_The Settlement of Norway and Raymond Townships,
Racine County. The Founders of
the Settlement. Immigration to
Racine County in 1841-1842._
We have seen how in the fall of 1839 the Luraas brothers established
a colony near Lake Muskego in the present Waukesha (then Milwaukee)
County. The locality was illy selected, being low and marshy. It was in
the first place unhealthy and the settlers suffered much from malaria.
Furthermore it was very heavily covered with timber and the soil which
was clay yielded but small returns for their labor. The settlers
therefore found it difficult enough to make a living.
As early as the next spring several moved farther south into Racine
County, where the conditions were more favorable and where a thriving
settlement grew up in a few years. The old settlement ceased to become
the objective point of intending emigrants from Telemarken. After the
cholera year 1849 most of those who survived moved away.[114] The
southern extension of the settlement, which took its root at Wind Lake
in Norway Township, later spread out so as to include the townships
of Yorkville, Raymond and Waterford all in Racine County. The old
name, "Muskego," was retained as the designation of the new as well as
the old settlement, although the settlement in Racine County is now
often referred to as "Yorkville Prairie." It is the beginnings of this
settlement to which I shall now turn.
[114] The editor of _Billed-Magazin_ writes, page eleven of volume
I, that at that time (1869) Kittil Lohner and his brother
Halvor Nilson Lohner, from Hjertdal, Telemarken, and the
family of Gisle Danielson, from Skjold, were still living in
the settlement. The rest were dead or had moved away. But
Knud J. Bæckhus, from Hjertdal, and Ole Kjonaas, from Bö, had
settled west of the colony in the town of Vernon.
The founders of the settlement at Wind Lake in the Town of Norway
were Sören Backe, son of Tolleff O. Backe a merchant of Drammen, and
Johannes Johanneson. The latter was a clerk in the employ of Tollef
Backe of Drammen, whom he latter deputed to accompany his son to
America. He was a man of about forty years of age, of strong character
and moral principles. He had some knowledge of the English language,
having once lived for a short time in England. Sören Backe was a young
man, evidently of little promise, whom the father sent to America
ostensibly that his ambition might be kindled by American opportunities
and by being placed upon his own responsibility. In company with them
came also a third man, of whom I shall speak again in a later chapter,
namely Elling Eielson Sunve from Voss, a lay preacher and the noted
founder of the "Ellingian" sect of the Lutheran Church. These three
left Drammen in the summer of 1839, and arrived in La Salle County in
the fall of that year. The forest land had all been taken and was now
occupied by settlers, and Johannesen seems to have been suspicious of
the prairie, where land could still be had.
A contributor to the _Billed-Magazin_ for 1869 says that the conditions
of distress, the winter storms and the extreme cold on the prairies
were the things that influenced them to seek a locality for a
settlement elsewhere, and that they did not go north to Racine County
until the spring of 1840. He says: "Early the next spring they walked
north and came as far as to Wind Lake, where there was then a single
settler, an Irishman. Here in the primeval forest, on the shores of the
little lake they had found what their hearts desired; and they bought
the piece of ground which the Irishman was cultivating, and Backe chose
this place as his home." It is to be noted, however, that K. Langeland
in _Nordmaendene i Amerika_ says that they remained in La Salle County
only a few weeks and went north to Wisconsin that same fall (page
forty-three).[115] Langeland adds further, that they dug a cellar in an
Indian mound in which they lived during the winter.
[115] Professor Anderson accepts unreservedly the authority of
_Billed-Magazin_ in the matter and decides for the date 1840.
In touching upon these facts in my article on "The Coming of the
Norwegians to Iowa"[116] I did not hesitate to accept this as correct,
and I must now adhere to this view. My reason is that as early as the
middle of the summer of 1840 a small group of emigrants were ready
to leave for America with the view of settling at Wind Lake, having
received letters from Backe and Johannesen, urging them to come there.
Had these not located at Wind Lake before the spring of 1840 the time
would have been insufficient for the second party at Drammen to have
not only received word from America but also to have made all necessary
arrangements preparatory to emigrating. I assume then that it was about
December 1839 that Backe and Johannesen located in Norway Township. I
am inclined to think, however, that Elling Eielson remained in the Fox
River Settlement during the winter, and that he came to Wind Lake in
the spring of 1840. During that spring and summer the brothers John,
Torger, Halvor, and Knut Luraas, with their families, as also Gjermund
Johnson Kaasa, located in Norway Township. Nelson Johnson Kaasa, who
had emigrated in the Luraas party in 1839, remained in Milwaukee for
three months and moved to the settlement in November, 1840.
[116] In _The Iowa Journal of History and Politics_, 1905, page 360.
Among the immigrants of 1837, who went to the ill-fated Beaver Creek
Settlement in Iroquois County, Illinois, was Mons K. Aadland. We have
already observed that he was the last one to leave Beaver Creek. He
with family also came to Racine County in the summer of 1840. He
however selected a locality on the prairie east of the Indian mound,
buying a farm of a hundred and sixty acres on section thirty in
Raymond Township. This part of the settlement came to be known as North
Cape. The nucleus of the later extensive settlement had then assumed
considerable proportions by the fall of 1840; but new accessions were
soon to come.
Backe and Johannesen decided to write to friends in Norway and their
letters were productive of results. In the summer of 1840 a party of
about thirty persons stood ready to emigrate to the settlement in
Wisconsin. The leader of these was Even Hanson Heg, the keeper of a
hotel at Lier in Drammen, who sold out his property and with his wife
and four children came with this party. Other members of the party
were: Johannes Evenson Skofstad, Syvert Ingebretson Narverud, Helge
Thomson, Ole Anderson, all from Drammen and all of whom had families,
Ole Hogenson and family from Eggedal, and Knut Aslakson Svalestuen from
Vinje, Telemarken. All these came to Wind Lake and located there in the
autumn of 1840.
