  which  may  be  their  "fate  or  fault."  Probably  the 
earnestness  and  depth  of  their  character,  coupled  with  a 
strong  imaginative  and  poetical  nature,  unfits  many  of  the 
immigrants  for  enduring  the  intense  pressure  of  constantly 
recurring  and  often  fanatical  religious  controversies,  social 
upheavals  and  political  excitement,  disappointment  in  love 


CRIMES  AND  INSANITY — CONCLUSIONS.     —  21 

and  financial  failures.  A  hypocrite  or  a  mentally  strong 
character  can,  for  example,  study  the  various  religious 
systems  of  the  world  without  danger  and  with  some  profit 
to  himself.  But  a  very  earnest,  uneducated  person  of  aver- 
age mental  capacities  is  likely  to  become  a  lunatic  before  the 
process  is  over.  Perhaps  a  majority  of  Scandinavians  in 
America  take  a  more  serious  interest  in  spiritual  matters 
than  the  majority  of  other  people;  and  some  persons  have, 
out  of  ignorance,  taken  advantage  of  this  earnestness,  and 
incited  them  beyond  their  strength.  This  assumption  is 
strengthened,  at  least  to  a  certain  extent,  by  an  appeal  to 
statistics;  for  it  appears  that  the  Danish-Americans,  who 
seldom  become  excited  about  religious  affairs,  are  less 
subject  to  insanity  than  the  Swedes  and  the  Norwegians. 
No  doubt,  the  indulgence  in  strong  drinks  or  sexual  abuses, 
either  of  the  victim  himself  or  of  his  ancestors,  has  been  the 
means  of  landing  many  Scandinavians  in  the  insane  asylums. 
Yet,  it  cannot  be  proved,  nor  disproved,  that  they  are  worse 
in  these  respects  than  other  nationalities.  But  the  real  point 
at  issue,  however,  is  not  the  great  prevalence  of  madness 
among  the  Northmen;  for,  as  has  been  observed, until  recent 
years  they  were  better  off  in  this  respect  than  other  people. 
But  the  question  of  the  questions  is,  what  are  the  reasons  for 
their  alarming  downward  rush,  real  or  apparent,  in  the  last 
decade?  They  practice  the  virtue  of  temperance  in  all 
things  just  as  much  today  as  they  did  ten  years  ago,  if  not 
more.  Have  the  religious  contentions  become  more  intense 
than  formerly  ?  As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  however, 
the  insane  statistics  are  very  unsatisfactory.  There  is  no 
law  to  compel  persons  to  send  their  lunatic  relatives  to  an 


22  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

asylum,  as  in  the  case  of  criminals.  It  cannot  be  determined 
whether  the  Scandinavians  formerly  kept  a  larger  proportion 
of  their  insane  at  home  than  what  is  done  today;  and 
many  lunatics  bom  in  this  country  of  Scandinavian  parents 
may  be  reported  as  belonging  to  the  first  generation. 
Probably  the  recent  immigrants  have  been  of  such  high 
nervous  temperament  that  their  fine  fibers  have  been  unable 
to  properly  endure  the  strain  of  the  new  conditions  in 
America,  and,  in  their  eager  desire  to  become  wealthy  and 
wise,  they,  like  the  Jews,  have  had  to  pay  the  price. 


The  United  States  oentns  reports  of  1890  on  insanitj  and  feeble-mlndadnesa  did  not 
appear  until  this  article  had  been  eleotrotjrped,  in  1897.  In  reigard  to  the  diflbrent 
nationalities  in  this  country,  only  the  birthplaces  of  the  mothers  of  the  lunatics  were 
recorded,  and  from  these  meager  data  the  f ollowin^r  deductions  were  made :  1  peraan  in 
208  of  Irish  birth  or  extraction  was  insane  or  feeble-minded,  1  in  222  of  Hungarian,  1  in 
852  of  French,  1  in  881  of  ScandinayiaD,  1  in  898  of  German,  1  in  420  of  Bohemian,  1  in  450 
of  Enfflish-Welsh,  1  in  465  of  Scotch,  1  in  625  of  Italian,  and  1  in  666  of  Canadian.  One 
out  of  erery  701  of  the  natiye-bom  white  was  Insane  in  1880,  and  one  out  of  ereiy  256  of 
the  foreign  bom ;  but  the  former  had  one  feeble-minded  to  every  602  sound^minded,  and 
the  latter  one  to  erery  1,004.  As  has  been  said  elsewhere  in  this  article,  a  reliable  oom- 
I>arison  cannot  be  made  between  the  natiTCs  and  the  foreigners ;  yet  some  of  tha  aUssk 
American  statisticians  and  educators  maintain  that  the  natiTe  bom  haye.proportionately, 
more  criminals  than  the  foreign-bom;  and  according  to  deductions  made  from  the 
United  States  census  of  1890,  the  natiye  bom  white  had  one  insane  or  feeble-minded  to 
CTory  826  sane  persons,  which  seems  to  indicate  that  the  Americans  have  at  least  as  laige 
a  proportion  of  idiots  as  any  other  class  of  people. 


Historical  Review  of  Lutlier  Collie. 


— BY — 


Like  the  Puritans  of  New  England,  the  early  Norwegian 
immigrants  made  it  one  of  their  first  cares  to  establish 
schools  for  the  education  of  their  children.  Placed  amid  new 
influences  in  a  new  country,  they  felt  the  importance  of  cling- 
ing to  those  of  their  heritages  which  they  held  most  dear — to 
their  Lutheran  faith  always,  to  their  language  as  long  as 
might  be.  The  Norwegians  did  not  then,  and  do  not  now, 
deny  the  great  usefulness,  within  their  province,  of  the  public 
schools ;  but  they  have  always  felt  that  there  is  an  impor- 
tant educational  work  which  these  schools,  because  of  their 
necessary  limitations,  cannot  perform.  This  is  the  education 
of  the  religious  element  in  man.  To  supply  a  higher  educa- 
tion based  on  Christian  principles,  especially  with  a  view  to 
fitting  young  men  for  the  study  of  theology,  was  the  object 
for  which  Luther  College  was  founded  and  for  which  it  exists 
to-day. 

It  was  in  1861  that  the  Synod  of  the  Norwegian  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church  of  America — commonly  called  the 
Norwegian  Synod — ^resolved  to  build  a  college.  Since  1858 
the  theological  students  of  the  synod  had  attended  the  col- 

23 


24  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

lege  and  seminary  of  the  Missouri  Synod  in  St.  LoniSy  Mo,; 
but  when  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  the  Norwegian  Lutherans, 
whose  number  was  steadily  growing,  thought  it  wiser  to 
erect  a  college  in  their  own  midst.  The  new  school  was  to 
be  located  at  Decorah,  Iowa,  but  for  the  first  year  accommo- 
dations were  secured  in  the  Halfway  Creek  parsonage,  a 
short  distance  from  La  Crosse,  Wis.  The  beginnings  of  the 
school  were  necessarily  small.  Unpretentious  as  they  are, 
such  beginnings  have  at  least  the  advantage  of  revealing 
better  the  stages  of  growth,  and  these  it  is  always  interesting 
to  witness.  Two  teachers  and  a  total  enrolment  of  sixteen 
are  matters  of  record  for  the  school  year  1861-62.  Yet  the 
work  went  forward,  and  that  local  attachment  and  that 
devotion  to  a  common  object  which  are  sources  of  strength 
to  any  institution  were  born.  After  a  year's  narrow-spaced 
but  open-hearted  family  life  in  this  country  parsonage,  the 
school  was  removed  to  Decorah.  But  as  work  on  the  college 
building  had  not  yet  begun,  the  school  was  under  the  neces- 
sity of  taking  up  temporary  quarters  in  the  business  portion 
of  the  city.  On  June  30, 1864,  the  comer  stone  of  the  new 
building  was  laid,  and  on  October  14, 1865,  it  was  dedicated, 
amid  rejoicing  and  thanksgiving  shared  in  by  several  thou- 
sand people.  This  day  has  been  celebrated  by  the  students 
as  dedication  day  ever  since.* 

The  building  was  erected  on  an  elevation  on  the  left  bank 

*The  bailding  cost  $75,000;  the  addition  made  in  1874,  $23,000;  the  rebnildinc, 
after  the  fire,  $56,000 ;  and  varions  other  stractures,  for  example,  residenoes  for  some  of 
the  professors,  and  the  gymnasium,  not  far  from  C16,000,  making  a  total  expenditnre  for 
bailding  purposes  of  about  $170,000.  The  yearly  expenses  for  operating  the  inatitntioii 
may  be  roughly  estimated  at  $20,000,  which  would  amount  to  $800,000  in  the  thirtj  odd 
years  of  its  existence.  Nearly  all  these  sums  have  been  raised  by  Tolontary  oon- 
tributions,  only  four  legacies  having  been  received,  which  altogether  do  not  amoantto 
$10,000.    The  value  of  all  the  college  property  is  about  $120,000.— Editos. 


HISTORY  OF  LUTHER    COLLEGE.  25 

of  the  picturesque  Upper  Iowa  river,  so  as  to  command  an 
unusuallj  pleasant  view  of  hill  and  dale,  of  city  and  country. 
Though  architecturally  plain,  the  structure  presented  a  noble 
appearance,  was  quite  large,  and,  for  those  times,  well 
equipped.  As  the  number  of  students  increased,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  build  an  addition  to  it,  which  had  been  provided 
for  in  the  original  plans.  This  addition,  usually  called  the 
south  wing,  was  completed  in  1874,  making  the  entire  build- 
ing 170x52,  with  accommodations  for  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  students.  In  addition  to  the  main  building,  several 
smaller  ones  have,  from  time  to  time,  been  built  or  adapted 
for  college  purposes.  Among  these  is  the  gymnasium,  a 
spacious  frame  structure  built  in  1885-86,  the  money  for  the 
purpose  having  been  collected  mostly  by  the  students. 

On  May  19,  1889,  the  main  building  was  destroyed  by 
fire.  The  library  and  most  of  the  other  movable  objects  of 
value  were  saved ;  yet  the  loss  was  a  heavy  one.  The  pecu- 
niary loss  was,  however,  more  than  made  up  for  by  the 
active  sympathy  and  love  for  the  institution  which  the  mis- 
fortune called  forth  or  made  manifest.  Those  who  in  the 
trying  pioneer  days  had  helped  to  raise  the  building  again 
united  their  efforts,  seconded  by  the  younger  generation  of 
men  who  had  experienced  the  benefits  conferred  by  the  school, 
and  the  result  was  the  completion,  in  1890,  of  a  new  edifice, 
reared  indeed  on  the  old  foundation,  but  far  more  conven- 
ient, commodious,  and  handsome.  The  friends  of  the  college 
had  again  occasion  to  rqoice  and  feel  thankful.  Amid  a 
large  concourse  of  people  from  far  and  near,  the  reconstructed 
college  building  was  dedicated  on  the  twenty-fifth  anniver- 
(Sary  of  the  first  dedication. 

• 


26  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Before  the  work  of  rebuilding  at  Decorah  was  entered 
upon,  there  had  been  some  discussion  as  to  the  advisability 
of  moving  the  college  to  some  larger  city  and  one  located 
more  centrally  with  reference  to  the  school's  constituency ; 
but  after  various  locations  had  been  considered,  particularly 
one  in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  it  was  decided  to  raise 
the  walls  where  they  fell  and  where  fond  memories  clustered 
about  the  ruins. 

Luther  College  owes  its  origin  mainly  to  a  strong  religious 
conviction.  The  existence  of  this  conviction  explains  how  it 
was  possible  for  a  comparatively  small  body  of  pioneers, 
during  years  burdened  with  the  hardships  of  war,  to  erect  a 
building  that,  according  to  the  then  prevailing  values,  cost 
$75,000.  It  should  also  be  noted  that  the  early  Norwegian 
settlers  were  unaccustomed  to  the  making  of  voluntary  con- 
tributions for  church  purposes,  and  that  their  means  as  a 
rule  were  small.  Even  now,  much  as  they  have  at  heart  the 
welfare  of  schools  and  churches,  they  are  somewhat  chary 
of  making  bequests  or  gifts  of  a  larger  nature.  But  under  wise 
leadership  their  collective  yearly  contributions  have  been  by 
no  means  inconsiderable.  As  leaders  in  the  work  of  founding 
and  supporting  Luther  College  are  to  be  mentioned  Rev. 
Laur.  Larsen,  Rev.  V.  Koren,  Rev.  H.  A.  Preus,  Rev.  J.  A. 
Ottesen.  Others  might  be  added  to  the  number,  but  it  is 
fitting  that  the  names  of  these  older  men  should  stand  out 
in  relief.  Of  those  who  have  given  legacies  to  the  school  the 
late  Mr.  Halvor  Gjerjord,  of  Stoughton,  Wis.,  deserves  special 
mention  inasmuch  as  his  was  the  first  and,  so  far,  the  largest 
bequest  the  college  has  received.  The  name  of  a  woman 
must  also  be  recorded  here  — one  who  sought  always  to  pro- 


HISTORY  OF  LUTHER    COLLEGE.  27 

mote  the  comfort  and  the  happiness  of  the  students  and  who 
freely  bestowed,  especially  upon  the  needy  and  deserving 
among  them,  her  love  and  labor  with  such  a  tact  and  in  such 
ways  as  are  characteristic  of  a  noble  woman.  This  was 
Mrs.  Diderikke  Brandt.    She  died  in  1885. 

Being  modelled  after  the  Latin  schools  or  gymnasia  of 
northern  Europe,  Luther  College  has  from  the  outset  been 
essentially  a  classical  institution.  Through  all  changes  made 
in  the  course  of  years  this  characteristic  has  been  preserved 
inviolate.  Yet  mathematics  and  the  sciences  have  perhaps 
received  as  much  recognition  as  could  have  been  expected  in 
a  college  having,  in  the  wider  sense  of  the  term,  only  one 
course  of  study.  During  the  last  ten  years  these  subjects 
have  gradually  come  to  fill  a  larger  place  in  the  curriculum, 
especially  in  the  preparatory  department.  Prior  to  1881 
the  regular  course  covered  six  years,  with  no  sharp  line  of 
division  between  collegiate  and  preparatory  work.  Since 
then  the  preparatory  course  has  embraced  three  years,  and 
has  come  to  be  treated  more  as  a  course  of.  study  by  itself. 
The  tendency  in  recent  years  has  been  toward  a  reduction  of 
the  number  of  recitations  per  week  and  toward  the  concen- 
tration of  the  student's  energies  on  fewer  studies  at  a  time. 
Such  economy  will  no  doubt,  if  the  student  is  directed  aright, 
be  found  to  be  wise.  One  way  of  directing  him  that  is  now 
more  employed  than  formerly  is  that  of  pointing  out  supple- 
mentary reading.  In  olden  times  a  college  library  was  but 
too  commonly  a  storehouse  for  a  limited  number  of  poorly 
arranged  books,  to  which  references  were  rarely  made.  Now 
as  a  rule  the  school  library  is  coming  to  be  less  of  a  mere 
repository  and  more  of  a  students'  workshop.     At  present 


28  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   8. 

the  Luther  College  library  contains  between  7000  and  8000 
volumes  besides  pamphlets  and  periodicals.  Its  growth  has 
been  most  rapid  during  the  last  ten  years.  In  the  matter  of 
museum  the  college  has  been  poorly  equipped ;  but  promising 
efforts  to  build  up  one  are  now  being  made. 

The  work  done  at  the  school  now  has  naturally  a  wider 
range  than  formerly.  It  is  curious  to  notice,  for  instance, 
how  restricted  was  the  reading  done  in  Greek  and  in  Eng- 
lish literature  some  twenty  years  ago.  In  Greek  were  read 
portions  of  Xenophon,  of  Homer,  and  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment; in  Bnglish  a  series  of  readers  were  used,  followed  by 
Shakespeare.  In  some  other  subjects  there  was  a  corres- 
ponding lack  of  comprehensiveness  and  variety,  a  result  of 
the  then  existing  conditions.  If  one  were  to  compare  the 
quality  of  the  work  done  now  with  that  of  the  past,  he  would 
also  notice  progress.  Methods  have  changed  somewhat,  but 
the  pervading  spirit  remains  the  same,  for  faithfulness  and 
thoroughness  have  ever  been  insisted  upon.  Superfine  polish 
and  glittering  (Commonplaces  have  not  been  held  in  much 
esteem.  Matter  has  been  placed  above  manner.  If  finish 
and  form  have  at  any  time  been  insufficiently  attended  to, 
the  fault  lay,  no  doubt,  often  in  the  clay  that  came  to  the 
potter's  hand. 

In  keeping  with  its  primary  purpose,  Luther  College 
devotes  considerable  attention  to  Norwegian  language  and 
literature.  For  the  church  work  within  the  synod  has  so 
far  been  conducted  mostly  in  that  language.  But  there  arc 
also  good  literary  reasons  for  emphasizing  this  subject.  In 
consequence  of  its  doing  so,  the  college  has  always  had  two 
mediums  of  instruction,  and  the  student,  so  far  as  possible. 


HISTORY  OF  LUTHER  COLLEGE.  29 

two  mother  tongues.  This  state  of  things  may  have  made 
his  acquisition  of  each  language  somewhat  slower  than 
otherwise,  but  it  has  also,  without  doubt,  broadened  his 
knowledge  of  language  and  extended  his  acquaintance  with 
literature.  In  the  early  days  of  the  school  the  Norwegian 
language  occupied  the  more  important  place  both  in  the 
class-room  and  outside.  But  as  the  Americanizing  tendency 
grew  stronger  among  our  people,  the  college  endeavored  to 
adapt  itself  to  this  changing  condition.  English  is  now 
used  more  than  Norwegian  as  a  medium  of  instruction ;  it  is 
also  the  predominant  language  of  the  literary  societies,  and 
shares  equal  honors  with  Norwegian  in  the  students'  peri- 
odical. The  following  figures  give  some  indication  of  the 
change  that  has  taken  place  during  fifteen  years :  In  1879, 
123  of  the  weekly  hours  of  instruction  were  given  in  Nor- 
wegian and  61  in  English ;  in  the  fall  term  of  1894,  90  in 
Norwegian  and  106  in  English — the  relation  having  changed 
in  favor  of  the  latter  from  one-third  to  somewhat  more  than 
one-half.  Besides  an  extended  course  in  Norwegian  language 
and  literature  Luther  College  offers,  or  requires,  short 
courses  in  certain  other  subjects  that  are  seldom  found  on 
the  programmes  of  American  colleges.  These  subjects  are 
Hebrew,  Old  Norse,  and  Scandinavian  History. 

During  the  thirty  odd  years  of  its  activity  the  college 
has,  in  all,  had  twenty-three  professors,  besides  a  number  of 
instructors.  Most  of  its  early  teachers  had  received  their 
education  in  Norway;  in  later  years  the  college  has  obtained 
its  teachers  largely  from  its  own  graduates  or  from  those  of 
other  schools  of  this  country.  Four  of  those  who  have  been 
professors  at  the  college  are  now  dead.    The  name  of  each 


30  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

of  these  is  intimately  associated  ^th  some  phase  of  the 
school's  history.  Knut  E.  Bergh  is  fondly  remembered  by 
the  early  graduates  for  his  ability  as  a  teacher  and  his 
geniality  as  a  man.  Jacob  D.  Jacobsen  was  a  man  of  broad 
and  exact  scholarship.  Conscientious,  judicial-minded,  mod- 
est, weak  in  body  but  strong  in  faith,  he  endeared  himself  to 
all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  and  left  a  memory  that 
the  college  will  not  let  die.  Cornelius  Narvesen  and  Ole 
Ramstad,  the  latter  the  successor  of  the  former,  devoted 
themselves  to  the  task  of  giving  the  sciences  a  larger  place  in 
the  course  of  study.  Both  faithful  workers,  the  one  was 
known  moreforhis  retiring  modesty,  the  other  for  his  energy. 
The  faculty  of  Luther  College  consists  now  of  eight 
regular  members,  with  sometimes  one  or  two  teachers  serv- 
ing temporarily.  The  president  is  Rev.  Laur.  Larsen,  who 
has  been  connected  with  the  school  in  this  capacity  since  its 
foundation.  He  is  jtt  a  vigorous  man,  of  threescore  and 
odd  years,  and  has  in  his  day  performed  a  great  amount  of 
work,  educational,  administrative,  pastoral,  and  editorial. 
His  administrative  duties  may  have  been  somewhat  light- 
ened by  the  establishment,  some  years  ago,  of  the  princi- 
palship  of  the  preparatory  department;  but  the  general 
supervision  continues,  of  his  own  choice,  to  rest  with  him. 
In  his  relations  with  the  students  he  has  always  emphasized 
the  duty  of  punctuality  and  of  Christian  conduct,  and  has 
in  an  eminent  degree  won  their  respect.  In  him  the  college 
has  had  a  faithful  and  competent  administrator  of  its  affairs. 
While  conservative,  he  has  yet  been  ready  to  introduce  such 
changes  as  seemed  not  inconsistent  with  the  original  aim  of 
the  school,  and  as  seemed  to  have  the  approval  of  time. 


HISTORY  OF  LUTHER  COLLBGB.  31 

An  important  element  of  strength  in  the  president's 
policy  has  been  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  the  clergy 
and  the  laity  of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  It  is  this  confidence 
in  the  school's  administration,  combined  with  the  people's 
love  for  an  institution  which  they  themselves  have  built  and 
whose  character  they  have  learnt  to  appreciate,  that  has 
made  Luther  College  what  it  is,  and  that  has  ever  con- 
stituted its  chief  endowment.  Other  than  this  it  has  a  fund 
of  only  some  eight  thousand  dollars,  the  income  of  most 
of  which  is  distributed  to  deserving  students  who  are  fitting 
themselves  for  the  ministry.  The  college  is,  therefore,  sup- 
ported mainly  by  voluntary  contributions.  This  direct  de- 
pendence of  the  college  on  the  sympathy  and  support  of  the 
people  within  the  synod,  who  also  control  its  larger  policy 
through  the  votes  of  their  church  delegates,  gives  it  a 
strongly  representative  character.  While  the  school  would 
not  on  any  consideration  willingly  lose  this  friendly  support, 
it  recogfnizes  the  importance  of  larger  permanent  fiinds  for 
certain  purposes. 

As  a  tree  is  judged  by  its  fiotit,  so  the  character  of  an 
institution  of  learning  is,  after  all,  best  tested  by  inquiring 
into  the  quality  of  the  men  whom  it  sends  forth.  And  first 
a  word  or  two  about  the  youths  whom  it  seeks  to  develop 
into  men.  The  large  majority  of  Luther  College  students 
have  come  from  farm  homes  of  the  Northwest,  from  which 
they  have  brought  with  them  habitsof  industry,  of  straight- 
forwardness, of  economy.  All  have,  previous  to  their  com- 
ing, been  instructed  in  the  principles  of  Christianity  in  the 
parochial  schools,  and  nearly  all  have  had  the  benefit  of 
some  common  school  instruction.     In  recent  years  uomej 


32  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

have  come  from  the  academies  organized  within  the  synod. 
On  entering,  they  had  usually  made  up  their  minds  to  work, 
or  if  there  were  those  who  had  not,  most  of  these  soon  felt 
constrained  to  do  so.  Time  was  when  some  of  the  classes 
had  as  many  as  thirty-four  recitations  per  week.  Yet  the 
class-room  work,  especially  in  the  languages,  has  been 
fully  on  a  par  with  that  done  in  other  colleges  of  the  same 
grade.  The  class-room  attitude  of  the  student  seems,  how- 
ever, to  have  diflFered  from  that  of  his  American  fellow  in 
being  less  demonstrative,  less  inquisitive,  less  easy  and  self- 
assertive.  That  the  greater  reserve  of  the  former  is  not 
due  to  a  lack  of  interest  is  proved  by  general  results.  The 
difFerence*  so  far  as  there  is  one,  may  in  part  be  due  to  early 
training.  Moreover,  the  Norwegian  student,  like  the  people 
from  which  he  springs,  has  an  even  tenor,  and  is  but  little 
given  to  mere  intellectual  display.  While  not  often  con- 
spicuously brilliant,  he  has  large  capacity  for  work,  is 
energetic  and  thorough-going,  and  impresses  one  by  his 
reserve  power  and  his  pronounced  sanity.  These  qualities 
have  gained  him  a  fair  reputation  wherever  he  has  become 
known. 

Student  life  at  Luther  College  has,  in  the  main,  differed 
but  little  from  that  of  other  institutions  where  a  healthy 
moral  sentiment  is  inculcated  and  where  the  hardship  of 
work  is  seasonably  relieved  by  the  tonic  of  recreation. 
Although  a  large  number  of  the  students  enter  the  school 
with  the  idea  of  becoming  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  they  have 
quite  generally  been  free  from  the  fault  of  taking  themselves 
too  seriously.  Their  religious  nature,  while  broadening  and 
deepening,  has  flowed  on  more  as  an  under-current.    Their 


HISTORY  OF  LUTHER  COLLBGB.  33 

fresh  contact  with  ufe  in  its  serener  aspects  has  contributed 
to  make  them  good-natured  and  happy,  and  has  tended  to 
prevent  a  lop-sided  development.  While  there  have  been 
few,  if  any,  of  such  noisy  demonstrations  as  might  disturb 
the  outside  world,  other  forms  of  diversion  and  wayward- 
ness have  not  been  wanting.  There  have  been  musical 
entertainments  and  un-musical  rattlings  down  the  stairs, 
city  parties  and  smokers'  feasts,  carping  at  teachers  and  per- 
secution of  ''preps,"  publication  of  pointless  jokes  and 
immolation  of  tedious  text-books.  Some  of  these  practices 
have  been  of  rare  occurrence,  and  now  several  of  them  are 
no  longer  in  vogue.  None  of  the  so-called  fraternities  have 
existed  at  this  college,  nor  is  the  atmosphere  favorable  to 
them.  In  sport,  especially  in  baseball,  the  students  have 
won  a  fair  name  among  neighboring  colleges.  But  sports 
have  not  been  a  hobby  with  them.  They  yet  practice,  to  a 
limited  extent,  the  old-fashioned  method  of  unbending  their 
minds  by  bending  their  backs  in  the  doing  of  minor 
services,  t 

In  perhaps  no  enterprise  outside  the  routine  work  have 
the  students  made  so  much  progress  as  in  music,  and  that 
often  without  a  regular  teacher.  The  college  brass  band 
and  the  orchestra  have  each  above  a  score  of  members,  and 
in  addition  to  these  there  is  generally  a  choir  or  a  glee  club. 
For  the  pecuniary  support  of  these  organizations,  as  well 
as  for  certain  other  objects,  the  students  have  contributed 
from  time  to  time.  Friends  in  the  city  of  Decorah  and  else- 
where have  sometimes  lent  a  helping  hand. 


fForan  eatertainixk^  and  TiTid  description  of  Lather  College  life^at  least,  the 
less  serioos  side  of  it— see  Prof.  P.  O.  Stromme's  book,  Hvorledet  Halvor  btev  Preat.^ 
Bditob. 


34  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

The  number  of  students  enrolled  has  recently  been  about 
one  hundred  and  eighty  a  year.  In  a  few  cases  the  number 
has  exceeded  two  hundred,  notably  in  years  immediately 
following  upon  large  building  improvements.  In  the 
eighties  the  attendance,  owing  chiefly  to  a  doctrinal  con* 
troversy  within  the  synod,  dwindled  down  until,  in  1887,  it 
was  only  118 — the  smallest  number  in  nineteen  years.  Since 
then  an  opposite  tendency  has  generally  prevailed.  For  a 
better  understanding  of  the  figures  respecting  attendance,  it 
should  be  noted  that  the  school  is  not  co-educational. 

The  territory  from  which  the  college  has  drawn  its 
students  naturally  corresponds  somewhat  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  the  No#wegianirpopulation.  As  might  be  expected, 
the  newer  states,  though  sending  a  number  of  students,  have 
as  yet  furnished  but  few  graduates.  The  states  or  countries 
in  which  the  students  of  the  last  thirteen  years  had  their 
homes  during  their  senior  year  are  as  follows:  Iowa,  50 ; 
Minnesota,  49;  Wisconsin,  24;  Illinois,  7;  North  Dakota,  3; 
Nebraska,  3 ;  Michigan,  1 ;  Natal,  South  Africa,  3. 

It  had  once  been  the  intention  to  add  a  theological 
department  to  the  college,  but  this  idea  was  for  various 
reasons  abandoned.  A  normal  department,  however,  was 
early  organized.  After  the  normal  course  had  been  extended 
to  three  years  and  a  professor  had  been  added  specially  for 
its  benefit,  this  department  continued  to  form  a  part  of 
the  college  until  1886.  As  it  had  never  flourished  in  the 
measure  hoped  for,  it  was  discontinued,  with  a  view  to  the 
establishment  of  a  separate  normal  school.  Such  a  school 
was  founded  in  Sioux  Falls,  S.  D.,  in  1889.  Nevertheless, 
the  normal  department  in  Decorah  had  sent  out  a   fair 


HISTORY  OF  LUTHER  COLLEGE.  35 

number  of  teachers,  some  of  them  competent  to  take  charge 
both  of  parochial  and  of  common  schools. 

Luther  College  has,  almost  since  its  foundation,  offered 
the  same  terms  to  its  students  no  matter  what  vocation 
they  finally  had  in  view.  That  some  students,  on  certain 
conditions,  liave  received  pecuniary  aid  is  a  matter  apart. 
Nor  has  the  college  exacted  from  its  graduates  any  promise 
— though  it  has  always  given  them  the  advice — to  study 
theology,  holding  it  wiser  to  leave  them  free  to  decide 
according  to  the  self-knowledge  and  the  sense  of  duty  which 
their  studies,  it  is  hoped,  have  helped  them  to  attain.  But 
whatever  occupations  they  have  chosen,  the  Luther  College 
graduates  bear  with  them,  in  mind  and  manner,  the  impress 
of  the  institution  that  sheltered  them  so  long.  Their 
ntmiber  is  now  not  far  from  three  hundred.  More  than  one- 
half  of  these  have  entered  or  are  preparing  to  enter  the 
Lutheran  ministry,  a  considerable  proportion  are  engaged  as 
professors  and  instructors,  some  are  practicing  medicine  or 
law,  others  are  devoted  to  journalism,  a  few  have  entered 
the  field  of  state  or  local  politics,  and  two  have  been 
appointed  to  government  service  abroad.  Some  of  the 
graduates  have  continued  their  studies  at  Eastern  univer- 
sities, eight  of  whom  have  at  this  writing  (1806)  received 
the  degree  of  doctor  of  philosophy. 

From  a  small  preparatory  school  Luther  College  has 
grown  to  be,  and  gained  the  reputation  of  being,  a  high 
grade  college.  A  large  institution  with  many  parallel 
courses  of  study  it  has  not  become,  nor  is  it  necessary  that 
it  should.  The  school  has  its  limitations;  within  these, 
however,  it  might  reach  out  yet  farther.    As  it  is,  the  college 


36  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  TH£  U.  8. 

takes  rank  as  the  oldest  and  most  influential  institution  of 
bif(\ier  learning  among  the  Norwegians  of  America.  At  this 
writing  Luther  College  graduates  are  teaching  in  more  than 
twenty  advanced  schools,  including  five  colleges  and  two 
universities.  In  some  of  these  schools  the  majority  of  the 
teachers  consists  of  its  graduates,  and  in  the  case  of  ten 
acr^emies  or  normal  schools  the  principalship  is  held  by 
a  Decorah  alumnus.  The  influence  of  the  college  in  educa- 
tional matters  has  widened  with  the  years. 

As  for  theftitiu-e,  the  college  will,  no  doubt,  adapt  itself  to 
its  requirements  as  it  has  sought  to  conform  to  those  of  the 
past.  If  people  of  Norwegian  descent  remain  true  to  the 
faith  and  the  traditions  of  their  fathers,  this  college  will 
have  a  place  to  fill  even  when  the  language  of  the  fathers 
shall  have  ceased  to  be  a  practical  study  in  this  country.  As 
long  as  race  distinctions  exist  here,  one  of  its  duties  will  be  to 
stand  as  an  exponent  of  what  is  best  in  Norse  life  and  liter- 
ature. In  this  way  the  school,  while  serving  the  cause  of  the 
church,  will  also  contribute  its  mite  towards  the  forming  of 
a  worthy  national  character. 


HISTORY  OF  LUTHER  COLLEGE. 


Showing  the  Ndhbeb  of  Stddknts  and  Oradoatbs  op  Luther 

COLLBGB  FROM   1861   TO   1896,    AND   ENDUERATIKQ  THE  BEOULAR 

Teachers  and  Indioatino  their  Length  of  Service 


I... 

STroavTB 

G«,»i.UArE,t. 

PBOrKISOKS  *BD  I«BT«D0TOM. 

Sbbticb. 

IS 

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145 

ia7 

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i 

8 

4 

I881-S3,1SM- 

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4nrtr«B.«e»,..._. 

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Total, 

■.'.<i 

Social  Cbaracteristics  of  the  Danes 


i^i:> 


A  History  of  Tlieir  Societies. 

— BY — 


(revised   by  C.   NEUMANN.) 


If  reliable  conclusions  concerning  the  intellectual  activity 
and  moral  condition  of  a  people  can  be  deduced  from  the 
quantity  of  their  literary  productions,  the  number  of  their 
church  organizations,  and  the  standard  of  their  educational 
institutions,  then  the  Danes  in  America  present  a  marked 
contrast  to  their  more  numerous  kinsmen,  the  Swedes  and 
Norwegians.  The  two  latter  nationalities  in  this  country 
can  with  truthful  pride  point  to  a  respectable,  although  not 
a  very  critical,  literature,  both  in  prose  and  poetry,  both  in 
their  own  languages  and  in  English.  Not  far  from  two 
hundred  persons  of  Swedish  or  Norwegian  extraction  have 
written  some  original  theological,  historical,  poetical,  scien- 
tifical,  or  literary  work,  some  of  which  possess  considerable 
merit,  and  a  few  of  which  are  recognized  authorities  on  their 

39 


40  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE   U.   S. 

specialty.  On  the  other  hand,  only  a  limited  number  of 
Danish-Americans  have  brought  any  new  learning  into  the 
world ;  and  a  fall  collection  of  all  their  books  and  pamphlets 
could,  undoubtedly,  easily  be  placed  on  a  single  shelf  of  an 
ordinary  book-case,  while  the  Uterary  achievements  of  each 
of  the  other  two  classes  of  people  would  be  from  eight  to 
ten  times  as  bulky.  In  other  words,  the  Danish-Americans, 
in  proportion  to  their  numbers,  have  produced  only  one- 
third  as  much  literary  matter  as  their  kindred  folks.  But 
the  diflFerence  is  mainly  in  quantity,  not  in  quality.  In  the 
latter  respect  all  the  three  Scandinavian-American  nation- 
alities  are  about  on  an  equal  footing. 

But  the  difference  between  the  Danes  and  the  other  two 
nations  of  the  North,  manifested  in  the  religious  and  educa- 
tional aspects,  is  even  greater  than  in  the  result  of  literary 
achievements.  Over  one-third  of  all  the  Scandinavians  in 
the  United  States  are  members  of  some  church,  and  about 
three-fourths  are  regular  church-goers.  But  only  in  the 
neighborhood  of  20,000  Danes  were  members  of  purely 
Danish  Protestant  congregations  in  1897,  and  even  adding 
10,000  more  who  may  reasonably  be  supposed  to  have 
religiously  associated  themselves  with  some  other  nation- 
alities, yet  scarcely  more  than  one  Dane  out  of  twelve  would 
be  a  chuich  member,  estimating  the  total  number  of  Danes 
and  their  descendants  in  America  at  350,000.  In  1895  the 
educational  institutions  of  the  Swedish  Augustana  S3mod 
alone  were  valued  at  nearly  half  a  million  dollars,  and  the 
yearly  **  current  expenses  "  for  operating  them  amounted  to 
over  two  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  and  it  is  claimed  that 
the  contributions  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  people  for  school 


DANISH  CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SOCDSTIBS.  /41 

purposes  have  often  exceeded  three  dollars  per  communicant 
in  one  year.  But  John  H.  Bille,  in  A  History  of  the  Danes  in 
AmericUj  says:  ''During  no  consecutive  five  years  up  to 
1894  had  the  Danes  succeeded  in  raising  as  much  as  fifty 
cents  per  communicant  for  educational  purposes."  With 
probably  one  exception,  none  of  their  few  schools  rank  with 
a  first  class  American  academy ;  while  the  Swedes  and  Nor- 
wegians own  half  a  dozen  colleges  of  recognized  standing, 
where  the  majority  of  their  cultured  people  have  been 
trained. 

The  short-comings  of  the  Danish-Americans  in  literature, 
and  the  two  inseparable  institutions,  church  and  school,  are 
not,  however,  due  to  any  mental  or  moral  inferiority,  but  to 
circumstances  and  to  the  fact  that  they  have  turned  their 
energies  in  other  directions,  especially  towards  organizing 
and  maintaining  secular  societies.  They  have,  propor- 
tionately, just  as  many  men  as  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians 
who  are  capable  of  producing  a  novel,  an  epic  poem,  a  his- 
torical compilation,  a  thesis  on  predestination,  or  an  essay 
on  the  reformation  of  the  universe.  But  there  are  not 
enough  Danes  in  the  country  willing  to  patronize,  financiall3% 
such  undertakings;  consequently,  few  of  them  are  attempted 
and  less  realized.  The  small  number  of  immigrants,  how- 
ever, is  no  sufficient  reason  for  the  diminutive  church 
organizations  and  institutions  of  learning,  because  other 
nationalities  have  been  more  successful  in  these  respects 
under  less  favorable  conditions.  Considering  the  smallness 
of  their  country,  the  Danes  have  excelled  most  nations  in  the 
grandeur  and  richness  of  their  literature  and  art.  But  they 
seldom  seem  to  have  distinguished  themselves  as  leaders  of 

87 


42  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

men,  either  military  or  otherwise.  Nor  have  they  been 
specially  noted  for  a  pietistic  bent  of  mind ;  yet,  they  are  far 
from  being  professed  infidels,  and  are  not  extremists,  either 
in  their  virtues  or  in  their  vices.  It  is  also  to  a  great  extent 
the  absence  of  enthusiastic  and  aggressive  religious  leaders, 
and  the  moderate  as  well  as  modem  views  concerning 
celestial  existence,  which  have  prevented  the  building  up  of 
great  or  numerous  Danish  churches  and  schools  on  the  West- 
em  continent. 

One  of  the  leading  characteristics  of  the  Swedish-Ameri- 
can people  appears  to  be  their  quiet  but  whole-souled  appli- 
cation  to  the  building-up  of  the  noblest  institutions  in 
society,  while  the  Norwegians  are  probably  in  their  true 
element  when  engaged  in  excited  debates  conceming  the  wel- 
fare  of  church  or  state.  But  the  majority  of  the  Danes  in 
America  seem  to  enjoy  most  the  cheerful  social  intercourse 
and  the  good  fellowship  of  each  other's  company,  especially 
when  they  can  revive  the  grand  memories  of  their  native 
land.  Their  conviviality  and  patriotism,  coupled  with  the 
pecuniary  advantages  which  organized  union  brings  in  case 
of  need,  have  been  the  mainspring  in  successfully  founding, 
promoting,  and  maintaining  Danish  societies  in  every  part 
of  the  Union,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  Great 
Lakes  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  wherever  Danes  are  to  be 
found.  Even  the  unification  of  the  diflFerent  Scandinavian 
singing  societies  a  few  years  ago  was  effected  by  a  Dane,  and 
shattered  to  pieces  by  the  jealousies  of  the  Swedes  and 
Norwegians.  This  pronounced  social  aptitude  may  be  due, 
partly,  to  the  density  of  population  in  their  native  land, 
which  draws  the  people  into  close  relation  with  each  others 


DANISH  CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SOCIETIES.  43 

both  socially  and  financially ;  partly,  to  their  dispersion  in 
small  numbers  in  a  foreign  country  among  a  numerous 
population  of  various  nationalities ;  and,  partly,  to  other 
causes.  Besides,  a  large  proportion  of  the  Danes  bom  in 
Slesvig  left  the  old  sod  on  account  of  the  oppression  of  the 
Germans,  while  nearly  all  of  the  Swedish  and  Norwegian 
emigrants  have  departed  because  they  desired  a  wider  and 
freer  scope  for  action  or  adventure.  At  any  rate  the  two 
latterpeoples  have  failed  to  effect  any  kind  of  patriotic  secular 
organization  for  the  purpose  of  studying  their  native  lan- 
guages and  perpetuating  the  memories  of  their  ancestors, 
except  of  a  local  nature.  On  the  other  hand,  the  success  of 
the  Danes  in  this  respect  has  been  almost  phenomenal,  and  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  no  particular  individual  seems  to  have 
taken  any  special  lead  in  the  matter.  It  is  true  that  not  all 
the  Danes  are  enthusiasts  in  regard  to  their  nationality,  for 
the  writer  of  this  article  has  met  exceptional  Danes  who 
denied  having  been  bom  in  that  kingdom,  and  yet  were 
unable  to  construct  and  pronouncethe  denial  in  clear  EngUsh. 
But  the  rank  and  file  persist  in  using  their  own  language, 
notwithstanding  that  they  may  be  able  to  speak  English 
better  than  the  listener,  who  at  times  is  unable  to  perfectly 
comprehend  all  the  Danish  idioms.  And  no  one  can  become 
a  member  of  a  Danish  secular  society  who  does  not,  at  least, 
"feel  as  though  he  were  a  Dane."  It  must  not  be  assumed, 
however,  that  the  Danes,  on  account  of  their  ardent  desire 
to  cherish  the  memories  of  their  native  land,  are  hostile  or 
dangerous  to  the  free  institutions  of  America.  No  nation 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  possessing  such  high  degree  of 
intelligence,  has  been  so  submissive  to  the  powers  that  be, 


44?  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

SO  adverse  to  revolutions,  so  opposed  to  anarchy,  as  thej 
have  been  during  their  whole  history  from  the  fable-mixed 
€Uitiquity  down  to  the  present  time.  While  they,  like  the 
Germans,  have  fearlessly  combated  against  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Puritanic  Sabbath  and  Prohibition,  and  sneered 
at  the  idea  that  it  is  wicked  to  see  a  great  drama,  yet  in  the 
course  of  time  this  defiance  of  American  extremes  will  have 
a  conservative  and  steadying  influence  upon  our  changeable 
institutions. 

I.    The  Danish  Brotherhood  in  America. 

In  1881  the  Danish  societies  at  Omaha,  Neb.;  Davenport, 
Iowa;  and  Neenah  and  Racine,  Wis.,  united.  Some  of  these 
societies  had  been  organized  a  few  years  before,  and  all  were 
exclusively  composed  of  veterans  who  had  participated  in 
the  two  Danish  wars  of  1848  and  1864.  But  in  1882  the 
constitution  of  the  organization  w^as  radically  changed,  and 
henceforth  a  man's  military  experience  played  no  part  in  his 
eligibility  as  a  member ;  the  present  name  of  the  society,  the 
Danish  Brotherhood  in  America,  being  also  adopted  at  that 
time.  At  the  beginning  of  the  year  1897  about  one  hun- 
dred lodges,  scattered  through  the  different  parts  of  the 
Union,  belonged  to  the  brotherhood,  having  a  total  member- 
ship of  nearly  five  thousand.  Besides,  there  are  also  some 
forty  sisterhood  societies,  which  may  be  considered  as  annex 
lodges.  The  latter  are  organized  on  a  plan  similar  to  that 
of  some  American  secret  organizations.  According  to  the 
constitution,  the  object  of  the  brotherhood  is  to  unite  the 
Danes  in  America  in  one  great  fi*atemal  association,  to  cher- 
ish the  memories  of  Denmark,  and  to  aid  each  other.    In 


DANISH  CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SOCIETIES.  45 

order  to  accomplish  these  purposes,  the  memoers  of  the  vari- 
ous lodges  meet  regularly,  generally  once  a  week,  and  most 
lodges  maintain  a  reading  room  and  a  library;  some  even 
possess  a  hall  or  a  building  of  their  own,  which  fi^quently  is 
open  for  the  use  of  the  members  both  on  week-days  and 
Sundays.  The  organization  holds  a  general  meeting  every 
third  year.  From  1882  to  1897  the  brotherhood  has  paid 
out,  as  life  insurance  to  the  relatives  of  deceased  members, 
about  $150,000,  in  sums  of  five  hundred  or  one  thousand 
dollars  in  each  case,  and  during  that  time  not  far  fi-om 
$175,000  has  been  distributed  as  sick  benefit  contributions. 
All  Danes  or  persons  of  Danish  descent  who  can  speak  the 
Danish  language,  and  are  not  under  twenty-one  or  above 
fifty  years  of  age,  are  eligible  to  membership ;  provided  they 
are  upright  men  and  have  never  been  convicted  of  any  felo- 
nious offense.  All  proceedings  at  the  meetings  must  be  con- 
ducted in  the  Danish  language,  and  no  political  or  religious 
discussion  is  permitted.  Like  most  similar  organizations, 
the  brotherhood  has  its  president,  secretary,  treasurer,  etc., 
who  manage  the  different  departments  assigned  to  them. 
This  is  by  far  the  strongest  and  most  influential  secular 
organization  among  the  Danes  in  America,  and  its  growth 
has  been  remarkable,  especially  during  the  last  six  years 

II.    The  United  Danish  Societies  in  America. 

In  1876  a  society  called  Dania  was  organized  at  Racine, 
Wis.,  with   a  membership   of  about  fifteen.    Today  this 
organization  numbers  in  the  neighborhood  of  five  hundred ; 
owns  a  building  valued  at  $10,000 ;  and  has  a  library  of 
nearly  a  thousand  volumes.    Persons  of  Danish  birth  or 


46  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

descent  who  are  conversant  with  the  language  are  eligible. 
After  the  organization  of  the  Racine  society,  a  number  of 
similar  societies  sprang  up  in  diflferent  parts  of  the  country, 
often  having  the  same  name,  and  nearly  always  working  for 
the  same  ends ;  and  one  society  in  Chicago  with  that  name 
had  been  organized  as  early  as  1862.    In  1883  or  1884  an 
eflFort  was  made  to  imite  them,  which  resulted  in  the  union 
of  foiu:  societies  in  Wisconsin.    Since  then  about  twenty-five 
more  have  joined,  and  altogether  they  have  not  far  fi-om 
3,500  members,  being  represented  in  several  states.    Each 
society  is  incorporated,  but  not  the  organizational  a  -isrhole 
Nearly  all  the  societies  own  a  hall  or  a  building,  possess  a 
library,  and  meet  once  a  week  for  business  transactions  and 
social  enjoyment.    Dances  and  parties  are  also  held  now  and 
then.    The  representatives  of  the  different  societies  assemble 
every  third  year,  and  through  a  system  of  traveling-cards 
members  are  afforded  the  same  privileges  in  all  the  diflferent 
societies.    The  societies  are  not  secret,  and  religious  and 
political  discussions  are  prohibited.    The  life  insurance  in 
connection  with  the  general  organization  is  optional  with 
the  members,  each  policy  drawing  about  $1,000.    Consid- 
erable simis  have  also  been  paid  out  to  sick  and  disabled 
members.    There  are   also    about   sixteen  Danish  societies 
on  the  Pacific  Coast  united  into  one  organization,  similar 
to  the  United  Societies. 

III.    Association  of  Daotsh  People  of  America. 

This  organization  dates  its  birth  fi-om  the  year  1887, 
and  is  chiefly  the  result  of  the  efforts  of  Rev.  F.  L.  Grundtvig. 
Its  principal  aims  are  to  i)erpetuate  the  spiritual  inheritance 


DANISH  CHARACTERISTICS  AND  SOCIETIBS.'  47 

of  Denmark,  and  to  preserve  the  language  of  that  kingdom, 
without  neglecting  the  duties  of  American  citizens.    Their 
rules  read:    "Men  and  women,  who  feel  as  if  they  were 
Danes,  and  are  not  hostile  to  the  Christian  chiux:h,  can  become 
members  on  equal  terms."      At   the  very  beginning  they 
actively  commenced  to  organize  local  societies,  to   found 
libraries,  to  establish  settlements,  and  to  embark  in  various 
other  enterprises.    Bille,  in  his  history,  rightly  or  wrongly, 
says:    "There  has  also  been  a  general  attempt  on  the  part 
of  this  society  to  support  the  high  schools,  parochial  schools, 
and  churches ;  but  the  eflForts  along  these  lines  have  not  pro- 
duced  any   noticeable   results,  except   in   the  case  of  the 
churches ;  and  here  it  was  far  from  accomplishing  what  was 
intended,  for  this  society  and  its  methods  of  working  imme- 
diately aroused  a  storm  of  opposition  from  the  ministers  of 
Inner  Mission  proclivities.     They  claimed  it  was  merely  a 
scheme  on  the  part  of  theGrundtvigians  to  create  a  party  in 
every  congregation  in  favor  of  their  ideas,  and  thus  to  drive 
out  all  the  ministers  who  did  not  agree  with  them."    At  sev- 
eral annual  meetings  of  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject  was  earnest, in  some  cases  even  bitter; 
and  in  1891,  for  the  sake  of  peace,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
founder  should  use  his  influence  in  disbanding  the  society. 
But  neither  peace  nor  disbandment  was  obtained. 

Besides  those  four  large  organizations  enumerated  above, 
there  are  several  other  independent  Danish  societies  which 
are  not  connected  with  those  different  groups  mentioned. 
Consequently,  it  is,  perhaps,  a  fair  estimate  to  asstmie  that 
some  fifteen  or  twenty  thousand  Danes  in  America  belong  to 
some  society  whose  chief  aim,  apparently,  is  to  perpetuate 


48  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

and  cherish  the  language  and  memories  of  the  fatherland. 
Taking  into  consideration  that  most  of  the  members  are 
men  over  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  that  many  of  these 
men  have  families  who  are  more  or  less  interested  in  and 
influenced  by  the  social  atmoshphere  of  their  husbands  and 
fathers,  it  becomes  clear  to  every  unbiased  observer  that  the 
Danish  societies  in  America  are  powerful  and  influential 
institutioiis. 


Historical  Review  of  tbe  United  Danisli  Evan- 


gelical Lutlieran  Churcli  in  America. 

— BY— 


As  has  been  pointed  out  elsewhere  in  this  Tolnme  in  an 
article  on  the  Danish  societies,  the  Danes  are  not,  as  a  whole, 
ardent  devotionalists.  Not  far  from  one  person  out  of  three 
of  the  total  population  of  this  country  belongs  to  some 
religious  concern,  but  only  one  out  of  twelve  of  the  Danish- 
Americans  is  a  church  member.  Taking  the  United  States 
census  of  1890  as  the  basis  of  population,  including  both 
the  immigrants  themselves  and  their  children,  and  the 
diflFerent  parochial  reports  for  the  same  year,  the  result 
arrived  at  is  as  follows:  About  one  person  out  of  fifteen  of 
all  the  Danes  in  America  is  a  member  of  some  Lutheran  con- 
gregation; while  this  applies  to  one  out  of  five  of  the 
Swedes ;  and  to  one  out  of  three  and  a  half  of  the  Norwe- 
gians. The  powerful  Swedish  Augustana  Synod  controlled, 
in  1892,  about  $4,000,000  worth  of  property,  averaging  in 
the  neighborhood  of  forty  dollars  per  communicant;  all  the 
Norwegian  Lutherans,  $5,000,000,  averaging  thirty  dollars 

49 


50  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

per  commtinicant ;  and  all  the  Damsh  Lutherans,  $200,000, 
averaging  twenty  dollars  per  communicant.  The  deficiency 
of  the  Danes  in  this  respect  is,  without  question,  chiefly  due 
to  the  indifference  of  the  people  in  regard  to  the  super- 
natural, and  the  lack  of  aggressive  pastors  to  direct  them. 
Excepting  Rev.  C.  L.  Clausen,  whose  life-work  was  almost 
wholly  devoted  to  the  Norwegians,  there  have  not  been  any 
successful  leaders  among  the  Danish-American  Lutheran 
clergy.  They  have  had  both  learned  and  devout  pastors. 
But  none  has  combined  those  rare  qualities  of  piety  and 
adroitness,  of  conservatism  and  firmness,  which  distinguished 
a  Hasselquist  and  a  Preus,  and  enabled  them  to  manage 
wisely,  and  to  act  boldly.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  right 
man,  or  men,  will  soon  be  foimd  who  can  join  all  the  Danish 
Lutherans  into  a  close  and  true  Christian  alliance,  under 
whose  wings  a  large  number  of  the  Danish-American  people 
can  feel  at  home. 

The  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  Association  in 
America  was  originally  a  very  small  part  of  the  Norwegian- 
Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Conference,  at  whose  theo- 
logical seminary,  Augsburg,  about  ten  young  Danes  had 
been  trained  and  ordained  for  the  ministry.  The  annual 
report  of  the  association  for  1891,  from  which  most  of  the 
facts  contained  in  this  paragraph  were  collected,  says :  "  In 
a  labor  where  'Jew  and  Greek'  are  of  our  Lord  placed  on 
an  equal  footing,  it  certainly  could  not  be  His  intention  that 
there  should  be  any  high  wall  between  Norwegians  and 
Danes."  This  seems  to  be  a  very  reasonable  assumption, 
especially  when  both  nationalities  used  the  same  language* 
And  yet,  probably  for  equally  good  reasons,  the  conference 


HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  DANISH  CHURCH.  51 

in  1875  appointed  a  committee  to  communicate  with  the 
leading  church-men  in  Denmark  concerning  the  missionary 
work  among  the  Danes  in  America,  which  movement  culmi- 
nated in  the  withdrawal,  with  the  consent  of  the  conference, 
of  six  Danish  pastors  in  1884.  At  first  the  idea  of  joining 
the  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America  was 
discussed.  But  nothing  was  accomplished,  owing  to  the 
prevailing  tendency  of  Grundtvigianism  in  the  latter  body. 
Consequently  a  new  organization  was  effected  11—14  Sep- 
tember, 1884;  and  three  more  clergymen  united  with  the 
other  six,  each  one  serving  about  two  hundred  souls,  making 
the  whole  organization  at  its  beginning  about  fifteen  hun- 
dred in  number.  But  the  Danes  seem  to  have  retained  their 
share  of  that  pietism,  real  or  apparent,  and  that  active 
aggressiveness  which  always  distinguished  the  conference; 
but  kept  little  or  nothing  of  that  combativeness  for  which 
the  conference  was  noted  from  and  including  the  day  of  its 
birth,  even  haunting  as  a  ghost  the  United  Norwegian 
Church.  When  the  association  was  merged  into  the  United 
Danish  Church  in  1896,  there  were  forty  clergymen  who 
served  nearly  sixtj*  congregations,  the  whole  body  num- 
bering over  6,000  souls.  Not  much  more  than  two-thirds  of 
the  above  mentioned  congregations,  however,  had  formally 
joined  the  organization.  They  owned  Trinity  Seminar^-,  at 
Blair,  Neb.  The  building  had  cost  $7,000,  and  the  seminary 
was  in  operation  from  the  fall  of  1886  to  the  time  of  the 
union.  The  last  year  about  fifty  students  of  both  sexes 
attended,  and  several  of  the  pastors  have  received  their 
theological  training  there.  At  the  same  place  a  publishing 
house  was  maintained,  and  Kirkebladet  and  a  couple  of 


52  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

other  papers,  issued.  Contributions  for  various  mission  pur- 
poses were  quite  liberal,  considering  the  smallness  of  the 
association. 

The  first  volume  of  this  work  contains  an  historical 
article  on  the  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  Amer- 
ica, written  by  Rev.  Adam  Dan,  which  article  is  generally 
considered  to  be  a  fair  and  impartial  account  of  that  body. 
On  page  170  he  says:  "  Today  there  are  two  factions  among 
us,  the  followers  of  Bishop  Grundtvig,  and  the  so-called  Mis- 
sion People;  both  are  recognized  by  the  Church  of  Denmark 
as  belonging  to  the  Lutheran  church,  and  they  are  about 
equal  in  strength."  Ever  since  the  pioneers  of  the  Scandina- 
vian church-work  set  their  feet  upon  American  soil,  this 
important  religious  controversy  among  the  Danish-Norwe- 
gian  Lutherans,  known  as  Grundtvigianism,  has  been  going 
on.  It  was,  however,  crushed  in  its  infancy  in  the  Norwegian 
Synod.  But  nearly  ever  since  the  organization  of  the  Danish 
Lutheran  Church  in  this  country,  in  1872,  the  subject  has 
called  forth  many  vigorous  articles  in  the  newspapers,  and 
animated  discussion  at  the  annual  meetings ;  and,  finally,  in 
1894,  it  rent  that  organization  in  twain,  and  the  same  year 
one  party  organized  the  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church 
in  North  America.  But  this  schism  probably  does  not  end 
the  era  of  strife  and  agitation,  of  patched-up  peace  and 
renewed  bitterness,  which  the  influence  of  the  famous  Danish 
bishop  and  poet,  N.  F.  S.  Grundtvig,  has  exerted  upon  the 
Scandinavian-American  Lutherans.  Perhaps,  after  all,  his- 
tory is  only  biographies  of  great  men  ?  As  far  as  the  Danes 
in  this  country  are  concerned,  however,  the  culmination 
point  appears  to  have  been  reached  in  1893,  when  about  one- 


HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  DANISH  CHURCH.  53 

half  of  the  clergjrmen  joined  themsdYes  together  into  a  mis- 
sionary association,  within  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church,  for 
the  purpose  of  purging  the  latter  body  of  its  GrundtYigian- 
ism.  The  struggle  has,  apparently,  been  carried  on  chiefly 
on  account  of  conflicting  Yie ws  regarding  theological  dogmas . 
But  the  manner  and  method  of  conducting  their  schools,  the 
aim  and  practices  of  the  Association  of  the  Danish  People,  as 
well  as  other  matters  of  more  or  less  importance,  haYC  also 
been  dragged  into  the  contest;  thus  supplying  the  clergymen 
with  excellent  themes  for  discussion,  as  well  as  furnishing  some 
spiritual  food  for  the  languid  laymen,  who  haYC  been  rather 
lookers-on  than  participants  in  the  controYcrsy.  As  the 
parties  in  these  disputes  haYC  been  partly  right  and  partly 
wrong,  so  the  result  will  probably  be  both  good  and  bad. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  in  a  few  words  what  GrundtYigian- 
ism  really  is.  Bishop  GrundtYig  himself  insisted  upon  a  more 
liberal  interpretation  of  the  Bible  and  greater  freedom  in 
regard  to  religious  worship,  than  was  generally  permitted 
in  the  Lutheran  state  church  of  Denmark.*  He  fought  against 
rationalism  and  the  Yices  of  the  age,  yet^he  could  hardly  be 
called  a  pietist  as  that  term  is  generally  understood.  He 
considered  a  good  Christian  life,  baptism,  communion,  and 
the  Apostolic  Creed  to  be  the  very  life  and  marrow  of  Chris- 
tianity, rather  than  the  Bible.  There  is,  probably,  some 
difference  between  Bishop  GrundtYig's  teachings  and  prac- 
tices, and  the  tendency  of  GrundtYigianism,  with  its  conse- 
quences, in  this  country.  Besides,  theconditions  in  Denmark 
and  America  are  Ycry  different,  so  that  no  comparison  can 
properly  be  drawn.  That  which  may  promote  the  moral  and 
religious  dcYclopment  in  a  certain  country  and  a  certain  age, 


54  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

may  be  a  hindrance  to  this  very  blessing  under  other  condi- 
tions; and  this  is  exactly  the  standpoint  which  the  opponents 
of  the  Grundtvigians  take.  The  Anti-Grundtvigians  in 
America  charge  the  followers  of  Grundtvig  in  this  country 
with  teaching  the  possibility  of  conversion  of  the  soul  after 
death,  and  with  rejecting  the  infallibility  of  the  Bible;  and 
these  views  were  virtually  endorsed  by  the  Grundtvigian 
majority  of  the  clergymen  of  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church 
at  two  of  their  annual  meetings,  one  of  which  was  held  at 
Cedar  Falls,  Iowa,  in  1 886,  and  the  other  at  Manistee,  Mich., 
in  1890.  The  practical  tendencies  of  the  two  parties  in  this 
country  may  be  briefly  summed  up  as  follows :  Most  of  the 
Grundtvigian  pastors  have  honestly  believed,  if  they  do  not 
all  believe  it  now,  that  the  only  means  by  which  the  virtues 
and  characteristics  of  their  people  could  be  instilled  into  the 
souls  and  minds  of  the  coming  generations,  was  the  retention, 
with  little  or  no  modification,  of  the  religion,  language, 
social  customs,  and  educational  institutions  of  Denmark 
upon  American  soil.  To  carry  out  this  principle,  some  of 
them  have  made  great  sacrifices,  socially  as  well  as  financially. 
It  is  a  principle  for  which  a  large  proportion  of  the  very 
best  element  of  all  the  foreigners  in  the  United  States 
have  at  some  time  or  other  fought,  and  lost.  Besides, 
they  considered  it  their  duty  to  direct  the  thoughts  and 
actions  of  the  people  in  the  widest  sense,  and  endeavor 
to  guide  their  flocks,  not  only  in  spiritual  matters, 
but  in  regard  to  literature,  drama,  art,  business,  and 
social  intercourse.  Most  of  the  Anti-Grundtvigian  clergy- 
men, on  the  other  hand,  have  been  equally  earnest  in 
retaining  whatever   iwas   noble  in  the   Danish  character, 


HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  DANISH  CHURCH.  65 

especially  the  religious  feelings.  But,  according  to  their 
opinion,  piety  was  the  chief  aim  in  life ;  and,  for  the  purpose 
of  gaining  and  retaining  the  largest  possible  number  of 
devout  Christians,  they  have  been  advocating  the  gradual 
Americanization  of  all  their  institutions  and  been  unwilling 
to  identify  themselves  with  anything  outside  of  their  pro- 
fessional duties.  According  to  Bille's  history  of  the  Danes  in 
America,  Prof.  P.S.Vig — who,  together  with  Rev.P.L.C. Han- 
sen, has  been  the  principal  exponent  and  leader  of  the  Anti- 
Grundtvigian  sentiments — wrote  a  few  years  ago :  **  Even  if 
the  Danish  language  is  lost  to  our  posterity ,  they  might  still 
retain  all  that  is  good  and  true  in  the  Danish  character ;  for 
just  as  a  man  can  take  his  material  inheritanceinto  a  foreign 
country,  so  hecan  take  his  spiritual  inheritance  into  a  foreign 
tongue.  We  older  people  must  remember  that  we  can  hardly 
imagine  ourselves  in  our  children's  places.  They  have  a 
fatherland  which  is  not  ours.  In  a  measure  it  is  impossible 
for  them  to  be  Danes ;  for  they  lack  the  Danish  environments, 
and  in  a  measure  the  Danish  tongue  must  always  be  a  foreign 
tongue  to  them.  To  keep  the  children  bom  in  this  country 
from  coming  in  contact  with  its  language  and  life  is  a  viola- 
tion of  nature  which  will  at  last  revenge  itself." 

