Future Hopes--Farm Life--Norwegian Pioneers--The Condition of the
Immigrant at the Beginning of the Fifties--Religious Meetings--The
Growth of the Settlement--Vasa Township Organized--A Lutheran Church
Established--My Wedding--Speculation--The Crisis of 1857--Study of Law
in Red Wing--I am admitted to the Bar and elected County
Auditor--Politics in 1860--War is Imminent.
We had now commenced a new career, located on our farm claims in the
boundless West, with no end to the prospects and possibilities before
us. We felt that independence and freedom which are only attained and
appreciated in the western wilds of America.
From the Mississippi river and almost to the Pacific Ocean, was a
verdant field for the industry, energy and enterprise of the settler. To
be sure, our means and resources were small, but somehow we felt that by
hard work and good conduct we would some day attain the comfort,
independence and position for which our souls thirsted. We did not sit
down and wait for gold mines to open up before us, or for roasted pigs
to come running by our cabin, but with axe and spade went quietly to
work, to do our little part in the building up of new empires.
[Illustration: OUR WAGON.]
In the beginning of May, my father came from Illinois and brought us a
pair of steers and a milch cow; this made us rich. We made a wagon with
wheels of blocks sawed off an oak log; we also bought a plow, and,
joining with our neighbors of Belle Creek, had a breaking team of two
pair of oxen. That breaking team and that truck wagon, with myself
always as the chief ox driver, did all the breaking, and all the hauling
and carting of lumber, provisions, building-material and other goods,
for all the settlers in that neighborhood during the first season.
Soon others of our party from last year joined us. Some letters which I
wrote in _Hemlandet_ describing the country around us, attracted much
attention and brought settlers from different parts of the west, and
while the Swedes were pouring into our place, then known as "Mattson's
Settlement," (now well known under the name of Vasa), our friends, the
Norwegians, had started a prosperous settlement a few miles to the
south, many of them coming overland from Wisconsin, bringing cattle,
implements and other valuables of which the Swedes, being mostly poor
new-comers, were destitute. Many immigrants of both nationalities came
as deck passengers on the Mississippi steamers to Red Wing.
There was cholera at St. Louis that summer, and I remember how a steamer
landed a large party of Norwegian immigrants, nearly all down with
cholera. Mr. Willard and myself happened to be in Red Wing at the time,
and the American families, considering these Norwegian cholera patients
our countrymen, hastily turned them over to our care. We nursed them as
best we could, but many died in spite of all our efforts, and as we
closed their eyes, and laid them in the silent grave under the bluffs,
it never occurred to us that they were anything but our countrymen and
brothers.
From these small beginnings of the Swedish and Norwegian settlers in
Goodhue county, in the years of 1853 and 1854, have sprung results which
are not only grand but glorious to contemplate. Looking back to those
days I see the little cabin, often with a sod roof, single room used for
domestic purposes, sometimes crowded almost to suffocation by hospitable
entertainments to new-comers; or the poor immigrant on the levee at Red
Wing, just landed from a steamer, in his short jacket and other
outlandish costume, perhaps seated on a wooden box, with his wife and a
large group of children around him, and wondering how he shall be able
to raise enough means to get himself ten or twenty miles into the
country, or to redeem the bedding and other household goods which he has
perchance left in Milwaukee as a pledge for his railroad and steam-boat
ticket. And I see him trudging along over the trackless prairie,
searching for a piece of land containing if possible prairie, water and
a little timber, on which to build a home. Poor, bewildered, ignorant,
and odd looking, he had been an object of pity and derision all the way
from Gothenburg or Christiania to the little cabin of some country-man
of his, where he found rest and shelter until he could build one of his
own.
[Illustration: OUR FIRST HOME.]
Those who have not experienced frontier life, will naturally wonder how
it was possible for people so poor as a majority of the old settlers
were, to procure the necessaries of life, but they should remember that
our necessities were few, and our luxuries a great deal less. The
bountiful earth soon yielded bread and vegetables; the woods and streams
supplied game and fish; and as to shoes and clothing, I and many others
have used shoes made of untanned skins, and even of gunny-sacks and old
rags. Furthermore, the small merchants at the river or other points,
were always willing to supply the Scandinavian emigrants with necessary
goods on credit, until better times should come. Our people in this
country did certainly earn a name for integrity and honesty among their
American neighbors, which has been a greater help to them than money.
