History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 36

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264

USA > Minnesota > Goodhue County > History of Goodhue County, Minnesota > Part 36

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

A large part of society has ever been against legitimate medi- cine. depending upon the scientifie physician in time of trouble, vet in the interim openly supporting all sorts of shams, frauds and impostors. "The horizon of the average man's interest in medicine," says Dr. Welch, "scarcely extends beyond the cir- cumference of his own body or that of his family, and he meas- ures the value of the medical art by its capacity to cure his cold, his rheumatism and his dyspepsia. all unconscious, because he does not encounter them. of the many perils which medicine has removed from his path through life. What does he know of the

330

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

decline of the death rate by one half, and of the increase of the. expectation of life by ten or twelve years during the past cen- tury?" He pays the lawyer for services involving property ten times the fee that the physician receives for services involving life. Many well-informed people recognize the standing of med- ieal men, simply because of their knowledge of the immense amount and high character of the work which is being done by the profession, but millions of men and women of reasonable intelligence and education, practically ignorant of this, intrust their most valuable possessions-life and health-to charlatans and chance, though they would not enter court without a lawyer nor build a house without an architect. All of this is due to ignorance of modern medicine. The instruction of the laity by the medical profession is the rational cure for popular ignorance. If the public be properly informed it will become interested, and if interested. it will assist. The knowledge of the human body and the betterment of physical conditions is too personal not to. excite interest, if properly presented. The more the public is informed on medical matters the greater is its ability to protect itself, and the closer it will come to the regular physician, and the- higher the standard it will demand. "We, the medical profes- sion, are now in the possession of truths that can help our fellow man. Is it not our duty to tell our fellow man ?" The answers. to this question are: the national campaign against tuberculo- sis, the bulletins of the boards of health, the medical instruction of the public by county medical societies, by virtue of a resolution of the American Medical Association. The medical profession has accepted facts that bear on the welfare of the. people, and it is its duty to make them known. The time is now at hand for a radical change in the relation of the physician to the publie at large. Medieine can be a power in the world only as it is repre- sented by the practitioner. He must no longer be concerned only with existing disease, but must take cognizance of the broader field which it is the province of medicine to occupy. His new duty will be to enter into a copartnership with the people for the prevention of disease; to inform them, according to the measure of their needs, concerning a science which so deeply concerns the lifework, comfort, happiness and mental achievements of every individual. He will take up the medical education of the people and instruet them how to avoid and abort disease, how to make hygiene effective, how to develop physical perfection, and to promote mental and moral improvement.

With the diffusion of this information the voice of the profes- sion will be heard in the halls of legislation ; its influence will be felt in a virile grasp of the great principles that underlie the physical well-being of society. Neglect of public sanitation will

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

LETOL, LENYT TILNEY (PS ..

GEORGE C. WELLNOR, M. D.

331

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

cease to fill our hospitals and our cemeteries; architecture will no longer be the handmaiden of disease; systems of education arranged without the slightest reference to the laws of mental development will be discarded. Questions of health will have their weight in determining the relations of capital and labor; excessive hours of duty, exacted of those to whose vigilance the lives of the traveling publie are intrusted, will no more result in appalling disasters. Unrestricted traffic in drink will not con- tinue to destroy life and health, and to prepare an inheritance of disease for offspring yet unborn. Public opinion will cease to applaud that abnormal activity in business and social life which has already gone far toward making us a nation of invalids." "A great duty," says a distinguished president of the American Medical Association, "rests on the practitioner today. He must not shirk it ; he must rise to his new burden, accept, and bear it. The reward to the medical profession for taking this new burden will be a broader life for the practitioner, a greater consideration for his fellow man. better citizenship, and the recognition by the world that the medical profession is a great benefactor."

"To labor for the alleviation of suffering and for the restora- tion of health," says Professor John Allan Wyeth, "is a noble vocation, but to teach our fellows how to avoid disaster is a prouder privilege and higher duty."-George C. Wellner, M. D.

