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. CHAPTER XL _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.