The  first  of  October,  1896,  the  representatives  of  the 
Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  Association  in  America, 
and  the  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  North 
America,  met  in  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  and  formed  the  United 
Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  According 
to  their  report  of  that  year,  the  new  organization  comprised 
over  seventy  pastors  and  missionaries,  seventy-five  cong^re- 
gations  in  actual  union,  and  in  addition  about  fifty  not 


56  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

formally  united  with  the  new  body,  but  served  by  its  clergy* 
men.  Assuming  that  the  125  congregations  had  on  an 
average  100  souls  each,  which  was  the  exact  proportion  of 
the  Danish  Association  at  the  time  of  the  union,  then  the 
whole  United  Church  would  number  12,500  members;  and 
all  the  persons  in  direct  or  indirect  connection  with  that 
body  would  certainly  not  exceed  15,000.  But  as  yet  the 
organization  is  rather  loose,  several  of  the  congregations 
served  by  Anti-Grundtvigian  pastors  having  taken  no 
formal  step  to  separate  themselves  from  the  old  alliance. 
It  was  agreed  at  the  first  meeting  that  Trinity  Seminary, 
Blair,  Neb.,  should  be  the  theological  school  of  the  church; 
the  two  papers,  Kirkebladet  and  Missionsbladet^  were  con- 
solidated into  Dansk  Lutbersk  Kirkeblad ;  and  a  temporary 
arrangement  was  made  for  the  management  of  Elk  Horn 
College.  The  church  sustains  an  Indian  mission  in  Indian 
Territory,  and  a  seamen's  mission  in  New  York. 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Moravian  Cliurcli 


p«^r~> 


Its  Scandinavian-Americaii  WorlL 


—  BY  — 


The  Unitas  Fratrum  was  founded  in  Bohemia,  in  1467, 
by  followers  of  the  Bohemian  reformer  and  martyr,  John 
Hus.  It  spread  to  Moravia,  Prussia,  and  Poland,  and  flour- 
ished greatly  in  spite  of  frequent  persecutions.  In  the  first 
quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  overthrown,  in  its 
original  seats,  by  the  so-called  Bohemian  anti-reformation. 
Only  a  "hidden  seed"  remained.  In  Poland  and  Prussia, 
and  eventually  in  Hungary,  it  continued  to  exist  until  the 
first  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  the  few  parishes 
that  still  bore  its  name  were  gradually  absorbed  by  other 
churches.  About  the  same  time  the  secret  remnant  in  Mora- 
via was  revived,  and  descendants  of  the  ancient  brethren 
began  to  emigrate  to  Saxony  where  they  found  an  asylum 
on  the  estate  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  and  built  a  town  known 
as  Hermhut.  They  introduced  the  discipline  of  their  fathers 
and  the  ancient  episcopate,  which  had  been  carefully  pre- 
served in  the  Polish  branch.  As  these  refugees  came  from 
«s  57 


58  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Moravia  the  church  at  the  present  time  is  commonly  known 
as  the  Moravian  Church,  but  its  real  name  is  the  Unity  of 
the  Brethren. 

The  church  endorses  the  Augsburg  Confession,  and  has  a 
total  membership  in  Europe  and  America  of  about  36,000, 
while  in  heathen  lands  no  less  than  96,000  souls  are  being 
ministered  to  by  Moravian  missionaries. 

The  first  American  colony  of  the  brethren  was  founded 
at  Savannah,  Ga.,  in  1735,  whence  a  remnant  of  it  was 
transferred,  in  1740,  to  Bethlehem  and  Nazareth  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. 

The  Moravian  Church,  since  the  renewal  in  1722,  has 
devoted  its  main  energies  to  the  evangelization  of  heathen 
nations.  It  was  while  the  noble  Count  Zinzendorf  attended 
the  coronation  of  Christian  the  sixth  of  Denmark,  in  1731, 
that  he  heard  from  the  lips  of  a  negro  servant  in  Copen* 
hagen  the  pitiful  tale  of  his  nation's  wretched  and  degraded 
condition  as  slaves  in  the  Danish  West  India  Islands.  On 
the  same  occasion  the  pious  count  also  learned  of  the  self- 
denying  but  hitherto  unsuccessful  labors  of  Rev.  Hans  Egede 
in  Greenland.  Within  two  years  the  Moravian  Church  at 
Hermhut,  consisting  of  only  six  hundred  members,  had  sent 
forth  missionaries  both  to  St.  Thomas,  W.  I.,  and  to  Green- 
land.  These  were  the  two  first  foreign  missionary  enter- 
prises  of  the  Moravian  Church.  Since  that  time,  more  than 
a  century  and  a  half  ago,  it  has  sent  hundreds  of  mission- 
aries into  heathen  lands.  Not  a  few  of  its  faithful  and 
successful  laborers  have  been  Scandinavians.  First  and  fore- 
most must  be  mentioned  Jens  Haven,  a  Dane,  who  first 
served  as  a  Moravian  missionary  in  Greenland,  and  then 


HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIAN  MORAVIANS.  59 

labored  for  many  years  in  a  similar  capacity  in  Labrador. 
The  first  attempt  to  evangelize  Labrador  had,  humanly 
speaking,  failed.  The  devoted  missionary,  John  Christian 
Ehrhardt,  was  murdered  by  the  native  Eskimoes.  The 
second  attempt  was  made  by  Jens  Haven  in  1764.  Upon 
his  first  landing  the  natives  desired  him  to  follow  them  to  an 
island  half  an  hour  distant.  Considering  the  fate  of  Ehr- 
hardt, Haven  might  well  have  refused  to  accompany  them. 
He  says,  however:  **I  confidently  turned  to  the  Lord  in 
prayer,  and  as  soon  as  we  arrived  there,  all  set  up  a  shout, 
*  Our  friend  is  come ! ' ''  For  a  number  of  years  Jens  Haven 
labored  in  Labrador  with  g^at  self-denial  and  success. 
When  nearly  blind,  and  sixty-six  years  of  age,  he  was 
brought  back  to  Europe  where  he  spent  the  last  six  years  of 
his  life.  Another  faithful  and  devoted  Scandinavian  mission- 
ary was  Hans  Torgersen,a  Norwegian,  who  emigrated  with 
his  parents  to  the  United  States  in  1854,  settling  in  Door 
county,  Wis.,  a  few  years  later.  He  served  a  number  of 
years  on  the  Indian  mission  in  Moraviantown,  Canada. 
Thence  he  was  called  as  one  of  the  pioneer  Moravian  mis- 
sionaries to  Alaska.  Only  a  few  weeks  was  he  permitted  to 
do  service  here.  One  day  while  sailing  in  the  little  mission- 
boat,  he  fell  overboard  and  was  drowned. 

The  first  Scandinavian  Moravian  church  in  America  was 
organized  in  the  year  1849,  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  and  num- 
bered fifteen  communicant  members.  These  persons  had 
become  acquainted  with  the  Moravian  brethren  in  Norway 
and  Denmark  through  what  is  known  as  the  Diaspora.  It 
has,  namely,  for  upwards  of  a  century  been  customary  for 
the  Moravian  Church  to  send  forth  evangelists  for  the  pur- 


60  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

pose  of  calling  to  repentance  and  living  faith  some  of  the 
many  who  are  nominal  members  of  the  state  churches  in 
Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden.  The  converts  were  not 
received  into  the  membership  of  the  Moravian  Church,  but 
remained  in  their  respective  state  churches,  and  were  called 
the  Diaspora  brethren.  A  few  of  these  formed  the  nucleus 
of  the  first  Scandinavian  Moravian  church  in  America.  In 
1860  the  little  congregation,  under  the  leadership  of  Rev. 
A.  M.  Iversen,  of  the  mission-school  in  Stavanger,  Norway, 
and  Otto  Tank,*  also  a  Norwegian,  and  formerly  a  mis- 
sionary, left  Milwaukee,  and  eventually  established  colonies 
and  congregations  in  Fort  Howard,  Sturgeon  Bay,  and 
Bphraim,  Wis.,  which  places  are  still  the  principal  strong- 
holds of  the  Scandinavian  Moravians  in  the  United  States. 
A  new  edition  of  the  Scandinavian  Moravian  hymn-book 
was  prepared  in  1894,  and  for  some  years  past  a  monthly 
paper  called  Det  Glade  Budskab  has  been  published.  There 
are  at  present  in  the  United  States  one  Swedish,  one  Nor- 
wegian, and  four  Danish  Moravian  ministers  in  active 
service,  who  have  in  their  pastoral  care  upwards  of  1,500 
souls  of  whom  about  700  are  communicant  members. 


*Aocordinff  to  the  fanatical  Autobiography  of  A«  Cederholm,  later  a  Swedish 
Methodist  clergyman,  this  Tank  was  an  old  nobleman  from  Fredrikshald,  who  started 
to  baild  a  town,  on  the  Hermhot  plan,  at  Green  Bay,  and  to  erect  a  theological  seminary 
there.  Cederholm,  one  Dane,  and  three  other  yonng  men  attended  the  school  which, 
howBTer,  in  a  short  time  was  disconttnued.— Editob. 

According  to  "Appleton's  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography/'  O.  C.  Krogstrupp,  a 
Danish  Lutheran  clergyman,  became  a  Morarian  in  1748;  emigrated  to  America  in  1753; 
serred  Moravian  congregations  at  Philadelphia  and  other  places  in  the  East  nntil  his 
death  in  1785;  and  was  a  powerful  and  eloquent  preacher.— Editor. 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Scandinavians  in 


Iowa. 


—  BY  — 


*The  traveler,  in  wendiug  his  way  across  the  fair  state  of 
Iowa,  with  its  evidences  of  civilization  upon  every  hand ;  its 
magnificent  churches,  with  spires  pointing  heavenward ;  its 
school  houses  upon  almost  every  hill ;  its  palatial  residences, 
evincing  wealth  and  refinement,  can  scarcely  realize  that 
half  a  century  ago  this  **  beautiful  land  *'  was  the  home  only 
of  the  red  man,  who  roamed  over  the  fertile  prairies,  hunting 
in  the  woods  and  fishing  in  the  streams.  The  change  seems 
too  great  to  be  real.  Yet  these  magnificent  churches,  nu- 
merous school  houses,  palatial  residences,  extensive  railroads, 
and  countless  telegraph  and  telephone  wires,  have  nearly  all 
been  located  or  placed  on  Iowa  soil  within  the  space  of  the 
last  fifty  years.*  Numerous  agencies  of  human  activity  have 
been  employed  to  bring  about  this  great,  almost  miraculous 
change.  The  mind  of  man  has  been  taxed  to  its  utmost  by 
bold  speculation,  undreamt-of  inventions,  and  daring  achieve- 
ments.   The  industry,  energy,  and  perseverance  of  the  hands 

61 


62  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

of  men  have  almost  made  a  garden  out  of  the  wilderness. 
To  accomplish  these  wonderful  results  in  such  a  short  space 
of  time,  the  Scandinavians  have,  during  the  whole  history 
of  Iowa,  been  powerful  agents,  not  only  in  assisting  in 
developing  the  natural  resources  of  the  state,  but  also  in 
promoting  its  intellectual  and  religious  welfare.  The 
numerous  well  cultivated  farms,  owned  and  tilled  by  North- 
men, largely  contribute  to  the  material  wealth  of  the  state. 
About  forty  Danish,  two  hundred  and  fifty  Norwegian,  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  Swedish  churches  of  various  denomi- 
nations testify  to  their  spiritual  and  moral  activity.  A  large 
number  of  these  churches  maintain  parochial  schools,  and  all 
of  them  employ  Sunday-school  teachers.  Besides,  there  are 
half  a  dozen  Scandinavian  schools  of  a  higher  grade  in  the 
state  of  Iowa. 

I.    Pioneers  and  Settlements. 

The  first  permanent  settlement  of  whites  in  Iowa  was 
established  at  Dubuque  as  early  as  1788.  But  emigration 
Westward  must  not  have  been  very  rapid  in  those  days,  and 
there  were  scarcely  25,000  persons,  within  what  is  now  the 
boundary  lines  of  the  state,  fifty  years  later.  There  were  in 
all  probability  some  scattering  Scandinavians  in  Iowa  at 
the  very  beginning  of  this  century,  although  no  person  can 
be  mentioned  with  certainty  until  the  year  1837,  and  no  per- 
manent settlement  of  Northmen  occurred  until  eight  j^ears 
later.  But  as  the  increase,  for  the  last  forty  years,  of  the 
population  of  each  of  the  Scandinavian  nationalities  in  every 
county  in  the  state  can  be  found  in  the  tables  published  at 
the  end  of  this  article,  it  has  been  deemed  unnecessarv  to 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  63 

endeavor  to  describe  all  the  settlements  separately,  as  a  gen- 
eral result  can  be  obtained  by  examining  said  tables.  Besides, 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  give  the  correct  data  con- 
cerning the  origin  even  of  half  the  Scandinavian  colonies ; 
therefore,  only  a  few  of  those  settlements  which  were  estab- 
lished before  1856  will  be  mentioned. 

Danish.  In  1837  N.  C.  Boye  arrived  and  settled  in  Mus- 
catine county — ^his  biography  is  in  this  volume.  But  as  there 
were,  according  to  the  United  States  census,  only  nineteen 
Danes  in  Iowa  in  1850,  no  important  Danish  settlement 
could  have  been  made  imtil  after  that  year.  In  1852  the 
well-known  Rev.  C.  L.  Clausen  became  the  leader  of  several 
Norwegians,  who  settled  in  Mitchell  county-' Clausen's 
biography  can  be  found  in  the  first  volume.  According  to 
the  state  census  of  1856,  there  were  only  one  hundred  and 
seventy-tw^o  Danes  in  the  whole  state  at  that  time,  and  four- 
teen years  later  about  three  thousand.  Since,  however,  a  large 
number  have  arrived,  and  in  1857  there  were  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  40,000  Danish-bom  or  having  Danish  parents  with- 
in the  state.  There  were  also  several  thousand  Danes, 
especially  in  the  counties  along  the  Mississippi  river,  w^ho 
were  bom  in  Slesvig,  and  as  a  consequence  some  of  them 
were  probably  classified  as  Germans  in  the  census  reports. 

Norwegian.  There  were  undoubtedly  Norwegians  in  the 
southeastern  part  of  the  state,  near  Keokuk,  probably  as 
early  as  1840;  but  the  various  authorities  do  not  agree 
regarding  the  particulars,  except  that  the  settlement  was 
not  permanent.  Reiersen,  in  his  Veiviser  for  Norske  Emh 
granter^  published  in  1844,  claims  that  the  colony  consisted 
of  thirty  or  forty  families,  several  of  whom  were  Mormons ; 


64  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

that  the  land  was  rich,  but  covered  with  dense  woods ;  and 
that  the  settlers  would,  perhaps,  be  unable  to  pay  for  their 
claims.  The  probability  is  that  the  whole  colony  was  simply 
a  gathering  of  adventurers  of  the  Kleng  Peerson  type,  and 
he  is  said  to  have  been  the  founder  of  the  settlement.  But 
there  were  Norwegians  in  the  northeastern  counties  as  early 
as  1848,  at  least,  but  no  permanent  settlement  was  estab- 
lished until  1850,  when  two  caravans  of  Norwegian  imi- 
grants,  consisting  of  about  a  dozen  persons,  came  from 
Racine  and  Dane  counties.  Wis.,  and  founded  a  colony  in 
Winneshiek  Aojinty .  Other  pioneers  soon  followed,  and  Win- 
neshiek county  has  always  been,  and  is,  one  of  the  most 
important  Norwegian  strongholds  in  the  United  States, 
where  about  half  of  the  total  population  are  of  Norwegian 
birth  or  extraction.  A  small  settlement  was  fotmded  in 
1851,  near  McGregor,  Clayton  county-';  and,  of  course,  the 
coimties  farther  west  were  not  settled  imtil  a  few  years  later; 
for  example,  the  first  Norwegians  in  Story  coimty  did  not 
arrive  there  until  1855,  although  today  that  nationality  is 
very  numerous  in  that  part  of  the  state.  The  most  interest- 
ing account  of  the  establishment  of  a  settlement  is  that 
given  in  regard  to  Rev.  Clausen's  colony.  Clausen  had  vis- 
ited Iowa  in  1851,  and  the  next  3'ear,  in  the  spring,  he  and 
about  twenty  families,  besides  several  unmarried  men,  left 
Rock  count}',  Wis.  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  the  only 
persons  who  rode  in  a  carriage,  led  in  advance.  The  caravan 
consisted  of  numerous  children  and  women  in  wagons,  men 
on  foot,  and  two  or  three  hundred  cattle — all  obejring  the 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  65 

command  of  the  leader.  Most  of  these  immigrants  settled  at 
St.  Ansgar,  Mitchell  cotmty,  and  later  some  of  them  in  turn 
became  leaders  in  establishing- settlements  in  cotmties  farther 
west.  According  to  the  United  States  census  of  1850,  there 
were  only  361  Norwegians  in  the  wlole  state  at  that  time; 
six  years  later  they  numbered  nearly  3,000.  In  1870  about 
17,500  Norwegian-bom  persons  resided  in  Iowa,  and  twenty 
years  later  10,000  more  had  settled  within  its  boimdary 
lines.  There  were  about  75,000  Norwegians  of  the  first  and 
second  generations  in  1897. 

Swedish.  Iowa  has  the  honor  and  distinction  of  being 
the  first  state  in  the  Union  where  a  permanent  Swedish  set- 
tlement of  any  importance  was  founded  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  This  occurred  at  New  Sweden,  Jefferson  county, 
in  1845.  This  is  also  the  first  prominent  Scandinavian 
colony  established  in  the  state — ^but  for  full  particulars  con- 
cerning the  foundation  of  this  interesting  settlement,  see 
Peter  Cassel's  biography  in  this  volume.  Burlington  seems 
to  have  been  the  place  through  which  nearly  all  the  first 
Swedish  pioneers  of  Iowa  passed,  and,  as  a  consequence, 
several  resided  here  at  an  early  date.  Norclius  claims  that 
about  two  hundred  Swedes  lived  in  and  around  Burlington 
in  1850,  and  Col.  F.  Brydolf  located  there  in  1846— his 
biography  is  in  this  volume.  At  Swede  Point,  Boone  county, 
a  settlement  was  effected  in  1846,  and  the  next  year  some 
pioneers  located  at  Munterville,  Wapello  county,  while  Rev. 
John  Linn  has  the  honor  of  being  the  father  of  the  first 
white  child  that  wai  bom  in  Webster  county,  which  hap- 
pened Jan.  8,  1851— an  interesting  account  of  pioneer  life 
can  be  obtained  by  reading  John  Linr*s  biography  in  this 


-  ««r"  -^  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE   IT.   S. 

..laB-  i.frsdts  settled   in   the   northeastern  part 

^  M'^^^""  f****^  Lansing,  in  the  early  fifties. 

.     3t  ^ii^T*d   States   census   there    were   231 

^^^  -«!^-3?  =:  Iowa  in  1850,  twenty  years  later 

^^  ^^T  11.000,  and  in  1897  abont  75,000  of 

.,.  -»i---ni:  jcatrations  resided  in  the  state. 

i^vrJLiTioN  TO  Iowa.     It  is  impossible  to 

.p,.-jsw*'*"5iich  have  been  operative  in  directing 

rmesr*3on  to  Iowa.    Butthechief  reasonhas 

^  _;^-,  -w  same  as  that  which  directed  the  move- 

■<  jv-rthwest.     Such  well-kno\%-n  pioneers  as 

„^    c-    .:  L.  Clansen,  Prof.  L.  P.  Esbjom,  Rev.  V. 

_  ■•   r  N.  Hasselquist  have  done  a  great  deal 

K  jL'andinavian   immigration  towards  the 

^    K  !uaor  and  credit  of  settling  the  state  with  a 

.^        «i.'yle.  does  not  belong  exclusively  to  one,  or 

-.uihlreds  and  thousands  of  Scandinavian  im- 

„»,•    uJnced  their  relatives  and  friends  to  join 

^,tL  also  be  noticed  in  this  connection  that  a 

,.,;i»  -'I  the  early  Norwegian  settlers  in  Iowa  had 

kMiiv^t  in  Wisconsin,  while  many  of  the  Swedish 

^     ,1.  .u'ri\-ed  from  Illinois. 

II.    The  Civil  War. 

_,^  :iK  Civil  War  over  sevcnty-five  thousand  men 
^j  .-^rved  as  soldiers  in  the  t^nion  army,  some  out- 
,»;  -vtiittf  regiments,  and  about  two-thirds  of  that 
.uucml  the  scr^-ice  liefore  the  year  1862  ended,  all 
;«i)U(wni  up  to  the  last  of  1864,  when  a  few  were 
le  army.      Accordin;^  to  the  reports  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  67 

adjutant-general  of  Iowa  for  the  years  1861-66,  not  less 
than  twenty  Danes,  one  hundred  seventy-eight  Swedes,  and 
four  hundred  twenty-five  Norwegians — ^in  all  623  Scandina- 
vians— fought  against  the  Confederates.  But  as  many  names 
of  all  nationalities  are  omitted  in  these  reports,  not  to  men- 
tion the  difficulty  of  correctly  counting  all  the  names  in  such 
publications,  it  is  fair  to  estimate  that  1,000  Scandinavians 
from  Iowa  enlisted  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  In  1860 
Iowa  had  a  population  of  675,000.  One-ninth  of  the  total 
population  of  the  state  enlisted  under  the  Union  flag,  and  the 
same  proportion,  at  least,  of  the  Scandinavians  in  Iowa 
fought  for  their  adopted  country ;  while  every  sixth  North- 
man in  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin  served  in  the  army  during 
the  war,  although  only  about  one-eighth  of  the  total  num- 
ber of  persons  in  the  latter  states  participated  in  the 
struggle.  Unlike  their  kinsmen  in  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  and 
Minnesota,  the  Scandinavians  in  Iowa  seem  to  have  had  no 
leader  to  organize  them  or  spur  them  to  action.  Not  one  of 
the  many  Norwegians  became  widely  known  as  an  officer ;  a 
few  were  promoted  to  minor  commands  of  but  little  import- 
ance. The  Swedes,  on  the  other  hand,  had  such  men  as  Lieut. 
C.  E.  Landstrum,  of  Des  Moines,  who  after  the  fierce  battle 
of  Shiloh  and  other  engagements  received  special  mention 
of  his  superiors  for  excellent  conduct.  Col.  F.  Brydolf  also 
distinguished  himself— his  biography  is  in  this  volume.  But 
these  two  men  had,  during  their  service,  little  or  nothing  to 
do  with  their  countrymen.  About  fifty  Norwegians,  mostly 
from  Winneshiek  county,  enlisted  in  the  Twelfth  Iowa  In- 
fantry the  latter  part  of  1861,  constituting  half  of  Company 
G ;  twenty-five  of  them  fell  in  the  battle  of  Shiloh  the  6th 


68  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

and  7th  of  April,  1862,  and  most  of  the  remaining  enlisted 
afterwards  in  other  regiments.  Not  less  than  sixty-five  Nor- 
wegians from  the  northeastern  counties  of  Iowa  joined  the 
famous  Fifteenth  Wisconsin,  or  Scandinavian,  Regiment,  in 
1861-62 ;  and  about  half  of  Company  K  of  that  regiment 
were  from  Iowa;  while  a  Dane  from  that  state,  Rev.  Clausen, 
was  chaplain  of  the  regiment.  Perhaps  half  of  the  Norwe- 
gian soldiers  in  Iowa  came  from  Winneshiek  county,  and 
nearly  all  from  the  northeastern  part  of  the  state ;  but  the 
Swedes  seem  to  have  hailed  from  different  locaUties.  In  this 
connection  it  might  not  be  amiss  to  mention  that  onl3'  four 
Scandinavian-bom — all  Swedes — have  ever,  up  to  1893,  grad- 
uated from  the  United  States  military  academy  at  West 
Point,  and  two  of  these  were  appointed  from  Iowa. 

III.    Political  Influence. 

The  present  state  of  Iowa  is  a  small  portion  of  that 
immense  stretch  of  land  which  was  ceded  by  France  to  the 
United  States  in  1803,  for  a  consideration  of  $11,250,000, 
and  out  of  which  a  large  number  of  states  have  since  been 
carved.  In  1838  the  territory  of  Iowa  was  organized,  and 
the  state  organization  dates  from  1846.  At  the  latter  date 
there  were  perhaps  one  hundred  persons  of  Scandinavian 
birth  in  the  state,  mostly  Swedes.  In  the  course  of  fifty 
years  this  handful  has  increased,  until  at  present  nearly  one- 
tenth  of  the  population  of  Iowa  is  of  Scandinavian  birth  or 
parentage.  But,  imlike  their  kinsmen  in  some  other  states, 
they  have  never  held  their  proportion  of  the  higher  offices  in 
the  gift  of  the  voters  of  the  state.  It  would  be  rash  to 
assume  any  one  particular  reason  for  this  defective  represen- 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINA\1ANS  IN  IOWA.  69 

tation  in  politics  among  a  race  which  tinqttestionably  has 
an  inborn  knack  for  practical  politics.  It  seems,  however, 
that  the  political  apathy  of  the  Northmen  of  Iowa  is  largely 
due  to  a  peculiar  lack  of  able  and  aggressive  leaders.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  office  holders  have  generally  been 
above  the  average  in  point  of  character  and  ability,  and 
therefore  have  been  a  credit  to  their  countrymen.  The  first 
Scandinavian  who  occupied  a  seat  in  the  legislature  was 
Rev.  C.  L.  Clausen,  a  Dane,  who  represented  his  district  in 
1856-57.  For  the  next  four  years  no  Scandinavian  was 
elected  to  the  legislature.  Since  1876  there  has  always  been 
one  or  more  Scandinavian-Americans  in  the  legislature.  In 
other  words,  the  Scandinavian-bom  inhabitants  of  Iowa 
have  been  represented  by  one  or  more  of  their  own  country- 
men  in  15  out  of  the  20  general  assemblies  which  have  been 
elected  since  the  election  of  Clausen  in  1855.  During  1892-96 
four  of  the  members  were  of  Scandinavian  birth  or  parent- 
age, this  being  the  largest  number  of  that  category  occupy- 
ing  seats  simultaneously.  Of  the  whole  number  of  Scandi* 
navians  elected  members  of  the  legislature,  two  were  Danes, 
five  Swedes,  and  about  a  dozen  either  Norwegians  or  the  sons 
of  Norwegians.  Only  four  Northmen  were  senators,  viz :  M. 
N.Johnson,01eN.  01eson,G.S.Gilbertson,andC.  J.  A.  Erickson. 
The  first  mentioned  has  since  for  3^ears  represented  North 
Dakota  in  the  United  States  Congress.  No  Scandinavian  has 
ever  been  elected  to  any  state  office  by  a  popular  vote.  But 
in  18S8  the  legislature  elected  Otto  Nelson  as  state  binder. 
Lars  S.  Rcque  was  appointed  United  States  consul  to  HoU 
land  1)v  President  Cleveland  in  1893.  Ole  O.  Roe  has  served 
as  deputy  state  auditor  since  1892.    A  glance  at  the  names 


70  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

of  the  county  officers  will  soon  convince  any  one  that  the 
Scandinavians  have  been  verypoorly  represented,  Worth  and 
Winneshiek  being  the  only  counties  vsrhere  the  number  of 
Scandinavian  office-holders  has  somewhat  corresponded  to 
the  Scandinavian  population. 

IV.    Occupation. 

Of  course,  most  of  Iowa's  Scandinavians  have  been,  and 
are,  common  laborers,  servants,  and  farmers.  Yet  today 
there  is  not  a  single  learned  profession  in  which  they  cannot 
be  found,  and  in  some  they  have  distinguished  themselves 
and  become  famous.  Three  of  the  best  and  most  widely  cir- 
culated Scandinavian  newspapers  in  the  country  are  pub- 
lished in  Iowa,  and  at  least  half  a  dozen  well-known  authors 
and  literary  men  of  Northern  extraction  reside  in  the  state. 

V.    Statistics. 

In  1850  one  out  of  every  310  persons  in  Iowa  was  a 
Scandinavian  by  birth ;  twenty  years  later,  one  out  of  38 ; 
and  in  1890,  one  out  of  26.  This,  however,  includes  only 
those  people  bom  in  the  North,  while  a  much  larger  per  cent, 
have  Scandinavian  parents,  and  as  a  consequence  can  not 
only  speak  the  language  of  their  ancestors,  but  can  feel  as 
Northmen.  For  example,  according  to  the  United  States 
census  for  1890,  there  were  25,240  persons  in  Iowa  bom  in 
Denmark,  or  having  Danish  parents,  this  being  the  largest 
number  of  Danes  in  any  one  state ;  59,822  Norwegians ;  and 
52,171  Swedes— in  all  137,233  Scandinavians.  But  the 
census  reports  are  far  from  being  correct ;  they  omit  many 
persons  of  all  nationalities,  and  frequently  confound  foreign- 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  71 

ers  with  native-born ;  but,  as  a  general  thing,  the  reports  fall 
below  and  not  above  the  real  number.  And,  without  doubt, 
the  nearest  approach  to  the  truth  in  regard  to  the  number 
of  Danes,  Norwegians,  Swedes,  and  their  children  in  this 
country,  can  be  had  by  multiplying  the  Scandinavian-born 
by  2Vi.  The  number  of  Scandinavian-born  persons  in  each 
state  and  territory,  from  1850  to  1890,  can  be  found  on 
pages  256-60  in  the  first  volume ;  and  in  each  county  in  the 
state  of  Iowa  from  1856  to  1895,  in  the  following  statistical 
tables :  Therefore,  by  multiplying  the  numbers  found  in  these 
tables  by  2%,  a  fair  estimate  can  be  obtained  of  the  total 
Scandinavian  population  of  the  first  and  second  generations 
of  any  state,  territory,  or  county.  According  to  this  calcu- 
lation, there  were  about  190,000  Scandinavians  in  Iowa  in 
1897 ;  that  is,  nearly  one  out  of  every  ten  persons  in  the  state 
was  a  Northman  by  birth  or  parentage.  It  might,  in  this 
connection,  not  be  out  of  place  to  remark,  that  although  the 
Norwegian-born  in  Iowa  in  1890  numbered  over  3,000  less 
than  the  Swedes ;  yet  the  former  nationality,  the  same  year, 
exceeded  the  latter  by  7,500,  when  both  the  first  and  second 
generations  are  taken  into  consideration. 


72 


HirrORV   OF  THE  SCAKDINAVIANS  IN   THE  U.   S. 


TABLE  II. 
Showing   the   Number   of  Scandinavians  Born  in  the  Scan- 
dinavian  CODNTRIEB,    AND  THE  TOTAL   POPUI^TION    IN  ElAOH 
CODNTY  OF  IOWA. 


STATE  CENBU8 

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HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  73 

TABLE  II.— CoNTiNtrED 


BTATB  CENaOS 
OF  1858.           1 

U.  9.  CEN9D8 

5T.\TE  CES8D3 

CoUHtlU. 

3 

1 

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3 

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5 

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7 
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2 

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1 
1 

; 
11 

J 
1 

13 

87 

27 
27 
13 

22,81 

IS 

If 

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K 
1,16 

I; 
2 

S 
f 

1 

1 

"iii 

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■■'Mi 

1 
1 

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if 

221 
» 

1 

336 
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21i 
2,  TO 

641 
342 

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S,51 
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II 

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13^2(6 
U.11! 

BJMS 

iiioes 

bwiii 

1 

n 

-On 

21,403 

17,317 
17,013 

1 

TO 

1 

IMi 

11 

SRO 

ToWl 

437 

2.1SS 

517.87^ 

Z.S!7l2S..1S0 

ijw,oa) 

27.42f 

31.089 

I! 


(. 

•J; 


I' 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Scandinavian 


Scliools  in  Iowa. 


— BY— 


In  proportion  to  its  numerical  strength,  the  Scandi- 
navian element  of  Iowa  has  established  a  large  number  of 
institutions  of  learning.  The  most  of  these  institutions 
hg^ve  been  started  by  devout  Lutheran  church  members,  not 
for  the  sake  of  making  money,  but  in  order  to  lead  the  rising 
generation  to  better  and  nobler  lives.  As  a  consequence,  the 
schools  are  pervaded  by  a  Christian  spirit.  The  Scandi- 
navian languages  are  gradually  yielding  to  the  English. 
This  process,  indeed,  is  so  rapid,  that  the  first  catalogue  of 
Jewell  Lutheran  College,  for  instance,  does  not  indicate 
by  a  single  sentence  whether  a  single  Scandinavian  word  is 
ever  to  be  used  in  the  classes.  The  same  catalogue  does  say, 
however,  that  the  college  will  be  "ftdly  American  in  all  its 
spirit  and  in  all  its  methods,''  and  this  statement, somewhat 
modified,  may  be  applied  to  the  most  of  them.  The  good 
men  and  women  who  built  those  schools  intended  to  do 
what  little  they  cotdd  tow^ards  educating  their  sons  and 

75 


76  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

daughters  to  become  better  citizens  than  the  average  native 
American  of  our  day.  That  is  the  main  reason  why  they 
paid  out  their  hard-earned  dollars  and  cents  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  colleges  and  academies  in  a  country  which 
already  is  fairly  dotted  with  similar  institutions.  It  takes 
time  before  the  results  of  the  work  carried  on  at  these 
schools  can  be  fiiUy  realized ;  but  even  now  it  may  be  stated 
without  fear  of  contradiction  that  the  fair  state  of  Iowa 
can  boast  of  no  better  class  of  citizens  or  Christians  than 
those  who  have  attended  the  colleges  established  by  the 
Northmen  and  their  descendants. 

Danish.  Elk  Horn  College,  at  Elk  Horn,  is  the  oldest 
and  largest  Danish  institution  of  learning  in  America.  It 
was  established  in  1878  by  Rev.  O.  S.  Kirkeberg,  who  trans- 
ferred the  property  to  the  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  in  America  in  1880.  At  first  the  school  was  a  pattern 
of  the  Danish  high  schools,  one  characteristic  of  which  is 
that  the  boys  attend  in  winter,  and  the  girls  in  summer.  In 
1887  the  building  was  destroyed  by  fire,  but  was  immedi- 
ately rebuilt  on  a  much  larger  scale.  At  this  time  the  whole 
plan  of  the  school  was  made  much  more  practical,  which 
change  at  once  doubled  the  attendance.  In  1890  Rev.  K. 
Anker  bought  the  institution  and  extended  the  change  com- 
menced three  years  before,  and  the  attendance  now  reached 
one  hundred.  In  1894  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church  in  North 
America  bought  it,  and  in  1896  it  came  under  the  control  of 
the  United  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America. 
The  school  offers  six  distinct  courses  of  study.  There  are 
nine  professors  and  instructors,  and  the  total  annual  enroll- 
ment is  about  one  hundred  and  fifty.    The  value  of  the 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  IOWA.  77 

property  connected  with  the  school  is  about  $6,000.  The 
catalogue  for  1895  says :  *'  This  is  a  sectarian  school,  and  it 
maintains  a  strict  moral  discipline  among  its  students.  It  is 
our  proud  boast  that  a  code  of  stringent  rules  is  found 
unnecessary  in  governing  the  student  body.  A  high  moral 
culture  is  secured  by  a  proper  management.  A  pleasing 
imanimity  of  action  pervades  the  entire  atmosphere,  and 
Christian  love  and  obedience  do  for  the  school  what  severe 
rules  never  accomplish." 

The  University  of  the  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church,  at  Des  Moines,  was  opened  in  1896.  The  building 
is  famished  with  up-to-date  improvements,  and  the  property 
is  worth  $20,000.  Three  professors  have  charge  of  the 
work,  and  the  attendance  is  between  30  and  40. 

Norwegian.  St.  Ansgar  Seminary  and  Institute,  at  St. 
Ansgar,  was  established  in  1878  by  a  number  of  people 
belonging  to  the  Norwegian-Danish  Lutheran  Conference, 
the  moving  spirit  of  the  enterprise  being  Rev.  Johan  Olsen. 
H.  S.  Houg  was  the  first  principal  of  the  seminary,  and  is 
still  one  of  its  professors.  The  school  has  had  its  ups  and 
downs ;  but  at  present  the  work  carried  on  there  is  not  only 
more  thorough,  but  also  more  extensive  and  systematic  than 
before.  It  offers  five  distinct  courses  of  study,  and  employs 
half  a  dozen  instructors.  The  annual  enrollment  is  fi-om  75 
to  90,  and  the  number  of  students  graduated  during  the 
history  of  the  school  is  about  60.  The  aim  of  the  school  is 
"to  pay  particular  attention  to  the  training  of  teachers. 
To  young  people,  therefore,  who  have  not  made  up  their 
mind  as  to  their  fature  vocation,  but  desire  a  general  educa- 
tion, this  school  oSsTs  greater  advantages  than  a  common 


78  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Ugh  school  or  an  academy^  as  it  gives  the  student  an 
opportunity  of  learning  all  the  studies  taught  in  such  schools, 
and,  in  addition  to  this,  prepares  him,  if  he  chooses,  for  the 
teacher's  profession."    The  property  is  valued  at  $13,000. 

The  theological  seminary  of  the  defunct  Norwegian 
Lutheran  Augustana  Synod  was  opened  at  the  parsonage  of 
the  Springfield  congregation,  in  Winneshiek  county,  in  the 
fall  of  1874,  the  attendance  for  the  first  year  being  seven. 
In  1876  the  seminary  was  removed  to  Marshall,  Wis.;  but 
in  1881  was  again  removed,  this  time  to  Bdoit,  Iowa,  where 
it  remained  until  1890.  At  the  latter  date  it  was  discon- 
tinued, as  a  result  of  the  Norwegian  Augustana  Synod  being 
merged  into  the  United  Church.  David  Lysnes  was  the 
president  of  the  seminary  during  its  whole  existence,  and 
as  such  he  educated  about  a  score  of  young  men  for  the 
ministry. 

Bode  Lutheran  Academy,  at  Bode,  dates  fi-om  the  fall 
of  the  year  1886,  when  a  class  was  started  in  a  small 
common  school  house.  It  was  "  an  outgrowth  of  the  recog- 
nition of  the  importance  of  preserving  the  rising  generation 
for  the  Lutheran  church,  and  of  giving  the  young  men  and 
women  a  sound,  solid,  and  liberal  education,"  Rev.  O.  A. 
Sauer,  Capt.  T.  A.  Rossing,  and  other  members  of  the  Norwe- 
gian Synod  congregation  of  the  place  being  the  principal 
promoters  of  the  undertaking.  In  1887  the  school  secured 
a  building  of  its  own,  valued  at  $4,000. 

Valder  Business  and  Normal  School,  at  Decorah,  was 
founded  by  C.  H.  Valder  in  1888.  In  spite  of  a  brisk  compe^ 
tition  on  the  part  of  older  rivals,  this  school  has  enjoyed  a 
most  healthy  and  vigorous  growth,  its  enrollment  being 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  IOWA.  79 

about  500.  This  is  practically  an  American  school  in  efveiy 
sense  of  the  term,  but  its  founder  and  forty  per  cent,  of  its 
students  arc  Norwegians.  In  1896  G.  A.  Oliver  bought  a 
one-half  interest  of  the  school.  The  work  of  the  institution 
is  carried  on  in  rented  quarters. 

Jewell  Lutheran  College,  at  Jewell,  was  opened  in  the 
fisdl  of  1894  in  a  splendidly  appointed  building,  erected  at 
a  cost  of  about  $25,000  by  Norwegian  Lutheran  church 
members  who  live  in  the  neighborhood.  This  college  at  once 
entered  upon  its  career  with  half  a  dozen  instructors  and  an 
equal  number  of  courses,  boldly  asserting  in  its  first  cata- 
logue that  it  will  "  present  such  studies  and  devote  to  them 
such  amount  of  time  and  attention  as  are  reqtiired  for 
admission  to  such  institutions  as  Harvard  or  Yale  Univer- 
sities."   The  enrollment  is  about  125. 

Humboldt  College,  at  Humboldt,  became  the  property  of 
J.  P.  Peterson  and  A.  L.  Ronell  in  the  summer  of  1895,  and 
since  the  fall  of  that  year  it  has  been  in  operation  as  a  "prac- 
tical school  for  practical  people."  Over  a  dozen  distinct 
courses  are  taught,  and  a  large  number  of  instructors  are 
employed.  The  attendance  is  about  300,  and  the  value  of 
the  property  of  the  college  is  $40,000. 

The  Scandinavian  Quakers,  or  Friends,  for  several  years 
past  have  been  operating  the  Friends'  Boarding  School,  near 
Dunbar,  with  an  average  attendance  of  40  to  50  pupils. 
Two  teachers  and  a  matron  are  employed.  The  value  of  the 
school  building  is  $3,500.  There  is  also  a  boarding  school 
near  Centerdale,  where  children  of  Scandinavian-Quaker 
parentage  attend. 

Swedish.    In  the  fall  of  1873  C.  Anderson,  a  Swedish 


80  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

preacher,  but  a  Dane  by  birth,  opened  up  a  theological  semi- 
nary at  Keokuk.  The  establishment  of  the  school  had  pre- 
viously been  authorized  by  the  Swedish  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Mission  Synod;  but  a  part  of  this  body  withdrew  and 
organized  the  Swedish  BvangeUcal  Lutheran  Ansgarii  Synod 
in  1874,  and  henceforth  said  school  belonged  to  the  latter 
organization.  The  seminary  was  removed  to  Knoxville, 
m.,  in  1875.  It  was  mstrumental  in  preparing  about  half  a 
dozen  young  men  for  the  ministry  while  it  remained  at 
Keokuk. 

The  Iowa  Conference  of  the  Swedish  Augustana  Synod 
some  fifteen  years  ago  took  steps  to  establish  "  a  high  school 
for  girls"  at  Swede  Point  (now  Madrid).  In  1883  it  was 
decided  to  open  the  school  to  both  sexes ;  but  as  the  neces- 
sary means  were  not  forthcoming,  the  undertaking  was 
abandoned  in  1887. 

At  the  close  of  the  eighties,  Rev.  A.  J.  Ostlin,  of  the 
Augustana  S3mod,  started  an  academy  at  Stanton.  '  The 
work  performed,  was  of  a  high  grade,  and  at  one  time  the 
attendance  w^as  large;  but  the  school  w^as  in  operation  only 
two  or  three  years. 

Other  Institutions.  Although  the  higher  educational 
institutions  sustained  and  operated  by  Scandinavian-Ameri- 
cans in  Iowa  at  present  have  an  aggregate  enrollment  of 
1,4?00,  the  attendance  of  that  class  of  students  at  the  other 
institutions  of  the  same  grade  does  not  seem  to  be  materially 
affected  thereby.  Indeed,  it  has  been  observed  that  local 
Scandinavian  schools  have  aroused  such  an  active  interest  in 
educational  matters  as  to  positively  increase  the  attendance 
at  other  schools.     The  attendance  of  students  of  Scandina- 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  IOWA.  81 

vian  birth  or  parentage,  for  instance,  at  the  State  University, 
is  from  30  to  40,  or  three  per  cent,  of  the  total  attendance. 
Prof.  A.  A.  Veblen  deserves  credit  for  the  eflForts  he  has 
made  to  induce  his  yomig  countrymen  to  attend  the  state 
university,  at  Iowa  City.  In  regard  to  the  standing  of  this 
class  of  students,  A.  A.  Veblen  says:  "Our  Scandinavians 
have  had  many  representatives  here  who  have  won  high  dis- 
tinction, and  they  have  so  far  carried  away  honors  altogether 
out  of  proportion  to  their  numbers.  In  fact,  I  can  not  now 
recall  a  single  case  of  a  Scandinavian  doing  very  poorly." 


I 


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111 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Scandinavian 


Churches  in  Iowa. 

— BY— 
a  N.  NELSON  and  J.  J.  SKORDALSVOLD. 


The  reUgious  activity  of  the  Scandinavian-bom  lowans 
ever  since  they  began  to  settle  in  the  state  about  fifty  years 
ago  has  been  almost  phenomenal.  In  the  course  of  that 
period  an  even  dozen  of  distinctly  Scandinavian  S3mods  or 
associations  have  gained  a  foothold  in  the  state,  the  number 
of  local  congregations  representing  each  of  these  ranging 
fi-om  eight  to  more  than  one  hundred.  The  Lutheran 
churches  are  by  far  the  strongest;  but  there  is  also  a 
respectable  sprinkling  of  Baptists  and  Methodists.  The 
total  number  of  congregations  is  about  450,  and  the  aggre- 
gate number  of  communicant  members,  45,000.  A  little 
figuring  will  bring  out  the  ftdl  meaning  of  these  numbers. 
The  total  membership,  including  the  children  of  the  com- 
municants, must  be  at  least  75,000,  while  the  whole  number 
of  inhabitants  of  Scandinavian  birth  or  immediate  descent 
may  be  put  at  nearly  200,000.    Thus  it  will  be  seen  that 

83 


84  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.   S. 

practically  forty  out  of  every  one  hundred  Northmen  in 
Iowa  are  church  members.  But  several  thousand  Scandi- 
navians belong  to  churches  wholly  outside  of  the  twelve 
organizations  mentioned  below,  and  all  of  these,  combined 
with  people  who  are  not  church  members,  but  nevertheless 
attend  this  or  that  favorite  church  fiiUy  as  regularly  as  many 
actual  members  do,  swell  the  number  of  church-going  Scan- 
dinavians in  Iowa  to  a  grand  total  of  about  150,000,  or 
three-fourths  of  the  whole  number  of  inhabitants. 

The  United  Church.  Since  the  United  Norwegian  Luth- 
eran Church  of  America  does  not  by  any  kind  of  organi- 
zation recognize  the  boundary  lines  of  Iowa,  there  is  no 
sufficient  reason  for  devoting  a  separate  article  to  that 
church.  But  its  strength  in  that  state  entitles  it  to  more 
than  passing  consideration.  Although  its  organization  dates 
only  from  1890,  the  elements  out  of  which  it  was  formed 
may  easily  be  traced  a  long  series  of  years  back  of  that  date. 
The  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod  was  organized  at  Kosh- 
konong,  Wis.,  in  1853,  seven  ministers  and  forty  congre- 
gations uniting  in  forming  the  new  body.  Northern  Iowa 
soon  became  the  great  stronghold  of  the  synod,  and  the 
rival  organizations  made  but  slight  inroads  into  its  ranks 
until  the  Anti-Missourian  Brotherhood  withdrew  during  the 
eighties.  When  the  United  Church  was  organized,  twelve 
Anti-Missourian  ministers  and  forty  churches  served  by  them 
in  Iowa,  were,  with  some  exceptions,  incorporated  into  this 
body.  The  other  organizations  which  were  merged  into  the 
United  Church  in  1890  were  the  Norwegian-Danish  Augus- 
tana  Synod,  and  the  Norwegian-Danish  Evangelical  Luth- 
eran Conference,  both  of  which  dated  their  organization 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHURCHES  IN   IOWA.  85 

from  the  year  1870.  During  the  first  year  of  its  existence, 
the  former  consisted  of  ten  ministers  and  about  twice  that 
nmnber  of  congregations  in  the  whole  United  States. 
Originally,  the  conference  was  not  much  stronger,  having 
only  four  ministers  and  ten  congregations  in  the  state ;  but 
it  contained  a  number  of  energetic  men  who  were  bound  to 
succeed,  and  twenty  years  later,  when  they  joined  the  United 
Church,  the  conference  had  forty-one  churches  and  twelve 
ministers,  and  the  Augustana  Synod  had  two  churches  and 
four  ministers  in  Iowa.  At  the  time  of  the  union  the 
Augustana  Synod  had  a  theological  seminary  at  Beloit,  and 
the  St.  Ansgar  Seminary  was  owned  and  controlled  by 
members  of  the  conference.  The  United  States  census  of 
1890  puts  the  value  of  the  church  property  held  by  those 
congregations  in  Iowa  which  participated  in  the  formation 
of  the  United  Church,  at  $220,100.  During  the  years 
1890-96  the  contingent  of  the  United  Church  in  Iowa 
increased  as  follows:  The  number  of  congregations  from 
seventy-two  to  eighty-two,  and  the  number  of  ministers 
from  twenty-seven  to  thirty-eight.  According  to  the  United 
States  statistics,  the  number  of  **  communicants  or  members  " 
was  14,891  in  1890,  which  figures  are  too  ambiguous  to 
mean  anything.  But  the  parochial  reports  for  1896  seem  to 
indicate  that  the  total  membership,  including  the  baptized 
children,  was  a  little  over  15,000,  and  if  the  twenty-five 
congregations  are  added  which  do  not  belong  to  the  organi- 
zation, but  are  served  by  its  pastors,  the  total  number  of 
persons  in  Iowa  in  sympathy  with  the  United  Church  will  be 
in  the  neighborhood  of  20,000.  This  calculation  includes 
the  Friends  of  Augsburg,  or  Minority,  who  have  not  been 


86  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

deducted  from  the  members  given  in  the  official  reports, 
although  they  have  practically  left  the  church. 

Hauge's  Synod.  Elling  Eielsen  visited  Keokuk  in  the 
early  forties.  Thus  the  father  of  the  present  Hauge's  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Synod  in  America  seems  to  have  been  the 
first  Scandinavian  clergyman  who  put  his  foot  upon  Iowa 
soil.  Afterwards,  however,  the  immediate  followers  of  Eid- 
sen  did  not  effect  any  religious  organization  in  the  state 
until  1854,  when  a  church  was  started  at  Stavanger, 
Fayette  county.  There  are  only  four  churches  in  Hauge's 
S3mod  which  are  older  than  this  one.  The  statistics  of  the 
S3mod  show  that  about  twenty  cong^gations  in  Iowa  were 
connected  with  the  organization  in  1896,  and  nearly  all  of 
them  have  church  buildings  of  their  own.  The  total  mem- 
bership at  that  date,  including  the  children,  was  4,000 ;  and 
the  value  of  the  property  held  by  those  congregations  now 
totals  $35,000.  Hauge's  Synod  received  its  present  name 
in  1875.  Shortly  afterwards  Elling  Eielsen  and  a  few  others 
withdrew,  retaining  the  old  constitution  and  the  old  name 
of  the  organization.  This  organization  at  present  is  repre- 
sented in  Iowa  by  two  ministers  who  are  serving  congrega- 
tions at  Clear  Lake  and  Forest  City. 

Danish  Lutherans.  No  Danish  Lutheran  church  was 
organized  in  the  United  States  in  the  nineteenth  century 
before  the  year  1868.  Three  years  later  Rev.  C.  L.  Clausen 
organized  one  at  Cedar  Falls,  Iowa,  and  the  next  year  a  few 
ministers  and  laymen  met  at  Neenah ,  Wis . ,  and  established  the 
Church  Mission  Society,  which  in  1874  received  the  name  of 
the  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  This 
body  in  the  course  of  time  has  become  the  strongest  Danish 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHUKCHBS  IN  IOWA.  87 

church  organization  in  the  country.  In  Iowa  it  was  repre- 
sented by  some  thirty  congregations  with  about  2,500 
members.  They  had  about  a  score  of  church  buildings,  and 
the  value  of  the  property  belonging  to  them  aggregates 
$30,000.  But  this  organization  was  rent  in  twain  in  1894, 
and  one  faction  united  with  the  Danish  Lutheran  Associa- 
tion in  1896,  forming  the  United  Danish  Evangelical  Luth- 
eran Church  in  America. 

In  1884  lay  delegates  from  six  churches,  and  six  Danish 
ministers  belonging  to  the  Norwegian-Danish  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Conference,  withdrew  from  this  body,  and  organ- 
ized the  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  Association  in 
America,  this  step  also  being  favorably  looked  upon  by  the 
former  body.  The  latter  organization  did  not  grow  very- 
fast,  its  representation  in  Iowa  at  the  time  of  the  formation 
of  the  United  Danish  Church  being  nine  congregations, 
which  had  an  aggregate  membership  of  almost  1,000.  The 
value  of  the  property  held  by  these  churches  was  about 
$5,000. 

Methodists.  A  Swedish  Methodist  church  was  organ- 
ized by  Jonas  Hedstrom  at  New  Sweden,  JeflFerson  county,  in 
1850 — for  a  full  account  of  the  religious  contention  prevail- 
ing at  that  place  in  the  middle  of  this  century,  see  the 
biography  of  M.  P.  Hokanson,  in  this  volume.  Since  that 
date  the  growth  of  Swedish  Methodism  in  Iowa  has  been 
steady.  One  of  the  most  earnest  workers  for  a  period  of 
thirty-five  years  was  John  Linn,  whose  biography  may  be 
found  in  this  volume.  In  1874  the  Iowa  district  was  estab- 
lished, and  five  years  later  the  Burlington  district.  The  latter 
includes  Iowa,  Missouri,  and  a  part  of  Illinois.    There  were 


88  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  8. 

a  score  of  congregations  in  Iowa  in  1896.  They  had  abont 
fifteen  church  boildingSy  and  the  total  number  of  communis 
cant  members  was  800.  The  church  property  was  valued  at 
$36,000. 

O.  P.  Petersen,  the  Nestor  of  the  Norwegian  Methodists 
in  America,  preached  in  Winneshiek  county  as  early  as  1851, 
and  the  next  year  three  men  and  four  women  at  Washington 
Prairie,  in  the  same  county,  united  in  forming  the  first 
Norwegian  Methodist  congregation  in  the  state — Petersen's 
biography  is  given  in  the  first  volume  of  this  work.  The 
following  statistics  show  the  strength  of  the  Norwegian 
Methodists  in  Iowa  at  the  close  of  the  year  1896 :  Fifteen 
congregations  with  500  communicant  members;  10  church 
buildings  and  several  parsonages,  valued  at  $17,000. 

Baptists.  A  Swedish  Baptist  church  was  started  at 
Village  Creek,  Allamakee  county,  in  1853,  by  P.  O.  Nilson, 
whose  biography  is  given  in  the  first  volume  of  this  work. 
Three  years  later  another  church  was  organized  at  Swede 
Bend,  Webster  county,  and  in  1896  the  number  of  churches 
had  increased  to  about  20,  which  constitute  the  Iowa  con- 
ference. The  number  of  communicant  members  was  about 
1,000.  The  property  held  by  the  conference  was  valued  at 
$30,000.  In  1896  there  were  a  dozen  of  Norwegian-Danish 
Baptist  congregations  in  Iowa,  which  had  800  conimuni« 
cant  members. 

Swedish  Mission.  Previous  to  1868  no  Swedish  Mission 
church  was  organized  in  this  country.  That  year  one  was 
started  at  Swede  Bend,  Webster  county.  The  first  pastor 
of  this  church  was  C.  A.  Bjork,  who  for  years  has  been  the 
president  of  the   Swedish  Evangelical  Mission  Covenant 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHURCHES  IN  IOWA.  89 

which  was  organized  in  1885.  The  Swedish  Covenant  is 
represented  in  Iowa  by  20  cong^gations.  About  one-half 
of  the  congregations  submitted  reports  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  covenant  in  1895.  The  following  statistics  were 
obtained  by  doubling  the  figures  given  by  the  ten  congrega- 
tions  which  sent  in  reports :  Members  of  all  ages,  1,800 ; 
number  of  church  buildings,  16 ;  value  of  property  held  by 
the  churches,  $41,500.  As  will  be  seen  from  the  way  these 
figures  were  obtained,  they  are  only  approximately  correct. 
The  Swedish  Free  Mission  is  the  name  generally  given  to  a 
large  number  of  congregations  which  originally  co-operated 
with  those  churches  which  formed  the  Swedish  Bvangelical 
Mission  Covenant  in  1885.  The  Swedish  Free  Mission  is 
represented  in  Iowa  by  a  dozen  of  congregations  whose 
membership  is  about  800, 

Quakers.  There  are  some  six  or  seven  hundred  Scandi- 
navian Friends,  or  Quakers,  mostly  Norwegians,  in  Iowa. 
They  have  no  congregations  of  their  own,  but  are  connected 
with  purely  American  churches  in  the  different  localities.  In 
some  cases,  however,  they  have  been  in  the  habit  of  using 
their  mother  tongue  at  religious  gatherings* 


40 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Iowa  Confereace 
of  tlie  Augustana  Synoi 

—  BY— 


As  the  name  indicates,  this  conference  is  a  part  of  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Augustana  Synod  of  North  America, 
better  known  as  the  Swedish  Augustana  Synod.  Originally 
it  embraced  only  the  state  of  Iowa,  but  in  1891  the  state  of 
Missouri,  with  the  exception  of  Kansas  City,  was  added. 

The  conference  was  at  first  a  part  of  the  Mississippi 
Conference,  and  this  body  met,  for  the  first  time  in  Iowa,  * 
at  New  Sweden,  in  1853,  when  Dr.  T.  N.  Hasselquist 
presided.  In  1868  the  Mississippi  Conference  was  divided 
into  the  Eastern  and  Western  Mississippi  conferences.  The 
former  later  assumed  the  name  Illinois,  and  the  latter  adopted 
the  name  of  Iowa  in  1870. 