Sören Backe seems to have been a man whose generosity was as remarkable
as his lack of business ability. His father, a man of considerable
wealth, had supplied his son generously with funds upon his departure
for America. Sören Backe evidently loaned money very liberally to
those of his countrymen who were in need, and there were many of these
here as in all pioneer communities. It is said that when his funds
were used up he made a journey to Norway for more money. With this he
purchased land, which he let out on easy terms to new comers from
Norway. It was Johannesen who had charge of these transactions in which
it seems Even Heg was a partner with Backe. Johannesen is described as
a devout christian, a zealous adherent of the Haugian tendency, and in
every way a noble character. As we have seen, the settlement developed
rapidly, and it continued to grow for many years. Backe and Johannesen
then joined partnership and started a store; for this purpose an
Indian mound was excavated, the walls were sided with boards, and this
structure, which was partly underground, served as store, living room
and kitchen combined. Their stock of goods was shipped from Milwaukee,
itself then only a village of one or two stores, a hotel and half a
dozen pioneer cabins. Backe and Johannesen continued their business
together for about three years when Johannesen fell ill and died (in
1845). That same year Backe returned to Norway and settled on his
father's farm Valle, in Lier, near Drammen.
Even Heg was a leading spirit in the settlement in Norway and
surrounding townships during his life-time. Much has been written
about him and I shall not here repeat the eulogies elsewhere voiced
in his honor. After Johannesen's death it was Heg upon whom the
settlers in the early days of the colony leaned for advice and it was
Even Heg to whom every new arrival from Norway to the colony came for
help and counsel. His hospitality and his resourcefulness in the aid
of his compatriots was boundless. Heg's barn, where large parties
of immigrants were received every summer, and in which they were
permitted freely to make their home during the first weeks after the
long and arduous journey, is famed throughout many an early settlement
in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. The log cabins of the settlers
were too small to afford the necessary quarters for the numbers that
continuously flocked in, and the large barn was a boon for which they
were truly grateful. For a time Racine County became the objective
point of most of the immigrants from Norway, a distinction which
however it was soon to share with the still more famous Koshkonong
Prairie in Dane County, Wisconsin.
Of Elling Eielson I shall speak below, as also of Hans C. Heg, son
of Even Heg, and of some of the other Racine County pioneers. I wish
to add here a few words of Mons Aadland, who as we recall, came to
America in 1837, and located at North Cape in 1840. Aadland was born
near Bergen, Norway, in April, 1793, being thus forty-four years old
when he emigrated. He was one of the few survivors of the Beaver Creek
Colony in Illinois. As we have seen, he is the founder of the North
Cape branch of the settlement. There he lived till his death in 1869,
his wife having died two years before. A settlers' history says of him:
"He was a man of generous spirit, as is shown by his liberal gifts,
and one who took a commendable interest in public affairs." Ten years
before his death he owned between five and six hundred acres of land
which he then divided among his children. Thomas Adland and Knud Adland
both of Raymond Township are his sons, while a daughter, Martha, lives
in Norway; the other children are dead.[117] Mons Aadland was a nephew
of Nils P. Langeland whom we have spoken of above page 100.
[117] Mons Aadland had a sister Malinda, the wife of Anders
Nordvig, who came to America in the same ship as he. Anders
Nordvig died in Beaver Creek. His wife moved to the Fox River
Settlement, where she died, ninety years old, about 1892. I
have above written the name Adland as it came to be written
in this country.
The immigration of 1841 was not extensive. Backe and Johannesen do not
seem to have continued their propaganda of immigration; but the party
who came with Even Heg wrote home letters full of praise of the New
World. But even in the face of such tempting exhortations the old world
resident requires time for thought before he decides to bid farewell to
the home of his fathers and seek his fortune in a strange and distant
land. I am not aware that anyone came from Drammen or Telemarken to
Racine County in 1841.[118] Knut Roe and wife located in Racine County,
however, in 1841, but they came from La Salle County, where they had
settled in 1839. In 1842 there were several arrivals. Thus Hermund
Nilson Tufte with wife Kari and three daughters came from Aal Parish in
Hallingdal. This was the first family to emigrate to America from that
province.[119] In that year came also Aanund Halvorson Bjoin, wife and
family from Tin, Telemarken, and John Jacobson; further, Halvor Larson
Lysenstöen (Modum) from Hadeland, Norway, the first immigrant from that
region, and Helge Sigurdson and wife Bergit Olsdatter, who however,
removed to Dane County in 1844.[120] John J. Dale from Norway, who
had come to America in 1837 and settled in La Salle County, Illinois,
came to Racine in 1842; his wife Anna had died in Illinois in 1839.
Another of the immigrants of 1839 came to Muskego in 1842, namely John
Evenson Molee. He had lived in Milwaukee the preceding three years; I
shall speak of him below. There were individual accessions to other
settlements in 1841-42, but they are few in number. With 1843 the
immigration movement receives a new impulse, but the discussion of that
year will better be postponed until we have recorded the founding of
some other important settlements in 1840-42.
[118] Nor any from other provinces, for Hermund Tufte who, in
Holand's _De norske Settlementers Historie_, is said to have
come in 1841, did not come before 1842.
[119] See below under Rock Prairie.
[120] The _Biographical Review of Dane County, Wisconsin_, 1893,
page 239, gives 1842 as the year Seamon A. Seamonson came
from Skien, Norway, to Racine County, his wife and three
children coming the next year (see later chapter).