A INTENSIVE HISTORICAL SITE SURVEY OF THE

WASHINGTON PRAIRIE SETTLEMENT

i

By the Winneshiek Historic Preservation Commission Courthouse

Decorah, Iowa 52101

July 10, 1990

By Steven L. Johnson, principal investigator, Rev. Donald Berg, historian, and Charles Langton, photographer.

This project has been funded with the assistance of a matching grant-in-aid (i.e., Contract No. 19-89-40045A.007) from the State of Iowa, Bureau of Historic Preservation, through the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, under the provisions of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966; the opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Department of the Interior.

Acknowledgements

This survey is a cooperative effort by the Iowa Bureau of Historic

Preservation, the Winneshiek County Board of Supervisors (CLG),

Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, and Winneshiek County Historical

Society. A special thank you goes to Lowell Soike, historian for the

state preservation office; Rev. Donald Berg, historian for the project;

Wayne Wangsness, David and Elaine Hegg, members of the Washington

Prairie Church Historical Committee; Rev. Richard Sansgaard, minister at

the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church; Charles Langton, project

photographer. The Norwegian-American Museum deserves a thank-you for

giving staff time to assist with the project. The survey crew would

like to express its appreciation to the members of the Washington

Prairie area for their time and work in completing this project.

Table of Contents

I. Abstract

II. Introduction A. List of Si tes B. Map of Sites C. Elisabeth Koren's 1850s Map

III. Survey Research Design A. Survey Objective B. Description of Area Surveyed C. 1875 Map of the Area D. 1886 Map of the Area E. 1905 Map of the Area F. 1985 U. S. Geological Survey Map G. Methodology

IV. Survey Results A. 1886 and 1905 Plats of Nordness, Iowa B. United States Migration Map C. Iowa Norwegian-American Settlement Map D. List of Building Dates E. List of Building Types F. List of Building Materials G. List of Potential National Register sites

V. Survey Recommendations

APPENDIXES

Appendix A: Survey Letter and Questionaire Appendix B: Iowa Site Inventory Form Appendix C: Bibliography of Scandinavians in Iowa

at the State Historical Society of Iowa

Abstract The Washington Prairie project is an intensive-level architectural

and historical survey of parts of four townships located in Winneshiek County: northeast Springfield <11 sections), northwest Frankville (3 sections), southwest Glenwood (1 section), and southeast Decorah (2 sections).

The Washington Prairie area, with the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church as its hub, was the first settlement of Norwegian-Americans in the county, served as a "mother" community for other Norwegian-American settlements, and has remained a cohesive ethnic community for over 139 years. The area includes the sites of the first school (1852) and church (1855) in the county. The Washington Prairie log schoolhouse was built one year prior to the construction of a school in Decorah, Iowa. The Lutheran Church is said to be the first Norwegian Lutheran Church built west of the Mississippi river. Two buildings documented in this survey are significant enough to be included in the Outdoor Division of Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum — the Egge log house and a log paroch i a 1 schoo1.

This report deals with historical and architectural significances of the Washington Prairie settlement. The purpose of this survey is to collect information for determining the level of eligibility of this area regarding its nomination to the National Register. A total of forty sites are included in this survey: twenty-one farmsteads, five sites in the village of Nordness, four schoolhouses, three churches, two parsonages, two cemeteries, one slaughterhouse, one creamery, and a pioneer monument. The survey resulted in completing seventy-two new inventory forms, and incorporating existing data from five sites previously surveyed and two National Register sites.

The principal theme for the surveyed properties is the ethnic Norwegian-American character of this region. Secondary themes would include settlement, architecture, and agriculture. Many of the farm buildings reflect the farm economy' which was orignally wheat production, but which had turned to dairy by the 1880s. The Jacobson farm, with its change from subsistance farming practices to dairy operation, is representative of this area. This change is also reflected by the three cooperative creameries in the settlement. The sites themselves, some of which have buildings of exceptional integrity, reflect common building practices and materials, builders' indentities, and architectural themes. Eight stone and six log structures were uncovered in this project, and these structures typically represent the earlier period of settlement in this area.

The results Of this survey indicates a multiple property nomination of the Washington Prarie Settlement would be the best option for National Register status. Of the seventy-nine sites only eighteen properties should be classified as potentially key structures. The remainder of the sixty-one sites should be considered contributing to the project. The total number of non-contributing sites in the surveyed area would be two-hundred-forty. Future work for this project would be threefold: the survey of additional sites on the eastern portion of the settlement, further historical research work, and nomination of the eligible properties to the National Register.

Introduction

The Washington Prairie Survey Project is sponsored by the

Winneshiek County Historic Preservation Commission, and the Iowa Bureau

of Historic Preservation. Walter Langland, chairman of the Winneshiek

County Board of Supervisors, represented the county certified local

government in requesting this grant. The Winneshiek County Historical

Society provided the local cash match in funding this project. The

minister and the historical committee from Washington Prairie Lutheran

Church, in part, provided the neccessary in-kind local matching funds.

Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum contributed some staff time to

assist with the completion of this survey.

The purpose of this project called for the surveying of historical

properties in the Washington Prairie settlement. The properties were

recorded, photographed, researched, and evaulated, based upon their

architectural or historical significance. One of the aims of this

survey was to determine if the sites merited district, multiple

resource, or individual status for nomination. Utilizing the existing

historical knowledge of members from Washington Prairie, a priority list

was formed containing forty sites from an area of seventeen square miles

with the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church at its approximate center.

The village of Nordness, twenty-one farmsteads, four school sites, three

churches, two parsonages, two cemeteries, one slaughterhouse, one

creamery, and one pioneer memorial were included in this survey.

The intensive architectural/historical survey of Washington Prairie

was conducted in the eleven northeast sections of Springfield township,

three northwest sections of Frankville township, two southwest sections

of Glenwood township, and two southeast sections of Decorah township.

i.

SITE LIST FOR THE WASHINGTON PRAIRIE PROJECT Spring 1990

Name

1) EGGE LOG HOUSE SITE 2) ROVANG PAROCHIAL SCHOOL SITE 3) NORTH WASH. PR. CHURCH SITE 4) BRANHAGEN SCHOOL SITE 5) RED OAK CREAMERY SITE 6) FIRST SCHOOL(LOG) SITE 7) SPILDE SLAUGHTERHOUSE SITE 8) Washington Prairie Lutheran Church 9) Church Parsonage 10) Arthur Branhagen Farm 11) David Hegg Farm 12) Joseph Berge Farm 13) Bruvold North Farm 14) Bruvold South Farm 15) Opdahl Cemetery(So. Bruvold) 16) Howard Viste Farm 17) Andrew Bakke Farm 18) Howard Johnson Farm 19) Gene Sivesind Farm 20) Ernest Soland Farm 21) Torgri m Farm 22) John Hegg Farm 23) Loman Farm 24) "Apple" Loman Farm 25) Davis Johnson Farm 26) Bergan Farm 27) Clement Farm 28) Spilde Log House(Lyon) 29) Pioneer Monument 30) Nordness Telephone Exchange 31) Wayne Huinker Farm 32) North Washington Prairie Cemetery 33) Nesheim Farm

SITES ALREADY SURVEYED IN THE AREA 34) Red Oak School 35) Nordness Creamery 36) Nordness School 37) Nordness Blacksmith Shop/Residence 38) Nordness Johnson General Store

NATIONAL REGISTER SITES IN THE AREA 39) Washington Prairie Methodist Church 40) Jacobson Farmstead

*Location

T98N RAW 6 SWSW T97N R8W 15 NWSW T98N R7W 3 1 SWSW T97N R8W 11 SENW T97N R8W 12 SWSE T98N R8W 36 SESE T97N R8W 3 NWSW T97N R8W 12 NWNW T97N R8W 12 NWNW T97N R8W 11 NESW T98N R8W 35 SENW T98N R8W 36 SESE T97N R8W 1 NENE T97N R8W 14 NWSE T97N R8W 14 NWSE T97N R7W 7 NESW T97N R7W 5 SWNW T97N R7W 6 SESW T97N R8W 12 NESE T97N R8W 12 NENE T97N R8W 11 SWNE T97N R8W 2 NESE T98N R8W 35 SWSE T97N R8W 2 NWNW T97N R8W 10 SWNE T97N R8W 2 NENW T97N R8W 1 NWSW T97N R8W 3 SWNE T98N R8W 36 SESE T97N R8W 10 NWSE T97N R8W 9 NENE T98N R8W 36 SESE T98N R8W 34 NESE

T97N R8W 11 NESE T97N R8W 10 NWSE T97N R8W 10 NWNE T97N R8W 10 NWNE T97N R8W 10 NWSE

T97N R8W 11 NESE T97N R8W 2 SENE

**Status

C C C C C C C N N N/C N/C N/C C C C. N C N N N/C N C C C N/C C C N/C C C N C N/C

C C C C C

N N

* The quarter section is listed first in the above locations. ** Status indicates N for National Register or C for Contributing.

SITE LIST FOR THE WASHINGTON PRAIRIE PROJECT Spring 1990

Originally the survey was to include a larger area defined by the

historical records of the Little Iowa Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran

Congregation to which Washington Prairie settlement belonged. Because

of the large area involved, the local advisory committee of Rev. Richard

Sansgaard, Rev. Donald Berg, Wayne Wangsness, and Steven Johnson reduced

the survey area to a core area immediately adjacent to the Church

grounds. The book, The Diary of Elisabeth Koren, which contains a

1850s sketched map of the vicinity, was used in establishing the

boundaries.

The project was divided into three separate components: the

historical interviews and research, field photography/darkroom, and

property evaluations. The committee felt that the background historical

investigation needed to be given first priority. Beginning in late fall

of 1989, Rev. Berg began compiling information of the seventy-three

properties. The intention was that his data would assist with

determining which sites would be selected for the field photography

work. The field photography commenced in February, 1990, and was

completed by the first of April, 1990. By mid-April, the principal

investigator, Steven Johnson began to evaluate the photographs and

research data to determine each site's eligibility. Due to unexpected

delays in compiling information from the historical materials and

interviews, the county requested an extension of two months to the new

closing date of July 31, 1990.

The personnel for the survey have already been mentioned in this

report. However, a number of volunteers should be mentioned in

this report. Duane Fenstermann, archivist for Luther College and

Winneshiek County Historical Society, provided consultant services and

7

Koren, Elisabeth, The Diary of Elisabeth Koren, 1853-1855. translated and edited by David T. Nelson, Northfield, MN.: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1955.

the necessary archival supplies. The project would not have been

successful without the cooperation of volunteers from Washington

Prairie: Amy Wangsness, Cheryl Wangsness, Earl Lyon, Arla Lyon, Robert

Sersland, Norma Hegg, Elaine Hegg, Jane Orvella, Jane Sivesind and Laura

Amdahl. A special thank you goes to Karlyn Cross of Decorah for her

assistance in organizing the files and materials for this project.

The two sets of state inventory forms, photographs, negatives,

contact sheets, photographic/catalog field sheets and maps will be

deposited respectively at the Bureau of Historic Preservation in Des

Moines and at the Winneshiek County Historical Society's archives

located on the Luther College campus, Decorah, Iowa. All documents,

correspondence and field notes collected in the course of the survey

will be deposited at the county's archives.

Objectives

The Washington Prairie district, with the Washington Prairie

Lutheran Church as its hub, was selected as a subject for this survey

because it was the first settlement of Norwegian-Americans in Winneshiek

County, served as a "mother" community for other Norwegian-American

settlements, and has remained a cohesive ethnic community for over

one-hundred-forty years. This survey would bring to light many

buildings that may qualify for individual National Register nomination,

and survey research would indicate if the area warrants multiple

resource nomination or rural historic district nomination status.

This survey is the first step in a historic preservation plan with

the selection and inventory of potential properties which either are key

or contributing sites. A second grant request would deal with either a

multiple resource or district nomination of the area. This survey has

assisted with the locating of these significant properties and will

serve as the basis for further in-depth research for the area. Eighteen

sites out of the seventy-nine properties are classified significant

either on historical or architectural grounds and should have further

i nvest i gat i on.

The Winneshiek County Historical Society would like to see further

survey work on the area and as an end product some type of a National

Register nomination. The time period between the existing project and a

proposed new project could be used to gather new data and to hold area

meetings to inform the public as to the status of the Washington Prairie

project.

Descri pt i on

The area surveyed for this project included seventeen sections of

land located near the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church. The original

intent of the project was to survey all the area within the geographical

boundaries set by the minutes of the Little Iowa Norwegian Evangelical

Lutheran Congregation for the Washington Prairie settlement. After

brief research of the area, over three-hundred potential properties were

found within this region. A new basis for the geographical area was

needed for the survey. The decision from the advisory committee was

given to use the church as a hub and survey the land mentioned in the

book, The Diary of Elisabeth Koren, written by the pastor's wife during

their early years at the settlement. A map from the book drawn by

Elisabeth was the basis for the area covered in this project.

Andreas Historical Atlas of

Iowa, 1875.

Methodology

The Washington Prairie Historic Site Survey consisted of three

components: a historian was used to collect primary information from

property owners in the community and to research published sources as to

the history of the specific properties; the principal investigator

coordinated all the related activities of the project and served as the

evaluator for the sites' criteria, significance and eligibility, and a

photographer/darkroom technician conducted the field photography,

darkroom work and copied any historical photographs uncovered in this

peri od.

The survey involved the recording of historic sites, which were

identifed by historical research and a local historical committee. Two

sets of negatives and photographs were taken of each identified

property. Two sets of maps and Iowa Site Inventory Forms were also

prepared. The recipient of these sets were the Iowa Bureau of Historic

Preservation and the Winneshiek County Historical Society's archives

located on the Luther College campus. The field workers gathered

information that was available about the sites from interviews with

owners and "local historians," and background research of published

histories about the Norwegian-American immigrant settlement of the

area. The inventory forms, maps, and photographs were organized in acid

free folders by the sites' common and/or current landowner name.

A well received part of the survey was a series of public meetings

held either at Decorah or at the parish hall of the Washington Prairie

Lutheran Church. The first meeting in June, 1989, focused on the

settlement as the topic for the ILHMA Northeast Iowa Regional

Conference. The local public was encouraged to attend the meeting, and

Plat Book of Winneshiek County, Iowa. Minneapolis: Warner & Foote, 1886.

about ninety individuals participated in the event. The highlight of

the conference was a bus tour of the Washington Prairie settlement.

Questionaires were sent to one-hundred local farmers concerning the

upcoming survey, asking that they assist with the process of determining

appropriate properties to be included in this project. The return

response from this mailing was positive and the subsequent public

meeting, held at the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church in the fall of

1989, was well attended.

The collection of data for the survey involved a five step process:

1) identification of sites; 2) location of the sites on an appropriate

map; 3) investigation of background historical data; 4) actual

photography/field work of the sites; and 5) evaluation of the properties.

The survey based its selection of sites on their architectural and

historical merits. The area was given an initial visual sweep to

ascertain how many structures were of either National Register or at

least contributing status. Norwegian-American and county histories were

reviewed and interviews were conducted to give as complete of a

historical perspective as possible. Reverend Donald Berg acted as the

historian and liaison contact with the members of the local community.

Once the sites were identified, the systematic photography was

undertaken by a professional photographer. Because of the variation in

quality and format of the pictures that would occur if numerous

volunteers were allowed to photograph individual sites, it was decided

to have only an experienced photographer do all the photograpic work.

Charles Langton was selected to photograph all the sites and to develop

the photographs and negatives to archival standards.

