_The Hardanger Settlement in Lee and De Kalb
Counties, Illinois. Big Grove in Kendall
County and Nettle Creek in
Grundy County, Illinois._
Although Hardanger has contributed a relatively small proportion of
the American immigrant population from Norway, several of the earliest
arrivals were from that province and its sons occupy today a prominent
place in Norwegian American history. It has been shown above, chapters
IX and X, that several members of the party who came in 1836, as
also of that of 1837, were natives of Hardanger; and in the Chicago
colony in 1839 we met with several natives of that province. In 1839
a considerable number left Hardanger, especially from Ulvik Parish,
as we learn from _Nordmandsforbundet_, 1909, page 175. Among these
were the brothers Anders and Johan Vik from Eidfjord in Hardanger. The
two brothers first went to Wiota, where they secured work in the lead
mines. In 1844 John Vik (Week) went to Dodgeville, where he established
himself as a shoemaker, entering into partnership with Johan Lee from
Numedal. Later he went to Portage County, Wisconsin, where he prospered
and was for over a decade a dominant power in the lumber trade of
northern Wisconsin.[388]
[388] These facts gathered from an article by L. J. Erdall in
_Amerika_ for September 18, 1901. The brother, Anders Vik
(Andrew Week), went to California in 1849.
Among the immigrants who had come from Hardanger, Parish of Ullensvang,
in 1836, we mentioned Ammund Helgeson Maakestad above, page 95.
Maakestad dropped the family name in this country and called himself
Ommon Hilleson. For a little over a year he was a coast sailor; then he
decided to go west and secure land where his countrymen had settled.
This he did, but not in the usual way, for Hilleson walked the whole
distance from New York to Chicago. This was in 1837.[389]
[389] As Reverend J. Nordby, Lee, Illinois, informs me.
From Chicago he directed his steps farther west; he did not, however,
go to the settlement founded several years before, but pushed on as far
as Lee Center in the County of Lee.[390] Here he secured work, saved
some money, and bought a homestead in Bradford Township, and erected
thereon a sod house. Soon after he married Catherine Reinhart, daughter
of a German pioneer, recently moved in.
[390] Strand relates an experience which Hilleson had between Chicago
and Lee Center and which would seem to indicate that he had
intended to go to La Salle County.
For ten years Hilleson was the only Norwegian settler in the county,
but in 1847 there arrived in response to letters from Hilleson, a
considerable party from Hardanger. These left Sörfjorden in Hardanger,
and embarked in May at Bergen in the sailing vessel _Juno_, which
brought them to New York in a little over four weeks, a remarkable
record for that time.[391] Mr. T. M. Newton (Torgels Knutson) says,
when we came to Buffalo we met an old man who was returning to Norway.
He advised us to go back at once, saying America was not a fit place
for respectable people to live in, it was a place for thieves and
robbers. The party consisted of the following persons: Lars Larsen
Röisetter (Risetter), Lars Olson Espe, Lars Helgeson Maakestad,
Gjertrud H. Lönning, Helge H. Maaketad (who died in 1854), Ingeborg
H. Maakestad, Torgels Knudson Maakestad, Sjur Sjurson Bleie (Bly) and
Lars Larson Bly. They were met at Chicago by Ommon Hilleson; Lars Bly
remained in Chicago, the rest started for Lee County, stopping a short
time at Norway, La Salle County, thereupon all but Ingeborg Maakestad
drove to Hilleson's home in Lee County.[392] Most of them settled in
Bradford Township, but Lars Risetter (born 1827 in Ullensvang) bought
eighty acres of land in Sublette Township, whither other subsequent
immigrants from Hardanger also soon moved. Soon after arriving,
Risetter and Gjertrud Lönning were married in the first house built by
a Norwegian in Lee County, at the home of Ommon Hilleson. Lars Espe and
Lars Risetter were the first two of the party to build a log cabin.
[391] T. M. Newton says the journey took only three weeks; others
say, four. Newton was from Kinservig.
[392] The journey was made with oxen and lumber wagon. Inger Maakestad
remained at Norway for a time; she married Lars Espe soon after.
