_Blue Mounds in Western Dane County, Wisconsin_
The extensive Norwegian settlement in Western Dane County, ordinarily
referred to as Blue Mounds from the "blue mounds" in the township of
that name, was founded in 1846. Three families had, however, located
there as early as 1844, namely those of Thor Aase, Peder Dusterud,
and Lars P. Dusterud. Thor Aase, with wife Martha, five sons and two
daughters,[370] settled on section ten in Springdale; they came from
Sogn in 1843 and had lived one year at Wiota. Peder Dusterud and wife
and family settled on section 33 in Blue Mounds and the son Lars
Dusterud and wife located on section 27, both in Blue Mounds Township.
These two came from Rock Run, Illinois, where they had located in 1842,
immigrating from Vægli, Numedal.[371] They had also worked for some
time in the Dodgeville, Wis., lead mines.
[370] The children were Ivar (b. 1818), Lasse, Hermund, Talak,
John, Synneva, and Britha.
[371] Lars Dusterud and wife are still living at Mt. Horeb.
In 1846 a company of eleven persons arrived from Racine County; they
were the following: Tore Toreson Spaanem, Halvor and Nils H. Grasdalen,
John I. Berge and wife Julia and one child, his sister Mrs. Knut
Sörenson Kvisterud, Tosten Thompson Rue, Ole T. Garden, Ole Kvisterud,
and Ole Sjutvett. Knut S. Kvisterud, who had just before this gone to
Mineral Point and secured work there, came to Blue Mounds in 1848. John
Thompson later was more generally called "Snow-shoe Thompson" from the
fact that he carried the U. S. mail over the Sierra Nevada Mountains
for twenty years (1856-1876), walking on _skis_.
All these came from Muskego, Wisconsin, whither they had immigrated
from Tin, Telemarken. Spaanem and Halvor Grasdalen had come there in
1841, Knut Kvisterud and wife in 1843, and Berge in 1845. The Rue
family had come from Norway, as we have seen, in 1839 (see above page
125). In 1846 the Town of Primrose, immediately south of Springdale,
also received its first Norwegian settlers, namely, Christian
Hendrickson, wife Maria and three children, Caroline, Henry, and
Charles. He had emigrated from Lier, Norway, in 1842, and worked four
years in the lead mines at Wiota to pay his passage from Norway. Mr.
Hendrickson drove from Wiota to Primrose with oxen, all his possessions
being then a wagon, a cow, and seventy-five cents. He lived eight years
in the log hut first erected and built a stone structure in 1855.
The next arrivals to Blue Mounds were Erik Solvi, who came from Sogn in
1847, and lived successively in Springdale, Vermont, and Blue Mounds,
and Gullik Svensrud and family from Vægli, Numedal, who had immigrated
in 1844,[372] and first located on Rock Prairie. It was also in 1847
that the first immigrant from Valders arrived in Blue Mounds; this was
Ragnild Fadnes who in 1851 married Ever Halsten. She was born in North
Aurdal in 1826; as near as I am able to determine she was the only
member of the family who came at the time.
[372] The party with which they came left Drammen April 20th and
landed at Quebec June 20th; they arrived at Rock Prairie on
July 4th. The family included several children; a daughter
Gunhild (b. 1837), married Halvor Halvorson of Mt. Horeb in
1856.
During 1846-1847 other localities, Wiota, Western Koshkonong, Spring
Prairie and Norway Grove had claimed a considerable portion of the
immigrants. But in 1848 they began to come in in large numbers in
the townships of western Dane County and neighboring parts of Iowa
County. To Primrose the following came in that year: Nils Skogen,
Salve Jörgenson, and Nils Einarson. To Perry: Ole O. Bakken and wife
Anne (Bergum) and two sons (Ole and Tideman) from Valders. This was
the first Norwegian family to locate permanently in Perry; Bakken
bought the claim of a "squatter" named Andreas Olson, who was therefore
the earliest Norwegian in the township. Later in the same year came
Lars Langemyr from Christiania, Norway, Torger T. Tvedt from Aamli
in Nedenæs, Reiar Aarhus from Telemarken, Halvor O. Milesten from
Hadeland, and Lars Halvorson and Hans Johnson from Drangedal.
The arrivals of 1848 were Ole Barton, wife Ingeborg and son Ole,
Gulbrand Elseberg,[373] wife Ingeborg and two daughters, Christian O.
Skogen, Ole O. Braaten and Nils O. Belgum; and in 1849: Knud Larson,
Anders Lundene, Iver Halstein, Iver Lund, Ole Jelle, Sr., and Tore
Maanem, all of whom were from Valders, mostly from North Aurdal.
Tollef S. Anmarksrud and wife Karen came to Koshkonong the latter
year, but he also removed to Blue Mounds in 1850. During the next few
years immigration to the various townships of western Dane County was
rapid. For the fall of 1849 and in 1850 are to be mentioned, e. g.
the following arrivals in Springdale Township: Harald and Arne Hoff,
Ole and Aslak Lee, Levor Lien, Ole Thompson Brenden, Anders, John and
Knut Lunde, Knut J. Lindelien, Harald Stugaard, Michel Kolskett and
Erik O. Skinrud; several of these had large families. To Blue Mounds
Township came: Erik Engen, Ole Boley, wife and four children, and Arne
Röste, with family of eleven children; all those named here came from
Valders.[374]
[373] Elseberg not long afterwards started for Manitowoc to visit
a brother, who had just come there, and was never heard from
again.
