Henderson County, Texas

The First Norwegian in Texas

The first Norwegian known to have settled in Texas was Johan Nordboe from Ringebu, Gudbrandsdalen. He came to Dallas County in 1838 and took up land there, but he did not establish a Norwegian settlement.

The Brownsboro Settlement

The first Norwegian settlement in Texas was established near Brownsboro in Henderson County in 1845 by Johan Reinert Reiersen from Holt parish near Tvedestrand. His sons, J. H. Reierson, later a hotelkeeper in Kaufman, Texas, and Oscar Reierson, a lawyer in Louisville, Kentucky, provided the information about their father and the settlement he founded. In 1837, Reiersen began publishing Christiansands-Posten, in which he criticized officialdom and advocated reforms that he believed would improve conditions for Norwegian farmers. When he saw little prospect of such reforms being carried out, he began encouraging emigration. His advice attracted considerable interest. Supporters raised about 1,300 kroner to finance a journey to America so that he could investigate conditions personally and provide reliable information to prospective emigrants.

Reiersen arrived in New York in 1842 and continued westward through Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin, states then regarded as the “Far West.” Norwegian settlements were already developing there, and he gathered much of the information he sought from Kleng Person, whom the author described as, in good American fashion, a “walking encyclopedia.” According to the account, it was probably Person who encouraged Reiersen to consider Texas, which he himself had visited while it was still an independent republic. The author emphasized that earlier claims that Reiersen had personally visited Texas during this first American journey were unfounded.

After about a year in America, Reiersen returned to Norway. His report was soon published in book form under the title Veiviseren (“The Guide”). While he had been away, his wife and four children had lived with his brother Christian, a sexton and teacher in Holt parish. The Reiersen family consisted of nine adult siblings, seven brothers and two sisters.

Journey to Texas

The family now decided to emigrate. Johan Reiersen, his father Ole Reiersen, and his sister Caroline traveled first to make preparations for the others. They arrived in New Orleans, where they purchased a wagon, a pair of saddles, a plow, and other equipment. They then boarded a small paddle steamer and traveled up the Red River to Nacatoch, a military station near the Louisiana-Texas border. There they bought a pair of horses and continued overland with a wagon loaded with farm tools, household goods, and provisions. Johan and Caroline rode in the wagon, while their father traveled on a pony. Their first destination was Nacadoches, an old and well-known town and military station, described by the source as the only place of any significance in the eastern half of Texas.

The journey was difficult. One of the horses they had purchased proved almost impossible to manage, and the roads were extremely poor. There were no bridges, so whenever they encountered a river or slough, they had to unload the wagon, carry the goods across, and reload on the other side. At night they slept outdoors regardless of the weather. The country through which they traveled was almost uninhabited, although they occasionally encountered other people along the way.

July 4 at Nacadoches

They finally reached Nacadoches on July 4, 1845, when leading figures of the Republic had gathered there for a celebration. The newcomers were warmly received. Reiersen was introduced to President Houston, General Rusk, and a number of military officers and civil officials. Johan was the only member of the family who could speak English; Caroline and their father spoke only Norwegian. Caroline, who was young, quickly attracted the attention of the local women. They provided her with an evening gown so that she could attend the grand ball that evening, where, according to the account, she received an enthusiastic reception.

Establishing Brownsboro

The journey continued another seventy-five miles to Brownsboro, where they took up land. Only one man lived in the immediate area when they arrived. He and his wife occupied a small shack, and he supported himself almost entirely by hunting. Bears and deer were plentiful, along with buffalo and other game. The nearest farmer to the east lived about twenty-five miles away, while the nearest to the west was about forty miles distant. The land consisted partly of forest and partly of prairie and was well suited to agriculture. The Norwegian settlement was initially called Normandiet, although Brownsboro became its official name.

Early Pioneer Life

Reiersen’s first house was extremely primitive. Even the stovepipe was made from pieces of wood covered with wet earth, which hardened as it dried. The arrangement eventually failed. One day, while Johan Reiersen and his father were working away from the house and Caroline was at home, the stovepipe caught fire. She climbed onto the roof to tear away the burning section, but the entire structure collapsed.

The Rest of the Reiersen Family

The remainder of the Reiersen family emigrated in 1846, together with several other families from the Arendal and Kristiansand regions. A Norwegian brig carried them first to Le Havre, France. After a ten-day stay, they continued to New Orleans aboard the American sailing ship Magnolia. Johan Reiersen’s youngest child died during the Atlantic crossing. When they reached New Orleans, other Norwegians advised them not to continue to Texas because of the Mexican War. The author regarded this fear as unfounded, noting that the fighting was about five hundred miles from the area where Reiersen had settled. Most of the emigrants therefore traveled northward on the Mississippi River toward Illinois, while the Reiersen family and a few others continued up the Red River toward Texas.

