_The Earliest Norwegian Settlers at Wiota, La Fayette
County, and Dodgeville, Iowa County, Wisconsin_
About forty miles directly west of Rock Prairie lies Wiota, about which
town stretches in all directions a Norwegian settlement of considerable
size. It is separated from Luther Valley by Green County and lies
only twenty-five miles distant, northwest, from the old settlement of
Rock Run, in Illinois. Here extensive lead mines were being operated
in the forties, and they were the means of drawing to that locality a
large number of immigrants of different nationalities, many of whom,
to be sure, only remained there temporarily, going elsewhere to buy
a home as soon as they had accumulated sufficient funds. The mines
were at that time called "Hamilton Diggings." As early as 1840 we find
two Norwegians working in these mines, namely, the brothers Andreas
and John O. Week, both from Eidfjord, in Hardanger. The Week brothers
seem to have been two of a party of about forty from Hardanger, who
emigrated in 1839.[173] I do not believe, however, that either Andrew
or John Week entered a land claim in the vicinity, and they remained
there only a few years. In 1844 John Week moved to Dodgeville in Iowa
County, where he established a shoe store in company with John Lee,
from Numedal, Norway. Andrew Week went to Marathon County some years
later; here he built a saw mill, which, however, was bought out by his
brother John in 1849, when Andrew joined the California gold-seekers.
[173] They came in the same ship as Knut Roe.
In the spring of 1842 Lars Davidson Reque, an immigrant from Voss in
the year 1839, came to Wiota. We have already met him as a purchaser
of land in Deerfield Township, in Dane County, in December, 1840. Not
having the means to begin the improvement of his land, he says, he
decided to go to Hamilton Diggings, and he did not take possession of
his land until the summer of 1842.[174] Rekve remained at the Diggings
only about one year. In 1841 the first permanent settlers arrived;
these were Per Unde, from Vik Parish, Sogn, Per Davidson Skjerveim,
Sjur Ulven, and Arne Anderson Vinje, from Voss. The first of those was,
it seems, the earliest emigrant from Sogn to America. He was a man of
considerable means, but a copy of Rynning's _Sandfaerdig Beretning om
Amerika_ fell into his hands and he decided to emigrate. He remained
in Chicago the first year and a half or over. Ulven and Skjerveim had
come from Norway in 1840. Arne Vinje (born 1820) came to Chicago in
September, 1840, after having been five months on the journey. He had
left Norway April sixteenth with his wife,[175] and a party of twenty
other persons from Voss. The following spring Vinje and Skjerveim,
having decided to go to the mines in Wisconsin, secured each their
yoke of oxen, and drove overland, arriving at Wiota on the seventh of
July, after five days of difficult travel; Unde and Ulven came at the
same time. Unde immediately entered a claim on a piece of land in the
vicinity and built a house, as did Skjerveim and Vinje a short time
after; these located, however, about three miles farther south.
[174] He did not actually settle there permanently before 1844.
[175] Her maiden name was Martha Gulliksdatter Kindem.
According to Arne Vinje the following twenty-one persons came from
Voss that spring: Torstein Saue, his wife and son Gulleik, Lars Saue
and wife, Klaus Grimestad and wife, Arne Anderson and wife and infant
son Andrew, Knudt Hylle, Ole S. Gilderhus, Knudt Rokne, Mads Sonve,
Baar Lawson Böe (a brother of Iver Lawson), Lars Röthe, Brynnel Ronve,
two young ladies from Saue, one from Ronve and one from Gilderhus. In
discussing the voyage Vinje says:
The bottom of the ship in which we sailed was declared by Capt.
Ankerson to be one hundred and fifty years old and when, in
midocean, we encountered a severe storm, the timbers sustaining
the upper berths gave way, precipitating them upon the lower ones,
and the screams and cries of the frightened passengers added to
the fury of the storm, almost created a panic on board. As for
myself, I seized a heavy chest which I intended throwing overboard
to use as a support in the water in case the ship foundered. Even
Hegg, and others from "Östlandet," who came from Drammen with Capt.