Standard Atlas of Winneshiek County, Iowa. Davenport, IA: Anderson and Goodwin, 1905.

The sites were photographed in duplicate on all four sides when

possible. The film used was 35mm black and white with an ASA speed of

125. The roll number, frame number, date, site name, address, and view

were logged on special forms provided by the Bureau of Historic

Preservation. Each roll of the film was consecutively numbered

beginning with number one. One 5" x 7" black and white enlargement of

the most revelatory elevation of the structure was put in the site

inventory file. The negatives were placed in archival negative

envelopes and retained in a separate file used strictly for negatives.

Contact prints of the negatives were also made placed in separate files.

Once the sites were photographed, Wayne Wangsness, along with

the historical committee, assisted with the location of the sites on a

plat of the immediate area. Legal descriptions, owners, and addresses

were obtained from a current county platbook. Composite maps from the

1886 and 1905 county atlases were used to locate certain sites and are

included in this report.

The final step in the data collection process was to research the

sites' historical and architectural significance and record this

information on the Iowa Inventory Forms. A copy of this form can be

found in Appendix B. The amount of research on each site varies

according to the information found through the conducted interviews and

other secondary sources. Information on the public properties were

found in local and county histories.

Once the data was collected, it was necessary to organize it in a

manner that would allow its retrieval in an efficient and effective

system. An acid-free file was used for each site. Each site file

contains a Iowa Inventory Form completed to the extent time allowed, one

Winneshiek County, Iowa, 1985

U. S. Geological Survey Map

1: 100,000 scale

5" x 7" black and white photograph of the sites' most revelatory

elevation, a map locating the site, and anu relevant information found

by researchers. These files were organized by the common or property

owner's last name assigned to the sites.

The negatives, contact sheets, and photographic/catalog field

sheets of the sites taken were kept in separate files. These files were

organized and labeled numerically by film roll number. The inventory

forms were cross-referenced to the photographs of these sites.

Each existing site was evaluated to classify it in one of the

following categories: a) individually eligible for listing on the

National Register of Historic Places; b) a contributing property within

the proposed district; c) a property of some historic interest, but

either (i) of insufficient importance or integrity to meet National

Register criteria or <ii) a detracting or nonconforming element within a

historic district; d) insufficient information to make a

classification. This classification was done by Steven Johnson, the

principal investigator hired by the Winneshiek County Board of

Supervisors. He is on the Iowa list of acceptable historic site

surveyors who have sufficient background to make this determination.

He, in turn, consulted with the Washington Prairie Historical Committee

which acted as the liaision contact with members from the community.

History and Results of the Washington Prairie Survey

The settlement of Washington Prairie, beginning in 1850, is

significant in the Norwegian-American immigrant history. This

settlement is the oldest existing and has the highest concentration of

Norwegian-Americans in the State of Iowa. Its historical significance

can be seen by the ethnic context of the community. The majority of the

present farms are owned by third, fourth, and fifth generations of these

immigrants who settled this frontier beginning in the summer of 1850.

Religion played a significant role in the history of this settlement.

Reverend Ulvik Vilhelm Koren, a key individual in the development of

this area, was pastor of the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church for

fifty-seven years, commencing in 1853. Later, the church played an

important role in land conservation practices carried out members of the

congregation in the late 1930s. The agricultural make-up of this

community has remained intact since its early days. While the early

farm economy was wheat production, by the 1880s the farm practices had

turned to dairy. This, in part, explains the rise and expansion of the

three creameries in the settlement.

Winneshiek County's Washington Prairie settlement is situated

seventeen miles south of the Minnesota border and a distance of thirty

miles west of the Mississippi river. The county platbook gives its

legal description as Range Eight and Township Ninety-seven. The area is

picturesque, with a diversified landscape of prairie, timber, hills and

valleys. The various branches of Trout Creek are nearly all within its

limits, making the surface uneven, yet the greatest part consists of a

rich and tillable soil. On account of its many springs and streams of

clear water, it is well adapted for raising stock as well as general

farming.

Prior to the advent of white settlers, the Native Americans were

said to have a trail through the area. It has been said that the

southern portion of the Centennial Road orignally was such a trail. A

tree located near the public road at the the Jake Ludeking farm was a

sign marker for the trail. The trail travelled northwesterly through

the John Hegg farm, where a bent oak served as a marker.

With the settlement of Washington Prairie, the natural landscape

was altered by the introduction of roads, fence lines, farm yards and

buildings. The first settlers to the area initially believed that the

public land would not be all used. They thought that this public land

could be used as common ground for pasturing livestock. The large

strips of prairie without wood and water were to serve this purpose. As

the land was surveyed and sold to the immigrants, a road system was

developed, necessary for transportation. Land was reserved for

schoo1 houses, churches, and cemeteries. About three miles to the

southwest of the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church, the village of

Nordness was established in the late 1860s. The village grew and

developed with the coming of the railroad in 1872. When the railroad

left Nordness in the late 1960s, the community had a rapid economic

decline.

The old and present day maps of the road network in the Washington

Prairie area shows that there have been no changes since at least 1875.

This indicates that there have been "no" later transportation route

changes to have compromised the historic authenticity of the area. The

railroad line, which passes through the village of Nordness, doesn't

20

Plat Book of Winneshiek County, Iowa, 1886

Standard Atlas of Winneshiek County, 1905

show up in county atlases until 1886 when it was referred to as the

Chicago and Rock Island Line. By 1905, the railroad had changed

ownership to the Burlington and Cedar Rapids Line. According to local

records the railroad line was built in 1872.

The 1886 plat of the area shows a blacksmith shop located in

Section 11 of Springfield Township. This building was built originally

as the Branhagen Schoolhouse in 1862. In 1871, a new larger stone

school, Red Oak, was constructed about one-half mile to the east. It

appears that by 1886 the old school was converted into a blacksmith shop.

The first creamery to be established in the area was built as an

addition to the Knud Gudbrandsen Opdahl farm house, which is a brick

building of substantial size. This creamery is clearly indicated in the

1886 Plat Book/Atlas of Winneshiek County, located in the extreme

northeast corner of the NW quarter of Section 14, Township 97

(Springfield Township), Range 8 West.

The next creamery was established east of the Red Oak School and

was called the Red Oak Creamery. This is not evident on the 1886

Plat/Atlas, but is seen in the 1905 Plat/Atlas on the extreme southwest

corner of the northwest quarter of Section 12, Township 97, Range 8 West.

Whereas, the first Opdahl creamery was located close to a stream of

water in Trout Run, the Red Oak Creamery did not have such access to

water. Very probably it required a dug well and/or windmill. Its

higher elevation would permit the latter.

According to Joseph Jordahl, a local resident, both Opdahl and Red

Oak Creameries ran until the third creamery in the area was started.

This opinion is incorrect, for the 1886 Plat/Atlas does not show a

creamery in Nordness, while the 1905 one does.

22

All three of these creameries produced butter. The buttermilk

was sent back to the farmers who fed it to their hogs.

There were several cream routes. One was run by Ole Strand which

went past Ernest Johnson, the Gjevre farm, and follwed the creek back to

Nordness. Peter Spilde had another run, as did William and Albert

Linnevold, and perhaps two or three others. On average there were 10-15

cows or, at most, 20 cows per farm.

The first public schoolhouse in Winneshiek County was built in

1852, where Decorah, Glenwood, Springfield and Frankville Townships

meet. The Pioneer Cemetery, begun in 1850, was nearby. The log school

building was located just east of the cemetery. The building was

entirely in Section 31 of Glenwood Township.

The school was oriented north and south, with the door on the south

and one window on each side. The school proved to be too small and not

located well for the people being served. Therefore it was vacated, and

the districts were redrawn. During the time that the issue of building

a new school was being debated, on a Good Friday evening, 18 , the

first school house burned to the ground. This led to the building of

the second school, Branhagen, in 1862. (Based on the date of the

building of the second school, it is fair to assume that the fire was o

Good Friday of either 1861 or 1862, more likely 1862.) The first school

had dimensions of 14' by 16', the same dimensions as the Egge log cabin,

also the standard size for a homesteading cabin. The present North

Washington Prairie cemetery is located, in part, on the site of the

first schoolhouse.

A new schoolhouse was then built of stone across the road from the

Branhagen farmstead, on a 20-acre field that Branhagen owned. It was 16

23

feet wide and 20 feet long; the walls were two feet thick. The

schoolhouse was furnished with home-made desks.

The structure was erected in 1862 and was named the Branhagen

School. In those days it was customary to name the school after the

nearest resident. Some of the first teachers were Mr. Hawkins and

Abraham Jacobson; one of the first directors was Andrew Lomen; some of

the later pupils that attended school there were Gilbert and Erick

Soland, Ole Running, C. J. Torgrimson, Torger Sigrid, Nels, Martha,

Andrew and Knute Hove, Edwin, Elizabeth and Martha Lomen, and Edgar

Anderson. By the end of the 1860s this school was also outgrown.

Another new schoolhouse was then built of stone in 1871 on a piece

of land bought from Torgrimson for $30. It was built by Paul Warner,

who hired Andrew Branhagen as his assistant. Later this schoolhouse was

named Red Oak School, deriving its name, like the Red Oak Creamery

across the road, from the many oak trees that grew around it. This

school was about 20' by 30' in size. The first benches were home-made

and the first heatment was by a box stove located towards the back of

the room. The stovepipe ran the whole length of the room, as the

chimney was located in the front part. This heating system was very

unsatisfactory. Those near the stove were too warm and those farther

off would freeze in cold weather.

Around 1900, the oak trees were cut down and evergreens were

planted on the west and north sides. Later a cellar was excavated and a

furnace installed, and L. Wangsness built a new chimney on the north

side. The woodshed, located on the north side, was moved west of the

schoohouse. This improved the school grounds, and playground equipment

was added. A large entry was built by Sig Hanson in 1923, and a furn-

ace was installed there also.

The history of parochial schools at Washington Prairie began on

March 16, 1854. Pastor U. V. Koren presented "Proposals for Laws" for

the Little Iowa Congregation. Par. 21 states, "School affairs will be

conducted by the school council, consisting of the congregational

council and trustees. The school council will decide the school term,

districts, courses of learning, hire teachers, set their salaries, see

that they carry out their duties, and dismiss them if they are

unsatisfactory." Par. 22 reads, "Each confirmed member must contribute

either freely or by assessment to the school treasury, which will be

administered by the congregational treasury." (Minutes of Little Iowa

Congregation, translated by Charlotte Jacobson, hereafter referred to as

Minutes; p. 9 ) .

A school house was built on the northwest corner of the church

property, north of the cemetery, near the road. This church school

house was used primarily for confirmation instruction and as one of the

congregation's parochial schools. We read in the minutes of a meeting

on February 25, 1891 (Minutes, p. 126), "The congregation want to have

Lenten services at the church and not at the school house." When a

Sunday School was started (for which no date can be determined), some of

the classes met at the school house. It was used for worship at times

when repairs were being made on the church, such as in 1904.

The church school building was sold and moved from its site north

of the cemetery in the fall of 1950. It was a tall building 30' by 30',

with a 10' ceiling. The church school house had three big windows on

each side. Entrance was on the west end. A separate entrance, 6' by

6', with a window to the west and door to the south, was removed prior

25

to a later move of the building. The heating stove was probably in the

middle of the one large room. A hole for the chimney was on the peak at

the east end of the school house. The building had a second floor for

which the opening was in the middle of the room; but it had no stairway,

so it had to be reached via a ladder. There was a lid to be pushed up.

The ceiling was wainscoted. The walls were solid pine, probably painted

on the inside. Square nails were used in the construction of the

building. There were no interior divisions, just one large room.

The Rovang Parochial School was built in the southwest corner of SW

SW, Section 15, Springfield Township. The date of its construction is

believed to be 1879. According to materials used for the training of

museum guides at Vesterheim, the Rovang School was built by the

Washington Prairie congregation "almost as soon as Pastor U. V. Koren

got the type of teacher he wanted." It was built not for the 3 R's, but

for the "4th R", religion.

In 1885, Pastors Sagen and Koren were delegated by the congregation

to investigate the possibility of calling a permanent teacher (Minutes,

p. 113). Johan Hagen, who had been in the United States previously and

had taught at Spring Grove for some years but had then returned to

Norway to teach there, was called as the permanent teacher. He came in

1888 and taught until July 1918.

The Rovang School had a stove for heating the building at the back,

near the one door. There were three windows on each side. The stove

pipe extended the length of the room, thus providing more heat. The

chimney was at the teaching end of the room. A "blackboard" was

literally that, consisting of two boards painted black behind the

teacher's desk. A kerosene lamp with reflector could provide some

26

illumination.

The school terms were arranged by the school committee. The

"common school" or public school or English school had an eight-month

term. But planting and harvesting times were not good for school

attendance, especially for the boys. The parochial school was held for

two weeks in the fall and two weeks again in the spring. At these times

the public school was dismissed. This time-off was written into the

public school teacher's contract. The parochial school terms were held

successively in the various locations of the parish.

The Pioneer Cemetery was the first cemetery organized in the

Washington Prairie settlement in August of 1850. Further information

about this site is included later in this report. The cemetery was used

by the immigrants until the establishment of a cemetery at the Lutheran

church. The first Washington Prairie Lutheran Church was built in 1855,

and was similar in design to the later Methodist church across the

road. The site for the church cemetery appears to have been developed

shortly after the construction of this frame church.

The only family cemetery plot found in this survey was on the

Opdahl family farm located in Section 14 of Springfield Township. The

two graves are of a young boy and girl who died in 1853 from some

epidemic at the time. The Opdahl family were by faith Methodists and

there was no established Methodist cemetery in the area. The Washington

Prairie Methodist Cemetery was established at approximately the same

time as the construction of the church (1863-68).

The North Washington Prairie Lutheran Church Cemetery was begun in

the early 1890s adjacent to the Pioneer Cemetery. The North Washington

Prairie Lutheran Church was built in 1891 and was a small frame church

27

with a centrally located steeple on its south elevation. Additional

information on this cemetery is contained later in this report.

The Pioneer Cemetery is located in SW SE 36-98-8, Decorah Township,

Winneshiek County, Iowa.

Mrs. Amelia Johnson Bakken, in the third of a series of articles,

"From Olden Days", published in Decorah Posten (December 16, 1938, p. 6,

cc. 4-5), tells about "The First Norwegian Funeral at Washington

Prairie." Translation by Donald L. Berg:

"Out in the summer of 1850, Tollef Simonsen AA came with his young

wife from Koshkonong, Wis., to Winneshiek County, and settled on the

land which lies right up to North Washington (Prairie's) old cemetery on

the southwest. Tollef's wife had poor health, and the long trip from

Wisconsin here with oxen was too much for her, and she lived just two

weeks after their arrival here.

This was a hard blow for him who thought so very much of her, said

my mother who was his sister. Tollef had a brother, Aslak Simonsen AA,

who had come two years before. His land lay right up to Tollef's and is

now (1938) know as the Nels E. Ramsey farm.

Aslak offered now to give a piece of his land for a cemetery - but

then there was now the next big question: Where should they get boards

from to make a casket for her? Tollef then went over to another settler

by name of Nels Johnson and told his need to him. And Nels knew the

way: 'We shall take down some boards from my home!' he said. So it was

done, and Kristine AA got a casket. This was the first body which was

placed in the earth here. It was in August 1850."

Some families had burial plots on their own farms, while others

used what became the Pioneer Cemetery, prior to the arrival of Pastor U.

