_The Settling of Koshkonong by Immigrants from
Numedal and Stavanger in 1840. Other
Accessions in 1841-1842._
Among the immigrants who came from Rollaug, Numedal, in 1839, was
Gunnul Olson Vindeig, though, as we have seen, he did not come in
Nattestad's party. Through the illness of a child he was prevented
from emigrating with Nattestad, as he had intended. Coming later in
the year, he went via Chicago, directly to Jefferson Prairie, where
he remained during the winter. In the early spring of 1840, about the
time our Vossings, spoken of above, are moving north to locate on their
claims, Vindeig built or bought a boat at Beloit, and this being ready,
he, with a companion, Gjermund Knudson Sunde, rowed north along the
Rock River, up Koshkonong Lake and Koshkonong Creek, into the Town of
Christiana.
That the journey should have been made in a boat up Rock River
against the stream, may sound like a legend; why not have walked this
comparatively short distance (about forty miles), just as Gilderhus and
party had walked the much longer distance from La Salle County? The
Norwegian pioneers were good walkers and seem to have loved walking.
Vindeig evidently did not. That he actually navigated up stream I
take, however, not to be merely a local or family legend, for it
is vouched for by his subsequent neighbors and comes down to us on
good authority. I myself visited Ole Gunnulson, Vindeig's son, who
is still residing on the old homestead, last August (1908), and also
received his confirmation of the route his father took in the spring
of 1840. Lars Lier, a neighbor of Ole Gunnulson, is cited by Prof. R.
B. Anderson as having been told by Gjermund Sunde himself, that they
had tied the boat a little below the Anikstad ford, where the Funkeli
bridge was afterwards built. Evidence comes also from some of the
oldest pioneers of the locality, as Halvor Kravik and Jens P. Vehus.
Gunnul Vindeig and Sunde returned soon after to Beloit, as they had
come, by way of the Rock River. Thereupon Vindeig, with his wife,
Guri, and two sisters, moved from Jefferson Prairie via Milton,
to Koshkonong, driving in a covered wagon, and proceeded to take
possession of the land he had selected. He soon had erected a cottage
of one room, with an attic accessible by ladder.[134] The land which
Vindeig located on is the south half of the northwest quarter of
section thirty-four. There he lived until his untimely death by
accident in October, 1846.[135]
[134] Anderson's _First Chapter_, page 338.
[135] He was killed by a loaded wagon tipping over him.
Gjermund Sunde selected forty acres of land directly north of
Vindeig's home, which he later, however, sold to Ole Lier. The land
which Vindeig purchased was recorded in the land office at Milwaukee
on May twenty-second, 1840, just sixteen days after the purchase by
Gilderhus and Bolstad was recorded. There has been much discussion as
to whether the Vossing party or Vindeig built the first house in the
Town of Christiana. Our first group of settlers had selected their land
the fall before and came north in April, 1840. We have seen that the
large log-cabin they constructed was hastily and poorly built. I assume
that either they all together, erected this immediately upon arriving
and taking possession of their claims in 1840; or else, the hewing of
timber and the erecting of the cabin was begun by the two who remained,
while Gilderhus and his companion went to Milwaukee to file their
claims. It might then have been built at the close of April, or more
probably, the beginning of May. Now Vindeig's purchase was recorded
May twenty-second; but as he seems to have gone direct from Jefferson
Prairie to Koshkonong, he evidently had built his cottage and shelter
for the family before he started for Milwaukee. There can, therefore,
have been very little difference in time between the two. Absolute
proof of the priority of either, it is not possible to obtain, it seems
to me, but I am inclined to think the cottage erected by Gilderhus,
Bolstad, and party, was the first.
Let us now turn to our third group of settlers, most of them
immigrants from Stavanger, who were living in La Salle County. These
four men were Thorsten Olson Bjaaland, Amund Anderson Hornefjeld,
Björn Anderson Kvelve, and Lars Olson Dugstad. The first of
these--Bjaaland--had come in the sloop in 1825; he is the only slooper
who came to Wisconsin, and the last of that party whom we shall meet in
our excursion down through the years of immigration. The second of this
group was also from the Province of Stavanger, being born on the Island
of Moster in 1806. We have seen that he came to America in 1836, and
that he had settled in La Salle County, where he lived for four years.
The third member of the party, Björn Kvelve, we have also met with
among the arrivals of 1836; he had been living mostly in Chicago and La
Salle County. He had come from Vikedal Parish in Ryfylke. Three other
men, Erick Johanneson Savik, Lars Scheie, and Amund Anderson Rossaland,
intimate friends of Kvelve, were of the party, but these did not settle
on Koshkonong.
In the spring of 1840, these seven men decided to go north in search
of homesteads.[136] From Gilderhus and Bolstad they had received
information of Koshkonong and they decided also to go there and inspect
the locality. About the middle of May, I take it, they started on
foot for Wisconsin. The way led by Shabbona Grove, in De Kalb County,
through Rockford, Beloit, Janesville, and Milton. They crossed the
Rock River at Goodrich's Ferry, now Newville, then pushed on until
they reached the southern line of Dane County, stopping in the Town
of Albion, near Koshkonong Creek,[137] and about four miles north,
slightly by east, of Lake Koshkonong. Here they found country that
suited them in every way. Björn Kvelve is said to have exclaimed: "This
is indeed the Land of Canaan!" Here woods were plentiful, the soil was
rich, a vigorous winding stream teeming with fish, ran near by, and not
far off there was a large lake.
