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. [1]
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. [1]
John Nielsen Luraas (1813–1890) first led the colony which was founded in 1839, primarily by immigrants from the Norwegian county of Telemark. They had been encouraged to seek their fortunes in Wisconsin by the pioneer Nattestad brothers. Ansten and Ole Knudsen Nattestad had immigrated during 1838 from Veggli in Numedal, Norway, to establish the first Norwegian-American immigrant community in Wisconsin at Jefferson Prairie Settlement of Rock County.
The party staked out 640 acres (2.6 km2) in two sections in Waukesha County. The following year two other settlers, Søren Tollefsen Bache (1814–1890) and Johannes Johannsen, settled in an adjacent area in Racine County, just south of the first settlement, in what is now the town of Norway, Wisconsin. The Muskego Settlement thus came to straddle the county border. [2]
Johannes Johannsen and Søren Bache both played important roles in the life of this colony. It was Johannes Johansen who drafted the Muskego Manifesto of 1845, an open letter by the Muskego colonists to the people of Norway, answering the anti-emigration propaganda of the Norwegian government. The Muskego Manifesto was published in the Norwegian newspaper Morgenbladet in Christiania on April 1, 1845. Johansen died less than a year after writing this manifesto. [3]
Søren Bache remained prominent in the affairs of Muskego for several years. He served as one of the founders of Nordlyset , the first Norwegian-language newspaper published in the United States, and was the author of a remarkable pioneer diary. Søren Bache returned to Norway in 1847. Bache settled in Lier, Norway, where he died in 1890. [4] [5]
Even Hansen Heg (1790–1850) was among a number of other immigrants who soon followed. In Drammen, Norway, Heg had been the owner and operator of a hotel. Even Heg established a transit center of sorts for immigrants. The Heg barn was erected at Muskego during 1843. This barn, the first home in America for many Norwegian immigrant, became a social and religious center in the frontier area. His spacious barn played a prominent part in the early history of the settlement, both as an assembly place and as a social and religious center for the Muskego community of Norwegian immigrants. [6]
Claus Lauritz Clausen arrived during 1843, becoming the pastor in the Muskego settlement. He organized the first Norwegian Lutheran Church in America congregation that came out of the Norwegian state-church tradition within the Muskego Settlement. Clausen also organized and served as pastor of several nearby Lutheran churches. [7]
Elling Eielsen, who had immigrated to the United States during 1839, had first arrived at Muskego prior to moving to the Jefferson Prairie Settlement. Eielsen was a resident Lutheran pastor in the Haugean tradition at Jefferson Prairie from 1846 to 1872. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (Eielsen Synod) founded in 1846 at the Jefferson Prairie Settlement, was to bear his name. [8]
James DeNoon Reymert, who had immigrated to the United States during 1842, settled in the Muskego Settlement in 1847. Reymert, Even Hansen Heg and Søren Bache agreed to start the Norwegian language newspaper Nordlyset. Reymert continued to serve as editor the paper until 1850, when it was sold and was moved to Racine, Wisconsin. [9]
Swamp fever, ague, and malaria plagued the early settlers at Muskego. The settlement was afflicted by cholera at least twice, in 1849 and 1851. Ultimately, the original settlement site was abandoned, and the settlers relocated principally to other locations in southern Wisconsin. [10] In 1904 the United Norwegian Lutheran Church arranged to have the settlement's original meeting house, the 1843 Norway Lutheran Church, dismantled, moved, and reassembled on the campus of Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota. [11]
The State of Wisconsin erected a Historic Marker during 1963 to commemorate the Muskego Settlement. It is located at the entrance to Norway Evangelical Lutheran Church, across from Heg Park, on Wisconsin Highway 36 in Wind Lake, Wisconsin. The inscription of the plaque acknowledges the leadership of John Luraas, Even Hansen Heg, Johannes Johannsen, Søren Bache, Elling Eielsen, Claus Lauritz Clausen and James DeNoon Reymert. [12]
Muskego is a city in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,032. Muskego is the fifth largest community in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Muskego has a large Norwegian population. The name Muskego is derived from the Potawatomi Indian name for the area, "Mus-kee-Guaac", meaning sunfish. The Potawatomi were the original inhabitants of Muskego. There are three lakes within the city's boundaries.
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.
Hans Christian Heg was a Norwegian American abolitionist, journalist, anti-slavery activist, politician and soldier, best known for leading the Scandinavian 15th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment on the Union side in the American Civil War. He died of the wounds he received at the Battle of Chickamauga.
The 15th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment was a volunteer infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was popularly known as the Norwegian Regiment or the Scandinavian Regiment, due to its composition of mostly Norwegian American, Swedish American, and Danish American immigrants.
James DeNoon Reymert was an American newspaper editor, mine operator, lawyer and politician. He was a pioneer settler in Wisconsin Territory, early elected official in the state of Wisconsin and founded the first Norwegian language newspaper to be published in the United States.
Elling Eielsen was a Norwegian-American minister and Lutheran Church leader. He was the first Norwegian Lutheran minister in the United States.
The Hauge Synod was the name of a Norwegian Lutheran church body in the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
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 Norway Lutheran Church or Old Muskego Church stands on the edge of the campus of Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Heart Prairie Lutheran Church of Whitewater, Wisconsin, United States, was a historic church organized in 1844 by pioneer Lutheran minister, Claus Lauritz Clausen.
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.
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.
Johannes Wilhelm Christian Dietrichson was a Norwegian Lutheran minister who played an important role in the initial establishment of the Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which eventually became the Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
West Luther Valley Lutheran Church is a historic church built in 1871 in the Norwegian immigrant farm community southwest of Orfordville, Wisconsin on West Church Rd. In 1980 the church was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a remnant of that Norwegian community and for its association with the prominent Rev. Claus Clausen.
Denoon was a village established by James DeNoon Reymert in 1852, straddling the county line between Waukesha and Racine counties in Wisconsin, 15 miles southeast of Waukesha, in range 20 E. of the towns of Muskego and Norway, on the shore of Lake Denoon. It was on the plank road between Milwaukee and Rochester, which Reymert is generally credited with getting built.
Scandinavian Immigration to the Americas involves the immigration of people from Scandinavia to the Americas and its associated territories. Typically, Scandinavia refers to the countries of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and sometimes other Nordic countries like Finland and Iceland. Individuals who immigrated to the Americas from Scandinavia brought with them cultural, economic, educational, and other valuable contributions.
Hans Christian Heg is a statue by Paul Fjelde that was cast in 1925 and installed at the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin, United States in 1926. The bronze statue depicting the Union soldier and abolitionist Hans Christian Heg was torn down by rioters, decapitated and thrown into a lake in June 2020. The Wisconsin state government restored and reinstalled the original statue in September 2021.
Nordlyset was the first in a series of Norwegian-American newspapers published by the Norwegian immigrant community in the United States. The first issue was published on St. Olaf's Day 1847 in the Muskego Settlement in the Wisconsin Territory. The editor of the newspaper was James DeNoon Reymert, an immigrant from Farsund, and the newspaper was printed in Even Hansen Heg's (1790–1850) cabin. The newspaper promoted new American values, such as freedom and equality. Many of its articles argued that the freedom of Norwegian expatriates was far greater in the United States, and that this was the main reason why many had emigrated from Norway. In 1850, the newspaper was purchased by Knud Langeland, who changed its name to Democraten.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)Municipalities and communities of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States | ||
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