Fillmore County, Minnesota

The First Norwegian Settlement in Minnesota

The first permanent Norwegian settlement in Minnesota was established in Fillmore County. Contemporary accounts were not always accurate in identifying the earliest settlers, and the source specifically notes that Hans Valder was not the first Norwegian to arrive. According to Christian Hellicksen, who had lived among the early settlers and their descendants in Newburg for fifty years, Even Eilertsen from Kragerø and Halvor Gjællervig from Stavanger came to Newburg from the Muskego settlement in Wisconsin in 1851. Later that same year they were joined by Anders Nepstad from Valdres, Hellick Glaim from Numedal, and Mikkel and Anders Lunne from Land Parish. 

While those who settled in Fillmore County in 1851 were indeed the first Norwegian settlers in the State of Minnesota, a Norwegian girl had become lost in Minnesota the previous year, in 1850 (see Hennepin County).

In 1852, Lars Tollefsen and his family from Hallingdal came from Wisconsin and settled at Mabel. His son Lewis Tollefsen, born there on July 6, 1852, was identified as the first Norwegian child born in Minnesota. That same year, O. Vem settled in the Root River Valley, while Even Knudsen Besteland and the brothers Knud and Aamund Olesen Qvæstad, all from Setesdal, built cabins at York. Ole Jørgensen from Setesdal and Daniel Steensland also came to Fillmore County in 1852.

The Growth of the Settlement

Norwegian immigration increased considerably in 1853. Hans Valder from the Stavanger area arrived from La Salle County, Illinois, with six other men and their families and settled at Newburg. Ole O. Tuft from Slidre, Valdres, and Oliver Goodrich settled near Rushford, while Peter Petersen Haslerud from Numedal settled in the vicinity of the town later named Peterson after him.

Jens Johnson Nessa from Årdal and Tore Olsen Faae from Finnøy settled in Tawney. They and their families came from La Salle County with three teams of oxen, two old wagons, four cows, and their household possessions. About twenty Native Americans had a camp close to their new homes. Each family built a small log cabin measuring about ten by twelve feet, without floors and with roofs of basswood bark. They were followed by Jacob Haga, R. C. Spande, Christian Christophersen, Ole Gjermonsen, Bjørn Larsen, and Lars Tarvestad, also from La Salle County. Hans Arnesen, who came from Rock County, Wisconsin, became Fillmore County’s first blacksmith.

The migration into Fillmore County came largely from established Norwegian communities in Illinois and Wisconsin. Some settlers traveled by wagon through McGregor, Iowa, others crossed the Mississippi at La Crosse, and some came by steamboat to Winona, which served as an important market for the county. Mail from Norway was collected at Decorah, Iowa, twenty to thirty miles away.

The Harmony, Ostrander, Whalan, and Pilot Mound Areas

The first Norwegians in the Harmony area arrived in 1854. They included Tallak Vrølsen, Arne Kirkeli, Even Kirkeli, Even Evensen Kirkeli, and Torger Hofta, all from Setesdal; Herbjørn and Østen Engusland from Tinn; Johannes Sauelien, Ole Kvammen, Johannes Tho, and Anders Olsen from Heddal; Ole Stabek, Gunder Toe, and Kittil Fjøstuft from Seljord; Ole and Asle Flatastøl from Vinje; Torger Feland from Mo Parish; Nels Gaasedalen from Valdres; and Erik Solseth with four sons from Hallingdal. They were followed by Svennung Johansen Bergan, Knut Petersen Husevold, B. J. Bruflot, Helleck Olsen Morheim, Nels Nelson, Østen Nelson Morheim, Halvor Joh. Busness, Gjermund Joh. Kasen, John Johs. Kasen, and Tosten Ellefsen Kvammen, among others.

In the Ostrander area, the first settlers included Ole Hellicksen, Mathias Hellicksen, Peder O. Hadland, and Herbjørn Olsen Øian, all from Tinn, Telemark, together with Ole O. Halling from Hallingdal. In the Whalan area, John Johnson Rodebakken from Strand near Stavanger was the first, followed by Gilbert Holt, after whom Holt Township was named, John Ellefsen, M. S. Andersen, Knut O. Vaagaard, John Anderson, Halvor Kittilsen, Ole M. Rekaness, and Ole K. Kaasa. Christian Bratrud was the first Norwegian in the Pilot Mound area. Wheat, rye, and oats were the principal crops, while daily wages generally ranged from fifty cents to $1.50.

