There were also several accessions from Numedal in 1842. The first of these, I believe, were Jens Pederson Vehus, from Nore Annex of Rollaug Parish, Numedal, and Thore Knudson Nore and sons, Knut, Lars, Ole and Sæbjörn, also from Nore.[153] With them came also Halvor Funkelien, a native of Kongsberg. Jens Vehus was a brother of Gunnul Vindeig’s wife. All three of these came directly from Norway. Jens Vehus settled about three-quarters of a mile southeast of Gunnul Vindeig, on the north half of the northeast quarter of section thirty-five. Later in the summer, and in the fall, this locality received new recruits from Numedal, who came for the most part directly from Norway via New York, Milwaukee, and Muskego, to Koshkonong. Others came from Chicago, La Salle County, and Jefferson Prairie, principally to the towns of Christiana and Deerfield.
Among the immigrants from Numedal who located there later in the year of 1842 were: Ole Helgeson Lien, wife Turi,[154] and children, Barbro and Ole, from Nore; Niels Olson Smetbak, wife Barbro Olsdatter, and family, from Nore; Mrs. Ole Bakli (Bagley), widow, and her son, Ole, from Flesberg; Björn Guldbrandsen Mörkvold, wife Asbjör and son, Guldbrand; Hellik Gunderson Hvashovd and wife, Marit, from Flesberg; Hellik’s parents, Gunder Gunderson Hvashovd and wife, Kirsti; Mari Guldbrandsen (cousin of Gunnar Hvashovd) and her daughter, Kristi (born Kristoffersen 1826); Herbrand Tollefson Mörkvold and son, Ole, and daughter, Ragnild; Torstein Levorsen Bergrud, wife Kirsti Gundersdatter (born Hvashovd) and son, Levor, from Flesberg; Thore Olson Kaasa, wife Anne Torsteinsdatter, and daughter Aslau, from Rollaug; Ole Amundson Buind, wife Helene (Brandt), and daughter Anne, from Flesberg; Gjertrud Olsdatter Sælabakka (born 1822), from Rollaug; Juul Gisleson Hamre (born 1805), with wife Anne Gundersdatter, and children, Gisle, Kjersti, and Gunder, and his sister, Anne Gislesdatter, from Flesberg (born 1797); Hellik Helliksen Foslieiet (born 1812), his wife Sigrid, and children, Hellik (born 1833), Anders (born 1835), Marit (born 1838), Christoffer (born 1841).[155]
Of those mentioned here the Hvashovd, Hamre, and Bergrud families, Mari Gulbrandsen and her daughter, Christi, and one or two more, nineteen in all, left Flesberg, Numedal, in May and arrived in Muskego in October. Here they stopped two or three weeks with Even Hegg, whose wife was a relative of Mari Gulbrandsen. Some early settlers on Liberty Prairie (Koshkonong) took their baggage to Koshkonong while the immigrants walked. These facts are told me by Reverend K. A. Kasberg of Spring Grove, Minnesota, as related by his mother-in-law, Mrs. Halvor Kravik, who was in the party (she was Kristi Kristoffersen). She relates also that “in the spring (hence 1843) she and her mother walked to Madison to get work. There was only one house on the whole road, that of an American family; but their friendly ‘come in, come in’ (Norwegian kom ind, kom ind, but pronounced alike) was easily understood. Here we were well entertained over night.”
From Telemarken the following came:[156] Richard Björnson Rotkjön (born 1816), and brother Aslak (born 1826), from Vinje; Torstein Torsteinson Gaarden, from Tin; Ole Höljeson Yttreböe, with wife, Margit, and children, Johanne and Anne, and Halvor Hansen Dalstiel (Dalastöl), from Hvideseid; Ole Torsteinson Aasnes, wife, Ingeborg, and daughter, Hæge, from Vinje; Ole Gulliksen Barstad (born 1791), wife, Ingeborg Jonsdatter (born 1799), and children, Vetle, Eivind, and Halvor, from Siljord; Ole Olson Haugan, from Siljord; Torbjörn Havredalen, wife, Lisa, and family, from Vinje;[157] and Gunhild Saamundsdatter (born 1798), from Laurdal. Furthermore Guro Olsdatter (born 1821), from Nissedal, and Thomas Johnson Landeman (born 1804), from Sandsværd; and Torbjörn Havredalen with wife, Lisa, and family, also came to Koshkonong that year.
The great majority of these made the town of Christiana their first stopping place. So that, by the end of 1842, there were perhaps more immigrants found together within the area of that township than in any of the other settlements founded during the preceding years, 1839–1840.
It was at this time that the question of a name for the new town was being mooted. Gunnul Vindeig was given the privilege of naming it, and he decided for Christiania, adopting the name of the capital of Norway. The form as it came to stand, however, would seem to be a typical instance of that slovenly habit of slurring syllables in foreign names, which so often appears in the records of American officials or clerks in land offices in those days. Yet the Billed-Magazin is authority for the statement that Gunnul Vindeig himself was the cause of the error, he, by mistake, writing Christiana instead of the correct Christiania.
In the meantime new colonies are springing up elsewhere and the settlements previously established are growing and thriving. Before, therefore, tracing the further development on Koshkonong Prairie, it will be in order to note the advance in other localities.