Douglas County, Minnesota

Early Norwegian Settlement

The first Norwegian known to have settled in Douglas County was Nels Mickelsen from the Røros area, who settled near Holmes City in 1865. Native Americans still lived in the surrounding area at the time.

A much larger group of Norwegian settlers arrived in 1866. Among them were John Arntsen from Kobbervik, Ole Brandson from Hedmark, Ole Urness, Lars Grinden, and Amos Johnson from Sogn, Mathias Wolstad, Sivert Olsen, and Hans Pedersen from Hedmark, Gunder Johnson and Ole Hammer from Trondheim, Renhard Bottner from Solør, Petter E. Julin from Hammerfest, Ole Ellefsen from Telemark, as well as Petter Stenstrup, Tore Evensen, Ole Amundsen, Albert Barsness, Torsten Hovde, Gunder Knudsen, Jens Gundersen, Charley Brown, Karm Øen, Ole Pedersen, and Johannes Olesen.

The first settlers were poor. Some lived in dugouts, while others built log cabins. There was little paid work in the immediate area, but those who owned oxen and wagons could travel to St. Cloud and earn money hauling goods westward to military forts. Settlers without the means to do this relied heavily on trapping muskrats, which were abundant and brought a good price. One early settler recalled that without trapping, many of the newcomers would have found it impossible to survive. Wheat later became the principal source of prosperity.

An Emigrant Journey in 1854

One early settler recalled emigrating from Stavanger aboard the sailing ship Urania in 1854. The Atlantic crossing lasted eleven weeks. After the emigrants reached Montreal, cholera broke out, and many died during the journey west toward Chicago.

According to the account, the group numbered 203 people, most of them from Strand and Fister parishes and the islands of Ryfylke. One family from Monstrevaag made a particularly strong impression on the young narrator. He remembered the father as Peder Knudsen Rygmyre. At four o’clock in the afternoon, the entire family had been healthy; by nine that evening, the man’s wife and three oldest children were dead. He was left alone with an eight-month-old child. The narrator recalled that although he was still only a youth, he wept with the bereaved father. He added that those who survived the journey from Montreal to Chicago never forgot it.

Pioneer Life near Evansville

Another early settler recalled that when he arrived at Evansville, there were still very few white settlers and many Native Americans in the area. He sometimes visited them and remembered seeing them eat muskrats. Looking back many years later, he reflected on how completely the country had changed. The Native American population had largely disappeared from the immediate area, game and fish had become less abundant, the land had been transformed by settlement, and even the climate seemed different from what he remembered in the early years.

Churches and Congregations

Vor Frelsers Congregation at Holmes City was established in 1867 by Pastor L. A. Carlson of the Norwegian Synod and was the first Norwegian congregation in Douglas County. The first Norwegian church building in the county was erected in 1877 by Moe Congregation, also belonging to the Norwegian Synod. By 1905, Douglas County had twelve Norwegian congregations and eleven churches. Seven congregations belonged to the United Church, three to the Norwegian Synod, and two to the Lutheran Free Church.

Public Office

The first Norwegian known to have held public office in Douglas County was Thorer Evensen, who was elected County Commissioner in 1871. Knute Nelson was the first Norwegian to represent Douglas County in the Minnesota State Legislature, elected in 1875.

Norwegian Place Names

Several townships in Douglas County had Norwegian names, including Lund, Moe, Solem, Brandon, and Urness.

Post offices with Norwegian names included Melby, Moe, Urness, and Brandon.

Norwegian-American Education

Wartburg Mission School was established in Alexandria in 1901.

Sources:

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