Middlesex County, Massachusetts

Early Norwegian Settlement in Lowell

Ole Haugen from Bergen was the first Norwegian known to have settled in Middlesex County. He lived in Lowell from 1815 until his death.

By 1905, Lowell also had a group of Norwegian factory workers. Anton Justad of the Evangelical Free Church established a congregation among them in 1895.

Norwegian Farmers near Carlisle and Concord

A number of Norwegian farmers lived in the vicinity of Carlisle and Concord, most of them from Hedmark. Among the earliest settlers were Lars and Emil Pedersen from Løten, Hedmark, who arrived during the 1870s. Their principal products for sale were asparagus, sweet corn, and strawberries, for which they found a good market in Boston.

Churches and Congregations

In Concord, there were two congregations with partly Norwegian memberships. One belonged to the Evangelical Free Church and the other to the Methodist Church.

Sources:

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