_The Earliest Immigrants from Norway, 1620 to 1825._
Our data regarding Norwegian emigration to America prior to 1825
are very fragmentary, but it is possible to trace that emigration
as far back as 1624.[18] In that year a small colony of Norwegians
was established in New Jersey on the site of the present city of
Bergen.[19] While it is not known that the names of any of these first
colonists have come down to us, we do have the name of one Norwegian,
who visited the American coast on a voyage of exploration in the year
1619, that is, the year before the landing of the _Mayflower_. In the
early part of 1619 King Christian IV of Denmark fitted out two ships
for the purpose of finding a northwest passage to Asia. The names of
the ships were _Eenhjörningen_ and _Lampreren_, and the commander was
a Norwegian, Jens Munk, who was born at Barby, Norway, in 1579. With
sixty-six men Jens Munk sailed from Copenhagen, May ninth, 1619. During
the autumn of that year and the early part of the following year he
explored Hudson Bay and took possession of the surrounding country in
the name of King Christian, calling it Nova Dania. The expedition
was, however, a failure, and all but three of the party perished
from disease and exposure to cold in the winter of 1620. The three
survivors, among whom was the commander, Jens Munk, returned to Norway
in September, 1620.[20]
[18] The Vinland voyages in the 11th-14th centuries do not come
within the scope of our discussion.
[19] It seems that this city was so named by the colonists after
the city of Bergen, Norway.
[20] Anderson's _First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration_, p. 21.
In the early days of the New Netherlands colony, Norwegians sometimes
came across in Dutch ships and settled among the Dutch. The names of
at least two such have been preserved in the Dutch colonial records.
They are Hans Hansen and Claes Carstensen (possibly originally Klaus
Kristenson). The former emigrated in a Dutch ship in 1633 and joined
the Dutch colony in New Amsterdam. His name appears in the colonial
records variously as Hans Noorman, Hans Hansen de Noorman, Hans Bergen,
Hans Hansen von Bergen, and Hans Hansen von Bergen in Norwegen. Hans
Bergen became the ancestor of a large American family by that name.[21]
Claes Carstensen's name appears variously as Claes Noorman, Claes
Carstensen Noorman and Claes Van Sant, the latter being the Norwegian
name Sande in Jarlsberg, where Claes Carstenson was born, 1607. He came
to America about 1640 and settled a few years later on fifty-eight
acres of land on the site of the present Williamsburg. The ministerial
records of the old Dutch Reformed Church in New York state that Claes
Carstensen was married April 15, 1646, to Helletje Hendricks. The
latter was, it seems, a sister of Annecken Hendricks, who was there
married on February first, 1650, to Jan Arentzen van der Bilt, the
colonial ancestor of Commodore Vanderbilt. Annecken Hendricks is
further designated as being from Bergen, Norway, the names "Helletje"
and "Annecken" being Dutch diminutive forms of the Norwegian Helen and
Anne. Claes Carstensen died November sixth, 1679.
[21] See _The Bergen Family_, by Teunis Bergen.
About the year 1700 there were a number of families of Norwegian and
Danish descent living in New York. In 1704 a stone church was erected
by them on the corner of Broadway and Rector Streets. The property was
later sold to Trinity Church, the present churchyard occupying the site
of the original church.[22] Prof. R. B. Anderson, speaking of these
people, says, that they were probably mostly Norwegians and not Danes,
for those of their descendants with whom he has spoken have all claimed
Norwegian descent. The pastor who ministered to the spiritual wants of
this first Scandinavian Lutheran congregation in America was a Dane by
the name of Rasmus Jensen Aarhus. He died on the southwest coast of
Hudson Bay, February twentieth, 1720.
[22] Our authority here is Rev. Rasmus Anderson, who has given this
subject much study.
In 1740 Norwegian Moravians took part in the founding of a Moravian
colony at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and in 1747 of one at Bethabara,
North Carolina. At Bethlehem these Norwegian (and Swedish and Danish)
Moravians came in contact with their kinsmen, the Swedish Lutherans of
Delaware and adjoining parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Swedes
on the Delaware had lost their independence in 1656. New Sweden as a
political state existed but sixteen years. Ecclesiastically, however,
the Lutherans of New Sweden remained subject to the state church at
home for one hundred and fifty years more, and linguistically the
colony was Swedish nearly as long. In the church records of this colony
there appear not a few Norwegian names, particularly in the later
period. We know that Norwegians in considerable numbers came to America
and joined the Delaware Swedes in the eighteenth century. Gothenburg,
which lies not far distant from the province of Smaalenene, was at the
time, and has continued to be, the regular Swedish sailing port for
America-bound ships.