The  first  meeting  was  held  at  Swede  Bend,  now  Strat- 
ford, February  18-21,  1869.  At  the  organization  the  con- 
ference consisted  of  eleven  congregations  and  six  pastors.  Of 
these  six,  the  Revs.  H.  Olson,  B.  M.  Halland,  and  C.  J.  Malm- 

*For  a  mora  complete  dlaonssion  of  the  first  Swedish  Latheran  oiganisation  in 
Iowa,  see  Bar.  M.  F.  Hokanson's  biography  in  this  Tolnme.— BoiTOSi 

91 


92  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

berg  were  present.  A  Norwegian  pastor,  O.  Sheldahl,  was 
also  in  attendance.  The  lay  delegates  were  three.  Olson 
was  elected  president,  and  Halland,  secretary  and  treasurer. 
At  first  the  officers  were  elected  at  every  semi-annual  meet- 
ing, but  since  1870  the  term  of  office  has  been  one  year. 

At  all  the  meetings  from  the  first  the  home  mission  work 
has  been  the  most  important  subject  under  consideration. 
But  it  was  not  only  discussed  at  the  meetings,  for  during 
the  first  years  almost  every  pastor  of  necessity  became  an 
itinerant  preacher.  The  ministers  were  few,  while  the  field 
was  large  and  growing.  That  our  veteran  clergy  did  not 
have  an  easy  time  of  it,  we  learn  from  the  reports  delivered 
at  the  meetings.  The  means  of  communication  were  very 
poor,  and  often  a  minister  had  to  walk  many  miles  in  order 
to  keep  his  appointments.  He  was  not  always  treated  with 
courtesy  when  he  did  arrive.  This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at. 
Many  of  the  settlers  were  from  the  rural  districts  of 
Sweden  and,  therefore,  not  very  refined.  The  freedom  en- 
joyed in  this  country  for  many  meant  only  a  license  to 
display  their  course  and  selfish  tastes.  Other  denomina- 
tions proselyted  among  our  countrymen,  and  encouraged 
the  suspicion  and  the  rude  maimers  displayed  toward  our 
ministers.  The  so-called  Mission  Friends,  the  followers  of 
Waldenstrom,  were  also  at  that  time  springing  into  exist- 
ence, so  that  many  members  of  our  congregations  and 
former  sympathizers  with  our  work  wavered  in  their  alle- 
giance, if  they  did  not  wholly  side  with  the  newmovement.t 

flhis  moTement,  which  be^an  in  the  state  in  1868,  does  not,  howeTer,  appear  to 
have  been  very  popular  amon^  the  Swedes  in  Iowa  in  later  years ;  because  in  1897  the 
Swedish  Mission  CoTonant  and  the  Swedish  Free  Mission,  tocether,  did  not  have  mors 
ttian  2,400  members,  indadincr  the  children,  in  the  whole  state;  while,  oa  the  other 
hand,the  Swedish  Lntheians  amounted  to  nearly  seven  times  that  number.— Bditob. 


IOWA  CONFBRENCB  OF  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD.       93 

Under  such  circumstances  the  most  indispensable  qualities 
of  a  minister  were  patience  and  perseverance.  But  the  work 
had  its  bright  sides.  Many  were  hungering  for  the  word  of 
Gody  preached  in  accordance  with  the  faith  of  their  fathers. 
Such  received  the  visiting  pastor  with  open  arms,  and  let 
him  freely  share  all  that  their  hospitality  could  provide. 
Surely  many  survivors  of  the  earliest  settlers  recall  with  joy 
to  this  very  day  the  first  time  they  had  the  opportunity  of 
hearing  a  Swedish  Lutheran  sermon  in  their  new  home. 

Though  none  of  our  ministers  at  this  time  can  be  said  to 
be  over-paid,  yet  there  has  been  a  marked  increase  of  salary 
since  the  early  days  of  the  conference.  At  least  one  pastor,  a 
man  with  a  family,  had  only  $150.00  a  year ;  not  because 
he  did  not  need  more,  nor  that  the  congregation  did  not  wish 
to  pay  more,  but  because  the  members  were  too  poor  to 
raise  a  lar^fer  salary.  The  example  given  may  have  been  an 
extreme  case,  yet  the  salary  of  the  better  paid  pastors  were 
in  proportion.  But  as  the  material  prosperity  increased  the 
ministers  were  made  sharers  thereof. 

Our  pioneer  ministers  were  strict  confessional  Lutherans, 
and  therefore  laid  a  solid  foundation  for  succeeding  genera- 
tions to  build  upon.  The  first  theological  question  under 
discussion  at  any  meeting  of  the  conference  was  this:  In 
what  respect  does  the  Lutheran  Church  dififer  from  other 
denominations?  Afterwards  at  several  meetings  the  arti- 
cles of  the  Unaltered  Augsburg  Confession  were  discussed; 
and,  as  a  general  introduction,  the  importance  of  having  a 
confession  of  faith  was  considered. 

One  thing  that  cannot  escape  notice,  when  studying  the 
minutes  of  the  first  meetings,  is  the  brotherly  spirit  that 


94  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

prevailed.  The  conference  was  a  family.  At  the  annual 
meetings  every  pastor  gave  an  oral  report  of  his  work  and 
ofthespiritnal  condition  of  his  flock.  When  the  congrega^ 
tion  was  vacant,  the  lay  delegation  reported  upon  its  con- 
dition  and  needs.  As  the  conference  grew  in  size,  the  work 
at  the  meetings  of  necessity  became  more  systematized;  for 
example,  since  1873  the  president  annually  delivers  a  -writ- 
ten report  to  the  conference,  and  the  pastoral  reports  to 
the  same  body  have  been  written.  Five  years  later  it  w^as 
decided  that  the  pastoral  reports  should  be  sent  to  the  pres- 
ident and  consulted  by  him  in  preparing  his  report. 

At  first,  besides  the  regular  annual  business  gatherings 
of  the  conference,  mission  meetings  were  held  once  a  year, 
which  were  solely  for  the  spiritual  edification  of  the  minis- 
ters and  the  congregations.  In  1870  it  was  decided  that 
such  meetings  were  to  be  held  quarterly.  On  account 
of  the  great  distance  and  the  cost  of  traveling,  as  well 
as  the  desire  to  g^ve  every  congregation  an  opportunity 
to  hold  such  a  meeting  each  year,  the  conference  decided 
in  1871  to  divide  itself  into  two  mission  districts,  the 
Northern  and  the  Southern.  The  Southern  district  com- 
prised, ''the  congregations  and  settlements  along  the  B.  & 
M.  R.  R.";  and  the  Northern  district,  "the  congregations 
and  settlements  situated  north  and  northwest  of  Des 
Moines  as  far  as  Sioux  City."  These  districts  were  to  as- 
semble once  every  month  in  the  different  congregations.  In 
1874?  the  Southern  district  was  divided  into  two,  and  nine 
years  later  the  Northern  district  was  also  divided.  The  dif- 
ference of  time  between  these  divisions  would  tend  to  show 
that  the  conference  grew  more  rapidly  in  southern  Iowa. 


IOWA  CONFERENCE  OP  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD.       95 

This  fact  was  undoubtedly  owing  to  the  large  Swedish  set- 
tlement at  and  south  of  Stanton.  Besides ,  the  northern 
counties  of  the  state  have,  in  general,  been  settled  later  than 
the  southern.  In  1887  the  districts  received  their  present 
names — Burlington,  Stanton,  Des  Moines,  and  Sioux  City. 
The  last  mentioned  was  in  1896  divided  into  two,  Sioux 
City  and  Algona.  The  regulations  for  the  districts  are  very 
simple.  Their  oj£cers  are  a  president,  a  secretary,  and  a 
treasurer. 

The  conference  had  no  constitution  until  1877  when  one, 
modeled  after  that  of  the  Minnesota  Conference,  was  adopted. 
The  previous  constitutional  committee  reported  inability 
to  perform  their  duty,  because  the  question  of  the  division 
of  the  Augustana  Synod  into  district  synods  was  then  agi- 
tated. The  constitution  of  1877  was  in  force  ten  years, 
when  a  new  one,  prepared  by  Rev.  Forsander,  was  adopted. 
This  was  in  turn  superseded  by  the  constitution  adopted  in 
1895,  of  which  Rev.  M.  P.  Oden  is  the  chief  author.  The 
seal  of  the  conference  was  adopted  in  1880.  The  following 
year  articles  of  incorporation  for  the  separate  congregations 
were  accepted,  and  each  congregation  must  be  incorporated 
before  it  can  be  admitted  into  the  conference.  The  conference 
was  incorporated  in  1896. 

The  conference  owns  and  controls  one  charitable  institu- 
tion. The  Orphans'  Home,  located  a  little  south  of  Stanton. 
The  erection  of  such  a  home  was  first  proposed  at  Des 
Moines  in  1870.  Rev.  Halland  made  the  motion,  and  he, 
with  Rev.  H.  Olson,  was  made  a  committee  to  locate  the 
home.  They  reported  the  following  year  that  160  acres  of 
land  had  been  purchased  near  Stanton.    Since,  80  acres  have 


.11^  Hk$X01^¥  OF  .THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 


aAJkted.  and  in  1894  the  farm  was  valued  at  $13,200. 
In  lij^  tlie  conference  chose  the  site  for  the  Orphans'  HTome 
>uiUtnig>  and  a  honse  was  erected  there,  which  was  dedicated 
Occ  <*l»t»  1881.  This  house  has  since  been  considerably 
<aiAiX^.  In  January,  1882,  five  children  were  received,  and 
in  1^7  there  were  thirty^even.  Children  of  any  nationality 
ami  any  creed  are  received,  but  preference  is  given  to  Swedish 
chjUdren  who  are  residents  within  the  conference.  The  chU- 
Ur«u  receive  a  good  school  education  in  English  and  Swedish, 
and  iilso  receive  religious  instruction.  When  a  child  reaches 
the  s^  of  18  it  is  dismissed  from  the  home. 

In  1888  Rev.  J.  Jesperson  and  A.  P.  Soderquist  were 
a|>pQinted  to  prepare  a  constitution  and  by-laws  for  a  pro- 
poted  insurance  association  to  be  formed  under  the  auspices 
of  the  conference.  As  a  result  the  Swedish  Lutheran  Mutual 
Fire  Insurance  Association  of  Burlington,  Iowa,  was 
organized,  which  is  now  doing  business  in  almost  every 
state  in  the  Union.  In  February,  1895,  467  policies  were  in 
force,  representing  a  value  of  $657,050.  Only  the  property 
of  churches  and  of  pastors  of  the  Augustana  Synod  is 
insured. 

During  the  four  years  ending  1885,  the  conference  either 
owned  or  controlled  the  Betbania,  a  religious  journal  pub- 
lished monthly. 

The  statistics  for  1880,  about  ten  years  after  the 
organization  of  the  conference,  show  the  following:  44 
congregations;  28  churches;  15  parsonages;  17  pastors; 
4,849  communicants ;  9,032  members;  34  Sunday  schools; 
17  parochial  schools ;  contributions  to  purposes  outside  of 
congregations,  $4,633;  regular  expenses  for  local  congrega- 


IOWA  CONFBRBNCB  OP  AUGUSTANA  SYNOD.       97 

tions,  $25,283.  The  value  of  the  church  property  was  not 
given  until  1885,  when  it  amounted  to  $166,376,  excluding 
the  Orphans' Home.  Statistics  for  1896  are:  Congregations, 
71;  churches,  64;  parsonages,  38 ;  commun'cants,  9,850; 
members,  15,985 ;  Sunday  schools,  63 ;  parochial  schools,  43 ; 
value  ofchurch  property,  $356,155;  debts,  $47,785 ;  contri- 
butions for  other  than  local  congregational  purposes, 
$10,522 ;  regular  expenses  of  local  congregations,  $57,500. 
The  following  clergymen  have  been  presidents  of  the 
conference  in  the  order  mentioned :  H.  Olson,  C.  P.  Rydholm, 
M.  C.  Ranseen,  B.  M.  Halland,  O.J.  Siljestrom,  C.  A.  Hemborg, 
J.  E.  Erlander,  and  M.  P.  Oden. 


r 
i] 

r 


•t 


Historical  Review  of  the  Iowa  District  of  tlie 


Norw^an  Synod. 


— BY — 


The  Synod  of  the  Norwegian  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church  of  America,  commonly  called  the  Norwegian  Synod, 
though  not  formally  organized  before  February,  1853,  may 
be  said  to  have  begun  its  work  in  Iowa  in  1851.  In  the  sum- 
mer of  that  year  Rev.  C.  L.  Clausen,  one  of  the  original 
founders  of  the  Norwegian  Synod,  visited  some  of  the  Nor- 
wegian settlements  in  northeastern  Iowa  and  preached  there, 
being  the  first  Lutheran  minister  to  preach  a  sermon  in  the 
Norse  language  on  Iowa  soil.*  The  following  year  he  organ- 
ized a  church  at  St.  Ansgar,  which  joined  the  S3mod  later.  In 
the  fall  of  1851  Rev.  Nils  Brandt  visited  the  settlements  in 
northeastern  Iowa,  and  again  in  1852  and  1853.  But  the 
real  pioneer  minister  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  in  Iowa,  and 
the  father  of  the  Iowa  District,  is  Rev.  Vilhelm  Koren,  now 
the  venerable  president  of  the  synod.  In  March,  1853,  Koren, 
then  a  young  man  of  twenty-six,  accepted  a  call  from  "  set- 

*  Am  itated  io  the  artiole,  Historioal  BoTiew  of  the  SoandinaTian  Chnzohes  in  Iowa, 
mine  Eielaen  Tiaited  Iowa  in  the  early  forties.— Bdxxob. 

99 


100  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

tiers  in  Winnesheik,  Allamakee,  Fayette,  and  Clayton  cotrn- 
ties,"  and  entered  upon  his  duties  in  the  autumn  of  that  year. 
For  four  years  he  was  the  only  regularly  educated  Norwegian 
Lutheran  minister  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  for  twelve  or 
fifteen  years  he  was  a  traveling  missionary  rather  than  a 
settled  pastor.  Koren*s  pioneer  work  in  Iowa  and  Min- 
nesota deserves  far  more  than  the  passing  mention  that  can 
be  given  here.  It  is  a  heart-stirring  story,  not  only  of  heroic 
endeavor  and  endurance  and  cheerful  sacrifices,  but  also  of 
unswerving  fideUty  to  truth  and  principle.  It  is  one  of  the 
brightest  pages  of  the  long  history  of  the  Norwegian  Synod. 

In  1857  F.  C.  Claussen,  the  second  resident  minister  of 
the  synod  west  of  the  Mississippi,  was  installed  over  the 
churches  in  Houston  and  Fillmore  counties,  Minnesota,  and 
relieved  Koren  of  his  missionary  duties  in  southeastern  Min- 
nesota and  the  northeastern  part  of  Winnesheik  county  in 
Iowa.  The  ensuing  year  Rev.  B.  J.  Muus  took  charge  of  the 
churches  in  Goodhue  and  Rice  counties  and  the  adjacent 
mission  field  in  Minnesota.  Rev.  O.  J.  Hjort  came  to  Iowa 
in  1862,  and  Rev.  T.  A.  Torgerson  in  1865,  and  at  the 
organization  of  the  Iowa  District,  in  1876,  the  number  of 
clergymen  within  its  limits  was  no  less  than  forty. 

As  related  in  Vol.  I.  of  this  work,  page  187,  it  was  found 
expedient  in  1876 — ^the  Norwegian  S3mod  having  by  this 
time  spread  over  ten  or  twelve  different  states  and  terri- 
tories— ^to  divide  the  synod  into  three  districts.  The  districts 
formed  were  named  the  Eastern,  the  Iowa,  and  the  Min- 
nesota. By  the  synodical  act  of  1876  the  Iowa  District  was 
made  to  comprise  all  the  churches  and  pastors  in  the  state  of 
Iowa,  the  southern  tier  of  counties  in  Minnesota,  and  the 


IOWA  DISTRICT  OF  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD.  101 

southern  part  of  Dakota ;  and  in  addition  the  few  scattering 
churches  in  Nebraska,  Kansas,  and  Texas.  It  was  also 
agreed  that  the  Iowa  District  should  attend  to  the  mission 
work  to  be  done  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  The  Iowa  District 
was  organized  at  Decorah,  June  22, 1876.  The  first  officers 
elected  were  Rev.  V.  Koren,  president ;  Rev.  T.  A.  Torgerson, 
secretary;  and  Rev.  O.  H.  Smeby,  treasurer.  Koren  served 
as  president  until  1894,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Tor- 
gerson. 

The  statistics  of  the  district  at  the  time  of  organization 
were  as  follows :  Churches,  155 ;  pastoral  charges,  35 ;  pas- 
tors, 40 ;  communicants,  19,420 ;  number  of  souls,  36,659. 
In  1896,  twenty  years  later,  the  statistics  were  as  follows : 
Churches,  141;  pastoral  charges,  47;  pastors,  60;  com- 
municants, 16,157;  number  of  souls,  27,854.  The  small 
increase  in  the  number  of  pastors  and  pastorates,  and  the 
material  decrease  in  the  number  of  churches  and  total  mem- 
bership, may  seem  surprising.  It  is  not,  however,  owing 
to  any  lack  of  aggressive  spirit  and  activity  on  the  part 
of  pastors  and  people.  It  is  partly  due  to  the  formation 
of  a  fourth  district,  but  principally  to  the  withdrawal  from 
the  synod  of  the  Anti-Missourians  some  years  ago.  In  1893 
all  the  churches  on  the  Pacific  Coast  were  detached  firom  the 
Iowa  and  Minnesota  districts  and  organized  into  the  Pacific 
District,  which  now  numbers  sixteen  pastors  with  their 
charges.  In  1887  Prof.  F.  A.  Schmidt,  the  leader  of  the 
Anti-Missourian  fiaction,  carried  his  followers  out  of  the  Nor- 
wegian S3mod  and  subsequently  into  the  United  Norwegian 
Lutheran  Church.  About  one-fifth  of  the  pastors  and 
churches  of  the  Iowa  District  were  among  the  seceders. 


102         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIKNS  IN  THB  U.   S. 

Since  its  formation  the  Iowa  District  has  held  annnal 
meetings  in  connection  with  the  meetings  of  the  joint  synod 
every  third  year,  and  separately  the  intervening  years.  At 
all  meetings,  both  of  the  joint  synod  and  of  the  various  dis- 
tricts, it  is  customary  to  devote  all  the  morning  sessions  to 
the  consideration  of  some  important  scriptural  truth  or 
principle  tc  be  held  and  confessed ;  some  christian  duty  to  be 
discharged ;  or  some  sin  or  evil  to  be  avoided  and  combated. 
Among  the  matters  thus  discussed  at  the  annual  meetings 
of  the  Iowa  District  are  the  following:  Sanctification ; 
Schisms  in  the  Church ;  Christian  Liberty ;  Election ;  the  New 
Birth;  the  Spiritual  Impotency  of  the  Natural  Man;  the 
Scriptures  our  only  safe  Rule  of  Faith  and  Life ;  the  Right  Use 
of  the  Law;  Modem  Assaults  upon  the  Bible;  Parochial 
Schools ;  Overcoming  the  World  by  Faitk ;  the  Second  Advent 
of  Christ. 

In  accordance  with  the  settled  policy  of  the  Norwegian 
Synod,  the  Iowa  District  as  such  has  no  institutions  of 
education  or  charity.  In  the  Swedish  Augustana  Synod  it 
is  the  custom  to  incorporate  separately  the  many  confer^ 
cnces  into  which  the  synod  is  divided,  and  the  conferences  as 
such  acquire  property,  establish  and  maintain  colleges, 
academies,  orphans'  homes,  liospitals,  etc.  Such  is  not  the 
policy  of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  The  districts  are  not  incor- 
porated, and  all  institutions  of  learning  and  charity,  except 
such  as  may  be  established  by  merely  local  associations,  are 
owned,  controlled,  and  supported  by  the  whole  synod.  The 
result  of  adopting  and  following  this  policy  is  that  sectional 
interests  and  feelings  are  not  created  to  the  detriment  of  the 
•ynod  as  a  whole,  and  its  iastitutions  and  interests.'  The 


IOWA  DISTRICT  OF  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD.  103 

only  work  which,  under  the  synodical  constitution,  is 
entrusted  to  the  districts  as  such,  is  the  home  mission  work. 
Bach  district  has  its  own  board  of  home  missions  and  home 
mission  fund,  and  attends  to  the  work  to  be  done  within  its 
own  bounds.  For  the  work  carried  on  under  the  supervision 
of  its  board  of  home  missions,  the  Iowa  District  has  col- 
lected and  expended,  from  1877  to  1895,  the  sum  of  $34,399. 
The  district  now  supports  missions  at  Waco  and  Dallas, 
Texas;  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  Omaha,  Lincoln,  and  Hemingford, 
Neb.;  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa ;  Lead  City,  S.  D.;  Denver,  Col.; 
and  other  places  too  numerous  to  mention. 

Within  the  limits  of  the  Iowa  District  are  located  Luther 
College  and  the  Lutheran  Publishing  House,  both  at  Decorah, 
Iowa;  the  Lutheran  Normal  School  and  the  Sioux  Palls  Hos- 
pital, both  at  Sioux  Palls,  S.  D.;  and  Luther  Academy,  at 
Albert  Lea,  Minn.  The  hospital  and  the  academy  are  owned 
and  controlled  by  local  corporations  composed  of  members 
of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  The  college,  the  publishing  house, 
and  the  normal  school  are  the  property  of  the  synod.  Else- 
where in  this  volume  is  found  a  history  of  Luther  College. 
The  Lutheran  Publishing  House  is  well  equipped,  and  its  last 
annual  report  was  as  follows :  Assets,  $56,530 ;  liabilities, 
$237 ;  net  profit,  $6,072.  Luther  Academy  is  provided  with 
a  fine  and  commodious  building,  beautifully  located,  and 
enjoys  excellent  patronage.  The  Normal  School,  which 
educates  common-school  and  parochial  school  teachers,  has 
two  substantial  and  well  appointed  buildings,  and  is  well 
patronized.  At  Bode,  Iowa,  an  association  of  pastors  and 
people  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  conducted  for  a  number  of 
years  an  academy. 


104         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

To  the  Yarious  funds  of  the  Norw^an  StoocI  the  Iowa 
District  has  contributed,  from  1S77  to  1895,  the  stun  of 
$213,882.  If  to  this  sum  be  added  the  $34,399  given  for 
home  mission  work,  and  also  large  amounts  given  by  the 
people  of  the  Iowa  District  to  dififerent  educational  institu- 
tions, and  the  Church  Bxtension  Fund,  the  sum  total  must 
be  in  the  vicinity  of  $300,000— surely  a  large  sum  consider- 
ing the  size  of  the  district,  and  also  the  fact  that  nearly  the 
whole  amount  has  come  out  of  the  hard  earnings  of  farmers, 
mechanics,  and  day  laborers.  In  1890  the  district  contrib- 
uted for  home  missions  and  synodical  purposes  the  sum  of 
$30,024,  or  about  two  dollars  per  communicant. 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Scandinayians 


in  Wisconsin. 

— BY— 


It  is  claimed  that  Jean  Nicolet  was  sent  in  1634  bj  the 
governor  of  New  France  to  explore  the  northwest,  and  he 
landed  on  Wisconsin  soil  near  the  month  of  Fox  river. 
''Clothed  in  silken  robes  he  advanced  into  the  village  of  the 
Winnebagoes,  discharging  pistols  held  in  each  hand.  He 
was  received  with  welcome.  A  great  feast  was  then  held, 
120  beavers  being  eaten."  He  undoubtedly  was  the  first 
white  man  who  visited  the  state  of  Wisconsin.  For  the 
next  two  hundred  years  various  explorers,  traders,  trap- 
pers, hunters,  and  missionaries  traversed  the  state;  and 
towards  the  close  of  this  period  the  lead-miners  were  prob- 
ably the  most  numerous  of  all  classes.  But  few  permanent 
settlements  could  have  been  made  during  that  time,  because 
in  1836,  when  the  census  was  taken,  there  were  not  quite 
12,000  persons  within  the  boundary  lines.  Since,  however, 
the  material,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  development  has 
been  very  rapid,  in  all  of  which   the  Scandinavians,  espe- 

105 


106  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

ically  the  Norwegians,  have  taken  an  active  and  honored 
part. 

I.    Pioneers  and  Settlements. 

There  were,  perhaps,  some  Scandinavians  scattered 
through  portions  of  Wisconsin  at  the  very  beginning  of  this 
century,  although  no  person  can  be  mentioned  with  cer- 
tainty until  about  1819,  and  no  settlement  of  Northmen 
was  founded  until  twenty-four  years  later.  It  is  to  be 
regretted  that  no  state  census  has  enumerated  the  various 
nationalities  in  the  different  counties  of  Wisconsin,  as  some 
other  states  have  done.  If  such  enumeration  had  been 
made,  the  increase  of  the  Scandinavians  in  each  county 
would  have  famished  an  excellent  clue  to  the  history  of  the 
settlements.  It  is  no  credit  to  the  numerous  public  and 
literary  men  in  Wisconsin  of  Norwegian  and  German  extrac- 
tion, who  justly  claim  to  have  exercised  a  great  influence 
upon  the  affairs  of  the  state,  that  the  state  censuses  are 
among  the  worst  in  the  country,  as  far  as  the  different 
nationalities  are  concerned.  As  it  is  utterly  impossible  to 
give  the  full  facts  concerning  all  the  Scandinavian  settle- 
ments, or  even  one-half  of  them,  only  a  few  of  the  earliest 
will  be  mentioned.  At  the  end  of  this  article,  however,  the 
population  of  each  county  has  been  enumerated,  which  may 
be  of  some  value  in  tracing  the  migratory  movements.  Up 
to  1890  Sweden-Norway  was,  in  the  United  States  census 
regarding  this  matter,  considered  as  one  country ;  but  as 
there  were  not  quite  3,000  Swedes  in  the  whole  state  in 
1870  against  40,000  Norwegians,  it  may  safely  be  assumed 
that  in  most  counties  the  great  majority  of  the  two  nation- 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  167 

alities  belonged  to  the  latter.  Hardly  any  Swedes  resided  in 
the  sotithem  part  of  the  state,  the  very  stronghold  of  the 
Norwegians,  and  those  few  may  be  said  to  have  become 
Norwegiamzed. 

Danish.  C.  W.  W.  Bomp — his  biography  can  be  found 
in  the  first  volume — undoubtedly  was  in  Wisconsin  before 
1830,  and  some  other  Danes  appear  to  have  settled  within 
the  borders  of  the  state,  especially  in  the  southeastern  part, 
a  few  years  later.  But  as  there  were  only  146  Danes  in 
Wisconsin  in  1850,  according  to  the  United  States  census, 
not  many  Danish  settlements  could  have  existed  at  that 
time,  and  ten  years  later  only  1,150  persons  of  that  nation- 
ality resided  in  the  state.  Since  1870,  however,  their  num- 
ber has  materially  increased,  and  in  1897  there  were  in  the 
neighborhood  of  35,000  Danish-bom  or  having  Danish 
parents  within  the  state.  With  the  exception  of  Iowa,  there 
were  more  Danes  of  the  first  and  second  generations  in  Wis- 
consin than  in  any  other  state  in  the  Union. 

Norwegian.  In  1838  Ole  K.  Nattestad— his  biography 
is  in  this  volume — bought  land  and  settled  at  Clinton,  Rock 
county,  being,  as  far  as  is  known,  the  first  Norwegian  who 
set  his  foot  on  Wisconsin  soil,  and  for  a  whole  year  he  saw 
none  of  his  countrymen  and  few  other  people,  as  there  were 
only  about  half  a  dozen  in  the  vicinity.  It  is,  however, 
reasonable  to  assume  that  some  Norwegian  adventurers, 
trappers,  traders,  hunters,  or  lead-miners  had  before  that 
time  visited  the  state ;  in  fact,  it  is  very  strange  if  they  did 
noty  considering  that  the  Swedes  and  Danes  had  done  so 
years  before,  and  the  names  of  many  pioneers  who  were  in 
the  state  before  1838  indicate  a  Scandinavian  origin.    In 


108  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

1839  Nattestad's  brother,  Ansten,  returned  from  a  trip  to 
Norway,  and  brought  with  him  several  persons  from  Nume- 
dal,  most  of  whom  settled  near  Clinton.  Since,  many  other 
Norwegians  from  Telemarken  and  Hardanger  have  joined 
them. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  and  humorous  stories  of  the 
whole  Scandinavian  emigration  is  connected  with  the  first 
Norwegians  who  came  directly  from  their  native  land  to 
Wisconsin.  In  1837  three  peasants  with  their  families  emi- 
grated from  Tinn,  Telemarken,  and  settled  at  Fox  River, 
La  Salle  county,  111.  At  that  time  the  attachment  to  birth- 
place must  have  been  very  great  among  some  of  the  com- 
mon people  in  Norway,  because  the  three  poor  farmers  were 
considered,  on  account  of  their  emigrating,  to  be  confirmed 
idiots.  But  a  couple  of  years  later  about  forty  more  persons 
from  that  vicinity  had  been  smitten  with  the  same  disease, 
and  were  anxious  to  leave  their  own  country,  w^hich  act  had 
been  considered  a  crime  before  that  time.  This  is  a  forcible 
illustration  of  the  great  reflex  influence  which  the  thoughts 
of  the  New  World  have  exercised  upon  the  thoughts  of  the 
Old  World,  being  the  main  blessing  which  America  has 
bestowed  upon  Europe  as  a  small  return  for  the  untold 
wealth,  both  material  and  intellectual,  which  the  former  has 
received  from  the  latter.  The  movement  from  Telemarken 
in  1839  was  effected,  partly,  through  the  influence  of  private 
letters  written  by  immigrants  in  this  country,  partly,  by 
Ansten  Nattestad's  return  to  Numedal;  but  mostly,  per- 
haps, on  account  of  the  apjjearance  of  Ole  Rynning's  book, 
SandrArdig  Beretning  om  Amerika^  published  in  1838,  which 
work    was   extensively   read,    and   greatly  influenced    the 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  109 

whole  Norwegian  emigration,  especially  as  the  author  gave 
a  glowing  and  vivid  description  of  the  advantages  of 
America.  To  improve  their  economic  conditions  was  un- 
doubtedly the  mainspring  which  induced  the  majority  of 
the  peasants  to  leave  their  native  land  in  1839 ;  yet,  there 
was  considerable  of  romance  in  the  affair.  Nattestad  was 
looked  upon  with  as  much  curiosity  as  if  he  had  returned 
from  a  trip  to  the  moon,  and  persons  traveled  over  150 
English  miles  in  order  to  get  a  chance  to  speak  to  him  about 
America.  Nattestad  and  his  party  sailed  from  Drammen 
directly  to  New  York,  while  the  people  from  Telemarken 
embarked  at  Skien  the  17th  of  May,*  1839,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  Gothenburg,  Sweden,  where  they  met  another 
group  of  [about  twenty  emigrants  from  the  vicinitj^  of  Sta- 
vanger.  Both  parties  joined  and  took  passage  on  an  Ameri- 
can vessel  loaded  with  iron,  paying  about  $50.00  a  person 
as  fare  between  Gothenburg  and  Boston,  reaching  the  latter 
place  after  a  nine  weeks'  voyage.  After  having  gone  to  New 
York,  they  went  by  canal  boats,  drawn  by  horses,  to  Buffalo, 
and  from  thence  to  Milwaukee  on  a  vessel  loaded  with  gun- 
powder, and  so  poor  that  the  passengers  were  in  much 
greater  danger  of  going  down  to  the  bottom  of  one  of  the 
lakes  than  of  being  blown  up  into  the  air  by  the  explosion  of 
the  cargo.  They  reached  Milwaukee  seventeen  weeks  after 
having  left    Norway,  and   some  excitement   was   preated, 


*Moet  authorities  assert  that  the  first  Xorweffian-American  emiirrants,  the 
Sloop-folks,  sailed  from  Stavansrer  on  the  4th  of  J11I7,  1825.  It  seems  rather  strance 
that  the  departure  of  these  two  noted  emi^rration  parties  should  haTe  oocnrred  on  the 
two  great  national  holidays  of  the  United  States  and  Norway.  The  incident  might, 
accidentally  or  purposely,  haTe  happened;  but  probably  the  apparent  agreement  of 
dates  is  to  be  found  in  the  human  desire  to  try  to  harmonize  their  past  aetionsi  no 
matter  bow  insignificant^  with  more  important  CTents. 


110  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

on  account  of  their  strange  speech  and  dress,  at  the  former 
place,  which  did  not  hPTC  a  single  beer-brewery  nntil  two 
years  later.  As  far  as  is  known,  they  were  the  first  Norwe- 
gians seen  or  heard  in  this  part  of  the  country,  and  the  first 
German  immigrants  arrived  the  same  year.  Their  intention 
w^as  to  proceed  to  Chicago,  and  from  thence  to  the  Fox 
River  settlement ;  but  the  good  people  in  Milw^aukee  did  not 
relish  the  idea  of  permitting  a  neighboring  state  to  receive 
the  benefit  of  the  labor  of  such  able-bodied  men.  But  a  few 
years  later  the  Know-Nothing  element  of  the  wealthy  Amer- 
icans secured  the  passage  of  a  bill  through  the  legislature  by 
which  the  locality  where  the  Telemarken  folks  had  settled 
was  organized  into  the  town  of  Norway,  in  order  that  the 
Norsemen  should  be  compelled  to  take  care  of  their  own 
paupers,  as  it  was  feared  that  a  large  portion  of  the  people 
would  be  a  burden  to  any  community.  The  future,  how- 
ever, proved  that  the  mountaineers  of  the  North  could  drain 
marshes  more  satisfactorily  and  create  better  farms  than 
their  American  neighbors.  The  Norwegians  were  advised 
to  remain  in  Wisconsin  by  a  venerable  looking  man — a  person 
found  all  over  the  United  States,  present  on  every  occasion, 
and  always  known  by  the  name  of  An  Old  Settler.  This 
infallible  light  produced  all  the  syllogisms  of  logic,  and  gawt 
the  most  minute  description  of  the  miserable  climate  in  the 
state  of  Illinois  in  contrast  to  the  paradisiacal  state  of  Wis- 
consin, in  order  to  convince  the  descendants  of  the  Vikings 
of  the  advantages  of  the  latter  state.  To  clinch  his  argu- 
ments he  presented  to  the  confiding  Norwegian  peasants 
two  persons,  one  strong,  healthy,  and  robust ;  the  other  the 
very  shadow  of  death,  a  walking  skeleton,  a  mere  excuse  for 


HISTORY  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  Ill 

a  man.    'There,'  said  the  old  settler,  pointing  to  the  fat 
man,  'you  see  a  man  from  Wisconsin,  the  other  is  from 
Illinois.'     The  Norwegians  saw,  believed,  remained.     The 
story  may  not  be  true ;  but  it  is  undoubtedly  a  fair  illustra- 
tion of  the  confiding  simplicity  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
Scandinavian  immigrants,  and  the  vulgar  jocularity  prac- 
ticed  in  nearly  every  new  American  community.  The  moun- 
taineers of  Telemarken,  having  little  knowledge  of  the  world, 
could  not  possibly  dream  that  professional  liars  existed,  who 
practiced  their  craft,  with  pleasture,  as  one  of  the  finer  arts. 
An  interpreter,  a  Dane,  had  been  with  the  emigrants  from 
Gothenburg,  but  he  was  drowned  at  Milwaukee,  and  after- 
wards the  party  had  to  make  themselves  understood  the 
best  they  could  by  signs.    The  city  council,  thinking  that 
the  Norwegians  were  better  fitted  for  fishing  and  hunting 
than  for  anything  else,  secured  a  guide  for  them  who  took 
them  to  Lake  Muskego,  Waukesha  county,  about  fourteen 
miles  from  Milwaukee.    The  summer  heat  having  dried  the 
marshy  land,  it  appeared  beautiful,  with  plenty  of  grass 
and  timber.    Excepting  a  couple  of  persons,  all  the  sixty 
Norwegians  settled  here.    Government  land  was  bought  at 
$1.25  per  acre,  each  man  securing  forty  acres.    But  the  land 
was  unfit  for  farming,  the  very  purpose  for  which  it  was 
bought ;  besides,  the  swamps  produced  fever  and  ague,  and 
finally,  in  1849-50,  cholera  swept  off*  a  large  proportion  of 
the  population.    Most  of  the  remaining  people  removed  a 
little  farther  south  to  the  more  prosperous  settlements  of 
Norway,  Waterford,  Raymond,  and  Yorkville,  all  in  Racine 
county,  which  had  a  combined  Norse  population  of  about 
600  in  1844. 


112  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

The  large  Koshkonong  settlement  in  Dane  county  may 
be  said  to  have  been  founded  by  Norwegians  who  had  tried 
their  luck  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  but  failed,  or  at  least 
desired  to  change  location.  Pew,  if  any,  of  the  first  pioneers 
in  Dane  county  came  there  directly  from  Norway.  The  settle- 
ment was  not  begun,  perhaps,  before  1840,  although  Norse- 
men had  visited  that  part  of  the  state  the  year  before.  It  is 
undoubtedly  the  most  widely  known  Norwegian  colony  in 
America.  This  is  due,  partly,  to  its  large  size  and  numerous 
population,  partly,  to  the  fact  that  a  very  large  number 
of  prominent  Norwegian-Americans,  both  of  the  first  and 
second  generations,  hail  from  that  vicinity,  and  have  made 
their  names  honored  throughout  the  land,  and  even  in  Bu- 
rope.  Rev.  Adolph  Bredesen  claims  that  there  were  about 
seven  or  eight  hundred  Norwegians  in  the  colony  in  1844; 
and  about  3,000  Norsemen  in  the  state  at  that  time,  bunched 
in  twelve  or  fourteen  settlements.  According  to  the  emigra- 
tion reports  of  Norway,  only  about  1,300  Norwegians  had 
exchanged  their  native  hills  for  the  American  wilderness 
during  the  twenty  years  from  1820-40,  and  at  the  latter 
date  there  were,  perhaps,  not  more  than  a  couple  of  hundred 
Norsemen  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin.  But  ten  years  later  in 
the  neighborhood  of  nine  thousand,  or  about  two-thirds  of 
the  total  Norwegian  population  in  the  whole  country, 
resided  in  the  state.  Out  of  the  44,000  Norwegians  in  the 
United  States  in  1860,  nearly  one-half  lived  in  Wisconsin, 
and  during  the  next  ten  years  their  number  almost  doubled. 
They  were  imdoubtedly  represented  in  every  county  in  1870, 
as  the  statistical  tables  at  the  end  of  this  article  seem  to 
indicate.    In  1897  not  far  from  175,000  persons  of  Nor- 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  113 

wegian  birth  or  parentage  resided  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin, 
or  about  one-fourth  of  the  total  Norse  population  in  the 
United  States. 

It  should  be  stated  that  although  over  a  dozen  different 
authorities  have  been  consulted  in  regard  to  the  Norwegian 
settlements  in  Wisconsin,  yet  Billed-Magazin^  edited  bj 
Prof.  Svein  Nilsson,  has  chiefly  been  relied  on;  and  all  later 
works  which  refer  to  that  subject  have  failed  to  add  any 
important  historical  matter.  But,  properly  speaking,  his* 
tory  should  not  merely  register  facts  and  chronicle  dates, 
but,  also  describe  the  social  life  of  the  period  dealt  with.  The 
editor  of  this  work  must  admit,  somewhat  with  a  blush, 
that  in  most  cases  it  has  not  been  done ;  partly,  on  account 
of  inability,  and  partly,  because  this  series  of  volumes  is  an 
historical  cyclopedia,  intended  for  reference  rather  than  for 
ordinary  reading.  But  a  vivid  and  brilliant  narrative  of  the 
trials  and  triumphs  of  the  Norse  pioneers  in  this  country 
can  be  had  by  reading  the  first  part  of  Prof.  P.  O.  Stromme's 
book,  Hvorledes  Halvor  blev  Prest.  Rev.  Adolph  Bredesen, 
in  a  lecture  delivered  in  1894,  gives  a  brief  and  excellent  sum- 
mary of  the  condition  of  the  Wisconsin  Norwegians  half  a 
century  before  that  time.  He  says:  "Wisconsin,  now  so 
populous  and  wealthy,  was,  in  those  early  days,  still  a 
territory,  and  almost  an  unbroken  wilderness,  the  happy 
hunting-ground  of  the  red  men.  There  was  not  a  mile  of 
railway  within  her  borders,  and  even  passable  wagon  roads 
were  few  and  far  between.  Horses  were  scarce.  I  am  told 
that  the  seven  or  eight  hundred  Norwegians  on  the  Kosh- 
konong  prairies  had  one  horse  between  them,  and  that  a 
poor  one.    'Buck  and  Bright'  and  a  kubberalk^  or  other 


114         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

primitiYe  wagon ,  were  about  the  only  means  of  transpor- 
tation, and  Milwaukee^or  Chicago,  was  the  nearest  market. 
"  Our  Norwegian  pioneers  were  poor,  but  they  were  not 
paupers.  They  had  not  come  here  to  beg  and  steal,  nor  to 
sponge  on  their  neighbors.  It  was  not  their  ambition  to  be 
organ-grinders,  peanut-yenders,  or  rag-pickers.  They  had 
come  to  make,  in  the  sweat  of  their  brow,  an  honest  living, 
and  they  were  amply  able  to  do  so.  They  possessed  stout 
hearts,  willing  hands,  and  robust  health,  and  nearly  all  had 
learned  at  least  the  rudiments  of  some  useful  trade.  And 
the  women,  our  mothers  and  grand-mothers— God  bless 
them !— were  worthy  consorts  of  the  men  who  laid  low  the 
giants  of  the  forest,  and  made  the  wilderness  rejoice  and 
blossom  as  the  rose.  They  girded  their  loins  with  strength. 
They  were  able  to  stand  almost  any  amount  of  privaticHi 
and  toil.  They  were  not  afraid  of  a  mouse.  They  were  in 
blissful  ignorance  of  the  fact  that  they  had  nerves.  They 
knew  nothing  of  'that  tired  feeling,'  and  did  not  need  the 
services  of  the  dentist  every  other  week.  They  did  not  have 
soft,  velvety  hands,  as  some  of  us,  who  were  bad  boys,  have 
reason  to  know ;  but,  for  all  that,  they  had  tender,  motherly 
hearts.  They  could  not  paint  on  china,  or  pound  out  *  The 
Mocking-bird '  on  the  piano,  but  they  could  spin  and  knit  and 
weave.  The  dear  souls  could  not  drive  a  nail  any  better 
than  their  grand-daughters  can,  but  they  could  drive — a,  yoke 
of  oxen,  and  handle  the  pitchfork  and  the  rake  almost  as 
well  as  the  broom  and  the  mop.  Our  mothers  and  grand- 
mothers did  not  ruin  our  digestion  with  mince-pie  and 
chicken-salad,  but  gave  us  wholesome  and  toothsome  Bat- 
br6d  and  mjrlsa  and  brim  and  prim  and  bresta^  the  kind  e^ 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  115 

food  on  which  a  hundred  generations  of  Norway  seamen 
and  mountaineers  have  been  raised. 

"Our  Norwegian  pioneers  were  ignorant  of  the  language, 
the  laws,  and  the  institutions,  of  their  adopted  country,  and 
in  this  respect  were,  indeed,  heavily  handicapped.  The 
German  immigrant  found  compatriots  everywhere,  and,  at 
least  in  all  the  larger  cities,  German  newspapers,  German 
officials,  German  lawyers,  doctors,  and  business-men.  The 
Norwegian  had  not  a  single  newspaper,  and,  outside  of  a  few 
struggling  frontier  settlements,  there  was  practically  not  a 
soul  with  whom  he  could  commtmicate.  But,  though  our 
pioneers  were  ignorant  of  the  English  language,  they  were 
not  illiterates.  They  had  books,  and  could  read  them,  and 
by  and  by  astonished  natives  were  forced  to  confess,  *  them 
'ere  Norwegians  are  almost  as  white  as  we  are,  and  they  kin 
read,  too,  they  kin.'  If  in  those  early  Norwegian  settle- 
ments books  were  few,  a  family  Bible  and  some  of  Luther's 
writings  were  rarely  wanting,  even  in  the  humblest  homes. 
If  the  people  were  not  versed  in  some  of  the  branches  now 
taught  in  almost  every  common  school,  they  were  well 
grounded  in  the  Catechism,  the  Forklaring,  and  the  Bible 
History,  as  all  their  good  and  bright  grand-children  are 
to-day. 

**  The  homes  of  our  pioneei*s  of  fifty  years  ago  were  log 
cabins,  shanties,  and  dug-outs.  Men  and  women  alike  were 
dressed  in  blue  drilling,  or  in  coarse  homespun,  brought  over 
from  the  old  country  in  those  large,  bright-painted  chests. 
In  1844,  I  am  told,  not  a  woman  on  the  Koshkonong 
prairies  was  the  proud  possessor  of  a  hat.  Some  of  the 
good  wives  and  daughters  of  those  days  sported  home-made 


116  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

sun-bonnets,  but  the  majority  contented  themselves  '^th  the 
old  country  kerchief.  Carpets,  kerosene-lamps,  coal-etoves, 
or  sewing-machines,  reapers,  threshing-machines,  top-bug- 
gies, and  Stoughton  wagons,  were  things  not  dreamed  of." 
Swedish.  Undoubtedly  Jacob  Falstrom— his  biography 
is  in  the  first  volume — was  in  Wisconsin  before  1819,  being 
the  first  Scandinavian  in  the  state.  When  Gustaf  Unonius 
came  to  Milwaukee  in  1841,  he  met  Captain  O.  G.  Lange 
there,  who  had  been  in  America  several  years  before,  and 
who  later  became  extensively  known  as  the  originator  of  the 
idea  and  the  advocator  of  the  celebration  of  the  Swedish  fore- 
fathers day.  It  is  almost  certain  that  there  were  Swedish 
settlers  who  tilled  the  soil  of  Wisconsin  before  Unonius 
arrived,  and  he  mentions  many  of  his  countrymen  who  had 
traversed  a  large  portion  of  the  New  World,  before  1840, 
almost  as  thoroughly  as  the  Wandering  Jew  is  said  to  have 
done  in  the  Old  World.  Unonius  may  be  said  to  have  given 
the  first  impetus  to  the  regular  Swedish  emigration  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  he  believes  that  his  party  of  about 
half  a  dozen  people  were  the  first  who  took  advantage  of 
the  new  law  which  granted  the  privilege  of  leaving  the 
kingdom  without  special  royal  permission.  Being  yottng, 
energetic,  and  fearless,  and  having  just  graduated  fi*om  the 
University  of  Upsala,  he  possessed  many  of  the  qualities, 
both  physical  and  intellectual,  which  were  necessary  for  the 
severe  struggles  in  the  American  wilderness.  He  and  hit 
young  wife  and  their  companions  embarked  from  Gefle,  and 
reached  New  York  in  the  early  part  of  September,  1841, 
after  having  spent  three  months  on  a  sailing  vessel,  and 
proceeded  to  Milwaukee  on  the  slow  boats  on  the  Brie  Canal 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  117 

and  the  Great  Lakes,  reaching  their  destination  about  six 
months  after  they  had  left  Upsala.  The  party  settled  at 
Pine  Lake,  about  thirty  miles  west  of  Milwaukee.  This 
was,  undoubtedly,  the  first  Swedish  colony  in  America  in  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  founder  had  left  his  native  land  in 
order  to  improve  his  economic  conditions,  to  test  the  sweet 
experience  of  adventure,  and  to  satisfy  a  youthful  desire  for 
change.  Excepting  the  first,  his  dreams  were  fully  realized. 
His  book,  Minnetiy  contains  a  a  admirable  description  of  the 
early  pioneer  life  in  the  West ;  and  his  contributions  to  the 
newspapers  in  Sweden  drew  some  educated  adventurers, 
noblemen,  ex-army  officials,  bankrupt  merchants,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  criminals  to  the  colony — most  of  whom 
were  totally  unfit  for  the  hard  struggle  on  the  western 
frontier.  As  a  consequence  the  settlement  at  Pine  Lake, 
named  New  Upsala,  failed ;  but  the  attempt  was  not  wholly 
without  influence  upon  the  Swedish-American  history, 
because  several  of  the  participants  were  voluminous  letter 
writers,  and  thus  they  became  the  mediums  of  calling  the 
attention  of  the  common  people  in  different  parts  of  Sweden 
to  the  advantages  of  America,  which  shortly  after  resulted 
in  a  heavy  emigration  and  the  founding  of  large  Swedish 
settlements  in  various  places  in  the  United  States.  The 
large  and  well-known  colony  at  New  Sweden,  Iowa,  the  first 
permanent  Swedish  set  tlementin  the  New  World  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  was  the  direct  result  of  letters  sent  from 
Pine  Lake.  Even  the  famous  Fredrika  Bremer  visited  the 
Wisconsin  colony  in  the  early  fifties.  In  this  connection  it  is 
proper  to  remark  that  the  emigration  from  Sweden  appears 
to  have  begun  with  the  upper  classes  instead  of  with  the 


118  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

common  people.  This  might  serve  as  another  lesson  to  that 
school  which  looks  to  the  lower  strata  of  society  for  the 
originators  of  all  great  popular  movements.  Rev.  E. 
Norelius  claims  that  some  of  his  countrymen  resided  in  She- 
boygan, Waupaca,  Douglass,  and  Portage  counties  at  a 
very  early  date.  But  as  there  were  only  eighty-eight  Swedes 
in  Wisconsin  in  1850,  according  to  the  United  States  census, 
not  much  in  the  line  of  settlements  could  have  been  accom- 
plished before  that  time;  and  twenty  years  later  about 
3,000  resided  in  the  state.  Since  1880,  however,  the  Swedish 
immigration  into  Wisconsin  has  been  quite  heavy,  and  in 
1897  there  must  have  been  in  the  neighborhood  of  50,000 
persons  of  the  first  and  second  generations. 

II.    Causes  of  Immigration  to  Wisconsin. 

It  is  claimed  that  some  of  the  greatest  historical  events 
are  purely  accidental.  Pascal  says,  ''Had  the  nose  of  Cleo- 
patra been  a  little  shorter,  the  whole  face  of  the  world 
might  have  been  changed."  It  is  also  possible  that  the  little 
incident  at  Milwaukee  in  1839,  when  a  fat  man  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Telemarken  folks  as  an  evidence  of  the  excellent 
climate  in  Wisconsin,  is  the  main  cause  why  Wisconsin  has 
up  to  late  years  been  the  very  stronghold  of  the  Norwegians 
in  America.  It  is  certain  that  where  these  pioneer  emigrants 
settled,  at  Lake  Muskego,  some  of  the  most  influential  Nor- 
wegian-Americans located  shortly  after,  having  undoubtedly 
been  attracted  to  that  place  by  the  first  settlers.  It 
was  here  that  many  well-known  pioneers  lived  and  acted, 
for  example,  Knud  Langeland,  Col.  Hans  Heg,  and  Rev. 
O.  J.  Hatlestad — their  biographies  are  in  this  volume — with 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  119 

their  infltiential  relatives,  as  well  as  other  leading  persons. 
It  was  here  also  that  the  first  Norwegian-American  news- 
paper, Nordljrset,  was  started  in  1847.  But  while  greater 
and  less  personages  somewhat  directed  the  Norwegian 
migratory  movement  towards  and  into  Wisconsin,  there 
were  other,  and  perhaps  greater,  causes  which  operated  in 
securing  a  highly  desirable  class  of  Norsemen  to  locate 
within  the  border  of  the  state.  Chance,  climate,  and  the 
fact  that  the  state  was  first  opened  up  to  settlers  at  the 
same  time  as  the  Norwegian  emigration  began,  have  been 
powerful  factors  in  directing  the  movement.  But  as  these 
are  exactly  the  reasons  which  induced  the  majority  of  the 
Scandinavians  to  prefer  the  Northwest  to  any  other  part  of 
the  country,  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  restate  here  what  has 
already  been  asserted  in  three  or  four  other  places  in  this 
work.  What  has  been  said,  in  the  first  volume,  about  the 
variety  of  the  natural  resources  and  the  beautiful  scenery  of 
Minnesota,  as  an  inducement  to  settlers,  applies  with  equal 
or  even  greater  truth  to  the  state  of  Wisconsin.  The 
climate,  as  a  whole,  of  the  latter  state  is  undoubtedly  more 
like  the  climate  of  the  Scandinavian  countries  than  that  of 
the  former.  The  moisture  produced  by  Lake  Michigan  and 
Lake  Superior,  and  the  immense  pine  forests  have  a  powerful 
effect  in  modifying  the  temperature  and  making  the  atmos- 
phere somewhat  similar  to  that  of  certain  parts  of  Sweden 
and  Norway. 

IIL    The  Civil  War. 

During  the  four  years  of  fierce  and  bloody  struggle  and 
civil  anarchy,  over  91,000  men  from  Wisconsin  endeavored, 


120  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

on  the  battlefield,  to  preserve  the  Union.  According  to  the 
original  and  unpublished  records  of  the  adjutant-general  of 
Wisconsin,  about  100  Swedes,  200  Danes,  and  3,000  Nor- 
wegians assisted,  during  the  whole  war  period,  in  making 
the  cause  of  the  South  a  Lost  Cause.  But  to  count  correctly 
all  the  Scandivians  as  enumerated  in  over  fifty  large  and  un- 
printed  volumes,  is  a  task  which  few  will  undertake,  and  none 
can  perform  satisfactorily,  especially  as  several  companies 
and  even  whole  regiments,  do  not  mention  the  nativity  of 
the  men  enrolled.  Yet,  since  nearly  three  thousand  names  of 
Northmen  were  actually  computed,  it  must  be  fair  to  assume 
that  not  far  from  4,000  Scandinavians  were  enlisted  in  the 
various  Wisconsin  regiments,  including  one  or  two  hundred 
Northmen  from  neighboring  states  who  served  in  the 
Fifteenth,  or  Scandinavian,  Regiment.  Both  in  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota  about  one-eighth  of  the  total  population 
fought  in  the  Union  army,  but  one  in  every  six  of  the 
Northmen  in  these  two  states  served  his  adopted  country  on 
the  bloody  fields  of  the  American  rebellion.  As  the  histoiy 
of  the  Fifteenth  Regiment  has  appeared  in  the  first  volume 
of  this  work,  it  will  be  out  of  place  to  discuss  the  same  here; 
at  the  same  time  only  a  short  space  can  be  devoted  to  the 
Scandinavian  soldiers  in  other  regiments,  on  account  of 
the  lack  of  materials.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  war 
the  Scandinavians  flew  to  arms.  At  least  a  couple  of 
Norwegians  were  in  the  troop  which  Wisconsin  sent  in 
answer  to  President  Lincoln's  call  of  75,000  volunteers. 
Not  less  than  125  descendants  of  the  Vikings  evinced,  by 
enlisting  in  the  Third  Wisconsin  Volunteer  Infantry,  as  much 
courage  as  their  savage  ancestors,  and  perhaps  more  sense. 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  121 

Nearly  all,  both  men  and  officers,  of  Company  H  of  the 
Twenty-seventh  Regiment  were  Norwegians,  Chas.  Cor- 
neliusen  being  captain  of  the  company.  There  were, 
undoubtedly,  Scandinavians  in  all  the  fifty-three  Wisconsin 
regiments.  But  while  the  Norwegpians  supplied  a  large 
number  of  common  soldiers,  they  do  not  appear  to  have 
distinguished  themselves  at  all  as  officers.  Outside  of  the 
Fifteenth  Regiment,  there  was  not  a  single  Wisconsin  Nor- 
wegian of  all  the  3,000  who  participated  in  the  Civil  War 
that  rose  to  a  higher  position  in  the  army.  A  couple  of 
Danes,  Adolph  Sorensen,  of  Waupaca  county,  and  Chas. 
Hall,  of  Dane  county,  were  captains  of  Company  D  of  the 
Forty-seventh  Regiment  and  Company  A  of  the  Forty-ninth 
Regiment,  respectively. 

IV.    Political  Influence. 

The  territory  of  Wisconsin  was  organized  in  1836,  but 
no  Scandinavian  served  in  any  of  the  legislative  branches 
during  the  twelve  years  of  territorial  government,  nor  did 
any  Northmen  hold  any  kind  of  public  office  during  that 
period.  If  the  constitution  which  was  framed  in  1846  had 
not  been  rejected  when  submitted  to  a  vote  of  the  people  the 
following  year,  no  descendants  of  the  Vikings  would  have 
assisted  to  form  the  constitution  of  Wisconsin,  under  which 
•o  many  sons  and  daughters  of  the  North  have  toiled  and 
prospered.  As  it  was,  James  D.  Rcymert,  then  residing  at 
Norway,  Racine  county,  sat  in  the  constitutional  convention 
of  1847-8,  being  also  a  member  of  the  assembly  in  1849 
and  1857,  and  represented  his  district  in  the  state  senate  in 
1854  and  1855.    Reymert  was  of  Norwegian-Scotch  cxtrac- 

4,' 


122  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

tion,  and  had  been  educated  in  both  those  countries. 
Politically,  he  sympathized  with  the  Free  Soil  party.  He 
was  editor  of  the  first  Norwegian-American  newspaper, 
Nordljrsetf  which  was  established  in  1847,  and  he  w^as 
undoubtedly  the  first  Norseman  in  the  United  States  who 
exercised  any  influence  upon  public  afiairs,  either  state 
or  national,  or  held  any  public  trust  in  the  gift  of  the 
people.  P.  C.  Lutkin,  of  Whitesville,  Racine  county,  'was  a 
member  of  the  assembly  in  1857,  being,  unquestionably,  the 
first  Dane  in  Wisconsin  who  was  elected  to  fill  any  respon- 
sible public  trust.  Since,  about  six  other  Danes  have  served 
in  the  lower  branch  of  the  legpislature,  but  none  in  the  upper. 
Before  1860  there  had  not  been  more  than  half  a  dozen 
Scandinavians  in  the  legislature;  but  that  year  Knud 
Langeland  and  C.  6.  Hammerquist,  both  Republicans, 
served.  The  latter,  then  residing  at  Fort  Atkinson,  was  the 
first,  and  with  a  couple  of  exceptions,  the  only  Swede  'who 
ever  sat  in  any  of  the  legislative  branches  of  the  state  of 
Wisconsin.  During  the  last  thirty-five  years,  there  have 
been  Northmen  in  the  assembly  at  nearly  every  session,  and 
some  of  them  have  been  re-elected  many  times.  But  only 
three  or  four  Norwegian  state  senators  have  been  elected, 
among  whom  is  the  well-known  J.  A.  Johnson — ^his  biography 
is  in  this  volume.  Since  the  constitution  was  adopted  in 
1848  and  up  to  1896,  there  have  been  about  fifty  persons  of 
Norwegpian  birth  or  descent  in  the  two  legislative  branches. 
In  other  words,  over  twice  as  many  Norsemen  have  exhibited 
their  wisdom  or  ignorance  in  the  arena  of  the  capitol 
of  Minnesota  during  the  last  forty  years,  as  their  com- 
patriots in  Wisconsin  have  done  during  the  last  fifty  years. 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  123 

Col.  Hans  C.  Heg  was  elected  state  prison  commissioner  in 
1859,  and  was,  perhaps,  the  first  Norwegian  who  was 
elected  to  any  state  office  in  America.  Hans  B.  Warner  was 
secretary  of  state  from  1878-82,  and  Sewall  A.  Peterson 
was  elected  state  treasurer  in  1894.  N.  P.  Haugen,  Atley 
Peterson,  and  Thomas  Thompson  have  all  served  as  railroad 
commissioners.  The  latter  is  the  only  Swede  ever  elected 
to  any  state  office  in  Wisconsin,  and  Halford  Erickson,  who 
was  appointed  commissioner  of  statistics  in  1895,  is  the 
only  person  of  that  nationality  ever  appointed  to  any 
important  state  office.  A  few  other  Northmen  might  be 
mentioned  in  connection  with  the  political  review  of  the 
Scandinavians  in  Wisconsin,  but  as  the  biographical  depart- 
ment of  this  volume  deals  with  the  various  public  men  in  the 
state,  it  would  be  too  much  of  a  repetition  to  enumerate 
many  of  them  here.  At  the  same  time  it  should  be  stated 
that  Prof.  R.  B.  Anderson  was  appointed  United  States  min- 
ister to  Denmark  in  1885  by  President  Cleveland,  and  that 
N.  P.  Haugen  was  in  Congress  for  eight  years,  serving  longer 
than  any  other  congressman  of  Scandinavian  extraction. 
A  glance  at  the  names  of  the  county  officials  seems  to  in- 
dicate that  in  most  counties  Scandinavians  have  been  office- 
holders, but  seldom  in  proportion  to  their  numbers. 