Pioneer Recollections

Among the early settlers was Gjermund Kasen, who had emigrated with his parents from Vestfjorddalen in Tinn, Telemark, in 1843. He recalled that their voyage began around May 20 aboard an old and poorly maintained ship. A violent storm in the North Sea forced the vessel back toward land, and even the captain feared that they might not survive. The ship eventually reached Lindesnes for repairs before continuing to Le Havre, France, where the emigrants had to wait two weeks for an American sailing ship.

After reaching Milwaukee, the family was met by Halvor Thompson, better known as “Wind Lake,” who took them by ox team to Muskego. Their journey from Norway had lasted about four months. That autumn, swamp fever spread through the settlement and many died. Kasen recalled that some were buried at the place later known as Indianerhaugen, or Indian Mound. He was among the first young people confirmed in the Muskego Church. In 1856, the family moved to Fillmore County, where they again endured the hardships of pioneer life before conditions gradually improved.

John Johnson of Pilot Mound

Fillmore County's most widely traveled Norwegian was John Johnson. He was born at Sollien in Gudbrandsdalen in 1835 and went to sea while still a young man. His voyages took him to Archangel on the White Sea, where he survived a shipwreck, and later to many European ports. He also served for a time in the Norwegian Navy under Baron Wedel Jarlsberg.

Johnson later made voyages to Brazil and eventually sailed around the world. On his final voyage to America, his vessel collided in dense fog on the Newfoundland Banks with an American sailing ship, which sank with fourteen members of its crew. He eventually settled at Pilot Mound, where he lived among old friends and acquaintances.

Other Pioneer Accounts

Gullick Johnson of Tinn, Telemark, emigrated by sailing ship in 1854, traveling by way of Le Havre. After several months at sea, he spent another two weeks traveling from New York to Milwaukee, then continued by ox team to Muskego, Decorah, and finally Canton, Minnesota.

The source also records the story of H. A. Steensland, one of the pioneers at Tawney, who married the daughter of Norwegian immigrants. She had been born in 1858 in the stable of Charley Luraas at Norway, Illinois. Steensland later reflected that although pioneer homes were often small, hospitality and generosity were not.

Another pioneer account came from E. A. Hjelle of Whalan, who described a family whose home stood near a river. During a severe rainstorm, the river rose rapidly and surrounded the house while the father was away working. As water poured inside, the mother broke boards from the ceiling and lifted her children into the loft. Unable to climb up herself, she stood through the night on the edge of a bed, holding onto the opening until her husband returned the following day with a canoe and rescued the family.

Early Religious Life

Pastor A. E. Boyum came to Fillmore County in the fall of 1856 and lived for a time in the townships of Arendahl and Rushford. At that time there was neither a church nor a resident pastor in the area. Elling Eielsen visited and held religious meetings, while Pastor V. Koren of Iowa had apparently traveled across the prairie to preach in the southern part of the county during the previous summer. Boyum was sent as a missionary by Elling Eielsen’s followers and traveled among Norwegian settlers in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. During the winter of 1856–57, deep snow and the absence of roads forced him to travel on skis. His route took him south of Decorah, then east to McGregor on the Mississippi and onward to Norway Grove in Dane County, Wisconsin.

In June, Boyum returned with his family by ox wagon to Fillmore County. A substantial Norwegian Lutheran congregation was established, and after his ordination in 1858 he was called as its pastor. In 1859, the congregation began building a meeting house in Arendahl Township, about six miles west of Rushford. The log building, measuring eighteen by thirty-four feet, was sufficiently completed by the summer of 1860 to host a synod meeting. Boyum regarded it as the first Norwegian house of worship in Fillmore County and the first in Minnesota. The congregation belonged to Elling Eielsen’s Society.

The Arendahl congregation had been organized in 1857. In 1858, Bloomfield Norwegian Lutheran Congregation was established by Pastor V. Koren of the Norwegian Synod, while The First Norwegian Lutheran Congregation at Highland Prairie was established by Pastor A. A. Scheie of the Augustana Synod. These congregations marked the beginning of a rapidly expanding Norwegian church life in the county.

In 1900, Fillmore County had thirty Norwegian congregations and twenty-four churches. Sixteen congregations belonged to the United Church, seven to the Norwegian Synod, five to Hauge’s Synod, and two to the Methodist Church.

Public Life, Press, and Norwegian Place Names

Norwegian-language publications associated with the county included Vesterheimen, Det Udflyttede Norge, and The Christian Youth.

Norwegian place names included Holt and Norway Townships, as well as the post offices Rud, Peterson, Soland, Hurdal, and Bratsberg. Arendahl was both a township and a post office.

Sources:

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