28

V. Koren in late 1853. Burials were held quite soon after death,

without embalming, and the graves were consecrated at a later date when

a pastor could be present. Therefore records of deaths and burials in

the earliest days are imprecise. Often the graves were marked with only

wooden boards which quickly deteriorated. Cemetery maps were unknown,

and the records of burials were not kept except in family Bibles, church

records, and the memories of usually the. older people.

Abraham Jacobson was a prime mover in the efforts to have the

Pioneer Monument erected. The structure, weighing over 4000 pounds of

granite, was built on a foundation of 40 loads of rock, at an overall

cost of $350. Only 31 names with dates of life and death are inscribed

on the monument, but over 60 people were assumed to have been buried in

the cemetery. The monument was dedicated August 25, 1887, with ca. 800

people in attendance. An account of the day's events is found Decorah

Posten, August 30, 1887. The account was translated by Hilman Sersland,

including the dedicatory address by Pastor U. V. Koren.

Only a few years after the Pioneer Cemetery was dedicated, the

North Washington Prairie congregation was begun as a result of the

Election Controversy. This congregation built its church building a

short distance from the Pioneer Cemetery and established its cemetery

adjacent to the Pioneer Cemetery. The demarcation between the two

cemeteries is no longer clear. There is no fence or other barrier

separating the two. The farm fence lines are evident both to the north

and across the road to the south of the cemeteries. Whether the Pioneer

Cemetery existed entirely within Decorah Township 36-98-8 or "spilled

over" into Glenwood Township Section 31 is not certain. With 60 burials

in the Pioneer Cemetery, according to estimates, and how many more

29

unknown, the question arises whether there was sufficient room for this

number.

What is needed is a thorough survey of the death records of

Washington Priarie Lutheran Church and the cemetery records, as well as

of neighboring congregations, such as Springfield Lutheran, and even

Washington Prairie Methodist Church, and other congregations that once

formed the Little Iowa congregation.

The 1905 Plat/Atlas of Winneshiek County does show the two

cemeteries in separate townships. Perhaps a surveyor's work is

necessary today to reconcile the descriptions of the lands set aside for

the respective cemeteries.

The post office, at Woodside, and quarry, located in Section 17,

were outside the area surveyed in this report. This area will be

surveyed in the next phase of the project. The Lomen Washington Prairie

Poultry and Fruit Farm will be covered later in this report under the

name Ole O. Lomen.

The village of Nordness was located in Section 10, Springfield

Township. The village is believed to have been started in the early

1880s. Alexander's History of Winneshiek County (1882) doesn't mention

the village but by the 1886 Plat/Atlas the village is shown with lots of

street names. Five sites were surveyed in this village: schoolhouse,

blacksmith shop, Johnson General Store, telephone exchange, and

creamery. The village once contained a second general store, depot,

grain elevator, and stockyard. The two plats of Nordness included in

this study are from the 1886 Plat Book and the 1905 Standard Atlas.

The first owner of the general store was Peter Johnson who may have

operated it beginning about 1880. It is believed that the store was

30

built shortly after the railroad arrival about 1872. The list of owners

from earliest to last are: Peter Johnson, Ole Rustan, Chalres Nelson,

Thomas Haugen, Ben Rovang, --- Finholt, George Olson. There had been a

second store for a short time ca. 1890s at Nordness. The creamery

purchased it and used the first floor for storage and the second floor

for the buttermaker's quarters. In the 1920s a portion of it served as

the telephone exchange. The store closed in the early 1960s.

The first telephone cooperative was begun around 1910. The area of

service included a number of farmers, including G. A. Hegg, Soland,

Torgrim, Clement, and Jacobson. Beginning in 1938 until its closing

about 1960, the Nordness Telephone Company was located on Lot 11, Block

1, in the village of Nordness.

The locally quarried stone creamery was located across the creek

behind the Rock Island Depot. The building was built in 1892 as a farm

cooperative. Some of the early managers included Will Linnevold and

John Gragastad. The buttermakers were from earliest to last: Victor

Johnson, Jim Block, George Reyerson, Clarence Kolsrud, Mayard Estem,

LLoyd Monroe, and Thomas Monroe. The butter was shipped east to Chicago

(the firm of Hanson & Matteson). There once existed a frame ice house

located to the west of the existing structure. The ice for the creamery

came from the Upper Iowa River near the Tavener Bridge located in west

Decorah. The ice was cut and hauled by bobsled to the Rock Island Depot

in Decorah and transferred to the Nordness Depot, where horse teams

would haul it to the ice house. It was then packed in saw dust until

needed.

In 1911, the creamery had a fire which damaged the building. It

was rebuilt and enlarged in that year. In the 1940s the creamery

31

changed from buying cream to buying milk. This encouraged business

because the farmers did not have to separate the cream from the milk.

The creamery closed in the early 1960s.

The stone school at Nordness was built in the 1890s about the same

time as the creamery. The school entrance is to the east. It had a

wood stove until 1903 when a furnace was added to the building. The

school served to teach all eight grades with children coming from the

surrounding area. The school was also used for voting and village

meetings. In recent years the building has been vacant with the

re-organization of the school system in 1962. After its closing it was

briefly used as a home but a fire destroyed a portion of the frame

entrance.

The blacksmith shop building has a core unit which is constructed

of logs, likely dating back to the 1860s. The first owner of the

building was Ole Quell. He was a blacksmith at Nordness for many years

before moving to Cresco. Ole Quell did both horse shoeing and welding

on the site. The older residents of Nordness believe the log house was

converted by Ole into a blacksmith shop downstairs and living quarters

upstairs. The house was bought by Ole Strand after Quell left, and it

was used for storage. Ole's son, Arnold, purchased the building in the

late 1930s and fixed it up as a living quarters on both floors. The

recent owners have made some rennovations to the house.

To understand the significance of the Washington Prairie

settlement, some background history of the Norwegian-American

immigration to the United States is necessary. To give a more

contextual approach to this community and its development, the following

historical narrative is included in this section of the report. The

32

earlier settlements found in America set the stage for the emergence of

this district in Winneshiek County, Iowa. The author has taken the

liberty to edit materials from the following sources:

Flom, George T. , A_History of_Norwegian_Immigration to The

United States. Iowa City, Ia.: Private Print., 1909.

Haugen, Einar., The Norwegians in America. New York: Teachers

College Press, 1967.

Norlie, Olaf Morgan, History of the Norwegian People in

America. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1925.

Qualey, Carlton C., Norwegian Settlement in the United States.

Northfield, MN. : Norwegian-American Historical

Association, 1938.

Swansen, H. Fred, "The Norse In Iowa To 1870," manuscript

dissertation, Iowa City, Department of History, 1936.

The Norwegian immigration to the United States in the nineteenth

century began in 1825, when a forty-five ton sloop from Stavanger

brought fifty-three passengers who landed in New York. This vanguard

settled in Kendall, Orleans County, New York, where they remained until

most of them later on moved out west and settled in Illinois. The

arrival of Norwegians to America attained little significance

numerically until 1836 with their settlement in Illinois. From then on

the number of immigrants, while fluctuating, steadily increased. In

1840, there were only ten immigrants found in Iowa; by 1850 the number

had risen to 361, by 1860 to 5,688, and by 1870 to 17,556.

There were five principal factors attracting the Norwegians to

Iowa: the lure of large, fertile tracts of land at a cheap price;

33

Haugen, Einar, The Norwegians in America. New York: Teachers College Press, 1967.

letters written from Iowa immigrants to relatives and friends in Norway;

similar letters to relatives living in other parts of the United States;

favorable articles appearing in the Norwegian-American press; and

finally, the contagious enthusiasm of Iowans traveling through the

earlier immigrant settlements.

In Iowa, there are considered four areas of Norwegian

settlement. The earliest settlement was in the Sugar Creek district

of Lee County in 1839. This settlement never became an important

center, in part due the its location, which was far removed from the

main current of the immigrant stream.

The Norwegians settled at St. Ansgar, Mitchell County in the summer

of 1853. It is noteworthy that the pioneer clergyman and pathfinder, C.

L. Clausen, was the sponsor and pioneer director of this enterprise.

From St. Ansgar the settlements spread to the west as far as Emmet

County and also to the north and south into adjoining regions. Worth

and Winnegabo counties of this area became the destination of hundreds

of immigrants.

The immigrants came to Story County in 1855. These immigrants,

from Kendall County, Illinois, were organized as a Lutheran congregation

before leaving for Iowa. From a modest site about a mile east of the

present town of Huxley, Norwegian communities sprang up in Hamilton and

Humboldt counties.

Northeast Iowa is by far the largest and mosted long-lived

Norwegian settlement in the state. Clayton County was first settled in

1846. By the 1850s, large and numerous settlements occurred in the four

counties, particularly Winneshiek County. Here, Luther College and the

Decorah Poster;, prominent institutions in the cultural development of

35

Bergmann, Leola N., "The Norwegians in Iowa," Palimpsest, Vol. XL, No. 8, Iowa City, Ia.: The State Historical Society, August, 1959.

the group, were established. The first settlers, who came from Rock and

Dane counties, Wisconsin, usually entered Iowa at McGregor's Landing, a

town directly opposite the mouth of the Wisconsin River. From this

point they proceeded as far as possible in the general northwesterly

direction over the so-called Military Trail, which terminated at Fort

Atkinson in Winneshiek County.

The first Norwegians to arrive in Winneshiek County were Ole

Halvorson Valle and Ole Tollefson Kittelsland, who came from Wisconsin

on skis to Fort Atkinson, Iowa, early in 1843. Fort Atkinson waB

erected in 1840 on the Winnebago Reservation, which until the summer of

1848 included almost the entire countryside around it. Valle and

Tollefson got employment alternately at Ft. Atkinson and the nearby

Indian agency and Indian school, where more than two hundred soldiers,

supervisors, teachers, and workers kept busy working with 2,500 Native

Americans. Ole Valle previously had worked as an agricultural teacher

for the Native Americans at Fort Atkinson. Part of his responsibility

included breaking up pieces of bottom land on the Upper Iowa river. One

of the largest fields thus prepared for the Native Americans to plant

their corn was situated just below the outlet of Trout Creek, located

near the present Washington Prairie area. One record can be found that

indicates that Peter Olson enlisted as a regular soldier in Captain

Morgan's Mounted Dragoons at the fort in July 1847, and stayed in the

company until September, 1848.

Ole Valle left Fort Atkinson to farm in Read Township, Clayton

County, in 1846. His reports to friends in the Koshkonong and Rock

Prairie settlements in Wisconsin brought others in 1848. The Clayton

County settlement frequently was known as the "Turkey River" settlement,

37

taking the name of a creek flowing through the county. At the same

time, a large number of Germans were taking land in Clayton County and

it was not long before good lands were gone and made further Norwegian

settlement impossible. Census figures show that by 1850, only two

Norwegian families remained in Clayton County.

In 1849, the Paint Creek area in Allamakee County was settled as

the result of explorations by scouts from Rock Prairie, Wisconsin, who

were searching for desirable lands in Iowa. Four advance agents - Ole

Larson, Ole O. Storla, Svend Hesla, and Nils T. Roe - crossed the

Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien and followed a trail along Paint

Creek until they found a site that proved satisfactory in what became

Paint Creek Township. They then returned to Wisconsin and in the

following spring a party of eight settlers set forth from Rock Prairie

and arrived on May 29, 1850. A sufficient number more arrived the same

year to swell the census of 1850 to 106 Norwegians, including

twenty-three families. The Paint Creek settlement began not far west of

Lansing, stretching westward from that point for about fifteen miles.

It had convenient access to the markets at McGregor and Prairie du

Chien. The Norwegian element in Allamakee County grew in number to

1,187 in 1860 and 2,785 in 1870, concentrated in the townships of Paint

Creek, Taylor, Center, Jefferson, Waterloo, Hanover, and Makee.

The county of Northeastern Iowa that was destined to contain the

largest number of Norwegian settlers was Winneshiek. A group of twelve

families settled the Washington Prairie area in the summer of 1850.

These and others who arrived before the census was taken in 1850

numbered 99, including 22 heads of families. A letter from a Glenwood

Township settler, Nils Toven, to his father in West Toten district in

38

Norway, caused a prospective emigrant group there to go to Iowa instead

of Texas. A large group left Olso in April, 1853, traveling via Quebec,

Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Racine, Blue Mounds, Prairie du

Chien, and McGregor, to Glenwood Township, where they arrived on July 4,

1853. Thus direct immigration to Iowa from Norway began at an early

date, and the completion of the railroad later in the 1850s influenced

its continuation. "Emigranten" for July 1, 1853, reported the rapid

growth of the town of Decorah, which was to be a center for Norwegian

cultural and religious life. By 1856 there were 1,451 Norwegians in the

county, according to the state census of that year. This number had

grown to 4,207 by 1860, and to 8,302 in 1870, with the largest

concentration in the townships of Pleasant, Springfield, Glenwood,

Hesper, Highland, Lincoln, Madison, Military, Calmar, Decorah, and

Frankville.

The earliest Norwegian settlement in Winneshiek county was formed

at Washington Prairie in June, 1850, when a number of families moved

in from Racine and Dane Counties, Wisconsin. Those who came in the

latter part of June, 1850, and settled in the area were: Eric Anderson

(Rudi), the brothers Ole and Staale T. Tostenson (Haugen) from

Flekkefjord, Ole Gullikson (Jevne), Ole A. and Andrew O. Lomen, Knut

Anderson (Bakken), Anders Hauge, John Johnson (Quale), and Halvor

Halvorson (Groven), all from Valders,Norway, and Mikkel Omli from

Telemarken, Norway. Another party from Wisconsin headed by Nels

Johnson, arrived in the county on July 2, 1850, and these selected

claims in what is now Springfield, Glenwood, and Decorah townships. The

party included Tollef Simonsin (Aae), Knud G. Opdahl, Jacob Abrahamson,

Iver Peterson (Qvale), Gjermund Johnson (Kaasa), and John Thun.

The history of the Washington Prairie settlement focuses upon

their first pastor, Reverend Ulrik Vilhelm Koren. In 1852, the

congregation issued a call to a committee of the Church of Norway for a

minister. In December of 1853, the Korens arrived at the Washington

Prairie settlement where he served as a pastor for fifty-seven years.

During his ministry he planned the construction of the two churches and

both parsonages. It is of some interest that the Chicago architect who

drew plans for the second Washington Prairie Lutheran Church also was

responsible for the plans for the Glenwood Church, Stavanger Church, and

the old Luther College Main. This may have occurred due to Reverend

Koren's close contact with the area churches and the fact that Koren was

one of three founders of Luther College.

During the early years of his pastorate, Koren ministered to

Norwegian Lutherans throughout northeastern Iowa and in the adjacent

counties in Minnesota. It has been said that he assisted with the

creation of over fifty local Lutheran churches in this area. By 1883,

his ministering was reduced to Washington Prairie and two neighboring

communities. In the meantime, he had assumed the leadership of the

Norwegian Lutherans in America. Because of this larger influence of its

pastor, Washington Prairie Lutheran Church became closely identified

with the early history of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church. It

has been considered the "mother" church of this denomination.

It was under Pastor Koren's leadership that the small denomination

decided to build a college in nearby Decorah. The decision to proceed

with the plans for the college was made in Washington Prairie Church at

the first synod meeting to held west of the Mississippi, in October

1857. Through the efforts of Reverend Koren and others, $150,000 was

I. «

raised to locate the college in Decorah.

