Milwaukee County, Wisconsin

Norwegian Settlement

The Muskego Settlement, established in Waukesha and Racine Counties in the early 1840s, also extended into the southwestern corner of Milwaukee County. The history of that settlement is covered under those counties. There were, however, comparatively few Norwegian farmers in Milwaukee County itself.

Norwegians in Milwaukee City

A considerable number of Norwegians settled in the city of Milwaukee, although it is difficult to determine who the first permanent Norwegian resident was. It appears that the earliest Norwegian settlers were seafarers. Captain Saveland, the first known by name, came to Milwaukee around 1840. Among others who settled there in the early 1840s were a boarding-house keeper named Nordbo, the Kildal family, and John Thoresen, who later became one of the city’s leading businessmen. A large part of Milwaukee’s Norwegian population consisted of seafarers, and the community became particularly associated with maritime occupations. Many Norwegians became shipmasters, and a considerable number owned the vessels they commanded. There were also many Norwegian craftsmen who owned their own homes, as well as businessmen and professionals of Norwegian origin.

J. K. Johnson came to Milwaukee in 1843. According to his account, only two other Norwegians were living there at the time: Jørgen Larson from Drammen, a blacksmith, and John Evensen from Tinn, Telemark, who worked on a ferry across the Milwaukee River. The ferry was operated by hand power.

Churches and Congregations

The first Norwegian congregation in Milwaukee was established in 1844 by Pastor C. L. Clausen. By 1905, Milwaukee County had six Norwegian congregations, each with its own church. Two belonged to the United Church, one to the Norwegian Synod, one to Hauge’s Synod, one to the Methodist Church, and one to the Baptist Church.

Norwegian Newspapers

Fram, Templar-Bladet, among other Norwegian newspaper.

The Leif Erickson Statue

A statue of Leif Erickson stood in one of Milwaukee’s parks near the lake. The author regarded it as an honor to the Norwegian community, particularly to those who had helped erect it, and as a reminder to Americans of what he described as America’s discoverer.

The Moravian Brethren in Milwaukee

The author then quoted from an article recently written by Hjalmar Knud Holand for the Norwegian Society’s Quarterly.

In 1846, a member of the Moravian Brethren named Olsen came to Milwaukee from Farsund. He was known as a talented singer and an energetic lay preacher. Because there were few opportunities for Norwegians in Milwaukee to hear religious preaching in their own language, many gathered to hear him. In 1849, Olsen wrote to the Brethren’s Mission Society in Norway and asked that an ordained pastor be sent to America. A. M. Iversen, a young student, was called and came to Milwaukee. Iversen had been born in Kristiansand in 1823. He arrived in Milwaukee in the spring of 1849 and was warmly received.

Although there was not yet an organized congregation in Milwaukee, as many as four hundred people attended his meetings. Holand regarded this as evidence that the Norwegian population of the city was already substantial. The following year, in 1850, Iversen was ordained at Bethlehem, the headquarters of the Moravian Brethren in America.

The Decision to Leave Milwaukee

Conditions in Milwaukee were difficult at the time. Work was scarce and wages were low. The congregation also believed that city life exposed its members to many temptations. They therefore decided as a congregation to move to a place where they could support themselves more securely and at the same time avoid what they regarded as worldly temptations. It was at this point, in 1850, that one of the most remarkable Norwegians described in Holand’s account arrived in Milwaukee. His name was Nils Otto Tank.

Nils Otto Tank

Nils Otto Tank came to Milwaukee in 1850. Holand described him as one of the most remarkable Norwegians ever to come to America. He came from an old and influential family in Fredrikstad and was the only son of Carsten Tank, who had been a powerful figure at the royal court in Stockholm during several reigns. According to Holand’s account, Carsten Tank had been involved in the political events surrounding the deposition of King Gustav IV and later became a prominent figure under King Karl XIII. The elder Tank had ambitious plans for his son and sent him abroad so that he could complete his education and move in the highest European social circles.

Nils Otto Tank acquired considerable education and refinement during his years abroad, but his life took an unexpected turn while he was in Herrnhut, Germany. There he met a young woman from the pietistic Moravian community. He abandoned the worldly ambitions that had been planned for him, married her, and returned home with his bride. His father strongly disapproved of the marriage and, according to the account, disowned him. Tank’s interests thereafter turned in a very different direction. Instead of court life and political ambition, he devoted himself to religious and missionary work.

From Surinam to Wisconsin

After spending several years as a missionary in Surinam, South America, Tank returned to Norway in 1850. There he learned about the recently established Norwegian Moravian congregation in America and decided to go there to assist it. When he reached Milwaukee, however, he discovered that the congregation had already moved away from the city. Tank then purchased nine hundred acres of excellent forest land in what later became the southwestern part of Green Bay. His intention was to establish a town modeled on Herrnhut and to create a large educational institution for the children of Norwegian immigrants.

He invited the entire congregation to move there and promised that its members would receive the farmland they needed without payment. This became the beginning of the Norwegian colony at Green Bay and of several congregations that later developed in the surrounding area. The Milwaukee congregation accepted Tank’s offer and moved to Green Bay.

