Big Stone County, Minnesota

Early Settlement

C. K. Orton, after whom the city of Ortonville was named, was the first white settler in Big Stone County. He came from Fillmore County in the early 1860s and began trading with the Indians. By the time of his death, he had become a wealthy man.

The first Norwegian farmers in the county were Ole Bolsta from Åmot, Østerdalen, and David Johnson from Tromsø. They came from St. Peter, Minnesota, and settled at Artichoke Lake in 1869. Wheat was their principal crop. New Ulm, 112 miles away, was the nearest market, and the settlers relied entirely on oxen for transportation and plowing.

In the vicinity of Beardsley, the first Norwegian settlers were Mathias Olsen and Lars Olsen from Biri, Arnt Holmlie from the Trondheim area, and Lars Halvorsen Bøe from Lower Telemark. They settled there in 1871.

Churches and Congregations

By 1905, Big Stone County had twelve Norwegian congregations and seven churches. Three congregations belonged to the Norwegian Synod, three to the United Church, three to the Lutheran Free Church, two to the Baptist Church, and one to the Adventist Church.

Norwegian Place Names

A post office named Holmlie once existed in the county, and one of the Norwegian settlement areas was still known as Eidskog.

Sources:

[Ulvestad, Martin. Nordmændene i Amerika. Utg. History Book Company's Forlag. Minneapolis, Minn. 1907.]