In 1888, Ulvik Koren was joined in the parish work by his son,

Paul, a graduate of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. Paul's arrival may

have contributed to the split of the church. During the late 1880s

there was a theological conflict over the predestination issue. Abraham

Jacobson and others from the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church broke

off their contact and began a new North Washington Prairie Church in

1890. Abraham did not agree with the Korens, who favored

predistination. Ulvik Koren died in 1910 and his son carried on the

ministry until 1941. The consecutive pastorates spanned eighty-eight

years and this may explain the firm implanting and growth of the

Washington Prairie tradition.

Another minister at the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church who

played a significant role in the areas history was Pastor Oscar

Engebretson. The committee charged with selecting a pastor learned of a

young minister who wanted to devote his life to rural church work. This

circumstance led to the acceptance of their call by Oscar E.

Engebretson, who came equipped with eleven years' experience and a

devotion to country church work. The Evangelical Lutheran Church had

come to look to him for leadership in Christian education and in rural

work. He served as a member of the denomination's rapidly developing

board of education since 1944. He played an active role on the

Evangelical Lutheran Rural Life Commission. As a preacher, his style

and accent were reminiscent of Peter Marshall's. One of the amazing

things about Pastor Engebretson was his complete identification with the

farmers he served. While at the church, he and his sons farmed the 67

acre plot of land which was part of the parsonage. Pastor Engebretson

preached to the area farmers his belief that conservation of the soil is

a moral issue, a matter of Christian stewardship. His interest in

raising the level of farm life made him an advocate of special rural

leadership training in liberal arts colleges. He felt that the number

of farm youth who attend agricultural colleges would always be small.

It was his belief that liberal arts colleges, particularly the

denominationally supported schools, should provide a shorter course of

study for farm youth, designed to contribute to the enrichment of life

in rural communities.

Pastor Engebretson was liberal in his social and economic views.

He was ultraconservative theologically. In a smaller man, these

apparent contradictions could lead to confusion and distraction. In

Oscar Engebretson they blend and balance. The congregation followed him

in his conservative theology and his liberal practices. The following

quote from Rev. Engebretson reflects his belief in good conservation

practices: "Church people must neccessarily look upon the land as a

gift of God put in our trust, to be used wisely. Impoverished land

makes for impoverished farm people, with all the attendant ills."

Another significant religious individual connected to a historic

site at Washington Prairie is Pastor Ole Peter Petersen. The Washington

Prairie Methodist Church, which is listed on the National Register, is

considered the mother church of Methodism in Norway. The founder of the

congregation, Ole Peter Petersen, returned to Norway in 1853 and founded

the first Methodist congregation in that country. The members of the

immigrant congregation contined to meet in homes for another ten years

and then constructed, with their own hands and from the surface

limestone in the area, the church which is now preserved by the

Norwegian-American Museum. Ole Petersen later returned to the United

States and continued to have periodic affiliation with the historic

congregation in Iowa. From the same congregation came also Asle

Knudsen, one of the great Methodist preachers of the pioneer period.

The esteem in which the Methodists of Scandinavia hold the pioneer

church at Washington Prairie was exemplified by the fact that the Bishop

of the North European Methodist Conference journeyed from Stockholm to

participate in the rededication of the building in 1972, when it was

placed under the auspices of the Norwegian-American Museum.

The architectural significance of the church lies largely in its

exceptionally original condition. Having been used only quarterly from

1888 to about 1920, when the church was officially closed, it never

underwent the modernization which has occurred in most early religious

structures. Most of the major loose inventar--organ, lamps, altar

table, chalice, etc.--had been stored in the boiler room of a church in

the city of Decorah. All was made available to the Museum when it

brought the Church back to its original state in the early 1970s.

Some historical background should be given to Ole Peter Petersen

and his ministry. Much of the following history comes from Arlow

Andersen's book, The Salt of the Earth. Petersen and his wife arrived

in America in June of 1850, and later that year he became an assistant

at the Bethel Ship. In the fall of 1851, he was transferred to the Iowa

Conference. On November 10, 1851, he arrived at the Nelson Johnson

cabin and preached the first sermon under his new orders. A

congregation was organized in the spring of 1852. Johnson's log cabin

was probably the first Norwegian Methodist meeting house west of the

3̂

Mississippi River.

It was during his visit to Cambridge in April 1853, that Petersen

received a letter from Bishop Waugh, calling him to missionary service

in Norway. Petersen's decision was momentous. Upon it depended, in

large measure, the future development of Methodism in the European

homeland.

Not all was patriotic celebrating in the little Washington Prairie

community on July 4, 1953. On that day, Petersen left the flock which

he had served for only a year and nine months. The ever faithful Nelson

Johnson drove the Petersens to McGregor, where a tearful parting took

place. Henry W. Reed, the presiding elder, expressed the feelings of

many when he reported to Bishop Waugh his doubts as to whether the

Norwegians in Iowa would ever be privileged to have the equal of 0. P.

Petersen in their midst. Petersen, then a member of the Iowa

Conference, retained his membership in it. He was the first missionary

to represent that body overseas. Since he had to leave before the

annual meeting, the Wyoming Conference, then in session, recommended him

for ordination as elder. He arrived in Christiania (now Oslo) in

December, 1853.

The other National Register site at Washington Prairie is the

Jacobson farmstead. The historical significance of the Jacobson farm is

threefold: the continuity of development which it reveals from the

period of settlement in 1850 through three generations to 1949, the

extent of remaining physical and written documention of the farm's

history, and the significance of the second generation owner and

operator Abraham Jacobson.

The Jacobson family was very literate and conscious of history.

44

Detailed records remain in the form of letters, diaries, tax receipts,

photographs, etc. which make it possible to document rather precisely

the time of construction and alterations of the buildings and to

understand their place in the social and economic context of the farm.

Much of this documentation is still on the site, and that which remains

with the family or has entered archives is accessible. The fact that

photography became a hobby in the Jacobson family as early as the 1890s

is one of the many circumstances which makes th historical documentation

of the farm unique.

Though the farm represents a culture and way of life typical for a

large percent of immigrants from rural Norway who continued to reap

their livelihood directly from the land in this country, the owner and

operator from 1878 to 1910, Abraham Jacobson, was a figure of

considerable historic interest. He arrived in America as a child with

his parents in 1848, but he was quick to enter American intellectual and

political life. He made connection with the Lincoln family while

studying theology in Springfield, Illinois, from 1852 to 1859 and

remained in contact with Robert Lincoln later in life. He did social

and missionary work in the Dakotas and Canada before accepting a call to

a Norwegian Lutheran parish in southern Wisconsin in 1877. After

leaving it to take over the family farm in Iowa ten years later, he

served as president of a mutual insurance company, carried out

horticultural experiments, wrote on historical, cultural, and purely

practical subjects in periodicals and newspapers, and served as district

representative to the state legislature of Iowa from 1903 to 1905.

Pastor Jacobson was an instrumental member of the Old Settlers

Association which was formed as part of the county's centennial

5̂

observance. Their effort to collect information about early settlers

may have prompted the call to have a monument raised to list the names

of those otherwise forgotten people who had been buried at the first

cemetery in the county.

Abraham Jacobson was a prime mover in the efforts to have the

monument erected. The structure, weighing over 4,000 pounds of granite,

was built on a foundation of 40 loads of rock, at an overall cost of

$350. Only thirty-one names with dates of life and death are inscribed

on the monument, but over 60 people were assumed to have been buried in

the cemetery. The monument was dedicated August 25, 1887 with about 800

people in attendance.

Only a few years after the Pioneer Cemetery dedication, the North

Washington Prairie congregation was begun as a result of the Election

Controversy. Pastor Abraham Jacobson along with others from the

community became members of this church. This congregation built its

church building a short distance from the Pioneer Cemetery and

established its cemetery adjacent to it. The demarcation between the

two cemeteries is no longer clear. There is no fence or other barrier

separating the two. The farm fence lines are evident both to the north

and across the road to the south of the cemeteries.

Further work is needed to do a thorough survey of the death

records, as well as of neighboring congregations, such as Springfield

Lutheran, and even Washington Prairie Methodist Church, and the other

congregations that once formed Little Iowa Congregation.

One of the founders of the Washington Prairie settlement in

Winneshiek County, Iowa, was Nelson Johnson Kaasa, known simply as

Nelson Johnson after dropping the farm name, Kaasa. He first made his

h6

living in the new world as a railsplitter in the vicinity of Milwaukee,

thus paying for his ocean voyage. That was in 1839, when he was also

paying for a farm in Yorkville Prarie, Racine County. His earliest

religious experiences synchronize closely with the beginnings of

Methodism in Racine.

When new land was opened for settlement west of the Mississippi,

Nelson Johnson was chosen to lead a caravan from Muskego to Iowa in May

of 1850. The group reached Washington Prairie area in early July,

1850. Nelson Johnson settled in the SW of the NE, section 36, Decorah

Township where he farmed for a number of years.

Nelson Johnson's home became the first Norwegian Methodist meeting

house west of the Mississippi river. Here 0. P. Petersen organized the

Washington Prairie faithful in April, 1852, with seven charter members.

From the Johnson home itself went forth seven well educated sons and

daughters. All attended Methodist colleges. Martin, United Sates

Senator from North Dakota at the time of his death in 1909, and his

brother Louis, committed themselves to the Christian life while

attending Upper Iowa University at Fayette. James A. Sanaker, veteran

preacher, tells of being received into membership with them at

Washington Prairie on a Sunday morning in 1868, the pastor then being

Arne A. Johnsen.

Nelson Johnson himself preached the gospel as a deacon for 25

years, ministering mainly to congregations in Iowa. He was seriously

handicapped in the pulpit, however, by a speech difficulty resulting

from two throat operations performed while he was serving Cambridge,

Wisconsin, in the years 1855-57.

The name of Erick Anderson is closely connected with the early

pioneer history of Washington Prairie. He came to the county in 1850,

and for the remainder of his life was connected with mercantile and

agricultural pursuits. Alexander's History of Winneshiek County

contains a brief history of the first settlement to Washington Prairie.

The Anderson party emigrated from Dane County, Wisconsin in the summer

of 1850. The group found land in Springfield Township that suited them

and took up their claims in June, 1850. But it seems that another

party, Thor Peterson's group, had preceded them by a few days, and had

laid claim to the very land on which Anderson's company had squatted.

At that time there was a county organization for the protection of

settlers against claim-jumpers, if such they were called. It was an

imperative law with this association that the man who first registered

his claim at Moneek had a perfect title to the same. The Peterson party

demanded that the Anderson party move off what they called their claims;

but the other party was determined not to surrender their claims until

obliged to, and consequently they immediately dispatched a

representative to Moneek, whose duty it was to ascertain if the Peterson

party had registered their claims. On examination he found that no

registration had been made, and he took advantage of their tardiness and

registered the claims for his party. The matter was finally

compromised; the Anderson party paying some indemnity for their

usurpat i on.

Erick Anderson entered land in the southern part of Springfield

township with his arrival. However, he did not engage at once in its

cultivation but accepted a position as clerk in a general store at

Frankville and remained there two years. He then made his way to

Ossian, where he established himself independently in general

48

merchandising business, and was so engaged until 1861, when he was

elected to the position of sheriff of Winneshiek County. In 1863, at

the expiration of his term, he again moved to his farm, which contained

two hundred and sixty-five acres. He left his mark upon the settlement

by his diverse work as sheriff, school teacher, merchant, farmer and

local preacher. Erick Anderson passed away on June 23, 1906, after an

illness and was buried in the family plot at the Washington Prairie

Methodist Church.

Erick Anderson came from the Rude farm in Voss, Norway. It was he

who, together with Nelson Johnson and others who had come from the Fox

River settlement, requested Henry W. Reed, presiding elder of the Upper

Iowa District, to appoint a man fluent in the Norwegian language to

Washington Prairie. The response cam in the person of Ole Peter

Petersen.

Erick and Helena Egge represented one of the old well known and

highly respected pioneer families at Washington Prairie. Erick came to

the United States in 1848, locating first in Wisconsin, where he resided

near Racine for a bout a year, after which he came to Winneshiek County,

Iowa. He purchased the farm on section 6, Frankville Township, and that

remained his home throughout his life. He was a carpenter by trade,

following that occupation for two or three years after his arrival in

the United States, but later he took up agricultural pursuits. He was

married in Winneshiek County to Miss Helena Egge, and they became the

parents of eight children.

Both of the Egges were very active members of the Lutheran church,

in the work which they were deeply interested. He was also a stanch

supporter of higher education and gave liberally of his money and labor

49

toward the building of Luther College, which was founded by the Rev.

Vilhelm Koren. Rev Koren, who was the organizer of the Lutheran

congregation at Washington Prairie, spent the first six months after his

arrival in this district at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Egge. The reason

for the lodging of the Korens with the Egges has never been determined,

but it may have resulted from the Egges ties to the church.

The original farmstead included one hundred and sixty acres upon

where Erick first located upon arrival to Winneshiek County. The

original home of the family, built by Erick in 1850, was given to Luther

College as part of their outdoor collection in 1913. The log house, 14'

by 16', was given to the college by Paul Egge.

A prominent member of the Washington Prairie community was Johan

Hagen, a parochial school teacher. A proposal to employ a permanent

school teacher was made in December 1884. A home for this teacher, with

5 to 10 acres of land, would be necessary. Such land and house was to

be located close to the church. Abraham Jacobson, a member of the

committee named to choose a place, reported in 1886 that the committee

found the only suitable sites to be the former Johnsrud's house or the

southwest corner of the church property. As it turned out, both

locations were used, in a sense. The building site was offered by John

Hegg and money was raised in 1893 to build a house there.

In 1885 Pastors Sagen and Koren were delegated by the congregation

to investigate the possibility of calling a permanent teacher. Johan

Hagen, who had been in the United States previously and had taught at

Spring Grove for some years, but had then returned to Norway to teach

there, was called as the permanent teacher. He came in 1888 and taught

until July 1918.

50

Johan Hagen taught at the Rovang School in the southwest corner of

SW SW, Section 15, Springfield Township. The date of its construction

is not certain. According to materials used for training of museum

guides at Vesterheim, the Rovang School was built by the Washington

Prairie congregation "almost as soon as Pastor U. V. Koren got the type

of teacher he wanted." It was built not for the 3 R's, but for the "4th

R", religion.

Hagen was very strict as a teacher. He taught only in Norwegian,

and did not permit the use of English either in the school or the school

yard. He occasionally used books on the heads of pupils, and rulers on

their hands, as well as grabbing them by the hair. Boys were to have

long sleeved shirts, with sleeves rolled down and buttoned.

After Hagen's retirement in 1918, probably over the issue of using

English only in the schools (because of anti-foreign language sentiment

associated with the war), he moved to Oecorah where he died, July, 1936.

One of the more progressive horticulturalists in the Washington

Prairie area was Ole O. Lomen. He was the son of Ole Anderson Lomen and

Marit Knudsdatter, who immigrated from Vang, Valdres, Norway. Ole A.

Lomen, along with his brother Andrew, were members of Erick Anderson's

group of settlers who came in June of 1850.

The son, Ole 0. Lomen, never cared for either Pastor U. V. Koren or

Paul Koren. This was due in part to the church issue, and the doctrinal

controversy of the late 1880's.