Mr. Newton tells that two young men came from La Salle County about the
same time and bought a piece of land in Franklin Grove about two miles
and a half from where he lived. "They lived in a log cabin on their
place," he says. "One night about two months after we arrived, they
were both murdered. The same day I had tried to persuade one of them to
stay with me, but he felt it necessary to be at home. Their heads had
been split open with an ax. I then thought of what the old gentleman
had tried to tell us and heartily wished myself back in Norway."
During the years 1848 no immigrants left Hardanger for America, and Lee
County received no settlers directly from Norway. In 1849, however,
thirty-two emigrated from Ulvik, but none of these seem to have come
to the settlement. In 1850 there was one accession, namely, Amund
Lönning, who came directly to his brother-in-law, Lars Risetter, in
Sublette Township. He worked in the harvest the first season for Thomas
Fessenden for $11.00 a month, bought a quarter section in Willow Creek
Township in 1852, being the first Norwegian to settle there. In 1857
Lars Risetter also moved into Willow Creek Township, where he has since
lived.[393]
[393] Mrs. Risetter died in 1897; Mr. Risetter is still living. His
two sons, Lewis and Holden, occupy the homestead with him.
Of the rest Torgels Maakestad, who adopted the name T. M. Newton
(Knutson), is still living, his home being at Grinnell, Iowa. Sjur
Bleien lives at the Old People's Home, Stoughton, Wisconsin.
In 1851 the following arrived from Ullensvang, Hardanger, and located
in the settlement: Jacob O. Rogde (b. 1828), Haaken L. Risetter and
wife Maria (Hildal), Haldor Nilsen Hovland, and Agatha Espe, a sister
of Lars Espe. Rogde purchased eighty acres of land in Bradford Township
in 1854 and in 1855 he married Else Bly from Hardanger, who had come
to America in 1854.[394] Haakon Risetter settled in Ogle County
immediately north of Lee County. Of those who arrived in subsequent
years many settled across the county line in De Kalb County, and in a
few years there had sprung up a thriving and prosperous community. At
present the Bradford Norwegian Evangelical Congregation of Lee numbers
300 adult members. The center of the settlement is about four miles
south of Franklin Grove.
[394] C. Christopher of Gruver, Iowa, who has kindly given me many
of the facts relative to the immigration from Hardanger,
names the following as arriving in Lee County in 1854; Lars
N. Rogde and wife Angar W. Sandvæn, Wigleik W. Risetter,
Helle P. Bly and wife Torbjör (Skare), Samson S. Sandvæn and
wife Bægga H. Maakestad. The last three and Lars Rogde died
the same year.
Immediately east of De Kalb and the northern part of La Salle County
lies Kendall County, into which extends a northeastern branch of the
original Fox River Settlement, located chiefly in Big Grove Township;
the village of Newark lies within its boundaries. The first Norwegian
to settle in the village of Newark was Ole Olson Hetletvedt, as we have
observed above. Ole Hetletvedt, or Medlepeint as he was called, was
born in August, 1797, and was, as we know, one of the members of the
sloop party. Of his first years in this country we have already spoken.
He came to Newark in 1839; there he lived till his death in 1854. The
next settlers in Newark were Herman Osmonson and Knut W. Tysland, both
of whom also located there in 1838.
The first Norwegian settler at Lisbon was John Hill (Hidle) from
Fjeldberg in Söndhordland, Norway. He came to America in 1836,[395]
going direct to La Salle County. Among the immigrants of that year
were also Anders Anderson Aasen and wife Olena and family from Tysvær
Parish, a little south of Haugesund. The family included a daughter
Susanna, (born 1822), who was married to John Hill in 1844. The Aasen
family lived in Kendall, New York, for two years, then in 1838 moved
to La Salle County, Illinois. In 1839 John Hill located at Lisbon, and
he was thus the first Norwegian to settle here, whither a considerable
number later moved.[396] About 1846 Sjur Larson came there from
Skaanevik, Norway; Lars Chelley (Kjelle) came in 1847.
[395] Lars Bö and Michael Bö came at the same time.