[374] Boley and Röste were from South Aurdal.
From Sogn came Ole A. Grinde and Ole Menes, the latter remaining,
however, two years in Norway Grove before coming to Blue Mounds.
Michael Johnson (b. 1832 in Leikanger, Norway) emigrated to America
in 1853, located first in Windsor, then removed to Vienna, finally
settled permanently in Springdale in 1856. His parents, Jon Michelson
Dahlbotten and wife Randi, and his sister Martha[375] and younger
brother Botolf came to America in 1854. Mr. Johnson became a
prosperous farmer and stock-raiser, his farm of 400 acres being one of
the finest in that part of the state. He took an active part in church
and school affairs and was for many years a member of the governing
body (Kirkeraad) of the Norwegian Lutheran Evangelical Synod of
America. He held many positions of trust in the town and the county,
was a member of the State Legislature for three consecutive terms,
1874-75-76, and for years a well-known figure in the politics of the
state. Mr. Johnson lived in Mt. Horeb since 1894; he died in 1908,
leaving a widow and seven children.
[375] Martha married Ole O. Flom in 1854. Botolf is B. J. Borlaug,
well-known capitalist and banker of Kenyon, Minnesota. The
family had moved from Aurland to Borlang in Feios, Leikanger
Parish, where the children were all born.
In Primrose and Perry the Norwegians also settled extensively in
1849-1850. Among those who arrived in the former year were Gunnuf and
Ole Tollefsen from Sæltersdalen, who as we have seen above, page 281,
had immigrated to Muskego in 1845. Others who came to Primrose that
year were G. and Ole Danielson[376] from Telemarken, Leif Olson, Kittil
Moland, Ole Anderson and Peter P. Haslerud. Tollefson relates how he
became the possessor of his quarter section in Primrose as follows:[377]
As I wished to own land of my own as soon as possible, I went to
Primrose in 1849. Here I met Niels Einarson. There was enough
of land, but how to get the number of what I selected, was the
question. After much search we found a large oak a short distance
east from where Norman Randal lives. On this tree was clearly to be
seen the following letters and numbers: N. W. ¼, S. 23, T. 5, N.
R. 6 E. There was neither pen nor paper to get without going many
miles, and something had to be done at once. I borrowed an axe of
Emerson, cut down a little poplar, and, after having cut it flat on
both sides, so that it became quite thin, I took my pocket knife
and cut into it the letters and numbers just as they were in the
tree. With this poplar stuck under my arm I went to the land-office
and laid the stick and the money on the table, to the official's
amusement. They understood the description and I got the land.[378]
[376] Ole Danielson had lived in Illinois since he came from Norway
in 1846.
[377] The citation is from Langeland, page 73.
[378] Tollefson says that at Clinton he worked for a Mr. Sherwood a
while; he cut 600 rails for the loan of the latter's oxen and
wagon with which to bring his parents from Muskego to Rock
County.
During 1850 came Mrs. Ole Baker with son P. O. Baker (b. 1838), Mons
Ness, Elling Stamn, Ole Skuldt and Lars Halvorson from Hallingdal,
Knut and Jens Olson from Stavanger, Lars L. Kolve and family from Voss
and Knut Baardson (Bowerson) and family from Sætersdalen. During 1853
to 1855 Norwegians came in still greater numbers, writes Reverend
Höverstad.
About twenty Norwegians settled in Perry in 1849; they were: Torger
Hastvedt, Hans J. Dahle, Ole Gangsei and Jacob Aanhus from Telemarken,
Andreas Stutelien and Jul Haavernd, wife and eight children from
Valders, and Anders Sanderson from Hallingdal. After 1849 Norwegians
came in in large numbers, settling up the town rapidly.[379] I shall
mention here only Onon Björnson Dahle (b. 1823) from Nissedal, who
settled in Perry in 1853, and Christian Evanson (b. 1819) from Valders,
and wife Ragnild from Numedal, who came there in 1854.[380] Dr. Evans
tells me that Ragnild Evanson (maiden name Ragnild Brekke) was born in
Numedal, Norway, in 1819, and after her marriage to Christian Evanson,
immigrated to America in company with her brother Lars N. Brekke (who
for many years resided and conducted a grocery store in Madison, Wis.)