Some of the men would go off in search of work, and in due time return
with means enough to help the balance of the family.
Frontier settlers are always accommodating and generous. If one had more
than he needed, he would invariably share the surplus with his
neighbors. The neighbors would all turn in to help a new-comer,--haul
his logs, build his house, and do other little services, for him.
The isolated condition and mutual aims and aspirations of the settlers
brought them nearer together than in older communities. On Sunday
afternoons all would meet at some centrally located place, and spend the
day together. A cup of coffee with a couple of slices of bread and
butter, would furnish a royal entertainment, and when we got so far
along that we could afford some pie or cake for dessert, the good
house-wives were in a perfect ecstacy. The joys and sorrows of one, were
shared by the others, and nowhere in the wide world, except in a
military camp, have I witnessed so much genuine cordial friendship and
brotherhood as among the frontier settlers in the West.
One fine Sunday morning that summer, all the settlers met under two oak
trees on the prairie, near where the present church stands, for the
first religious service in the settlement. It had been agreed that some
of the men should take turns to read one of Luther's sermons at each of
these gatherings, and I was selected as reader the first day. Some
prayers were said and Swedish hymns sung, and seldom did a temple
contain more devout worshipers than did that little congregation on the
prairie.
Before the winter of 1854-55 set in, we had quite a large community in
Vasa, and had raised considerable grain, potatoes and other provisions.
During that winter the Sioux Indians again became our neighbors, and
frequently supplied us with venison in exchange for bread and coffee.
The following spring and summer the settlers increased still faster,
several more oxen and other cattle, with a horse or two, were brought
in, and I had no longer the exclusive privilege of hauling goods on the
little truck wagon.
That summer I again went to Illinois to meet a large party of
newly-arrived emigrants from Sweden, who formed a settlement in Vasa,
known as Skane. The people from different provinces would group
themselves together in little neighborhoods, each assuming in common
parlance the name of their own province; thus we have Vasa, Skane,
Smaland and Jemtland.
About this time a township was formally organized, and, at my
suggestion, given the name of Vasa, in commemoration of the great
Swedish king. Roads were also laid out legally, and a township
organization perfected. A school district was formed and soon after an
election precinct, and as I was the only person who was master of the
English language the duty of attending to all these things devolved upon
me. We were particularly fortunate in having many men, not only of good
education from the old country, but of excellent character, pluck and
energy, men who would have been leaders in their communities if they had
remained at home, and who became prominent as soon as they had mastered
the English language. This fact, perhaps, gave a higher tone and
character to our little community than is common in such cases, and Vasa
has since that time furnished many able men in the county offices, in
the legislative halls, and in business and educational circles. There
can be much refinement and grace even in a log cabin on the wild
prairie.
In the beginning of the month of September, 1855, Rev. E. Norelius
visited the settlement and organized a Lutheran church.
Thirty-five years have elapsed since that time, and many of those who
belonged to the first church at Vasa now rest in mother earth close by
the present stately church edifice, which still belongs to the same
congregation, and is situated only a short distance from the place where
the latter was organized. Rev. Norelius himself lives only a few hundred
yards from the church building. Thirty-five years have changed the then
cheerful, hopeful young man into a veteran, crowned with honor, and full
of wisdom and experience. His beneficent influence on the Swedes of
Goodhue county and of the whole Northwest will make his name dear to
coming generations of our people.
On November 23d, in the same fall, the first wedding took place in our
settlement. The author of these memoirs was joined in matrimony to Miss
Cherstin Peterson, from Balingsloef, near Kristianstad, whose family had
just come to Vasa from Sweden. By this union I found the best and most
precious treasure a man can find--a good and dear wife, who has,
faithfully shared my fate to this day. Rev. J. W. Hancock, of Red Wing,
performed the marriage ceremony. Horses being very scarce among us in
those days, the minister had to borrow an Indian pony and ride on
horseback twelve miles--from Red Wing to Vasa. On the evening of our
wedding day there happened to be a severe snow-storm, through which my
young bride was taken from her parents' home to our log house, on a
home-made wooden sled, drawn by a pair of oxen and escorted by a number
of our young friends, which made this trip of about a quarter of a mile
very pleasant, in spite of the oxen and the snow-storm.