Dr. George Christian Wellner was born May 24, 1849, near the ancient city of Scheinfeld, Middle Franconia, Bavaria, where the family settled prior to 1700. He came to the U. S. in 1857, settling in Manitowoc, Wis .. and moving to Chicago in 1862. He received his education in the parochial school of the old country, the common schools of the U. S .. Prof. Geo. W. Quackenbos' Pri- vate Academy, and Rush Medical College. He came to Red Wing, Minn., in 1875 and located successively in Springfield, Minn., 1880; Red Wing, 1883; Wabasha, 1885. and Red Wing, 1893. In 1878 he married Miss Margaret S. Hiekman. Their children are, Emilie M. (Mrs. R. A. Haenssler). George C., Berthold B., Giralda M., and Margaret M. The doctor has held the following offices : Physician to the North Star Dispensary, Chicago, 1875; county physician, Brown county, Minn .. 1880-83; member common coun- cil and board of education, Springfield. Minn., 1882; county physician. 5th district Goodhue county, Minn., 1884: county physician, Wabasha county, Minn .. and health officer of Wabasha, 1890-93; secretary board U. S. examining surgeons, Wabasha, 1886-93: assistant surgeon 3rd regiment M. N. G., 1887 ; president Wabasha County Medical society, 1890; secretary board U. S. examining surgeons, Red Wing, 1897 to present time; president Goodhue County Medical Society, 1906; president board of health, Red Wing, 1907 to present time ; director 3rd district Min-

332

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

nesota Association for the Relief and Prevention of Tuberculosis ; member of the Goodhue County Medical Society, Minnesota State Medical Society, member of the American Medical Asso- ciation. Dr. Wellner is the author of "The Medical Graduate and His Needs," and of the article "The Physician." the latter of which appears in this volume.

CHAPTER XX.

SONS OF THE VIKINGS.

Discovery of America - Modern Norwegian Immigration - Mathias Pedersen Ringdahl-Early Settlers-Anecdotes- Officeholders-Newspapers-Norwegians as Pioneers-Their Present Status.

The Norwegians of today are the descendants of that fearless race, the Vikings, who peopled the coast of Norway and swept the oceans with their swift craft. venturing to Iceland, then to Greenland, and then, it is believed, even to the Atlantic coast of North America as far south as Long Island. It is stated that Bjarne Herjulfson, while driven about in a storm, sighted the coast of Labrador in 986. Eric, the Red. was one of the pioneers of Iceland and Greenland, and his son, Lief Ericson, or Leif the Lucky, as he was called, was early filled with the spirit of adven- ture. In the year 1000, this Leif, with a company of thirty-five men, set out from Greenland and started down the North Ameri- can coast, landing on the island of Newfoundland and on the peninsula of Nova Scotia. Continuing their voyage, they reached the vicinity of what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the fall of the year. The wild grapes were hanging heavy on the vines, and Tyrker, a German, who accompanied the expedition, called the place Vineland. Norwegian historians have declared that Leif landed and settled near what is now Fall River, Mass. Even to the present day, there exists in New England a stone tower believed to have been the work of these Norsemen.

In 1003, Leif's brother, Thorwald, was killed by the savages while leading another expedition of Norsemen in about the same locality. In 1007 came a larger expedition, headed by Thorfinn Karlsefin, who had married Gudrid, a widow of Thorstein, a brother of Leif. This expedition consisted of 600 men and pos- sibly some women. They landed near what is now Buzzards Bay. Three years later this settlement was abandoned, and the party sailed back to Greenland with hides and timber.

In 1847 there probably oceurred another attempt, although this is less generally believed than the story of the other Norse

333

334

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

settlements. It has been declared that Columbus visited Iceland in early life, and that he was familiar with the story of the discovery and settlement of the New England coast by the Norsemen.

In 1619, a Norseman, Jens Munk. visited America at the head of a Danish expedition whose intention it was to take possession of a part of the country in the name of the king of Denmark. He returned to Norway in 1620, the only survivor of the attempt.

In 1633, a Norwegian ship builder by the name of Hans Han- son Bergen, who had for a time resided in Holland, came to New Amsterdam, as New York was then called. It is also believed that there were some twenty other Norwegian settlers in that early colony. Claus Van Sande, the Indian interpreter of the New Amsterdam colony, was a Norwegian.

July 4, 1825, a party of Norwegian Quakers left Stavanger, Norway, and in due time reached New York. What subsequently became of this party has never been positively established. In 1839 a large colony of Norwegians came to Wisconsin. With this colony begins the story of modern Norwegian immigration to America. although from the settlement at New York down to that time there had been here and there individual Norwegians who took an active part in public affairs, notably in the Moravian colony at South Bethlehem. Pa. It is possible that several Nor- wegians settled in Minnesota in 1851. but the real influx started in 1852-53, when Houston and Fillmore counties began to be populated.