Over a period of 25 years, starting in 1898, Ole O. Lomen planted

an orchard of upwards of a thousand trees, comprised of nearly 100

varieties of apples. This led to his receiving the nickname of "Apple

Lomen." (In distinction from "Heste" or "Horse" Lomen, who lived a

51

short distance away). Apples provided 1/4 to 1/3 of the family's annual

income. Up to 500 barrels of apples were sold per year. Because of the

risk of rust on the apples, there are no cedar trees on the Lomen farm.

(The cedar tree hosts the spore for the disease.)

Ole O. Lomen was one of the founders of the Winneshiek County

Horticultural Society and served as its secretary for 26 years. He also

was a member of the Northeast Iowa and Iowa State Horticultural

Societies. All the records of the Winneshiek County Horticultural

Society were given to the Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah ca.

1980-82.

Ole's son, Erlin, carried on his father's interest in

horticulture. As a student at Iowa State, Erlin often took part in

horticulture shows. One year he supervised the exhibit and therefore

felt he should not have an entry. His professor noticed Erlin's absence

and insisted that he take part. Although the fruits available for

entries by the students had already been "gone over" by the others,

Erlin chose from what was left and ended up with 15 blue ribbons out of

17. In 1924-25 Erlin took 65 varieties of apples for display and fair

entri es.

Another noteworthy member of the Washington Prairie was Cornelius

(C. J.) Torgrimson. His father, Jacob Torgrimson, came from Telemark,

Norway, to the Muskego Settlement in Wisconsin in 1850. There he

married Ragnhild "Randi" Knutsdatter and moved to Winneshiek County in

1851. Ragnhild was also from Telemark and had come to Muskego in 1848.

Jacob bought land in Springfield Township for $1.25 an acre.

Cornelius (C.J.) Torgrimson was educated at Marshall Academy near

Madison, Wisconsin. He married Elena Jacobson at Clinton, Wisconsin,

52

February 26th, 1880. When they were married, her father gave them two

Holstein heifers and a bull as a wedding present. These were shipped to

Ossian and eventually became the nucleus of C.J.'s herd and of many

other herds in the county. C.J. may have been a charter member of the

Holstein-Frisian Association of America. In the family "archives" is a

Certificate of Transfer of a bull, from Vol. 2, #1745.

C.J. Torgrimson was one of the founders of the Nordness Creamery in

1889, serving as manager and later as secretary/treasurer. His work as

manager entailed shipping butter to distant cities. C.J. apparently

attended the Buttermakers' Convention at Sioux Falls on January 25th,

1899.

C.J. Torgrimson was instrumental in establishing a rural telephone

service in the early 1900's. He helped organize the Winneshiek County

Equity Shipping Association in 1916. He also served as president of the

Board of Education of Springfield Township, beginning in 1903.

Cornelius built a new home some distance from his parents in 1880.

The construction of this new house was an invention for young C.J. He

crushed limestone from a quarry owned by his uncle, mixed it all

himself, and built his house up by his own manufactured limestone cement.

Although no history of the Washington Prairie congregation, nor of

the Washington Prairie Methodist congregation, nor of the North

Washington Prairie Lutheran congregation, has been written, there are

considerable sources of information about these. In the research done

for the sites selected, personal interviews with the current owners of

the sites were conducted. In several of these situations there already

existed a Family History, sometimes in relation to a Century Farm

53

designation. The quality and depth of these family histories varied

considerably; some were well done; others had considerable error.

The Diary of Elisabeth Koren was a valuable primary resource.

However, it is limited in its scope to those families with whom the

Korens had contact; the Methodists are mentioned only briefly and then

not in a complimentary way. The footnotes in Diary, relying on the

knowledge of the translator, Dr. David Nelson, and Mr. Linnevold, were

very helpful. These are often in the nature of reminiscenses and are

subject to error.

The minutes of congregational meetings of the Washington Prairie

Lutheran Church are also an excellent resource. The first minutes are

those of the Little Iowa congregation (Lille Iowa Menighed) which was

divided at the end of 1863 into six separate congregations: Washington

Prairie, Glenwood, Calmar, Stavanger, Madison, and Decorah. The first

minutes were kept by Pastor U. V. Koren. These obviously reflect what

he considered important to include. After the division into six

congregations, the minutes of the other congregations were often kept by

lay persons. Since Pastor Koren continued to serve Calmar and Glenwood

for some years, he did continue to record many of those minutes.

Thus, the six congregations share the earliest minutes. In the

mimeographed translations of the minutes, prepared for Glenwood by

Stella Grinna and for Washington Prairie through the efforts of Hillman

Sersland, the same early minutes are in both. After Glenwood became a

separate congregation, it had its own minutes, and these are distinct

and separate, from 1883-1933, translated from Norwegian by Charlotte

Jacobson. Miss Jacobson also did much of the translation of the minutes

of Little Iowa and Washington Prairie; these are continuous, with no

indication except by contents of the separate congregation affairs.

Yet another source was the Ministerial Acts of Little Iowa and

Washington Prairie Lutheran Church (es). These include baptismal,

confirmation, mariage, and burial records, as well as some communion

attendance. The earliest such record book has been microfilmed and is

part of the archives of the ELCA; another copy is in the Luther College

Library. This first record book was also photocopied by Pastors Richard

Sansgaard and Donald Berg, with one copy bound and placed at Washington

Prairie and a second copy bound and placed in the archives of the

Winneshiek County Historical Society housed at the Luther College

Library. Pastor Donald Berg worked with one of these photocopied

volumes to prepare an index by families of all the baptisms, then sought

to fit in such other materials as confirmations, weddings, deaths, etc.

The heads of families, by pairs, were also indexed, making it possible

to find a family record sheet for a given family within a short time.

This indexing was by first or given name of the father, first or given

name of the mother, and farm names, when these were learned. There was

no indexing by patronyms.

When Decorah Lutheran and First Lutheran congregations, both in

Decorah and separated since the late 1880's because of the "Election

Controversy", decided to celebrate their centennials in 1989, they chose

to prepare a common or shared history of the first twenty-five years,

i.e., 1864-1889. Thus, they chose to not include the history of the

Little Iowa congregation. The history of the Glenwood congregation,

prepared in connection with the anniversary of the church building in

1975, does include some of the early history. Pastor Donald Berg has

not investigated what has been done in the earlier years, such as 50th,

55

75th, or 90th anniversaries by the other congregations that once

comprised the Little Iowa congregation.

Dr. O. M. Norlie, in the two volume set, De Norske Lutherske

Menigheter i Amerika, prepared in anticipation of the merger that formed

the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America in 1917, does show the common

ancestry of the six congregations from the Little Iowa congregation. He

also lists those congregations that "splintered off" as the result of

the doctrinal disputes of the 1880s, such as Pontoppidan and North

Washington Prairie.

The Luther College Library has on microfilm the English language

newspapers of the Decorah area, beginning with the Decorah Republican

from the 1860s. Further, there is on microfilm the Decorah Posten

newspaper, beginning in 1874 and continuing to 1972. Although

newspapers carry what is provided to them, such as in obituaries, yet

these are close to primary sources of information. A project to index

the obituaries, marriages, and baptisms, in Decorah Posten is underway.

A similar indexing of obituaries in the English language papers has been

carried out through ca. 1965, and is being updated periodically.

A resource that has not been tapped at all is the collection of

Symra articles. Many of Pastor Koren's "reports" are included. Yet

another resource that needs to be explored much more thoroughly is the

Koren Collection, housed at the Luther College Library.

Pastor Donald Berg has been privileged to see and make copies of

several letters and documents that have been in the possession,

unidentified, of families in the Washington Prairie area for many, many

years. I am sure there are many more "out there."

We must recognize that many of the families whose names appear in

the records of the Little Iowa congregation and its successor

congregations were "passing through" on the way to points farther north

and west of Decorah and Winneshiek County. Many of these became

subscribers to Decorah Posten and reported back via correspondence,

anniversary write-ups and obituaries.

Pastor Berg did not have access to the more recent minutes of the

Washington Prairie or North Washington Prairie congregations. These are

in English, except for the first years of North Washington Prairie. But

these too have now been translated to English in 1989 by Kathleen

Stokker of Luther College.

The Diary of Christopher Evans, the translation of which was

commissioned by the grandson of Christopher Evans, Rev. Robert Evans of

Minneapolis, was a source of considerable information about the North

Washington Prairie congregation's beginnings and subsequent life. Yes,

it is biased. The diary was translated for Rev. Evans by Carl Narvestad

of Granite Falls, MN. In some instances it suffers because of lack of

familiarity with the Decorah area by the translator, but otherwise it is

an excellent source of much information.

The land records in the Winneshiek County Courthouse are readily

available, and were used considerably. Several of the families had

their land abstracts available, from which key information, especially

dates and descriptions of land, could be gleaned. The vital statistics

recorded in the office of the clerk of court with marriages from the

earliest days of the county, births and deaths from ca. 1900, and

probates from the very earliest days of the county, have also been

helpful.

The histories of Winneshiek County, by Sparks, Alexander and

57

Bailey, are of little help. The biographies found in Vol. 2 of Bailey's

History of Winneshiek County were of some help, but are filled with

errors and inadequate information. Unfortunately, not all people had

their biographies included; only those who agreed to purchase a volume

or set of the books could be included, apparently. The compiler of

these was not of Norwegian descent; this fact becomes very evident in

his treatments of the people's stories.

Many more articles, such as anniversaries of marriages, from

Decorah_Posten and similiar Norwegian language newspapers, need to be

uncovered and translated. The Roberg file of such items, housed at the

Norwegian-American Historical Association in the Rolvaag Library at St.

Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, provides some of this type of

material. Most of it is in Norwegian, untranslated thus far. It

begins, however, in ca. 1914, and is thus rather late for much of what

needs to be learned earlier.

Time limitations and distance from Decorah prevented Pastor Donald

Berg from using the materials assembled by a seminary intern in the

summer of 1989 via interviews with many older members of the Washington

Prairie congregation. Some of these people have since died. These

interview-verbatim reports are to be typed and made available for future

use.

Pastor Berg suspects that there is a wealth of information in a

collection by Professor David Nelson, the translator of IHary__of

Elisabeth Koren. Unfortunately, too, when the Koren family left

Washington Prairie in the early 1940s, they "cleaned house" and many

valuable resources were destroyed.

As indicated by Holand in De Norske Settlementers Historie, and

58

evidenced by study of the 1875 Gazeteer of Winneshiek County, as well as

the plat book of 1886, Erick Anderson (RUDE), originally from Valdres

but moved to Voss, settled in Section 1 of Springfield Township, but

also owned considerable other land, including some in Sections 11 and

14; Andrew O. LOMEN, also from Valdres, apparently is the one who was in

Section 11 of Springfield Township; Ole A. LOMEN, from Valdres, was in

Sections 2 and 3 of Springfield Township; Halvor Halvorson GROVEN, from

Valdres, seems to be in Section 24 of Springfield Township (he was not

researched for this project); Knud Anderson BAKKE or BELSHEIM, from

Valdres, settled in Section 23 of Springfield Township; Anders (patronym

missing) HAUGE, from Valdres, (also not researched for this study) seems

to have located in Section 2 of Springfield Township; Ole Gulliksen

HEVNE, from Valdres, settled in Section 8 of Springfield Township;

Mikkel OMLIEM from Telemark, owned land in Sections 23, 24, and 26 of

Springfield Township; Ole T. HAUGEN and his brother, Staale T. HAUGEN,

from Heggebostad near Flekkefjord, are probably found in Sections 14 and

23 of Springfield Township. Staale died early, so the land ownership is

not shown for him on the map plat. Nor were these brothers subjects of

this research. It is difficult to determine at this point where

Johannes QUALE, from Haugesund, settled. There were other

QUALE/KVALE/QUALLEY settlers, many of whom were from Valdres. None of

these were directly related to this study. John H. BRAKSTAD, from Voss,

settled in Decorah Township, Sections 35 and 36.

The second group of settlers, all from Soknedal in Ringerike:

(SKOTLAND, LAND, and SANDAGER) settled near Whiskey Grove, near Calmar.

They were outside the purview of this study.

The third group settled as follows: Nils Johnson KAASA, from

59

Hitterdal, in Section 36 of Decorah Township; Gjermund Johnson KAASA,

also from Hitterdal, believed to be in Section 31 of Glenwood Township;

Jacob Abrahamson, from Tinn, Telemark, in Section 2 of Springfield

Township; Aslak S. AA, from Kviteseid, Telemark, in Section 36 of

Decorah Township; Ivar QUALE, from Valdres, according to Mrs. Bakken's

account, died young. It has not been included in this survey where he

settled. Knud G. OPDAHL, from Valdres, was in Section 14 of Springfield

Township; John W. THUNE, also from Valdres, settled in Section 30 of

Glenwood Township; and Tollef S. AA, who came a bit after the others,

also from Kviteseid, Telemark, was in Section 1 of Springfield Township.

The various legal descriptions of the sites surveyed are included

in the report. Many of these were not among the very first to settle

here, but came within a few years, almost all before 1860.

There seem to be several factors in the decisions of the earliest

settlers as to where to locate and buy land. The background BYGD

(district) of Norway, particularly for Valdres and Telemark at the

beginning and Sogn somewhat later, kept the settlers fairly close

together. It should be noted, however, that many of these settlers had

come from Wisconsin, and therefore, had become acquainted with each

other. So their BYGD of origin was less significant than for those who

came a bit later, such as the Sognings. A second factor quite clearly

was the church affiliation. Although not all of those who were to be

the minority group that founded the Washington Prairie Methodist

congregation settled very close to the church site, there were many who

did. Some of those not surveyed were affiliated with the Springfield

Lutheran Church; yet there was often interchange of members between

these two Lutheran congregations, Springfield and Washington Prairie.

60

The examples of Abraham Jacobson and the Lomens come to mind, but there

were others whose names appear in both ministerial acts books.

A third possible factor, which has not been investigated in depth

thus far, would be the occupational background of the settlers, e.g.

buttermaker, blacksmith, farmers of different types. This would

determine to some extent the type of terrain the people would seek.

Yet another factor could be the prior relationship from the

previous settlements where they lived in Wisconsin. The story that is

told in Holand's History of the Norwegian Settlers (pp. 339-40 in the

Norwegian text) illustrates this point well.

The survey results indicated that the ethnic heritage of the

community was the principal theme. As already cited in this paper, this

area has retained its ethnic heritage for one-hundred-forty years. The

existence of eighteen Century Farms within the original Washington

Prairie settlement attests to the rich Norwegian-American history and

lore associated with this community. A review of the farm owners' names

from a current county platbook indicates that the area is still

predominantly Norwegian-American in character. This cohesive community

has been fortunate because the economic forces such as urban expansion

and industry have not encroached upon this agricultural scene. The

annual Nordic Fest supper held at the church reveals the community's

proud association and identity with their Nordic heritage.

The two secondary themes, which have been discussed earlier in this

paper, are the strong religious force of the church and the rural farm

economy of the region. Since Rev. Koren's arrival to Washington Prairie

in 1853, the pastor's role and influence has had a major impact on the

people and the land. This influence can be seen in the late 1930s, when

61

then Pastor Oscar Engebretson of Washington Prairie preached for good

land stewardship and soil conservation practices. Soil conservation had

its beginnings in the United States at Coon Valley, Wisconsin, in the

early 1930s. Washington Prairie began soil conservation practices in

1937, and was the first in the county. Perhaps this may be the first

such work done in the state of Iowa. Another example of the closeness

of the community is revealed by the construction of the parish hall at

the church. Members of the congregation quarried the same limestone for

this addition from the Bruvold and Hegg quarries which had been used for

the construction of the church in the early 1870s. All the labor was

volunteered by members of the congregation for the completion of the

hall by 1948.

