Opening the text

A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States: From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848Flom, George T. (George Tobias)

History

A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States: From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848

Name: A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States: From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848
Author: Flom, George T. (George Tobias)

Flom, George T. (George Tobias)

Norwegians -- United States

[242] For above facts I am indebted to Mrs. Eric Ross of 217
        Mozart Street, Chicago, a daughter of Mrs. Fuglestad.
        Mrs. Erickson's children: Mrs. Robert S. Carroll, Otto G.
        Erickson, Samuel Erickson and Alex Erickson. Mrs. Fuglestad's
        children are: Mrs. Anna Ross, Thomas B. Fuglestad in Chicago,
        Peter A. Fuglestad, Forest City, Iowa, and Mrs. Mary Jacobson
        in Beltram, Minnesota.




                             CHAPTER XXVIII

          _The Earliest Norwegian Settlers in the Township of
                Pleasant Spring, Dane County, Wisconsin_


I have above spoken of the fact that Knut H. Roe was one of the party
that emigrated with John Luraas from Tin, Telemarken, in 1839. These
two men became the first Norwegians to settle in the townships of
Pleasant Spring and Dunkirk respectively in 1843. Roe had lived for a
time in La Salle County, Illinois, going to Racine County, Wisconsin,
in 1842, as we have seen above. In the fall of 1841 a few of the
settlers in Racine County had travelled west as far as Koshkonong
Prairie, for the purpose of inspecting the uninhabited country there,
of which they seem already to have heard from friends. In the townships
of Albion and Christiana, these met and spoke with those who had come
there from Jefferson Prairie in 1840.

The favorable report of these explorers relative to the fertility
of the soil and the general character of the country on Koshkonong
created considerable restlessness among the pioneers at Wind Lake, in
Racine County, and many decided to remove to Dane County. Among these
were Knut Roe and John Luraas. We shall first follow the fortunes of
the former. As soon as the snow was gone with the end of the winter
of 1842-43, Roe walked on foot to Koshkonong, where he visited the
different parts of the prairie, and selected a spot on which to settle.
Then he walked back to Racine County. John Luraas and family also
having decided to remove to Dane County, the two families secured a
team for the overland journey; they reached their destination on one
of the last days in May. "Two weeks before St. John's eve," writes
Roe, "my first home, a hut of brushwood and leaves, supported at the
four corners by an oak, was ready sufficiently so that my wife and
child and myself could find protection therein against rain and wind."
This he built in the southeast corner of section twenty-two in the
Town of Pleasant Spring, at a point about two miles and a half west
of Utica. Knut Roe, his wife, Anne, and family were the first white
settlers in the township. An interview with Roe which the editor of
_Billed-Magazin_ prints will therefore be of interest. He says: "I
often received visits by the Indians, and the many deep paths in the
ground showed that the son of the wilderness often held forth in the
region about me. In their marches between the Lake Koshkonong and the
four lakes which have made Madison famed far and wide for its beauty,

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States: From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848Flom, George T. (George Tobias)

History

A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States: From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848

Flom, George T. (George Tobias)

Norwegians -- United States

[242] For above facts I am indebted to Mrs. Eric Ross of 217
        Mozart Street, Chicago, a daughter of Mrs. Fuglestad.
        Mrs. Erickson's children: Mrs. Robert S. Carroll, Otto G.
        Erickson, Samuel Erickson and Alex Erickson. Mrs. Fuglestad's
        children are: Mrs. Anna Ross, Thomas B. Fuglestad in Chicago,
        Peter A. Fuglestad, Forest City, Iowa, and Mrs. Mary Jacobson
        in Beltram, Minnesota.




                             CHAPTER XXVIII

          _The Earliest Norwegian Settlers in the Township of
                Pleasant Spring, Dane County, Wisconsin_


I have above spoken of the fact that Knut H. Roe was one of the party
that emigrated with John Luraas from Tin, Telemarken, in 1839. These
two men became the first Norwegians to settle in the townships of
Pleasant Spring and Dunkirk respectively in 1843. Roe had lived for a
time in La Salle County, Illinois, going to Racine County, Wisconsin,
in 1842, as we have seen above. In the fall of 1841 a few of the
settlers in Racine County had travelled west as far as Koshkonong
Prairie, for the purpose of inspecting the uninhabited country there,
of which they seem already to have heard from friends. In the townships
of Albion and Christiana, these met and spoke with those who had come
there from Jefferson Prairie in 1840.

The favorable report of these explorers relative to the fertility
of the soil and the general character of the country on Koshkonong
created considerable restlessness among the pioneers at Wind Lake, in
Racine County, and many decided to remove to Dane County. Among these
were Knut Roe and John Luraas. We shall first follow the fortunes of
the former. As soon as the snow was gone with the end of the winter
of 1842-43, Roe walked on foot to Koshkonong, where he visited the
different parts of the prairie, and selected a spot on which to settle.
Then he walked back to Racine County. John Luraas and family also
having decided to remove to Dane County, the two families secured a
team for the overland journey; they reached their destination on one
of the last days in May. "Two weeks before St. John's eve," writes
Roe, "my first home, a hut of brushwood and leaves, supported at the
four corners by an oak, was ready sufficiently so that my wife and
child and myself could find protection therein against rain and wind."
This he built in the southeast corner of section twenty-two in the
Town of Pleasant Spring, at a point about two miles and a half west
of Utica. Knut Roe, his wife, Anne, and family were the first white
settlers in the township. An interview with Roe which the editor of
_Billed-Magazin_ prints will therefore be of interest. He says: "I
often received visits by the Indians, and the many deep paths in the
ground showed that the son of the wilderness often held forth in the
region about me. In their marches between the Lake Koshkonong and the
four lakes which have made Madison famed far and wide for its beauty,

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States: From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848

A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States: From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848

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