Foster County, North Dakota

Early Norwegian Settlement

Halvor Olsen from Åsnes, Østerdalen; Edward T. Halaas, Tørris A. Halaas, and Aslak T. Halaas; Sivert Roaldson; John E. Indergaard; Olaus Gustad; and C. J. Johnson were the first Norwegian settlers in Foster County. Probably all except Halvor Olsen were from Nordmøre, or at least the Halaas men were from there. They settled in the vicinity of Carrington in 1883. That same year, Peder Larsen Jermoe from Voss settled in the New Rockford area. He was followed by Chr. Ramberg, Nels Gunvalson, O. G. Granvold, Ole H. Olsen, Ole Mattson, Chris Berge, Jens O. Myhre, and Ole Henricksen. Olai Jermoe, a son of Peder Larsen Jermoe, froze to death in 1892. He was the first son of one of the settlers to die in the New Rockford settlement.

Settlement near McHenry

The first Norwegian settlers in the McHenry area were Benjamin Ryum from Nærum, Tosten Elvrum from Stjørdal, Levi Sem from Telemark, Nels Kastet from Skien, and Paul Rostad from the city of Trondheim. They settled there in 1885. They were followed by H. C. Leean from Ringebu; Iver A. Elvrum and Anders Dybvad and Johan Dybvad from Stjørdal; Lars Helling, Alie Helling, Mikal Vebjøtnsen, and Helge Vebjørnsen Hauge, also known as Williams, all from Hallingdal; Martin Borgen from Smaalenene (Østfold); Tollef E. Thompson from Telemark; A. Sandvold from Tolga; and Johan Ryum, Cornelius Ryum, Hans Ryum, and Christian Ryum from Nærøy. Wheat growing became the county’s principal source of income. Cooperstown, twenty-four miles away, was the nearest market for the new settlers.

Hans C. Leean’s Account of the Blizzard of 1889

Hans C. Leean left an account of an ordeal that occurred during the settlers’ second visit to their homesteads. In the middle of November 1889, Torsten J. Elvrum, Levi Sem, Hans H. Moen, Iver A. Elvrum, and Leean traveled together by horse team and wagon from Blanchard in Traill County westward to Glenfield in Foster County. Their purpose was to spend several nights on their claims. When they left Cooperstown, twenty-four miles from their homesteads, they carried provisions for three days. On the evening of November 18, they gathered in Torsten Elvrum’s shanty and planned to begin the return journey to Blanchard the following morning. During the night, however, a violent snowstorm swept in from the northeast. Snow blew through the cracks between the boards of the shanty, and they could barely reach the sod stable, which had become buried beneath the snow. Their food was exhausted, and that evening they divided the last crumbs among themselves. They had no firewood, no water, and no food except about a peck of small, half-frozen potatoes.

By the evening of November 19, the storm had increased in strength to such an extent that they feared the shanty itself might be blown away. They were hungry, and their spirits began to fail. Each man had a fur covering. Wrapped in these, they went down into the cellar and lay side by side on the bare ground. They could not sleep because they expected at any moment that the shanty might be blown away and that they would be buried beneath the snow. They eventually concluded that they had only two choices: reach other people or die on the prairie. At about ten o’clock the following morning, the wind shifted to the northwest. They calculated that by following the wind for approximately an hour and a half, they should be able to reach the homes of two American settlers.

Iver A. Elvrum, who was sixty years old, sat in the wagon and drove the team, while the other four men walked in a line ahead of him. There was no road, only open prairie, so they used the wind as their guide. Eventually they reached a tract of broken, or plowed, land and followed it until they came to the homes of the two American settlers they had hoped to reach. The Americans, however, had little or nothing to eat themselves and were also preparing to leave because of the weather. They must have had at least a small supply of food, Leean observed, because they chose not to join the Norwegian party. The men therefore had no choice but to continue. Again using the wind as a compass, they traveled onward. About half an hour before noon, they saw a house and reached another American settler who lived there with his family.

The settler’s wife immediately put potatoes on to boil and prepared food in a frying pan, together with tea. Leean remarked that their appetites must have been considerable, since the meal cost each of them thirty-five cents. After they had rested for a while, the storm began to subside and the sun appeared. They could now see scattered cabins across the prairie. Their host did not have room for them to remain overnight, so they continued their journey. At about five o’clock that afternoon, they reached the home of a German settler, whom Leean described as a worthy man, and spent the night there.

It took them exactly six days to travel the seventy-five miles back to Blanchard. Because so much snow had fallen, they could no longer use the wagon and had to make the journey under difficult conditions. The following spring, all of the men returned to their claims, and most of them eventually developed good farms. Leean concluded that this episode represented only a small part of the hardships endured by the early settlers, but that it was enough to illustrate pioneer life. As he put it, it had been “a beginning with a good ending.”

Churches and Congregations

Kværnes Congregation and Garfield Congregation, both belonging to the United Church, were established in 1887 and were the first Norwegian congregations in Foster County. The first Norwegian church in the county was built by Kværnes Congregation in 1900. By 1905, Foster County had four Norwegian congregations and two churches, all belonging to the United Church.

Public Office

Edward T. Halaas of Carrington was the first Norwegian to hold public office in Foster County. He was elected Commissioner in 1892.

Norwegian Place Names

Norwegian place names in Foster County included Melby and Nordmøre.

Sources:

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