[136] For these facts I acknowledge indebtedness chiefly to Prof.
R. B. Anderson, who is a son of Björn Anderson Kvelve; he
gives an account of the journey of these men on pages 347-354
of his book, and a sketch of his parents pages 155-165; see
also page 171, and 245.
[137] Then a little river; now it is almost dried out.
We see that the Stavangerings, as the Vossings, looked for wood and
water; they did not realize the superior advantages of the prairie, and
that it would yield much quicker returns for their labor. And yet there
was good reason for their choice, and we shall find that quite often
the early Norwegian pioneers located in a woodland tract near a stream
or a lake. It was undoubtedly an inducement to build near a wood, where
the timber for the usual log-cabin was near at hand, and it was highly
desirable to locate within access of that primary necessity of life,
water. In this region, then, our party selected land. Amund Hornefjeld
chose the east half of the southeast quarter of section one,[138] and
Björn Kvelve, the west half of the same quarter section.
[138] So the description reads but the Amund Anderson homestead
is the east half of the northwest quarter, and the Kvelve
homestead is directly south.
Thorsten Bjaaland chose eighty acres immediately north of Kvelve's,
consequently in section two, while Lars Dugstad took the east
half of the southwest quarter of section one. Having made these
selections,[139] they walked to Milwaukee to file their claims and
perfect their purchase.[140] This is recorded at the land office under
date of June twenty-second, 1840, just one month, therefore, after
entry was made of Vindeig's claim in section thirty-four in Christiana,
the next township and section north. Amund Rossaland selected a piece
of land near that of Björn Kvelve, but he was later informed that it
had already been taken;[141] so Rossaland did not settle on Koshkonong,
but went to Jefferson Prairie, as did also Lars Scheie, thence again
elsewhere.
[139] Thorsten Bjaaland and Amund Hornefjeld built shanties on
their land before leaving.
[140] Their names are given as: Omund Anderson, Birn Anderson, Lars
Olson, and Foster Olson.
[141] It was soon after taken possession of by William Fulton.
The whole party then returned to La Salle County, Illinois, and did
not move to Albion Township and take possession of their land before
the spring of 1841. Erik Savik became ill upon their return to La
Salle County when he was asked if he, too, didn't wish to go along to
Milwaukee and purchase land, he answered: "I think I can get a bit of
ground here from Ole Middlepeint."[142] His prophecy proved true, for
he died there in June, 1840. Erik Johanneson Savik and wife, Ingeborg,
had emigrated from Kvindherred in 1836, locating in Rochester, New
York. A son, John, was born to them there in December, 1836. The
following year they seem to have removed to La Salle County, Illinois.
Their daughter, Anne Berthe, was born there in November, 1838.
[142] That is, Ole O. Hetletveidt. This incident is related in
_Amerika_ in September, 1903; the words were: eg faar meg nok
ein Flæk Jord her hos han Ola Meddlepeint.
Early in the spring, Kvelve and Bjaaland moved to Koshkonong with their
families, following the same route they had taken before. Bjaaland
drove a yoke of oxen, and Kvelve a yoke of black steers, which were
not yet broke, says Arnold A. Anderson, oldest son of Kvelve, and who
was in the party; both teams were hitched to a wagon owned by Kvelve.
Kvelve's family consisted, at the time, of wife and four children, two
daughters having been born since the arrival in America in 1836.[143]
Thorsten Bjaaland (born in 1795 in Haa Parish, about thirty [American]
miles south of Stavanger, Norway) was still unmarried when he came to
Dane County, as was also Lars Dugstad. The latter evidently came north
from La Salle County about the same time as Kvelve and Bjaaland. Amund
Hornefjeld married Ingeborg Johnson, widow of Erik Savik, in La Salle
County, in June, 1841, and he, with wife and her two children, came
north to Albion a few weeks later.
[143] Arnold Andrew Anderson was born in Norway in 1832. The second
son of Kvelve, Augustinus Meldahl Bruun, was born in 1834. A
daughter was born and died in Rochester, New York, where the
Kvelve family lived 1836-37. Elizabeth was born in La Salle
County, Illinois in 1837, and Cecelia in 1840. A daughter,
Martha, was born in Albion Township in the fall of 1841,
being, it seems, the first white child born in the town.
It was, therefore, just twelve persons who located in northeastern
Albion Township that spring. The Hornefjeld family moved directly
into the shanty Amund had built before leaving in 1840. Dugstad made
a dugout on the side of a hill near the creek, in which he continued
to live till 1855, when he married and moved into a large log-house.
Björn Kvelve erected a log-house on his farm immediately upon arriving
in 1841, the logs having been cut by men engaged to do so, during
the winter of 1840-41. These men were Lars Kvendalen and Knut Olson
Vindeig. We shall now pass to the account of their arrival, and that of
others who came in 1840-41.