Although  all  the  blue  books  and  several  legislative 
journals  have  been  carefully  examined,  yet  it  is  very  difficult 
to  write  a  political  history  of  the  Scandinavians  in  Wis- 
consin, or  even  to  ascertain  the  exact  number  who  have 
been  elected  to  the  two  branches  of  the  legislature.  The 
nativity  of  the  members  has  not  always  been  gpiven.  Most 
of  the  law-makers  and  officials  bom  in  the  North  have  been 


124?  HISTORY  OK  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.    S. 

fully  Americanized,  or  have  pretended  to  be;  as  a  conse- 
quence it  is  questionable  whether  the  Scandinavian  legisla- 
tors in  Wisconsin  have  ever  succeeded  in  passing  a  single 
measure,  the  substance  of  which  had  before  been  in  vogue  in 
their  own  country,  and  perhaps  they  never  tried.    Nor  have 
they  had  much  of  a  chance  either,  because  purely  American 
topics  have  always  been  awaiting  solution.    In  nearly  all,  if 
not  in  all,  the  great  questions  agitated  in  the  state,  the  house 
(of  Norway)  has  been  divided  against  itself.  They  have,  per- 
haps, never  worked  in  solid  concert  for  any  great  public 
I  end,  although  most  of  them  have  been  Republicans.    While 
I  some  of  the  Norwegians  in  Wisconsin,  as  individuals,  have 
^\  had  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  affairs  of  the  state,  yet  in 
I  their  public  career  they  have  often  been  more  American  than 
the  natives  themselves. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  Scandinavians  in  Wiscon- 
sin is  also  true  of  them  in  other  parts  of  the  Union.  In  fact, 
it  is  to  be  doubted  whether  there  is  any  direct  legislation  in 
the  land  that  can  be  traced  to  a  Scandinavian  origin,  and 
which  has  been  incorporated  into  the  statutes  as  the  result 
of  Scandinavian- American  statesmanship,  except  the  estab- 
lishment of  courts  of  conciliation  in  North  Dakota,  in  1893, 
which  was  said  to  be  **a  striking  instance  of  the  influence 
exerted  by  a  body  of  adopted  citizens  upon  American  legis- 
lation.'* It  is  also  remarkable  that  the  Gothenburg  system 
of  controlling  the  traffic  in  liquors,  which  for  a  long  time  has 
been  in  successful  operation  both  in  Sweden  and  Norway, 
has  never  been  attempted  to  be  introduced  in  the  strong 
Scandinavian  states,  but  in  South  Carolina  and  Massachu- 
setts.   This  fact  becomes  more  curious  when  it  is  rcmem- 


HISTORY  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  125 

bered  that  temperance  and  prohibition  agitation  has  been 
going  on  in  the  Northwest  for  several  years,  and  that  in  these 
movements  the  Northmen  have  taken  an  active  part. 

V.  Occupation. 

The  Scandinavians  have  been  a  great  factor  in  laying 
the  material  foundation  of  the  state  of  Wisconsin.  The 
Northern  countries  have  famished  a  large  number  of  the 
sailors  on  the  lakes,  the  laborers  in  the  numerous  lumber 
camps  in  the  immense  forests,  the  hands  in  factories,  and 
the  farmers  on  the  prairies.  While  it  is  true  that  the 
majority  of  the  Northmen  in  Wisconsin,  as  well  as  in  other 
states,  have  been  and  are  common  laborers,  servants,  and 
farmers,  yet  there  are  undoubtedly  more  Scandinavian 
manufacturers,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  in  this  state 
than  in  any  other  part  of  the  Union.  The  intellectual  activ- 
ity of  the  Wisconsin  Scandinavians  is  about  on  the  same 
level  as  in  the  neighboring  states.  Both  the  legal  and  the 
medical  profession  are  well  and  ably  represented.  About 
two  dozen  Norwegian  authors  and  literary  men  reside,  or 
have  died,  in  the  state ;  some  of  whom  have  made  their 
names  honored  and  revered  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 
But,  strange  to  say,  seldom  has  any  great  Norwegian-Amer- 
ican newspaper  been  published  in  the  state. 

VI.  Statistics. 

In  1860  one  out  of  every  34  persons  in  Wisconsin  was  a 
Scandinavian  by  birth ;  twenty  years  later,  one  out  of  22 ; 
and  in  1890,  one  out  of  17.  But  this  only  includes  persons 
bom  in  the  North,  while  a  much  larger  per  cent,  have  Scan- 


126  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

dinavian  parents  and  grand-parents.  The  second  genera- 
tion of  the  Norwegians  in  the  state  is  a  powerftd  element, 
not  only  in  numerical  strength,  bat  in  intellectnal  and  spir- 
itual advancement.  According  to  the  United  States  census 
for  1890,  there  were  23,882  persons  in  Wisconsin  bom  in 
Denmark  or  having  Danish  parents ;  130,737  Norwegians ; 
29,993  Swedes— or  in  all  184,556  Scandinavians  of  the  first 
and  second  generations.  Many  persons,  however,  of  all 
nationalities  are  omitted  from  the  census  reports ;  and  un- 
doubtedly the  nearest  approach  to  the  truth  in  regard  to 
the  number  of  Northmen  and  their  children  in  any  state,  can 
be  had  by  multiplying  the  Scandinavian-bom  by  2%.  The 
number  of  Scandinavian-bom  persons  in  the  di£ferent  states 
is  given  on  pages  156-60  in  the  first  volume  of  this  work, 
and  the  poptdation  in  each  county  of  Wisconsin  is  published 
at  the  end  of  this  article.  By  multiplying  the  numbers 
found  in  these  tables  by  2^,  a  fair  estimate  of  the  Scandina- 
vian-American population  of  the  first  and  second  genera- 
tions may  be  obtained.  The  Northmen  and  their  children  in 
Wisconsin  ntmibered,  in  1897,  about  260,000 ;  that  is,  one 
out  of  every  seven  persons  in  the  state  was  a  Scandinavian. 


HISTORY  OP  SCANDINAriANS  IK  WISCONSIN. 


TABLE  III. 
Showinq  ths  Number  of  Scandinavians  Born  in  the  Scaniona. 
vian  countbibs,  and  thb  total  population  in  each  countt 
OF  Wisconsin. 


U.  8.  OBNBDB  OP  I8J0. 

D,  B.  CENTOS  OF  Uao. 

c™.™.^ 

i 
1 

II 

1 

3 
1 

1 

1 

J 
l\ 

az 

53^ 

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K 

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i 
1 

4< 
< 

1 

44t 
101 

1 

SO 

are 

DM 

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i 

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87,911 
24,54- 

14147 

11 

1S.7»7 

JaokKn 

W 

HISTOBV  OP  THE  SCANDINATUNS  IN  THB  U.   S. 


TABLE  III.-- CONTINUEU. 


D.  a  CENSUS  OF  lino. 

,. 

B.  CBNSnS  op  139U 

iMmrn- 

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80 

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131 
32 

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20 

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31 

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l.MS,880 

Historical  Review  of  tlie  Scandinayian 


Scliools  in  Wisconsin. 


— BY — 


No  less  than  nine  different  institutions  of  learning  have 
been  startecj  by  Norwegian  Lutherans,  and  two  by  Danish 
Lutherans,  within  the  borders  of  Wisconsin.  Two  of  them 
were  removed  to  Iowa,  and  one  to  Minnesota ;  and  four  of 
them  have  been  discontinued,  leaving  only  four,  all  of  which 
are  in  a  prosperous  condition.  Of  those  which  have  been 
either  removed  or  discontinued,  three  were  theological  semi- 
naries, two  were  colleges,  and  the  rest  were  schools  of  lower 
grades.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  three  oldest  Nor- 
wegian institutions  of  learning  in  America  were  started  in 
Wisconsin,  the  years  of  their  establishment  being  1861, 
1865,  and  1869.  But  it  is  equally  noteworthy,  by  way  of 
commentary  on  the  instability,  or  at  least  mobility,  of  the 
early  Norwegian-American  schools,  that  the  only  insti- 
tutions of  this  class  existing  In  the  state  at  this  writing 
were  established  as  late  as  1885,  1888,  and  1893,  respect- 
ively.   During  the  sixties  and  seventies  a  large  proportion  of 

129 


130  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.    S. 

the  progressive  element  of  the  Norwegian  population  of 
Wisconsin  removed  farther  west,  and  this  movement  was 
highly  tmfavorable  to  the  growth  of  institutions  of  this  kind. 
But  during  the  past  ten  years  a  vigorous  rally  is  clearly 
noticeable,  due,  no  doubt,  partly  to  the  greater  ability  of  later 
educators  to  meet  the  practical  needs  of  the  rising  genera- 
tion, but  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  a  larger  proportion  of  the 
young  and  progressive  element  remain  at  home.  Three  of 
the  schools  now  in  operation  are  academies,  and  one  is  an 
Indian  mission  school.  The  three  academies  devote  only  a 
small  amount  of  time  to  reUgious  instruction,  but  the  chief 
aim  of  the  proprietors  in  establishing  the  schools  w^as  to 
build  up  Christian  character  in  the  youth,  and  save  them 
from  drifting  away  from  the  Lutheran  church.  Norwegian 
is  catalogued  as  a  regular  study  at  the  academies,  and 
perhaps  nine-tenths  of  their  attendants  are  of  Norwegian 
birth  or  extraction.  The  aggregate  annual  enrollment  of 
the  three  academies  is  about  375,  and  that  of  the  Indian 
mission  school  from  120  to  150,  making  a  total  of  500. 
The  latter,  as  well  as  Stoughton  Academy,  have  already 
proven  themselves  to  rank  among  the  best  institutions  of 
their  kind  in  this  part  of  our  country,  and  they  are  an  orna- 
ment to  those  good  people  who  established  them ;  w^hile  the 
academies  at  Mount  Horeb  and  Scandinavia  as  yet  have 
scarcely  had  time  enough  to  demonstrate  their  efficiency, 
their  establishment  dating  only  from  the  fall  of  1893. 

Norwegian.  Luther  College,  Decorah,  Iowa,  was  started 
at  Halfway  Creek,  near  La  Crosse,  on  September  4,  1861 ; 
but  after  one  year's  work,  which  closed  on  June  5,  1862,  the 
institution  was  removed  to  Decorah.    A  lengthy  and  able 


SCANDINAVIAN  SCHOOLS  IN  WISCONSIN.  131 

historical  sketch  of  Luther  College  is  found  in  this  volume. 

In  1865  an  attempt  was  made  by  members  of  Range's 
Synod  to  establish  a  school  in  Dane  county ;  but  the  tmder- 
taldng  failed  for  lack  of  support. 

The  Norwegian  Augustana  Sjmod,  one  of  the  organi- 
zations which  were  merged  into  the  United  Church  in  1890, 
operated  an  academy  at  Marshall,  Dane  county,  from  1869 
to  1881,  and  also  a  theological  department  therewith  dur- 
ing the  same  period,  excepting  the  years  1871-75. 

Luther  Seminary,  the  theological  seminary  of  the  Nor- 
wegian Synod,  was  established  in  1876  at  Madison,  where 
it  remained  until  1888.  During  this  period  Prof.  F.  A. 
Schmidt  and  Prof.  H.  G.  Stub  successively  served  as  presi- 
dent of  the  institution.  The  work  carried  on  here  during 
the  eighties  was  marred  by  doctrinal  controversies,  in 
which  Prof.  Schmidt  was  the  central  figure.  Nevertheless, 
about  fifty  young  men  were  graduated  from  the  seminary 
w^hile  it  was  located  at  Madison. 

Monona  Academy  was  established  by  the  Norwegian 
Synod  people  at  Madison  in  1876.  The  attendance  was 
fairly  good  for  a  number  of  terms ;  but  financially  it  proved 
a  heavy  burden,  and  the  school  was  discontinued  in  1881. 

The  Bethany  Indian  Mission  and  Industrial  school  at 
Wittenberg  was  the  only  Lutheran  institution  of  its  kind  as 
long  as  it  was  controlled  by  its  founders.  It  was  established 
in  1884  by  the  Norwegian  S3' nod.  The  school  was  originally 
held  in  a  log  house  four  miles  west  of  the  village  of  Wittenberg, 
and  five  boys,  all  belonging  to  the  Winnebago  tribe,  were  In 
attendance  the  first  term.  The  next  year  the  children  were 
transferred  to  the  orphans' home  at  Wittenberg;  but  in  1887 


132  HISTORY  OF  THE   SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

the  school  was  removed  into  a  fine  building  erected  for  that 
purpose  near  the  northwest  limits  of  said  village.  From 
this  time  on  the  attendance  increased  at  a  rapid  rate,  the 
tribes  represented  being  the  Oneidas,  Winnebagoes,  Chip- 
pewas,  Stockbridges,  and  Mohawks.  The  work  performed 
was  eminently  satisfactory,  and  the  influence  of  the  teachers 
upon  their  pupils  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  many 
of  the  latter  joined  the  Lutheran  Church  of  their  own  choice. 
A  few  of  them  afterwards  entered  college,  and  the  most  of 
them  are  growing  up  into  a  usefiil  and  respectable  set  of 
people.  No  single  man  did  more  for  the  building-up  of  this 
institution  than  Rev.  T.  Larsen,  who  resigned  his  position 
as  superintendent  in  1893.  For  a  number  of  years  the  school 
was  liberally  supported  by  the  federal  government,  the 
amount  annually  received  from  this  source  being  $108.00 
per  pupil.  A  law  which  was  passed  by  congress  for 
the  purpose  of  gradually  abolishing  all  appropriations  for 
sectarian  schools,  applied  to  this  school,  too,  and  the  United 
States  government  assumed  control  of  the  school  in  1895, 
leasing  the  buildings  for  a  period  of  five  years,  dating  from 
July  1, 1895.  The  people  of  the  Nor wegian  Synod  had  spent 
thousands  of  dollars  in  the  interest  of  this  school,  and,  in 
order  to  avoid  serious  disturbances  in  its  good  work,  the 
government  appointed  one  of  their  own  men,  Axel  Jacobson, 
to  the  superin tendency  of  the  school,  which  position  he  still 
holds. 

Stoughton  Academy  and  Business  Institute  is  one  of 
the  foremost  institutions  of  its  kind  in  the  state.  It  was 
started  in  a  rather  tentative  way  in  1888,  but  enjoyed  a 
vigorous  growth  almost  from  the  start.    It  offers  five  com- 


SCANDIXAVIAX  SCHOOLS  IN   WISCONSIN.  133 

plete  courses,  and  as  an  index  to  its  eflSciency  may  be  men- 
tioned the  fact  that  graduates  from  its  university  course  can 
enter  the  State  University  \srithout  examination.  This  insti- 
tution is  owned  by  a  stock  companA^  the  majority  of  which 
are  members  of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  The  yearly  enroll- 
ment is  about  200,  and  the  value  of  the  property  belonging 
to  the  academy  is  $8,000. 

Mount  Horeb  Academy  dates  from  the  fall  of  1893.  It 
was  started,  and  is  still  controlled,  chiefly  by  members  of  the 
United  Norwegian  Church.  The  school  offers  four  different 
courses.  The  total  attendance  is  about  100,  and  the  prop- 
erty is  worth  $20,000. 

Scandinavia  Academy,  at  Scandinavia,  was  started  in 
1893,  and  the  most  of  those  who  contributed  to  its  estab- 
lishment, and  who  have  controlled  it  since,  are  members  of 
the  United  Norwegian  Church.  The  enrollment  is  about  75, 
and  the  property  owned  by  the  institution  is  valued  at 
$15,000. 

Danish.  A  Danish  high  school  was  started  in  West  Den- 
mark, Polk  county,  in  the  eighties;  but  the  attendance  was 
so  small  that  the  work  had  to  be  discontinued.  Later 
attempts  were  no  more  successful.  Th.  Helveg  for  a  number 
of  years  conducted  the  theological  seminary  of  the  Danish 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America  at  the  same  place, 
and  about  a  score  of  students  in  attendance  afterwards 
entered  the  ministry  of  the  gospel. 

Other  Institutions.  Albion  Academy,  Bdoit  College, 
and  Galesville  College  at  one  time  or  another  have  been  largely 
attended  by  Scandinavian  students.  For  twenty-five  years 
past,  however,  the  State  University  has  been  drawing  a 


134  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.    S. 

larger  part  of  the  bright  and  ambitious  Scandinavian  youth 
than  has  any  other  school  in  the  state.  It  must  be  recorded 
as  an  historical  fact  that  R.  B.  Anderson,  as  instructor  and 
professor  in  the  university  during  a  part  of  the  sixties  and 
the  seventies,  was  instrumental  in  drawing  a  large  number 
of  Norw^egian  students  to  the  university.  Another  drawing 
card  is  the  library,  which  contains  1,500  volumes  of  choice 
Scandinavian  literature.  The  fact  that  three  of  the  pro- 
fessors, namely,  Julius  E.  Olson,  Storm  Bull,  and  Fritz 
Wilhelm  WoU,  are  Norwegians,  also  tends  to  make  their 
countrymen  feel  at  home  in  the  university'.  Nor  must  it 
be  forgotten  that  the  university  offers  a  complete  Scandina- 
vian course.  This  volume  contains  biographies  of  said  pro- 
fessors. Of  late,  the  attendance  of  students  of  Scandinavian 
extraction  has  been  about  80,  which  is  almost  exactly  five 
per  cent,  of  the  total  attendance.  This  class  of  students  arc 
not  only  holding  their  own,  but  during  the  last  fe^ir  years 
many  of  the  boys  have  disting^shed  themselves  at  orator- 
ical •jontests. 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Scandinayian 
diurclies  in  Wisconsin. 

—  BY  — 
O.  N.  NELSON  AND  J.  J.  SKORDALSVOLD. 


The  first  attempts  to  perpetuate  the  tenets  and  practices 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  among  the  Norwegpian-Americans 
were  made  in  the  Fox  River  settlement  in  Illinois  at  the 
close  of  the  thirties.  As  yet,  ho  we  ver,  there  was  no  ordained 
Norwegian  minister  in  America,  and  church  work  under  the 
guidance  of  ordained  clergymen  did  not  commence  until 
1843,  at  Muskego,  Wis.  This  year  marks  a  turning  point 
in  the  history  of  the  Norwegian-American  churches.  Thence- 
forth, very  few  of  those  religiously  inclined  left  the  Lutheran 
Church ;  so  far  the  accomplished  result  is  practical  unity. 
But  from  that  very  year  some  division  of  the  Norwegian- 
American  Lutheran  church  has  been  the  scene  of  internal 
controversies,  the  contending  parties  at  times  being  repre- 
sented by  as  many  as  half  a  dozen  distinct  associations ;  so 
far  the  accomplished  result  is,  apparently,  diversity.  And 
southeastern  Wisconsin  is  the  scene  of  the  inauguration  of 
this  era. 

Here  Eielsen  and  Clausen  were   estranged  from   each 

135 


136  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

other  before  the  close  of  the  year  1843,  and  this  soon  led  to 
open  hostility.  Here  Dietrichson  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
most  conservative  and  best  organized  of  the  Norviregian- 
American  church  associations,  thereby  incurring  the  natnral 
odium  of  all  who  are  impatient  of  restraint.  Here  the 
organization  of  the  two  oldest  Norwegian  church  associa- 
tions was  perfected,  and  even  the  powerful  Swedish  Atigus- 
tana  Synod  points  to  southern  Wisconsin  as  its  birthplace; 
Hauge's  S3mod  and  the  Swedish  Augustana  Synod  having 
been  organized  at  Jeflferson  Prairie,  and  the  Norwegian 
Synod  at  Koshkonong,  which  two  places  are  only  about 
forty  miles  apart.  Here  was  the  home  of  Rev.  H.  A.  Prcus, 
who  for  about  a  third  of  a  century  guided  the  Norwegian 
Synod  with  imperturbable  firmness.  And  here  Prof.  F.  A. 
Schmidt  accomplished  a  part  of  that  work  by  which  his 
name  was  to  be  indelibly  graven  upon  the  pages  of  the 
history  of  the  Norwegian-American  Lutheran  church. 

The  total  number  of  Scandinavian  congregations  in 
Wisconsin  is  about  550 ;  the  aggregate  number  of  communi- 
cant members,  55,000 ;  and  the  total  membership,  including 
the  children,  not  far  from  90,000.  That  is»  over  one-third 
of  the  Scandinavian  people  in  the  state  belong  to  some  of 
the  leading  church  organizations.  But  several  thousand 
Northmen  are  associated  with  churches  wholly  outside  of 
those  enumerated  below,  and  all  of  these,  combined  with 
people  who  are  not  church  members,  but  nevertheless  attend 
this  or  that  favorite  church  fully  as  regularly  as  some  actual 
members  do,  will  undoubtedly  swell  the  number  of  church- 
going  Scandinavians  in  Wisconsin  to  a  g^and  total  of  about 
180,000,  or  over  two-thirds  of  the  whole  number.    But  as 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHURCHES  IN  WISCONSIN.  137 

lengthy  accounts  of  the  different  Scandinavian  church  asso- 
ciations have  been  given  in  the  first  volume  of  this  work,  the 
present  chapter  will  be  made  short  in  order  to  avoid  too 
many  repetitions. 

The  United  Church.  Since  the  United  Norwegian 
Lntheran  Church  does  not  by  any  kind  of  organization  rec- 
ognize the  boundary  lines  of  Wisconsin,  no  separate  chapter 
will  be  devoted  to  it  here.  But,  having  a  large  representa- 
tion in  the  state,  it  nevertheless  deserves  special  attention. 
Rev.  J.  C.  Jensson,  the  secretary  of  this  body,  says:  "At 
the  time  of  the  organization  of  the  United  Church  it  was 
found  that  121  congregations  in  Wisconsin  had  formally 
adopted  the  articles  of  union  and  the  prospective  constitu- 
tion, and  thus  became  members  of  the  new  organization. 
Of  these  congregations,  63  had  belonged  to  the  conference ; 
55,  to  the  brotherhood ;  and  3,  to  the  Norwegian  Augustana 
Synod.  Two  more  joined  the  United  Church  immediately 
after  the  organization  of  that  body,  making  a  total  of  123 
congregations  in  Wisconsin  in  the  year  1890."  According 
to  the  same  authority  the  total  membership  of  those  con- 
gregations at  that  time  exceeded  25,000.  But  according  to 
the  United  Church  parochial  reports  of  1890,  published  in 
the  annual  report  of  1891,  only  103  congregations  in  Wis- 
consin were  in  actual  union  with  the  organization,  and  32 
more  were  served  by  its  pastors,  making  a  total  of  135  con- 
gregations in  the  state,  w^hich  w^ere  supposed  to  be  more  or 
less  in  union  or  sympathy  with  the  general  body. 

The  United  States  census  for  1890,  on  the  other  hand, 
puts  the  number  at  187.  Thus,  there  is  a  difference  of  over 
50  congregations .  This  discrepancy  may  be  partly  accounted 

4'A 


13S  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

for.    The  United  Church  at  that  time  was  in  the  process  of 
formation,  and  a  large  number  of  people  who  sympathized 
with  the  movement  had  as  yet  taken  no  steps  whatsoever 
to  attach    themselves  to  the  organization.     Nevertheless, 
these  sympathizers  were  counted  as  members  of  the  United 
Church.    The  difference 'in  the  number  of  congregations  as 
given  bj"^  the  official  report  of  the  church  in  1890,  and  that  of 
the  United  States  census  for  the  same  year,  affords  an  illus- 
trious instance  of  reliability !    For  it  appears  that  at  least 
10,000  Norwegian   Lutherans   in   Wisconsin  who,  in    the 
United  States  census  of  1890,  are  reported  to  be  in  connec- 
tion with  the  United  Church,  had  taken  no  formal  steps  in 
that  direction.    Even  six  years  later  the  number  of  congre- 
gations  in  Wisconsin  in  actual  union  with  the  United  Church 
fell  nearly  70  below  what  was  reported  in  the  United  States 
census  of    1890.     Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  the  annual 
reports  of  the  organization  itself  appear  to  be  "waste  and 
void  "  on  the  point  in  question ;  and  to  extract  any  kind  of 
statistical  light  from  them  takes  much  diligence  and  more 
patience.     For  during  the  years  1890-96  a  number  of  con- 
gregations appear  to  have  joined ;    but  Jensson  again  says 
that  in  1896  only  119  congregations  were  in  actual  connec- 
tion with  the  organization,  and  that  65  others  were  served 
by  United  Church  ministers.    These  statistical  data  include 
the  Friends  of  Augsburg,  or  the  minority,  who  had  not  as 
yet  been  excluded  from  the  reports,  although  they  have 
effected  a  seperate   organization  of  their  own.    In  other 
words,  in  spite  of  the  addition  of  several  new  congregations, 
the  whole  number  of  congregations  formally  belonging  in 
1896  was  four  less  then  the  number  which  was  supposed  to 


SCANDINAVIAN  CHURCHES  IN  WISCONSIN.  139 

belong  in  1890,  according  to  the  estimation  of  Jensson.  Yet, 
as  he  points  out,  some  of  the  smaller  congregations  have, 
since  1890,  been  joined  together  into  one.  But  the  average 
membership  per  congregation,  in  direct  or  indirect  connec- 
tion with  the  United  Church,  was  a  trifle  more  in  1890  than 
in  1895,  averaging  184  in  the  former  year  and  only  182  in 
the  latter.  It  is  true  that  in  1896  the  average  membership 
per  congregation  appears  to  be  205,  and  it  is  so  asserted  by 
the  secrctarj'  of  the  United  Church  in  his  report  for  that 
year.  But  this  statement  as  well  as  the  statistical  tables  are 
misleading,  because  the  average  membership  has  not,  as  in 
the  previous  years,  been  based  upon  the  total  number  of  con- 
gregations of  the  organization,  but  upon  those  only  which 
reported;  and,  of  course,  it  is  nearlj^  always  the  small  and 
vacant  congregations  that  fail  to  send  in  reports.  After  a 
thorough  and  careful  investigation  of  the  statistics,  it  does 
not  seem  reasonable  that  the  congregations  in  Wisconsin, 
served  by  United  Church  ministers,  will  average  more  than 
185  souls  each  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1897,  which 
would  make  a  total  membership  in  the  state  of  nearly 
35,000,  of  whom  about  20,000  are  communicants.  About 
25,000  souls  in  Wisconsin,  including  the  Friends  of  Augs- 
burg, are  today  actual  members  of  the  United  Church. 

In  point  of  membership  Minnesota  by  far  exceeds  Wis- 
consin, but  during  the  whole  history  of  the  church  most  of 
its  important  offices  have  been  held  by  residents  of  Wiscon- 
sin. It  is  difficult  to  give  any  statistics  in  regard  to  the 
value  of  church  property,  because  no  light  is  thrown  on  that 
subject  by  the  official  reports  of  the  organization.  But  the 
total  value  of  the  property  of  the  United  Church  in  Wiscon- 


140  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

sin  may  be  estimated  at  about  half  a  million  dollatB.  The 
orphans'  home  at  Wittenberg"— an  aocotmtof  this  institution 
is  given  in  the  biography  of  E.  I.  Homme,  in  this  volume — 
which  provides  food  and  shelter  for  many  children  and, aged 
people,  is  partly  under  the  influence  and  control  of  the 
United  Church. 

Swedish  Augustana  Synod.  This  great  association 
dates  from  a  meeting  which  was  held  at  Jefferson  Prairie, 
close  to  the  Illinois  boundary  line,  June  5, 1860.  The  oldest 
congregation  in  the  state  now  belonging  to  said  synod, 
namely,  that  of  Stockholm,  Pepin  county,  was,  however, 
not  organized  imtil  the  following  year.  In  1880  thenumber 
of  congregations  was  only  fifteen ;  but  since  that  year  the 
growth  has  been  rapid,  the  number  of  congregations  having 
more  than  trebled  in  the  course  of  the  past  seventeen  years. 
The  communicant  membership  is  about  4,000,  and  the  total 
number  7,000.  There  are  forty  church  buildings,  and  the 
value  of  the  church  property  is  about  $125,000.  For 
administrative  purposes,  the  state  is  divided  between  ^lin- 
nesota  and  Illinois  conferences. 

Danish  Lutherans.  The  United  Danish  Evangelical 
Lutheran  Church  in  America  was  organized  at  Minneapolis 
in  1896,  being  a  union  of  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church  Asso- 
ciation and  several  congregations  and  clergymen  formerly 
connected  with  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church  in  this  countri'. 
The  association  at  the  time  of  the  union  was  represented  in 
the  state  by  half  a  dozen  congregations  having  a  total 
membership  of  about  600.  Thirteen  congregations  are 
reported  as  having  joined  the  United  Danish  Church,  and 
sixteen  more  in  the  state  are  served  by  its  pastors.    If  each 


SCANDINAVIAN   CHURCHBS  IX  WISCONSIN.  141 

congregation  averages  100  souls,  then  there  should  be  in  the 
neighborhood  of  3,000  persons  in  Wisconsin  -who  are  con- 
nected, directly  or  indirectly,  with  the  new  movement. 

The  Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America 
had  in  1890,  according  to  the  United  States  census,  over 
2,000  members  in  Wisconsin.  But  since  many  of  the  largest 
and  oldest  congregations — for  example,  those  of  Racine, 
Waupaca,  and  Neenah — ^have,  virtually,  become  identified 
with  the  United  Danish  Church,  the  oldest  Danish  religious 
society  in  the  country  has  been  considerably  diminished.  As 
no  regular  annual  reports,  however,  have  ever  been  issued 
by  this  organization,  it  is  impossible  to  give  any  reliable 
statistics.  It  is  diflSicult  even  to  determine  when  the  Danish 
Lutherans  began  their  religious  w^ork  in  Wisconsin,  which 
certainly  was  not  later  than  1872 ;  for  by  that  time  congre- 
gations were  in  existence  at  Racine  and  Waupaca. 

Hauge's  Synod.  During  the  years  1843-46  Rev.  Elling 
Eielsen  gathered  a  number  of  devotionalists  in  southeastern 
Wisconsin  into  groups  which  may,  perhaps,  be  called  con- 
gregations, and  which  in  turn  were  organized  into  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  of  America  by  Eielsen  and  a 
few  others  who  met  for  that  purpose  at  Jeflferson  Prairie, 
Wis.,  April  13  and  14,  1846.  This  society,  therefore,  enjoys 
the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest  Scandinavian  organiza- 
tion of  its  kind  in  America.  In  1875  a  schism  occurred,  the 
majority  re-organizing  themselves  into  Hauge's  Synod. 
Eielsen  laid  such  a  tremendous  stress  upon  the  importance 
of  the  salvation  of  the  individual  as  to  positively  discourage 
and  neglect  organized  effort.  And  for  the  past  half  cen- 
tury the  growth  of  Hauge's  Synod  in  Wisconsin  has  been 


142  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

very  slow  as  compared  with  that  of  other  Norw^ian 
Lutheran  organizations  in  the  same  field.  Thus,  the  present 
contingent  of  Hauge's  Synod  in  the  state  of  its  birth  is  only 
twenty-eight  congregations  with  an  aggregate  communi- 
cant membership  of  a  little  over  2,000,  and  about  3,800 
souls.  In  other  words,  only  one-eighth  of  the  members  of 
the  synod  worship  in  the  state,  where  nearly  one-fourth  of 
the  total  Norse  population  in  the  country  reside.  At  Lodi, 
at  least,  there  is  still  a  charge  which  adheres  to  a  small 
association  which  remained  with  Blling  Eielsen  and  the  old 
organization. 

Methodists.  Rev.  C.  B.  Willerup,  a  native  of  Denmark, 
was  sent  by  the  Methodist  Church  to  preach  to  the  Nor- 
wegians  in  southern  Wisconsin.  He  entered  upon  his  work 
at  Cambridge  in  1850,  and  in  the  summer  of  1851  the  first 
Norwegian  Methodist  congregation  in  the  state  was 
organized  at  the  same  place.  It  may  be  stated  as  an  inter- 
esting historical  fact  that  the  first  Norwegian  Methodist 
church  building  in  the  world  was  erected  here  in  1851.  It  is 
a  stone  structure  which  costs  about  $3,000,  and  is  still  in 
good  condition.  In  1856  there  were  seven  Norwegian- 
Danish  Methodist  congregations  in  the  state ;  this  number 
has  increased  to  forty,  and  the  aggregate  number  of  com- 
municants is  about  1,600.  There  are  eight  Swedish  Metho- 
dist churches  with  an  aggregate  communicant  membership 
of  300.  The  property  held  by  these  churches,  including  five 
church  buildings,  is  $6,500 

Baptists.  The  first  Swedish  congregation  in  Wisconsin 
was  organized  at  Wood  River,  Burnett  county,  in  1869. 
There  are  now  twenty-five  in  the  state,  and  their  tott^l  com- 


SCANDINAVIANS  CHURCHES  IN  WISCONSIN.  143 

municant  membership  is  1,200.  They  have  fifteen  church 
buildings,  and  the  aggregate  value  of  the  property  held  by 
them  is  $25,000.  The  Norwegian-Danish  Baptist  Church  is 
represented  by  1,000  communicant  members,  who  are  organ- 
ized into  twenty  congregations.  There  are  fifteen  church 
buildings,  and  the  value  of  the  property  is  $26,000. 

Swedish  Evangelical  Mission  Covenant.  This  asso- 
ciation is  represented  by  half  a  dozen  congregations  in  Wis- 
consin. Some  of  them  have  church  buildings  of  their  own. 
The  total  number  of  communicant  members  is  not  quite 
400,  but  the  value  of  their  church  property  is  reported  to  be 
worth  nearlv  $20,000.  There  are  also  a  number  of  Free 
Mission  Friends,  and  Swedish  and  Norwegian  Congrega- 
tionalists  in  the  state 


Historical  Review  of  tlie  Eastern  District 
of  tiie  Norw^an  Synod. 

—BY— 


The  seven  pastors  and  twenty-eight  churches  that,  in 
February,  1853,  at  East  Koshkonong,  Dane  county,  Wis., 
founded  the  Norwegian  Synod,  were  nearly  all  located  in 
southern  Wisconsin,  and  for  a  number  of  years  this  state 
continued  to  hold  the  bulk  of  the  pastors  and  churches  of 
this  organization.  For  this  reason  the  synod  was  some- 
times called  the  Wisconsin  Synod.  By  the  year  1876,  how- 
ever, the  synod  had  spread  over  ten  or  twelve  different 
states  and  territories,  and  a  division  of  the  synod  into  dis- 
tricts had  for  some  time  been  felt  to  be  a  necessity.  The 
revised  constitution  adopted  by  the  synod  in  June,  1876,  at 
Decorah,  Iowa,  made  provision  for  such  division  into  dis- 
tricts. The  constitution  also  provided  for  triennial  meetings 
of  the  synod  and  for  annual  meetings  of  the  districts.  Three 
districts  were  formed,  namely,  the  Eastern,  or  Wisconsin; 
the  Western,  or  Iowa;  and  the  Northern,  or  Minnesota. 

145 


146  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

The  Eastern  District  was  made  to   include  all  the  pastors 
and  churches  of  the  synod  located  east  of  the  Mississippi 
and  St.  Croix  rivers.    These  pastors  and  the  representatives 
of  these  churches  attending  the  sjnod  meeting  at  Decorah 
in  1876,  convened,  June  22, 1876,  and  organized  the  Basteni 
District,  electing   the   following   officers:    President,    Rev. 
P.  A.  Rasmussen,  of  Lisbon,  111.;  vice-president.  Rev.  J-.  B. 
Frich,  of  La  Crosse,  Wis.;  secretary,  Rev.  C.  M.  Hvistcn- 
dahl,  of  Stoughton,    Wis.;     treasurer,    Halle   Steensland, 
of  Madison,   Wis.;    lay   member   of   the   church    council, 
J.  J.  Naeset,  of  Stoughton,  Wis.;  auditors,  T.  J.  Widwcy 
and    John   Lienlokken,    both  of  La  Crosse,  Wis.    At  the 
time  of  its  organization  the  Eastern  District  numbered  49 
pastors  and  175  churches.    Of  the  latter,  145  were  in  Wis- 
consin, 14  in  Illinois,  eight  in  Michigan,  two  in  New  York, 
two  in  New  Jersey,  one  was  in  Indiana,  one  in  Ohio,  one  in 
Maine,  and  one  in  Ontario.     The  following,  compiled  from 
the  parochial  reports,  show    the   growth  of  the  district 
during  its  first  decade :    Pastors,  in  1876,  50,    ten  years 
later,  68;  churches,  180,  and  225;  communicants,  25,862, 
and  32,313;  number  of  souls,  46,788,  and  57,118.    It  will 
be  seen  that  the  growth  of  the  Eastern  District  during  the 
decade,  though  steady,  was  comparatively  slow.    This  was 
due  chiefly  to  little  immigration,  and  much  emigration  to 
states  and  territories  farther  west.    During  the  next  decade 
the  numerical  strength  of  the  district  was  greatly  reduced, 
through  the  withdrawal  of  the  Anti-Missourian  faction,  at 
the  close  of  the  g^cat  controversy  on  election,  or  predesti- 
nation, and  kindred  questions.    The  story  of  the  great  con- 
troversy, which  lasted  for  years,  and  resulted,  in  1887,  in 


EASTERN  DISTRICT  OP  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD.  147 

the  disruption  of  the  Norwegian  Sjmod,  is  told  in  Vol.  I  of 
this  work.  The  Eastern  District  suffered  most  severely 
through  this  sad  schism.  In  this  district  two  of  the  founders 
and  fathers  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  were  deposed  by  Anti- 
Missourian  majorities  in  churches  which  they  served.  One 
of  the  two  was  Rev.  H.  A.  Preus,  for  thirty-two  years  the 
president  of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  The  Eastern  District  at 
Ashippun,  Wis.,  in  1886,  and  at  Stoughton,  Wis.,inl887,by 
a  majority  vote  sustained  all  pastors  thus  deposed,  and 
recognized  the  protesting  minorities  in  the  churches  that 
deposed  them.  At  the  district  meetings  in  1884-85  the 
presidency  of  the  district  was  a  matter  of  contention  and 
heated  discussion,  the  Anti-Missourians  attempting  to  oust 
President  Frich  and  to  seat  Rev.  P.  A.  Rasmussen.  The 
matter  was  submitted  to  a  committee  of  arbitration,  con- 
sisting of  Judge  G.  R.  Willett,  of  Decorah,  Iowa;  Judge 
J.  H.  Carpenter,  of  Madison,  Wis.;  and  Hon.  Elihu  Colman, 
of  Fond  du  Lac,  Wis.  The  decision  of  the  arbitrators  was 
in  favor  of  President  Frich.  After  the  S3mod  meeting  of 
1887,  held  at  Stoughton,  Wis.,  the  Anti-Missourians,  or 
adherents  of  Professor  F.  A.  Schmidt,  gradually  withdrew 
from  the  synod,  and  peace  was  restored.  The  statistics  of 
1889  bear  witness  to  the  severe  losses  suffered  bj^  the 
Eastern  District  through  this  secession.  In  that  year  the 
strength  of  the  district  was :  Pastors,  48 ;  churches,  163 ; 
communicant  members,  19,682;  number  of  souls,  34,707. 
In  January,  1896,  the  figures  were:  Pastors,  68;  churches, 
196;  communicants,  20,410;  number  of  souls,  35,018.  Of 
these  196  churches,  131  were  in  Wisconsin,  32  in  Michigan, 
18  in  Illinois,  three  in  Indiana,  three  in  Ohio,  three  in  Ten- 


148  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

nessee,  seven  in  New  York,  four  in  New  Jersey,  two  in  Mass- 
achusetts, two  in  Ontario,  and  one  was  in  Rhode  Island. 
Rev.  J.B.Frich,  of  La  Crosse,  Wis.,  Rev.O.  Juul,of  Chicago, 
HI.,  and  Rev.  H.  Halvorsen,  of  Westby,  Wis.,  have  held  the 
office  of  president  of  the  Eastern  District.  Rev.  P.  A.  Ras- 
mussen,  of  Lisbon,  111.,  was  elected  president  in  1876  and  in 
1883,  but  both  times  refused  to  accept  office.  Hew^as  again 
elected  in  1885,  but  his  election  was  declared  illegal  by  the 
committee  of  arbitration  mentioned  above. 

The  annual  meetings  of  the  Eastern  District  have  been 
held  as  follows:  In  1877  at  Winchester,  Wis.;  in  1878, 
pending  synod  meeting,  at  West  Koshkonong,  Wis. ;  in 
1889  at  Lee,  111.;  in  1880  at  Wiota,  Wis.;  in  1881,  dtiring 
synod  meeting,  at  Spring  Grove,  Minn.;  in  1882  at  Blair, 
Wis.;  in  1883  at  Perry,  Wis.;  in  1884,  during  S3mod 
meeting,  at  Minneapolis,  Minn.;  in  1885  at  Roche-a-Cree, 
Adams  county.  Wis.;  in  1886  at  Ashippun,  Wis.;  in  1887, 
during  S3mod  meeting,  at  Stoughton,  Wis.;  in  1888  at  Rush 
River,  Wis.;  in  1889  at  Spring  Prairie,  Columbia  county, 
Wis.;  in  1890  at  Minneapolis,  Minn.,i>ending  synod  meeting; 
in  1891  at  Lee,  111.;  in  1892  at  Menomonie,  Wis.; in  1893  at 
Chicago,  during  synod  meeting;  in  1894  at  West  Kosh- 
konong.  Wis.;  iu  1895  at  Halfway  Creek,  Wis.;  and  in  1896 
at  La  Crosse,  Wis.,  during  synod  meeting. 

At  these  meetings  of  the  district  the  rule  has  always 
been  to  devote  the  afternoon  sessions  to  business  matters 
and  the  morning  sessions  to  the  elucidation  of  doctrines  and 
principles.  This  is  an  unwritten  law  in  the  Norwegian 
Synod,  as  has  been  explained  in  the  article  on  the  Iowa 
District  in  this  volume.     Among  the  topics  thus  discussed  in 


EASTERN  DISTRICT  OF  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD.  149 

the  Eastern  District  were  the  following:  The  Divinity  of  the 
Scripture;  Gratitude  to  God  for  Blessings  Bestowed;  Re- 
ligious Awakening;  the  Scriptural  Doctrine  of  Election; 
Conversion;  Assurance  of  Salvation;  the  Nature  of  the 
Divine  Call ;  Ways  and  Means  of  Building  up  True  Lutheran 
Churches ;  Dangers  that  Threaten  the  Church  in  Our  Day ; 
True  and  False  Lutheranism ;  Ephesians  II.  8—10;  the 
Nature  and  Object  of  Missions;  the  Missionary  Spirit; 
Home  Mission^ ;  Seamen's  Missions ;  Mission  Work  Among 
the  Mormons. 

Under  the  constitution  of  the  Norwegian  Synod,  each 
district  has  its  own  board  of  home  missions,  and  attends  to 
the  home  mission  work  to  be  done  within  its  borders.  Of 
late  years  the  amount  which  the  Eastern  District  has 
expended  for  home  mission  work  has  been  about  $4,500 
annually.  At  present  twenty  missionary  pastors,  serving 
fifty-one  churches,  are  receiving  more  or  less  aid  from  the 
home  mission  fund.  Of  these  missionaries,  five  are  stationed 
in  northern  Wisconsin,  three  in  the  state  of  New  York,  two 
in  Chicago,  three  in  northern  Michigan,  and  the  others  in 
Tennessee,  Canada,  New  Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  and  Massa- 
chusetts. 

The  Eastern  District,  iis  such,  owns  and  controis  no 
institutions  of  learning  or  charity.  In  the  Norwegian  Synod 
districts  are  not  incorporated,  and  all  such  institutions  are 
established,  controlled,  and  supported  either  by  the  synod, 
or  b}'  merely  local  associations.  The  theological  seminary 
of  the  Norwegian  Synod,  Luther  Seminary,  was  located  at 
Madison,  Wis.,  from  1876  to  1888,  when  the  institution  was 
removed  to  Minneapolis.    Monona  Academy  was  established 


150  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

at  Madison,  Wis.,  in  1876,  by  the  churches  around  Madison. 
The  academy  was  discontinued  in  1881.  In  1882  Rev.  E.  J. 
Homme  built  an  orphans'  home  at  Wittenberg,  Wis.,  the 
churches  and  pastors  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  furnishing  the 
necessary  means.  This  home  is  now  well  housed  and  in  a 
flourishing  condition  and  doing  good  work,  Rev.  Homme 
still  being  the  superintendent.  The  institution  is  not  now 
connected  with  the  Norwegian  Synod.  It  was  lost  to  the 
synod  eight  or  nine  years  ago,  as  the  restdt  of  the  with- 
drawal from  the  synod  of  Rev.  Homme  and  other  Anti- 
Missourians. 

The  Bethany  Indian  Mission  School,  opened  in  tae  autumn 
of  1884,  is  owned  by  the  Norwegian  Syiiod.  It  is  located  on 
a  farm  of  120  acres,  near  Wittenberg,  Wis.,  and  has  a  neat 
church  and  two  brick  buildings,  steam-heated,  with  accom- 
modations for  about  160  inmates.  This  Indian  school  was 
conducted  by  the  synod,  under  the  contract  system,  down  to 
1895,  when  the  grounds  and  buildings  were  leased  to  the 
United  States  government.  The  institution  was  then  changed 
into  a  government  school,  but  the  principal,  the  teachers,  and 
the  matrons  were  retained.  The  Tabitha  Hospital,  opened 
three  years  ago,  at  Humboldt  Park  in  Chicago,  is  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Tabitha  Society,  a  local  organization.  The  hos- 
pital has  a  commodious  and  well-appointed  building,  and  a 
fine  staff  of  physicians,  surgeons,  and  trained  nurses.  The 
Stoughton  Academy  and  Business  Institute,  at  Stoughton, 
Wis.,  was  opened  in  the  fall  of  1888,  and  is  conducted  by  the 
Stoughton  Academy  Association.  The  academy  building  is 
of  brick,  three  stories  above  basement,  and  beautifully 
located.      The  average  annual  attendance  is  nearly  200. 


EASTERN  DISTRICT  OF  NORWEGIAN  SYNOD.  151 

The  Martin  Luther  Orphans*  Home,  near  Stoughton,  Wis., 
is  the  property  of  the  Norwegian  Synod.  This  institution 
was  opened  in  1889  at  Madison,  Wis.,  but  was  removed  to 
Stoughton  in  the  spring  of  1894.  The  home  is  located  on  a 
farm  of  over  100  acres,  two  miles  from  the  city  of  Stough- 
ton, and  has  two  fine  frame  buildings,  steam  heated,  aflFord- 
ing  accommodations  for  about  100  children.  The  numberof 
inmates  at  present  is  seventy-six. 

From  1877  to  1896  the  annual  contributions  of  the 
Eastern  District  to  the  treasury  of  the  Norwegian  Synod 
have  averaged  about  $11,000,  ranging  from  about  $5,000 
to  over  $20,000,  the  total  amounting  to  nearly  $215,000. 
To  the  annual  remittances  to  the  synodical  treasury  and  to 
the  home  mission  fund  of  the  district  should  be  added  large 
sums  given  to  the  orphans'  homes  at  Wittenberg  and  Stough- 
ton, to  the  church  extension  fund,  to  the  Monona  and  the 
Stoughton  academies,  to  the  Pacific  Lutheran  University, 
to  the  Lutheran  Ladies'  Seminary  at  Red  Wing,  Minn.,  to 
the  Tabitha  Hospital,  to  various  relief  funds,  etc. 

The  officers  of  the  Eastern  District  at  present  (1897) 
are:  President,  Rev.  H.  Halvorsen,  of  Westby,  Wis.;  vice- 
president.  Rev.  A.  K.  Sagen,  of  La  Crosse,  Wis.;  secre- 
tary, Rev.  J.  Nordby,  of  Lee,  111.;  treasurer,  A.  H.  Dahl,  of 
Westby,  Wis. 


iiKVNir.n  A?  rM>si:N.  ;iki'i>ihii. 


Biographies  of  Scandinayians  in 


Iowa. 


Anderson,  Andrew  6,,  the  hero  of  the  flood  of  1892— 
Sioux  City — ^bom  1854,  in  Lena,  Vestergotland,  Sweden; 
died  18  May,  1892.  He  emigrated  m  1870,  settling  in  Sioux 
City  three  years  later ;  at  first  worked  as  a  common  laborer ; 
was  fireman  and  engineer  on  a  ferry-boat  at  Sioux  City,  and 
in  1876  fireman  on  the  steamboat  Tiger,  the  boat  that  made 
the  first  trip  up  the  Yellowstone  river ;  and  at  the  time  of 
his  death  was  employed  as  stationary  engineer  of  the  Sioux 
City  brick  and  tile  works  at  Springdale,  a  suburb  of  Sioux 
City.  Anderson  was  a  member  of  the  Scandia  Lodge  of 
K.  P.,  and  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Stationary  Engineers; 
was  married  in  1879 ;  and  at  his  death  left  a  wife  and  three 
children.  The  deeds  accomplished  by  Andrew  G.  Anderson 
during  the  last  moments  of  his  life  perhaps  have  no  counter- 
part in  the  history  of  the  w^orld,  and  entitle  his  name  to  be 
remembered  to  the  end  of  time.  In  the  disastrous  flood 
which  visited  western  Iowa,  he,  at  the  evident  risk  of  his 
own  life,  18  May,  1892,  saved  twentj^-seven  persons  from 
drowning.  Though  almost  exhausted,  he  swam  out  to  save 
one  more,  a  woman  who  was  struggling  for  life;  but  his 
strength   failed,    and   both    were   drowned.    Nordlyset^    a 

153 


44 


154         HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

Danish  weekly,  published  in  New  York,  said  of  Anderson's 
heroism :  "  Such  a  deed  can  be  explained  only  in  one  way — 
'I  love  my  neighbors  more  than  myself.'"  Rev.  D.  L. 
Mackenzie,  in  his  funeral  sermon  over  the  remains  of  Ander- 
son, expressed  himself  thus :  ^^  Braver  Knights  never  buckled 
on  armor  and  w^ent  to  the  fray.  An  expert  w^aterman,  he 
was  inspired  by  naught  but  unselfish  desire  to  save  human 
life,  and  he  breasted  waves  that  made  the  stoutest  hearts 
grow  faint.  But  after  twenty-seven  people  had  through  his 
efforts  been  saved  he  was  at  last  compelled  to  yield  up  his 
life  to  the  remorseless  waters.  Our  heroes  of  Gettysburg 
immortalized  themselves,  yet  they  fought  for  home  and 
native  land.  This  hero  won  greater  honors,  for  he  fought 
for  no  such  selfish  result."  The  funeral  services  took  place 
at  the  Trinity  Lutheran  Church  of  Sioux  City,  22  May, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Scandia  Lodge  of  K.  P.,  Rev.  J.  A. 
Christenson  speaking  in  Swedish,  and  Rev.  Mackenzie  in  y 
English. 

Anundsen,  Brynlld*  publisher— Decorah— bom  29  Dec., 
1844-,  in  Skien,  Norway.  He  commenced  to  work  in  a  cigar 
factory  at  the  tender  age  of  seven,  and  afterwards  in  a  stone 
quarry  and  in  small  grist  mills.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he 
learned  the  printer's  trade  and  then  followed  the  sea  for  a 
couple  of  years.  Anundsen  was  kept  so  busy  during  his 
boyhood  that  he  could  attend  school  only  at  irregular 
intervals  and  in  the  evenings.  He  left  for  America  in  1864, 
and  tried  his  hand  at  various  occupations  in  Wisconsin.  He 
soon  settled  at  La  Crosse,  however,  as  type-setter  in  the 
office  of  Faedrelandet  og  Emigranten,  where  he  remained 
until  1866.    About  this  date  he  started  a  paper  of  his  own, 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA  155 

Ved  ArneUy  a  monthly  magazine  for  "novels,  stories,  poems, 
etc.,  by  the  best  authors/'  At  the  close  of  the  first  year  of 
the  existence  of  the  paper,  its  financial  condition  was  such 
that  the  publisher  had  to  balance  its  accounts  by  working 
on  the  road  for  some  time.  In  1868  Anundsen  removed  to 
Decorah,  Iowa,  with  his  printing  outfit,  which,  together 
with  the  rest  of  his  earthly  possessions,  made  up  two  wagon 
loads.  Here  he  continued  the  publication  of  his  magazine  and 
also  printed  Kirkelig  Maanedstidende^  the  official  organ  of 
the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod;  but  in  spite  of  his  best 
efforts,  the  receipts  of  his  magazine  persisted  in  lagging 
behind  the  expenditures,  and  after  a  three  years'  struggle, 
Ved  Amen  gave  up  the  ghost.  Anundsen  continued  the 
printing  of  the  organ  of  the  synod,  besides  occasional  pam- 
phlets for  the  same  body,  until  the  s3mod  started  a  printing 
office  of  its  own.  In  1874  he  began  the  publication  of 
Decorab-Postetif  at  first  only  a  highly  unpretentious  local 
weekly.  This  marks  the  turning-point  in  the  life  of  Anundsen, 
and  the  paper  through  which  this  was  accomplished  deserves 
more  than  passing  mention.  Decorab-Posten  differs  from 
the  average  Scandinavian-American  newspapers  in  that  it 
does  not  meddle  with  opinions  on  any  subject  whatever.  It 
is  perfectly  colorless  as  to  religion  and  politics.  In  order  to 
avoid  all  kinds  of  controversy  it  has  no  editorials.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  its  reading  matter  is  exceedingly  varied. 
The  aim  of  the  paper  seems  to  be  exclusively  that  of  famish- 
ing interesting  reading  matter.  And  to  judge  by  the 
phenomenal  success  which  the  paper  has  made,  Anundsen 
hit  the  nail  squarely  on  the  head  when  he  conceived  the  idea 
of  such  a  paper.    In  less  than  twenty  years  after  its  estab- 


156  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

lishment,  the  circulation  of  it  exceeded  that  of  any  other 
newspaper  printed  in  the  Norwegian  language,  and  now  it 
has  over  35,000  regular  subscribers.  Ved  Amen  was 
revived  again  a  number  of  years  ago,  and  is  sent  as  a  supple- 
ment to  Decorab-Posten.  The  latter  has  been  published 
twice  a  week  since  the  fall  of  1894.  All  this  business  is 
managed  on  a  sound  cash  basis ;  consequently,  Anundsen  is 
looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  solid  and  substantial  busi- 
ness men  in  that  part  of  the  state,  and  the  people  of  Decorah 
take  pardonable  pride  in  his  establishment  which  now 
employs  thirty  men  the  year  round.  A  few  years  ago 
Anundsen  bought  a  large  brick  building  for  his  establish- 
ment. Anundsen  is  a  member  of  the  United  Norwegian 
Lutheran  Church.  He  was  married  in  1865  to  Mathilda 
Hofetrom,  of  Ostergotland,  Sweden.  They  have  grown 
children. 