The first Norwegian in Goodhue county was Mathias Pederson (Ringdahl). from Hadeland, Norway, who came to Red Wing in the winter of 1852-53. IIe did not, however, found any settle- ment. It was in 1854 that the Norwegians settled in two town- ships at the same time-Holden and Wanamingo-also occupying portions of Leon and later of Minneola. Following is a list of some of the early Norwegian settlers: Hans Ovaldsen, from Krageroe: Henry and Toege Nelsen Talla, from Lyster, Song; William Runningen, from Sandoekedal; Anders Baanhus, from Soevde. Telemarken: John Stroemme; Anders Hesjedalen and Haldor Eive, from Strilelandet ; Tosten Aaby, from Sigdal ; Bernt Sauland, from Jaederen : Torbjoern Wraalstad, from Dramgedal ; Nils Fenne, Syver Honedal, from Voos; Gunder Hestemyr, from Sandoekedal : Olaf P. Ness, from Vik, Sogn; Guttorm Otternes, from Aurland, Sogn; Mathias Ringdahl. Faaberg; Christian Lunde and Andreas Erstad, from Land; Tosten Guldbrandsen, from Gudbrandsdalen ; Ola and Aamund Ofteli, from Telemarken ; Knut, Anders. Ole and H. K. Finseth, from Hallingdal; Jens Ottun, O. J. Sortedal, Kolben Egtveit, O. O. Huset, Halvor Ener- sen, Torbjoern Enerson, Ole O. Oakland, Ole J. Bakke, Tosten

335

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

Anderson, Nels Gulbrandsen. As far as is known all these came in 1854, most of them from Wisconsin. Next came Svend Nor- gaard, from Telemarken; Ola Gunhus, from Kroedsherrad; Christian Halvorsen Dokken, from Hallingdal; Ragnvald Ohn- stad, from Aurland, Sogn; Ole Eriksen, Elling Halgrimsen, Lars N. By: G. K. Norsving, Ole Nesseth, Erick Anderson; Nils Mik- kelsen, Mickel Johnson, P. N. Langemo, Syvert Halvorsen Dokken, Halvor Syvertsen Dokken, Syvert Markussen, Lars Markussen, and Helge Gulbrandsen Bakken, from Vang, Valders. The last named walked from Decorah, Iowa.

Mrs. Ole Bakke, the first white woman in Holden, relates that one day she left her child lying in its bed and went out to get some water, and when she returned the child had disappeared. She hurriedly ran out and as she heard the eries from a nearby grove, she ran to it as fast as she could. A squaw had stolen the child, but when she saw the mother coming she left the child and ran away. Mrs. Torbjoern Enersen gave birth to the first white child in Holden. Erik Elton died there in the fall of 1855. This was the first death in the township.

The early settlers in Goodhue county were as poor as they were able, the worst was that they did not have sufficient clothing to withstand the severe cold. But they soon overcame this. Soon they began to raise wheat on a large scale. As an example of what the first settlers had to endure the following is given: A man who wished to go to Oronoco, Olmsted county, in the winter of 1855 spent the night with Erik Talla and continued his journey the following morning. After three days he returned. During all this time he had been wandering about on the prairie in a blinding snow storm without knowing where he was and without finding people. The following story relating to Indians was obtained from Cleng J. Dale: "It was in the year 1852. One evening about 7 o'clock there came a warning that the Indians were coming and that they were murdering our next neighbor and his family. It was difficult to say what to do. The thought of saving anything of our possessions we immediately gave up. We thought it wisest to flee just as we were. With our one-year-old daughter, my wife and I went eastward to Osmund Wing, who was busy getting his family into a wagon. We decided to go in an easterly direction to Torger Rygh, a devout old countryman, where people frequently held meetings. Here we soon gathered a whole company. The women and ehil- dren occupied the second story, while the men remained below and armed themselves as well as we could with axes, piteh- forks; firearms we did not have. Those of the men who were the most Viking-like took their places as sentries about the house during the night. However, the Indians did not come. In the

336

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

morning we sent out two spies to examine how matters stood in our homes. They returned with the report that as far as they could see and hear, everything was quiet and our homes were in the same order in which we had left them. Then we returned. At this time B. J. Muus was pastor of the Holden congregation. He removed his family to Red Wing." Mr. Muns, however, returned and continued his labors.

Herman Hansen Bakke, who now lives in Spring Valley, Wis., relates that he settled at Belvidere Mills, Goodhue county, in 1855, and that he had no crops the first five years. Prairie fire destroyed them. On one occasion he also lost his tools and every- thing else which he owned except his house.