[396] John Hill died in 1892, but Mrs. Susanne Hill is still living
with her daughter, Mrs. Austin Osmond (b. 1845), in Morris,
Grundy County, Illinois.
The Norwegians did not begin to come in extensively to Lisbon before
1850. Mrs. Austin Osmond, oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Hill,
who is now living in Morris, Grundy County, tells me that she was
the only Norwegian child in school at Lisbon when she first began
to attend, but later there gradually came more. At Newark several
Norwegians had already begun to move on. Goodman Halvorson (b. 1821)
and wife Martha Grindheim from Etne Parish in Söndhordland, came to
America in 1847 and purchased land in Fox Township, Kendall County; he
erected his log cabin there in the spring of 1848. Halvorson is still
living on the old homestead which, however, he leases to other parties.
Osmund Tutland from Hjelmeland in Ryfylke, and wife Malinda from Aardal
in Ryfylle and two children had come to Mission Township, La Salle
County, in 1836; a daughter, Mrs. Anna Hegglund (b. 1842) is at present
living in Newark. Tutland became, in 1854, the founder of the Norwegian
colony at Norway, Benton County, Iowa.[397]
[397] Lars Fruland of Newark is a son of Nils Fröland, who emigrated
from Samnanger, near Bergen, in 1837, settling in La Salle
County.
Among the old pioneers of Lisbon was also Henry Munson from Voss, but
I am not able to give the year of his arrival. Munson died in 1907,
being over ninety years old. Wier Sjurson Weeks (born in Skaanevik in
1812), and wife Synneva and two children emigrated in 1846; after much
hardship, and sickness in the family, through which they lost the two
daughters, they arrived at Lisbon late in 1846. Here Weeks worked at
first at the trade of a carpenter. In 1848 he bought eighty acres of
land on North Prairie, five miles north of Lisbon.[398] Here he settled
permanently, prospered, and became an influential citizen and active
member of the Lutheran Church of North Prairie. Mr. Weeks died in
February, 1900, at the age of eighty-seven; his wife lived till 1904,
reaching the age of ninety-four. A name most closely associated with
the early annals of Newark is that of Torris Johnson (b. in Skaanevik
1837), who came to America with his grandfather Torris Torison in
1848.[399] Having arrived at Chicago, they went to Calumet, twenty
miles south of Chicago, to Halstein Torison, who was an uncle of Torris
Johnson. There Johnson remained till 1851, when he located in Kendall
County. Mr. Johnson served in the war, being promoted to sergeant;
after the war he returned to Newark. In 1865 he married Elizabeth
Ryerson, born in Stavanger, Norway; they have had six children. Mr.
Johnson is still living, his home being in Newark.
[398] Mr. Strand has given a very complete sketch of W. S. Weeks to
which I am indebted for these facts.
[399] His parents died in Norway when he was a child; a brother and
sister also came to America at the same time.
Although E. S. Holland (b. 1834) of Big Grove Township, did not settle
in Kendall County before 1866, he belongs to the earlier pioneers now
resident there, having come to this country with his parents in 1846.
In 1854 he settled in York Township, Green County, Wisconsin, where he
married Johanne Chantland the following year. In 1866 they removed
to Kendall County, Illinois.[400] Mr. Holland has been especially
active in the work of the church, and has been trustee and treasurer of
Pleasant View Luther College since its organization.
[400] Mrs. Holland died in 1884 and Mr. Holland married Christina
Peterson of Skien, Norway, in 1885.