Bergh,  Knut  E^  educator  and  state  legislator — Decorah 
— ^bom  27  May,  1838,  in  Voss,  Bergen  stift,  Norway ;  died  in 
Hardanger,  Norway,  in  1875.  He  emigrated  to  America  in 
1857;  began  to  teach  parochial  school  the  same  year  at 
Liberty  Prairie,  Wis.;  then  amended  English  schools  at 
Liberty  Prairie,  Madison,  and  Evansville,  Wis.,  successively; 
attended  Concordia  College,  in  St.  Louis,  in  1860  and  1861; 
and  entered  the  school  of  the  Norwegian  S3mod  at  Halfway 
Creek,  Wis.,  in  the  fall  of  1861,  but  was  forced  to  leave  at 
the  close  of  the  first  term  on  account  of  poor  health.  Bergh 
then  spent  three  years  in  teaching,  devoting  his  spare 
moments  to  study.  In  1864  he  entered  Luther  College  at 
Decorah,  but  poor  health  again  interrupted  his  studies.  His 
health  improving,  he  took  up  the  study  of  law,  and  was 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA  155 

Ved  Amen,  a  monthly  magazine  for  "novels,  stories,  poems, 
etc.,  by  the  best  authors.**  At  the  close  of  the  first  year  of 
the  existence  of  the  paper,  its  financial  condition  was  such 
that  the  publisher  had  to  balance  its  accounts  by  working 
on  the  road  for  some  time.  In  1868  Anundsen  removed  to 
Decorah,  Iowa,  with  his  printing  outfit,  which,  together 
with  the  rest  of  his  earthly  possessions,  made  up  two  wagon 
loads.  Here  he  continued  the  publication  of  his  magazine  and 
also  printed  Kirkelig  Maanedstidende,  the  official  organ  of 
the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod;  but  in  spite  of  his  best 
cflForts,  the  receipts  of  his  magazine  persisted  in  lagging 
behind  the  expenditures,  and  after  a  three  years'  struggle, 
Ved  Amen  gave  up  the  ghost.  Anundsen  continued  the 
printing  of  the  organ  of  the  synod,  besides  occasional  pam- 
phlets for  the  same  body,  until  the  S3mod  started  a  printing 
office  of  its  own.  In  1874  he  began  the  publication  of 
Decorab-Posten,  at  first  only  a  highly  unpretentious  local 
weekly.  This  marks  the  turning-point  in  the  life  of  Anundsen, 
and  the  paper  through  which  this  was  accomplished  deserves 
more  than  passing  mention.  Decorab-Posten  differs  from 
the  average  Scandinavian-American  newspapers  in  that  it 
does  not  meddle  with  opinions  on  any  subject  whatever.  It 
is  perfectly  colorless  as  to  religion  and  politics.  In  order  to 
avoid  all  kinds  of  controversy  it  has  no  editorials.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  its  reading  matter  is  exceedingly  varied. 
The  aim  of  the  paper  seems  to  be  exclusively  that  of  famish- 
ing interesting  reading  matter.  And  to  judge  by  the 
phenomenal  success  which  the  paper  has  made,  Anundsen 
hit  the  nail  squarely  on  the  head  when  he  conceived  the  idea 
of  such  a  paper.    In  less  than  twenty  years  after  its  estab- 


^ 


154  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Danish  weekly,  published  in  New  York,  said  of  Anderson's 
heroism :  "  Such  a  deed  can  be  explained  only  in  one  way — 
'I  love  my  neighbors  more  than  myself.*  "  Rev.  D.  L. 
Mackenzie,  in  his  foneral  sermon  over  the  remains  of  Ander- 
son, expressed  himself  thus :  **  Braver  Knights  never  buckled 
on  armor  and  went  to  the  fray.  An  expert  w^aterman,  he 
was  inspired  by  naught  but  unselfish  desire  to  save  human 
life,  and  he  breasted  waves  that  made  the  stoutest  hearts 
grow  faint.  But  after  twenty-seven  people  had  through  his 
efforts  been  saved  he  was  at  last  compelled  to  yield  up  his 
life  to  the  remorseless  waters.  Our  heroes  of  Gettysburg 
immortalized  themselves,  yet  they  fought  for  home  and 
native  land.  This  hero  won  greater  honors,  for  he  fought 
for  no  such  selfish  result."  The  fimeral  services  took  place 
at  the  Trinity  Lutheran  Church  of  Sioux  City,  22  May, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Scandia  Lodge  of  K.  P.,  Rev.  J.  A. 
Christenson  speaking  in  Swedish,  and  Rev.  Mackenzie  in  y 
English.  ^ 

Anundsen,  Biynild,  publisher— Decorah— bom  29  Dec., 
1844-,  in  Skien,  Norway.  He  commenced  to  work  in  a  cigar 
factory  at  the  tender  age  of  seven,  and  afterwards  in  a  stone 
quarry  and  in  small  grist  mills.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he 
learned  the  printer's  trade  and  then  followed  the  sea  for  a 
couple  of  years.  Anundsen  was  kept  so  busy  during  his 
boyhood  that  he  could  attend  school  only  at  irregular 
intervals  and  in  the  evenings.  He  left  for  America  in  1864, 
and  tried  his  hand  at  various  occupations  in  Wisconsin.  He 
soon  settled  at  La  Crosse,  however,  as  type-setter  in  the 
office  of  Faedrelandet  og  Emigranten^  where  he  remained 
tmtil  1866.    About  this  date  he  started  a  paper  of  his  own, 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA  155 

Ved  ArneUj  a  monthly  magazine  for  "novels,  stories,  poems, 
etc.,  by  the  best  authors."  At  the  close  of  the  first  year  of 
the  existence  of  the  paper,  its  financial  condition  was  such 
that  the  publisher  had  to  balance  its  accounts  by  working 
on  the  road  for  some  time.  In  1868  Anundsen  removed  to 
Decorah,  Iowa,  with  his  printing  outfit,  which,  together 
with  the  rest  of  his  earthly  possessions,  made  up  two  wagon 
loads.  Here  he  continued  the  publication  of  his  magazine  and 
also  printed  Kirkelig  Maanedstidende^  the  official  organ  of 
the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod;  but  in  spite  of  his  best 
cflForts,  the  receipts  of  his  magazine  persisted  in  lagging 
behind  the  expenditures,  and  after  a  three  years'  struggle, 
Ved  Amen  gave  up  the  ghost.  Anundsen  continued  the 
printing  of  the  organ  of  the  synod,  besides  occasional  pam- 
phlets for  the  same  body,  until  the  S3mod  stalled  a  printing 
office  of  its  own.  In  1874  he  began  the  publication  of 
Decorab'Posten,  at  first  only  a  highly  unpretentious  local 
weekl3\  This  marks  the  turning-point  in  the  life  of  Anundsen, 
and  the  paper  through  which  this  was  accomplished  deserves 
more  than  passing  mention.  Decorab-Posten  differs  from 
the  average  Scandinavian-American  newspapers  in  that  it 
does  not  meddle  with  opinions  on  any  subject  whatever.  It 
is  perfectly  colorless  as  to  religion  and  politics.  In  order  to 
avoid  all  kinds  of  controversy  it  has  no  editorials.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  its  reading  matter  is  exceedingly  varied. 
The  aim  of  the  paper  seems  to  be  exclusively  that  of  furnish- 
ing interesting  reading  matter.  And  to  judge  by  the 
phenomenal  success  which  the  paper  has  made,  Anundsen 
hit  the  nail  squarely  on  the  head  when  he  conceived  the  idea 
of  such  a  paper.    In  less  than  twenty  years  after  its  estab- 


154  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

Danish  weekly,  published  in  New  York,  said  of  Anderson's 
heroism :  "  Such  a  deed  can  be  explained  only  in  one  way — 
'I  love  my  neighbors  more  than  myself.'  "  Rev.  D.  L. 
Mackenzie,  in  his  funeral  sermon  over  the  remains  of  Ander- 
son,  expressed  himself  thus :  **  Braver  Knights  never  buckled 
on  armor  and  went  to  the  fray.  An  expert  waterman,  he 
was  inspired  by  naught  but  unselfish  desire  to  save  human 
life,  and  he  breasted  waves  that  made  the  stoutest  hearts 
grow  faint.  But  after  twenty-seven  people  had  through  his 
efforts  been  saved  he  was  at  last  compelled  to  yield  up  his 
life  to  the  remorseless  waters.  Our  heroes  of  Gettysburg 
immortalized  themselves,  yet  they  fought  for  home  and 
native  land.  This  hero  won  greater  honors,  for  he  fought 
for  no  such  selfish  result."  The  fimeral  services  took  place 
at  the  Trinity  Lutheran  Church  of  Sioux  City,  22  May, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Scandia  Lodge  of  K.  P.,  Rev.  J.  A. 
Christenson  speaking  in  Swedish,  and  Rev.  Mackenzie  in  y 
English.  ^ 

Anundsen*  Brynlld*  publisher— Decorah— bom  29  I>cc., 
1844-,  in  Skien,  Norway.  He  commenced  to  work  in  a  cigar 
factory  at  the  tender  age  of  seven,  and  afterwards  in  a  stone 
quarry  and  in  small  grist  mills.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he 
learned  the  printer's  trade  and  then  followed  the  sea  for  a 
couple  of  years.  Anundsen  was  kept  so  busy  during  his 
boyhood  that  he  could  attend  school  only  at  irregular 
intervals  and  in  the  evenings.  He  left  for  America  in  1864, 
and  tried  his  hand  at  various  occupations  in  Wisconsin.  He 
soon  settled  at  La  Crosse,  however,  as  type-setter  in  the 
office  of  Faedrelandet  og  Emigranten,  where  he  remained 
tmtil  1866.    About  this  date  he  started  a  paper  of  his  own. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA  155 

Ved  Amen,  a  monthly  magazine  for  "novels,  stories,  poems, 
etc.,  by  the  best  authors."  At  the  close  of  the  first  year  of 
the  existence  of  the  paper,  its  financial  condition  was  such 
that  the  publisher  had  to  balance  its  accounts  by  working 
on  the  road  for  some  time.  In  1868  Anundsen  removed  to 
Decorah,  Iowa,  with  his  printing  outfit,  which,  together 
with  the  rest  of  his  earthly  possessions,  made  up  two  wagon 
loads.  Here  he  continued  the  publication  of  his  magazine  and 
also  printed  Kirkelig  Maanedstidende,  the  oflicial  organ  of 
the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod;  but  in  spite  of  his  best 
cflForts,  the  receipts  of  his  magazine  persisted  in  lagging 
behind  the  expenditures,  and  after  a  three  years'  struggle, 
Ved  Amen  gave  up  the  ghost.  Anundsen  continued  the 
printing  of  the  organ  of  the  synod,  besides  occasional  pam- 
phlets for  the  same  body,  until  the  S3mod  started  a  printing 
office  of  its  own.  In  1874  he  began  the  publication  of 
Decor ab-Posteny  at  first  only  a  highly  unpretentious  local 
weekl3\  This  marks  the  turning-point  in  the  life  of  Anundsen, 
and  the  paper  through  which  this  was  accomplished  deserves 
more  than  passing  mention.  Decorab-Posten  differs  from 
the  average  Scandinavian-American  newspapers  in  that  it 
does  not  meddle  with  opinions  on  any  subject  whatever.  It 
is  perfectly  colorless  as  to  religion  and  politics.  In  order  to 
avoid  all  kinds  of  controversy  it  has  no  editorials.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  its  reading  matter  is  exceedingly  varied. 
The  aim  of  the  paper  seems  to  be  exclusively  that  of  famish- 
ing interesting  reading  matter.  And  to  judge  by  the 
phenomenal  success  which  the  paper  has  made,  Anundsen 
hit  the  nail  squarely  on  the  head  when  he  conceived  the  idea 
of  such  a  paper.    In  less  than  twenty  years  after  its  estab- 


162  HISTORY  OF  TUB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

bolder  of  them  decided  to  emigrate  in  order  to  improve  their 
economical  conditions.  Cassd  was  then  nearly  fifty-five 
years  of  age,  yet  he  concluded  to  take  his  family  with  him, 
and  settle  in  the  American  wilderness.  He  became,  in  1845, 
the  leader  of  twenty-five  emigrants,  mostly  farmers,  some  of 
whom  had  their  families  with  them.  Th^y  secured  a  passage 
on  a  sailing-vessel  from  Gothenburg  to  New  York  for  about 
$20.00  each,  being  eight  weeks  on  the  ocean.  They  seemed 
to  have  had  a  joyous  time,  plajing  and  dancing  on  the  deck 
during  the  week  days,  and  attending  divine  service  on  the 
Sabbaths,  the  captain  of  the  ship  officiating  as  their  religious 
instructor.  Besides  those  people  from  Kisa,  there  w^ere  on 
the  vessel  about  ten  other  persons  from  different  parts  of 
Sweden,  including  some  noblemen,  and  four  of  the  ten  had 
been  several  years  in  America  before.  Originally  the  party 
had  intended  to  settle  in  Wisconsin,  probably  at  Pine  Lake, 
which  place  the  Swedish  adventurers  there  had,  through 
correspondences,  made  known  in  Sweden,  but  they  decided 
to  go  to  Iowa  instead.  From  New  York  to  Philadelphia 
they  traveled  on  railroad,  and  from  the  latter  place  to  Pitts- 
burg on  canal  boats,  which  part  of  the  time  were  wheeled 
on  the  railroad  tracks.  They  sailed,  or  rather  plodded,  on 
the  Ohio  river  from  Pittsburg  to  the  Mississippi,  and  on  that 
up  towards  Burlington,  Iowa;  where,  according  to  the 
assertion  of  one  of  CassePs  sons,  they  met  a  Dane,  who  had 
a  drug  store  in  the  village,  and  who  had  been  in  America 
some  time  previously,  which  goes  to  prove  that  the  Scandi- 
navians were  among  the  very  first  pioneers  in  the  Western 
states.  Others  of  the  party,  however,  maintain  that  no 
Dane  was  met  at  Burlington,  but  they  remembered  having 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  163 

slept  in  a  museum  in  Cincinnati  which  belonged  to  a  Swede 
or  a  Dane  by  the  name  of  Natt  ocb  Dag,  This  is  probably 
the  same  concern  which  is  referred  to  in  the  first  volume, 
page  294,  in  Minnen^  by  Unonius.  He  claims  that  an  ex.- 
officer  of  the  Swedish  army  conducted  a  kind  of  museum  in 
Cincinnati,  consisting  of  several  curiosities,  and  among 
other  things  exhibited  an  artificial  infernal  region,  which 
attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention,  and  on  which  the  pro- 
prietor became  wealthy.  At  times  the  owner  employed 
Swedes  to  manage  the  thunder  and  lightning,  the  falling  of 
brimstone  and  the  movement  of  evil  spirits,  as  well  as  to 
clean  the  lamps  in  Gehenna ;  and  in  that  place  he,  perhaps, 
permitted  the  Swedish  immigrants  to  remain  over  night. 
Nearly  all  immigrants  from  Kisa  settled  at  New  Sweden, 
Jeflferson  county,  thus  becoming  the  founders  of,  virtually, 
the  very  first  Scandinavian  settlement  in  Iowa,  and  of  the 
first  permanent  Swedish  settlement  of  any  importance  in 
America  in  the  nineteenth  century;  where  also  the  first 
Swedish  Lutheran  church  organization  was  effected  by  Rev. 
M.  F.  Hokanson  three  years  later.  Cassel  wrote  several 
letters  to  his  native  land,  and  in  that  way  induced  many 
more  to  cast  the  die  in  favor  of  the  **  land  of  the  fi^ee  and  the 
home  of  the  brave.*'  During  the  religious  confusion  among 
the  Swedish  Americans  in  the  first  half  of  this  century,  the 
pious  and  enthusiastic  J.  Hedstrom,  the  learned  and  cere- 
monious G.  Unonius, the  bold  and  unscrupulous  P.O.  Nilson, 
endeavored  to  convince  the  Swedes  in  this  country  that  only 
by  joining  the  Methodists,  Episcopalians,  or  Baptists, 
respectively,  could  they  expect  to  gain  salvation  in  the  next 
world  and  happiness  in  this.     Cassel,  who  had,  of  course. 


164  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  V.  S. 

been  brought  up  a  Lutheran  and  had  always  been  a  very 
religious  and  temperate  man,  joined  the  Methodists;  and 
later  in  life  preached  occasionally  in  the  interest  of  that 
denomination. 

Ericson,  C«  J«  A.,  banker  and  state  senator— Boone— 
bom  8  March,  1840,  in  S5dra  Vi,  SmSiand,  Sweden.  At  the 
age  of  twelve  he  came  to  America  with  his  parents,  who 
were  among  the  early  Swedish  settlers  of  Rock  Island 
county,  111.  Young  Ericson  worked  on  his  brother's  farm, 
besides  bemg  engaged  in  other  kinds  of  common  labor  until 
1855,  when  he  removed  to  Altona,  Knox  county.  111.  In 
1859  he  settled  at  Ridgeport,  Boone  county,  Iowa,  thus 
becoming  one  of  the  Swedish  pioneers  of  that  part  of  the 
country.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  proper  to  mention 
that  the  first  white  settlers  of  Boone  county  located  there  in 
1843,  while  some  Swedes  arrived  there  in  1846  and  settled 
at  Swede  Point  in  the  same  county.  Among  the  latter  were 
four  men  by  the  name  of  Dalander.  Ericson  was  engaged  in 
the  merchandise  business  at  Rridgeport  for  a  number  of 
years ;  served  also  as  postmaster  of  the  village  for  twelve 
years ;  and  held  various  other  positions  of  trust  and  honor. 
In  1870  he  removed  to  Boone  and  began  to  follow  the  same 
line  of  business  as  before.  Ericson  was  one  of  the  organizers 
of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Boone,  and  for  some  time  its 
vice-president.  In  1878,  this  bank  having  voluntarily  sur- 
rendered its  charter,  the  City  Bank  was  organized  by  him 
and  others,  the  capital  stock  being  $50,000,  and  the  surplus 
accumulated  by  the  bank  now  amounts  to  $150,000. 
Ericson  has  been  the  cashier  as  well  as  the  actual  manager 
of  this  bank  ever  since  it  was  started.    He  is  also  interested 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  165 

in  Other  business  enterprises,  and  owns  a  great  deal  of  city 
and  farm  property.  In  1871  Ericson  was  elected  a  repre- 
sentative to  the  state  legislature,  and  to  the  state  senate  in 
1895,  being  the  first  Swede  who  occupied  a  seat  in  these 
bodies.  Bricson  has  held  various  local  positions  of  trust  in 
the  city  of  Boone,  such  as  those  of  president  and  treasurer 
of  the  school  board,  city  treasurer,  and  member  of  the  city 
council.  In  1894  Bricson  and  his  daughter  made  an  exten- 
sive tour  of  the  Old  World,  visiting  Spain,  Italy,  Bgypt, 
Palestine,  Turkey,  Greece,  Switzerland,  France,  Belgium, 
Germany,  Bngland,  Denmark,  Norway,  and  Sweden.  Hehad 
not  seen  his  native  country  in  forty-two  years.  As  to 
politics,  Bricson  affiliates  with  the  Republican  party.  He  is 
a  prominent  Freemason,  and  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
church.  For  years  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of 
trustees  as  well  as  treasurer  of  his  home  congregation. 
Bricson  is  very  popular  in  his  own  county  and  in  the  state. 
In  1895  Judge  Stevens  publicly  said:  "More  than  forty 
years  ago  there  came  to  this  county  a  barefooted  Swedish 
boy  with  a  brave  heart,  a  good  brain,  and  willing  hands. 
He  came  fully  resolved  to  make  a  true  American,  and  if 
ability  and  willingness  to  labor  intelligently  for  the  best 
interest  of  his  country  makes  a  good  citizen,  then  he  stands 
a  model.  Like  every  true-hearted  man,  he  never  forgot  the 
land  of  his  birth.  No  poor  emigrant  from  his  native  land 
ever  appealed  to  him  in  vain,  but  his  liberality  and  charity 
are  too  broad  to  be  confined  to  his  own  nationality."  He 
was  extensively  and  favorably  recommended  by  the  leading 
men  in  the  state,  as  well  as  outside  of  the  state,  in  1897  for 
the  appointment  of  minister  to  Sweden-Norway.    In  1873 


T=*.--.-  ^vaam'm 


16G  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

Bricson  was  married  to  Nillie  Linderblad,  of  Princeton,  111. 
In  1899  he  gave  over  $12,000  to  Augustana  College. 

Hatlestad,  0.  J.,  clergyman  and  author— Decorah — bom 
30  Sept.,  1823,  in  Skjold,  near  Stavanger,  Norway;  died  in 
1891.  His  grandfather,  who  had  been  a  personal  friend  of 
Hans  Nilsen  Hange,  the  great  lay  preacher  and  national 
evangelist  of  Norway,  had  charge  of  the  education  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch.  The  religious  instruction  thus  received 
made  a  lasting  impression  upon  the  mind  of  young  Hatle- 
stad, and  before  he  was  confirmed  he  resolved  to  devote  his 
life  to  the  service  of  his  Redeemer.  At  one  time  he  seriously 
thought  of  going  to  Africa  as  a  missionary ;  but  this  plan 
had  to  be  given  up,  and  for  several  years  he  taught  the  parish 
school  of  Nerstrand.  In  1846,  Hatlestad,  in  company  with 
his  parents,  brothers,  and  a  sister,  left  for  America,  and  after 
a  ten  weeks'  voyage  arrived  in  New  York.  They  settled  at 
Muskego,  Wis.,  the  same  year.  In  1847  Hatlestad  obtained 
a  position  as  teacher  at  Jefferson  Prairie;  but  removed  in 
1850  to  Racine,  where  he,  in  company  with  his  brother-in- 
law,  Knud  Langeland,  published  Nordlyset,  the  first  Nor- 
wegian paper  published  in  this  country.  While  here,  Hatle- 
stad began  to  conduct  the  devotional  exercises  of  a  limited 
circle  of  friends ;  but  the  attendance  increased,  until  a  church 
was  organized,  O.  Andrewson  being  its  first  pastor.  In  the 
fall  of  1853  Hatlestad  quite  unexpectedly  received  a  call  from 
the  Norwegian  Lutheran  church  at  Leland,  La  Salle  county, 
111.;  and  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  a  joint  meeting  of  the 
Chicago  and  the  Mississippi  Evangelical  Lutheran  Confer- 
ence at  Chicago  in  January,  1854.  A  few  months  later  he 
removed  to  Leland,  and  was  formally  ordained  the  next 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAYIAIfS  IN  IOWA.  167 

year.  The  congregation  was  small,  and  the  salarj  at  first 
amounted  to  about  $200  a  year.  Hatlestad  served  the 
congregation  for  five  years,  during  which  period  it  enjoyed  a 
healthy  and  vigorous  growth.  In  1859  he  removed  to  Mil- 
waukee, where  he  spent  sixteen  and  a  half  years  of  hard  and 
almost  ceaseless  labor.  Indeed,  so  onerous  was  his  position 
as  a  preacher  at  this  flood-gate  of  Scandinavian  immigra- 
tion, that  his  health  was  impaired ;  and  this  was  the  chief 
reason  why  he  left  his  "  dear  Milwaukee  "  in  1876.  Having 
spent  the  next  two  years  in  Forest  City  Iowa,  he  accepted  a 
call  from  a  church  near  Decorah,  where  he  remained  until  his 
death.  For  twenty  years  Hatlestad  was  the  most  con- 
spicuous  figure  in  the  Norwegian  Augustana  Synod,  which 
he  served  as  president  from  1870  to  1880,  and  again  from 
1888  to  1890,  said  body  being  merged  into  the  United  Nor- 
wegian Lutheran  Church  at  the  latter  date.  He  was  also 
editor  of  Lutbersk  Kirketidende  for  a  number  of  years. 
In  1887  he  published  Historiske  Meddelelser  omdenNorske 
Augustana  SynodCy  which  is  not  only  a  history  of  the  Nor- 
wegian Augustana  Synod,  but  also  touches  upon  the  history 
of  the  other  Norwegian-American  Lutheran  churches,  as 
well  as  on  the  settlements.  It  was  the  most  complete  Nor- 
wegian-American history  that  had  appeared.  In  1848 
Hatlestad  married  Aasa  L.  Landru.  They  had  eight  chil- 
dren, two  of  whom  are  James  Hatlestad,  attomey-at-law, 
Canton,  S.  D.,  and  Joseph  Hatlestad,  president  of  Gulf 
Coast  College,  Handsboro,  Miss. 

Hokanson,  Magnus  Fredrlk,  clergyman  and  pioneer— 
Mtmterville— bom  7  Sept.,  1811,  in  Ronncby,  Blekinge, 
Sweden;  died  2  Jan.,  1893.    His  father,  whose  educati^m 


m^mm 


168  HISTORY  OP  TH£  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

had  been  very  limited,  was  a  shoe-maker  in  the  village,  and 
he  compelled  his  son  to  learn  the  same  craft  early  in  life ;  but 
young  Hokanson,  who  evinced  an  intense  religious  enthtt- 
siasm  even  as  a  child,  wto  far  more  anxions  to  attend  to  the 
welfare  of  men's  souls  than  to  mend  their  soles.  He  desired 
to  become  a  clergyman  in  the  state  church;  his  father 
objected.  The  young  man  consulted  a  clergyman  in  the 
neighborhood;  no  encouragement.  In  this  perplexity, 
Hokanson  left  his  native  town  and  went  to  Stockholm, 
where  he  worked  in  a  shoe  establishment,  owned  by  an 
educated  man  who  sympathized  with  Hokanson's  endeavor 
to  secure  a  better  education  than  he  had,  in  order  to  become 
a  minister.  With  this  object  in  view,  Hokanson  consulted 
various  leading  divines  in  the  Swedish  capital,  but  to  no 
avail.  He  had  only  received  a  common  school  education, 
and  before  he  could  study  theology,  his  mental  faculties  had 
to  be  trained.  After  the  Foreign  Mission  Society  in  London, 
England,  to  which  Hokanson  had  appealed,  had  refused  to 
accept  his  services,  he  decided  to  go  to  the  extreme  northern 
part  of  Sweden  and  try  to  convert  the  Lapps.  But  during 
his  preparation  for  the  Lappish  mission,  a  friend  of  his,  an 
influential  man  in  Stockholm,  advised  him  to  '*  stick  to  his 
last"  and  remain  in  the  capital,  and  this  man  promised  to 
introduce  him  to  a  respectable  and  wealthy  young  lady ;  and 
thus,  his  friend  argued,  his  happiness  would  be  secured,  and 
his  anxiety  would  vanish.  This  argument  was  too  tempt* 
ing  even  for  the  would-be  clergyman,  who  had  also  become 
tired  of  his  many  adversities.  He  acted  upon  this  advice ; 
won  the  afiection  of  the  young  lady ;  but  the  parents  refiised 
to  give  their  consent  to  the  partnership  until  he  had  proved 


1 

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I^T 

C.  J.  A.  EltlCSON,  BOONE. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  169 

to  be  a  successful  business  man,  which  he  failed  to  do,  and 
the  engagement  contract  was  dissolved.  On  account  of 
business  failure,  disappointed  hopes,  and  unsuccessful  lore, 
he  had  become  mentally  and  spiritually  depressed.  But  at 
this  time  a  friend  of  his  accompanied  him,  in  1847,  to  the 
New  World,  and  paid  for  his  passage.  It  is  proper,  however, 
to  remark  that  Hokanson  later  settled  in  fall  for  the  expense 
incurred  during  the  voyage.  The  same  year  he  reached  the 
colony  at  New  Sweden,  Jefferson  county,  Iowa,  which  had 
been  founded  a  couple  of  years  before for  a  more  com- 
plete description  of  this  early  and  important  settlement,  see 
Peter  Cassel's  biography  in  this  volume.  But  Hokanson, 
who  was  used  to  comfortable  accommodations  in  Stock- 
holm, could  not  and  would  not  endure  the  hardships  of 
pioneer  life.  He  sold  some  of  his  clothes  and  effects,  and 
intended  to  return  to  New  York;  but  during  the  journey  he 
became  sick ;  lost  the  trunk  which  contained  his  clothes  and 
money,  and  as  a  consequence  was  compelled  to  stop  in 
St.  Louis,  Mo.  Being  unable  to  speak  the  English  language, 
he  could  secure  no  work;  and  for  seven  days  he  lived  on 
apples,  picked  up  on  the  streets,  and  washed  in  the  Missis- 
sippi river.  During  the  nights  he  slept  in  an  open  shed.  In 
other  words,  he  was  a  tramp,  but  his  Northern  sense  of 
independence  deterred  him  from  begging.  By  selling  his  only 
coat,  he  secured  enough  means  to  return  to  Burlington,  Iowa, 
and  soon  recovered  all  his  effects  in  good  condition.  His 
health  was  broken  down,  and,  being  unable  to  work,  he,  after 
a  few  months'  stay  in  Burlington,  decided  to  return  to  New 
Sweden,  where  board  and  other  necessary  expenses  were 
lower  than  in  towns  and  villages.    It  was  at  this  place  that 


170         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Hokanson,  then  about  thirty-scYen  years  of  age,  commenced 
his  life-work.  Although  he  was  neither  learned  nor  brilliant, 
yet,  from  an  historical  standpoint,  he  is  an  important  char- 
acter.   He  organized,  in  1848,  the  first  Swedish  Lutheran 
congregation  in  America,  in  the  nineteenth  century;   and 
since  the  Swedish  Augustana  Synod,  with  which  this  congre- 
gation is  connected,  undoubtedly  has  exercised  a  greater 
influence  upon  the  Swedish-American  people  than  all  other 
spiritual  and  intellectual  forces  combined,  it  will  be  necessary 
and  useful  to  minutely  discuss  the  attempts  of  Hokanson  to 
instruct  his  countrymen  in  the  faith  of  their  fathers.    In  the 
first  place.  Rev.  E.  Norelius,  the  historian  of  the  Augustana 
Synod,  says,  in  Ev.  Latberska  Augast&na  Synoden  i  Nord- 
Amerika^  page  15:    "The  people  of  New  Sweden  united 
themselves  into  a  Lutheran  congregation  in  1848,  and  made 
use  of  the  privilege  of  the  church  of  God  in  selecting  one  of 
the  multitude  to  become  their  instructor  and  to  administer 
the  sacraments";  adding,  in  a  foot-note,  that  this  proce- 
dure was  a  case  of  necessity,  and  not  recommendable  under 
ordinary  circumstances.    But  the  same  author  in  his  larger 
history,  published  in  1890  (which  has  been  extensively  con- 
sulted in  the  preparation  of  Hokanson's  biography),  claims 
that  there  was  no  formal  church  organization  in  1848 ;  but 
that  the   young   people   were   confirmed,  the   sacraments 
administered,    the   Swedish   church   ritual   used,    and   the 
pioneers  considered  themselves  as  members  of  the  Lutheran 
church   in   Sweden.    Secondly,  the  church   reports    of  the 
Augustana  Synod  have  annually,  for  very  nearly  forty  years, 
asserted  that  the  church  organization  at  New  Sweden  was 
eflfected  in  1850.    Partly  on  account  of  these  conflicting 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA  171 

statements,  the  editor  of  this  work  made  a  special  visit  to 
New  Sweden  in  the  summer  of  1894,  and  with  the  kind 
assistance  of  Rev.  C.  J.  Bengston,  the  following  facts  were 
deduced  from  the  old  church  books  and  records,  as  well  as 
through  conversation  with  several  of  the  men  who  had 
been  there  since  the  settlement  was  established  in  1845: 
I.  The  early  pioneers  in  New  Sweden  appear  to  have  been 
extremely  moderate  in  their  virtues  as  well  as  in  their  vices. 
They  were  not  very  religious,  nor  irreligious.  But  after 
Hokanson's  arrival,  he  succeeded  in  arousing  a  spiritual 
awakening  among  them,  so  that  they  commenced  to  feel  the 
need  of  attending  devotional  exercises,  of  partaking  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  of  having  their  children  brought  up 
under  religious  influences.  It  is  true,  that  now  and  then  an 
American  clergyman,  or  itinerant  evangelist,  visited  the 
settlement;  but  most  of  the  Swedish  people  could  not  under- 
stand English.  It  was  under  such  circumstances  that 
Hokanson,  in  1848,  was  requested  to  lead  in  religious  meet- 
ings, administer  the  sacraments,  and  baptize  and  confirm 
the  children.  At  the  church  parsonage,  there  are  no  records 
of  any  description  that  a  church  was  ever  organized  at  New 
Sweden.  But  in  the  church  record,  compiled  by  Rev.  H&kan 
Olson  in  1859,  two  persons  are  registered  as  having  joined 
in  1848,  and  five  names  are  entered  for  1849.  II.  Whether 
this  unpretentious  organization  was  formal  or  not,  depends 
entirely  upon  the  definition  of  the  word  formal.  That  the 
proceedings  were  not  so  regular  and  solemn  as  the  rituals  of 
the  Lutheran  state  church  of  Sweden,  in  such  cases, 
prescribe,  or  that  parliamentary  rules  of  order  were  as 
closely  observed  as  when  the  United  States  Congress  con- 


172  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

venes,  could  hardly  be  expected  in  this  instance,  when  most 
of  the  participants  were  barely  able  to  read  and  write.  Yet 
the  organization  was  unquestionably  legal.  For  according 
to  the  civil  law  of  the  land,  any  set  of  persons,  capable  of 
making  a  contract,  may  engage  another  to  be  their  religious 
instructor,  and  to  perform  all  the  religious  ceremonies  in 
concordance  with  their  belief;  and  this  will  be  considered  a 
lawful  church  organization.  But  another  question  arises. 
Was  the  organization  of  this  congregation  in  conformity 
with  the  discipline  of  the  Lutheran  church  ?  Rev.  E.  Norc- 
lius,  in  Korsbaneret  for  1894,  says :  **  The  manner  of  calling 
Hokanson  was  simple,  natural,  and  correct."  Nor  is  there 
anything  in  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Lutheranism  to 
prove  that  the  pioneers  at  New  Sweden  did  not  act  in 
accordance  with  the  creed  of  the  church  in  selecting  a  lay- 
man as  their  clergyman,  when  no  ordained  minister  could  be 
secured.  In  fact,  they  could  by  imposition  of  hands  have  or- 
dained Hokanson,  and  no  Lutheran  church  body  would  have 
re-ordained  him.  Lutheranism,  properly  interpreted,  consists 
in  unity  of  faith  more  than  anything  else.  But  it  must  be 
admitted  that  this  is,  perhaps,  the  only  instance  in  the  world 
where  a  Lutheran  congregation  has  been  organized  in  such 
a  democratic  manner.  III.  It  has  been  claimed  that  Prof. 
L.  P.  Esbjorn  re-organized  the  church  when  he  visited  the 
settlement  in  1851;  but  this  is  highly  improbable,  as  neither 
Esbjorn  himself  nor  Norelius,  in  any  of  their  writings,  men- 
tions the  fact,  although  both  of  them  speak  at  length  concern- 
ing the  religious  condition  at  New  Sweden.  On  the  contrary, 
the  former  urged  Hokanson  and  his  congregation  to  con- 
tinue as  they  had  begun,  and  to  remain  true  Lutherans,  and 

Dr.  G.  M.  Eibjdm  claimB  that  several  SwediBh-Amerioan  Lntheran  ehnrchea  hav* 
had  a  Blmilar  origin  as  the  ehorch  at  New  Sweden.  He  also  maintains  that  doonmen- 
tary  erldeooe  can  be  produced  from  his  father's  writings  to  prove  that  his  father  effect- 
ed a  permanent,  or  regular,  church  organiiW%v»  at  New  Sweden  Aoril  27. 1351.— SDiroBi 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA  173 

he  made  no  attempt  to  re-confirm  any  of  the  five  children 
whom  Hokanson  had  confirmed  in  1848.  According  to 
Norelins'  history,  Esbjom  promised  to  attend  to  the  neces- 
sary requirements,  that  the  church  might  join  some  Lutheran 
synod.  Esbjom  probably  assisted  the  pioneers  in  selecting 
deacons  and  trustees.  It  was  also  then  decided  to  build  a 
church.  Norelius,  in  his  large  history,  page  93,  says:  "In 
1853  Prof.  T.  N.  Hasselquist  visited  the  settlements  and 
further  assisted  Hokanson  in  the  arrangement  of  church 
matters,  when  also  a  kind  of  constitution  was  adopted"; 
and  five  years  later  a  new  constitution  was  adopted. 

Hokanson,  who  had  reluctantly  consented  to  lead  the 
pioneers  at  their  devotional  exercises,  was  soon  forced  to 
become  an  unwilling  participant  in  fierce  religious  strifes 
and  fanatical  controversies,  in  which  sectarianism  rather 
than  religion  seems  to  have  been  the  main  object  of  some 
of  his  opponents.  In  1849  the  well-known  Rev.  G.Unonius, 
Episcopalian,  visited  the  settlement;  and,  being  a  strong 
believer  in  the  Apostolic  succession,  he,  of  course  could  not, 
nor  did  he,  endorse  Hokanson's  course.  The  next  year  Rev. 
Jonas  Hedstrom,  Methodist,  arrived  upon  the  scene,  and 
soon  succeeded  in  convincing  a  large  number  of  the  people 
that  they  could  attain  human  and  divine  perfection  upon 
this  wicked  earth  of  ours  if  they  joined  his  denomination. 
He  condemned  all  the  Lutheran  forms  and  practices  of  wor- 
ship, and  endeavored  to  convert  Hokanson  to  Methodism, 
but  failed.  As,  however,  more  than  half  of  Hokanson's  con- 
gregation had  become  Methodists,  he  was  worried  and 
depressed,  and  in  the  presence  of  Hedstrom  resigned.  After 
Hedstrom 's  departure  from  the  settlement,  the  remaining 


174         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIAJIS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Lutherane  a>?ain  requested  Hokanson  to  act  as  tlieir  leader; 
but  he  declined,  recommending  an  older  member.  The 
people  proceeded  to  rote  for  the  two  candidates.  Hokan- 
son  was  elected.  But  not  satisfied  with  this,  he  proposed 
that  they  cast  lots,  which  thej  did,  proceeding  in  accordance 
with  the  first  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  w^hich 
describes  the  manner  of  choosing  a  successor  to  Judas 
Iscariot.  The  lot  fell  upon  Hokanson,  and  he  then  again 
consented  to  take  charge  of  the  congregation.  In  1854 
Revs.  G.  Palmquist  and  F.  O.  Nilson,  Baptists,  came  to  New^ 
Sweden — ^Nilson'sbiogrophycan  be  found  in  the  first  volume. 
Hokanson  had  known  the  former  in  Sweden  as  a  pietistic 
Lutheran,  and  it  is  claimed  that  at  first  Palmquist  did  not 
tell  any  one  in  the  settlement  of  his  change  of  faith.  In  the 
hands  of  the  refined  and  polished  Palmquist,and  of  the  bold 
and  unscrupulous  Nilson,  the  weak  and  confiding  Hokanson 
became  a  mere  plaything.  He  wavered,  again  resigned 
his  charge,  and  was  immersed.  Hasselquist,  who  had 
heard  of  Hokanson's  vacillation,  hastened  to  thesettlement, 
and  met  him  and  others  just  as  they  were  proceeding 
towards  the  river  to  immerse  Hokanson.  Hasselquist 
politely  asked  them  where  they  were  going ;  they  told  him ; 
he  kindly  blessed  them,  and  calmly  went  into  the  house  and 
conversed  with  Mrs.  Hokanson.  It  would  be  interesting  to 
know  the  contents  of  the  conversation  which  occurred  be- 
tween these  two  men,  after  Hokanson 's  return  to  his  house. 
He  was  re-converted  to  Lutheranism  in  a  few  hours.  The 
liberal  views  of  Hasselquist  were  amply  illustrated  by  the 
fttct  that  he  permitted  Hokanson  to  remain  as  the  pastor  of 
the  congregation,  without  any  re-ordination  whatsoever. 


BIOGRAPHIKS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  176 

Through  the  influence  of  Esbjorn,  Hokanson  had  received  a 
license  to  preach  from  the  Joint  Synod  of  Ohio,  in  1851,  and 
$70  in  cash ;  and  was  ordained  by  the  Lutheran  Synod  of 
Northern  Illinois  two  years  later,  at  Galesburg.  Up  to  1858 
Hokanson  was  the  only  Swedish  Lutheran  clergyman  in 
Iowa,  having  charge  of  five  congregations,  located  in  as 
many  different  counties.  His  churches  in  Burlington  and 
Swede  Bend,  Webster  county,  were  exactly  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  miles  apart  in  a  straight  line.  Considering  that 
there  was  hardly  a  bridge,  or  even  a  path,  in  the  whole  state 
at  that  time,  Hokanson 's  ministerial  comforts  can  be  better 
imagined  than  described.  In  1856  he  left  New  Sweden  and 
moved  to  Munterville ;  settled  at  what  is  now  Madrid  three 
years  later;  but  returned  to  Munterville  in  1862,  where  he 
lived  and  preached  for  nearly  thirty  years.  The  last  two  or 
three  years  of  his  eventful  life  he  spent  with  his  adopted 
daughter  at  Red  Oak,  where  he  died.  He  was  buried  at 
Munterville.  Hokanson  was  married  in  1848  to  Anna  E. 
Anderson,  fi-om  Horn,  Ostergotland.  They  had  no  children. 
Jacobsen,  Jacob  D.,  educator— Decorah— bom  16  July, 
1842,  near  Skien,  Norway;  died  1  April,  1881.  His  parents 
emigrated  to  America  when  he  was  less  than  one  year  old, 
and  settled  at  Pine  Lake,  Wis.  Their  pastor,  N.  Brandt,  in 
the  course  of  time  discovered  unusual  talents  in  the  boy, 
who,  by  the  assistance  of  Brandt  and  his  congregation,  was 
enabled  to  enter  Concordia  College  and  Seminary,  in  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  in  the  fall  of  1858.  Here  he  pursued  his  studies 
uninterruptedly  until  the  spring  of  1861,  his  expenses  being 
largely  defrayed  by  Brandt's  congregations.  Jacobsen  next 
studied  a  few  months  at  Concordia  College,  Ft.  Wayne,  Ind., 


176         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

but  soon  returned  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  remained  until  the 
spring  of  1863.  In  the  fall  of  1863,  he  was  employed  as 
assistant  professor  at  Luther  College,  Decorah ;  then  studied 
one  year  at  the  same  place;  and  again  entered  Concordia 
College,  Ft.  Wayne,  finishing  his  collegiate  course  and  grad- 
uating in  1867.  Having  completed  a  regular  theological 
course  in  the  Concordia  Seminary,  in  St.  Louis,  he  gradu- 
ated in  1870.  He  was  ordained  for  the  ministry  the  same 
year,  and  in  1872  accepted  a  professorship  at  Luther  Col- 
lege, which  position  he  held  until  his  death.  Jacobsen  was 
very  successful  as  a  teacher.  "He  was  capable  of  teaching 
about  all  the  branches  comprised  in  the  college  course;  and 
the  choicest  productions  of  the  great  authors,  he  had  read 
either  in  the  original  or  in  translations."  He  married  Guro 
Ingebrigtsen  in  1871;  they  had  four  children. 

Eoren,  TTlrik  Vilhelm,  clergyman  and  pioneer— Decorah— 
bom  22  Dec.,  1826,  in  Bergen,  Norway.  He  received  a  col- 
lege education  in  his  native  city,  and  in  1852  was  graduated 
as  a  cand.  theol.  from  the  University  of  Norway.  Having 
accepted  a  call  as  minister  from  congregations  near  Deco- 
rah, he  emigrated  to  America  in  1853.  Although  Korenhas 
received  numerous  calls  from  other  churches,  he  has  remained 
where  he  first  located.  Being  the  first  Norwegian  Lutheran 
minister  who  permanently  settled  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
his  charge  at  first  comprised  an  extensive  territory,  which 
since  has  been  divided  into  a  large  number  of  charges. 
Koren  was  one  of  the  pioneers  of  the  West,  and  as  such  ex- 
perienced all  the  hardships  characteristic  of  ecurly  settle- 
ments. In  this  connection  it  is  only  proper  to  mention  that 
Koren  has  been  instrumental  in  drawing  a  highly  desirable 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA  177 

class  of  emigrants  from  his  native  country  to  the  northeast- 
em  part  of  Iowa  and  the  southeastern  part  of  Minnesota. 
Rev.  A.  Bredesen  says  of  Koren :  **  The  task  that  confronted 
him  was  one  before  which  a  weaker,  or  less  devoted,  man 
would  have  quailed.  His  parish  proper  was  about  fifty  by 
forty  miles  in  extent,  and  his  mission  field  was  all  north* 
eastern  Iowa  and  southeastern  Minnesota.  Passable  roads 
were  few,  and  much  of  the  traveling  between  the  widely 
scattered  settlements  must  be  done  on  horseback  or  on  foot. 
There  were  difficulties,  hardships,  and  privations  of  every 
description  to  overcome  or  endure.  But  Koren  was  the 
right  man  for  the  post.  A  man  of  European  university 
education,  and  accustomed  to  mingle  in  the  most  cultured 
society  of  the  fatherland,  with  his  equally  refined  helpmate, 
he  took  up  his  abode  in  a  rude  log  cabin  a  few  miles  from 
the  present  city  of  Decorah,  and  with  an  heroism  bom  of  a 
strong  faith  devoted  himself  to  his  life-work,  the  building- 
up  of  the  Church  of  the  Reformation  among  his  scattered 
and  destitute  countrymen  in  those  western  wilds."  Since 
1861  he  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  executive  committee 
of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod ;  from  1876,  when  the 
synod  was  divided  into  districts,  to  1894,  as  president  of 
the  Iowa  District;  and  from  the  latter  date  as  president  of 
the  whole  synod.  Koren  secured  the  land  on  which  Luther 
College  was  established,  and,  with  the  exception  of  Presi- 
dent Larsen,no  man  has  done  more  than  he  toward  making 
that  institution  what  it  is.  His  culture  and  solid  attain- 
ments, his  unflagging  interest  in  the  institutions  of  the 
synod,  his  enthusiasm  and  earnestness,  his  versatility  in 
advocating  what  he  has  conceived  to  be  the  truth,  and  his 


178         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

untiring  perseverance,  have  made  him  one  of  the  most  con- 
spicuous of  Norwegian  Lutherans  in  this  country.  He  has 
written  much  for  the  religious  papers  of  the  synod,  and  is 
the  author  of:  Vore  Kirkelige  Modstandercs  Vaaben^  Kan 
og  bbr  en  Kristen  vaere  vis  paa  sin  Salighed^  Hvad  den 
Norske  Sjmode  bar  villet  og  fremdeles  vily  De  Kirkelige  Par^ 
tier  blandt  vort  Folk  i  Amerika^  and  other  pamphlets,  w^hich 
are  contributions  to  the  controversies  which  have  agitated 
the  Norwegian  Lutheran  churches  in  this  country,  also  con- 
taining much,  especially  the  last  named,  of  great  historical 
value.  Dei  Gamle  Hus  is  a  poem  about  that  schism  in  the 
synod  which  led  to  the  withdrawal  of  the  Anti-Missourians 
during  the  eighties.  His  most  lasting  literary  work  is  his 
contribution  to  the  new  hymn  book  of  the  synod.  His  gifts 
as  a  preacher,  and  his  conscientious  devotion  to  his  duties, 
have  won  for  him  the  lasting  esteem  and  love  of  his  parish- 
ioners; his  alertness  and  readiness  for  any  emergency,  his 
calmness  in  adversity  and  prosperity  alike,  have  made  him 
a  tower  of  strength  in  the  Norwegian  Synod.  And  if  any 
man,  above  all  others,  deserves  the  title  of  defender  of  the 
principles  and  the  practices  of  the  Norwegian  Synod, 
that  man  is  Ulrick  Vilhelm  Koren.  He  married  Else  Elisa- 
beth Hysing,  of  Larvik,  Norway,  in  1853 ;  they  have  had 
eight  children.  One  of  his  sons  is  also  a  minister  in  the 
Norwegian  Synod,  and  another  is  a  prominent  statistician. 
Larsen,  Lanr.,  educator— Decorah— bom  10  Aug.,  1833, 
in  Kristiansand,  Norway.  **I  was  bom  on  the  same  day  as 
the  town  organization  of  Chicago  was  perfected,"  said  Lar- 
sen in  a  talk  to  the  students  of  Luther  College  a  few  years 
ago.    *\My  father  was  the  youngest  of  twelve  brothers  and 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  179 

sisters,  and  yet  I  have  scarcely  any  relatives  on  my  father's 
side."  His  mother's  father,  Oftedahl,  was  a  member  of  the 
convention  of  Eidsvold,  which  framed  the  constitution  of 
Norway.  Larsen  further  says :  **  My  parents  were  married 
17  Sept.,  1832,  and  I  attended  their  golden  wedding  in 
1882."  Larsen's  father  was  an  officer  in  the  army,  and  his 
income  was  so  small  that  the  family  had  to  practice  the 
strictest  economy  to  make  both  ends  meet.  Larsen  was 
exactly  nine  years  old  when  he  entered  the  Latin  school  of 
his  native  city,  and  the  instruction  he  received  there  was 
certainly  of  a  high  grade.  "Upon  the  whole,"  he  says,  "I 
must  consider  it  fortunate  that  I  received  a  very  good  school 
education.  Most  of  my  instructors  were  able  men,  the 
classes  were  small,  and  we  were  more  isolated  from  the  dis- 
turbances of  the  world  than  the  students  of  the  present  day 
are,  or  can  be."  Even  as  a  school-boy,  Larsen  gave  unmis- 
takable evidence  of  conscientiousness  and  a  strong  will. 
Once,  some  of  his  school-mates  tempted  him  to  begin  to 
smoke  cigars.  He  soon  regretted  this,  and  decided  never  to 
touch  tobacco  again  until  he  became  a  man,  and  he  kept  his 
promise  to  the  letter.  Larsen  was  enthusiastically  devoted 
to  athletic  sports,  and  particularly  distinguished  himself  as 
an  expert  swimmer.  That  these  exercises  did  not  interfere 
with  his  studies,  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  his  stand- 
ing, at  the  examinations  for  the  degree  of  A.  B.,was  1 — which 
virtually  equals  100  in  this  country — for  all  languages. 
Upon  entering  the  University  of  Norway,  at  Kristiania,  in 
1850,  Larsen  rented  a  room  scarcely  8x8  feet,  for  which  he 
paid  $2.00  a  month;  and  his  expenses  were  kept  correspond- 
ingly low  in  other  lines.    But  a  new  and  rich  world  was 


180         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

Opened  to  his  mind,  and  so  intensely  did  the  young  man 
apply  himself  to  his  studies  that  his  health  began  to  fail. 
He  was  compelled  to  leave  the  uniyersity,  and  spent  the  first 
months  of  the  year  1851  as  private  tutor  at  the  house  of 
his  uncle,  Rev.  Bassoe,  of  Raade.  This  enabled  him  to  save 
some  money,  and  he  re-entered  the  university  in  the  fall. 
But  his  funds  were  soon  completely  exhausted,  and  he  had  to 
cam  his  living  by  teaching  in  schools  or  private  families. 
For  some  time  he  gave  two  private  lessons  every  afternoon 
for  a  consideration  of  $6.00  per  month.  Larsen  received  his 
degree  as  cand.  theol.  in  June,  1855,  after  having  devoted 
three  and  one-half  years  to  theological  studies.  After  this 
he  continued  to  teach  in  Kristiania,  his  favorite  branches 
being  French,  German,  and  Hebrew.  But  from  childhood  he 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  serve  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel, 
and  with  that  aim  in  view  he  emigrated  to  the  New  World  in 
1857.  He  served  as  pastor  of  a  congregation  near  Rush 
River,  Pierce  county.  Wis.,  until  the  Norwegian  Synod,  on 
14  Oct.,  1859,  called  him  as  its  theological  professor  at  Con- 
cordia Seminary,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  The  Norwegian  Synod,  at 
its  annual  meeting  at  Rock  Prairie,  Wis.,  in  the  summer  of 
1861,  decided  to  build  a  college  of  its  own.  Accordingl3'',  a 
school  was  opened  the  same  year  in  the  Halfway  Creek  par- 
sonage, thirteen  miles  from  La  Crosse.  Larsen  was 
appointed  principal  of  the  school,  which  was  removed  to 
Dccorah,  Iowa,  the  next  year,  and  has  since  been  known  as 
Luther  College.  As  Larsen  has  been  at  the  head  of  this  col- 
lege from  its  beginning  until  now,  his  subsequent  biography 
and  the  history  of  the  school  are  intimately  interwoven. 
The  accommodations  at  Halfway  Creek  were  so  limited  that 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  181 

the  office  of  the  president  had  to  be  utilized  as  sick-chamber 
for  the  students,  and  another  room  served  both  as  sitting- 
room  and  bed-chamber  for  him  and  his  family.  The  pro- 
fessors and  their  families  dined  with  the  students,  and  all  the 
inmates  of  the  building  became  accustomed  to  look  upon 
themselves  as  members  of  the  same  family.  And  they  all 
agree  that  those  days  were  some  of  the  happiest  and  most 
beautiful  in  their  lives.  After  the  removal  to  Decor  ah,  larger 
quarters  were  secured ;  but  the  reputation  of  the  school  was 
such  that  in  a  year  or  two  many  applicants  for  admission 
had  to  be  turned  away  for  lack  of  room.  Hence  a  mag- 
nificent brick  structure  was  erected  during  the  years  1864- 
65,  and  the  formal  dedication  of  it  occurred  on  14  Oct., 
1865.  Great  numbers,  even  from  distant  congregations, 
came  to  attend  the  dedication  exercises.  With  surprise  they 
witnessed  the  grandeur  and  beauty  of  the  new  building. 
About  six  thousand  people  attended  the  ceremonies,  and  the 
occasion  marked  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Norwegian 
Lutheran  churches  in  America.  The  building  cost  $75,000. 
In  view  of  the  comparative  poverty  of  the  congregations 
which  had  to  raise  the  funds,  this  amount  was  large,  and  no 
one  knows  better  than  the  president  of  the  college  how 
difficult  it  was  at  times  to  save  the  whole  plan  from  tempo- 
rary collapse,  to  say  the  least.  "It  often  happened,"  he 
says,  "that  on  a  Saturday  we  did  not  know  whence  the 
$1,000  were  to  come  wherewith  the  numerous  laborers  were 
to  be  paid  on  the  following  Monday."  The  attendance  at 
the  college  steadily  increased,  and  in  a  couple  of  years  the 
whole  building  was  occupied.  Nine  years  later  an  addition 
was  built.    In  1889  the  main  college  building  was  destroyed 


182  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U,  S. 

by  fire,  but  at  the  meetings  of  the  three  districts  of  the  S3niod 
the  same  year,  it  was  resolved  immediately  to  rebuild  it. 
The  next  year  it  was  again  completed  at  a  cost  of  $56,000. 
Larsen  has  always  enjoyed  the  utmost  confidence  of  the 
synod,  and  the  devotion  of  many  of  its  members  to  the  col- 
lege was  once  expressed  by  an  aged  clergyman  in  these 
words:  **I  am  sure  I  have  oflFered  up  as  many  prayers  for 
Luther  College  as  there  are  bricks  in  the  building."  In  the 
fall  of  1884  Larsen  had  served  the  synod  as  a  professo 
uninterruptedly  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  the  event 
was  fittingly  commemorated  at  Luther  College.  On  22  Oct. 
some  three  hundred  students  and  other  friends  of  Larsen, 
including  many  of  the  ministers  of  the  synod,  gave  vent  to 
their  feelings  of  gratitude  and  devotion  by  demonstrations 
of  various  kinds,  and  in  the  evening  Larsen  was  the  recipient 
of  several  valuable  presents.  As  to  Larsen 's  work  at  Luther 
College,  The  Midland  Monthly,  June,  1894,  says:  "The 
amount  of  work  he  has  performed,  and  to  a  great  extent  is 
still  performing,  will  be  better  appreciated  when  it  is  stated 
that  his  duties  as  president  alone  have  comprised  what  in 
many  colleges  is  distributed  among  the  offices  of  president, 
registrar,  and  dean,  and,  inasmuch  as  Luther  College  is  a 
boarding  school,  also  a  general  supervision  of  the  students' 
conduct."  And  yet  Larsen  finds  time  to  do  all  his  work 
thoroughly.  Not  only  is  his  private  work  performed  with 
the  minutest  care ;  but  every  public  duty  assigned  to  him  is 
discharged  with  the  same  conscientious  painstaking,  the 
same  scrupulous  exactness.  This  characteristic  undoubtedly 
famishes  the  main  key  to  the  reputation  of  Luther  College 
as  an  institution  of  learning.    It  is  at  least  certain  that 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  IOWA.  183 

Luther  College  has  a  far  better  standing  among  our  great 
institutions  of  learning  than  has  any  other  of  the  advanced 
Norwegian  schools  in  this  country.  Larsen  has  also  per- 
formed a  large  amount  of  work  not  connected  with  the 
college.  While  the  college  was  located  at  Halfway  Creek, 
he  served  as  pastor  of  five  congregations  in  and  around  La 
Crosse,  besides  preaching  at  Trempealeau  and  Beaver  Creek, 
during  the  Christmas  and  Easter  vacations.  After  having 
removed  to  Decorah,  Larsen  at  first  preached  regularly 
every  other  Sunday,  and  afterwards  was  called  as  regfular 
pastor  of  a  new  congregation  in  Decorah.  In  1865  he  was 
relieved  of  this  duty,  but  still  for  many  years  continued  to 
preach  on  two  Sundays  out  of  every  three.  In  1882  the 
Decorah  congregation  called  Larsen  as  its  pastor,  which 
position  he  held  for  some  time.  Since  1890  he  has  not  been 
connected  with  any  church  as  pastor,  though  he  still  con- 
tinues to  preach  occasionally.  In  1868  Larsen  was  appointed 
editorin-chief  of  Kirkelig  Maanedstidende,  the  official  organ 
of  the  synod,  and  held  the  position  until  January,  1889. 
As  a  member  of  the  most  important  boards  and  committees 
in  the  synod,  he  has  directly  exerted  a  powerful  influence 
upon  the  history  of  that  body,  and  fi-om  1876  to  1893  was 
its  vice-president.  Most  of  the  clergymen  serving  in  the 
Norwegian  Synod  today,  as  well  as  several  other  Norwe- 
gian-American Lutheran  ministers,  have  completed  their 
literary  studies  at  Luther  College ;  and  since  Larsen  became 
president  of  the  institution  up  to  1897,  about  three  hundred 
persons — including  clergymen,  lawyers,  physicians,  authors, 
journalists,  etc. — have  graduated  from  the  college.  Besides, 
there  has  been  many  times  that  number  who  have  attended 


184  Hls»/ORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  TfiE  U.  S. 

the  school  without  completing  any  regfular  course  of  stuur^; 
and  Larsen  has,  unquestionably ,  been  able  to  stamp  his  indi- 
viduality  upon  the  educated  Norwegian-Americans  to  a 
greater  extent  than  any  other  person,  living  or  dead.  In 
1855  Larsen  was  married  to  Karen  Neuberg.  She  died  in 
1871,  leaving  him  with  four  children.  The  next  year  he  "was 
married  to  Ingeborg  Astrup,  by  whom  he  has  had  ten 
children.  In  1895  he  lost  his  oldest  son,  who,  a  year  before, 
had  entered  upon  a  promising  practice  as  physician  in  Texas. 
Linn,  John,  clergyman  and  pioneer— Dayton — ^bom  29 
May,  1826,  in  Dodringhult,  Sm^land,  Sweden.  He  emi- 
grated in  1849  and,  after  much  suflFering,  settled  at  Swede 
Bend,  Webster  county,  Iowa,  which  was  then  a  wilderness. 
While  log  huts  were  being  put  up  for  the  winter,  Linn  and 
Ws  wife  took  up  temporary  quartem  under  the  trunk  of  a 
basswood  tree  which  had  been  felled  so  that  its  butt  end 
rested  on  the  stump !  They  were  among  the  earliest  settlers 
of  Webster  county,  and  it  is  claimed  that  their  daughter 
Julia  was  the  first  white  child  bom  in  that  county,  her  birth- 
day being  8  Jan.,  1851.  Meat  was  plenty  in  those  days. 
Professional  hunters  were  in  the  habit  of  taking  only  the  hind 
quarters  of  the  deer,  leaving  the  rest  of  the  carcasses;  wild 
turkeys  were  so  abundant  that  Linn  one  winter  caught 
dozens  of  them  by  a  peculiar  trap ;  and  he  was  engaged  by 
a  Boone  county  farmer  to  catch  a  lot  of  hogs  which  had 
been  running  at  large  until  they  were  practically  wild,  Linn 
receiving  one-half  of  the  hogs  for  his  trouble.  The  distance 
to  the  nearest  reliable  grist-mill  was  so  great  that  Linn  con- 
structed a  hand-mill  on  which  a  strong  man  could  grind  two 
Hishels  of  com  in  a  day,  and  this  for  some  time  was  a  great 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  185 

boon  to  the  neighborhood.  These  mill-stones  may  still  be 
seen  in  the  foundation  of  William  Linn's  house,  at  Pilot 
Mound,  Boone  county.  Salt  cost  ten  cents  a  pound ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  maple  sugar  was  abundant,  and  Linn,  in 
company  with  another  man,  gathered  three  barrels  of  wild 
honey  in  one  week !  In  1853  a  man  tried  to  sell  eighty  acres 
of  land,  where  the  city  of  Des  Moises  now  stands,  to  Linn 
for  $320 ;  but  the  latter  declined  the  offer,  looking  upon  the 
price  as  excessive.  Linn  for  years  tended  to  his  work  as  a  com- 
mon farmer,  without  paying  any  extraordinary  attention  to 
religious  matters.  But  in  the  spring  of  1854  he  was  aroused 
to  an  unusual  degree  by  Gustaf  Smith,  a  Methodist  preacher; 
a  church  was  organized,  and  Linn  became  its  first  member 
and  exhorter  the  following  year,  though  no  licence  to  preach 
was  given  him  until  1857.  He  now  divided  his  time  between 
the  cares  of  his  home  church  and  the  management  of  his 
farm.  As  road  supervisor  Linn  acquired  the  title  of  **  Swede 
King,"  by  requiring  the  farmers  of  his  district  to  work  so 
long  on  the  road  that  they  received  vouchers  for  the  pay- 
ment of  their  poll  tax  for  the  next  ten  years !  In  1868  he 
accepted  a  call  as  pastor  from  a  church  in  Moline,  111.,  where 
he  remained  three  years.  He  next  served  churches  succes- 
sively at  Rockford  and  Galesburg,  111.;  and  in  1874  was  ap- 
pointed presiding  elder  of  the  Iowa  district,  and  removed  to 
Des  Moines.  In  1877  he  settled  at  Sheldahl,  as  presiding  elder 
of  the  new  Burlington  district,  and  in  the  course  of  the  next 
few  years  served  charges  at  Sheldahl  and  Des  Moines.  His 
work  in  the  capacity  of  presiding  elder  was  most  satisfac- 
torv,  and  in  1884  he  raised  $700  for  the  Swedish  theological 
seminary  at  Evanston,  111.    In  the  fall  of  1888  he  removed 

46 


186  HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

to  Dayton,  in  order  to  spend  the  eve  of  his  life  with  his 
brothers.  The  native  powers  of  Linn  were  of  a  Ugh  order; 
yet  it  seems  strange  that  he  could  accomplish  so  much,  con- 
sidering that  he  never  enjoyed  a  day's  schooling,  nor  conld 
even  write  his  name  nntil  he  was  a  grown  man.  In  1848 
Linn  was  married  to  Mary  Somberg,  who  died  in  1853 ;  and 
again  to  Mrs.  Jacobsen  in  1854.  Linn  had  children  in  both 
wedlocks. 

