Moody County, South Dakota

Early Norwegian Settlement

Jacob Lorentsen from Dønnes, Nordland, together with Nikolai Larsen, Mathias Jensen, Peder Jensen, Andreas Jacobsen, and Nels Jul, later Dr. Jul, all from Nordland, were the first Norwegian settlers in Moody County. They came from Manistee, Michigan, and settled at Egan in what later became the Town of Blinsmon in 1875. That same year, Ole Blinsmon came from Iowa. The Town of Blinsmon took its name from his birthplace, a cotter’s place in Hemsedal. Mrs. Bertha Amdal and her sons, Ole Amdal and Gudmund Amdal, from Fillmore County, Minnesota, had taken land in the county the year before, in 1874, but did not settle there until one year after the group mentioned above. The Sioux Indians were the Norwegian pioneers’ most difficult neighbors.

Churches and Congregations

Oslo Congregation was established at Blinsmon in 1876 by Pastor O. O. Sando of the Norwegian Synod and was the first Norwegian congregation in Moody County. Pastor J. A. Blilie, also of the Norwegian Synod, was the first Norwegian pastor to settle in the county. The first Norwegian church in Moody County was built in 1892 by Hegre Congregation of the Norwegian Synod at Colman. By 1905, Moody County had eleven Norwegian congregations and six churches. Six congregations belonged to the Norwegian Synod and five to the United Church.

Norwegian Place Names

Blinsmon, mentioned above, was the only place in Moody County with a Norwegian name.

Sources:

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