Their paddle steamer was wrecked during the journey. The passengers lost everything they owned and were forced to remain on the riverbank for twelve days in severe weather, without shelter and with little food. Strong swimmers were able to recover some provisions from the sunken vessel. Eventually another paddle steamer arrived and carried them to Shreveport, the farthest point they could reach by water. Illness brought on by the journey and shipwreck forced the family to remain there through the winter. They were too weak to continue.

Another child died at Shreveport.

The family did not finally reach its new home in Texas until 1847, almost a year after beginning the journey. By then, the ordeal had severely affected their health and had cost the lives of two of their children.

The Reiersen Family and the Civil War

In later years, the Reiersen family was again divided by war. Three of Johan Reinert Reiersen’s sons served in the Confederate Army, while a fourth son worked on the Great Lakes. He later became master of his own vessel and was based in Chicago.

Early Settlers at Brownsboro

Among those who came to Brownsboro shortly after the Reiersen family were Ole Olsen, Ole Jørgensen, Niels Torbjørnsen, Lars Torbjørnsen, Ole Gunstensen, Reier Raa, Kittel Grimland, Syvert Olsen, Knut Kystelsen, Jørgen Torgersen, Aslak Torgersen, Tollef Torgersen, Jørgen Olsen, Knut Gundersen, Ole Gunleiksen, Ole Lia, Jens Jensen, Ole Skulestad, Gjermund Olsen, S. Christiansen, Terje Olsen Tvedt, Gunder Evensen, Arne Skjefstad, Salve Knudsen, Gunbjørn Olsen, Oscar Sylvester, Jacob Torgerson, Ole Torgerson, Tarald Rustedal, Christen Knudsen, Christian Halvorsen, Elling Halvorsen, Knut Hansen, Halvor Osmundsen, Ole Anderson, Hans Benson, Martin Johansen, Anders Sunne, Syvert Olsen, silversmith Simonsen, Olaus Boyesen, Jens Jensen, Carl Jensen, Carl Qvæstad, Swen Olsen, Terje Nystøl, and Ole Nystøl. Information about where these settlers came from in Norway could be found in the account of the neighboring settlement in Kaufman County.

Knud Knudsen’s Journey to Texas

Knud Knudsen, one of those who came to Brownsboro in 1846, recalled that after reaching New Orleans, the emigrants continued by boat to Alexandria, Louisiana. There they encountered a serious problem. The water level in the Red River was too low for the boat to continue, so the emigrants decided to proceed overland through Louisiana and Texas. Those who had enough money bought horses and carts. Salve Knudsen and Ole Olsen, however, could not afford them and therefore had to build their own carts. The rest of the party waited until the carts were finished before the entire group set out again.

New hardships followed.

The emigrants had particular difficulty with the local water, which caused illness among them. Salve Knudsen was one of those who became sick. On one occasion, he prepared a mixture of water and red pepper as medicine and carried it in a bottle. According to Knudsen’s account, the bottle attracted the attention of a group of intoxicated Indians whom they encountered along the way. One of them chased Salve Knudsen, but was so drunk that he stumbled and fell, allowing Knudsen to escape.

Disease and Death

By the time the emigrants finally reached Texas, eight members of the party had died. Two had died at sea, three after arriving in New Orleans from yellow fever, and three during the overland journey. Five more deaths occurred during their first summer at Brownsboro. The settlers had few means of caring for the sick. There were no doctors, no medicines, and little of the food normally needed by people suffering from illness. Even burial presented difficulties. Sawn lumber was unavailable, so when coffins were needed, the settlers had to cut down trees and split the timber themselves to make crude burial boxes. There were also no pastors or established cemeteries in the new settlement. Conditions gradually improved, but the first years were severe.

Religious Life in the Early Settlements

The pastors who later served the early Norwegian settlements in Texas had to travel considerable distances on horseback. The distance between Brownsboro and Prairieville was about thirty-five miles, while Prairieville and Bosque were about 120 miles apart. Candidate Fredriksen, Elling Eielsen, and Pastor S. S. Reque experienced these long journeys in their work among the scattered settlers. Before regular pastors and churches were available, the settlers gathered in private homes for religious services. They had brought sermon books, Bibles, and hymnals with them from Norway, and religious laymen among the settlers sometimes performed infant baptisms. Candidate Fredriksen established a Norwegian congregation at Brownsboro in 1859. The congregation built its church the following year, in 1860. It belonged to the Norwegian Synod.

Sources:

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