Lysne^  David,  clergyman  and  educator — Beloit — ^bom 
31  July,  1832,  near  Larvik,  Norway;  died  11  Aug.,  1890. 
He  lived  and  worked  among  the  peasants  of  his  neighbor- 
hood until  he  was  nineteen  years  old,  at  which  time  he 
began  to  teach  parochial  school,  and  he  continued  uninter- 
ruptedly for  seven  years,  his  salary  being  $20.00  a  year  and 
room  and  board.  In  1859-61  he  completed  a  course  at 
Asker  Seminary,  and  afterwards  taught  three  years  at  Hans 
Kappelens  Minde,  an  orphans'  home  at  Skien;  and  four 
years  at  Kristiania.  In  1868  he  emigrated  to  America,  and 
settled  as  pastor  of  a  Norwegian  congregation  at  Pontiac, 
111. ;  in  1870  removed  to  Decorah,  Iowa,  where  he  labored 
for  eight  years ;  and  four  years  later  was  called  as  theologi- 
cal professor,  by  the  Norwegian  Aug^stana  Synod,  whose 
theological  seminary  was  located  successively  near  Decorah, 
at  Marshall,  Wis.,  and  finally  at  Beloit.  Lysnes  worked  in 
this  capacity  until  the  Augustana  Synod  was  merged  into 
the  United  Church,  at  Minneapolis,  in  1890,  when  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  theological  professors  of  that  body. 
For  some  time  he  also  served  a  church  at  Elk  Point,  §.  D. 
Though  Lysnes  never  had  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  a  clas- 
sical training,  his  intellect  was  keen  and  powerful,  and  his 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  187 

personal  influence  upon  his  pupils  and  parishioners  was 
marked.  He  was  married  in  1867  to  Maren  Andrea  Heiret, 
of  Eidsvold,  Norway,  who  died  in  1868;  and  in  1871  to 
Maren  Jonetta  Nas,  of  Asker,  Norway.  He  had  four  children 
by  his  second  wife. 

Olsen,  Johan,  clergyman — St.  Ansgar— bom  3  July ,  1834, 
in  Bindalen,  Tromso  stift,  Norway.  His  parents  had  come 
under  the  influence  of  the  great  revival  inaugurated  by  Hans 
Nilsen  Hauge  in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  and  the  boy 
was  brought  up  in  a  religious  atmosphere.  At  an  early  age 
he  evinced  a  keen  taste  for  books,  and  more  than  once  he 
would  give  vent  to  his  religious  feelings  by  preaching  while 
herding  cattle  in  the  woods  and  mountains,  his  audience  con- 
sisting of  cows  and  sheep.  But  the  boy  was  bound  to  rise. 
Though  his  opportunities  for  learning  were  meager  indeed, 
he  had  learned  enough  to  become  a  public  school  teacher  at 
the  age  of  fifteen.  Three  years  later  he  entered  the  Tromso 
normal  school,  and  was  graduated  with  honors  in  1854.  He 
next  served  as  teacher  and  precentor  at  his  home.  In  1857 
he  was  appointed  principal  of  a  higher  school  in  Kaa^orden, 
where  he  remained  two  years .  For  some  time  he  had  cherished 
the  desire  of  studying  theology,  and  this  desire  at  last  became 
irresistible.  In  spite  of  the  lack  of  means,  he  went  to  Kristi- 
ania  for  the  purpose  of  fitting  himself  for  the  ministry.  His 
life  in  the  capital  meant  ceaseless  work  and  privation.  His 
patience  and  perseverance,  however,  overcame  every  obstacle, 
and  he  received  the  degrees  of  A.  B.  and  Cand.  Phil,  in  1863 
and  1864,  respectively.  The  next  two  years  were  spent  in 
studying  theology.  By  this  time  his  health  was  seriously 
impaired  by  over-work  in  studying  and  supporting  his  family^ 


188  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

now  consisting  of  five  persons.    In  1866  Olsen  emigrated  to 

America,  and  was  appointed  adjunct  professor  of  Hebrew 

and  some  other  branches  at  Agustana  College,  Paxton,  HI. 

In  1867  he  was  ordained  for  the  ministry  by  the  well-knowti 

Prof.  T.  N.  Hasselquisty  and  settled  as  pastor  of  a  congregap- 

tion  at  Neenah,  Wis.    Later  he  removed  to  Ft.  Howard,  and 

while  here  he  organized  many  new  congregations  in  the 

northeastern  part  of  Wisconsin.     Olsen  was  a  prominent 

figure  among  those  who  organized  the  Norwegian-Danish 

Lutheran  Conference  at  St.  Ansgar,  la.,  16  Aug.,  1870.    He 

served  this  body  as  vice-president  from  1870  to  1872,  and  as 

president  from  the  latter  date  to  1881.    Since  1873  he  has 

resided  at   St.   Ansgar,  where  he  enjoys   the  esteem   and 

love  of  his  parisioners  to  an  unusual  degree.    St.  Ansgar 

Seminary  and  Institute  was  started  in  1878,  chiefly  through 

the  efforts  of  Olsen,  and  for  years  he  has  given  lectures  at 

that   school.     He    was   married   in   1858,    and   has   had 

eleven  children,  six  of  whom  are  still  living.    One  of  his  sons, 

Sigurd  Olsen,  is  a  professor  in  St.  Ansgar  Seminary  and 

Institute. 

Ottesen,  Jacob  Aall,  clergyman  and  pioneer — Decorah — 
bom  1  June,  1825,  in  Pet,  Kristiania  stift,  Norway.  His 
father  and  grandfather  were  clergymen  at  his  birthplace  for 
fifty  years  previous,  and  more  than  forty  of  his  relatives 
are,  or  have  been,  clergymen.  Ottesen  completed  his  theolo- 
gical studies  at  the  University  of  Norway,  and  graduated 
with  honors  in  1849.  Having  spent  three  years  as  instruc- 
tor in  Kristiania,  he  emigrated  to  America  in  1852.  Upon 
the  request  of  Ole  Bull,  the  famous  violinist,  who  had  started 
a  Norwegian  colony  at  01eana,Pa.,  Ottesen  stopped  at  that 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA.  189 

place  and  preached  to  his  countrymen  before  going  west. 
He  settled  as  pastor  at  Manitowoc,  Wis.,  the  same  year,  his 
charge  consisting  of  three  organized  congregations  in  and 
about   Manitowoc,  and    ten   missionary  stations  located 
along  the  lake  shore  from  Green  Bay  to  Milwaukee.    He  was 
an  exceedingly  busy  man  in  those  days.    His  time  was  spent 
in  unceasing  travel,  mostly  on  horseback,  and  he  would 
cover  from  thirty  to  fifty  miles  a  day.    His  exposure  to  all 
kinds  of  weather  resulted  in  a  chronic  rheumatism,  which 
ever  since  has  reminded  him  of  the  hardships  of  those,  early 
pioneer  days.     He  was  one  of  the  seven  clergymen  who 
organized  the  Norwegian  Evangelical  Lutheran  Synod  at 
Koshkonong,  Wis.,inl853,and  for  a  number  of  years  ser^'-ed 
as  secretary  of  that  body.     In  1857  Ottesen,  together  with 
Rev.  N.  Brandt,  was  appointed  a  delegate  of  the  synod  to 
visit  the  theological  seminaries  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Columbus, 
O.,  and  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  with  the  view  of  finding  a  suitable 
institution  for  the  education  of  young  Norwegians  for  the 
ministry.    The  seminary  at  St.  Louis  was  chosen,  and  Prof. 
Laur.  Larsen  was  appointed  to  represent  the  Norwegian 
Synod  in  the  theological  faculty  of  that  institution.    In  1860 
Ottesen  moved  to  Koshkonong.     Here  he  served  as  pastor 
of  the  oldest  church  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  until  his  re- 
moval to  Decorah  in  1891.     For  a  number  of  years  Ottesen 
was  associate  editor  of  Kirkelig  Maanedstidende,  the  offi- 
cial organ  of  the  synod.  When  the  synod  established  Luther 
Seminary  at  Madison,  Wis.,  in  1878,  he  was  requested  to 
serve  as  its  first  president,  but  declined.    Later  he  served  as 
a  member  of  the  board  of  visitors  of  his  district  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.     In  1893  Ottesen  wrote  Kort  Uddr&g  af  den 


190  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IX  THE  U.  S. 

Norske  Synodes  Historic^  which  was  exhibited  at  the 
World's  Pair  in  Chicago  the  same  year.  As  is  indicated  by 
the  title,  this  work  is  brief;  bnt  it  is  one  of  the  most  correct 
and  impartial  histories  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  written  up 
to  date.  Since  1891,  Ottesen  has  had  no  reg^ar  char/^e,  but 
officiated  from  Nov.,  1894,  to  Aug.,  1896,  as  temporary  pas- 
tor during  a  vacancy  in  the  Norwegian  church  in  Decorah. 
Rev.  J.  C.  Jensson  in  his  great  work,  American  Lutheran 
Biographies,  says  of  Ottesen:  'His  classical  training,  keen 
reasoning  powers,  ability  as  writer  and  counsellor,  and, 
above  all,  his  ardent  devotion  to  the  truths  embodied  in  the 
confession  of  the  Lutheran  church,  has  made  him  a  repre- 
sentative man  among  his  brethren — ^honored  and  revered  as 
one  of  the  fathers  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran  churches  in 
America.  Though  the  life  and  work  of  Ottesen  have  not 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  world — ^his  work  having  been 
carried  out  in  that  obscurity  which  necessarily  surrounds 
one,  no  matter  how  gifted,  who  devotes  himself  to  the  wel- 
fare of  any  small  community  of  foreigners  in  this  country — 
his  life  has  none  the  less  been  one  of  heroism  and  selfdenial, 
which  deserves  an  honored  mention.  To  men  who,  like  him, 
have  made  it  their  aim  and  purpose  of  life  to  carry  the  truths 
of  eternity  to  their  fellow  beings,  our  country  owes  its 
noblest  achievements  of  true  progress  and  civilization,  and 
they  deserve  a  lasting  gratitude.'  Ottesen  married  Cath- 
erine Doderlein,  of  Kristiania,  in  1852.  They  have  had  six 
children,  four  of  whom  are  dead.  His  only  living  son.  Otto 
Christian,  is  also  a  clergyman  in  the  Norwegian  Synod. 

Tor^erson,  Torger  Andreas,  clergyman— Somber— bom 
26  Jan.,  1838,  near  Tvedestrand,  Kristiansand  stift,  Nor- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  IOWA  191 

way.  He  emigrated  in  1852  with  his  parents,  who  settled  in 
Scandinavia, Waupaca  county,  Wis.  After  his  arrival  in  this 
country,  Torgerson's  boyhood  was  spent  mostly  in  attend- 
ing school,  working  on  his  father's  farm,  and  preparing  for 
college.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  entered  Concordia  College, 
St.  Louis,  Mo.  Three  years  later  this  institution  was  moved 
to  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.,  where  he  graduated  in  1862;  and, 
having  completed  a  course  at  the  Concordia  Theological 
Seminary,  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  was  ordained  for  the  ministry  in 
the  Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod  by  Rev.  H.  A.  Preus  in  1866. 
The  staying  qualities  of  Torgerson  may  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  he  has  served  as  a  minister  at  his  present  home  for 
thirty  years.  Rev.  A.  Bredesen  says  of  him :  "With  the  excep- 
tion of  Rev.  Koren,  no  man  in  the  Iowa  District  has  done 
longer,  harder,  and  more  faithful  and  eflFective  service  than 
Torgerson.*'  His  field  of  labor  has  extended  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  from  east  to  west,  and  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  miles  in  the  opposite  direction,  comprising  in  all 
thirty-four  different  churches,  and  for  some  time  his  charge 
consisted  of  eighteen  congnregations,  scattered  over  this 
large  territory.  At  present  no  less  than  thirteen  ministers  of 
the  Norwegian  Synod  are  laboring  in  that  territory,  besides 

a  fair  number  of  Norwegian  Lutheran   ministers  not  con- 
nected with  the  synod.     Torgerson  has  been  in  danger  of 

losing  his  life  on  no  less  than  eight  different  occasions,  his 

escape  in  several  cases  having  been  very  narrow,  not  to  say 

miraculous.    His  position  in  the  S3mod  has  always  been 

prominent,  and  he  has  officiated  as  secretary  of  the  pastoral 

conference  of  the  synod  and  of  the  Iowa  District  for  twenty 

years.    He  has  been  president  of  the  Albert  Lea  special  pas- 


192         HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINATLUIS  IN  THB  U.  8. 

toral  conference  since  its  organisation  in  1873 ;  president  of 
the  general  ministerial  conference  for  six  years;  and  is  at 
present  president  of  the  Iowa  District,  and  a  member  of  the 
church  council  of  the  synod.  In  1870  Torgerson  pub- 
lished M&rkelige  Tildmgelaer^  a  pamphlet  of  fifty-eight 
pages  on  local  church  disputes.  He  has  also  contributed 
much  to  different  papers,  and  many  of  his  sermons  have 
been  printed  by  request  in  Braagelisk  Lntbersk  Kirke* 
tidende.  He  married  Dina  Anderson,  a  sister  of  Prof.  R.  B. 
Anderson,  in  1866.  They  have  had  seven  children,  all  boys, 
one  of  whom  is  a  successful  attomej-at-law  at  Lake  Mills, 
Iowa,  and  another  a  clergyman  in  the  synod. 


Bii^phies  of  Scandinavians  in 

Wisconsin. 


Andersoxit  Mons,  manttfacturer  and  wholesale  merchant 
— La  Crosse — ^bom  8  June,  1830,  in  Valders,  Norway.  He 
attended  the  parish  school  of  his  native  valley ;  and,  being 
compelled  to  shift  for  himself  by  the  death  of  his  father, 
departed  of  his  own  accord  for  the  New  World  At  the  early 
age  of  sixteen.  During  the  first  year  after  his  arrival  in 
this  country  he  was  employed  at  a  hotel  in  Milwaukee,  kept 
by  the  Hon.  Daniel  Wells,  and  afterwards  attended  school 
for  two  years.  Having  spent  another  year  in  the  same  city 
as  salesman  in  a  grocery  store,  he  pushed  farther  west,  set- 
tling at  La  Crosse  in  1851.  He  first  engaged  as  clerk  in  the 
store  of  S.  T.  Smith ;  was  soon  admitted  as  partner  in  the 
firm ;  and  afterwards  formed  partnerships  successively  with 
W.  W.  Ustick  and  S.  E.  Olson,  the  latter  now  having  a  large 
dry  goods  store  in  Minneapolis.  He  finally  bought  out  his 
partners  and  continued  the  business,  in  which  he  proved  so 
successful  that  the  volume  of  his  trade  was  the  second 
largest  of  its  kind  in  the  state.  In  1885  he  admitted  both 
of  his  sons  into  the  company,  the  firm  assuming  the  name 
of  Mons  Anderson  &  Sons.  In  the  same  year  he  closed  out 
his  retail  establishment,  and  since  that  time  the  firm  has 

193 


194         HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

been  doing  a  wholesale  dry  goods  and  manttfactttring  busi- 
ness. The  firm  employs  several  traveling  salesmen  and  htm* 
dreds  of  hands  in  the  factory  and  the  store.  It  is  generallj 
admitted  that  this  establishment  is  the  largest  of  its  kind  in 
America  in  proportion  to  the  population  of  the  locality  in 
which  it  is  situated.  He  owns  a  great  deal  of  real  property , 
besides  being  interested  in  various  financial  enterprises. 
The  reasons  forMons  Anderson's  success  may  be  summarized 
as  follows :  From  the  very  start  he  kept  strictly  one  price, 
treated  everyone  alike,  and  endeavored  to  represent  his 
goods  just  as  they  were.  The  main  key  to  his  success,  how- 
ever, is  undoubtedly  to  be  found  in  his  great  energy,  and  the 
systematic  order  in  which  his  affairs  are  managed.  He  is  at 
his  store  at  seven  o'clock  every  morning.  While  he  endeav- 
ors to  do  his  duty  as  a  Christian  and  a  citizen,  he  permits 
neither  politics,  religion,  nor  anything  else  to  interfere  with 
his  business.  Anderson  has  had  in  his  employ  three  hundred 
clerks  who  have  since  gone  into  business  on  their  own 
account,  and  who  received  their  first  training  under  Ander- 
son's guidance.  Some  of  these  have  since  almost  equalled 
him  in  business  success.  An  authority  says :  ' 'Anderson,  as 
a  man,  does  his  own  thinking,  is  original,  has  positive  con- 
victions, and  shows  his  character  and  ability  more  by  w^hat 
he  does  than  by  what  he  professes.  In  his  pursuit  of -wealth 
he  has  not  been  unmindful  of  the  comfort  of  his  employes, 
nor  has  he  been  wanting  in  public  spirit."  Although  he  is  a 
member  of  the  American  Baptist  church,  yet  he  has  given 
large  sums  to  Luther  College  and  other  Scandinavian  insti- 
tutions. Anderson  has  traveled  very  extensively  both  in 
this  country  and  in  Europe.    His  large  collection  of  sculp- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         195 

tiire,  statues,  paintings,  and  cariosities  has  been  gathered 
from  nearly  every  country  in  Europe.  Pew  Scandinavian- 
American  business  men  have  such  a  large  and  well  selected 
Kbrary  as  Anderson  has.  His  books  are  counted  by  the  thou- 
sand, including  some  rare  productions,  and  several  works  on 
art.  Anderson  was  married  in  1853  to  Jane  Halvorson, 
who  came  with  her  parents  from  Norway  to  Wisconsin  in 
1846.  They  have  two  sons;  Alfred  H.,  the  oldest,  owns 
and  manages  a  large  property  in  the  state  of  Washington ; 
and  Samuel  W.,  the  youngest,  is  a  member  of  his  father's 
firm,  which  in  1891  was  formally  organized  into  a  stock 
company ;  his  oldest  daughter  is  married  to  a  prominent 
attorney,  C.  W.  Bunn,  located  in  St.  Paul,  Minn.;  and  his 
youngest  daughter  is  Mrs.  W.  L.  Crosby,  of  La  Crosse. 
Anderson  has  in  all  ten  grand-children,  of  whom  he  is  very 
proud. 

Anderson,  Rasmus  B,,  author  and  United  States  minister 
to  Denmark — Madison — ^bom  12  Jan.,  1846,  in  Albion,  Dane 
county,  Wis.  His  father  was  the  son  of  a  peasant  near 
Stavanger,  Norway,  and  his  mother  a  member  of  the  von 
Krogh  family,  the  name  of  which  for  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  past  has  figured  very  prominently  in  the  military 
records  of  Norway  and  Denmark.  Her  relatives  were  greatly 
displeased  with  the  union  because  of  Anderson's  humble 
rank  in  society.  This  diflSculty  was  further  aggravated  by 
the  fact  that  he  was  a  Quaker,  and  in  order  to  evade  what 
virtually  amounted  to  a  mild  type  of  persecution,  they  left 
for  America  in  1836.  They  Uved  successively  at  Rochester, 
N.  Y.,  and  in  La  Salle  county,  111.;  but  in  1841  removed  to 
Wisconsin,  being  the  first  couple  of  white  settlers  in  the 


198  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

but  in  the  fall  of  1894  the  originator  of  the  idea  was  pleased 
to   receive   accounts  of  "grape  festivals*'    from    different 
localities  in   the  Northwest.    Anderson  shares   the  honor 
with  Ole  Bull  of  having  raised  the  funds  for  the  erection  of  a 
monument  to  Leif  Erikson  in  Boston.  Perhaps  no  American 
of  Scandinavian  birth  or  blood  has  produced  anything  in 
the  English  language  w^hich  has  created  such  a  wide-spread 
stir  as  have  some  of  Anderson's  works.    There  are  two  pro- 
ductions in  particular  which  deserve  special  consideration. 
By  his  Norse  Mythology  he  has  made  the  religion  of  the  old 
Norsemen  more  accessible  to  the  world  at  large,  and  the  se- 
lect translations  from  the  Eddas  incorporated   into    this 
work  give  English  readers  fascinating  glimpses  of  the  old 
Norse  literature.     Next  to  this  ranks  America  Not  Discov- 
ered by  Columbus^  his  first  literary  production.    It  is  true 
that  this  is  chiefly  a  compilation,  and  even  its  author  no 
longer  maintains  all  assertions  originally  made  in  it.    But 
the  extensive  and  favorable  reviews  which  it  received  gave 
such  a  prominence  to  the  discovery  of  America  by  the  Norse- 
men that  thenceforth  nearly  every  American  historian  took 
it  into  account,  and  treated  the  matter  as  a  legitimate  his- 
torical fact.    Some  of  his  books  have  been  translated  into 
French,  German,  Italian,  Norwegian,  and  Russian.    A  com- 
plete list  of  the  books  either  written  or  translated  by  Ander- 
son would  fill  at  least  one  page  in  this  volume;  hence,  only 
some  of  the  most  important  ones  are  given  below.    Den 
Norske  Maalsag,  Julegave^  Where  Was  Vineland?  and  The 
First  Chapter  of  Norwegian  Immigration  are  among  his  lead- 
ing original  works.     Of  the  translations  may  be  mentioned: 
Heimskringla;    Viking  Tales  of  the  North;   The  Younger 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         19§ 

Edda;  seven  volumes  of  Bjomstjeme  Bjomson's  novels;  His- 
tory of  Scandinavian  Literature^  by  F.  W.  Horn;  The  Spell- 
bound Fiddler,  by  Kristofer  Janson;  Eminent  Authors  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century,  by  Georg  Brandes;  Teutonic  Myth- 
ology, by  Viktor  Rydberg;  and  Among  Cannibals,  by  Carl 
Lumholtz.  As  to  bulk,  Anderson's  original  books  aggregate 
about  1,500  pages,  and  the  books  translated  by  him  about 
5,000  pages.  Besides  the  books  he  has  also  written  contri- 
butions to  the  American  supplement  to  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica,  to  five  other  cyclopaedias,  and  to  a  few  maga- 
zines. Anderson  is  a  fighter,  and  a  great  number  of  articles, 
mostly  in  Norwegian- American  papers,  amply  testify  to  his 
combativeness.  In  1868  he  was  married  to  Bertha  Karina 
Olson,  of  Cambridge,  Wis.,  a  sister  to  Prof.  Julius  E.  Olson. 
They  have  four  children  living,  some  of  them  grown  and 
married 

Dundas,  Johan  Christian,  physician  and  poet — Cam- 
oridge — bom  1815,  in  Helgelanrl,  Norway;  died  in  Madison, 
in  1883.  He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Peter  Dundas,  or 
Don  Dass,  a  Scotchman,  who  in  about  the  year  1630  settled 
in  Norway,  having  left  his  native  land  on  account  of  re- 
ligious persecution.  This  man  married  a  Norwegian  woman, 
Maren  Falch,  and  was  the  father  of  Peter  Dass,  the  famous 
poet  of  northern  Norway,  who  was  the  first  real  poet  in 
Norway  after  the  Reformation,  and  whose  poems  arc  still 
widely  read,  for  they  contain  sparks  of  nature's  fire.  Dass 
was  a  minister,  and  such  an  impression  did  he  leave  upon 
those  to  whom  he  sang  and  preached  two  centuries  ago,  that 
many  strange  traditions  of  his  supernatural  powers  are  still 
current  among  the  people  of  Norway  and  their  kinsmen  in 

Since  1898  Prof.  Anderson  haa  been  the  editor  and  proprietor  of  ** Amerika,**  the  aemi- 
ofiScial  organ  of  the  Norwegian  Synod,  which  organization  he  Joined  at  aboat  the  same 
time.— EniTOB. 


200  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

this  country.  Tradition  has  it  that  he  could  pray  so  fisr- 
vently  that  the  air  was  suddenly  filled  with  birds  "whicfa 
devonred  the  worms  and  insects  that  were  destroying;  the 
crops ;  subdue  the  thunder  with  his  preaching ;  control  the 
malicious  magic  of  the  hostile  Finns  and  Lapps  by  a  iRrord; 
and  even  force  the  devil  into  his  service.  These  traditions 
indicate  that  Peter  Dass  was  a  man  of  marked  personality, 
to  whom  the  people  in  their  adoration  ascribed  supernat- 
ural powers,  and  are  interesting  in  this  connection,  as  they 
serve  to  explain  an  inherited  trait  of  J.  C.  Dundas's  char- 
acter. His  personality,  too,  was  so  marked,  that  any  one 
who  met  him,  even  once,  would  scarcely  forget  him;  and 
many  of  his  countrymen  about  Cambridge  verily  believed 
that  he  could  cure  any  disease,  if  he  simply  wished  to  do  so. 
Bjomstjeme  Bjomson,  who  made  his  acquaintance  in  this 
country,  considered  him  the  most  original  person  that  he 
had  ever  met.  Ole  Bull  was  very  fond  of  him,  and  visited  him 
twice  in  his  Cambridge  home.  His  father,  Isaac  George  Dun- 
das,  was  a  man  of  means,  and  liberally  educated.  He  had 
eleven  children,  and  sought  to  give  them  a  good  education. 
Johan,  the  youngest,  was  early  sent  to  Bergen  to  attend 
school,  and  later  went  to  the  University  of  Norway,  where 
he  studied  during  the  years  1837—39.  Here  he  began  the 
study  of  medicine,  which  he  continued  at  Copenhagen,  Vien- 
na, Helsingfors,  and  Berne.  After  a  voyage  to  the  Bast  In- 
dies in  the  service  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company  as  a 
surgeon,  he  spent  the  year  1849  in  the  larger  English  hos- 
pitals. The  next  year  he  came  to  America,  and  proceeded  to 
the  Koshkonong  settlement  in  Wisconsin,  where  his  country- 
men were  suffering  from  the  cholera.     After  having  made  a 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         201 

tour  of  the  country  he  returned  to  Holland,  whence  he 
sailed  as  physician  on  board  a  ship  bound  for  Chma.  In  the 
course  of  about  two  years  he  returned  to  Cambridge  to  take 
up  his  permanent  abode,  and  here  he  remained  as  a  practicing 
physician  tmtil  his  death.  Dundas  was  a  remarkable  char- 
acter, a  skilful  surgeon,  and  a  clever  poet,  being  well  versed 
in  literature,  history,  and  politics.  In  his  younger  days  he 
had  familiarly  known  the  poets  HenrikWergeland  and  Johan 
Ludvig  Runeberg.  In  his  later  years  he  wrote  a  great  deal 
of  verse,  much  of  which  was  printed  in  the  Norwegian  and 
Danish  papers  in  this  country.  In  1856  he  married  an  Amer- 
ican lady,  Malina  E.  Tracy.    They  had  two  daughters. 

GJertseHy  J.  P.,  clergyman — Stoughton — bom  25  Oct., 
1803,  in  Askvold,  Bergen  stift,  Norwa^^;  died  in  1892. 
While  a  young  man  he  served  as  school  teacher,  and  later 
on  held  a  couple  of  local  offices.  He  was  also  engaged  as 
temperance  lecturer  for  five  years,  and  was  deeply  inter- 
ested in  the  spiritual  and  moral  welfare  of  his  countrymen. 
In  1864  he  emigrated  to  this  country,  and  for  a  series  of 
years  served  as  pastor  of  churches  at  Racine,  Bostwick 
Valley,  Winneconne,  and  Oshkosh,  Wis.  The  last  nine- 
teen years  of  his  life  were  spent  with  his  children  in  Stough- 
ton, Wis.  Mainly  through  his  tireless  efforts,  the  Zion  Mis- 
sion Society  for  Israel  was  oganized  in  1877,  Gjertsen  him- 
self serving  as  its  first  president.  He  devoted  much  time 
and  labor  to  this  society,  which  during  its  history  has  been 
the  means  of  converting  a  number  of  Jews  to  Christianity. 
Gjertsen  also  edited  a  hymtt-book,  Misaionss&nge  for  Israel, 
especially  adapted  ior  use  at  services  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
the  Jewish  mission.    He  was  married  In  1841  to  Berthc 


202         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IK  THE  17.  8. 

Johanne  Gaasevor.  Among  their  children  may  be  mentioned 
Rev.  M.  F.  Gjertsen,  of  Minneapolis,  and  Mrs.  Rev.  T.  H. 
Dahl,  of  Stoughton.  Wis. 

Haugen,  Nils  P^  congressman— River  Palls— bom  9 
March,  1849,  in  ModnmyKristiania  stift,  Norway.  In  1854 
he  emigrated  with  his  parents,  who  located  in  Rock  cotrnty. 
Wis.  In  the  spring  of  1855  they  moved  to  Martell,  Pierce 
county,  where  his  father  purchased  government  land,  and 
where  he  made  his  permanent  home  until  his  death  in  1896. 
His  father  was  a  school  teacher  in  Norway,  and  had  some 
experience  in  blacksmithing,  which  was  the  trade  of  young 
Haugen's  grandfather.  Young  Haugen  spent  most  of  his 
boyhood  working  on  his  father's  farm;  but  also  tried  his 
hand  at  other  kinds  of  hard  work,  such  as  logging  in  the 
pineries,  working  in  a  saw  mill  in  Menomonie,  and  rafting 
on  the  St.  Croix  river.  He  attended  the  common  school 
until  fourteen  years  of  age;  entered  Luther  College,  De- 
corah,  Iowa,  in  1868,  where  he  remained  over  two  years, 
finishing  the  studies  up  to  the  sophomore  class.  After 
returning  from  college  he  taught  one  term  of  Norwegian 
parochial  school,  and  common  school  for  two  years,  in  his 
county.  In  1872  he  entered  the  law  department  of  the 
State  University  of  Michigan,  at  Ann  Arbor,  graduating  tw^o 
years  later;  then  located  at  River  Falls,  and  began  to  prac- 
tice law.  But  in  1874  he  was  appointed  court  reporter  of 
the  eighth  judicial  circuit,  including  several  counties,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  for  a  period  of  seven  years,  besides 
devoting  some  time  to  his  practice.  In  1881  he  resigned 
this  position,  and  formed  a  law  partnership  with  Frank  L. 
Gilson.   In  1879  and  1880  Haugen  served  two  terms  in  the 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  203 

state  assembly.  While  in  this  position  he  was  one  of  the 
main  supporters  of  Mat.  H.  Carpenter,  who  was  elected  U.  S. 
senator  in  1879 ;  and  was  a  member  of  several  important 
committees.  In  1881  he  was  elected  railroad  commissioner, 
to  which  position  he  was  re-elected,  serving  five  years  in  all. 
Upon  the  death  of  the  congressman-elect  of  his  district,  in 
1887,  Haugen  was  made  his  successor  at  a  special  election, 
and  wa8  re-elected  three  times  successively,  serving  as  a 
member  of  congress  for  a  longer  period,  excepting  M.N.John- 
son of  N.  D. ,  than  any  other  Scandinavian.  Both  Haugen  and 

Lind,  of  Minnesota,  were  firm  opponents  of  the  proposition 
which  aimed  at  placing  the  three  Scandinavian  kingdoms 
under  a  common  legation,  and  this  proposition  was 
defeated.  The  bill  by  which  Oklahoma  was  organized  as  a 
territory  originally  provided  that  persons  who  were  not 
citizens  of  the  United  States  should  be  debarred  from  enter- 
ing government  lands.  Haugen  proposed  an  amendment  to 
the  bill,  placing  all  who  have  declared  their  intention  to 
become  citizens,  on  an  equal  footing  with  actual  citizens  in 
regard  to  government  lands,  and  the  amendment  was  car- 
ried. He  strongly  advocated  thecommercial  interests  of  the 
Great  Lakes ;  made  several  strong  and  consistent  speeches 
in  favor  of  a  protective  tariff;  deprecated  experimentation, 
and  recommended  conservatism  in  regard  to  the  money 
question.  Haugen  was  a  very  strong  candidate  for  gov- 
ernor of  Wisconsin  in  1894;  but  Upham  proved  a  trifle 
stronger  than  Haugen  at  the  state  convention,  and  th^ 
latter  failed  to  receive  the  nomination.  Haugen  has  always 
been  a  Republican.  He  has  devoted  much  time  to  the  Ger- 
man language,  and  has  made  French  a  special  study,  being 


204  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

better  versed  in  modem  literature  than  is  usually  the  case 
with  our  public  men,  and  may  be  said  to  have  made  a 
special  study  of  the  humorous  and  witty  literature  of  the 
Scandinavian  countries.  In  1875  he  was  married  to  Inge- 
borg  A.  Rasmussen,  of  Pierce  county,  Wis.  They  have  one 
grown  daughter,  who  has  been  attending  the  normal  school. 
River  Falls,  for  years. 

Heg,  Hans  Christian,  pioneer  and  soldier— Waterford— 
bom  21  Dec.,  1829,  near  Drammen,  Norway;  died  20  Sept., 
1863,  at  Chicamauga,  Tenn.  In  1840  he  came  to  America 
with  his  father,  who  settled  in  town  of  Norway,  Racine 
coimty.  Wis.;  and  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  the  noted 
Muskego  settlement.  Young  Hegwas  a  wideawake  boy, 
and  although  he  enjoyed  no  means  of  a  higher  education, 
he  managed  to  keep  himself  well  informed  on  all  questions 
of  the  day,  and  took  pains  to  familiarize  himself  with  the 
English  language.  In  short,  he  became  withal  the  brightest 
young  man  of  the  neighborhood,  and  was  noted  as  an 
enthusiastic  and  active  anti-slavery  man  long  before  lie 
became  of  age.  In  1849  he  went  to  California,  where  he  was 
fairly  successful  as  a  gold  digger,  but  upon  the  death  of  his 
father,  in  1851,  was  forced  to  return  and  take  care  of  his 
younger  brothers  and  sisters.  Having  settled  down  on  his 
father's  homestead,  he  was  elected  to  some  local  office  at 
every  election,  and  invariably  discharged  his  duties  to  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  his  constituents.  In  1859  he  removed 
to  Waterford  where  he,  in  company  with  two  Americans, 
opened  up  a  general  merchandise  business.  In  the  fall  of  the 
same  year  he  was  elected  state  prison  commissioner  on  the 
Republican  ticket,  being  perhaps  the  first  Norwegian  elected 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         20(> 

to  any  state  office  in  America.  Many  of  his  countrymen 
were  somewhat  apprehensive  lest  he  should  fail  to  give 
satisfaction  in  such  a  trying  position.  But,  to  use  the 
language  of  K.  Langeland,  **he  was  praised  by  his  col- 
leagues as  well  as  other  leading  men  in  the  state.  He  intro- 
duced many  important  reforms  and  improvements,  and 
never  has  there  been  such  order,  activity,  and  economy 
within  the  walls  of  the  penitentiary  as  during  his  adminis- 
tration. The  expenses  were  smaller  and  the  receipts  larger 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  convicts  than  ever  before  or 
since ;  but  to  crown  his  work :  His  accounts  were  perfectly 
clean,  which  had  never  been  the  case  with  those  of  his 
predecessors.  Said  a  leading  Milwaukee  man  to  the  writer 
shortl3''  after  the  funeral  of  Heg :  *  He  is  the  only  man  who 
has  left  a  clean  record  at  the  state  prison.'  "  He  was 
renominated  for  the  same  office  in  1861,  but  declined  the 
nomination  because  he  had  already  decided  to  enter  the 
war.  He  was  appointed  colonel  of  the  Fifteenth  Wisconsin, 
or  Scandinavian,  Regiment,  which  was  organized  under  his 
supervision — a  full  account  of  the  regiment  is  given  in  the 
first  volume  of  this  work.  At  the  battle  of  Chickamauga, 
in  which  he  was  killed,  he  commanded  a  brigade,  having 
been  brevetted  brigadier  general.  Heg  left  an  enviable 
record  in  the  war.  He  displayed  true  bravery  on  several 
occasions,  and  if  his  life  had  been  spared  a  little  longer  he 
would  have  been  advanced  to  a  higher  rank.  His  par- 
ticipation in  the  battle  which  cost  him  his  life  is  described 
as  follows  by  K.  Langeland :  **  His  conduct  in  the  battle  at 
Chickamauga  won  the  admiration  of  all  who  saw  him. 
When  his  brigade  was  overwhelmed  and  beaten  back  on 


206         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  U.  8. 

that  terrible  Saturday  afternoon^  he  was  present  every- 
where, encouraging  his  soldiers  to  check  the  victorioiis 
march  of  the  rebel  legions.    The  Twenty-first  Illmois  was 
sent  as  re-^nforcement  to  Col.  H^.    They  marched  bravely 
on,  but  their  lines  were-  broken,  and  they  were  reptilaed. 
Then  Col.  Heg  rode  up,  swung  his  hat,  and  shouted  they 
should  follow  him.    It  seemed  as  though  they  were  almost 
electrified,  with  a  shout  they  charged  the  rebels  and  drove 
them  back  almost  six  hundred  feet,  but  were  again  over- 
whelmed and  forced  to  retreat.    An  officer  has  told  me  that 
Heg  continually  remained  in   the   thickest  of    the   firay 
tmscathed."    As  he  was  riding  to  another  part  of  the  line, 
however,  he  was  mortally  wounded  by  a  stray  shot,  and 
died  the  same  night.    Heg  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary courage  and  ability,  and  his  sincerity  was  beyond  all 
doubt.    This  accounts  for  his  great  popularity,  which  was 
most  conspicuously  demonstrated  when  his  remains  were 
laid  to  rest  in  the  Norway  church  cemetery,  near  his  home. 
Heg  is  one  of  the  few  Norwegians  who  prominently  dis- 
tinguished themselves  in  the  Civil  War.    He  was  a  Free- 
mason, but  was  not  connected  with  any  church  organization. 
He  was  married  in  1851  to  Gunhild  Einung.    They  had 
four  children.    One  of  them  is  James  E.  Heg,  who  has  held 
the  office  of  vice-president  of  the  state  board  of  control  of 
Wisconsin,  and  who  has  held  numerous  minor  offices.    He 
was  president  of  the  Wisconsin  press  association  for  several 
terms,  and  also  president  of  the  Republican  editorial  asso- 
ciation for  a  number  of  years.    Another  son,  Dr.  Elmer  E. 
Heg,  has  been  president  of  the  state  board  of  health  of  the 
state  of  Washington.    A  daughter,  Hilda  S.  Heg,  married 


BIOORAPHIBS  OP  SCAKD11CATIAN8  IN  WnCORSDI.        207 

Congressman  C.  N.  Fowler,  of  the  state  of  New  Jersey. 
Hoymei  Cyermnnd,  clergyman— Eau  Claire— bom  8  Oct., 
1848,  in  Valders,  Norway.  He  came  to  America  in  1851 
with  his  parents,  who  settled  at  Port  Washington,  Wis. 
Four  years  later  they  removed  to  Winneshiek  comity,  Iowa, 
where  young  Hoyme  soon  had  to  earn  his  living  as  a  wage- 
worker  on  the  farm.  Having  an  insatiable  craving  for 
knowledge,  he  borrowed  books  and  devoted  every  spare 
moment  to  reading.  For  twelve  successive  winters  he  at- 
tended English  schools,  and  in  1869  entered  the  theological 
seminary  at  Marshall,  Wis.,  where  he  remained  two  years. 
He  next  took  up  a  course  in  languages,  especially  English, 
German,  Latin,  and  Greek,  in  the  State  University  of  Wis- 
consin, at  Madison.  Hojme  still  remembers  with  gratitude 
how  Hon.  J.  A.  Johnson  met  him  at  the  depot,  took  him  to 
his  home,  and  kindly  assisted  him  in  many  ways.  Prof.  R. 
B.  Anderson,  who  at  that  time  was  instructor  in  the  univer- 
sity, also  took  pains  to  encourage  and  assist  him.  Having 
finished  his  course  at  the  university,  he  resumed  his  theolog- 
ical studies  at  Augsburg  Seminary,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Lacking  pecuniary  means,  and  receiving  urgent  calls  to  en- 
ter the  ministry,  he  discontinued  his  studies  earlier  than  he 
originally  had  intended,  and  began  his  life-work  as  pastor 
at  Duluth  in  1873.  While  there  he  taught  a  Norwegian  par- 
ochial school  in  the  day,  devoted  the  evenings  to  English  in- 
struction, and  preached  twice  every  Sunday.  But  Jay 
Cook's  failure  all  but  ruined  the  young  city,  and  the  congre- 
gation was  so  crippled  financially  that  Hojme  had  to  leave 
it.  He  next  served  three  congregations  at  Menomonie,I>nnn 
county,  Wis.,  and  finally  settled  at  Eau  Claire  in  1876.  This 


208         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDIHAYIAKS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

date  marks  a  turning  point  in  his  external  life.  Earlier  in 
life  he  and  grim  poverty  had  been  on  most  familiar  terms. 
According  to  Am.  Lutb.  Biographies^  by  J.C.Jensson,  Hoyme 
himself  once  wrote  to  a  friend  about  his  trials  at  coll^;e 
as  follows:  *'The  money  I  earned  at  hard  labor  dnr- 
ing  the  summer  vacation,  was  not  sufficient  to  carxy  me 
through  to  the  next  vacation.  It  frequently  happ>ened  that 
I  did  not  have  enough  money  to  pay  the  postage  on  letters 
to  my  old  mother.  My  apparel  was  often  too  plainly  an  in- 
dex to  the  condition  of  my  purse.  When  a  change  of  clothes 
seemed  indispensable,  my  method  of  renovation  generally 
consisted  in  giving  the  old  and  threadbare  ones  a  thorough 
brushing."  His  success  since  his  arrival  at  Eau  Claire  forms 
a  pleasant  contrast  to  this  picture.  Gradually  his  power  for 
good  has  increased,  and  in  many  respects  he  is  now  abso- 
lutely  the  strongest*  man  in  the  city  of  Eau  Claire.  His  in- 
fluence in  the  church  union  to  which  he  belongs,  is  thorough- 
ly in  keeping  with  his  local  standing.  From  1881  to  1886 
he  was  the  secretary,  and  from  the  latter  date  to  1890,  the 
president  of  the  conference;  and  since  the  organization  of 
the  United  Church  in  1890,  he  has  served  that  body  as  pres- 
ident. As  a  parliamentarian  and  presiding  officer  he  has  no 
superior  and,  perhaps,  no  equal  among  the  Scandinavian 
clergy  in  the  United  States.  His  preaching  is  very  earnest  ; 
his  language  lofty  and  dramatic ;  in  fact  the  man  is  so  se- 
rious that  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  single  humorous  sal- 
ly in  all  his  public  utterances.  Hoyme,  unlike  most  of  the 
leading  men  in  the  Norwegian  American  churches,  has  writ- 
ten very  little  for  publication.  Harpen^  a  hymn-book  pub- 
lished by  him  and  L.  Lund,  has  had  a  large  sale,  seventeen 


BI06RAPHIKS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         209 

editions  having  been  exhausted.  In  1893  Hoyme  published 
SnlooneUy  a  strong  invective  against  the  saloon,  and  fifteen 
thousand  copies  of  the  book  wrere  disposed  of  in  a  few  weeks. 
In  1874  he  was  married  to  Mrs.  Ida  Othelia  Olsen,  of  Duluth. 
Johnson,  John  A.,  state  senator  and  manufacturer — 
Madison — bom  15  Apr.,  1832,  near  Skien,  Norway.  He 
came  to  America  in  1844  with  his  parents,  who  settled  in 
Walworth  county,  Wis.,  but  a  few  years  later  removed  to 
Pleasant  Spring,  Dane  county.  Young  Johnson  began  the 
battle  of  life  at  the  early  age  of  twelve.  His  educational  ad- 
vantages were  rather  meager ;  but  by  dint  of  untiring  efforts, 
guided  by  a  decidedly  practical  turn  of  mind,  he  not  only 
made  steady  progress  in  his  purely  practical  work,  but  also 
acquired  a  considerable  amonut  of  theoretical  knowledge. 
In  1861  he  settled  at  Madison,  and  was  dealing  in  farm- 
ing machinery  for  the  next  few  years ;  and  in  1881  began  to 
manufacture  the  same  kind  of  goods  as  he  had  been  trading 
in,  by  organi2ing  the  manufacturing  firm  of  Fuller  &  John- 
son. A  little  later  he  was  also  the  chief  organizer  of  the 
Groutholdt  machine  company,  and  has  always  been  presi- 
dent of  these  two  enterprises,  which  now  give  employment 
to  about  three  hundred  men  the  year  around.  The  farming 
machinery  turned  out  by  the  former  company  is  sold  chiefly 
in  the  Northwest,  while  the  turret  lathes  manufactured  by 
the  latter  are  largely  shipped  to  the  East.  Johnson  is  one  of 
the  very  few  Norwegian  Americans  who  are  engaged  in  man- 
ufacturing enterprises  on  a  large  scale.  Though  the  business 
enterprises  over  whose  destinies  Johnson  presides  are  so  ex- 
tensive as  to  actually  furnish  employment  to  the  bulk  of  the 
laboring  people  of  his  city,  he  has  also  found  time  for  prac- 


212  HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

culture  and  scientific  researches.  Necessity  tied  his  hands  to 
the  plow  and  hoe,  while  mind  and  disposition  were  fastened 
upon  flowers,  birds,  and  insects.  A  fine  herbarium,  and  a 
not  inconsiderable,  though  on  account  of  limited  space, 
somewhat  confused,  ornithological  cabinet  testified  to 
greater  activity  as  a  naturalist  than  as  a  farmer."  Ulti- 
mately, he  found  it  more  profitable  to  rent  out  his  farm  and 
to  devote  himself  exclusively  to  the  care  of  his  garden  and  to 
his  favorite  studies.  In  addition  to  a  thorough  scientific 
education,  he  possessed  also  an  unusual  skill  in  taxidermy, 
which  enabled  him  to  procure  some  additional  income.  At 
last,  several  scientific  associations  in  the  Eastern  states  had 
their  attention  drawn  to  the  young  naturalist,  who  had 
concealed  himself  from  the  eyes  of  the  world  in  an  insigni- 
ficant cottage  in  the  western  wilderness.  During  the  first 
twenty  years  after  his  arrival  at  Koshkonong,  he  was 
engaged  in  making  collections  in  many  branches  of  natural 
history  for  several  large  museums,  both  in  Europe  and  in 
this  country.  Among  the  institutions  whose  collections  he 
thus  enriched,  are  the  celebrated  museums  in  Stockholm  and 
Leyden,  the  British  Museum  in  London,  and  the  Smith- 
sonian Institute,  in  Washington,  D.  C.  In  1867  he  was 
called  to  a  position  as  instructor  in  botany  and  zoology  in 
Albion  Academy,  Albion,  Wis.,  remaining  for  a  few  years. 
Later  he  was  employed  in  forming  and  arranging  collections 
for  the  state  normal  schools  and  the  State  University.  From 
1883  to  the  time  of  his  death  he  held  the  position  of  conser- 
vator at  the  Public  Museum  in  Milwaukee.  Kumlien 
received  several  honorary  degrees  firom  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, and  was  corresponding  member  of  various  scientific 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  213 

societies  in  Europe  and  America.  On  account  of  his  modest 
and  reserved  disposition,  he  was  averse  to  parading  his  own 
superior  attainments  before  the  public.  Consequently,  very- 
few  of  his  valuable  observations  have  been  published,  and 
he  himself  has  remained  almost  unknown  to  the  world, 
while  others  have  succeeded  in  acquiring  both  fame  and 
honors,  though  not  so  well  equipped  either  intellectually  or 
morally.  A  friend  and  colleague,  writing  shortly  after  the 
death  of  Kumlien,  gives  the  following  estimate  of  his  char- 
acter:  **  Mr.  Kumlien  was  no  narrow  man.  He  was  passion- 
ately fond  of  painting,  music,  and  poetry.  I  have  heard 
him  repeat,  with  a  glow  of  delight,  verses  from  Runeberg 
and  from  Tegner's  Frithiofs  Saga,  rendering  the  wonderful 
rhythm  of  the  latter  with  exquisite  grace  and  precision.  He 
was  a  man  of  most  refined  tastes,  without  any  of  the  extra- 
vagant desires  which  such  tastes  often  engender.  He  w^as 
satisfied  to  live  most  simply  a  iile  w^hich  philosophers  might 
envy.  Higher  than  his  intellectual  accomplishments  rose  his 
moral  qualities.  The  leading  features  of  his  character  w^ere 
harmlessness  and  truthfulness.''  Two  of  his  children  sur- 
vived him,  one  of  whom,  Ludwig  Kumlien,  is  professor  in 
Milton  College,  Milton,  Wis. 

Lang^land,  Knud,  pioneer  and  journalist — Milwaukee — 
bom  27  Oct.,  1813,  in  Samnanger,  Bergen  stift,  Norway; 
died  8  Feb.,  1888.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  lost  his  father, 
and  a  little  later  was  forced  to  begin  to  make  a  living  on  his 
own  account.  His  school  facilities  were  of  a  very  inferior 
g^ade;  but  by  availing  himself  of  every  means  within  reach, 
he  acquired  more  knowledge  than  his  comrades.  For  gen- 
erations past  Langeland's  ancestors  had  been  of  an  inde- 


214  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.    S. 

pendent  turn  of  mind,  and  he  himself  was  a  chip  of  the  old 
block  in  that  respect.  Thus,  according  to  his  autobiography, 
when  the  sons  of  the  pastor  and  the  government  officials  of 
his  neighborhood  made  fun  of  the  ragged  clothes  he  w^as 
compelled  to  wear  in  his  early  teens,  he  wept  and  sw^ore  and 
was  offended.  In  comparing  his  fate  with  that  of  the  upper 
classes,  he  says:  "This  painful  question,  like  the  sharp  steel, 
forced  its  way  to  my  young  heart.  What  have  I  done,  and 
what  have  these  people  done,  to  create  such  a  difference 
between  us?"  At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  learned  German,  his 
only  means  of  instruction  being  a  German  Bible  which  he 
compared  with  the  Norwegian  Bible;  and  in  spite  of  the 
protestations  of  the  other  members  of  the  family,  he  began 
to  extend  his  field  of  knowledge,  without,  however,  having 
any  distinct  purpose  in  view.  He  was  impelled  by  a  natural 
inclination,  and  proceeded  to  Bergen,  where  he  continued  his 
studies  under  the  guidance  of  a  young  student.  Having 
taken  a  six  months'  course,  he  was  appointed  public  school 
teacher  and  precentor  in  a  settlement  near  his  birthplace. 
Here  Langeland  worked  very  faithfiilly  and  with  signal  suc- 
cess, and  he  alw^ays  looked  back  upon  this  time  as  one  of  the 
happiest  of  his  life.  "In  a  life  so  lull  of  vicissitudes,  of  joys 
and  sorrows,  of  happiness  and  misfortune,"  he  says,  "there 
is  nothing  else  in  my  past  life  which  affords  me  so  much  joy 
and  comfort  as  the  memories  from  this  time."  His  income 
the  first  year  was  about  $11.00 ;  but  his  position  as  precen- 
tor and  sexton  gave  the  people  of  the  parish  an  opportunity 
to  testify  to  their  great  satisfaction  with  his  services  by 
giving  him  larger  collections  on  Sundays  and  holidays,  and 
his  annual  income  more  than  doubled  in  a  couple  of  years. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         215 

Kt  the  early  age  of  twenty  he  was  also  appointed  public 
vaccinator,  and  for  several  years  his  time  was  spent  in 
teaching  in  winter  and  vaccinating  children  in  smnmer.  As 
impoitant  incidents  from  this  time  may  be  mentioned  that 
he  spent  several  months  in  England,  in  1835,  on  which  occa- 
sion he  made  a  return  trip  by  rail  from  Newcastle  to  Shields; 
and  that  later  he  was  awarded  a  prize  as  the  best  teacher 
in  the  fifteen  school  districts  of  the  parish.  One  of  the  most 
discouraging  experiences  of  Langeland  as  an  educator  was 
his  attempt  to  establish  a  parish  library.  Having  raised 
about  $100  for  that  purpose,  he  was  authorized  to  make  a 
selection  of  books.  The  list  of  the  books  shows  that  they 
were  all  of  an  educational,  scientific,  or  practical  character. 
But  a  few  bigots  succeeded  in  making  the  people  believe 
that  the  books  were  detrimental  to  religion  and  morality, 
and  no  end  of  abuse  was  heaped  upon  the  head  of  Lange- 
land, the  soul  of  the  undertaking.  Almanakmanden  was  the 
most  offensive  book  in  the  lot  because  it  was  supposed  to 
contradict  Joshua,  X,  13:  "And  the  sun  stood  still."  The 
library  was  continued,  but  the  stir  which  it  had  created 
henceforth  hampered  Langeland  somewhat  in  his  work,  and 
after  a  seven  years'  service  as  a  public  educator  in  general, 
and  an  official  teacher  in  particular,  he  resigned  and  became 
interested  in  a  fishing  smack.  As  to  his  success  in  this  busi- 
ness, suffice  it  to  say  that  whatever  profits  he  made  in  one 
year,  were  generally  lost  the  next  year,  and  in  1843  he  gave 
it  up  as  a  failure  and  emigrated  to  America,  following  in  the 
wake  of  a  brother,  Mons  A.  Adland,  who  had  left  Norway 
in  1837,  with  the  first  emigrant  vessel  that  sailed  from 
Bergen,  and  on  which  was  also  the  well-known  Ole  Rynning. 


216         HISTORY  OP  THB  8CA1IDINAVIAN8  IN  THB  V.  ^ 

Langeland  made  his'fixst  home  at  YoikYilk  Prairie,  Wis.; 
but  in  1845  he  settled  in  the  southern  part  of  Cokmihia 
county,  and  was  one  of  the  fotrndem  of  the  proi^erofis  lior- 
wegian  settlement  of  that  locality.  He  sold  out  his  claim 
and  returned  to  Radne'cotrnty  in  1846,  and  in  the  coiaxse  of 
the  next  few  years  made  himself  conspicnons  by  supptnUng 
everything  that  would  tend  to  promote  the  prosperity  of  the 
YorkYille  settlement.  In  1849  he  bought  the  outfit  of  Nord- 
lysety  the  first  Norwegian  paper  in  America,  and,  in  company 
with  Rev.  0.  J.  Hatlestad,  began  to  publish  it  at  Radne. 
The  name  of  the  paper  was  changed  to  Demokraten^  because 
the  Democrats  had  poked  fan  at  it  and  called  it  'a  will-o-the- 
wisp  that  led  the  Norwegians  into  the  morasses  of  the  Free 
Soil  party.'  The  paper  at  one  time  had  about  300  sub- 
scriberis,  but  its  publication  had  to  be  suspended  the  next 
year  for  lack  of  fimds.  Shortly  afterwards  Langeland  began 
to  print  MaanedstidendCy  and  in  1852  removed  to  Janes- 
ville,  Wis.,  but  shortly  afterwards  sold  out  his  printing  out- 
fit. He  now  spent  some  time  on  his  farm  at  YorkviUe.  In 
1856  he  was  engaged  as  editor  of  Den  Norske  Amenkaner^ 
at  Madison,  Wis.  The  owner  of  the  paper,  Elias  Stange- 
land,  however,  wanted  to  support  Buchanan  for  president, 
while  Langeland  was  an  implacable  anti-slavery  man,  and 
Langeland  resigned,  thus  proving  himself  more  of  a  man 
than  the  average  American  editor.  The  paper  met  with 
little  or  no  sympathy  among  the  readers,  and  soon  died  for 
lack  of  support.  In  1860  Langeland  was  elected  to  a  seat 
in  the  state  assembly,  and  his  most  noteworthy  effort  as  a 
legislator  was  the  introduction  and  successfiil  engineering 
of  a  bill  by  which  2,500  acres  of  state  swamp  land  located 


IIKV.  GJKItMrND  HOYME.  HAU  Cr.AIRE. 


I 


218         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

country.  "The  large  Republican  majorities  have  brought 
unscrupulous  politicians  to  the  front,"  he  says,  "and  a  little 
independence  on  the  part  of  the  voters  is  in  its  place — ^nay,  it 
is  the  very  essence  of  voting."  Langeland's  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence remained  unimpaired  to  the  very  last,  ample  proof 
of  which  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  a  few  months  before 
his  death  he  publicly  defended  the  much-abused  Prohibition 
party.  The  year  after  his  death  Skandinaven  published  his 
book  Nordmaendene  i  Amerika.  This  work  contains  some 
valuable  information  in  regard  to  the  Norwegian  immigra- 
tion, the  first  settlements,  and  the  early  Norwegian-Ameri- 
can press ;  but,  on  the  whole,  it  is  more  of  an  autobiography 
of  Knud  Langeland  than  a  history  of  the  Norwegians ;  and 
it  would,  perhaps,  never  have  appeared  in  its  present  form,  if 
Langeland  had  lived  to  edit  it.  Langeland  was  married  to 
Anna  Hatlestad,  who  is  a  native  of  Skjold,  Kristiansand 
stift,  Norway,  and  is  now  living  at  Milwaukee.  They  had 
nine  children,  five  of  whom  are  still  living.  Among  these 
may  be  mentioned  Peter  Langland,  who  is  practicing  medi- 
cine in  Milwaukee,  and  James,  who  is  on  the  editorial  staff 
of  the  Chicago  Record. 

Nattestad,01e  K.,  pioneer— Clinton— bom  24  Dec.,  1807, 
in  Veggli,  Elristiania  stift,  Norway;  died  28  May,  1886. 
While  a  young  man  he  tried  his  hand  at  farming  and  black- 
smithing;  but,  upon  seeing  that  even  his  best  efforts  did  not 
enable  him  to  save  anything  for  the  future,  he  decided  to 
emigrate ;  and  in  1837,  in  company  with  his  brother  Ansten, 
went  to  America  by  way  of  Gothenburg,  Sweden.  Natte- 
stad,  or  Natesta,  as  he  spelt  his  name  in  this  country,  had 
first  heard  of  America  while  on  a  visit  to  Stavanger.    He 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         219 

Spent  the  first  winter  at  Beaver  Creek,  111.;  but  settled  at 
Clinton,  Wis.,  1  July,  1838,  being,  as  far  as  is  known,  the 
first  Norwegian  settler  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin.  Here  he 
spent  the  rest  of  his  life  as  a  quiet  and  unassuming,  but  very- 
prosperous  farmer.  His  children  received  a  good  education, 
and  several  of  them  are  prominent  and  respected  members 
of  the  communities  in  which  they  reside. 
•     Nielsen,  Andreas  Sixtus,  clergyman— Withee— -bom  6 

Apr.,  1832,  in  Aalborg,  Denmark.  His  school  advantages  in 

• 

his  boyhood  appear  to  have  been  very  limited.  In  his 
younger  days  he  spent  a  couple  of  years  in  Norway,  where 
he  became  interested  in  a  religious  movement ;  returned  to 
his  native  land ;  bought  a  small  farm  and  engaged  in  agri- 
cultural  pursuits ;  and  began  as  a  layman  in  1866  to  lead 
religious  meetings  in  Vendsyssel,  where  he  lived.  During 
his  travel  as  an  itinerant  missionary,  he  came  in  contact 
with  several  clergymen  who  called  his  attention  to  the  fact 
that  a  committee,  called  Udvalget,  had  been  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  among 
the  Danes  in  America,  and  the  pastors  advised  Nielsen  to  go 
to  the  Western  world  and  become  a  minister.  After  having, 
at  the  age  of  thirty-nine,  attended  a  high  school  for  one 
winter,  he,  in  company  with  a  clergyman,  Grove  Rasmussen, 
set  sail  for  America  in  1871  with  the  intention  of  taking  a 
view  of  the  field  of  his  future  labor.  He  landed  in  Cedar 
Falls,  Iowa,  where  he  became  pastor  of  a  Danish  Lutheran 
congregation,  which  had  been  organized  by  Rev.  C.  L. 
Clausen  a  short  time  previously.  Before  accepting  the  pas- 
torage,  however,  Nielsen  returned  to  Denmark  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  his  family  with  him,  and  in  order  to  be 


220         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

ordained.  As  a  matter  of  historical  curiosity  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  Nielsen  had  the  Danish  consul  in  Chicago 
indorse  the  letter  written  by  five  members  of  the  congrega 
tion  in  Cedar  Falls  to  Udvalget  in  Denmark,  in  which  letter 
they  requested  Udvalget  to  ordain  Nielsen  as  their  pastor. 
The  incident  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  futile 
attempts,  often  mdulged  in,  of  bringing  the  western  pioneere 
under  the  control,  or  at  least  under  the  influence,  of  the 
state  church  machinery  of  some  European  country.  Nielsen, 
however,  was  not  Ordained  in  his  native  land,  his  time  and 
education  being  too  limited.  But  Udvalget  did  recommend 
that  he  shotdd  be  ordained  by  Rev.  Clausen  in  accordance 
with  the  Danish  rituals,  which  was  done.  He  remained  in 
Cedar  Falls  for  eight  years,  going  through  the  usual  hard- 
ships of  pioneer  life,  his  salary  being  only  three  or  four 
hundred  dollars  a  year.  He  was  pastor  in  Chicago  for  four- 
teen years,  and  has  since  resided  at  his  present  place,  where 
he  organized  a  new  congregation.  His  influence  upon  the 
Danish  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America  has  been 
great,  most  of  its  pastors  having  been  ordained  by  him.  BUs 
services  have  been  recognized  not  only  by  his  fiiends,  but 
also  by  his  opponents,  and  even  on  the  other  side  of  the 
water,  for  in  1896  the  king  of  Denmark  made  him  a  knight 
of  the  order  of  Daneborg  as  a  recognition  of  the  meritorious 
work  he  had  done  among  the  Danes  in  this  country.  In 
1858  he  was  married,  and  he  has  eight  children. 

