Racine County, Wisconsin

The Muskego Settlement in Racine County

The early Norwegian settlement in northern Racine County formed part of the larger Muskego Settlement, which extended across what are now southern Waukesha County and northern Racine County.

While some of the first Norwegian immigrants settled at Muskego, others established themselves on Yorkville Prairie and in nearby areas of Racine County. The communities on both sides of the later county boundary were closely connected and developed as parts of the same Norwegian settlement.

For a general explanation of the relationship between the settlements in the two counties, see Early Norwegian Settlements in Waukesha & Racine Counties, Wisconsin.

The First Settlers on Yorkville Prairie

J. W. Johnson of Racine, whose father was among the first Norwegians to settle in Wisconsin, provided information about the earliest pioneers. In 1839, John Nelson Luraas, John Evensen Molee, Halvor Thompson, Ole Hellicksen, and others from Tinn, Telemark, arrived in the area, together with Anders Flørand and Johnson’s father, Nils Johnson, from Heddal. Nils Johnson and Ole Hellicksen settled on Yorkville Prairie in Racine County, while the others settled at Muskego. Additional immigrants arrived during the following years. Most came with their families and were mainly from Telemark, the Stavanger area, and Voss. Nils Johnson, who was unmarried when he arrived, later married Anna Nilsdatter Selem. She came to Racine in 1841 together with Anders Kløve, Tollef Grane, and other immigrants from Voss.

Other Early Pioneers

Among the other pioneers associated with the larger settlement were James Reymert from Farsund, Even Heg and ? Skosstad from Lier near Drammen, Søren Backe and Johannes Johannesen from Drammen, as well as Germund Johnson, Helge Helgesen, Gunerius P. Ducleth, Ole Larson, Rolf Rolfsen Flaten, Mr. Danielsen, Aslak Simonsen, Elling Spillum, Tyge Hendriksen, Hans Barlien, former member of parliament Hans Gasman, and N. Tufte.

The settlement gradually spread across the prairie and through the wooded areas, eventually covering a considerable part of both northern Racine County and southern Waukesha County.

James D. Reymert and the Hansen Family

A newspaper article from New York described some of the more adventurous episodes in the life of James D. Reymert. Although the article contained much that was true, parts of it appeared to have been embellished. James D. Reymert was born in Norway and later became a lawyer. He eventually lived in Los Angeles and was an uncle of the New York lawyer August Reymert. During his own time in New York, James had been associated with a prominent law firm, where August later received his first legal training. The newspaper article also related the story of how Reymert met his first wife.

In 1840, Fencing and Dance Master Hansen from Fredriksværn arrived in New York with his wife, five daughters, and three sons after a sixteen-day voyage. The family continued westward and eventually established themselves in Wisconsin, where they built a blockhouse. According to the story, Hansen and his sons were one day working with a pair of recently captured horses when they saw five young men approaching on horseback. Uncertain of their intentions, Hansen and his sons withdrew into the blockhouse and prepared their weapons. The visitors, however, fired their guns into the air while still some distance away and then called out in Norwegian. They had heard that five young Norwegian women were living there and had come to meet Hansen’s daughters.

The eldest daughter, Caspara, who was twenty-one years old, eventually married James D. Reymert, brother of Brigade Surgeon Reymert of Kristiania. The other four daughters also married members of the group. Hansen thus acquired five sons-in-law: the Norwegian James D. Reymert and the Americans John M. Watson, Charles E. Jenkins, William Hilles, and Johnes. 

Roads, Sawmills, and Development

The young men claimed land around their father-in-law and helped one another build homes and clear the land. According to the newspaper account, Reymert later undertook road construction through the forest and encouraged newly arrived Norwegian immigrants to work on the project. Together with his brothers-in-law, he built a sawmill, cleared a route through the forest, and constructed a plank road across marshy ground. He later also became involved in railroad construction as Wisconsin developed and its population increased.

The newspaper narrative should be read with some caution because of its somewhat embellished style.

The First Norwegian in Racine City

The first Norwegian to settle in the city of Racine was Torbjørn Gunleiksen. He established a small boarding house there during the 1840s, when Racine was still a very small town.

Norway and the First Norwegian Congregation

The first Norwegian congregation in Wisconsin was established at Norway, in the Muskego settlement, in the fall of 1843 by Pastor C. L. Clausen. The following year, in 1844, the congregation built what the author described as the first Norwegian church in America. Some time before 1907, the small log church had been moved to St. Anthony Park, Minnesota, where the United Church Seminary was located. There it was preserved as a historical relic. Waukesha and Racine Counties together had ten Norwegian congregations and eight churches. Seven congregations belonged to the United Church, two to the Methodist Church, and one to the Norwegian Synod.

Religious Strife in Muskego

In the late 1840s, the Norwegian settlement at Muskego, Wisconsin, became the epicenter of an intense ecclesiastical dispute that reverberated all the way back to the press in Norway. The rift began after Pastor Claus Laurits Clausen, who had been ordained in Muskego in October 1843 following a call from local family heads, introduced private instruction and admonition for congregants prior to Communion. Prominent and prosperous settlers, most notably Even Hansen Heg, strongly resisted these measures, accusing Clausen of imposing "papist" customs and enforcing private confession. The conflict deepened with the arrival of Pastor J. W. C. Dietrichson, whose rigid high-church stance further alienated the more egalitarian, Haugean-leaning laypeople. By 1848, the community was effectively split: the formal congregation largely consisted of poorer immigrants, while the wealthier and influential landholders remained outside its organization. When Pastor H. A. Stub succeeded Clausen and wrote to Norway describing the fractured state of the church, Clausen published a detailed public defense in 1850, arguing that the dispute was unfairly portrayed and insisting that strict adherence to Lutheran order, rather than personal overreach, had been necessary to establish a functioning church on the American frontier.

Norwegian Newspapers

Nordlyset, the first Norwegian newspaper in America, began publication at Norway in Racine County in 1847. Demokraten, Maanedstidende for den norsk lutherske Kirke i Amerika, and other publications, were also published there”

Public Office

James Reymert, who was then living at Norway in Racine County, was elected to the Wisconsin Legislative Assembly in 1847. He appears to have been the first Norwegian to hold public office in Racine County and also the first Norwegian to hold public office in Wisconsin.

Norwegian Place Names

During the early years of Norwegian settlement, there was a post office called Norway. Its name was later changed to Wind Lake. Norway Ridge also disappeared as a place name, but Norway Township continued to exist. Another Norwegian-associated place name was North Cape, or Nordkap. The North Cape Post Office was established in 1860 at the suggestion of editor Knud Langeland, who was then a member of the State Legislature. Knud Adland was appointed postmaster.

Many post offices with Norwegian names were later established throughout North America and many Norwegian immigrants followed Knud Adland in serving their communities as postmasters.

Sources:

[Ulvestad, Martin. Nordmændene i Amerika. Utg. History Book Company's Forlag. Minneapolis, Minn. 1907.] ['Stavanger Amtstidende og Adresseavis 1850.04.23]

Note: some early Norwegian settlers in this area were recorded simply as living in “Waukesha & Racine County” — a single settlement (the historic Muskego settlement, founded 1839) that predates and straddles this county's modern boundary. See Early Norwegian Settlements: Waukesha & Racine Counties, Wisconsin for the full story.