Of the surveyed properties, eighteen sites should be considered for

further research and National Register nomination. The Washington

Prairie Lutheran Church and parsonage qualify under criteria

consideration A as a religious propertys, and have ethnicity and

religion for their themes. In addition, the ministry of Rev. U. V.

Koren at Washington Prairie clearly fits under criterion B: properties

that are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.

Criterion B allows consideration of properties associated with

individuals whose specific historic contributions to our society can be

identified and documented. The church and parsonage would also fit

under criterion C where they embody the distinctive characteristics of a

type, period, or method of construction by illustrating the way in which

a property was conceived, designed, or fabricated by a people or culture

in past periods of history.

The Viste log house would qualify under the above stated criterion

62

C, and criterion A, as a property associated with events that have made

a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. The

use of the site in December 1853, to hold the first Norwegian-American

worship service is historically significant for this settlement and for

Norwegian-American history.

The other fifteen properties qualify for criterias A and D, and

have ethnicity, architecture, and settlement as their themes. These

properties are listed later in this report as potential National

Register nominations. They qualify under the above stated criterion A,

and criterion D where they have the potential to yield important

information about some aspect of prehistory or history, including

events, processes, institutions, design, construction, settlement,

migration, ideals, beliefs, lifeways, and other facets of the

development or maintenance of cultural systems.

Seven of the sites have either been moved or razed. These

properties are significant in the history of the community and may yield

further information once an archaeological survey is conducted in this

area.

It is known that a Native American site once existed on the

Jacobson farm. A collection consisting of varying sizes and forms of

projectile points and knives, which range in time from the Archaic

period (6000 B.C - 1500 B.C.) through the Woodland period (Early 1500

B.C. - 500 B.C.; Middle 500 B.C. - A.D. 300; Late A.D. 300 - A.D.

1200/1300) is now in the Vesterheim collection. Since all these

materials were found in one place its could be hypothesized that this

area was consistently used as a processing station where butchering and

hide working activities were conducted.

63

SITE NAME STRUCTURE CONTSTRUCTION DATE

Andrew Bakke Farm Barn c. 1880

Granary c. 1880

House 1865

Daryl Bergan Farm Barn c. 1910

House c. 1875

Outbuildings c. 1900

Joseph Berge Farm Barn c. 1880

House c. 1892

Arthur Branhagen Farm Barn c. 1880

House c. 1875

Icehouse c. 1870

Springhouse c. 1870

Branhagen School Site (razed) c. 1862

Paul Bruvold North Farm Barn c. 1880s

Paul Bruvold South Farm Barn c. 1880

House c. 1860

Edward Clement Farm Barn c. 1880-1900

Granary 1888

House 1901

Egge Log House Site (moved) 1852

First Schoolhouse Site (razed) 1852

David Hegg Farm Granary c. 1890

House c. 1870

Icehouse 1860s

Outhouse/woodshed c. 1870

Tobacco Barn 1908

6k

John Hegg Farm Barn 1872-73

Hagen House Site c. 1888

House 1860

Quarry Site 1869

Wayne Huinker Farm Barn 1867

Log house c. 1860

Davis Johnson Farm Granary 1900

House c. 1908

Storage Shed c. 1900

Howard Johnson Farm Barn c. 1870

Granary c. 1870

Apple Lomen Farm Barn 1895

House early 1850s

Ice/milkhouse 1916

Orchard 1898

Erlin Lomen Farm Barn c. 1890

House c. 1900

Howard Nesheim Farm Barn c. 1873

Log Calf Barn 1850s

Nordness Telephone Exchange Residence 1938

North Washington Prairie (razed) 1890

Church Site

North Washington Prairie Cemetery 1891

Cemetery

Opdahl Cemetery Cemetery 1857

Pioneer Monument Pioneer Monument 1887

Red Oak Creamery Site (razed) c. 1890

65

Rovang Log Parochial School (moved) 1879

Site

Gene Sivesind Farm Barn c. 1880

Granary c. 1875-80

Hay Barn c. 1880

House c. 1890

Pumphouse c. 1880

Ernest Soland Farm Barn c. 1880

Granary c. 1880

House c. 1876

Stone Horse Shed c. 1870

Andrew Spilde Farm Chicken House c. 1870

Log House c. 1860

Slaughter House (razed) c. 1924

Greg Torgrim Farm Barn 1892

House c. 1880

Corn Crib c. 1950

Howard Viste Farm Barn c. 1880

Granary c. 1880

Log House 1850-1852

Washington Prairie Lutheran Church 1869-1873

Church

Washington Prairie Parsonage Parsonage 1874

Analyzing the properties as to their construction dates, one finds

that forty of these sites were built from 1879 through 1890. Between

1850 and 1870, fifteen properties were constructed at the settlement.

From 1890 to 1950, seventeen properties appeared on the Washington

66

Prairie landscape. These results would indicate that a possible time

boundary of 1870 through 1890 should be considered in a future "Multiple

Property Documentation Form" of the Washington Prairie settlement. The

consideration if including the earlier time span of 1850 to 1870 in the

proposed nomination deserves careful thought.

The list below identifies the building type for the surveyed

propert i es:

1) 18 houses 13) 1 outhouse/woodshed

2) 20 barns 14) 1 pumphouse

3) 8 granaries 15) 1 corn crib

4) 3 schools 16) 1 ice/milkhouse

5) 2 churches 17) 1 chickenhouse

6) 2 parsonages 18) 2 outbuildings

7) 2 cemeteries 19) 1 telephone exchange

8) 1 creamery 20) 1 memorial monument

9) 2 icehouses 21) 1 orchard

10) 1 springhouse 22) 1 quarry

11) 1 slaughterhouse

12) 1 tobacco barn

The following list identifies the building material of the

properties surveyed:

1) 7 log 6 ) 1 unknown

2) 7 stone 7) 2 cemeteries

3) 48 frame 8) 1 memorial monument

4) 2 concrete 9) 1 quarry

5) 2 brick 10) 1 orchard

The above three lists do not not include the five sites surveyed in

6?

1984 by Steven Johnson for the Winneshiek County Historical Society.

These sites are:

1) Red Oak School 4) Nordness School

2) Nordness Blacksmith shop 5) Nordness Creamery

3) Nordness Johnson General Store

The two National Register Historic Sites, Washington Prairie

Methodist Church and Jacobson Farmstead, also are not included in the

lists above. These sites have been copied and are included in the

folders along with new properties surveyed.

The findings of this survey have resulted in a mixed match to the

objectives of the project. The amount of historical information

collected as the result of this survey has exceeded the survey's goal.

The number of properties inventoried indicates that a multiple resource

nomination may be more appropriate than a rural district nomination.

There are pockets of potential National Register properties in the area

which was surveyed. Sites that need further investigation for

potential National Register status are:

1) Washington Prairie Lutheran Church (Criteria Consideration A)

2) Washington Prairie Parsonage (Criteria Consideration A)

3) Branhagen's Stone Icehouse and Stone Springhouse (Criterion

A and D)

4) Hegg's Tobacco Barn and Outhouse/Woodshed (Criterion A

and D)

5) Berge's House (Criterion A and D)

6) Viste's Log House (Criterion A and C)

7) H. Johnson's Barn and Granary (Criterion A and D)

8) Sivesind's House (Criterion A and D)

68

9) Soland's Stone Horse Stable (Criterion A and D)

10) Torgrim's House (Criterion A and D)

11) D. Johnson's House (Criterion A and D)

12) Spilde's Log House (Criterion A and D)

13) Huinker's Log House and Stone Barn (Criterion A and D)

14) Nesheim's Log Calf Barn (Criterion A and D)

The findings from this report would indicate that further work

should be conducted in the Washington Prairie Settlement area.

Volunteers should canvas the adjacent sections of the area not covered

in this project. Additional public meetings should be held to inform

the community as to the status of the survey. These meetings could also

encourage members of the community to participate in the further work

necessary to nominate the areas' properties. The best course of

action for the Washington Prairie area toward a future nomination would

be a "Multiple Property Nomination" of the settlement. The list of

eighteen potential National Register properties should be considered in

such a nomination. The historical integrity of the area is exceptional;

however, the architectural integrity is spotty in this settlement. Some

of the farms in the area have lost significant buildings in the past

twenty years. For example, the Orval Bruvold and Ray Rucker farms

each lost early immigrant style barns similar to the present barn on the

Howard Johnson farm. The first had the barn torn down for a new pole

barn, and the other let the local firefighters burn it down as a field

exerc ise.

The findings of this survey have determined that the Washington

Prairie settlement would not qualify for a rural district nomination.

The consensus of the survey committee is to recommend a multiple

69

property nomination for the area as its first choice. The lesser choice

would be individual nominations of specific sites listed in our report.

As the map of the inventoried sites illustrates, the majority of

the properties surveyed in this project were located around and west of

the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church. Further survey work should be

concentrated in the eastern area of Elisabeth Koren's map. A survey of

this area would add significant information on the already existing

history of the settlement. One could reasonably expect to find another

forty to fifty sites. The proposed area would be canvassed by the

Washington Prairie Historical Committee to locate potential properties

before initiating this second stage of surveying.

In regards to further historical research, a thorough survey of the

death records of the Washington Prairie Lutheran Church and the cemetery

is needed, as well as of neighboring congregations, such as Springfield

Lutheran, and even the Washington Prairie Methodist Church, and the

other congregations that once formed the Little Iowa congregation.

Research needs to be carried out in the locating of memoirs,

articles and obituaries of the individuals who settled at Washington

Prairie. The Luther College Library has on microfilm the English

language newspapers of the Decorah area, beginning with the

Decorah Republican 1860s, and the Decorah Posten newspaper,

beginning in 1874 and continuing through 1972. Potential information

from these sources would be invaluable for this project.

Two areas of further research are the collection of Symra articles

and the Koren Collection housed at the Luther College Library. These

collections are in Norwegian and would require a great deal of time to

translate the appropriate materials.

70

A potential wealth of information in the col lectio by Professor

David Nelson, the translator of Diary of Elisabeth Koren should be

researched. Unfortunately, too, when the Koren family left Washington

Prairie in the early 1940s, they "cleaned house" and many valuable

resources were destroyed.

Finally, time limitations and distance from Decorah, prevented

Pastor Berg from using the materials assembled by a seminary intern in

the summer of 1989 via interviews with many older members of the

Washington Prairie congregation. Some of these people have since died.

As yet, no transcripts have been made from these videotapes.

Because of the number of razed properties and abandoned farms, an

archaeological survey of the settlement area is in order to give a

broader and complete history. This survey could also provide

information on the Native American trails and sites which would give a

unique perspective on the area's history. Many of the early farm

buildings from 1860 to 1890 have been kept in good condition by their

descendants; however the trend in corporate farming with large land

holdings may eventually be felt in the Washington Prairie area.

Already, some of the older farmsteads have been absorbed by neighbors

who are sympathic for historic preservation but have no funds for

up-keep or repairs. Further survey work should completed on these farms

before this form of rural vernacular architecture disappears from the

present landscape.

71

Appendix A Page One

September 22, 1989

Gjevre RR # 1 Box 136 Decorah, Iowa 52101

Dear Norman & Marian,

We are asking you to join the Winneshiek County Historical Society and the Washington Prairie Lutheran Congregation in a cooperative effort to establish what may become the first rural historical district in the State of Iowa. We are asking for your assistance by completing the enclosed questionnaire which will help in determining the historical significance of various buildings in the Washington Prairie Community.

In order to complete the first steps in this process, a photographer would like to do a detailed "4 elevation" study of a number of these buildings. A historian may contact you for a history of the buildings selected. It should be noted right from the beginning that if the historical district is established this will not affect your future use of the buildings.

The photographer and historian will he present at an open meeting at the Washington Prairie Parish Hall to be held Monday evening, October 9, at 8 P.M. They will handle any questions you may have about this project. You may bring your questionnaire to this meeting or mail it in the enclosed envelope.

Sincerely,

Wayne Wangsness Chairman Washington Prairie Congregation

Steve Johnson President Winneshiek County Historical Society

A p p e n d i x A P a g e Two

WASHINGTON PRAIRIE AREA

FARM SURVEY

NAME: DATE

ADDRESS TOWNSHIP

Is this farm a Century Farm YES NO

Do you have a family history relating to this farm site YES NO

Could you fill out the following information concerning the building type(house, barn, granary, etc.); date of construction, builders name, and material(log, frame, etc)

TYPE DATE BUILDER MATERIAL

1) HOUSE

2) BARN

3)

4)

5).

*>)

7)

8)

9)

10)

Comments on nay historical material, events, personalities assocaited with the farm or

family members?

OVER

Appendix A Page Three

Property Characteristic Form

Sketch of Farmstead Layout. Please sketch a rough diagram of the farmyard. Our interest is in the general relationship of the farm buildings to one another. The symbols below are suggested ways of indicating different elements in the farmyard.

Appendix B

IOWA SITE INVENTORY

Location and Functional Information . Historic Name(s)

^ 2 . Common Name(s) Street Address City

Survey ID Number Database ID Number

Nonextant

Subdivision Legal Description: (If Rural)

Vicinity [] 5. County 7. Block(s) 8. Lot(s)

Township Range Section Quarter of Quarter of

10. Historic Function(s)

11. Current Function(s)

12. Owner

Description Code

Phone # Address City/State ZIP

BHP Sources: Cty. Resource M HABS ]] Photo \ NR Tax Act \1 Grants f DOE R&C [ (Plat Map) (Sketch Map)

(Integrity Notes) Roll/Frame View

Photographer

Location of Negatives:

(3X5 photograph)

IOWA SITE INVENTORY FORM EVALUATION SHEET

Architectural Significance and Associated Context(s)

Applicable National Register Criteria: [ ] A [ ] B [ ] C [ ] D National Register Eligibility: Individual: Yes No

District: Contributing Non-Contributing Reviewed by/Date:

Continuation Sheet

Historical Significance and Associated Context(s)

Applicable National Register Criteria: [ ] A [ ] B [ ] C [ ] D National Register Eligibility: Individual: Yes No

District: Contributing Non-Contributing Reviewed by/Date:

Continuation Sheet [

Prepared by D a t e

Address Telephone Affliation — —

Appendix C

- 1 -

SCANDINAVIANS IN IOWA BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MATERIAL AT THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA

MONOGRAPHS AND SERIALS

Ahlstrom, Louis John, Eighty Years of Swedish Baptist Work in Iowa, 1853-1933. (Des Moines, Ia.: The Swedish Baptist Conference of Iowa, 1933) 479p.

American-Scandinavian Review, v. 51- , 1963- . Published by the American-Scandinavian Foundation. (New York, 1913- ).

American Swedish Historical Foundation, Philadelphia. Yearbook. 1944- .

Ander, Oscar Fritiof, The Cultural Heritage of the Swedish Immigrant; selected references. (Rock Island, Ill.: Augustana College Library, 1956) 191p.

Andersen, Arlow William, The Immigrant Takes His Stand; the Norwegian-American Press and Public Affairs, 1847-1872. (Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Assoc, 1953) 176p.

Andrews, Clarence, Christmas in Iowa. (Iowa City, Ia.: Midwest Heritage, 1979) 126p.

Apland, Anfin, A Brief History of the First Norwegian Settlement of Story and Polk Counties in Iowa 1845-1945. (Des Moines, Ia.: Apland, 1945) 15 leaves.