The pioneer Peter Langemo relates, among other things: "The houses in Goodhue county occupied by our fellow countrymen were small, as a rule 10x12, but small as they were, they often accommodated two or three families. The first year after Min- nesota became a state a law was passed that the taxes should be collected by the town treasurer. Thus it happened in Holden that the treasurer and his family lived together with another man in the latter's log hut. which to all appearances was still smaller than the others. So it happened one day that a Halling who lived in the western part of the township came to pay his taxes, but he seemed to harbor a fear that he had come to the wrong place. After having carefully examined the hut on all sides, he entered and made his observations and asked. 'Is it here that the high official lives?' The treasurer was Ole Solberg, and after an affirmative answer the Halling paid his tax.

The Holden congregation was founded in 1856. by Rev. H. A. Stub, belonging to the Norwegian synod. It was the first Nor- wegian congregation in the county. Nevertheless the congrega- tion did not have regular service before Rev. B. J. Muus arrived in 1859. The church was built in 1861.

Hans Hanson Holtan was the first Norwegian in Goodhne county to hold a public office. he being elected to the legislature in 1857. His brother-in-law, O. O. Hagna, was the first Nor- wegian in the county to hold county office, being elected treasurer in 1869. He is still living, and makes his home with his sons in Minneapolis. A list of public officers in Goodhue county of Norwegian birth or descent follows: Members of the state legis- lature-Hans Hansen Holtan. from Naes, Telemarken; Lars K. Aaker: A. K. Finseth, of Kenyon, from Hemsedahl, Hallingdahl : Olaf O. Norvold. of Zumbrota. from Lesje, Gudbrandsdal; O. J. Wing, of Aspelund, parents from Htavanger district ; O. K. Nae- seth, of Wanamingo. parents from Holden. Skien : Frederick Pet- tersen. Zumbrota. from Ondenhus: Knut K. Finseth. of Kenyon. from Hemsedahl; A. A. Flom, of Cannon Falls, from Aurland,

331

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

Sogn; G. K. Norsving, of Nerstrand, from Vang, Valders; N. P. Langemo, of Kenyon, from Sandoekedal; N. J. Ottun, of Kenyon, from Lyster, Sogn; Ole P. Huleback, of Kenyon, from Hausedahl; H. P. Hulebak, of Kenyon, from Hause- dahl; Ole O. Huseth, of Norway, from Holden's; John H. Boxrud, of Goodhue, from Eidsvold; C. L. Brusletten, .of Kenyon, from Naes, Hallingdal; Jens K. Grondahl, of Red Wing, from Eidsvold; A. J. Rockne, of Zumbrota, parents from Voss. Treasurer-O. O. Hegna, from Sande, Telemarken. County anditor-Carl N. Lien, of Red Wing, ancestors from Vang, Val- ders. Clerk of district court-IIans Johnson, of Red Wing; Albert Johnson, of Red Wing. Court commissioner-George M. Gulbrandsen, of Red Wing. County attorneys-S. J. Nelson, of Red Wing; Albert Johnson, of Red Wing. County coroner-A. H. Allen, of Red Wing, from Hallingdal. Sheriff-A. F. Ander- son. of Red Wing, from Fredricks. (Mr. Anderson has also been county commissioner, state dairy commissioner and presidential elector.) County superintendent of schools-Julius Boraas, of Red Wing, parents from Stjordalen. County commissioners-O. K. Naeseth, of Wanamingo: A. T. Kjos, of Kenyon, from Vang : Ole O. Huset, of Norway, from Trondhjem; O. K. Finseth. of Kenyon, from Hemsedal; T. K. Simmons, of Red Wing. County supervisor-Nils G. Nyhagen, of Kenyon. Judge of probate, Oscar D. Anderson. Justices of the peace-K. K. Hongo, from Hallingdal; Mons S. Urevig, from Aurland, Sogn; A. A. Flom. of Cannon Falls: judge of district court, Albert Johnson. Red Wing.

The following places in Goodhue county have Norwegian names : Holden, Norway, Toten, Eidsvold, Dovre, Sogn, Henning. Vang, Nausen. Aspelund. Skyberg. The majority of these post- offices have been replaced by the rural free delivery.

