Three different parties of immigrants, nearly all from Telemarken, came to Racine County in 1843. One, the so-called Wigeland party, left Skien early in the spring by ship commanded by Captain Bloom, sailing to Havre, France. The second party, going about the same time, sailed out from Skien by the Olius, Captain Björnson, also going to Havre. Of the third party we shall speak below.
At Havre those in the first party seem to have engaged passage on an American ship Argo, a five-masted sailing vessel loaded with Swedish iron bound for New York. While Olius was laid up for repairs, the American captain began cutting prices, offering at last to take the new arrivals to New York for nine five-franc pieces each (or about $8). Many did not dare to take passage on the Argo, fearing that some trick was being played on them, but most of them went. Argo proved a good sailer, reaching New York four weeks ahead of Olius. There were, however, long delays in New York and Buffalo, so that the immigrants did not reach Milwaukee before August 15th. Among those who came on the Argo were: Arentz Wigeland and wife Gunild, his aged father Andrew Wigeland, and his brothers George and Andrew, and two sisters; Halvor Pederson Haugholt, with wife Tone and four sons and two daughters, Gunild and Ingeborg; Ole Overson Haukom and family, eleven in all; Anders Jacobson Rönningen, wife Kjersti and three sons;[289] Jens Hundkjilen and Anders Smekaasa; Amund S. Sötholt, his brother, Sören S. Sötholt, Sven S. Klomset; Lars Tinderholt; Nils H. Narum, Halvor Nisson, John Maaren, Nils Rue, John Kossin, John Husevold, all with families; Östen Ingusland, John Husevold, Hans Tveito, Svein Nordgaarden, Gjermon T. Nordgaarden, Mathias H. Kroken, wife and children, his wife’s sister Anne and their mother Sissel; Ole O. Storlie, with wife,[290] four sons and two daughters; Kjittil Haugan and family; Gunuld K. Maaren, Gro Grave and her mother; Halvor I. Doksrud, wife and two sons, Halvor and Ingebret. All these, about one hundred in all, were from different parts of Telemarken. Besides there were sixteen persons from Sætersdalen as follows: Tollef Gunnufson Huset, wife Hæge Olson and six children from Bygland, Augun Berge and wife from Vallö, Kjögei Harstad from Vallö, Tollef Knudson and wife and three children from Holestad Parish, and Tolleif Röisland and Ole Nummeland from Vallö, the first emigrants from Sætersdalen to America. All but the last two of these went to Muskego.[291]
Arentz Wigeland, born 1812, who may be regarded as the leader, had sailed for seven years between Boston and the West Indies and along the American Atlantic coast. Passing the winters in Boston he had learned the English language, and in 1842 returned to his home in Bamle, Norway, to bring his family to America. He became the chief promoter of the considerable immigration from Lower Telemarken that year. Wigeland settled in Yorkville Township. In 1844 he married Gunild Pederson; he died in 1862. The daughter Maren (b. 1845) married John W. Johnson in 1865. Mrs. Wigeland died in Racine in 1897. Haugholt (b. 1799) was from Saude Parish in Lower Telemarken. He settled on section 18 in the Town of Raymond; there he died in 1882, his wife[292] died in 1876, aged 79 years. Their oldest son Ole, who was drowned in the fifties in the Norway marshes, was the first person buried in the Yorkville Cemetery.
Nels Narum was from Stathelle in Bamle Parish; he settled in Norway Township on section 20. Both he and his wife died in 1887, about eighty-seven years old. Hans Tveito (Twito) settled in the part of the settlement that lay in Waukesha County; he moved to Houston County, Minnesota, in 1855 and in 1866 to Filmore County; Halvor Nissen who was from Bamle, also settled in Waukesha County. Ole Overson was from Hviteseid Parish; when they came to Norway they lived for some time with John Dale (who had come from Norway in 1837 with Mons K. Aadland and Ole Rynning). In 1845 he preëmpted land in section 34, where his son Frank Overson lived until quite recently.
Our third party of emigrants were from Upper Telemarken, mostly from Siljord Parish. They came on the ship Vinterflid.[293] Among those in the party were: Knud S. Kvistrud and Kari Berge from Tin, Egil O. Cleven and family, and a cousin Knut Haugan, wife and two daughters from Langelev; Björn Stondal, Ole O. Hedejord[294] and wife Liv, three daughters, Esther, Ida and Etta, and two sons, Ole and Edward; Torbjörn G. Vik and family, who later moved to Koshkonong; Aanund Drotning who also went to Koshkonong that same year;[295] Aase and Ingeborg Olson[296] from Mandal, Telemarken. John Homme from Siljord, father of Reverend G. Homme, founder of the Indian School at Wittenberg, Wisconsin, also came at the same time, as also Ole Myren and wife Bergit, and Torgrim Busness and wife Anne from Tin, who moved to Springfield Township, Winneshiek County, Iowa, in 1851.