The Green Bay Colony

At that time, Green Bay was still a small settlement surrounded by extensive forests. Tank established himself there and became one of the notable figures of Green Bay and the Fox River area. Holand described how the old settlers continued to remember his distinguished appearance, refined manners, and elegant way of life. For his own residence, Tank purchased an old French manor house, where he lived until his death. The house was later regarded as one of the oldest and most remarkable buildings in Green Bay. Tank furnished it with considerable taste. His possessions included fine furniture based on French designs, paintings by Dutch masters, old engraved silverware, Wedgwood porcelain, and an extensive private library.

Tank’s Library

Part of Tank’s library, approximately five thousand volumes consisting of old Dutch books, parchments, and letters, was donated to the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1868. According to Holand, information from this collection, obtained with the assistance of the Norwegian James Hansen, who later worked at the Congressional Library in Washington, was used in 1898 in connection with the dispute between Britain and the United States over the boundary of Venezuela. Holand credited this material with helping to resolve the dispute and prevent war.

Conflict Within the Colony

Tank needed time to organize the Green Bay colony and divide his property before issuing deeds to the individual settlers. In the meantime, he expected the colonists to work the land without formal deeds. Pastor Iversen strongly objected. He regarded the arrangement as resembling the Norwegian manorial system and accused Tank of attempting to introduce what he called the Norwegian cotter system into America.

Other disagreements also arose. Iversen eventually persuaded most members of the colony to leave. On his own reputation, he then secured a loan of $50,000 from the Moravian headquarters at Bethlehem for another colonization effort.

The First Attempt at Sturgeon Bay

With this money available, Pastor Iversen crossed to Sturgeon Bay. At that time, there were only three fishing huts there. The land appeared promising, but obtaining clear title was difficult, and the mosquitoes were exceptionally troublesome. Iversen therefore did not form a favorable impression of the place and returned the following day. Despite his negative report, several members of his group decided to settle there. Among them was Anton Thompson from Farsund, whom Holand regarded as the first Norwegian settler in Sturgeon Bay and the surrounding area.

Ole Larson and Horseshoe Island

When Pastor Iversen returned to Green Bay, he met Ole Larson, who had arrived there from a different direction. Larson was among the earliest emigrants from the Skien area. He had come to Buffalo, New York, in the early 1840s, where he operated a rooming house for several years. He later moved to Green Bay and opened a bakery, but the business was unsuccessful.

Sailors then told him about the rich fisheries that would later make Green Bay well known. Larson learned of a small island about seventy-five miles northeast of Green Bay with an excellent natural harbor that was accessible in almost any weather. The island was called Eagle Island, but because of its distinctive shape it was also known as Horseshoe Island. Larson enlisted the help of some Indians and settled there in 1851. He remained for many years and established a profitable fishing operation.

The Founding of Ephraim

When Larson learned that Iversen and the Moravian settlers were dissatisfied with conditions at Green Bay, he went there and gave such an enthusiastic description of his new location that Pastor Iversen decided to see it for himself. In February 1852, Iversen traveled across the ice with a Danish guide. With Larson’s assistance, he explored the small peninsula just inland from the island and came away with a favorable impression. It was the middle of winter, and the snow made it difficult to examine the soil closely, which was in fact rather stony. Iversen had heard, however, that land on which maple, linden, and beech trees grew was generally good soil, and there was an abundance of such forest there.

Satisfied with what he had seen, Iversen returned and immediately purchased 424 acres from the Government Office at Menasha. Most of the congregation soon moved there and, for a time, stayed with Larson on Horseshoe Island. Iversen’s first task was to survey the land. One part was reserved for a village, while the remainder was divided into small ten-acre plots. In accordance with Moravian custom, the village lots and farms were then distributed by drawing lots to determine which parcel each settler would receive. As an indication of the settlers’ expectations for the new colony, the village was named Ephraim, meaning “very fertile.”

The Ephraim Colony

Although Ephraim and its surrounding area may not have proved as fertile in a material sense as its founders had hoped, Holand believed that it fulfilled its name in a spiritual sense. Many people who later left the colony established Moravian congregations elsewhere, several ministers received their early training there, and the settlement became an important support for the denomination’s missionary work.

Pastor Iversen was the first and only Norwegian Moravian minister in America. Holand described him as a highly capable man whose leadership contributed greatly to the colony’s development.

Life in the early years required both physical endurance and practical ingenuity. Because Green Bay was about seventy-five miles away and difficult to reach for supplies, Iversen arranged with a ship captain to exchange a cargo of fence posts for provisions. Although he was slight and inexperienced in such work, he personally cut three thousand fence posts and carried them on his shoulders to the wharf. He also built half of the parsonage with his own hands, and the building was still in good condition when Holand wrote his account. In addition, Iversen constructed a large sailboat that for many years was regarded as the best sailing vessel on the bay.

Pastor Iversen’s Many Roles

Iversen’s abilities extended beyond religious work. Several landscapes painted by him were still preserved and demonstrated his skill as an artist. Throughout much of his life, he also served the colony as a physician as well as its spiritual adviser. His field of work extended across several counties, and his ministerial duties involved considerable hardship. On many occasions he had to walk thirty miles across the ice and snow between Sturgeon Bay and Ephraim. Iversen served as pastor there for thirty-eight years. When he was around seventy years old, he took a course at a medical school and later practiced as a physician in Sturgeon Bay. At the time Holand wrote his account, Iversen was over eighty years old and was described as being as mentally alert as he had been in his youth.

Sources:

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