Several Norwegian papers have been published in this county : "Budbaereren," the organ of the Hauge's synod. was started in 1868, by L. E. Swenson, of Christiana. The first editors were the Revs. Oesten Hansen and O. A. Bergh. It is published weekly at Red Wing, has twenty-four two-column pages and has of late years been edited alternately by Rev. Christian Brohough and C. C. Holter. "Boernevennen," an illustrated Sunday school paper, was established in 1877, by C. Lillethun and Rev. Christian O. Brohough. The paper belongs to Hauge's synod and is pub- lished at Red Wing. "The Little Messenger" is a weekly paper for children, published in Red Wing under the auspices of Hauge's synod. "Nordstjeren," a weekly paper, was started in Red Wing in 1895 and was published several years. Jens K. Grondahl was the manager and editor. "Broderbaandet," the publication of "Brodersamfundet," was issued in 1899 at Ken-

338

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

von, by Rev. K. O. Lundeberg, and moved to Wahpeton, N. D., in 1903. It is now printed weekly at Minneapolis, Min.

Thirty years ago a previous history published an estimate of the Norwegians as pioneers. At the time this article was written less than two decades and a half had elapsed since the settlement in the county, and but few of the children born in the township had attained their majority. The article, as written at that time, follows: "A large number of inhabitants of the county-at least one-fourth-are Norwegian. In the south- west part, where the county offers the greatest advantages for agricultural purposes, several townships are settled almost exelu- sively by them. In this fertile and suitable region they have a better chance of having their energy and industry rewarded than they had in Norway. where greater exertions were needed merely to gain a subsistence, whether as agriculturists on the small, stony and steep pieces of cultivated land or as sailors and fish- ermen on the surrounding sea. The Norwegians are eminently fit to be pioneers of civilization. In their lonely valleys they have become more accustomed to live by themselves and to be content in their own company than settlers from more densely populated countries; and they do not to the same degree feel the want of social advantages. from which the pioneers, to a greater or less degree, are excluded. Self help was, in the old country, cultivated to a high degree in regard to the mechanical work needed by the farmers. It was often a considerable dis- tance to the next neighbor, and the farmers did much of the work themselves, where in other places a tradesman was ealled into requisition. Almost everyone could, for instance, do his own horseshoeing and other blacksmith work; thus they were well accustomed to the hard work called for in a pioneer country, because in their own country they had to work hard to make a living, and this rigorous training has made them hardy, strong and enduring. As soon as they arrive in this county they eom- menee working with a good will, and almost universally their exertions have been crowned with snecess. The kind of property the Norwegians value the most is landed estate. The first set- tlers tried to stretch themselves over as much land as they could, occupying land for their relations and friends yet to come, be- sides what they claimed for themselves. New land seekers were frequently turned off with the information that all the surround- ing land was taken. The boundaries were sometimes so extrava- gant that controversies ensued with later arrivals, which on one occasion, at least, resolved into blows. This collsion caused the 'Club Law'-established by some of the oldest settlers for the retention of their claims-to be abolished. A battle with clubs, axe handles and other weapons was fought at one time on seetion

339

HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY

30. Wanamingo, with damaging results to more pates than one. As soon as the claim was secured, work commenced, preparing the ground for seed, grubbing out the brush and breaking the soil. The lodgings were inferior, and for a long time confined to the primitive log hut,, which, however, was solid and warm. As the Norwegians care well for their domestic animals, the first improvements in the way of buildings are good and substantial stables and barns. They do not, for immediate use, build a smaller and cheaper structure, but they wait until able to build something large and solid, and then, economical as they are, they do not shun the expense. 'The best is the cheapest,' is their motto. As soon as the Norwegian has a comfortable home, and often before, he looks around for more land, and buys of his neighbor. if he can; thus the price of land rises in Norwegian neighborhoods so that it often sells for one-fourth more than the same quality brings in other parts of the county. Those farmers who have been less successful in obtaining for them- selves land or property frequently sell out and remove to other parts of the country. The Norwegians prefer to build each at a distance from the other. Everyone likes to have his own for himself, and at a distance from his next neighbor, and to be in as large a degree as possible 'Monarch of all he surveys, whose rights there are none to dispute.'"

Thus was it written thirty years ago. Today there are no more intensely loyal Americans than the descendants of these same Norwegians. Intelligent, educated, progressive, with un- swerving devotion to principle, foremost in the ranks of those who work for the good of the county, they are often more thor- oughly American than the descendants of the Puritans. With the ancient Norse ancestry of which to be proud, and a record of modern achievement which places them with the leaders of twentieth century movements, they have laid their stamp upon the county and country, and their sons and brothers are occupy- ing positions of trust and honor wherever the United States flag is floating at the present time.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 36

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1264

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264