Babcock, Kendric Charles, The Scandinavian Element in the United States. (Urbana: The University of Illinois, 1914) 223p.

Barton, Albert Olaus, The Beginnings of the Norwegian Press in America. (Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1916) 212p.

Bedell, L. Frank, Quaker Heritage. (Cedar Rapids, Ia. 1966) 306p.

Benson, Adolph Burnett, Americans from Sweden. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1950) 448p.

Bergmann, Leola Marjorie (Nelson), Americans from Norway. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1959) 324p.

Billie, John H., A History of the Danes in America. (San Francisco: R & E Research Associates, 1971) 48p.

BjoYk, Kenneth, Saga in Steel and Concrete; Norwegian Engineers in America. (Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Assoc, 1947) 504p.

Blegen, Theodore Christian, The "America Letters." (Oslo: Dybwad, 1928) 25p.

Blegen, Theodore Christian, Grass Roots History. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1947) 266p.

Blegen, Theodore Christian, Land of their Choice; the Immigrants Write Home. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1955) 463p.

- 2 -

Blegen, Theodore Christian, Norwegian Migration to America. (Northfield, Minn.: The Norwegian-American Historical Assoc, 1931-40)

Bogue, Allan G., "The People Come" in Patterns and Perspectives in Iowa History. Edited by Dorothy Schwieder. (Ames, Ia.: Iowa State Press, 1950) pp.81-104.

Boysen, A. and Frederiksen, N.C., Skandinavisk Koloni i Iowa. (Milwaukee, Wis.: n.p., 18??) 12p.

Carlisle, Maxine Fallers, The Family of Swan Levine Anderson and his wife Selma Louise Johnson of Sweden and Page County, Iowa. (San Francisco, Calif.,

1974.

Childs, Marquis William, Sweden; the Middle Way. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1936) 17p.

Christensen, Thomas Peter, Dansk Amerikansk Historie. (Cedar Fall, Ia.: Hoist, 1927) 192p.

Christensen, Thomas Peter, A History of the Danes in Iowa. (Solvang, Calif.: Dansk Folkesamfund, 1352) 281p.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Genealogical Society. Research Department. Research Papers, Series A-. (Salt Lake City, Utah, 1966- )

Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly. Vol. 1--, April 1928-- (St. Louis, Mo., 1928- )

Danborn, F.A., Our Swedish Pioneers in Swede Point, (s.l.: s.n., 19??) 16p.

Dennis, Marian Brownlie, History of Norway, Iowa. (Compiled for the Centennial, 1963) 247p.

Evangelical Lutheran Church. Norwegian Synod. Salmebog. (Decorah, Ia.: Lutheran Publishing House, 1903) 304p.

Flom, George Tobias, Chapters on Scandinavian Immigration to Iowa. (Iowa City, Ia.: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1906) 150p.

Flom, George Tobias, A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States from the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848. (Iowa City, Ia.: Private Print.,

Flom, George Tobias, A History of Scandinavian Studies in American Universities, Together with a Bibliography. (Iowa City, Ia.: State University of Iowa, 1907) 66p.

Galland, Isaac, Galland's Iowa Emigrant. (Chillicothe: William C. Jones, 1940)

Gjerset, Knut, Luther College Museum. (Decorah, Ia.: Posten Press, 1923) 23p.

Haugen, Einar Invald, The Norwegians in America; a Student's Guide to Localized History. (New York: Teachers College Press, 1967) 40p.

- 3 -

Hawkeye Heritage. Vol. 1- , Winter 1966- (Des Moines, Ia.: Iowa Genealogical Society)

Hillbrand, Percie V., The Norwegians in America. (Minneapolis: Lerner, 1967) 79p.

History Book, Sheldahl, Iowa. (Sheldahl, Ia., 1974)

Holand, Hjalmar Rved, Norwegians in America, The Last Migration: Bits of Saga From Pioneer Life (Sioux Falls, S.D.: Center tor Western Studies, Augustana College, 1978) 240p.

Hovde, Oivind M., Norwegian-American Newspapers in Luther College Library. Decorah, Ia.: Luther College Press. 1975) 82p.

Iowa: The Home for Immigrants. (Des Moines, Ia.: Mills and Co., 1870)

Jacobson, Abraham, The Pioneer Norwegians, Springfield Township, Winneshiek Co., Iowa. (Decorah, Ia.: Republican Print, (n.d.) ) 16p.

John Price Jones Company, New York, Fund-Raising Potentials of Norwegian-American Museum, Decorah, Iowa; a Survey, Analysis and Plan of Action. New York: JPJ Co., 1965) 199p.

Johnson, C.J., History of the First Swedish Pioneers who Settled Otter Creek Valley, Situated in Otter Creek and Stockholm Township, Crawford County, Wheeler Twshp, Sac County and Hayes Twshp in Ida County, Iowa, known as the Kiron and Community/ From 1867 to present time, 1915. (Denison, Ia.: The Dennison Review, 1915) 39p.

Johnson, Merrill Wells, The Saga of a Norwegian Immigrant Family: Jacob and Anna Johnson. (Cedar Falls, Ia.: Corning, 1974) 31p.

Knaplund, Paul, Moorings Old and New; Entries in an Immigrant's Log. (Madison, Wis.,: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1963) 276p.

Kolehmainen, John Ilmari, The Finns in America; a Student's Guide to Localized History. (New York: Teachers College Press, 1968) 42p.

Koren, Else Elisabeth (Hysing), The Diary of Elisabeth Koren, 1853-1855. Trans­lated and Edited by David T. Nelson. (Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Assoc, 1955) 381p.

Koren, Else Elisabeth (Hysing), Fra Pioneertiden; Uddrag af Fru Elisabeth Korens dagbog og breve fra femtiaarene. Udg. af Hendes Born. (Decorah, Ia.: Udgivernes Forlag, 1914) 210p.

Larson, Laurence Marcellus, The Changing West and Other Essays. (Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Assoc, 1937) 180p.

Larson, Laurence Marcellus, The Log Book of a Young Immigrant. (Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian Historical Assoc, 1939) 318p.

Lekwa, Verl Loren, The Lekwa Family; Familien Lekva. (Columbus Junction, Ia.: Lekwa, 1973) 129p.

- 4 -

Letters from the Promised Land: Swedes in America, 1840-1914. Edited by H. Arnold Barton. (Minneapol is: University of Minnesota Press, 1975) 344p.

Luther College, Decorah, la. Concert Band. Norgesfaerden, Luther College Concert and Og Chorus; Koncertturneen, 1914. Udgivet af en komite. (Decorah, Ia.: Udgivernes Forlag, 1914) 430p.

McDonald, Julie, Amalie's Story. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970)

McDonald, Julie, Petra "on this rock I will build...". (Ames, Ia.: Iowa State University Press, 1978) 186p.

Mid-Anerica. vol. 1-11, July 1918-April 1929; vol. 12- , July 1929- (Chicago, 1918- )

Moeller, Hubert L., They Came to Iowa; a Brief History of Ethnic Groups. (Palmer, Ia.: Moeller, 1976) 57p.

Montag, Leona Mackie, From Denmark to Iowa; the Story of Frederick Petersen. (Nora Springs, Ia.: Montag, 1978) 90p.

Nelson, E. Clifford, The Lutheran Church among Norwegian Americans; a History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1960)

Nelsbn, Olof Nickolaus, History of the Scandinavians and Successful Scandinavians in the United States. 2nd rev. ed. (Minneapolis: O.N. Nelson & Co., 1901)

Newhall, John B., A Glimpse of Iowa in 1846. (Burlington, Ia.: W.D. Skillman, 1846)

New World Immigrants: a Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists and Associated Data from Periodical Literature. Edited by Michael Tepper. (Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co., 1979) 2 vols.

Nielsen, T.M., How a Dane Became an American. (Cedar Rapids, Ia.: TorSh Press, 1935) 305p:

Norelius, Eric, Early Life of Eric Norelius; Journal of a Swedish Immigrant in the Middle West. (Rock Island, Ill.: Augustana, 1934) 320p.

Norlie, Olaf Morgan, He Made Good: a Centennial Sketch of Ole Halvorson Norlie, 1845-1896, a Norwegian-American Pioneer. (Northfield, Minn.: Eilron, 1945) 87p.

Norlie, Olaf Morgan, History of the Norwegian People in America. (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1925) 602p.

Northeast Iowa Oral History Project, Conversations with the Recent Past. Edited by Luis Torres. (Decorah, Ia.: Luther College Press, 1975) 266p.

Norwegian American Immigration Anniversary Commission. Book Committee, From Fjord to Prairie: Norwegian-Americans in the Midwest, 1925-1975. (Chicago: N.A.I.A.C, 1976) l66p.

Norwegian-American Museum, Norwegian Recipes. (Decorah, Iowa)

- 5 -

Norwegian-American Museum, Decorah, Iowa, Vesterheim Directory of Membership, (1977) 43p.

Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 1- , 1926- . (Minneapolis: The Norwegian-American Historical Association)

Norwegian Settlement at Dunbar, Iowa. Sept. 11, 1908. (s.l.: s.n., 1908?) 70.: microfilm copy.

Our Norwegian Immigrants. Edited by Jon Thallaug and Rolf Erickson. (Oslo, Norway: Dreyers Forlag, 1978) 192p.

Qualey, Carlton Chester, Norwegian Settlement in the United States. (New York: Arno Press, 1970) 285p.

Reed, Robert D., How and Where to Research Your Ethnic-American Cultural Heritage: Scandinavian Americans. (Calif.: Reed, 1979) 28p.

Ringsted, Iowa. Diamond Jubilee Book Committee, Ringsted, Iowa, 1899-1974; History of Our Heritage. (Ringsted, Ia., 1374) 160p.

Rohne, John Magnus, Norwegian American Lutheranism up to 1872. (New York: MacMillan, 1926) 271p.

Rutt, Anna Hong, Our Norwegian Ancestors. (Decorah, Ia.: Anundsen, 1968)

Samband. no. 1- , Dec. 1903- . (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Scandinavian Genealogical Helper, vol. 1- , July 1969- . (Logan, Utah, Everton). quarterly.

Semmingsen, Ingrid, Norway to America: a History of the Migration. Translated by Einar Haugen. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1978) 213p.

Skardal, Dorothy Burton, The Divided Heart: Scandinavian Immigrant Experience Through Literary Sources. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1974) 393p.

Stephenson, George Malcom, The Religious Aspects of Swedish Immigration; a Study of Immigrant Churches" (Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1932) 542p.

Swan, Gustavus Nelson, Svenskarna i Sioux City, Nagra Blad ur der as Historia. (Chicago: Jacobson Printing Co., 1912) 262p.

Swedesburg, Iowa. Evangelical Lutheran Church. "Sketch of Church Building"

Swedesburg, Iowa. Evangelical Lutheran Church. Yearbook. 1923- (Winfield, Iowa: Press of the Beacon)

Swedish-American Historical Bulletin...vol. 1- , March 1928- . (St. Peter, Minn.: Swedish Historical Society of America, 1928)

Swedish Baptist Church. Center Township, Allamakee County, Iowa. History by Mrs. Edgar F. Medary.

- 6 -

Swedish Baptist Church (Four Corners). Jefferson County, Iowa. Clippings.

The Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, vol. 1- , July, 1950- , (Rock Island, Ill.: Swedish Pioneer Historical Society)

Symra, vol. 1-10, no. 5/6. 1905-0ct./Dec. 1914. Symra Society, Decorah, Iowa. Published in Norwegian. Annual.

U.S. Bureau of the Census,...Census of Religious Bodies: 1926. Norwegian and Danish Evangelical Free Church Association of North America. Statistics, Denominational History, Doctrine, and Organization...(Washington: U.S. Gov't. Printing Office, 1928) 9p.

Wellauer, Maralyn, Tracing Your Norwegian Roots. (Milwaukee, Wis.,: Wellauer, 1979) 70p.

Wick, Barthinius Larson, The First Swedish Settlers in America and Some of their Descendants. An Address delivered by B.L. Wicks at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, June 7th, 1926. 4p.

Wist, Johannes Benjamin, Norsk-Amerikanernes Festskrift, 1914. (Decorah, Ia.: Symra, 1914) 352p.

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PERIODICAL ARTICLES

Ahern, L. Dale, "Decorah Museum Preserves Norwegian Heritage", The Iowan, vol. 11, no. 4, (Summer 1963) p. 6.

Anderson, Carl A., "The Saga of Swedesburg", Annals of Iowa, vol. 35, no. 3, (Winter I960) p. 187.

Anderson, Joseph A., "Swedish Lutheran Church in Iowa", Annals of Iowa, vol. 11, no. 8, (January 1915) p. 590.

Anderson, Myron S., "My Swedish Heritage", The Palimpsest, vol. 47, no. 5, (May 1966) pp. 193-224.

Anderson, Myron S., "Story of a Country School", The Palimpsest, vol. 59, no. 5, (Sept/Oct. 1978), p. 130.

Bakken, Amelia Johnson, "I Gamle Daga Fra Den Foste Norske Settling av Winneshiek County, Iowa", Hallingen, vol. 157, (December 1951) pp. 15-20. (Not available in Iowa City—try interlibrary loan).

Barton, H. Arnold, "A Bibliography of Writings in English by or on Recent Swedish Emigration Historians", Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, vol. 27, (July 1976) pp. 215-223.

Bergmann, Leola Marjorie (Nelson), "The Norwegians in Iowa", The Palimpsest, vol. 40, no. 8, (August 1959) pp. 289-368.

Bergmann, Leola Marjorie (Nelson), "Scandinavian Settlement in Iowa", The Palimpsest, vol. 37, no. 3, (March 1956) pp. 129-160.

Barry, Mildred Freburg, "Memories of a Swedish Christmas", The Palimpsest, vol. 59, no. 1, (Jan/Feb 1978) p. 20.

Bohach, Leona J., "Settlement of St. Ansgar: Miniature Melting Pot", The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 46, no. 3, (July 1948) pp. 296-315.

Brandt, Mrs. R., "Social Aspects of Prairie Pioneering", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 7 (1933) p. 1.

Burgh, Gustaf, "Reminiscences (ca. 1954) of an Iowa Pioneer", Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, vol. 6 (Jan. 1954) pp. 18-25.

Cadbury, Henry Joel, "Four Immigrant Shiploads of 1836 and 1837", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 2,(1927) p. 20.

Calkin, Homer L., "The Coming of the Foreigners", The Palimpsest, vol. 43, no. 4, (April 1962) p. 145.

Carlson, Eskil and Quist, Oval, "Early Swedes in Iowa (1845-1882)", American Swedish Monthly, vol. 42, no. 6, (June 1948) pp. 78-9, 102-4. (available at the University of Iowa libraries)

Carlsson, Sten, "From Mid-Sweden to the Midwest", Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, vol. 25 (July-Oct. 1974) pp. 193-207:

- 9 -

Chrislock, Carl H., "Name Change and the Church, 1918-1920 (Norwegian Lutheran)", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 27, (1977), pp. 194-223.

Christensen, Thomas Peter, "The First Cream Separator in the United States", Annals of Iowa, vol. 34, no. 1, (July 1957) p. 56.

Christensen, Thomas Peter, "Frederik Lange Grundtvig", Annals of Iowa, vol. 15, no. 2, (Oct. 1943) p. 105.

Christianson, J.R., "The Golden Age of Luren", The Palimpsest, vol. 56, no. 5 (Sept/Oct. 1975) p. 141.

Christianson, J.R., "Vesterheim", The Palimpsest, vol. 56, no. 5, (Sept/Oct. 1975) p. 131.

