Johan Reinert Reierson (April 17, 1810, Vestre Moland, Aust-Agder - September 6, 1864) was a Norwegian-American writer, author and publisher as well as an early Texas pioneer and emigration activist.
Johan Reinert Reierson (April 17, 1810, Vestre Moland, Aust-Agder - September 6, 1864) was a Norwegian-American writer, author and publisher as well as an early Texas pioneer and emigration activist.
Reierson had been sponsored in 1843 by a group of prospective emigrants and financiers to tour the United States and report settlement possibilities. He made his way to the Republic of Texas. Reierson traveled to Austin, where President Sam Houston encouraged him to bring Norwegian settlers to the republic and promised aid in the establishment of a colony. [1]
In 1844, Reierson wrote and published a comprehensive book about America titled Pathfinder for Norwegian Emigrants to the United North American States and Texas (Norwegian: Veiviser for norske emigranter til De forenede nordamerikanske stater og Texas) a comprehensive book about America published in Norway. Reierson particularly advocated Texas as the most promising regions for settlement. [2]
Reierson decided to immigrate to Texas and establish a Norwegian colony in the republic. With a small group of Norwegians, including his own family, he returned in the spring of 1845. Before departing for America, he established a monthly magazine, Norway and America (Norwegian: Norge og Amerika) to report on the progress of the Norwegians in America to the people of Norway. When Reierson immigrated to Texas, Elise Wærenskjold assumed the editorship of the popular magazine until she herself immigrated to Texas in 1847. [3]
After the annexation of Texas in 1845, Reierson led his group of settlers into the state and established the first real Norwegian immigrant colony in Texas in Henderson County. The colony, originally named Normandy, merged with nearby Brownsboro. In 1850, Reierson established a second colony. Families from Brownsboro moved to these communities, which they named Four Mile Prairie in Van Zandt County and Prairieville in Kaufman County. In 1848 the Texas legislature had formed Van Zandt and Kaufman counties out of Henderson County. His pro-American letters to Norwegian newspapers continued to mark him as a controversial figure in his homeland. [4] [5]
Reierson married Henrietta Christine Waldt (1818–1851) on August 5, 1836 in Prairieville, Texas. The couple had six sons and two daughters. He spent the remainder of his life as a farmer and member of the Prairieville community. When he died in Prairieville, he was still writing about Texas in publications in Norway. He was buried at Four Mile Prairie Norwegian Cemetery. [6]
Van Zandt County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas, in the northeastern part of the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 59,541. Its county seat is Canton. The county is named for Isaac Van Zandt (1813–1847), a member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas.
Kaufman County is a county in the northeastern area of the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 145,310. Its county seat is Kaufman. Both the county, established in 1848, and the city were named for David S. Kaufman, a U.S. Representative and diplomat from Texas. Kaufman County is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan statistical area.
Henderson County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 82,150. The county seat is Athens. The county is named in honor of James Pinckney Henderson, the first attorney general of the Republic of Texas, and secretary of state for the republic. He later served as the first governor of Texas. Henderson County was established in 1846, the year after Texas gained statehood. Its first town was Buffalo, laid out in 1847. Henderson County comprises the Athens micropolitan statistical area, which is also included in the Dallas-Fort Worth combined statistical area.
Caldwell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 45,883. Its county seat is Lockhart. The county was founded in 1848 and named after Mathew Caldwell, a ranger captain who fought in the Battle of Plum Creek against the Comanches and against Santa Anna's armies during the Texas Revolution. Caldwell was also a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Brownsboro is a city in Henderson County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,212 at the 2020 census, up from 1,039 at the 2010 census. The city is on Texas State Highway 31.
Norwegian Americans are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans, according to the 2021 U.S. census; most live in the Upper Midwest and on the West Coast of the United States.
Cleng Peerson was a Norwegian emigrant to the United States; his voyage in 1824 was the precursor for the boat load of 52 Norwegian emigrants in the following year. That boat load was a precursor for the main wave of Norwegian immigration to the United States.
Ole Edvart Rølvaag was a Norwegian-American novelist and professor who became well known for his writings regarding the Norwegian American immigrant experience. Ole Rolvaag is most frequently associated with Giants in the Earth, his award-winning, epic novel of Norwegian immigrant homesteaders in Dakota Territory.
Svend Foyn was a Norwegian whaling, shipping magnate and philanthropist. He pioneered revolutionary methods for hunting and processing whales. Svend Foyn introduced the modern harpoon cannon and brought whaling into a modern age. He is also recognized as a pioneer who introduced sealing to Vestfold County.
John "Red" Brown was an American politician that served in both chambers of the Alabama Legislature, as a representative in the Republic of Texas and later as a state representative for Texas. He served briefly as the second Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives in the First Texas Legislature. Brown was also one of the founders of the Democratic Party in Texas and is the founder and namesake of Brownsboro, Texas. He had the shortest term as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, with only 7 days in office.
The Norwegian Lutheran Church in the United States is a general term to describe the Lutheran church tradition developed within the United States by immigrants from Norway.
The Muskego Settlement was one of the first Norwegian-American settlements in the United States. Situated near today's Muskego, Wisconsin, the Muskego Settlement covered areas within what is now the town of Norway in Racine County, Wisconsin.
Claus Lauritz Clausen was an American pioneer Lutheran minister, church leader, military chaplain and politician.
Jefferson Prairie Settlement was a pioneer colony of Norwegian-Americans located in the Town of Clinton, in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. This site and the nearby Rock Prairie settlement outside Orfordville served as centers for both Norwegian immigration and developments within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The unincorporated community of Bergen is in the vicinity of Jefferson Prairie Settlement.
Events in the year 1815 in Norway.
Ole Knudsen Nattestad (1807–1886) was a Norwegian-American leader and pioneer immigrant settler. Together with his brother Ansten Nattestad, he played a key role in promoting immigration from Norway and for directing immigrants to southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
Elise Wærenskjold was a Norwegian-American writer, temperance leader and early pioneer in Texas.
Western Norway Emigration Center is an open-air museum located at the village of Sletta on the island of Radøy in Vestland county, Norway. The museum consists of a small church and several historical buildings which were reassembled in a rural environment. The building were re-located from Minnesota and North Dakota from locations characterized by Norwegian American immigration during the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
Prairieville is an unincorporated rural small village in Kaufman County, Texas, United States. There is a grocery store at Prairieville, a church, and several homes. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 50 in 2000. It is located within the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.
Wise is an unincorporated community in Van Zandt County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 29 in 2000. It is located within the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
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