One of the most prominent members of the Bethabara Colony was Dr. John
M. Calberlane, born 1722 in Trondhjem, Norway. He came to New York in
1753, having sailed from London on the ship _Irene_, June thirteenth,
arriving on September ninth. Dr. Calberlane's name occupies a foremost
place among the old colonial physicians; he was a man of much ability,
noble in character and untiring in his devotion to the welfare of his
fellow colonists. On July twenty-eighth, 1759, he himself succumbed to
a contagious fever that visited the settlement. In a sermon delivered
on Easter Sunday, 1760, Bishop Spangenberg gave public recognition of
Calberlane's service in his short life of six years in the colony.[23]
[23] The name John M. Calberlane, originally Hans Martin Kalberlahn,
is an interesting instance of an early Americanization of a
Norwegian name.
Other Norwegians among these Moravian colonists were: Susanna
Stokkeberg, from Söndmöre, Norway, born 1715, who came to America in
1744 with her husband, Abraham Reinke, a Swede, to whom she had been
married that year in Stockholm. Reinke is reputed to have been an able
preacher of the gospel, the two laboring together in the congregations
of Bethlehem, Nazareth, Philadelphia, and Lancaster. She died in 1758,
he in 1760, leaving a son, Abraham Reinke. Peter Peterson, who was
born in Norway in 1728, and had joined the church in London, came to
America as a sailor on the ship _Irene_ in 1749. He died in 1750.
Jens Wittenberg, a tanner from Christiania, born 1719, came on the
_Irene_ in 1754; he died in the colony, 1788. Martha Mans (probably
Monsdatter), from Bergen, born 1716, came on the _Irene_ in 1749. She
lived in Bethabara as a teacher and religious adviser until 1773.
At the same time, also, came Enert Enerson, a carpenter, while in
1759 came Catherine Kalberlahn, and in 1762 Christian Christensen, a
shoemaker, from Christiana. The latter was born in 1718; he had lived
some years in Holland before coming to America. The year of his death
is 1777. Erik Ingebretsen came over June twenty-second, 1750, via
Dover, having been on the ocean six weeks, a remarkably short passage
for that time.[24]
[24] For some of these facts I am indebted to Juul Dieserud,
Washington, D. C.
The names of several Norwegians are recorded who served in the War of
the Revolution. Thus under John Paul Jones served Thomas Johnson, who
was born 1758, the son of a pilot in Mandal, Norway. The _New England
Historical Register_, Volume XXVIII, pages 18-21, gives an account
of Johnson's career in the American marine, from which we learn that
he was among those who served on board the _Bon Homme Richard_ in
her cruise in 1779, having been transferred by Paul Jones from the
_Ranger_. Later he went with Paul Jones to the _Serapis_ and the
_Alliance_ and finally to the _Ariel_. With the last ship he arrived
in Philadelphia February eighteenth, 1781. For a fuller account of
Johnson's career the interested reader is referred to the source of
which mention has already been made.
Thomas Johnson lived to the good old age of ninety-three, dying July
twelfth, 1807, in the United States Naval Hospital in Philadelphia.
He had been a pensionist here for a number of years, being known
generally by the nickname "Paul Jones." A biography of Johnson written
by John Henry Sherburne was published at Washington in 1825, to which I
have, however, not had access. Another Norwegian by the name of Lewis
Brown (Lars Bruun) also served under John Paul Jones. I lack further
particulars, however, regarding Brown, except that he is spoken of in
Sherburne's book, _Life of Thomas Johnson_.
A Norwegian sailor, Captain Iverson, settled in Georgia some time about
the close of the eighteenth century. United States Senator Iverson from
Georgia was a grandson of this Norwegian sailor pioneer in Georgia.[25]
About 1805 another sailor, Torgus Torkelson Gromstu, from Gjerpen, near
Skien, Norway, settled in New York.
[25] P. S. Vig in his book _De Danske i Amerika_ says Iverson was
of Danish descent but gives no reasons for the claim. As the
name "Iver" is peculiarly Norwegian I must therefore adhere to
my view as formerly expressed (_Sc. Immig. to Iowa_).