Preus,  Herman  Amberg,  clergyman  and  pioneer — ^Mor- 
risonville — ^born  16  June,  1825,  in  Kristiansand,  Norway 
died  2  July,  1894,  at  Lee,  111.    His  ancestors  were  Germans, 
the  earliest  known  being  Hans  Preus,  a  rich  estate  owner. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.        221 

liYing  at  Eisfeldt,  Sachsen-Meinigen ;  and  this  man's  son 
settled  in  Norway  about  the  year  1700.  Preus's  grand- 
father was  a  Lutheran  clergyman;  his  father,  a  college 
president;  and  his  mother,  a  member  of  the  illustrious 
Keyser  family.  He  received  a  fine  preparatory  education  at 
home,  and  spent  the  years  184?3-48  at  the  University  of 
Norway,  receiving  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  184?3,  and  that  of 
can.  theol.  in  1848.  The  next  three  years  were  devoted  to 
teaching  in  the  capital.  In  1851  he  accepted  a  call  as  pastor 
from  three  churches  in  the  vicinity  of  Spring  Prairie,  Dane 
and  Columbia  counties,  Wis.,  and  was  ordained  before  leav- 
ing for  the  New  World.  Upon  his  arrival  at  Spring  Prairie 
there  were  no  church  buildings,  and  he  had  to  enter  upon  his 
work  as  a  minister  by  preaching  in  small  log  cabins  which 
often  were  literally  packed,  while  occasionally  a  large  num- 
ber of  people  had  to  stand  outside  the  open  doors  and 
windows  during  the  services.  Being  a  hard  worker,  Preus 
soon  extended  his  field  of  activity  far  beyond  the  original 
charge.  He  thus  preached  in  numerous  places  within  a 
radius  of  fifty  miles,  and  often  he  would  preach  at  places 
located  over  one  hundred  miles  from  his  home.  It  has  been 
estimated  that  his  travels  averaged  3,500  miles  a  year  for 
several  years  before  there  were  any  railroads  in  that  part  of 
the  country.  During  this  pioneer  period  Preus  preached 
once  or  twice  every  day,  or  at  least  once  every  other  day. 
His  qualifications  soon  assigned  to  him  a  prominent  posi- 
tion in  the  Lutheran  church  of  America.  On  4  January, 
1851,  a  few  ministers  and  lay  delegates  had  organized  a 
union  of  Norwegian  Lutheran  churches.  But  the  constitu- 
tion agreed  upon  contained  a  few  words  referring  to  bap- 


222         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

tism  in  such  a  way  as  to  favor  Grundtvigianism^  and  Preus 
became  very  active  in  endeavoring  to  persuade  the  contract* 
ing  parties  to  dissolve  the  organization,  in  order  to  get 
wholly  rid   of  this    **  leaven  of  Grundtvigianism^^  which 
akeady  had  caused  some  trouble.    Accordingly,  the  or^^ani- 
zation  was  dissolved  in  1852,  and  Preus  was  one  of  the 
seven  ministers  who  participated  in  the  organization  of  the 
Norwegian  Lutheran  Synod  of  America  on  5  Feb.,  1853.  At 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  synod  in  1854,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  executive  committee,  and  since  that  date  till 
his  death  forty  years  later,  he  was  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent and  influential  men  in  the  synod.   Preus,  Laur.  Larscn, 
V.  U.  Koren,  and  J.  A.  Ottesen  have  justly  been  called  the 
"  venerable  fathers "  of  the  Norwegian  Synod;  and  Rev.  A. 
Bredesen  says,  "If  any  one  man,  before  all  others,  deserves 
to  be  designated  as  the  Patriarch  of  our  church  in  America, 
that  man  is  Herman  Amberg  Preus."    But  Preus  w^as  not 
such  a  successful  organizer  and  leader  among  the  Norwe- 
gian-American Lutherans,  as,  for  instance,  Muhlenberg  was 
among  the  Germans,  or  Hasselquist  among  the  Swedes. 
Preus  was  too  inflexible  and  conservative  to  adapt  himself 
to  the  new  conditions  in  the  New  World,  even  in  cases  when 
it  is  difficult  to  understand  how  the  doctrine  and  practice  of 
pure  Lutheranism  would  have  suffered  by  yielding  a  little. 
He  was  too  frank  to  practice  what  may  be  called  diplomacy 
or  policy.    His  unrelenting  conservatism  has  always  to  a 
great  extent  characterized  the  Norwegian  Synod  up  to  the 
present  time;  and  that  organization  has  largely  on  this 
account  been  forced  to  participate  in  many  religious  contro* 
versies,  which  have  resulted  in  schisms  and  direct  loss  to  the 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDIXAYIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         223 

synod.  Yet  this  very  conservatism  has  not  been  without  its 
bright  sides.  It  has  counterbalanced  the  anarchistic  ten- 
ency,  often  misnamed  freedom,  which  a  new  country  is 
always  subject  to,  not  only  religiously,  but  also  socially, 
politically,  and  financially.  The  original  loose  organization 
of  EUing  Eielsen's  Samfitnd  has,  for  example,  in  later  years 
developed  into  the  more  stable  Hauge's  Synod,  as  a  direct 
result  of  the  conservative  influence  which  the  Norwegian 
Synod  has  exercised  upon  that  body.  Among  all  the  promi- 
nent Scandinavian- American  pioneers,  it  is  quite  difficult  to 
find  a  man  that  was  more  conservative  than  Preus ;  and 
this  characteristic  to  hold  on  to  what  is  old  and  stable, 
constitutes  a  double  virtue  in  an  age  when  change,  for  either 
good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  is  the  ruling  passion  of  mankind. 
Realizing  the  power  of  the  press,  he  devoted  much  time  to 
the  publication  of  Kirkelig  Maanedstidende^  the  organ  of 
the  synod,  and  was  appointed  editorin-chief  of  it  in  1859, 
discharging  his  duty  as  such  during  the  next  nine  years.  In 
1862  he  was  elected  president  of  the  synod,  and  so  satis- 
factory were  his  services  in  this  capacity  that  he  was 
re-elected  at  every  subsequent  meeting  as  long  as  he  lived. 
He  was  a  strong  man ;  but  his  endurance  was  often  severely 
tested.  Says  a  personal  friend  of  his:  "When  he  had  to 
travel  day  after  day  he  would  sit  up  and  work  half  of  the 
night,  and  yet  the  next  day  be  as  vivacious  as  ever  in 
preaching  or  debating,  or  presiding  at  some  large  meeting." 
In  the  early  seventies  he  traveled  several  thousand  miles  a 
year,  and  in  one  year  he  covered  no  less  than  eight  thousand 
miles.  The  division  of  the  synod  into  three  districts,  in 
1876,  relieved  him  of  a  part  of  the  burdens  which  had 


224         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.   S. 

become  too  onorous  for  almost  any  one  man.  His  fine 
physique  and  his  frankness  won  the  sympathy  of  the  people, 
and  his  earnestness  and  sincerity  inspired  thinking  men  and 
women  with  confidence.  Hence,  it  is  no  wonder  that  so 
many  people  yet  speak  in  a  strain  of  touching  tenderness 
about  "  Old  Preus."  His  character  was  a  rare  combination 
of  gentleness  and  firmness.  Even  his  physiognomy  was 
striking,  and  it  is  claimed  that  Prof.  Walther,  of  St.  LotdSy 
upon  first  seeing  him,  exclaimed :  **  A  determined  man;  he 
will  make  his  mark.''  He  was  rather  slow  in  making  up  his 
mind,  but  did  not  often  recede  from  a  position  he  had  once 
taken.  On  the  other  hand,  his  heart  was  highly  responsive 
to  the  sufferings  of  his  fellow-men,  and  his  generosity  was 
more  than  ordinary.  Experience  had  taught  him  the 
diflSculty  of  building  up  churches  in  new  settlements,  and 
throughout  his  career  as  president  of  the  synod  lie  was  par- 
ticularly solicitous  about  the  needs  of  the  frontier  missions. 
Another  marked  feature  of  his  great  life-work  was  his 
untiring  efforts  to  give  the  people  of  the  synod  a  thorough 
and  Christian  education,  by  means  of  parochial  schools.  In 
1866  he  expressed  himself  on  that  subject  as  folio w^s:  **It 
is  our  endeavor  to  arrange  our  parochial  schools  so  that  the 
English  common  schools  may  become  superfluous  to  our 
church  members.  This,  of  course,  can  only  be  accomplished 
by  taking  up  such  branches  in  the  parochial  schools  as  are 
taught  in  the  English  schools.  It  involves  many  diflicultiesy 
but  we  must  work  with  this  purpose  in  view."  And  again 
in  1893:  "Strive  with  all  your  might  to  build  up  good 
parochial  schools !  Try  earnestly  to  give  your  children  a 
Christian  education  I    The  growth  of  the  Lutheran  church, 


.  PKKi:s,  MORRISONVILLE. 


[!•  i.am;i:i.am>.  Mii.WArKKK. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         225 

nay  its  very  existence,  largely  depends  upon  this ;  for  the 
fature  belongs  to  the  rising  generation."  His  personal  con- 
tributions  to  the  schools  of  the  synod  were  comparatively 
large,  and  the  example  thus  afforded  undoubtedly  has  had 
something  to  do  with  the  fact  that  the  S3mod  has  done 
more  for  the  cause  of  education  than  all  the  other  Norwe- 
gian church  organizations  in  the  country  combined.  Preus 
was  a  Lutheran  of  the  old  school.  Indeed,  the  following 
expressions  from  his  report  to  the  synod  in  1893,  remind 
one  strikingly  of  the  very  language  of  Martin  Luther 
himself:  "At  this  moment  an  exceedingly  dangerous 
tendency  pervades  nearly  all  Christian  denominations 
in  the  world.  It  may  not  be  the  aim  of  the  leaders  and 
their  followers,  but  it  is  the  aim  of  the  originator  of 
this  tendency,  Satan,  the  deceiver,  to  get  rid  of  the 
absolute,  divine  authority,  by  rejecting  the  biblical  doctrine 
of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures/*  Having  reviewed  this 
tendency  in  the  great  Protestant  churches  in  America  and 
Europe,  he  continues:  "We  see  the  error  threatening  our 
very  lives,  and  the  spiritual  atmosphere  surrounding  our 
church  people  is  full  of  its  poisonous  microbes.  The  Scrip- 
tures are  subjected  to  the  judgment  of  the  reason,  and  doc- 
trines of  men  take  the  place  of  the  divine  articles  of  faith. 
The  foundation  of  Christianity  and  of  Holy  Writ,  which  is 
the  Prophets  and  the  Apostles,  with  Christ  as  the  chief 
comer-stone,  is  thus  undermined,  justification  by  faith  alone 
becomes  a  problem,  divine  certainty  of  faith  yields  to  uncer- 
tainty and  doubt,  and  the  sinner  is  deprived  of  his  consola- 
tion and  peace."  The  Catholics  also  received  some  atten- 
tion in  the  same  report:     "The  Catholic  church  stretches 


226         HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

forth  its  arms  for  prey.    Its  eflforts   to   get   the   cotnxnon 
schools  into  its  clutches  are  well  known ;  in  direct  violation 
of  the  constitution  it  appropriates  the  money  of  the  state 
for  its  church  schools,  and  struggles  for  the  acqtdsition  of 
political  power,  in  order  to  utilize  it  in  the  service  of  the 
Papal  church.    Woe  to  the  Protestant  churches  if  it  suc- 
ceeds!   For  still  the  Papal  church  thirsts  for  the  blood  of 
'heretics!'  "    The  materialism  of  this  age  is  sized  up  thus: 
"Last  but  not  least,  the  synod  will  faithfully  testify  against 
the   increasing  worldiness,  pursuit  of  riches,  and  love  of 
pleasure.    Our  age  is  materialistic,  it  wants  something^  for 
the  eyes,  something   tangible.    Here  is  the  greatest    dan- 
ger that  the  church  may  become  secularized."    These  expres- 
sions were  not  dictated  by  any  policy  whatsoever.    Thqr 
sprung  from  the  intense  conviction  of  a  cultured,  intelligent, 
and  singularly  sincere  man.    Hence  they  give  us,  brief  as 
they  are,  a  reliable  insight  into  the  working  of  his  mind* 
Such  a  man  as  Preus  naturally  found  himself  surrounded  bj 
true  and  trusty  followers,  whose  devotion  made  life's  ardu* 
ous  task  less  irksome.    The  great  bulk  of  his  parishioners 
looked  up  to  him  as   a  respect-inspiring,   yet  loving  and 
tender  father.    His  family  relations  were  the  most  beauti- 
ful and  happy.    On  the  other  hand,  his  life  was  not  with- 
out streaks  of  shadow.    During  the  eighties  the  synod  was 
rent  in  twain  by  doctrainal  controversies.  This  was  brought 
home  to  him  in  a  particularly  painful  manner.    On  Good 
Friday,  in  the  spring  of  1883,  a  majority  of  the  Norway 
Grove  congregation  which  he  had  served  as  pastor  for  thirty 
years,  deposed  him  because  he  refused  to  subscribe  uncon- 
ditionally to  resolutions  adopted  by  said  majority.     Upon 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.  227 

receiving  the  news  he  said:  **Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do."  According  to  Prof.  L.  Larsen, 
however,  something  worried  Preus  still  more  than  these 
reverses.  Said  Larsen  at  the  dedication  of  the  East  Kosh- 
konong  Pioneer  Monument  10  Oct.,  1894:  "The  man  who 
by  right  ought  to  have  dedicated  this  monument,  the  man 
who  for  thirty-two  years  was  the  president  of  our  synod,  but 
who  last  summer  entered  the  rest  of  his  Lord,  throughout 
his  whole  life-work  complained  of  nothing  so  much  as  of  the 
negligence  w^hich  we  have  manifested  in  regard  to  the  Chris- 
tian schooling  of  our  children.'*  Preus  has  written  a  large 
number  of  contributions  to  the  organ  of  the  synod.  Syv 
Foredrag  over  de  kirkelige  Forbolde  blandt  de  Norske  i 
Amerikay  144  pages,  published  in  1867;  and  OftedaPs  og 
Weenaas's  Wisconsinisme,  146  pages,  published  in  1876,  are 
valuable  contributions  to  the  history  of  the  Norwegian- 
American  Lutheran  churches.  He  made  visits  to  Norway  in 
1866-67  and  in  1888-89.  On  the  former  occasion  he  deliv- 
ered the  seven  lectures  mentioned  above,  thereby  arousing 
renewed  interest  in  American  church  affairs  among  the  Nor- 
wegians. He  albo  officiated  at  the  funeral  of  his  youngest 
sister  and  that  of  his  father,  the  latter  having  reached  the 
age  of  eighty-eight  years.  In  the  spring  of  1876  his  silver 
wedding  was  remembered  by  a  few  old  friends  who  gathered 
at  his  house ;  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  the  twentj'^-fiflh 
anniversary  of  his  entering  upon  the  service  as  a  minister  of 
the  gospel,  was  fittingly  celebrated  by  a  large  concourse  of 
people  in  a  grove  near  his  home ;  and  in  June,  1887,  at  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  synod,  at  Stoughton,  Wis.,  a  great 
number  of  his  friends  devoted  one  evening  to  a  commemora- 


228         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.  8. 

tion  of  the  work  accomplished  by  him  during  the  t-wenty-fivc 
years  he  had  served  as  president  of  the  synod.  On  this  occa^ 
sion  he  was  the  recipient  of  a  valuable  present  fi:t>xn  his 
brethren  in  the  ministry.    He  was  married  in  1851  to  Caro- 
line Dorthea  Margrethe  Keyser,of  Klristiania,  Norway,  who 
died  in  1880.    She  was  an  accomplished  lady,  and  equally 
shares  the  honor  with  her  husband  of  having  brought  up 
children  who  are  an  ornament  to  the  Norwegian-Americans: 
Rev.  C.  K.  Preus,  Rev.  J.  W.  Preus,Mrs.  Rev.  I.  Nordby,  and 
Mrs.  Rev.  Dan.  Kvaase.  The  remains  of  Rev.  H.  A.  Preus  and 
his  wife  rest  in  the  Spring  Prairie  cemetery,  at  Keyser,  Wis. 
Steensland,  Halle»  vice-consul  of  Sweden  and  Norway — 
Madison — ^bom  4  June,  1832,  in  Sandeid,  near  Stavanger, 
Norway.    His  father,  who  was  a  farmer,  for  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  held  the  position  of  non-commissioned 
oflScer  in  the  Norwegian  army.    At  the  early  age  of  twelve, 
young   Steensland   gave   indication  of  that  spirit  of  self- 
reliance  which  has  characterized  his  later  life,  by  leaving  his 
parental  homestead  and  entering  the  battle  of  life  on  his  own 
account.    He  first  hired  out  as  a  farm  hand;  this  occupa- 
tion, however,  being  neither  pleasant  nor  remunerative,  he 
obtained  a  position  as  clerk  in  a  store  in  Stavanger.    But  in 
the  long  run  this  position  did  not  suit  the  ambitious  young 
man,  and  in  1854  he  left  for  America,  arriving  in  Chicago 
with  less  than  ten  dollars  in  his  pocket.    He  proceeded  to 
Wisconsin  the  same  year,  and  since  the  spring  of  1855  has 
been  a  resident  of  Madison.    The  record  of  Steensland  as  a 
business  man  for  nearly  half  a  century  past  is  bright,  indeed. 
Beginning  at  the  foot  of  the  scale,  as  clerk  in  a  store,  he 
soon  embarked  in  business  for  himself,  first  as  member  of  a 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.         229 

mercantile  firm,  and  afterwards  as  sole  owner  of  the  busi- 
ness.   In  1871  he  entered  upon  an  entirely  new  branch  of 
business  by  taking  an  active  part  in  organizing  the  Hekla 
Fire  Insurance  Company,  perhaps  the  first  enterprise  of  its 
kind  undertaken   by   Scandinavian-Americans.    Steensland 
was  the  first  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  company,  acting 
in  the  capacity  of  the  former  about  ten  years,  and  in  that  of 
the  latter  for  the  whole  period  of  eighteen  years  during  which 
he  was  connected  with  the  enterprise ;  and  served  also  as  its 
president  for  the  last  few  years  of  its  existence.    The  com- 
pany  was    started    with    a    nomifaal   paid-up   capital  of 
$25,000,  and  its  affairs  were  so  well  managed  that  in  1889 
the  company's  assets  amounted  to  nearly  half  a  million 
dollars ;  but  next  year  the  Hekla  was  transferred  to  other 
parties  and  moved  out  of  the  state.    Immediately  after  the 
consummation  of  this  deal  Steensland  organized  the  Savings 
Loan  and  Trust  Company  of  Madison,  the  paid-up  capital 
being  $100,000.    In  less  than  six  years  the  assets  of  this 
company  increased  to  over  $530,000.  Halle  Steensland  is  its 
president  and  treasurer,  and  his  son,  Edward  B.  Steensland, 
its  secretary.    From  the  above  it  will  be  seen  that  Steens- 
land, notwithstanding  the  limited  advantages  he  had  in  his 
early  life  as  to  education  and  opportunities  for  advance- 
ment, has  succeeded  not  only  in  acquiring  a  competency,  but 
has  built  up  for  himself  a  reputation  as  a  business  man 
of  high  rank.    In  1872  Steensland  was  appointed  to  the 
ofiice  of  vice-consul  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  and  has  filled 
that  position  with  signal  tact  and  ability',  and  to  the  entire 
satisfaction  of  his  fellow-citizens,  as  well  as  to  the  govern- 
ments of  Sweden  and  Norway.    In  this  connection  it  may  be 


230  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

mentioned  that  he  takes  pardonable  pleasure  in  an  inter* 
view  which  he  had  with  King  Oscar  11,  in  Norway,  in  1889, 
on  which  occasion  the  king  gave  him  a  very  cordial  recep- 
tion and,  as  a  special  mark  of  esteem,  created  him  a  knight 
of  the  Order  of  Vasa  in  1898.  Politically,  Steensland  has 
always  been  identified  with  the  Republican  party,  and  has 
taken  active  part  in  some  of  the  campaigns,  especially  that 
of  1884,  when  James  G.  Blaine  was  the  Republican  candidate 
for  president.  Steensland  and  family  belong  to  the  United 
Church,  and  he  has  served  as  member  of  the  board  of  tms- 
tees  of  said  body  since  1890.  In  the  summer  of  1895  he,  in 
company  with  a  son,  made  an  extensive  trip  through  the 
Mediterranean  countries  and  the  Orient,  and  an  account  ol 
his  travels,  which  he  sent  to  the  papers,  was  eagerly  read  bj 
thousands  of  people  in  this  country  and  Norway.  In  1857 
he  was  married  to  Sophia  Halvorson,  of  Madison,  and  their 
home  is  widely  noted  for  its  attractiveness  and  the  hospi- 
tality of  its  occupants.  Their  children  are  also  making  their 
mark :  Morten  M.  Is  a  graduate  of  Luther  College,  Decorah, 
Iowa,  and  of  the  Lutheran  theological  seminary  at  Phila- 
delphia, Pa.;  Edward  B.,  mentioned  above  as  secretary  ol 
the  Savings  Loan  and  Trust  Company,  and  Helen  A.  are  both 
graduates  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin;  Halbert  S.  is 
studying  medicine  at  Johns  Hopkins  University.  They  have 
also  two  other  sons,  Henry  H.  and  Adolph  E. 

Thorsen,  John,  pioneer  and  manufacturer — Milwaukee- 
bom  20  March,  1820,  in  Stavanger,  Norway.  He  received 
a  common  school  education,  and  at  the  age  of  fourteen  left 
his  native  city.  Having  made  several  voyages  on  the 
Baltic  and  Mediterranean  seas,  and  visited  the  East  and 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.        231 

West  Indies,  he  spent  two  years  on  the  coast  of  Norway. 
He  came  to  America  as  early  as  1838,  and  took  up  his  home 
in  Milwaukee  in  1844,  where  he  has  resided  ever  since.  In 
1895  he  returned  to  Norway  to  visit  his  native  land  after 
an  absence  of  sixty  years.  On  settling  in  Milwaukee  he 
commenced  as  a  ship  chandler,  and  continued  in  that  business 
tmtil  1868,  when  he  entered  the  lumber  business  in  Manistee, 
Mich.,  but  continued  to  reside  in  Milwaukee.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  to  discover  and  develop  the  large  salt  resources 
of  eastern  Michigan,  and  had  one  of  the  first  salt  blocks  in 
Manistee.  In  1895  he  sold  out  his  salt  and  lumber  business 
and  retired.  In  his  younger  days  he  was  a  great  oarsman, 
and  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  1856,  won  the  boat  race  in  Mil- 
waukee against  all  comers.  Early  in  the  sixties  a  large  ship 
with  a  number  of  people  on  board  was  wrecked  in  a  terrible 
storm  off  Milwaukee.  He  organized  a  life  saving  crew  and 
brought  one  boat-load  safely  ashore,  but  the  second  load  was 
not  so  fortunate,  the  boat  being  overturned  in  the  surf,  but 
with  the  heroic  exertion  of  those  on  shore,  all  were  saved. 
Thorsen,  however,  was  taken  home  in  an  insensible  condition, 
and  for  some  time  his  life  was  despaired  of.  He  has  been  one  of 
the  most  public  spirited  citizens  of  Milwaukee,  having  held 
many  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility ;  for  instance,  in  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Milwaukee  Club,  and  the  North- 
western National  Insurance  Company.  He  has  always  been 
an  enthusiastic  Republican,  but  would  never  accept  any 
political  office.  In  1849  he  was  married  in  Milwaukee  to 
Sarah  Kildahl,  of  Kristiansand,  Norway.  They  have  five 
children,  three  daughters  and  two  sons,  each  of  whom 
received  a  liberal  education.    Their  son,  William  R.,  is  a 


232  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIAKS  IN  THE  U.  8. 

large  manufacttirer  at  Manistee,  Mich.;  their  daughter 
Emma  is  married  to  an  English  merchant  in  Rio.de  Janeiro; 
and  the  others  are  residing  in  Milwaukee. 

Thrane,  Markus,  radical  agitator  and  writer — aBu 
Claire — ^born  14  Oct.,  1817,  near  Kristiania,  Norway;  died 
30  April,  1890.  He  received  a  college  education,  and  g^radu- 
ated  from  the  University  of  Norway,  and  he  afterwards 
carried  on  a  private  school  at  Lillehammer.  During  a  short 
stay  in  France,  the  liberal  movement  agitating  the  masses 
of  that  country  made  a  powerful  impression  upon  his 
liberty-loving  mind,  and  upon  his  return  to  Norway  he 
became  the  champion  of  a  similar  movement  there.  The 
movement  culminated  in  the  Revolution  of  1848,  which 
swept  western  Europe  in  the  course  of  a  few  months.  His 
paper,  ArbeiderfoTeningemes  Blad,  soon  reached  a  circula- 
tion of  40,000,  and  for  a  time  no  name  was  more  frequently 
mentioned  throughout  Norway  than  that  of  Markus  Thrane. 
His  demands  seem  eminently  reasonable  and  moderate  at 
the  present  time ;  but  they  were  so  far  ahead  of  the  age  that 
Thrane  was  made  to  suffer  for  his  labors  in  the  interest  of 
human  progress.  He  was  finally  arrested,  and  though  his 
followers  seemed  both  willing  and  able  to  liberate  their 
leader,  he  dissuaded  them  from  doing  so,  believing  that  the 
authorities  would  dismiss  him  in  a  few  days.  In  this  he 
was  mistaken,  however,  and  he  had  to  remain  four  years  in 
jail,  and  afterwards  three  years  in  the  penitentiary. 
Thoroughly  disgusted  with  a  government  that  was  capable 
of  perpetrating  such  an  outrage  against  an  honest  man,  he 
emigrated  to  America  in  1864,  remaining  one  year  in  New 
York,  and  afterwards  settling  in  Chicago.    In  the  latter 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN   WISCONSIN.  233 

city  he  published  Den  Norske  Amerikaner,  Dagslyset^  and 
Den  Nye  Tid^  which  papers  were  not  only  radical  on  social 
and  political  questions,  but  also  very  bitter  against  many 
of  the  practices  of  the  Christian  church.  His  Wisconsin- 
bibelen  is  a  sarcastic  attack  on  leading  Norwegian  Lutheran 
clergymen,  and  the  biblical  form  in  which  the  language  of 
the  book  was  cast  made  it  exceedingly  obnoxious  to  those 
against  whom  it  was  directed.  Upon  the  whole,  Markus 
Thrane  was  not  in  touch  with  the  bulk  of  the  Norwegian- 
Americans,  on  account  of  his  pronounced  hostility  to  the 
church.  The  closing  days  of  his  life  were  spent  with  his  son, 
Dr.  Thrane,  of  Eau  Claire.  Consistent  to  the  last,  he 
insisted  that  no  clergyman  should  be  allowed  to  speak  at 
his  funeral.  He  was  married  in  1840  to  Joscfine  Buch,  who 
died  in  1863.    They  had  five  children. 

Torrison,  Osuld,  merchant — Manitowoc — ^born  6  March, 
1828,  near  Grimstad,  Kristiansand  stift,  Norway;  died  3 
Nov.,  1892.  His  ancestors  for  many  generations  back  had 
been  highly  respected  tillers  of  the  soil.  Torrison  received  a 
common  school  education  in  his  native  land,  at  the  same 
time  learning  to  make  himself  useful  as  a  farm  laborer ;  emi- 
grated to  America  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  making  his  first 
home  at  Port  Washington,  Wis.,  where  he  began  to  attend 
school ;  removed  to  Manitowoc  Rapids,  where  he  clerked  for 
about  two  years ;  and  in  1851  settled  at  Manitowoc,  where 
he  resided  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Here  he  began  to 
clerk  in  a  store ;  but  two  years  later  he,  in  company  with 
another  man,  bought  out  his  former  employer,  and  success- 
fully conducted  a  general  merchandise  business  for  five  years. 
In   1858   Torrison  purchased  his   partner's   interest,    and 

49 


234  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   8. 

under  his  able  management  the  business  became  one  of  the 
most  extensive  enterprises  conducted  by  Scandinavian- 
Americans.  In  1882  he  built  a  very  large  brick  building, 
where  his  heirs,  under  the  management  of  his  son,  Thomas 
B.  Torrison,  still  conduct  the  business.  But  his  activity 
was  not  confined  to  his  general  store ;  he  also  dealt  in  real 
estate,  lumber,  etc.,  on  an  extensive  scale;  he  owned  several 
saw-mills  and  ware-houses;  his  vessels  plowed  the  great 
lakes;  and  his  annual  transactions  aggregated  about  half  a 
million  dollars.  Torrison  was  a  patriotic  American,  took 
some  interest  in  poUtics,  but  had  no  poUtical  ambition,  and 
on  one  occasion  he  made  his  Republican  friends  understand 
that  their  wishes  to  have  him  accept  a  nomination  as  candi- 
date for  Congress  could  not  be  complied  with.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Norwegian  Synod  and  a  generous  supporter 
and  patron  of  Luther  College,  Decorah,  Iowa.  Being  a 
generous  man,  Torrison  brought  his  mother,  brother,  and 
sisters  to  this  country  as  soon  as  he  had  saved  enough 
money  to  do  so.  One  of  the  traits  of  Torrison's  character 
was  his  love  for  his  native  land,  which  he  visited  four  times, 
and  he  took  active  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  countrj-- 
men  everywhere.  He  was  married  in  1854  to  Martha 
Hansen  Findal,  who  was  bom  nearLangesund,Kristiansand 
stift,  Norway.  They  had  ten  children.  Six  of  their  sons 
are  graduates  of  Luther  College,  the  other  two  attended 
several  years,  and  some  of  them  have  taken  post-graduate 
courses  in  the  best  universities  of  this  country  and  Europe. 
Thomas  E.,  the  oldest  son,  succeeded  his  father  in  the  busi- 
ness; Inanda  A.  is  the  wife  of  Rev.  A.  Bredesen,  of  Stough-- 
ton,  Wis.;  Isac  B.  is  a  clergyman  in  the  Norwegian  Synod- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  WISCONSIN.        235 

Oscar  M.  and  George  A.  are  practicing  law  and  medicine, 
respectively,  in  Chicago,  III.  Gttsta  H.,  Norman  G.,  Aaron 
J.,  and  William  S.  are  connected  with  the  business  at  Mani- 
towoc, and  Agnes  M.,  the  youngest  child,  is  attending  col- 
lege at  Wellesley,  Mass.  Every  member  of  this  family  is 
developed  to  an  unusual  degree,  physically  as  well  as  men- 
tally, and  it  has  been  stated  that  in  point  of  bodily  develop- 
ment and  intellectual  vigor  and  equipoise,  these  ten  brothers 
and  sisters  constitute  a  family  which  have  no  peers  among 
the  two  hundred  and  odd  thousand  Norwegian-American 
families. 

Warner,.  Hans  B.,  secretary  of  state — Ellsworth— bom 
12 July,  1844, in  Gudbrandsdalen,  Norway;  died  in  1896. 
In  1849  he  emigrated  with  his  parents,  who  first  settled 
in  Dodge  county.  Wis.  In  the  summer  of  1855  they  moved 
to  Pierce  county,  where  Warner  resided  ever  since.  Dur- 
ing his  boyhood,  young  Warner  received  such  education  as 
the  common  schools  afforded,  the  greater  part  of  his  time 
being  spent  on  the  farm.  In  1864  he  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  company  G,  37th  Wisconsin  regiment,  but  after  a  few 
months'  service  was  w^ounded  and  captured  by  the  Confed- 
erates during  the  campaign  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  and 
was  held  as  prisoner  of  war  in  Danville  and  Libby  prisons 
until  paroled.  In  July,  1865,  he  received  his  discharge  from 
the  service  on  account  of  wounds  received  in  battle.  He 
returned  to  his  home,  and  at  the  election  in  1868  was  elected 
county  clerk,  and  held  that  office  until  he  resigned,  in  1877, 
to  assume  the  duties  of  secretary  of  state,  to  which  position 
he  had  been  elected.  Warner  has  the  distinguished  honor  of 
being  the  first  Scandinavian  in  Wisconsin  elected  to  one  of 


236  HISTORY  OF  THB  SCiUIDINAYIANS  IN  THB  V.  S. 

the  more  important  state  offices,  though  in  a  fevir  cases 
others  had  succeeded  in  reaching  dectiTe  offices  of  minor 
importance  and  rank.  He  was  reelected  in  1879,  holding 
office  until  1881.  In  1883  he  was  dected  state  senator,  and 
held  that  office  for  four  years,  being  among  the  few  Scandi- 
navians ever  elected  to  the  upper  branch  of  the  state  legis- 
lature. At  the  close  of  his  legislative  career  he  was  dected 
to  the  position  of  supervisor  for  the  village  for  seven  years, 
and  was  chairman  of  the  county  board  of  supervisors  for 
the  same  length  of  time.  In  1895  Warner  was  appointed  a 
member  of  the  state  board  of  control  for  a  term  of  five 
years,  and  at  the  organization  of  that  body  w^as  elected 
president  of  the  board.  Warner  was  a  life  long  Republican. 
In  1866  he  was  married  to  Julia  E.  Hudson ;  they  had  no 
children. 


Biographies  of  Scandinavians  in  Wisconsin 

and  Iowa. 


Ager,  Wm.,  author— Eau  Claire,  Wis.,— born  23  March, 
1869,  in  Fredrikstad,  Norway.  His  ancestors  for  genera- 
tions had  been  soldiers,  and  his  father  served  in  the  Norwe- 
gian army  a  long  series  of  years.  Young  Ager  received  a 
good  common  school  education,  and  has  always  been  an 
ardent  student  of  modern  literature.  In  1885  he  emigrated 
to  America,  locating  in  Chicago,  where  he  learnt  the  print- 
er's trade.  Much  of  his  time  has  been  devoted  to  the 
temperance  movement,  and  in  1891  he  took  a  very  active 
part  in  the  organization  of  a  Norwegian  Grand  Temple  of 
the  Templars  of  Temperance.  From  1891  to  1894  he  edited 
Templat-Bladety  the  official  organ  of  the  Scandinavian 
templars,  and  has  organized  a  number  of  local  temples. 
Since  1892  he  has  been  connected  with  i^e/orim,  of  which 
he  has  been  manager  since  1896.  In  1894  he  published  Pan 
Drikkeondets  Konto,  a  collection  of  short  stories  and 
poems  bearing  on  the  drink  problem,  which  work  met  with 
a  very  flattering  reception.  In  1896  he  was  elected  treas- 
urer of  the  total  abstinence  congress.  He  married  in  1899. 
Akermark,  Gudmund  E.,  poet  and  journalist— Wood 
Lake,  Wis., — bom  1863,  in  Gothenburg,  Sweden.  For  some 
time  he  attended  college  in  his  native  city,  completing  three 
classes;  emigrated  in  1887;  was  editor  of  a  couple  of  Swed- 
ish papers  in  Omaha  for  some  time;  for  one  year  held  the 

237 


238         HISTORY  OF  THB  8CANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  U.  8. 

same  position  on  Srenaka  Amerikanaka  Poaten,  Minne 
apolis.  Since  1893  he  has  edited  Sk'drdemannen,  a  Swed- 
ish semi-monthlj  agricultural  paper  published  in  Minne- 
apolis, and  is  also  connected  with  Svenaka  Folket^ 
Tjdning,  although  he  and  his  family  reside  on  his  farm  at 
Wood  Lake.  The  great  Swedish-American  literary  critic, 
Bmst  Skarstedt,  in  his  Svenska  Amerikanaka  Poeter^ 
speaks  highly  of  Akermark  as  journalist  and  poet.  In  1891 
he  was  married  to  Constance  Nelson;  they  have  children. 

Anderson,  Abely  banker— Sioux  City,  la.,— bom  17  June, 
1855,  at  Jemskog,  Vermland,  Sweden.  He  received  a  com- 
mon school  education  in  his  native  country;  emigrated  to 
this  country  in  1874,  coming  directly  to  Sioux  City,  where 
at  first  he  worked  in  brick  yards,  as  well  as  on  a  farm  in 
Union  county,  S.  D.  In  1877  he  started  a  small  grocery 
\  store  of  his  own  in  Sioux  City,  which  he  kept  for  nine  years; 

then  traveled  as  a  commercial  traveler  a  couple  of  years  in 
the  Northwest,  and  in  1890  he,  in  company  with  others, 
organized  the  Northwestern  National  Bank,  capital  stock 
$100,000,  of  which  he  was  vice-president  one  year,  having 
since  been  president,  and  is  now  the  principal  owner  of  this 
bank.  In  1892  he  was  elected,  by  the  Republicans,  city 
treasurer,  being  re-elected  in  1894  by  a  very  large  majority. 
He  is  respected,  not  only  by  the  Scandinavians,  but  is 
looked  upon  by  other  nationalities  as  being  one  of  the  most 
successful  and  prosperous  financiers  among  the  Scandina- 
vians in  the  Northwest.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  church,  having  been  one  of  the  trustees  of  his 
home  congregation  nearly  ever  since  the  church  was  organ- 
ized in  1875.  In  1882  he  was  married  to  Henrietta  L.  Carl- 
strom,  of  Sioux  City.    They  have  children. 

Anderson,  Joseph  Alfred,  clergyman— Creston,  la.,— 
bom  10  July,  1868,  in  Lommaryd,  Sm&land,  Sweden.    His 


/ 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     239 

father  was  a  farmer,  who  emigrated  in  1868,  and  settled  in 
Des  Moines,  Iowa.  Young  Anderson,  whose  mother  died 
when  he  was  an  infant,  came  to  this  country  at  eight  years 
of  age,  joining  his  father  at  Des  Moines,  where  he  attended 
the  public  schools  during  the  winters,  and  parochial  school 
during  the  summer  time.  In  1882  he  entered  Augustana 
College,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  six  years  later; 
took  the  degree  of  A.  M.  at  his  alma  mater  in  1891,  being 
the  first  graduate  of  Augustana  College  to  complete  the 
regular  course  of  study  leading  to  the  master  of  arts  degree; 
completed  his  theological  course  the  following  year.  Dur- 
ing his  school  days,  he  clerked  in  grocery  stores  a  couple  of 
years;  taught  parochial  school  at  Iron  Mountain,  Mich., 
during  the  summer  of  1887-88;  was  professor  at  Hope 
Academy,  Moorhead,  Minn.,  the  first  year  of  its  existence, 
in  1888-89.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he  went  to  Washing- 
ton, where  he  had  charge  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  churches 
in  Seattle  and  Tacoma.  During  his  vacation  in  1890  he  had 
charge  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  church  in  Keokuk,  Iowa, 
and  was  stationed  at  Dalsborg  and  Newman  Grove,  Neb., 
the  following  year.  Since  his  ordination  in  1892  he  has 
been  pastor  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  church  in  Creston, 
served  as  secretary  of  the  Iowa  Conference  of  the  Augustana 
Sjrnod  in  1893-8.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  executive 
committee  of  the  Alumni  Association  of  Augustana  College 
and  of  the  Iowa  Conference.  Anderson  married  Ellen  S. 
Carlson  in  1896.    They  have  children. 

Anderson,  J.  E,,  state  legislator  and  journalist— Forest 
City,  la.,— bom  29  March,  1846,  in  Sm&land,  Sweden.  In 
1862  his  parents  came  to  America,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in 
Winnebago  county,  la.,  in  1860.  Young  Anderson  attended 
the  Upper  Iowa  University  in  1866-69;  took  a  foil  course  of 
scientific  and  classical  studies  at  the  State  University,  gra- 


240         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

duating  in  1872;  and  completed  his  law  studies  at  that 
institution  four  years  later.  Anderson  is  the  author  of  a 
work  on  business  calculations,  and  in  1872-75  visited  about 
three  hundred  colleges,  lecturing  on  his  specialty.  In  1881 
he  was  elected  state  legislator  on  the  Republican  ticket.  Up 
to  about  1890,  he  was  a  Republican;  since  he  has  joined  the 
People's  party,  and  was  president  of  the  first  state  conven- 
tion of  that  party  in  1891.  Anderson  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Methodist  Church.  He  is  married,and  has  children. 

Bengston»  Carl  J.,  clergyman — New  Sweden  (Postoffice 
Four  Comers),  Iowa,— bom  22  July,  1862,  in  Slafsinge, 
Halland,  Sweden.  He  emigrated  to  this  country  at  the  age 
of  thirteen;  graduated  from  Augustana  College  in  1888;  and 
completed  his  theological  studies  at  that  institution  two 
years  later.  Bengston  served  for  three  years  in  Hartford, 
Conn.,  and  in  the  summer  of  1893  accepted  a  call  to  his 
present  charge,  which  is  the  first  Swedish  Lutheran  congre- 
gation in  America  organized  in  the  nineteenth  century.  He 
has  since  1898  been  secretary  of  the  Iowa  Conference,  and  is 
a  member  of  the  constitutional  committee.  In  1899  he  w^as 
elected  to  the  state  legislature  on  the  Republican  ticket.  In 
1891  he  married  E.  Otilia  Swanson,  of  Jamestown,  N.  Y. 

Bergh,  J,  A.,  clergyman  and  author— Orfordville,  Wis., 
— bom  12  Jan.,  1847,  in  Kristiania  stift,  Norway.  His 
father  was  a  clergyman,  and  he  received  a  good  education 
at  a  private  school  in  Kristiania.  He  emigrated  to  America 
in  1860;  studied  at  Paxton,  111.,  and  graduated  from  the 
theological  department  of  the  seminary  at  Marshall,  Wis., 
in  1871.  He  accepted  a  call  from  Tordenskjold  and  other 
congregations  in  Otter  Tail  county,  Minn.  In  1877  he 
removed  to  Iowa;  and  in  1882  settled  at  his  present  home. 
Bergh,  in  addition  to  his  labors  as  pastor  of  a  large  congre- 
gation, has  also  extended  his  work  into  the  fields  of  journal- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WIS.   AND  IOWA.      241 

ism  and  literature.  Some  of  his  ablest  newspaper  articles 
are  contributions  to  the  controversies  in  the  Norwegian 
Lutheran  church,  and  his  book,  Den  Gamle  og  Njre  Ret- 
ning,  is  an  exposition  of  a  controversy  which  was'started  in 
1882.  Among  the  books  compiled  by  Bergh  may  be  men- 
tioned Underfuld  Bonhbrelse,  I  Sidste  Qiehliky  Livs- 
billeder,  and  I Ledige  Stunder,  He  was  married  in  1873 
to  Birgitta  Meland,  who  died  in  1897.  They  had  six  children. 

Bergh,  Martin,  lawyer— La  Crosse,  Wis.,— bom  16 Sept., 
1862,  in  Kristiania,  Norway.  His  father  was  of  Norwegian, 
and  his  mother  of  Swedish  parentage.  In  1870  he  emi- 
grated with  his  parents  to  this  country,  going  directly  to 
La  Crosse,  Wis.  Bergh  graduated  from  the  high  school  of 
La  Crosse  in  1882.  After  devoting  three  years  to  the  study 
of  law,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1885.  Besides  an 
extensive  practice  in  Wisconsin,  he  has  conducted  important 
cases  in  the  adjoining  states.  After  a  partnership  with  J. 
H.  A.  Ginder  from  1885  to  1887,  he  practiced  alone  until 
1894,  when  the  firm  of  Bleekman,  Bloomingdale  &  Bergh 
was  formed,  with  which  firm  he  has  since  been  connected. 
In  1895  and  1897  he  was  elected  city  attorney  of  La  Crosse. 
Bergh  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  affairs  and  cam- 
paigns of  his  party,  and  has  several  times  represented  his 
city  in  Republican  state  conventions.  He  ranks  high  in  the 
Masonic  order.  In  1880  he  was  married  to  Hanna  C. 
Fleischer,  a  daughter  of  the  well-known  journalist,  Freder- 
ick Fleischer.    They  have  children. 

Borchsenius,  Hans,  soldier  and  public  officer— Baldwin, 
Wis., — bom  19  Sept.,  1832,  in  Nestved,  Sjalland,  Denmark. 
Borchsenius  emigrated  to  America  in  1856,  settUng  at 
Madison,  Wis.  In  1858  he  became  proprietor  and  editor  of 
NordstjerneOf  which  position  he  occupied  for  the  next  two 
years.    At  the  breaking  out  of  the  Civil  War  he  enlisted  in 


242        HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE    U.   S. 


the  army,  being  appointed  adjutant  in  the  famous 
Wisconsin,  and  served  as  major  on  the  march  to  LrOaisville, 
Ky.  In  1864  he  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  state  school 
land  department,  which  position  he  occupied  until  1869.  In 
the  fall  of  1868  he  was  elected  clerk  of  the  board  of  super- 
visors of  Dane  county,  on  the  Republican  ticket,  and  was 
re-elected  two  years  later.  During  this  period  he  also  studied 
law  at  the  State  University  of  Wisconsin,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1872;  removed  to  Baldwin  in  1877;  served  five 
years  as  state  agent  for  the  government  timber  land  along 
the  Chippewa  andMenomonie  rivers;  was  chief  of  a  division 
of  the  internal  revenue  department  at  Washington  for  tw^o 
years;  and  in  1896  was  elected  to  the  state  assembly. 

Bothne,  Gisle,  educator— Decorah,  la., — bom  in  Fred- 
rikshald,  Norway,  7  Sept.,  1860.  He  is  a  son  of  Th.  Bothne. 
He  attended  the  Latin  school  in  his  native  city  until  fifteen 
years  of  age,  emigrated  with  his  parents  to  this  country  two 
years  before  he  had  completed  his  course,  and  graduated 
fi-om  Luther  College  in  1878,  receiving  the  degree  of  A.  M. 
from  his  alma  mater  in  1883.  After  he  had  completed  his 
studies  in  Luther  College,  he  graduated  from  the  North- 
western University  in  1879,  and  spent  one  year  at  Johns 
Hopkins  University.  Bothne  was  called  to  the  professor- 
ship of  Greek  and  Norwegian  literature  in  his  alma  mater, 
Luther  College,  in  1881,  where  he  has  since  remained,  except- 
ing the  year  1883-84,  when  he  again  attended  Johns  Hop- 
kins University.  He  has  written  a  history  of  Luther  Collie. 

Bredesen,  Adolph,  clergjrman— Stoughton,  Wis., — bom 
25  Oct.,  1850,  in  Solor,  Hamar  stift,  Norway.  His  ances- 
tors for  many  generations  back  were  farmers,  smiths,  or 
lumbermen.  He  came  to  America  in  1852  with  his  parents, 
who  settled  in  Adams  county.  Wis.  Bredesen  entered  Luther 
College  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and  was  graduated  in  1870. 


BIOGRAJPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     248 

Having  completed  a  theological  course  at  the  Concordia 
Theological  Seminary,  he  entered  the  ministry  in  1873,  and 
for  the  next  three  years  served  a  number  of  churches  in 
Columbia  county.  Wis.,  as  the  assistant  of  Rev.  H.  A.  Preus. 
During  the  school  years  of  1876-78  he  was  an  instructor  at 
Luther  College;  then  accepted  a  call  from  three  churches  in 
the  western  part  of  Dane  county,  Wis.,  where  he  remained 
until  the  fall  of  1881;  and  since  the  latter  date  has  served  a 
church  at  Stoughton,  and  another  at  McFarland,  near  the 
same  city.  For  many  years  past  Bredesen  has  been  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  directors  of  Stoughton  Academy  and 
Business  Institute,  and  also  of  the  board  of  directors  of 
Martin  Luther  Orphans'  Home,  at  Stoughton,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  Society.  Bredesen 
generally  prepares  his  public  utterances  with  great  care,  and 
some  of  his  lectures  in  favor  of  total  abstinence  and  prohi- 
bition have  been  published  in  pamphlet  form.  He  was  chosen 
to  deliver  the  English  address  at  the  dedication  of  the 
pioneer  monument  at  East  Koshkonong,  Wis.,  10  Oct., 
1894.  This  address,  published  in  a  book  called  Koah- 
konong^  contains,  besides  other  important  historical  mat- 
ter, an  excellent  summing  up  of  the  peculiar  social  condi- 
tions prevalent  among  the  early  Norwegian  pioneers,  and  it 
has  been  liberally  quoted  by  other  authors.  In  1878  he  was 
married  to  Inanda  A.  Torrison,  a  daughter  of  Osuld  Torri- 
son,  of  Manitowoc — an  account  of  this  remarkable  man  and 
his  family  is  given  in  this  work.    Bredesen  has  children. 

Bull,  Storm,  educator— Madison,  Wis.,— bom  20  Oct., 
1856,  in  Bergen,  Norway.  He  is  a  nephew  of  Ole  Bull,  the 
world-famed  violinist.  He  attended  school  in  his  native 
city,  and  completed  a  course  at  the  celebrated  polytechnic 
institute  of  Zuerich,  Switzerland,  graduating  with  the  high- 
est honors  in  1877.    In  1879  he  emigrated  to  America,  and 


244         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVAINS  IN  THE  U.    S. 

at  once  accepted  a  position  as  instructor  in  mechanical 
engineering  in  the  University  of  Wisconsin;  five  years  later 
was  appointed  assistant  professor  in  the  same  branch;  from 
1887-91  occupied  a  regular  chair  of  mechanical  engineering; 
and  at  the  latter  date  took  charge  of  the  department  of 
steam  engineering.  He  is  familiar  with  several  languages, 
and  speaks  Norwegian,  English,  German,  and  French  with 
fluency;  belongs  to  several  societies;  and  is  a  Unitarian. 

Burg,  P.  N.,  merchant— Shell  Lake,  Wis.,— bom  15  Apr., 
1860,  in  Sallerup,  SkAne,  Sweden.  His  parents  were  farm- 
ers, and  young  Burg  commenced  to  earn  his  own  living  at 
the  early  age  of  fourteen.  He  worked  as  a  farm  hand  until 
twenty  years  of  age,  when  he  emigrated  to  America,  coming 
to  Grove  City,  Minn.  For  a  couple  of  years  he  worked  on 
the  railroad  during  the  summer,  and  attended  school  in  the 
winter.  He  then  moved  to  Princeton,  Minn.,  where  he 
remained  for  five  years,  being  employed  as  clerk  in  a  store. 
In  1887  he  settled  at  Shell  Lake,  Wis.,  and  after  having 
clerked  for  three  years,  started  a  general  merchandise  store, 
having  at  that  time  a  capital  of  only  $200.  In  this  under- 
taking Burg  has  been  very  successful;  has  built  up  a  large 
business;  has  an  annual  trade  of  about  $50,000;  and  has 
one  of  the  largest  establishments  of  its  kind  owned  by  any 
Swedish  merchant  in  the  state.  In  1885  he  was  married  to 
Lizzie  Hillman,  of  Falun,  Dalarne,  Sweden,  whose  ancestors 
were  prominent  in  the  public  afiairs  of  that  place. 

Carlson,  Anton,  journalist — Des  Moines,  la., — bom  17 
Oct.,  1859,  in  Misterhult,  SmAland,  Sweden.  After  comple- 
ting a  course  of  study  at  a  preparatory  school  in  Oscars- 
hamn,  Carlson  entered  Frans  Schartau's  commercial  school 

-  • 

at  Stockholm,  from  which  he  graduated.    In  1881  he  emi- 

•  •  •  • 

grated  to  this  country.    After  working  as  clerk  in  clothing 
stores  in  Chicago,  Ottumwa,  la.,  and  Holdrege,  Neb.,  he 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN   WIS.   AND  IOWA.      245 

moved  in  1889  to  Des  Moines,  where  he  became  connected 
with  the  Swedish  Publishing  Company.  In  the  latter  part 
of  the  same  year  he  became  editor  of  Svithiod^a  new^spaper 
published  by  said  company,  continuing  in  the  same  capacity 
until  May,  1898,  when  he,  during  the  Spanish-American 
War,  accepted  a  position  in  the  office  of  the  Assistant 
Quartermaster  General  at  New  Orleans,  La.  Carlson  is  a 
Republican,  and  ably  advocated  the  principles  of  that  party 
as  an  editor.    He  is  a  Freemason. 

Carlson,  Oscar  W.,  physician  and  surgeon — Milwaukee, 
Wis.,— bom  1  Aug.,  1843,  in  Stockholm,  Sweden.  At  the 
age  of  ten  he  emigrated  to  America;  resided  at  Columbus, 
Ohio,  for  one  3'ear;  moved  to  Waukesha,  Wis.,  where  he 
attended  the  public  schools;  worked  for  some  time  in  a  lum- 
ber camp.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  he  enlisted  in 
the  28th  Wisconsin  Infantry,  serving  for  three  years.  He 
took  active  part  in  the  siege  of  Mobile  and  other  places. 
After  having  returned  from  the  army,  Carlson  commenced 
to  stud}'  medicine  in  Milwaukee,  and  completed  his  studies 
in  Chicago,  in  1872.  He  then  practiced  his  profession  in 
Milwaukee  for  seven  years;  visited  his  native  land  as  well 
as  other  European  countries,  siud^-ing  at  some  of  the  larger 
hospitals  in  England  and  elsewhere.  After  his  return  he 
has  practiced  in  Milwaukee,  being  the  onlj*^  Swedish  physi- 
cian in  the  city.  His  large  practice,  however,  is  mostly 
among  the  Americans,  as  he  is  hardly  able  to  speak  the 
Swedish  language  fluently.  Carlson  is  a  member  of  several 
societies,  in  which  he  has  held  high  ofllices. 

Chantland,  P.  W.,  sheriff—Fort  Dodge,  la.,— bom  11 
Oct.,  1840,  in  Aardal,  Stavanger  amt,  Norway.  His  father 
was  a  sea  captain,  sailing  along  the  coast,  and  most  of  his 
mother's  ancestry  had  been  in  militar3'  service.  At  the  age 
of  thirteen  he  came  from  his  native  country  to  Primrose, 


246         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THB  U.   S. 

Wis.,  where  he  remained  until  1861,  when  he  enlisted  in  the 
famous  Fifteenth  Wisconsin  Regiment,  serving  over  two 
years.  In  1864  he  moved  to  Fort  Dodge,  where  he  pur- 
chased land,  being  one  of  the  earliest  Norwegians  in  Web- 
ster county;  but  soon  returned  to  Wisconsin,  w^here  he 
attended  Albion  Academy  for  a  couple  of  years,  as  well  as 
teaching  some;  then  settled  permanently  in  Webster  county, 
and  farmed  from  1867-75.  Chantland  was  sheriflF  for 
eight  years;  has  since  dealt  in  real  estate  and  insurance,  and 
was  elected  justice  of  peace  in  1892  and  1894.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  order  of  Freemasons,  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and 
of  the  A.  O.  U.  W.,  having  held  the  highest  offices  in  some 
of  these  organizations.  He  is  also  an  active  member  of  the 
G.  A.  R.;  was  for  a  number  of  years  captain  of  Company  F, 
Sixth  Regiment,  Iowa  National  Guards,  and  afterwards  pro- 
moted to  lieutenant-colonel  on  the  governor's  staff.  Chant- 
land  is  a  very  prominent  public  man  in  Webster  county,  and 
has  done  a  great  deal  for  the  welfare  of  the  Scandinavians 
in  the  vicinity.  He  is  a  Republican.  In  1869  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Julia  Skavlem;  she  died  in  1872,  and  three  years 
later  he  was  married  to  Anna  Natesta,  or  Natestad,  whose 
father  was  the  earliest  Norwegian  settler  in  Wisconsin, 
coming  there  in  1839.  Chantland  has  had  children  by  both 
wives.  His  eldest  son,  Wm.  T.  Chantland,  was  bom  22 
June,  1870;  is  a  graduate  of  the  collegiate  and  law  depart- 
ments of  the  University  of  Iowa;  was  captain  of  company 
G,  52nd  Iowa  Infantry  Volunteers,  during  the  Spanish  War 
in  1898;  has  been  county  attorney  of  Webster  county  for 
some  time;  and  is  also  interested  in  the  beet  sugar  industry. 
Dahl,  J.  M.,  clergyman  —  Ratna,  la.,  —  bom  14  Dec., 
1836,  in  Karlso,  Tromso  stift,  Norway.  He  left  his  native 
land  and  studied  from  1860  to  1866  at  the  missionary  school 
at   Hermannsburg,  Germany,  and  passed  the  theological 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     247 

examinations  required  by  the  royal  consistory  of  Hanover. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  was  ordained,  and  departed  for  India 
as  a  missionary  in  the  Telugu  country.  Dahl  became  a  per- 
sonal friend  of  the  rajah  of  Venkatagiri,  and  the  progress  of 
his  work  was  gratifying.  But  he  was  sunstruck  at  two  dif- 
ferent times,  and  was  compelled  to  return  to  Europe.  In 
1873  he  accepted  a  call  from  a  cougregation  in  Winnebago 
county,  Iowa,  arriving  at  his  present  home  in  the  fall  of 
that  year.  Dahl  is  a  highly  influential  member  of  the  United 
Church.    He  has  been  married  twice,  and  has  children. 

Dahl,  T.  Hm  clergyman — Stoughton,  Wis.,— bom  2  Apr., 
1845,  in  Baadstad,  Kristiania  stift,  Norway.  He  attended 
a  Latin  school  in  Kristiania  lor  a  while;  emigrated  to  Amer- 
ica in  1865;  completed  his  theological  studies  at  Paxton, 
111.;  and  in  1868  accepted  a  call  from  congregations  in 
Meeker  county,  Minn.,  being  the  first  Norwegian  Lutheran 
pastor  who  settled  west  of  "the  Big  Woods.'*  In  1873  he 
removed  to  Ft.  Howard,  Wis.,  and  settled  at  his  present 
home  in  1881.  He  joined  the  Norwegian-Danish  Lutheran 
Conference  in  1871,  and  served  that  body  as  secretary  from 
1876  to  1881,  and  as  president  from  the  latter  date  to 
1886.  His  words  and  works  alike  are  characterized  by 
Christian  charity,  and  even  in  the  heat  of  controversy  he 
generally  remains  calm  and  impartial.  His  preaching  is 
universally  popular.  In  1894  he  published  Fred  og  Stride 
treating  of  the  controversy  raging  in  the  United  Church  at 
that  time.  The  same  year  he  was  elected  vice-president  of 
the  United  Church.  In  1867  he  married  Lina  Gjertsen,  a 
daughter  of  Rev.  J.  P.  Gjertsen.  They  have  several  children. 