The name of Nels O. Cassem occupies a prominent place in the history of
the settlement as of that of Kendall County in general. Born in 1829
about seven miles east of the city of Stavanger, Norway, he emigrated
in 1849. Coming to Illinois he settled in Fox Township, Kendall County,
in July of that year. Here he purchased land and began farming, an
occupation which he prospered in to an unusual degree, his estate
being estimated at a little over one million dollars upon his death in
1904.[401] "When he came to Illinois," writes his son, "he found work
on the tow-path of the old Illinois and Michigan Canal, at fifty cents
per day. During this time he formed the habit of saving, that was the
unerring guide of all his future life." Randall Cassem defines the
principal causes of his father's success as:
"Health; industrious habits formed in youth; the fact that money
came hard earned at first, thus teaching him the value of the
dollar; courage and self-reliance; knowing the value of little
things; the practice of self-denial and rigid economy; never
striving after extravagant profits in any of his undertakings. To
all of this we may add, his high sense of honor, his unimpeachable
integrity that, as those who knew him testify, never permitted him
to be other than absolutely fair and just in all his dealings and
financial transactions with others."[402]
Among those who immigrated in 1844 and located in Chicago was also
Anders K. Vetti from Vettigjæld, Norway. He lived in Chicago until
about 1849,[403] when he bought a farm at Yorkville Prairie in Kendall
County. He married Anna Martha Ortzland in 1850 and lived there till
his death in 1875. Mr. Vetti was a man of strong character and unusual
intellectual endowments. He wielded much influence politically in his
community, and enjoyed in a high degree the confidence of those who
knew him. An obituary notice says of him: his truest and most enduring
monument will be the good resulting from his labor in the cause of
universal education, in untiring opposition to the superstitious
observance of ceremonies incompatible with the spirit and the progress
of the age, and in his hatred of all forms of political oppression.[404]
[401] Cassem married Margaret Fritz in 1851; she died in 1872.
There are five children: Randall Cassem, attorney at Aurora,
Ill.; Mrs. Olive J. Osmondson of Seward Township, Kendall
County; Oscar E. Cassem, Mitchell, South Dakota; Mrs.
Margaret Olson, Aurora, Illinois; and Mrs. Anna O. Rood,
Chicago, Illinois.
[402] Kari Melhus of Newark, Illinois, who came to America about
1852, is said to be the oldest Norwegian woman in America.
She was born in Hjelmeland Parish, Ryfylke, in 1804.
[403] A. K. Vetti's oldest daughter, Mrs. Samuel Mather (b. 1853)
of Springdale, Linn County, Iowa, says that it was in 1849,
or 1850 perhaps, but she is not certain which.
[404] The words "universal education" contain a reference to his
fight for the common schools.
A few miles south of Lisbon, across the Grundy County line, a
settlement was founded in 1846. The county had been completely settled
by Americans already, but Norwegians bought these out and gradually
supplanted them, exactly as they began doing a decade later at Saratoga
in Grundy County, and have done still later in the city of Morris in
the same county. The settlement is located in Nettle Creek Township.
The first arrivals were Rasmus Scheldal, Ole Torstal, Paul Thompson,
Michael Erickson, Simon Frye, John Wing, Lars Scheldal, Ben Hall, Ben
Thornton, John Peterson, G. E. Grundstad, William and Samuel Hage.
Several of these men had families; they came mostly from Skaanevik; all
came between 1846 and 1848. In 1849 Halvord Rygh, Sr., and family of
seven, and Sjur Nelson, wife, Jennie, and family, came from Norway and
located there. Several of these men later moved away, as Paul Thompson,
Michael Erickson, Rasmus Scheldal, and Ole Tvistal, who went to Story
County, Iowa, while some members of the Rygh and Wing families went to
Goodhue County, Minnesota, 1856. Sjur Haugen and family moved up to
Helmar, Kendall County, in 1855.[405]
[405] The latter family included a son Nels (b. 1840), who is Nels
S. Nelson of Helmar, well known as a successful farmer and a
Republican leader in Kendall County.
With this brief survey of the founding of these eastern extensions of
the Fox River Settlement, we shall leave Kendall and Grundy Counties.
The history of these settlements takes its beginnings at the very close
of the period we are here considering. Their fuller discussion belongs
to the history of the immigration of the following decade.[406]
[406] Individual settlers and single families had located in
various towns in northern Illinois during the later thirties
and forties. I shall name here Severt S. Helland and wife
Ingeborg who immigrated in 1836 and settled at Woodstock,
Illinois. Helland (b. 1828) came from Gjerdevig in Fjeldbjerg
Parish; his wife was born 1825 at Helland in Etne Parish.
They moved to Chicago in 1855 and in 1857 settled near
Slater, Iowa.