That year also Ole Heg, son of Even Heg and a brother of Colonel Hans C. Heg,[297] came and settled in Racine County, as also Knud Langeland from Samnanger, who in 1866 became the first editor of Skandinaven founded that year by John Anderson in Chicago. Knud Langeland lived at first in Muskego, later at North Cape, Racine County. In 1849 he married Anna Hatlestad (born in Skjold Parish, Ryfylke, in 1830), whose parents Jens O. Hatlestad and wife Anne had immigrated in 1846, and settled in the Town of Norway. Knud Langeland was also the first editor of Amerika, which began publication in Chicago in 1884. During the last years of his life Langeland lived in North Cape and in Milwaukee, where he died in 1888; his wife died in 1908, at the home of her son, Dr. Peter Langeland with whom she had lived since her husband’s death.[298]
There came three persons from Voss to Racine County in 1843, namely, Knut S. Skjerve (b. 1808), and wife Kari, and his unmarried sister, Brita Selheim. Skjerve located in Norway, Racine County, in the neighborhood of Nils Johnson. In 1847 Skjerve sold his land to Knut K. Aaretuen from Sogn and went to Jefferson Prairie, Boone County, Illinois, where he bought a farm and lived till his death in 1892; his wife died there in 1873.
During 1844–1846 the increase in immigration was constant, though not large. In 1847 there arrived a considerable number. The scattered accessions of these years represent as widely removed parishes as Skien, Lærdal in Sogn, and Namsos in Trondhjem. The following is a partial list: 1844, John Larson and Peter Jacobson and family from Stathelle, Bamle, Johannes J. Quala from near Stavanger; Thormod S. Flattre with wife Ingeborg (Lydahl)[299] and children from Voss, who settled in Norway Township, Halvor O. Skare and wife Margrete and two children from Lower Telemarken, who located in Norway Township in 1845;[300] John I. Berge and wife Julia, and Hans H. Bakke and wife Ingeborg, who moved to Spring Grove in 1854, and Peder Torgerson and wife Anne and five children from Kragerö.[301] In 1846: Jens O. Hatlestad and wife (see above page [284]) parents of Rev. O. J. Hatlestad, pioneer publisher, minister, and author of Historiske Middelelser om den norske Augustana-Synode, Decorah, Iowa, 1877; Elling Spillom, wife Maren and three sons, Ole, Hendrik, and Mikkel and one daughter; Ole Homstad and Mathias Homstad, both with families, from Namsos in Trondhjem Diocese;[302] they settled in Raymond Township; Halvor and Ingebret Roswald[303] from Gjerpen. Knudt K. Hedle, wife and sons Mathias, Peter, and daughter Betsy from Lærdal, Sogn; Tyke Hendrikson Lökken and wife Anne from Gjerpen, who bought the Aslak Aas farm in Norway Township; they had four children, Hans, Ole, Peter and Maria.[304] In 1847: Peter M. Andsion from Namsos, with wife and four children (three daughters and a son); they settled in Norway Township.
In this year Captain Hans Friis from Farsund, Agder, Norway, settled in Muskego. Friis was a sailor with Enigheden in 1837 (see above page [96]), and between 1837 and 1847 had made nine journeys to America. After settling in Muskego he continued for many years sailing on the Great Lakes. In 1848 the following came to Muskego: George J. Björgaas from Houg, Voss,[305] Tollef O. Öien from Tönset, Österdalen (removed to Kewanee County in 1855), and J. H. Skarie, from Hadeland, who located in Town of Norway. This year also brought to Muskego the pioneer minister Hans Andreas Stub (b. 1822), who had that spring received and accepted the call to the Muskego church. Knut and Anna Aaretuen from Aurland, Sogn, also appear among the number; they bought the farm of Knut S. Skjerve in Norway Township. In 1854 they moved to Winneshiek County, Iowa, and about 1860 to Gilmore County, Minnesota. John T. and Christoffer Olson from Romskogen in Rödenæs, Halvor “Modum” from Modum, Norway, and Guro Wait and son Reuben from Österdalen, Norway, all came in 1848.
This brief outline of the growth of the settlement represents fairly completely the increase by immigration from Norway between 1842 and 1850. The wave of migration had long ago moved westward; it had already gone beyond Koshkonong also. It was northern and western Dane County and southern Columbia County that were now the Mecca of immigrants. In the meantime some small settlements in Walworth and Jefferson Counties had already been founded. We shall, therefore, briefly discuss these now.