Clausen, C.A., "An Immigrant Shipload of 1840", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 14, (1944) p. 54.

"Conversation With the Recent Past", Annals of Iowa, vol. 43, no. 3, (Winter 1976) p. 192.

Dahlberg, Robert Nelson and Dahlberg, Charles Leonard, "Pehr Dahlberg and the First Swedish Settlement in Iowa", Annals of Iowa, vol. 16, no. 5, (July 1928) p. 323.

Daniels, George H., "Immigrant Vote in the 1860 Election: The Case of Iowa", Mid-America, vol. 44, (July 1962) pp. 146-162.

Ericson, Hon. Charles J.A., "Memories of a Swedish Immigrant of 1852", Annals of Iowa, vol. 8, no. 1, (April 1907) p. 1.

Estrem, Andrew, "An Early Norse Settlement in Iowa", Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 39, no. 4, (Oct. 1941) p. 387.

Fletcher, Margie Hahn, "Vesterheim: Showplace for a Heritaqe", The Iowan, vol. 26, no. 2, (Winter 1977) p. 4.

Flom, George T., "The Coming of the Norwegians to Iowa", The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 3, no. 3, (July 1905) p. 347.

Flom, George T., "The Danish Contingent in the Population of Early Iowa", The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 4, no. 2, (April 1906) p. 220.

Flom, George T., "The Growth of the Scandinavian Factor in the Population of Iowa", The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 4, no. 2, (April 1906) p. 267.

Flom, George T., "The Scandinavian Factor in American Population", The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 3, no. 1, (Jan. 1905) p. 57.

Friman, Axel, "Swedish Emigration to North America, 1820-1850", Swedish Pion­eer Historical Quarterly, vol. 27, (July 1976) pp. 153-177.

Gildner, Judith, "Iowans in the Arts: Joseph Langland", Annals of Iowa,

vol. 43, no. 7, (Winter 1977) p. 515.

-10-

Hale, Frederick, "Marcus Hansen, Puritanism, and Scandinavian Immigrant Temperance Movements", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 27, (1977), pp. 18-40.

Hale, Frederick,"Nordic Immigration: The New Puritans?", Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, vol. 28, (Jan. 1977) pp. 27-44.

Hambro, Johan, "The Centennial of Luther College (Decorah, Ia., 1861-1961)", American-Scandinavian Review, vol. 49, (Sept. 1961) pp. 272-278.

Haugen, Einar Ingvald, "Norwegian Migration to America (1825-1925)", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 18, (1956) pp. 1-22.

Haugen, Einar, "Symra: a Memoir", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 27, (1977), pp.101-110.

Heaton, H., "Jefferson County Pioneers", The Iowa Historical Record, vol. 15, no. 3, (July 1899) p. 500.

Hedblom, Folke, "The Swedish Speech Recording Expedition in the Middle West", Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, vol. 14, (April 1963) pp. 47-61.

Henderson, A.M., "My Years in Story County", Annals of Iowa, vol. 30, no. 8, (April 1951) pp. 604-616.

Herrick, John P., "Oleg Nelson--An Unforgettable Character", Annals of Iowa, vol. 15, no. 2, (Oct. 1943) p. 117.

Herriott, F.C., "Alfred John Pearson, an Appreciation", Annals of Iowa, vol. 22, no. 7, (Jan. 1941) p. 515.

"Historic Decorah", The Iowan, vol. 21, no. 2, (Nov. 1972) pp. 45-50.

Hodnefield, Jacob, uThe Story County Colony of 1855", Annals of Iowa, vol. 33, no. 1, (July 1955) pp. 34-43.

Jaqua, John, "Luther College", The Iowan, vol. 3, no. 4, (April/May 1955) p. 14.

Koren, Elisabeth, "Christmas in a New Land", The Iowan, vol. 25, no. 2, (Winter 1976) p. 44.

Krontoft, Torben, "Factors in Assimilation: A Comparative Study", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 26, (1974) pp. 184-205.

Kuhns, Frederick I., "Many Kinds of Baptists", The Palimpsest, vol. 36, no. 9 (Sept. 1955) p. 358.

Larsen, Beverly, "Danish Heritage", The Iowan, vol. 18, no. 4, (June 1970) p. 10.

Larson, Victor C , "A Swedish Immigrant in Iowa", Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, vol. 4, :no. 4, (Oct. 1953) pp. 3-10.

Louis, John J., "Shelby County--A Sociological Study", The Iowa Journal of

History and Politics, vol. 2, no. 1, (Jan. 1904) p. 83.

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Louis, John J., "Shelby County—A Sociological Study", The Iowa Journal of His­tory and Politics, vol. 2, no. 2, (April 1904) p. 218.

Lovoll, Odd S., "Decorah-Posten: The Story of an Immigrant Newspaper", Nor­wegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 27, (1977) pp. 77-100.

Lyon, Bessie L., "Gunda's Coffee Pot", The Palimpsest, vol. 13, no. 10, Oct. 1932) p. 416.

Mcintosh, Lois A., "Biography of a Church", The Palimpsest, vol. 29, no. 5, (May 1948) p. 129.

Melloh, Ardith K., "New Sweden, Iowa", The Palimpsest, vol. 59, no. 1, (Jan/ Feb. 1978) pp. 2-19.

Naeseth, Gerhard B., "The 1842 Immigrants from Norway", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 25, (1972) pp. 225-257.

Naeseth, Henriette C.K., "Kristian Prestgard: An Appreciation", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 15, pp. 131-139.

Naeseth, Caroline Mathilde Koren, "Memories from Little Iowa Parsonage", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 13, (1943) p. 66.

Neal, Harry Edward, "Danish Legacy in America", American-Scandinavian Review, vol. 64, (March 1976) pp. 55-63.

Nelson, David Theodore, "Kunt Gjerset", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 25, (1972), pp. 27-53.

Nelson, David Theodore, "Luther College (Decorah, Ia., 1861-1961), The Palimp-. sest, vol. 46, no. 8, (Aug. 1961) pp. 321-384.

Nelson, David Theodore, "Norwegian-American Museum", The Palimpsest, vol. 46, no. 12, (Dec. 1965) pp. 609-639.

Nelson, David Theodore, "Norwegians Found the College", The Palimpsest, vol. 42, no. 8, (Aug. 1961) p. 321.

Nelson, Paul C , "The Norwegian Lutheran Churches of Northern Story County, Iowa: A History of Their Synodical Differences", Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly, vol. 46, (Fall 1973) pp. 112-134.

Oppedal, Al, "The Scandinavian Heritage in Our Country Churches", The Iowan, vol. 20, no. 4, (June 1972) p. 25.

Paananen, Eloise Engle, "Finns from Alaska to Florida", American-Scandinavian Review, vol. 64, (March 1976) pp. 17-26.

Petersen, Peter L., "Language and Loyalty: Governor Harding and Iowa's Dan­ish-Americans During World War I", Annals of Iowa, vol. 42, no. 6, (Fall 1974) p. 404.

Peterson, D.A., "Fom Ostergotland to Iowa", Swedish Pioneer Historical Quar­terly, vol. 22, (July 1971) pp. 136-52.

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Peterson, D.A., "From Ostergotland to Iowa", Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, vol. 22, (Oct. 1971) pp. 221-235.

Peterson, N.G., "The Danish and Norwegian Lutherans in Iowa", Annals of Iowa, vol. 11, no. 8, (Jan. 1915) p. 589.

Peterson, Walter F., "Swedish Christmas in Iowa in 1879", Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, vol. 12, (Oct. 1961) pp. 160-161.

Robeson, George F., "The Early Iowans", The Palimpsest, vol. 4, no. 9, (Sept. 1923) p. 285.

Ryan, Thomas G., "Ethnicity in the 1940 Presidential Election in Iowa: A Quantitative Approach", Annals of Iowa, vol. 43, no. 8, (Spring 1977) pp. 615-635.

Schwarz, Geraldine, "A Norwegian Immigrant Family", Annals of Iowa, vol. 43, no. 3, (Winter 1976) p. 194.

Seashore, Carl Emil, "The Dayton Swedish Settlement", The Palimpsest vol. 22, no. 11, (Nov. 1941) p. 347.

Seashore, Carl Emil, "Pioneering in Iowa", The Palimpsest, vol. 22, no. 6, (June 1941) p. 178.

"Some Aids for Genealogical Research in Scandinavia", Hawkeye Heritage, vol. 10, (1975) p. 41.

Storing, James A., "Palestine Settlement", The Palimpsest, vol. 21, no. 5, (May 1940) p. 151.

Swansen, H.F., "The Norwegian Quakers of Marshall County, Iowa", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 10, (1938) p. 127.

Swansen, H.F., "A Pioneer Church Library", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 11, (1940) p. 57.

Swansen, H.F., "The Sugar Creek Settlement in Iowa", Norwegian-American Studies and Records, vol. 9, (1936) p. 38.

Swanson, Roy W., "Iowa of the Early Seventies as Seen by a Swedish Traveler", The Iowa Journal of History and Politics, vol. 27, no. 4, (Oct. 1929) p. 564.

Tjernagel. N., "The Sheldall School", The Palimpsest, vol. 12, no. 9, (Sept. 1931) p. 359.

Tjernagel, N., "Angels of the Sick Room", The Palimpsest, vol. 23, no. 9, (Sept. 1942) p. 298.

Tjernagel, N., "Immigrants' trying experiences", Annuals of Iowa, vol. 31, no. 1, (July 1951) p. 64.

Tjernagel, P.G., "Erik Kjyten", The Palimpsest, vol. 12, no. 4, (April 1931) p. 160.

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Veblen, A.A., "At Luther College, 1877-1881", The Palimpsest, vol. 56, no. 5, (Sept/Oct. 1975) p. 150.

Videbeck, Richard, "The Elk Horn, Iowa community: an experimental study in acculturation", Plains Anthropologist, vol. 4, (July 1955), leaves 21-26. (owned by the University of Iowa)

Wick, B.L., "The Earliest Scandinavian Settlement in Iowa", Iowa Historical Record, vol. 16, no. 1, (Jan. 1900), p. 21.

Wick, B.L., "Early Cedar Rapids Swedish Churches", Annals of Iowa, vol. 29, no. 6, (Oct. 1948), pp 468-472.

Wick, B.L., "Pioneers of the Norway Community", Annals of Iowa, vol. 29, no. 5, (July 1948) pp. 366-378.

Zug, John, "Nordic Fest", The Iowan, vol. 21, no. 4, (June 1973) p. 45.

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MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION

American Emigrant Company. Papers, 1864-1865. Includes circulars, broad­sides, agreements, Swedish language circular, 4 p., 1865.

Anderson, Carl A., First Swedish Settlement in Hancock County, 31 p. 2 copies.

Anderson, Carl A., The Little White Town with the Big Brown Church, 1956. 5 p.

Bergmann, Leola Nelson, Questionnaires on Scandinavian Lutheran Congregations in Iowa, 1955. One folder.

Christensen, Thomas Peter, Little Copenhagan (sic). Hamilton County, Iowa. 17 p. carbon typescript about banish settlements.

Danish People's Society in America. Records, 1904-57. Clinton, Iowa. 1 ft.

Fritson, Andrew Peter. Papers, 1878-1951. Durant, Oxford, Kellogg, Iowa. 79 p. photocopies, 1v. Includes diary, 1939, 1948; naturalization record. Name is Frederiksen on Danish birth record.

Hansen, Hans, "Dairy of an American Trip", February 1899. 3 p. photocopy of a typescript translation.

Haugen, Gilbert N. Papers, 1882-1940. Northwood, Iowa, Washington D.C. 80 ft. Congressman with Norwegian constituency. Includes many Nor­wegian letters.

Hawley, Charles Arthur, Grundtvig and Danish Theological Educationiin the Middle West. 8 p. typescript.

Kern, Jean B., A Folk School in Iowa. 1950's. 8 p.

Koren, Dikka Hjort. Memories from Paint Creek Parsonage, Allamakee County, 1862-1879. 1 folder.

New Sweden Methodist Church. Ninety Years of Service, 1850-1940. 13 p. photocopy.

New Sweden Methodist Church. Records, 1872-1900. 1 folder (100 p.) photo­copy.

Oral History Project, State Historical Society of Iowa, Rural Iowa Life, 1890-1920. Interviews conducted by Rebecca Conard, etc., 1976- . Tapes and Abstracts.

Peterson, D.A., Emigrating to American; Early Days; An Autobiogrpahy. Webster County, ca. 1877-78. 29 p. typescript & carbon.

Proescholdt, Kevin, New Sweden, Iowa; a narrative history, 1845-1880. An Honors thesis submitted to the Dept. of History for B.S., Iowa State University, Ames, 1977. 82 p. Bibliography.

Rutt, Anna Hong, The Saga of a Pioneer, Engebret Nelson (Sebo) Hong. 264 p. typescript.

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Samuel son, Agnes. Papers, 1905-1962. 5 ft. Supt. of Public Instruction. Photos of trip to Sweden, home of parents, 1935; family Bible.

Steffanson, Steffan, "Letter written from Jefferson Co., Iowa, October 9, 1849, to relatives in Sweden". 4 p.

Stromsten, John M., Memoirs of My Life. Written about 1940. Corydon, Iowa. 50 p. typescript. Reminiscences about home in Sweden, journey to Amer­ica, ca. 1875.

Swansen, H.F., A Singular Chapter of Quaker History. 21 p. typescript. Marshall County.

Swanson, Oliver (Olaus Svenson), Autobiography, ca. 1880. 15 p. holograph in Swedish. Translation by Ardith Melloh, 8 p.

Swanson, Swan, Diaries, 1864 andl884. 2 v.

Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, Swedesburg. Records, 1866-1927. 7 fol­ders. Xerox of original with translation.

Tjernagel, Nehemias. Papers, 1868-1976. Story City. 3 ft. Farmer, musi­cian and author of historical articles. Includes some church records, family history, naturalization record, etc.

dick, Barthinius L. Papers and Scrapbooks, ca. 1853-1947. Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Director of American-Norwegian Historical Association).

SOUND RECORDING

Oster, Harry, Folk Voices of Iowa. (Iowa City, Ia.: University of Iowa Press, 1965).

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VERTICAL FILE SUBJECT HEADINGS PERTAINING TO SCANDINAVIANS IN IOWA

American-Scandinavian Foundation, New York

American Swedish Historical Museum

Emigration and Immigration

Luther College, Decorah, Iowa

Nationalities in Iowa see also the name of each nationality group

Nordic Fest, Decorah, Iowa

Norwegian-American Museum. Decorah, Iowa

Scandinavia--Periodicals

Scandinavian Days, Story City, Iowa

Swedesburg, Iowa

NEWSPAPER CLIPPING FILE SUBJECT HEADINGS PERTAINING TO SCANDINAVIANS IN IOWA

Danes

Norwegians

Swedes

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NEWSPAPERS PUBLISHED IN EITHER NORWEGIAN, SWEDISH, OR DANISH FOUND AT THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY

TOWN

Boone

Cedar Falls

Decorah

Decorah

Decorah

Des Moines

Des Moines

Sioux City

Sioux City

NAME OF PAPER

Svenska Herold

Dannevirke

Decorah-Posten

Decorah-Posten og Ved Arnen

Fra Fjornt og Nar

Iowa Posten

Svithiod

Barometern

Svenska Monitoren

LANGUAGE

Swedish

Danish

Norwegian

Norwegian

Norwegian

Swedish

Swedish

Swedish

Swedish