Ankerson, stopped in Milwaukee, while we from Voss came on to
Chicago, where my wife and I were received into the home of Sjur
Ulven and family. Mrs. Ulven being my wife's cousin.
Knudt Hylle and myself began our first work in Chicago upon the
streets of the (then) westside. My work was handling a heavy plank
scraper, drawn by a yoke of oxen and used to scrape the sod from
the sides of the road into the center.
At this time occurred the election of General Harrison to the
Presidency. The candidate was the "People's choice" and I, from
my bed, saw a log cabin, such as he lived in, mounted upon wheels
and drawn through the streets to show that he was chosen from the
common people. That was effective electioneering!
In the spring of 1841 Peder Skjerveim, who had come from Norway in
1837, having lived in Chicago in the interval, drove from Chicago up to
Hamilton Diggings to explore the region. Upon his return he reported
that there was government land for sale there, and Vinje and he decided
to move thither. Peder Iverson Unde and family and Sjur Ulven went to
the "Diggings" at the same time. Of this Vinje writes:
We left Chicago on July 2nd and arrived in Wiota, or Hamilton's
Diggings as it was then called, after a tiresome journey of five
days. On July 7th we passed Elgin, Illinois, in a grove near which
Independence day was being celebrated, on July 4th, but there was
then no town, only a few scattered houses. We progressed with
some difficulty as our wagon broke down twice during the journey.
The second of these accidents occurred as we were nearing Rockford
toward evening, when the axle gave way; but Peder Skjervheim,
with only an ax and an augur went into the woods nearby, and from
a convenient tree cut and made a new axle that night, so that we
proceeded safely on our way the next morning.
There being no bridges, we forded the rivers at Rockford and
Freeport. There was then not a house where the thriving city of
Rockford now stands and only one small grocery store at Freeport.
There were, at that time, no Norwegians in or around Wiota, and
the nearest Norwegian settlement was at Rock Run, Illinois. Peder
Skjervheim and I, each bought forty acres of government land in the
Township of Wiota, upon which we each built a log cabin and began
other improvements. Andres Brække also bought forty acres but soon
sold it again.
In 1842 there came to our neighborhood three young people from
Voss; David Larson Fenne and wife, and his brother, Nils Fenne.
In 1843 there came some families from Vik, in Sogn, and settled
near by: Ole Iverson Unde and wife Britha, and his brother Erik's
family. Erik died before reaching America, but his wife and
children settled down here. Likewise, Erik Engebrit Hove, Ole
Anderson and Sjur Tallakson Bruavold came at the same time.
To those which Mr. Vinje mentions as arriving in 1842 may be added Isak
Johnson from Skien,[176] and Christian Hendrickson from Lier, Norway.
The latter however moved to Primrose Township in Dane County in 1846.
(See below).
[176] I am told that he came in 1841, but this seems to be a mistake.
Mathias J. Engebretsen of Gratiot, Wisconsin, tells me that Per Fenne
and wife Martha came to Wiota in 1842, while Nils Sunve and wife
Maline, and Ivar Fenne came in 1843; all these were from Voss. Helge
Meland and wife from Telemarken came in 1843, as also Tore Thompson
from Tindal and Ashley Gunderson from Numedal.[177] Those mentioned by
Arne Vinje at the end of the above account, Ole and Sjur Bruavolden,
did not settle at Wiota, it seems, before 1845, and Erik E. Hove not
until 1847. These had located first at Long Prairie in Boone County,
Illinois, as had also Ingebrigt Fuglegjærdet, who came from Vik, Sogn,
in 1844. Of the immigration from Land, Norway, to Wiota, which began
with Syver Johnson (Smed or Smedhögen in 1844), I shall speak in the
next chapter. The growth of the Jefferson Prairie Settlement will,
however, claim our attention briefly first.
[177] Reverend J. W. C. Dietrichson, speaking of the Wiota
Settlement in 1844 says, that there had been organized a
congregation that year, which numbered about one hundred
members, of whom the larger part were from Voss; these,
he says, had settled there for the most part in 1843. He
mentions Per Davidson as deacon and a leading member of the
church, and Knud Knudson as one who by great energy had
acquired considerable wealth.