Scott County, Minnesota

Early Norwegian Settlement

The first Norwegians to claim land in Scott County were Ole Rouland from Telemark and Peder Thompson and Torstein Knutsen from Valdres. They settled near New Market in 1856, but moved to Dakota County a short time later. Ole K. Stee from Telemark, or possibly Valdres, and Tosten Stordal from Hedmark were the first permanent Norwegian settlers in the county. They settled at New Market in 1859.

“Terje Terjeland” and the Mixed Language

Since none of the Martin Ulvestad’s correspondents in Scott County had ventured to provide further information, he included an excerpt from the time when “Terje Terjeland” came to America. The story was written in a mixed Norwegian-English language which, the author observed, unfortunately also suited conditions in his own time. Shortly after arriving from Norway, Terje and several others were guests in the home of a man who lived on the second floor. The man’s wife was making pancakes. A cat repeatedly tried to get a taste but was chased away each time. Finally, the man became angry, picked up the cat, threw it down the stairs, and shouted:

“Du e den styggaste raskal, æg har seet uti denna contry. Æg ska teke deg by de neck og hiva deg downstairs nerover trappen, saa det smala i deg. You are very good at speaking English,” Terje said. “I did not understand a single word. Det trur æg nok, (the man replied proudly), for naar æg blir vond, saa spika me altid English.”

Churches and Congregations

At the time this account was written, Scott County had three Norwegian congregations and two churches. Two congregations belonged to Hauge’s Synod and one to the Norwegian Synod.

Norwegian Place Names

For a time, there was a post office named Eidsvold.

Sources:

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