Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota

Early Norwegian Settlement

The first Norwegian settlers in Yellow Medicine County were Hellek Glaim from Numedal and Ingebret Johnson and Gerhard Garman, both from the Stavanger area. They came from Rushford in Fillmore County and settled near Hanley Falls in 1866. Soon afterward came Jens Stevens from Sogn, who had previously lived in Adams County, Wisconsin, and settled in the same area. They were followed by Halvor Besteland, Even Besteland, and Ed. Evensen, all from Setesdal; S. L. Orwold from Sogn; Lars Kolhei, Ole L. Kolhei, and Ingebrigt Kolhei from the Stavanger area; Henry Ellingboe from Vang, Valdres; and Ole Anderson from Lyse. Tobias Reishus from Telemark had passed through the area as a soldier during the Indian Wars. He liked the land so well that he later moved there from Arendal, Minnesota, together with Ole Lende and Andreas Lende. They were also among the early settlers.

Pioneer Life

Sod houses, dugouts, and log cabins served in place of palaces. The settlers began growing wheat, but they had to haul it all the way to New Ulm, seventy-five miles away, in order to sell it. Their only means of transportation were slow-moving oxen. Those who worked for cash at the time earned fifty cents a day.

J. H. Jertsen’s Journey to America

J. H. Jertsen recalled:

“I emigrated with my parents from Ulefos Iron Works in 1850. We sailed from Porsgrund and spent eleven weeks at sea before landing in New York. There was a shortage of food aboard, so it was high time that we reached land. From New York, the journey continued in the usual way. Emigrant transportation was certainly no pleasure, whether by land or sea in those days. On the Erie Canal, the boats were drawn by horses. I remember that the men would go ashore, and whenever we passed one bridge or another, they disappeared from sight. This caused great concern among us children and among the women who remained aboard the boat. Several of the children cried because they thought their fathers had gone away. But things turned out better than we feared. 

From Milwaukee, we traveled by ox team to Pine Lake, Wisconsin, where we lived for a year. There my father and his brother cut wood for twenty-five cents a cord and split rails for twenty-five cents per hundred. The following spring, we went to Fort Winnebago, now Portage City, Wisconsin, where somehow we obtained some poor land. My father and the others had been foundry workers in Norway and knew little about farming, at least not farming in America. Many capable men were deceived in those days. We remained there for several years.

The men walked to Milwaukee or Chicago to find work in the foundries while we remained at home surrounded by Indians. I remember that during our first winter there, five Norwegian families lived together in a single house that measured only fourteen feet square and ten feet high.

Churches and Congregations

The Yellow Medicine Congregation at Lilliard was established in 1868 by Pastor Johannes Bergh of the Norwegian Synod. It was the first Norwegian congregation in the county. The first Norwegian church in Yellow Medicine County was built by this congregation in 1879. By 1907, the county had sixteen Norwegian congregations and fourteen churches. Ten congregations belonged to the United Church, three to the Norwegian Synod, one to the Lutheran Free Church, one to Hauge’s Synod, and one to the Methodist Church.

Public Office

Ole O. Lende, Ole Dale, and Ole Joel were the first Norwegians to hold public office in the county. In 1871, Ole O. Lende and Ole Dale were elected County Commissioners, while Ole Joel was elected Sheriff. O. S. Reishus was the first Norwegian to represent Yellow Medicine County in the State Legislature, in 1872.

Newspapers

Dr. Falk, a Norwegian, published the first newspaper in the county. Part of the newspaper was printed in Norwegian and part in English. It was originally called Minnesota Falls Journal and later became Granite Falls Rock. Minnesota Folkeblad, a Norwegian-language newspaper, was published in Canby during the 1890s. Norge was published in Granite Falls around 1900.

Norwegian Place Names

Norwegian place names in Yellow Medicine County included Sandnes, Vinland, Norman, Normanna, Seljord, Hammer, Stavanger, and Wergeland.

Sources:

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