In my article on "The Danish Contingent in the Population of Early
Iowa," _Iowa Journal of History and Politics_, 1906, I spoke of a
society, styling itself _Scandinavia_, as having been organized in New
York City on June twenty-seventh, 1844. I there designated this as the
earliest organization of the kind in this country. This I find now
to be incorrect. As early as 1769 the _Societas Scandinaviensis_ was
founded in Philadelphia. The membership of this society was made up of
Swedes, Norwegians and Danes, the first of these presumably being in
the majority. The first president of the society was Abraham Markoe
(Markö), a Norwegian. One of the memorable events in the history of the
society was a farewell reception given in "City Tavern" on December
eleventh, 1782, in honor of Baron Axel Ferson, hero of the Battle of
Yorktown. The committee of seven appointed to present the invitation
and also to wait upon General George Washington at Hasbrouch House,
Newburg, with a view of securing his presence consisted of the
following: Captain Abraham Markoe, Sakarias Paulsen, Andreasen
Taasinge, Rev. Andrew Goeranson, Jacob Van der Weer, John Stille and
Andrew Keen. Says the chronicler of the event:
"This event was one of the most glorious in the Society's history.
The reception was held at the City Tavern, Wednesday evening,
December eleventh, 1782. The President of the St. Andrew's Society,
Rev. Wm. Smith, D. D., lauded the bravery of the Baron and his men
at the Battle of Yorktown, whereupon General Washington in thanking
the members of the Society for their forethought in tendering
the reception to the noble officer (he subsequently decorated
Ferson with the "Order of the Cincinnati" for valor displayed)
expressed his pleasure at being present among the people of his
forefathers' blood, as he claimed descent from the family of Wass,
who emigrated from Denmark in the year A. D. 970, and settled in
the County Durham, England, where they built a small town, calling
it Wass-in-ga-tun (town of Wass.)"[26]
[26] Cited from a prospectus of the Society issued in December, 1901,
and kindly sent me by C. M. Machold of Philadelphia.
Variant forms of the name Wassingatun are, as given in the prospectus,
Wessington, Whessingtone, Wasengtone, Wassington and finally
Washington. The prospectus itself cites from Machold's _History of the
Scandinavians in Pennsylvania_.
In January, 1783, General George Washington was elected honorary member
of the Society on account of his Norse ancestry. On the twenty-sixth
of August, that year, a banquet was given at the City Tavern under
the auspices of the Society, in celebration of the recognition by
Sweden, Norway, and Denmark of the independence of the United States of
America. John Stille was for many years secretary of the Society; after
his death in 1802 all traces of it seem to have vanished. Just when the
Societies Scandinaviensis ceased to exist, the Historian cannot say. On
February twentieth, 1868, eighteen gentlemen, all of Scandinavian birth
and residents of Philadelphia, met together for the purpose of forming
a society, and _The Scandinavian Society of Philadelphia_ was founded,
an organization which regards itself a continuation of the original
society. The chief object of the Society is benevolence.
The name of at least one Norwegian who fell in the early wars against
the Indians has come down to us. Frank Peterson, who had enlisted on
the fifteenth of June, 1808, was among those who fell at Fort Dearborn
in 1812, among the "first martyrs of the West," in an attack by five
hundred Pottawattamie Indians. In this battle two-thirds of the whites
were killed and the rest taken prisoners.
At a later date some other names also appear, but those given are the
only ones of which we have any record. I shall mention here that of Ole
Haugen, who probably was the first Norwegian to settle in the State of
Massachusetts. Haugen was from Bergen, Norway, and located in Middlesex
County, that state, in 1815. Alexander Paaske, himself an early
immigrant from Bergen, living in Lowell, Mass., and who was present
at Haugen's deathbed, is the source of the above fact. Though going
beyond the scope of our brief survey of this earliest immigration, it
may be of interest here to know that as early as 1817, a girl from
Voss, Norway, Anna Vetlahuso, emigrated to America with her husband, a
German sailor in Bergen, and settled somewhere in South America. The
next recorded names in the order of emigration to the United States
are Kleng Peerson and Knud Olson Eide, who in 1821 became the advance
guard of a group of fifty-two emigrants that in 1825 founded the first
Norwegian settlement in this country. It is of this sailing and the
leaders of this group that I now wish to speak; of Peerson I shall give
a brief account below.