The next winter was very severe, and many of our neighbors suffered
greatly from colds and even frozen limbs. But there was an abundance of
provisions, and, as far as I can remember, no one was in actual need
after the first winter.
In the spring of 1856 several new-comers arrived in our colony. That
year marked the climax of the mad land speculation in the Northwest.
Cities and towns were staked out and named, advertised and sold
everywhere in the state, and people seemed to be perfectly wild,
everybody expecting to get rich in a short time without working. The
value of real estate rose enormously, and money was loaned at three,
four, and even five per cent. a month. Fortunately, very few of the
settlers in our neighborhood were seized by this mad fury of
speculation. I, however, became a victim. I bought several pieces of
land, and sold some of them very profitably, and mortgaged others at an
impossible rate of interest. And, the world becoming too narrow for me
on the farm, I availed myself of the first opportunity to trade away my
land for some property in Red Wing, which was a booming little town at
that time. We moved from the plain log cabin on the old farm into a
house in town, where I engaged in a successful mercantile business. But
speculation was in the air, and before the spring of 1857 my entire
stock of merchandize was exchanged for town lots in Wasioja and Geneva,
two paper cities further west. Meanwhile my friend Mr. Eustrom, with his
young wife and baby, had arrived from Boston, and both of us, with our
families and a few friends, moved out to Geneva early in the summer,
with the intention of building up a city and acquiring riches in a
hurry. But at that time the waves of speculation began to subside, and
nine-tenths of the cities and towns which were mapped out, and the great
enterprises which were inaugurated by enthusiasts like myself suddenly
collapsed into a mere nothing. Among these was also Geneva, which is not
larger to-day than when we left it, and it was about all I could do to
raise enough money to get back to Vasa with my wife. My friend Eustrom
pre-empted a claim near Geneva and remained there.
Making an inventory of my property after the return to Vasa in 1857, I
found that the principal thing I had was a debt of $2,000, bearing an
interest of five per cent. a month. In order to pay this debt we sold
everything we had, even our furniture and my wife's gold watch. This was
the great crisis of 1857. It stirred up everybody and everything in the
country, and it was no wonder that I, being an inexperienced and
enthusiastic young man, had to suffer with so many others. But now the
question was, what should I do? I could not return to the farm, for I
had none; that is, it was encumbered for about twice its value.
In the midst of these difficulties I went to Red Wing one day to consult
a prominent lawyer in regard to some business matters. During my
conversation with him he said: "You have nothing to do now, you have had
enough of speculation, you know the English language, you are tolerably
well acquainted with our laws, well educated, young and ambitious, why
not study law, then? This state and this county is just the place for
you to make a splendid beginning in that profession. Come to me, and
within a year you can be admitted to the bar, after which you will find
it easy to get along."
I returned to Vasa in the evening, and, having consulted my wife, who
was visiting her parents, I soon made up my mind. The next day both of
us were on the way to Red Wing supplied with clothes, bedding, a few
dishes and some provisions, which had been given us by my wife's
parents, who also conveyed us to town. In Red Wing we rented a room
about sixteen feet square, got a cook stove and a few articles of
furniture on credit, and everything was in order for housekeeping and
the study of law. I immediately commenced my course of study with that
excellent lawyer, Mr. Warren Bristol, who afterwards for many years
served as United States Judge in New Mexico, where he recently died.
This life was something new for my young wife, who had grown up in a
house of plenty. Now she had to try her hand at managing our household
affairs, with the greatest economy, and she accomplished her task so
well that no minister of finance could have done better. In fact we were
so poor that winter that we could not afford to buy the tallow candles
which were necessary for my night studies (kerosene was unknown at that
time). But every evening during this trying but happy winter my wife
made a lamp by pouring melted lard, which her parents sent us, into a
saucer, and putting in a cotton wick, and in my eyes this light was more
brilliant than the rays from the golden chandeliers in the palaces of
the rich. By this light I studied Blackstone, Kent, and other works on
law.
Late in the spring of 1858 a place became vacant in the justice of the
peace, and I succeeded in getting the appointment to this position,
which brought me a couple of dollars now and then, thus improving our
financial condition considerably. Early in the summer I was appointed
city clerk, with a salary of $12.50 a month, which was quite a fortune
for us at that time. After one year's hard study I was admitted to the
bar, and my honored teacher accepted me as his partner on good
conditions. My profession seemed to be well chosen; I had plenty to do,
and met with all the success I could expect.