Dahle,  Unon  B.,  merchant—- Mt.  Horeb,  Wis.,—- bom  4 
Oct.,  1823,  in  Nissedal,  Kristiansand  stift,  Norway*  He 
graduated  from  Hvidesdd  normal  school  in  1842,  and  emi- 
grated six  years  later.    He  settled  in  Dane  county,  Wis., 


248  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.    S. 

after  having  been  in  California  for  some  time;  and  for  over 
forty  years  had  a  country  store  in  Perry,  being  one  of  the 
leading  men  in  that  vicinity,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most 
successful  and  wealthy  Norwegian  business  men  in  the  state 
of  Wisconsin.  He  is  a  member  of  the  United  Norwegian 
Church.  In  1854  he  was  married  to  Betsey  Nelson,  of 
North  Cape,  Racine  county;  they  have  three  sons,  and  their 
daughter  is  married  to  the  able  ex-county  attorney  of  Henne- 
pin county,  Minn.,  T^^mes  A.  Peterson.  His  son,  H.  B. 
Dahle,  was  bom  30  Mar.,  1855;  attended  the  University  of 
Wisconsin  for  a  few  years;  has  for  many  years  beeii  in  the 
mercantile  business  at  Mt.  Horeb;  and  was  elected  on  the 
Republican  ticket  to  the  U.  S.  Congress  in  1898. 

Dan,  Adam,  clergyman  and  author— Fredsville,  la.,— 
born  8  Feb.,  1848,  in  Odense,  Island  of  Fyen,  Denmark. 
Dan's  father  was  an  officer  in  the  Danish  army;  his  mother 
was  of  French  descent.  He  studied  for  some  time  at  the 
University  of  Denmark  and  at  Basel,  Switzerland.  After 
extensive  travels  in  Europe  he  proceeded  to  Egypt,  then  to 
the  Holy  Land,  where  he  was  missionary  for  nearly  a 
year,  when  he  accepted  a  call  from  the  Danish  Lutheran 
church  in  Racine,  Wis.,  arriving  there  in  1871.  After  a 
period  of  nine  years'  successful  labor  in  this  field,  Dan  went 
to  San  Francisco,  where  he  remained  for  foin*  years.  He 
now  visited  Denmark,  and  while  there  was  called  as  pastor 
of  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church  in  Minneapolis,  Minn., 
where  he  resided  from  1884  to  1893,  being  also  pastor  of 
the  Danish  churches  in  St.  Paul  and  Hutchinson.  From 
1893  to  1896  he  filled  the  pulpit  of  one  of  the  Danish 
churches  in  Chicago,  and  while  there  celebrated  the  25th 
anniversary  of  his  ordination,  receiving  expressions  of 
esteem  from  Danes  all  over  the  country.  Since  1896  Dan 
has  been  pastor  at  Fredsville.    Dan  was  the  first  clergy- 


|l,  M1N>,HAI1>1,IS. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     249 

man  of  the  Danish  Lutheran  Church  in  America.  He  was 
once  president  of  the  denomination,  once  vice-presi- 
dent, twice  editor  of  the  church  paper,  Kirkelig  Samler^ 
which  he  founded,  'once  editor  of  the  children's  paper,  and 
has  also  been  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the 
theological  seminary.  He  is  the  author  of  numerous  poems, 
essays,  novels,  and  books  of  travel.  His  largest  work, 
Kaaaaa,  has  gone  through  several  editions,  and  gives 
an  excellent  description  of  his  travels  in  the  Holy  Land. 
Dan  is  an  able  speaker,  and  his  writings  are  polished  and 
sympathetic.  In  1871  he  was  married  to  Signe  Sorensen, 
who  died  in  1895.  His  daughter  Thyra  is  a  good  singer. 

Davidson,  James  0.,  state  treasurer— Soldiers  Grove, 
Wis.,— bom  10  Feb.,  1854,  in  Norway.  He  received  a  com- 
mon school  education  in  his  native  land,  and  emigrated  to 
America  in  1872,  settling  in  Madison,  Wis.  Since  1877  he 
has  resided  at  Soldiers  Grove,  where  he  has  been  engaged  in 
mercantile  business.  He  was  elected  to  represent  his  district 
in  the  state  assembly  in  1892,  in  1894,  and  in  1896;  and  was 
elected  state  treasurer  as  a  Republican  in  1898. 

Hgge,  Albert  E.,  educator— Iowa  City,  la.,— bom  12 
Feb.,  1857,  in  Winneshiek  county,  la.  His  parents  were 
bom  in  Ostre  Slidre,  Valders,  Norway.  They  emigrated  to 
this  country  in  1850,  residing  until  1853  in  Dane  county. 
Wis.,  and  afterwards  in  Winneshiek  county.  When  a  boy 
he  attended  the  district  school  near  his  father's  farm.  In 
1873  he  entered  Luther  College,  from  which  he  graduated  in 
1879.  After  teaching  for  three  years  he  went  to  Johns 
Hopkins  University,  where  he  spent  five  years  (1882-87). 
Here  he  devoted  himself  specially  to  Teutonic  philology  and 
history,  but  gave  much  attention  also  to  the  Romance 
languages,  comparative  philology,  and  pedagogy.  In  1884 
he  was  appointed,  by  the  trustees  of  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 

50 


250         HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

versity ,  graduate  scholar  in  English,  and  shortly  afterwards 
also  assistant  in  Bnglish,  holding  the  latter  position  for 
three  years.  In  1885  he  was  appointed  fellow  in  Teutonic 
languages,  and  in  1887  received  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  From 
1887  to  1892  he  was  professor  of  English,  German,  and 
history  in  St.  Olaf  College.  Then  for  four  years  he  was 
instructor  in  English  in  the  State  UniYcrsity  of  Iowa,  Iowa 
City.  In  1896  he  accepted  the  chair  of  English  literature  in 
the  Washington  Agricultural  College  and  School  of  Science, 
Pullman,  Wash.  Egge  has  acquired  an  euYiable  reputation 
as  a  philologist,  and  as  an  authority  on  the  English  lan- 
guage.   In  1891  he  married  Sina  Bergc,  of  Decorah. 

Erdall,  John  L.,  assistant  attorney  general — Madison, 
Wis.,— bom  5  June,  1863,  in  Deerfield,  Dane  county.  Wis.  His 
grandfather  and  father  came  from  Hardanger,  Norway,  in 
1847,  and  settled  in  Deerfield.  Young  Erdall  graduated  from 
the  classical  department  of  the  State  University  in  1885, 
from  the  law  department  in  1887.  In  1888  he  was  elected 
district  attorney  of  Dane  county,  holding  that  office  for 
two  years.  In  1895  he  was  appointed  assistant  attorney 
general  for  the  state,  being,  perhaps,  the  first  Scandinavian 
in  the  United  States  who  has  been  appointed  to  a  position 
which  requires  such  high  legal  attainments,  and  involves 
such  great  responsibility.  He  is  a  member  of  the  United 
Church.    He  was  married  in  1885,  and  has  children. 

Erickson,  Half ord,  commissioner  of  statistics — Superior, 
Wis.,— bom  7  July,  1862,  in  Fogelvik,  Vermland,  Sweden. 
He  received  a  common  school  education  in  his  native  land; 
emigrated  in  1882;  attended  Minneapolis  Academy  for  some 
time;  worked  for  the  Northwestern  railroad  company  until 
1889,  when  he  removed  to  Superior,  Wis.  In  1890  Erickson 
was  elected  register  of  deeds  of  Douglas  county,  and  was 
re-elected  in  1892,  being  the  first  Swede  in  Douglas  county 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA,      251 

to  be  elected  to  that  office.  Erickson  is  a  Republican,  and 
in  1895  was  appointed  by  the  governor  commissioner  of 
the  bureau  of  statistics,  and  re-appointed  two  years  later, 
being  the  first  person  of  Swedish  parentage  who  has 
received  an  appointment  to  any  important  office  in  Wis- 
consin, in  fact  the  only  Swede  in  the  state  who  at  present  is 
in  any  manner  prominent  in  public  life.  Erickson  has  paid 
special  attention  to  the  study  of  poKtical  economy,  and 
possesses  one  of  the  largest  private  collections  of  books 
treating  of  that  subject  in  the  Northwest.  As  a  statistician 
and  political  economist  Erickson  has,  probably,  no  superior 
or  equal  among  the  Scandinavians  in  America.  In  1889  he 
was  married  to  Annie  Carlson. 

Estrem,  Andrew,  educator— Clinton,  la.,— bom  6  Mar., 
1864,  near  Cresco,  Iowa.  His  parents  came  from  the 
vicinity  of  Haugesund,  Norway,  in  1855,  and  settled  in 
Howard  county,  Iowa.  He  graduated  from  Luther  College 
in  1886;  studied  for  a  short  time  at  the  State  University  of 
Iowa;  then  went  to  Cornell  University,  receiving  the  mas- 
ter's degree  at  that  famous  institution  in  1889.  He  was 
instructor  in  Latin  and  history  at  Luther  College  the  follow- 
ing year,  after  which  he  returned  to  Cornell  to  pursue  a 
more  extended  course  in  American  history  and  in  political 
science.  He  received  the  Ph.  D.  degree  at  Cornell  University 
in  1892,  and  has  since  1894  taught  the  English  language 
and  literature  in  Wartburg  College,  Clinton,  Iowa.  His 
ability  as  a  writer  and  teacher  is  generally  recognized. 

Fleischer,  Frederick,  journalist  — La  Crosse,  Wis.,— 
bom  18  June,  1821,  in  Vaaler,  Kristiania  stift,  Norway; 
died  12  Nov.,  1878.  Being  the  son  of  a  minister,  young 
Fleischer  received  a  liberal  education,  and  received  from  the 
Wniversity  of  Norway  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  and  of  LL.  B.,  in 
1840  and  1844,  respectively.    He  emigrated  to  America  in 


252         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

1853,  and  spent  eight  years  in  California,  his  chief  occupa- 
tion being  gold-digging  and  farming.    In  1863   Fleischer 
settled  at  La  Crosse,  and  began  the  publication  of  Fadre- 
landet,  but  changed  the  name  of  the  paper  in   1868  to 
FAdrelandet  og  Etnigranten,  which  he  published   during 
the  remaining  ten  years  of  his  life,  and  accumulated  a  small 
fortune.    In  1871  he  was  elected  county  treasurer  of  La 
Crosse  county,  and  one  year  later  presidential  elector  at 
large  from  his  state.    In  1875  he  was  appointed  register  at 
the  U.  S.  land  office  at  La  Crosse.    His  generosity   and 
nobility  of  character  made  him  popular  among  his  acquaint- 
ances, and  at  his  death  he  had  won  the  hearts  of  thousands 
of  his  countrymen  in  the  New  World.    Fleischer  was  an 
active  Republican,  and  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  church. 
He  was  married  in  1866  to  Josephine  Johnson,   of  Rush- 
ford,  Minn.,  and  one  of  his  daughters  is  the  wife  of  Martin 
Bergh,  a  prominent  attorney  in  La  Crosse. 

Granberg,  Ole,  grain  dealer— Blair,  Wis.,— bom  11  Sept., 
1856,  in  Grue,  Hamar  stift,  Norway.  He  received  a  common 
school  education,  and  emigrated  to  America  in  1868,  com- 
ing with  his  parents  directly  to  Trempealeau  county,  Wis., 
being  among  the  early  Norwegian  settlers  of  that  part  of 
the  country.  He  worked  on  farms  at  first,  but  has  dealt  in 
grain  most  of  the  time,  doing  an  annual  business  of  about 
$50,000.  He  has  been  chairman  of  the  board  of  supervisors 
for  one  year,  but  has  since  refused  to  accept  any  kind  of 
office,  although  several  nominations  have  been  oflFered  him. 
He  affiliates  with  the  Democratic  party.  In  1882-84  he 
resided  in  Yellowstone  Park,  engaged  as  a  carpenter.  Gran- 
berg  is  a  radical  free  thinker,  and  has  written  newspaper 
articles  on  that  subject,  both  in  American  and  Norwegian 
papers,  and  has  also  performed  other  literary  work.  He 
takes  interest  in  scientific  topics  and  political   economy. 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     253 

In  1895  he  married  Kate  Blottenberger,  of  Philadelphia. 

Grundtvigf,  F.  L.,  clergyman  and  author— Clinton,  la., — 
bom  15  May,  1854,  in  Copenhagen,  Denmark.  He  is  a  son 
of  the  renowned  Danish  bishop  and  poet,  N.  F.  S.  Grundtvig. 
F.  L.  Grundtvig  graduated  from  the  University  of  Denmark 
in  1880,  having  made  a  special  study  of  the  natural  sciences. 
The  next  year  he  emigrated  to  this  country,  and  settled  in 
Outagamie  county.  Wis.,  where  he  resided  a  couple  of  years. 
During  his  stay  here  he  made  a  special  study  of  ornithology, 
on  which  subject  he  published  a  small  pamphlet,  which  has 
been  very  favorably  received  by  eminent  naturalists.  He  has 
also  written  several  other  books  and  pamphlets  on  various 
subjects,  both  prose  and  poetry.  He  was  ordained  as  a 
minister  in  1883,  having  ever  since  had  charge  of  a  Danish 
Lutheran  church  in  Clinton.  Grundtvig  was  the  chief 
organizer  of  Dansk  Folkesamfand  i  Amerika,  in  1887, 
of  which  he  was  president  until  1894.  In  1881  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Kristina  Nelson,  a  Swedish  lady. 

Halland,  B.M.,  clergyman — Stanton,  la.,— bom  15  Oct., 
1837,  in  Drangsered,  Halland,  Sweden.  He  emigrated  to 
this  country  in  1855;  attended  the  theological  department 
of  Augustana  College,  Paxton,  111.,  for  a  while;  and  was 
ordained  in  1864.  He  served  the  congregation  in  Burling- 
ton, la.,  until  1870,  when  he  founded  the  large  Swedish 
settlement  in  the  vicinity  of  Stanton,  generally  known  as 
the  Halland  settlement.  He  remained  in  Stanton  for  nearly 
thirteen  years,  then  accepted  a  position  as  business  manager 
of  Augustana  College,  which  position  he  held  for  two  years. 
He  was  a  missionary  in  Wisconsin  and  Michigan  for  a  couple 
of  years,  and  served  the  Iowa  Conference  as  secretary  and 
also  as  president  in  its  earlier  days.  During  President  Har- 
rison's administration  he  was  postmaster  at  Stanton.  He 
was  married  in  1865,  and  has  several  children. 


254         HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.  S. 

• 

Halvorsen,  Halyor,  dergyman— Westby,  Wis., — ^bom  15 
Sept.,  1845,  in   Stavanger,    Norway.      During   the    years 
1859-65  he  was  a  sailor,  serving  one  year  as  first  mate; 
graduated  from   a   Latin   school   in   Kristiania  in    1867; 
attended  the  theological  department  of  the  University  of 
Norway,  receiving  the  degree  of  candidate  of  theology  in 
1871.    For  one  year  Halvorsen  served  as  principal  of  a 
private  school  in  Stavanger;  emigrated  to  America  in  1872, 
coming  directly  to  Coon  Prairie,  Vernon  county.  Wis.    In 
the  early  days  of  his  work  in  this  charge,  Halvorsen  traveled 
5,000  miles  in  one  year,  in  order  to  attend  to  his  minis- 
terial duties.    For  several  years  he  served  as  secretary  of  the 
Bastem  District  of  the  Norwegian  Synod;  in  1887  he  was 
elected  secretary  of  the  synod,  and  re-elected  at  the  meetings 
held  in  1890  and  1893;  from  1888-93  served  as  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Eastern  District;  and  since  the  latter  date  has 
been  president   of  that   district.    He    has  written  several 
articles  for  Evangeliak  hutherak  Kirketidende,  as  well 
as  for  several  other  papers.    He  has  published  one  book; 
besides,  a  few  of  his  sermons  have  been  published.     He  was 
married  in  1871,  and  has  several  children. 

3augen«  G.  N*,  congressman— Northwood,  la., — ^bom  21 
April,  1859,  in  Rock  county.  Wis.  His  parents  came  from 
Hallingdal,  Norway,  in  1846,  and  settled  at  his  birthplace. 
He  received  a  common  school  education,  attended  school  in 
Decorah  for  some  time,  and  a  business  college  in  Janesville, 
Wis.  In  1880  he  started  a  hardware  store  at  Kensett,  and 
in  1887  was  elected,  by  the  Republicans,  county  treasurer, 
which  position  he  retained  for  six  years."  In  1890  he  was 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  Northwood  Banking  Company, 
of  which  concern  he  became  president  in  1894.  In  1893  and 
1895  he  was  elected  to  represent  his  constituency  in  the 
state  legislature,  and  was  elected  to  Congress  in  1898. 


BIOGRAPHIB8  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     255 

Hendrickson,  Peter,  educator  and  journalist— Albion, 
Wis., — bom  6  June,  1842,  near  Skien,  Norway.  In  1845  he 
came  to  America  with  his  parents,  who  settled  in  Racine 
county.  Wis.;  entered  Beloit  College  in  1859,  graduating 
with  honors  in  1867;  spent  one  year  at  the  University 
of  Norway,  devoting  his  time  to  the  study  of 
literature,  philology,  and  philosophy;  proceeded  to  Germany 
and  studied  about  one  year  at  the  University  of  Erlangen; 
traveled  through  Switzerland,  Italy,  France,  Scotland,  and 
England;  and,  having  returned  to  America  in  the  fall  of 
1869,  concluded  his  studies  by  attending  the  Chicago  Theo- 
logical Seminary  for  one  year.    In  1870  he  began  to  teach 

Greek  at  Beloit  College,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  was 
elected  professor  of  modern  languages  in  the  same  institu- 
tion, which  position  he  held  for  over  fourteen  years.  In 
1885  he  severed  his  connection  with  the  college,  and  for  the 
next  eight  years  served  as  editor-in-chief  of  Skandinaven, 
After  two  years  of  partial  rest  he  purchased  the  Albion 
Academy.  Hendrickson  served  with  the  40th  Regiment  of 
Wisconsin  Volunteers  during  the  Civil  War.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  1873,  and  has  several  children. 

Holmes*  Ludvlg,  clergyman  and  poet — Burlington,  la., 
— bom  7  Sept.,  1858,  in  Strofvelstorp,  Sk&ne,  Sweden. 
Young  Holmes  was  forced  to  begin  to  shift  for  himself  early 
in  life,  entering  the  struggle  for  existence  as  office  boy  and 
typesetter,  in  Helsingborg,  at  the  age  of  fifteen.  He  next 
spent  some  time  in  Stockholm,  and  in  1879  emigrated  to 
America;  entered  Augustana  College  the  following  year, 
where  he  spent  three  years;  but  on  account  of  ill-health  was 
unable  to  complete  his  literary  studies,  although  he  gradu- 
ated from  the  theological  department  of  that  institution  in 
1886.  Both  before  his  ordination  and  afterwards,  he 
preached  in  Connecticut,  and  settled  in  Jamestown,  N.  Y.,  in 


256         HISTORY  OP  THB  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  XJ.  S. 

1888;  but  moved  to  Burlington,  Iowa,  the  next  year,  -where 
he  has  since  served  as  pastor  of  a  Swedish  Lutheran  con- 
gregation. Holmes  was  a  member  of  the  committee  which 
edited  Nj^a  Heznlandsskngboken — the  authorized  hymn- 
book  of  the  Augustana  Synod — and  has  also  served  as  secre- 
tary of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Augustana  Synod, 
and  of  the  Iowa  Conference.  He  is  a  fluent  and  happy 
speaker,  and  very  popular  as  a  preacher.  He  is  widely 
known  as  a  writer  of  religious  and  semi-religious  poems. 
His  poetry,  according  to  Ernst  Skarstedt,  in  Svensk^Amer- 
ikanska  Poeter^  "is  generally  characterized  by  a  beauti- 
ful form  and  by  warmth  of  feeling."  Bishop  Von  Scheele  in 
his  Hemlandstoner  says:  **Ludvig's  Jabel  Poem  is 
remarkable  for  its  deep  thoughts,  and  the  brilliant  expres- 
sion of  these  thoughts.'*  In  1896  he  published  a  large 
volume,  being  a  collection  of  his  poems,  under  the  name  of 
Dikter.  For  some  years  he  has  been  president  of  the  Swed- 
ish Lutheran  Mutual  Fire  Association.  In  1891  he  received 
the  degree  of  A.  M.  of  Bethany  College,  and  1897  the  same 
institution  conferred  the  degree  of  doctor  of  literature  upon 
him.  King  Oscar  II.  of  Sweden  honored  him  with  a  silver 
medal  in  1898.  Holmes  was  married  in  1887  to  Sophia 
Johnson,  of  Altona,  111.    They  have  one  child. 

Hoist,  Martin,  journalist— Cedar  Falls,  la., — ^bom  13  Apr., 
1856,  in  Rodding,  Slesvig.  Young  Hoist  received  a  common 
school  education  and  attended  a  college  in  Askov  for  three 
years.  He  taught  Danish  private  schools  in  Denmark  and 
Slesvig  for  seven  years;  but  he  concluded  to  emigrate,  and 
came  to  Elk  Horn,  Iowa,  in  1881.  In  1882  he  began  to  work 
in  the  office  of  Dannevirke,  Cedar  Falls,  which  paper  he,  in 
company  with  N.  U.  Christianson,  bought  the  following 
year,  and  which  Hoist  has  ever  since  continued  to  edit.  He 
is  one  of  the  most  prominent  lay  members  of  the  Danish 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  WIS.   AND  IOWA.     25T 

Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  America.     He  is  married 
and  has  children. 

Homme,  Even  Johnson,  clergyman— Wittenberg,  Wis.,— 
bom  17  Oct.,  1843,  in  Moland,  Kristiansand  stift,  Norway. 
He  attended  the  common  school  of  his  native  parish  until 
emigrating  with  his  parents  to  America  in  1854.  At  the 
age  of  nineteen  he  entered  Luther  College,  where  he  remained 
for  two  years,  and  in  1864  began  to  study  theology  at  Con- 
cordia Theological  Seminary,  graduating  in  1867.  Shortly 
afterwards  he  accepted  a  call  from  the  Norwegian  Synod 
congregation  at  Winchester,  Wis.,  where  he  resided  for 
fifteen  years.  In  1880  Homme  founded  the  village  of 
Wittenberg.  For  years  the  Norwegian  Synod  had  been  dis- 
cussing the  need  of  an  orphan  asylum,  and  Homme  decided 
to  start  such  an  institution  on  his  own  account  at  Witten- 
berg. Accordingly,  a  building  was  put  up  in  1882.  The 
institution  has  experienced  a  healthy  growth,  and  some  250 
children  and  aged  people  have  been  cared  for  under  its  roof. 
In  1886  Homme  superintended  the  erection  of  a  building  for 
an  Indian  mission  school  at  Wittenberg,  and  through  his 
efiforts  said  school  received  large  appropriations  from  the 
national  treasury.  In  1885  Homme  established  a  printing 
office  in  connection  with  the  orphans'  home,  and  has  since 
published  three  weekly  papers.  For  several  years  he  served 
as  secretary  of  the  Norwegian  Synod,  but  since  1890  has 
been  a  member  of  the  United  Church.  In  1893  he  was  nom- 
inated for  state  senator  by  the  Republicans,  but  accepted  the 
nomination  with  reluctancy.  He  was  defeated  at  the  polls. 
Homme  was  married  in  1869,  and  has  several  children. 

Hougen,  J.  0.,  clergyman— Decorah,  la.,— bom  6  Mar., 
1857,  in  Kvinnherred,  Bergen  stift,  Norway.  His  parents 
emigrated  when  he  was  only  two  months  old.  He  received 
a  common  school  education,  entered  Luther  College  at  the 


258         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANKIU'VUNS  IN  THK  V.  S. 

age  of  fifteen,  graduating  in  1879,  and  completed  his  theo 
logical  studies  at  Madison,  Wis.,  three  years  later.  H> 
served  churches  successively  at  Fargo,  N.  D.;  Canton,  S.  O.; 
and  Manitowoc,  Wis.  In  1898  he  accepted  a  call  from  a 
church  in  Decorah.  Hotigen  originally  was  a  member  ol 
the  Norwegian  Synod,  bnt  joined  the  United  Church  in  1890. 
He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  Concordia  College,  at  Moor- 
head,  Minn.;  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of  missions 
of  the  United  Church;  and  has  held  other  positions  of  trust 
and  honor  tn  the  religious  circles  in  which  he  has  moved. 
Hougen  is  an  active  and  energetic  man,  a  fair  speaker,  a 
great  reader,  an  extensive  traveler,  and  a  voluminous  news- 
paper writer.    He  has  been  married  twice,  and  has  children. 

Jeanaon,  R.  E.,  emigration  agent— Des  Moines,  la.,— 
bom  4  July,  1832,  in  Karlskrona,  Sweden,  His  great- 
grandfather came  from  England  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
and  established  a  factory  to  color  leather  near  Karlskrona. 
Young  Jeanson  received  a  common  school  education;  went 
to  sea  at  the  age  of  eleven;  for  about  ten  years  was  captain 
of  a  vessel  sailing  on  the  coast  of  Sweden;  emigrated  to 
America  in  1865,  settling  in  New  York  City;  and  was 
engaged  as  agent  for  the  American  Emigration  Company. 
Jeanson  remained  with  said  company  until  1893,  having 
had  the  controlling  interest  of  the  concern  till  1889. 
Through  mismanagement  the  company  failed  in  1893,  He 
moved  to  Swea,  Kossuth  county,  Iowa,  in  1879,  where  he 
organized  a  large  Swedish  settlement.  In  1894  he  removed 
to  Des  Moines.  Jeanson  has  always  taken  great  interest 
in  religious  matters,  having  been  ordained  sis  a  Baptist 
clergyman  two  years  after  his  arrival  to  this  country,  and 
organized  the  first  Swedish  Baptist  church  in  New  York  in 
1867.    He  is  married,  and  has  children. 

Jenson,  Andrew,  merchant— Edgerton,  Wis.,— bom  4 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     259 

June,  1843,  in  Sandsvar,  near  Kongsberg,  Norway.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-six  he  emigrated  to  America,  coming  directly 
to  Edgerton,  Wis.,  where  he  worked  in  the  vicinity  as  a 
farm  hand  the  first  summer,  and  attended  school  during  the 
first  winter,  and  one  year  after  his  arrival  started  to  grow 
tobacco  by  working  land  on  shares.  He  settled  in  Edger- 
ton, and  commenced  to  deal  in  leaf  tobacco  on  a  small  scale; 
but  in  a  short  time  Jenson  became  one  of  the  leading  dealers 
in  his  line  in  the  state,  besides  being  interested  in  other 
financial  undertakings  in  the  city,  for  example,  in  a  brick 
yard  and  a  pottery  plant.  He  is  one  of  the  five  proprietors 
of  Atnerika.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Norwegian  Synod, 
and  the  main  supporter  of  his  home  congregation,  having 
also  been  one  of  the  trustees  of  Luther  College,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church  council  of  the  synod.  Jenson  has  affili- 
ated with  the  Democratic  party  since  1884;  was  presi- 
dential elector  in  1892;  has  been  mayor  of  Edgerton  for 
several  terms;  and  was  one  of  the  judges  on  leaf  tobacco  at 
the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago,  in  1893.  In  1877  he  married 
Hannah  P.  Johanson,  of  Edgerton;  they  have  children. 

Johnson,  E.  P.,  county  attorney — Decorah,  la., — bom 
25  June,  1846,  in  Sogn,  Bergen  stift,  Norway.  When  he 
was  five  years  old  his  parents  emigrated  to  this  country, 
settling  at  Norway  Grove,  Wis.  Young  Johnson  worked 
on  his  father's  farm  and  attended  the  public  schools  during 
his  boyhood;  graduated  from  a  business  college  in  Madison, 
Wis.,  in  1872;  received  his  literary  education  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin;  and  graduated  from  the  law  depart- 
ment of  the  State  University  of  Iowa  in  1874.  For  one 
year  he  was  assistant  principal  of  Marshall  Academy, 
Marshall,  Wis.  Alter  having  completed  his  legal  education 
he  settled  in  Decorah,  where  he  successfiilly  has  practiced 
his  profession  ever  since,  and  has  now  a  very  lucrative 


260         HISTORY  OP  THE  8CANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

practice.  Johnson  has  been  secretary  of  the  Decorah  board 
of  education  for  ten  years,  member  of  the  city  council  for 
two  terms,  city  attorney  for  a  couple  of  terms,  and  was 
elected  county  attorney  on  the  Republican  ticket  in  1892, 
being  re-elected  twice.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Norwegian 
Lutheran  Sjmod.  In  1875  he  was  married  to  Carrie  Grinde, 
of  Norway  Grove,  Wis.  They  have  five  children,  their 
two  sons  are  graduates  of  Luther  College,  and  one  of  their 
daughters  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin. 

Johnson,  Ole  C,  soldier— Beloit,  Wis.,— bom  1838,  in 
HoUen,  Telemarken,  Norway;  died  in  1886.  His  father 
was  an  inn  keeper  at  a  place  called  Skibsnas,  from  which 
Ole  took  the  name  by  which  he  was  generally  known.  He 
came  to  America  in  1844.  He  had  attended  Beloit  College 
two  years  when  the  Civil  War  broke  out,  and  he  immediately 
enlisted  in  the  service,  recruited  a  company  of  volunteers, 
and  received  his  commission  as  captain  of  the  same,  which 
became  a  part  of  the  Fifteenth  Wisconsin  Regiment.  Later 
he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  major;  then  to  that  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, and  at  the  battle  of  Chickama.uga  com- 
manded the  regiment.  During  the  second  day  of  this  battle 
he  was  captured  by  the  Confederates,  and  was  sent  to  Libby 
Prison,  where  he  remained  for  eight  months.  While  being 
transported  to  another  prison,  he  succeeded  in  making  his 
escape,  and  made  his  way  to  the  Union  lines,  rejoining  his 
regiment  a  couple  of  months  later.  At  the  expiration  of 
his  term  of  enlistment,  Johnson  was  appointed  colonel  of 
the  Fifty-third  Wisconsin  Regiment:  Most  of  the  time 
after  the  war  he  resided  at  Beloit,  where  he  was  engaged  in 
business  and  held  various  offices. 

Larson,  Iver,  merchant— Decorah,  la.,— bom  1  Nov,, 
1837,  in  Hardanger,  Norway.  He  came  to  America  in  1850, 
and  settled  in   Winneshiek   county,    Iowa.,  in   1851.      In 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     261 

1860-61  he  studied  at  Concordia  College,  and  in  the  fall  of 
1861  entered  the  new  school  of  the  Norwegian  Lutheran 
Synod  at  Halfway  Creek,  Wis.  He  soon  left  his  school, 
however,  because  he  could  not  agree  with  his  professor  who 
held  that  "slavery  in  itself  is  not  sinful."  From  1866  to 
1878  he  was  engaged  in  business  on  his  own  account  at 
Brownsville,  Minn.;  but  at  the  latter  date  removed  to 
Decorah,  where  he  has  since  built  up  the  largest  dry  goods 
establishment  in  the  city.  Besides  making  his  own  business 
an  unqualified  success,  Larsen,  during  the  past  fifteen  years, 
has  managed  to  perform  a  large  amount  of  work  connected 
with  his  church.  The  following  are  some  of  the  positions 
filled  by  Larsen:  Treasurer  of  the  Lutheran  aid  fund  of  St. 
Olaf  College  1886-90;  treasurer  of  the  Anti-Missourian 
Brotherhood  endowment  fund,  in  which  capacity  he  raised 
$90,000  by  subscription;  and  president  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  United  Church  since  1890.  In  the  last- 
mentioned  capacity  he  had  to  conduct  the  famous  lawsuit 
of  the  United  Church  against  Augsburg  Seminary,  involv- 
ing the  title  to  the  Augsburg  Publishing  House. 

Larson,  Ole,  county  judge — Osceola,  Wis.,— born  2  Apr., 
1841,  in  Nordre  Aurdal,  Hamar  stift,  Norway.  He  received 
a  high  school  education,  and  visited  various  places  in  Nor- 
way, before  leaving  for  America  in  1868.  In  1872  he 
settled  at  Osceola,  and  five  years  later  was  elected  county 
judge  of  Polk  county,  to  which  position  he  has  been  re-elec- 
ted several  times,  having  served  over  twenty  years.  Larson 
has  been  engaged  in  the  real  estate,  loan,  and  insurance 
business  during  his  entire  stay  at  Osceola.  In  1890. he 
bought  Bethania  Mineral  Springs.  Larson  is  one  of  the 
most  influential  Scandinavian  Republicans  in  the  state, 
and  in  1895  Governor  Upham  appointed  him  a  member  of 
the  board  of  immigration  of  Wisconsin.    In  1870  he  mar- 


262         HISTORY  OP  THB  8CANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  V.  8. 

lied  Ingeborg  Johnson;  they  have  two  sons  well  educated. 
Lund,  Lars,  clergyman— Elroy,  Wis.,— bom  13  March, 
1845,  in  Vefsen,  Troms5  stift,  Norway.    He  graduated  from 
the  normal  school  at  Tromso    in    1864;   taught   in   the 
public  schools  for  five  years;  and  emigrated  in  1868,  coming 
directly  to  Racine,  Wis.,  but  shortly  afterwards  entered 
Augustana  College,  Paxton,  111.,  where  he  remained  one 
year.    He  completed  his  theological  course  in  1870  at  the 
school  of  the  Norwegian  branch  of  the  Augustana  Synod, 
located  at  Marshall,  Wis.    For  six  years  Lund  had  charge 
of  Conference  congregations  in  southwestern    Minnesota. 
From  1876-97  he  was  located  at  Menomonie,  Wis.     Since 
the  latter  date  he  has  been  located  at  his  present  place. 
Lund  was  cashier  for  the  mission  during  eight  years  of  his 
connection  with  the  Conference,  and  since  that  organization 
became  a  part  of  the  United  Norwegian  Lutheran  Church  of 
America,  he  has  held  the  same  position,  being  an  influential 
member  of  this  organization,     Lund,  in  connection   with 
Rev.  G.  Hoyme,  published  a  hymn  book  called  Harpen,  in 
1888.    He  was  married  in  1872. 

Naeseth,  Christen  A.,  educator— Decorah,  la., — bom  1 
March,  1849,  in  Koshkonong,  Dane  county.  Wis.  His 
father  came  from  Nedre  Telemarken,  Norway,  in  1844. 
In  1869  Naeseth  entered  Luther  College,  graduating  five 
years  later.  He  completed  his  theological  studies  at  Con- 
cordia Seminary  in  1877;  spent  one  year,  traveling  and 
studying,  in  Norway;  from  1878-82  he  served  Norwegian 
Synod  congregations  in  Rock  county,  Minn.;  then  accepted 
a  call  as  professor  at  his  alma  mater,  where  he  has  since 
remained,  having  charge  of  English  history,  English  litera- 
ture, and  other  branches,  besides  being  the  college  librarian. 
Having  been  granted  a  year's  leave  of  absence,  he  spent 
1884-85  at  Cornell  and  Johns  Hopkins  universities.  In  1886 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     263 

he  married  Caroline  M.  Koren,  a  daughter  of  Rev.  V.  Koren. 

Nelsenius,  John  D.,  clergyman— Ashland,  Wis.,— bom  12 
Oct.,  1850,  in  Mistelfts,  Smiland,  Sweden.  He  received  a 
common  school  education  in  his  native  land,  and  worked  on 
his  father's  farm  until  eighteen  years  of  age  when  he  emi- 
grated  to  America.  In  1875  he  entered  Augustana  College, 
pursuing  studies  in  the  collegiate  and  theological  depart- 
ments of  this  institution  for  seven  years,  and  graduating 
from  the  latter  department  in  1882.  He  had  charge  of  con- 
gregations  at  Anoka  and  St.  Cloud,  Minn.,  and  other  places 
in  the  vicinity  until  1886,  when  he  moved  to  Ashland,  being 
the  first  Swedish  Lutheran  clergyman  to  permanently  locate 
in  the  northern  part  of  Wisconsin.  Nelsenius  has  been  a 
member  of  the  board  of  education  of  Ashland  for  three 
years,  and  has  also  taken  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  local 
affairs,  especially  whatever  concerns  the  welfare  of  the 
Swedish  people.  In  1896  he  was  one  of  the  presidential 
electors  at  large,  on  the  Republican  ticket,  and  he  received 
the  largest  number  of  votes  cast  for  any  person  during  the 
whole  history  of  the  state.    He  was  married  in  1882. 

Nelson,  Oley,  state  legislator— Slater,  la.,— bom  10 
Aug.,  1845,  in  Rock  county.  Wis.  His  parents  came  from 
Rollag,  Numedal,  Norway,  to  Jefferson  Prairie,  Wis.,  in 
1844.  Young  Nelson  received  a  common  school  education, 
and  worked  on  his  father's  farm.  His  father  served  in  the 
army  during  the  Civil  War,  and  after  his  death,  through 
disease,  young  Nelson  took  his  place  in  the  army,  and  parti- 
cipated in  the  battles  of  Memphis,  Holy  Spring,  Jackson, 
etc.  In  1867  he  settled  in  Polk  county,  la.,  close  to  his 
present  place  of  business,  and  has  resided  in  the  vicinity  ever 
since,  except  for  about  eight  years,  when  he  lived  in  Des 
Moines.  He  has  been  in  the  general  merchandise  business 
ever  since  he  came  to  Iowa,  and  now  does  an  annual  busi- 


264         HISTORY  OP  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  U.  S. 

ness  of  about  $100,000,  being  also  engaged  in  banking.  In 
1885  he  was  elected  to  the  state  legislature,  and  nvas  re- 
elected two  years  later.  During  his  legislative  career  he 
secured  the  passage  of  several  important  bills,  for  example^ 
one  in  regard  to  general  tile  drainage,  and  another  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  cheaper  text-books — ^these  t-wo  laws 
were  very  important,  and  Nelson  deserves  the  credit  of  hav- 
ing done  some  of  the  best  work  in  the  legislature  that  has 
ever  been  performed  by  any  of  the  Scandinavians  in  the 
Iowa  legislature.  He  is  a  member  of  the  United  Church, 
taking  active  part  in  the  secular  affairs  of  that  body;  was 
one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Norwegian-Danish  Conference  for 
several  years;  and  has  held  the  same  position  since  that 
organization  became  a  part  of  the  United  Church.  He  has 
also  been  one  of  the  trustees  of  Jewell  Lutheran  College. 
Nelson  was  the  chief  organizer,  in  1896,  of  the  Norw^^gian- 
American  old  settlers'  association,  of  which  society  he 
became  president.  In  1869  he  was  married  to  Lrizzie  Ers- 
land,  of  Story  county.    They  have  several  children. 

NelsoB,  Otto,  publisher  and  state  binder  —  Des  Moines, 
la.,— bom  14  Nov.,  1843,  in  Ulrika,  Ostergdtland,  Sweden. 
He  received  his  education  mostly  through  private  instruc- 
tion; enlisted  in  the  army  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  passed 
a  non-commissioned  examination,  after  having  served  for 
three  years.  For  three  years  he  was  sergeant,  but  after 
having  been  in  the  army  for  six  years,  he  emigrated  to 
America  in  1867.  In  1870  he  settled  in  Des  Moines;  worked 
for  thirteen  years  for  one  book-binding  firm,  being  the  fore- 
man of  the  establishment  the  last  seven  years;  and  com- 
menced, in  1883,  to  publish  Svithiod.  Several  other  Swed- 
ish newspapers  have  been  started  before  and  since,  yet 
Svithiod  has  been,  and  is,  the  most  influential  and  widely 
circulated  Swedish  paper  in  Iowa.    In  1895  Nelson  severed 


NE1„S(1X.  SLATEk. 


ffi 


1 


:.  H.  TOIXEf^RrPE,  Rc.lLFE. 


KI-\    J    A    orTESiEt*    DECORAH 


BIOORAPHEBS  OP  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     265 

all  connections  with  the  paper,  and  engaged  in  the  business 
of  real  estate  and  insurance  until  1899,  when  he  secured  a 
position  in  the  government  printing  oflSce  at  Washingtcmf 
D.  C.  In  1888  Nelson  was  elected  state  binder  of  lowa.ic^ 
the  legislature,  being  the  first  Scandinavian  that  ha9.iOT]e|r 
been  elected  to  any  state  office  in  the  state.  In  1890rT8!3j>'Jie 
was  re-elected  to  the  same  position.  Nelson  has  tak^n^^t^^t 
part  in  everything  which  pertains  to  the  welfarft\irtS<Ate 
Swedes  in  the  city.  Few  Swedes  are  more  widelyilm$:twxk)^ 
the  state,  or  out  of  the  state,  than  he  is.  In  i1b97^to0wa8 
married  to  Alfrida  Jonson,  who  died  in  18^%yJifiGJVj(i^^tW0 
grown  daughters,  who  have  received  a  gOQ4l64U9£^tjP9^  uroj  t 

Nordbergr,  Bruno  V^  mechanical  eng^cge^rorflVIiil/v^tiii^k^ 
Wis.,— bom  11  Apr.,  1858,  in  Helsingfojf^j  J^inJ[^pjd»jinHft:iiija 
direct  descendant  of  Nordberg,  the  ci^s^^\a^,w^\i^^QJi^^ 
of  Charles  XII.,  king  of  Sweden.  l(oni^t$i{oj:^^r^re(^Y^ 
8L  college  education  in  his  native  pl^^,  ^dj^^drt*tfl4;ifr©m 
the  Poljrtechnic  College  of  Helsi^j^^r^  ftUnlSTA  ^^j^hpt^lj 
after  emigrated,  coming  to  Bufl^q^f  JJ^,y>,,^9d?^reb^/n¥fl^^iiifid 
for  about  one  year;  then  caja^t9^i|3raujc^<;  Jtfi.ig^jOibfc 
started  to  manufacture  steftjji,^j«\gjmi?3;9f.  bi?i^<^5CT/j3r con- 
sidered one  of  the  best  enginj^ers^ip  f  t,bier;Ijtorth,Yr^tt;^WWirhaa 
about  thirty  patents  of.hi9,pW0r,  i^t  ^^^^ ,n^^rysA  m.i984h 
and  has  children.        .,:..;,)    . ■/.•(. l  :,r!j  rt:  >•:..; -.nfii:  i  jjiwuil'^ij 

Norrbom,  Augu^t^  jslejiigyxa^-rS^^P^fe Wg*  la.  mt^.  hMn 
19  June,  1860,  iiji,  §jQjfe^tf^,|P3t^rg?otlftnd|,i§w^^ 
received  a  commOj5(.|^ii,oo]ljj^di49i^tii,opii?L.^ 

in  1876;  studic|d.fJijring.the^yifltfir,^r^ 

Augustana  Cp^^ejge  j^pi».^^81^pjl^7,.;Wi4igr^4t|Ht^:#(W» 
the  theolo^9^1,(Jepar^pi9iit:;fi>|E,(t^ftt  [;9gtitJit:w>j9 .  *b^j  ila*ter 
year;  sery^d  ^y^p6^Bj^J.nt^^  .Rep^j^^d 

KnoxviU|i,  .J^^,j^^if^^jOjpri,ti^r^;y^^  TppelR^,; JCaUu, 

from  1890  i(f^X^^6^fe0^g,^tJt^ 

61 


266  HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

date.  Norrbom  has  been  secretary  of  the  Kansas  Confer- 
ence  for  two  years,  and  treasurer  of  the  conference  for  the 
same  length  of  time,  having  also  been  a  member  of  the 
board  of  directors  of  the  orphans'  home  at  Mariadahl, 
Kan.,  for  six  years,  besides  having  held  other  offices  in  con- 
nection with  church  work.  During  1891—6  he  published,  in 
Topeka,  Kan.,  a  small  religious  monthly  called  TetnpeL 
klockan.  In  1887  he  was  married  to  Emma  A.  Ahlgren,  of 
Kossuth,  Iowa.    They  have  children. 

Oden,  Hartin  P.,  clergyman— Alt  a,  la.,— bom  13  Nov., 
1852,  in  Onsala,  Halland,  Sweden.  He  almost  completed  a 
course  at  the  Latin  school  in  Gothenburg;  emigrated  to 
America  in  1876,  for  the  purpose  of  entering  the  ministry; 
spent  one  year  at  the  college  department  of  Augustana  Col- 
lege; graduated  from  the  seminary  in  1879;  accepted  a  call 
to  Big  Rapids,  Mich.,  where  he  remained  for  about  two 
years;  had  charge  of  a  congregation  in  Ottumwa,  la.,  for 
eight  years;  returned  to  Michigan  in  1889,  and  for  a  couple 
of  years  was  pastor  of  the  church  at  Tustin;  then  moved  to 
his  present  place.  In  1877-78  he  was  vice-president  of  the 
Iowa  Conference  of  the  Augustana  Synod,  and  was  re-elected 
to  the  same  position  in  1893;  in  1895  was  elected  president 
of  that  organization.  Being  one  of  the  oldest  and  best 
educated  ministers  in  the  Iowa  Conference,  he  has  naturally 
taken  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  aflFairs  of  that  organization. 
He  was  married  in  1870,  and  has  children. 

Oieson,  Ole,  sea  captain  and  soldier— Oshkosh,  Wis.,— 
bom  30  Dec.,  1839,  in  Tonsberg,  near  Skien,  Norway.  He 
emigrated  to  America  in  1843;  received  a  common  school 
education,  and  settled  in  Oshkosh  in  1859,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  the  steam  boat  business  until  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War.  In  1861  he  enlisted  in  Company  E.,  of  the 
Second  Wisconsin  Volunteers,  serving  until  the  next  year. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     267 

Then  at  the  call  of  the  navy  department  for  volunteers  to 
man  the  gun  boats  on  the  Mississippi  river,  he  volunteered 
for  the  gun  boat  service,  and  took  an  active  part  in  all 
naval  battles  until  the  river  was  opened  a  couple  of  years 
later.  In  1864  he  returned  to  Oshkosh,  where  he  resumed 
the  boating,  which  he  continued  until  he  was  appointed 
postmaster  by  President  Harrison  in  1890,  which  position 
he  held  for  four  years.  Oleson  has  taken  an  active  part  in 
the  welfare  of  the  Republican  party,  and  is  one  of  the  influ- 
ential public  men  in  the  state,  especially  in  that  part  of  the 
country.    He  was  married  in  1871,  and  has  one  daughter. 

Olson,  Julius  Em  educator— Madison,  Wis.,— bom  9 
Nov.,  1858,  in  Cambridge,  Dane  county,  Wis.  His  parents, 
who  were  bom  in  southeastern  Norway,  emigrated  to 
America  in  1852,  and  have  resided  at  Cambridge  since  that 
date.  He  graduated  with  honors  from  the  University  of 
Wisconsin  in  1884,  and  was  immediately  appointed  instruc- 
tor in  the  Scandinavian  languages  and  German,  and  was 
elected  professor  of  Scandinavian  languages  and  literatures 
in  1892.  Professor  Olson  is  peculiarly  well  fitted  for  his 
work  as  an  educator,  his  eloquence  and  enthusiasm  arous- 
ing the  interest  of  his  students,  and  the  accuracy  and  scope 
of  his  knowledge  making  him  an  authority  upon  which  they 
cheerfully  rely.  He  has  made  a  special  study  of  the  early 
history  of  the  peoples  of  northern  Europe,  and  the  conclu- 
sions arrived  at  by  his  researches  in  this  line  may  be  sum- 
marized as  follows:  Scandinavia  was  the  original  home  of 
the  Aryan  ancestors  of  all  the  fair-haired,  blue-eyed  peoples 
now  scattered  over  Europe.  According  to  this  theory,  the 
diflFerent  Teutonic  races  did  not  enter  western  Europe  from 
the  east,  as  hitherto  supposed,  but  came  from  the  Scandi- 
navian peninsulas.  Olson  is  a  fine  lecturer  and  an  inspiring 
orator.    His  Seventeenth  of  May  and  Fourth  of  July  ora- 


268         HISTORY  OF  THB  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THB  U.   S. 

tions  are  polished,  patriotic,  and  scholarly.  Besides  making 
contributions  to  various  periodicals,  Olson  in  1889  pub- 
lished an  English  translation  of  Vitus  Bering',  the  Discov- 
erer of  Bering  Strait,  a  work  originally  written  in  Danish 
by  Peter  Lauridsen.  In  1898  he  published  A  N'orwregian 
Grammar  and  Reader,  with  Notes  and  Vocabulary, 
and  a  high  authority  on  the  subject  with  which  it  deals.  In 
1897  he  was  married  to  Helen  O.  Ericksen. 

Olson,  Ole  Br.,  journalist  and  temperance  lecturer — Ban 
Claire,  Wis., — ^bom  19  May,  1857,  in  Kristiania,  Norway. 
When  a  yonng  man  he  started  Fakkelen,  a  humorous 
paper,  which  after  a  few  years  gave  up  the  ghost.  In  1879 
he  emigrated  to  America,  settled  in  Chicago,  and  in  1882 
started  Afholdsbladet^  a  small  monthly  devoted  exclu- 
sively to  the  cause  of  temperance.  In  1887  Olson  removed 
to  his  present  home,  where  he  began  to  publish  Reform,  a 
weekly  which  for  years  past  has  been  the  most  influential 
temperance  and  prohibition  paper  published  in  the  Norwe- 
gian language  in  this  country.  Besides  editing  and  manag- 
ing this  paper,  Olson  has  also  lectured  more  or  less  on  tem- 
perance, having  delivered  more  than  one  thousand  lectures 
on  that  subject  in  the  course  of  the  past  twenty  years.  The 
Prohibitionists  of  Wisconsin  have  nominated  him  for  mem- 
ber of  Congress  and  lieutenant  governor,  and  in  the  latter 
case  he  ran  ahead  of  the  state  ticket  of  his  party.  In  1888 
he  issued,  in  two  volumes,  Haandbog  for  Afholdsvenner, 
which,  however,  as  the  author  says  himself,  is  mainly  a 
compilation.  Olson  has  unquestionably  done  more  for  the 
cause  of  temperance  than  any  other  Scandinavian- American. 
In  1895  he  visited  Norway  and  made  a  successful  lecturing 
tour  of  the  country,  partly  at  the  expense  of  the  Norwegian- 
American  temperance  people^    He  was  married  in  1878. 

Paulson,  Ole,  soldier   and   clergyman— Blanchardville, 


BIOGRAPHIBS  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     269 

Wis.,— bom  26  April,  1832,  in  Sol5r,  Hamar  stift,  Norway. 
He  came  to  America  in  1850;  entered  the  theological  semi- 
nary of  the  Augustana  Synod  in  1861;  but  soon  discon- 
tinued his  studies  in  order  to  defend  the  cause  of  the  Union 
on  the  battle  field.  He  served  two  years  in  the  war,  hold- 
ing the  rank  of  second  lieutenant  in  company  H,  Ninth 
Regiment  Minnesota  Volunteers;  and  resumed  his  studies  at 
the  same  seminary  in  1866.  In  1868  he  received  a  call  as 
pastor  in  Minneapolis,  and  for  two  years  was  the  only 
Scandinavian  Lutheran  minister  in  that  city.  In  1870 
Paulson  participated  in  the  organization  of  the  Norwegian- 
Danish  Lutheran  Conference,  which  body  he  repeatedly 
served  as  vice-president.  He  did  more  than  any  other  man 
towards  locating  Augsburg  Seminary  in  Minneapolis,  and 
the  supporters  of  this  institution  have  honored  him  with 
the  title  "Augsburg's  Father."  From  1874  to  1885  he  lived 
at  Willmar,  Minn.,  serving  a  number  of  congregations  in 
and  around  that  city;  and  since  the  latter  date  has  resided 
at  his  present  home.  Paulson  is  an  ardent  advocate  of 
total  abstinence;  for  fifteen  years  past  has  been  a  frequent 
contributor  to  Folkebladet;  and  has  written  a  few  hymns, 
the  most  popular  of  which  is  Jeg^  er  en  Vandciagsmand. 
He  was  married  in  1857,  and  has  several  children. 

Peterson,  Atley,  banker  and  legislator — Soldiers  Grove, 
Wis., — bom  21  Feb.,  1847,  in  Lardal,  Bergen  stift,  Norway. 
At  the  age  of  five  he  emigrated  to  America  with  his  par- 
rents,  and  they  settled  near  Soldiers  Grove  in  1854.  He 
opened  a  general  store  here  in  1866,  remaining  in  this  busi- 
ness for  eight  years,  when  he  started  a  saw  mill.  He  is  pro- 
prietor of  the  Bank  of  Soldiers  Grove,  and  was  the  leading 
spirit  in  bringing  about  the  building  of  the  Kikapoo  Valley 
and  Northern  railroad.  .  Peterson  has  held  many  local 
offices,  in  1878  was    elected  to  the  state  legislature,  and 


270         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAYIANS  IN  THE  U.   S, 

was  re-elected  three  times.    In  1886  he  was  elected  railroad 
commissioner,  and  was  re-elected  in   1888.    Peterson  has 
been  very  active  and  influential  in  state  politics.  His  success 
in  the  political  arena  is  certainly  to  his  great  credit,  when 
we  take  into  consideration  the  fact  that  he  resides  in  a 
county  where  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  population  is 
of  Norwegian   extraction,  thus   having   nothing  of  that 
nationality   pull    which   often   promotes   persons    in    this 
country.    In  1892  he  was  candidate  for  state  treasurer  on 
the  Republican  ticket,  but  was  defeated  with  the  rest  of  the 
ticket.    He  is  a  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.  and  of  the  Free 
Masons,  having  taken  many  of  the  higher  degrees  in  the 
latter  order.    He  was  marrifed  in  1869,  and  has  children. 

Peterson,  0,  C,  lawyer  and  lecturer — Des  Moines,  la., — 
born  15  Dec,  1857,  in  Misterhult,  Smftland,  Sweden.    He 
attended  the  common  school  of  his  parish,  and  left  for 
America  with  his  parents  in  1868.    They  located  in  Webster 
county,  la.,  and  young  Peterson  graduated  from  the  Iowa 
Agricultural  College  in  1882.    He  next  took  a  post  gradu- 
ate course  at  the  same  institution,  devoting  himself  espe- 
cially to  the  study  of  philosophy,  and  received  the  degree  of 
M.  Ph.  in  1883.    The  same  year  he  entered  the  Iowa  Col- 
lege of  Law,  at  Des  Moines,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
the  following  year.    Peterson  practiced  law  in  Des  Moines 
for  twelve  years,  then  settled  in  Chicago,  where  he  is  now 
engaged  in  an  extensive  practice,  besides  being  president 
of  the  Swedish  National  Association  and  secretary  of  the 
Swedish-American  Central  Republican  Clubs.    But  he  man- 
ages to  snatch  enough  time  from  his  law  practice  to  lecture 
on  historical  and  popular  themes.    As  a  Republican  cam- 
paign speaker  he  has  built  up  quite  a  reputation  in  the 
West,  and  has  been  engaged  as  such  by  the  national  and 
state  committees   during  the  past  twenty  years.      The 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  WIS.  AND  IOWA.     271 

North  says:  "As  a  speaker  he  is  strong  and  convincing; 
magnetic  rather  than  eloquent.  He  is  pleasant  in  his  man- 
ner and  voice,  and  a  good  thinker  with  an  exhaustless  fund 
of  historical  information.*'  Peterson  speaks  English  and 
Swedish  with  equal  fluency.  His  literary  taste  is  strongly 
developed,  his  favorite  subjects  being  history  and  political 
science.  Peterson  was  married,  in  1886,  to  Florence  E. 
Felts,  of  Indiana,  an  American  lady.    They  have  two  children. 

Peterson,  Sewell  A.,  state  treasurer— Rice  Lake,  Wis., — 
bom  28  Feb.,  1850,  in  Solor,  Hamar  stift,  Norway,  He 
emigrated  in  1864;  in  1883  entered  the  mercantile  business 
at  Menomonie;  and  since  1887  has  been  running  a  general 
store  at  Rice  Lake.  He  has  held  various  local  ofl&ces;  was 
register  of  deeds  of  Dunn  county  for  six  years;  has  been  a 
member  of  the  state  assembly;  and  was  elected  state  treas- 
urer in  1894  and  1896,  being  the  first  Scandinavian  ever 
elected  to  that  position  in  Wisconsin. 

Qvale,  Sigvald  A.,  capitalist— Eau  Claire,  Wis.,— bom 
18  July,  1852,  in  Haugesund,  Norway;  died  1890.  He 
attended  the  high  school  of  his  native  town;  emigrated  to 
America  in  1868.  He  clerked  in  a  dry  goods  store  in  Min- 
neapolis, and  in  the  land  office  of  the  Omaha  railway  com- 
pany at  Hudson,  Wis.  At  Eau  Claire  he  was  so  successful 
in  his  business  that  he  was  worth  several  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  at  his  death.  His  memory  was  so  rententive 
that  for  many  years  in  his  extensive  dealings  with  men  he 
hardly  kept  a  memorandum.  He  intended  to  establish  a 
hospital;  but  he  died  before  he  realized  his  philanthropic  plan. 

Reque,  L.  S.,  educator— Decorah,  la., — bom  12  Aug., 
1848,  in  Dane  county, Wis.  His  father  came  from  Voss,  Nor- 
way in  1845.  Young  Reque  graduated  from  Luther  College 
in  1868,  then  studied  law  at  the  Iowa  State  University.  He 
taught  one  year  at  St.  Olaf  College,  but  accepted  a  call  as 


272         HISTORY  OF  THE  SCANDINAVIANS  IN  THE  U.   S. 

regular  professor  at  Luther  College  in  1875.  This  position 
he  has  since  held,  his  principal  branches  being  English  and 
Latin.  He  is  a  Democrat  and  in  1893  President  Cleveland 
appointed  him  United  States  consul  to  Holland.  Reqne 
married  Margarita  Brandt  in  1882.    They  have  children. 

Roe,  0.  0.,  deputy  auditor  of  state — Des  Moines,  la., — 
born  4  June,  1854,  near  Bergen,  Norway.  When  he  was 
eight  years  old  his  parents  came  to  this  country,  and  set- 
tled in  Story  county  in  1868.  Young  Roe  graduated  from 
the  law  department  of  Simpson  College,  Indianola,  Iowa, 
in  1878.  Soon  after  he  opened  a  law  office  in  Story  City, 
but  was  elected  principal  of  the  city  schools  at  the  same 
time.  After  having  been  principal  for  three  years,  he  was 
elected  county  superintendent  of  schools;  was  re-elected 
four  times,  and  served  in  that  capacity  for  ten  years.  In 
1892  he  was  appointed  deputy  auditor  of  state,  and  was 
re-appointed  twice.  Roe  is  a  Republican,  and  a  member  of 
the  English  Lutheran  church.     He  has  been  married  twice. 

Sagen,  Aandreas  K,,  clergyman— La  Crosse,  Wis.,— 
bom  11  Feb.,  1851,  near  Rockdale,  Wis.  His  parents  came 
from  Bo,  Telemaken,  Norway,  in  1845.  In  1869  he  entered 
Luther  College,  graduating  five  years  later,  and  completed 
his  theological  studies  in  1879  at  Concordia  Seminary. 
He  entered  the  ministry  as  pastor  of  a  congregation  at 
Wild  Rice,  Norman  county,  Minn.;  in  1884  removed  to  Cal- 
mar,  la.,  where  he  acted  as  assistant  pastor  to  Rev.  V. 
Koren;  and  since  1888  has  had  charge  of  a  synod  congrega- 
tion in  La  Crosse.  Sagen  has  published  a  lecture  on  the 
question,  Hjriler  Kriatendommen  paa  Hiatoriak  Grand? 
and  a  pamphlet,  Oni  Kiliaamen.  Sagen  has  been  chair- 
man of  the  committee  having  charge  of  the  church  exten- 
sion fund;  member  of  the  committee  on  missions  for  the 
Eastern  District;  and  vice-president  of  the  Eastern  District 


Q.  N.  SWAN,  SIOUX  CITV. 


HEV.  T.  A.  TORGRREtON.  SOUBER.  l:l:V,  O.  r.  YAKfiSNES.  STORY  CITY. 


niOF.  A.  A.  YEHLi:X,  IOWA  CITY.  KEY.  X.  P.  XAVIER,  RIDOEWAY.