in the year 1848, preceding her husband by about five years. They
came by sailing vessel, and were sixteen weeks on the voyage, having
been grounded on a rock off the coast of England and were obliged to
wait repairs. After landing in New York they came by Erie canal and
the lakes to Milwaukee, Wis., then to near Stoughton, Wis., and later
to Madison, where she met her husband five years later. From Madison
they moved to Perry, Dane County, and settled on section twenty-three
and remained there until their death.[381] O. B. Dahle, who had been
a school teacher in Nissedal, left Norway in company with a cousin,
Knut Dahl, in 1848. They first came to Koshkonong, where the former
taught parochial school for two years. They went to California in 1850
in search of gold as so many others. Having been unusually successful
in the gold mines, they returned in 1853, and Onon Dahle bought a farm
in Perry, on which he founded the village of Daleyville, beginning at
the same time there a mercantile business. Here he amassed a fortune,
retired and moved to Mt. Horeb in 1897. In 1854 Dahle married Betsey
Nelson, daughter of Hermo N. Tufte of Racine County, and sister of
the well-known lay evangelist, Elling Eielson. Mr. Dahle always took
an active interest in public affairs and in the work of the Lutheran
Church of which he is a member. He died in July, 1905, his wife having
died in February of the same year.[382]
[379] Among them were Knut Grimstvedt and Ole Hastvedt from
Telemarken.
[380] Jens P. Tyvand (b. 1817) who had emigrated from Sannikedal
in 1843 to Lisbon, Ill., and removed to Stoughton, Wis., in
1847, settling in Pleasant Spring, located in Perry in 1854.
[381] Mrs. Evanson died in 1894 and Mr. Evanson in 1897, survived
by two children, Anne and Niels (Dr. N. E. Evans of Mt.
Horeb). C. Evanson was a successful farmer, owning 279 acres
of land; he also conducted a store at Perry after 1874.
[382] They left four children: H. B. Dahle, one time member of
Congress, J. T. Dahle (who died in 1908), Henry L. Dahle, all
of Mt. Horeb, and Mrs. James A. Peterson, Minneapolis.
We shall close this chapter with a word about the first Norwegians
in Madison, Wisconsin. It is not until 1850 that Norwegians began to
locate in Madison in considerable numbers. However, there were a few
there before that. As near as I can find out, Ole Torgeson, Ole O.
Flom, Ole Lenvick, and Halvor N. Hauge, all of whom came to Madison in
1844, were the first Norwegians in Madison. All four of these worked
for a printer by the name of Daniel Holt. Ole Flom, as we have seen,
had come from Norway with his parents that summer in the first party
that left Aurland, Sogn. He remained in Madison till 1847 when he
returned to his father's farm at Door Creek.[383] Halvor Hauge had
come from Norway with his parents in the summer of 1844; the family
had located in the Town of Christiana. Halvor went to California in
1848 where he remained several years, returning then to Koshkonong.
Ole Torgerson had emigrated from Norway in 1844, coming directly
to Madison, where he continued to live till his death in 1900. He
published during 1850 there a Norwegian paper in the interests of the
Whig party, but as this was not a paying enterprise he sold his types
to Knut Langeland, who soon after began the issue of _Maanedstidende_
in Janesville, having previously published _Nordlyset_ and _Demokraten_
in Muskego. Among other Norwegians in Madison in the early days
were: Anne Vik, who worked for Dr. Collins during 1845;[384] in 1846
she married Halvor Bjoin, a Koshkonong pioneer. In July, 1846, Hans
Christianson from Lærdal, Sogn, came to Madison; he, however, soon
removed to Blooming Grove, where he located permanently.[385] Halvor
Gabriel immigrated from Haugesund in 1848, coming direct to Madison,
where he continued to live until 1877; he then moved to Sun Prairie and
in 1893 to Fort Atkinson, where he died in 1897. Among the subscribers
to _Nordlyset_ and _Demokraten_, 1848-1850, appear the names of three
residents of Madison, namely: Eric Anderson,[386] Lars Johnson, and
William Anderson. Finally, when the Bethel Congregation was organized
in 1855 the following appear as charter members: Ole Torgerson, Mrs.
Ole Torgerson, Hans Olsen, Mr. Erickson, Olaf Olson, Haakon Larson,
Nels Peterson, Lars Nelson, Ole Lawrence, Halle Steensland, Eline Hoel,
Anne Nilson, Ingeborg Olson and Anne Olson. Lars Nelson (Brekke) had
come there in 1848 from Numedal,[387] coming direct to Madison. Mr.
Nelson was well and favorably known as the owner of a grocery store on
West Main Street for many years. Of the other persons mentioned above
only Haakon Larson and Halle Steensland are now living. The latter has
always held a prominent place in the financial history of the capital
and in general in the upbuilding of the city. He has always been a
staunch member of the Bethel Church, and was one of the leaders in the
organization of the Norwegian-American Pioneer Association, of which he
was president in 1903-05.
[383] Flom was with Dr. Collins during 1846.
[384] As we have seen, Knud Langeland and Niels Torstenson passed
through Madison in 1845.
[385] He died there a few years ago.
[386] Erik Anderson had come to America with his parents in 1839
and lived in Chicago till 1845 (see p. 232). Then they moved
to McHenry County, Illinois. In 1847 Erik went to Muskego,
where he engaged as compositor in the office of _Nordlyset_,
setting the type for the first number. In 1848 he went to
Madison and began clerking in a general store. He settled as
a farmer in Winneshiek County, Iowa, in 1850.
[387] See page 346 above.