My first case in the district court was before Judge McMillan, who
afterwards became chief justice of our supreme court, and then United
States senator. In opening the case I became nervous and excited and
would have broken down entirely had it not been for the kindly manner in
which the judge overlooked my diffidence, and helped me out of the
embarrassment by leading me on and putting the very words in my mouth;
this was only natural to his kind heart, and he probably never
remembered it, but to me it was an act of great kindness, never to be
forgotten, especially not when more than twenty years after the little
incident he needed all his friends to rally for his return to the United
States senate, his most formidable opponent being the venerable and
beloved statesman, Alexander Ramsey.
My law practice lasted only a few months, as I was appointed county
auditor to fill a vacancy, and soon afterwards elected to fill the
regular term of office, and again re-elected two years later. Before
that time no Swedish-American had occupied such responsible civil office
in the United States. But I probably made a mistake in accepting this
office and thereby turning my back on a profession at which I would
undoubtedly have made more easy and rapid progress than by anything
else. But for the time being it produced great economical improvements
in our private life. Our little home, the narrow room which served as
bedroom, study, kitchen and parlor, was soon exchanged for a neat little
house, and a year later we moved into a larger and more comfortable
building, which was our own property.
Meanwhile the settlement at Vasa had prospered, and the population had
materially increased. The Scandinavian settlers had scattered over the
neighboring towns and counties with marvelous rapidity. The crisis of
1857 had been an excellent lesson to us all, for, although the price of
real estate had fallen to about one-fourth of its former value, the
people were better off now than formerly, owing to better management and
more prudent economy.
The Scandinavians had now commenced to take a lively interest in the
political discussions which were agitating the entire country at that
time. The all absorbing political question of the day was "slavery" or
"no slavery" in the new territories. It is unnecessary to say that the
Scandinavians were almost to a man in favor of liberty to all men, and
that they consequently joined the Republican party, which had just been
organized for the purpose of restricting slavery.
In the winter of 1861, while I was holding the office of auditor the
second term, the legislature of Minnesota appointed a committee to
revise the tax laws. This committee invited five county auditors, of
which number I had the honor to be one, to assist in its work. The tax
laws which were formulated by this general committee were in force over
twenty years.
It was about this time the great American statesman, W. H. Seward,
visited Minnesota. I heard him make his famous speech in St. Paul, in
which, with the gift of prophecy, he depicted the future grandeur of the
twin cities. I also heard Owen Lovejoy, a member of congress from
Illinois, and one of the leading anti-slavery agitators of the times.
During the presidential election of 1860 the political excitement ran
very high in the whole country. The Southern states had assumed a
threatening position, and expressed their intention to secede from the
Union if Lincoln was elected president. Throughout the whole country
political clubs were organized. The Democrats formed companies which
they called "Little Giants," which was the nickname given to Stephen A.
Douglas, their candidate for president.
The Republicans also organized companies which they called "Wide
Awakes." I was chosen leader of the Republican company in Red Wing.
Political meetings were very frequent during the last few weeks before
election, and among the most prominent features of those meetings were
processions and parades of the companies, which were uniformed, and
carried banners and torches. During the campaign C. C. Andrews and the
late Stephen Miller, respective candidates for presidential electors on
the Democratic and Republican tickets, held meetings together and
jointly debated the important questions of the day, taking of course
opposite sides, but within a year both were found as officers in the
Union army, gallantly fighting for the same cause.
About this time a company of militia organized in Red Wing, and I was
one of the lieutenants, and took active part in its drill and maneuvers.
Although none of the men who took part in these movements could foresee
or suspect the approach of the awful struggle which was to plunge the
country into a deluge of fire and blood, still they all seemed to have a
presentiment that critical times were near at hand, and that it was the
duty of all true citizens to make ready for them. It is a significant
fact that fifty-four men out of our little company of only sixty, within
two years became officers or soldiers in the volunteer army of the
United States. Although the Scandinavian emigrants had been in the state
only a few years, they still seemed to take as great an interest in the
threatening political difficulties of the times, and were found to be
just as willing as their native fellow-citizens to sacrifice their blood
and lives for the Union.