In 1849 came Torkild Husværet, with wife and three sons, Gulbrand, Lars and Frederik; Ole Monson Tollefsrude, wife Karen and three children, and Nils Aason, Ovre Hasle and wife Ingeborg, who had come to Rock Prairie in 1848 (removed to Wiota in 1848). Hans Lillebæk came in 1850 and about twenty in all in 1851–52.
Ole Monson, whom we have mentioned as coming in 1849, was the builder of the old Norwegian church at Wiota, which is still standing; the present larger and more commodious structure stands on the wall built by Ole Monson.
There were not very many from other provinces in Norway among those who emigrated to Wiota in the late forties. We have spoken of Ingebrigt Fuglegjærdet’s coming in 1846 from Long Prairie, where he had lived two years; he was from Vik, Sogn.[328]
From Vik came Erik I. Haave and wife in 1847, while Harald Melland and wife Anne came from Telemarken. From Sigdal there came one family in 1848; Ellef (Alef) Johnson and wife Anne. The latter served in the Civil War, in Company G of the Twenty-Second Wisconsin Regiment.[329] In 1872 he married Mary Larson,[330] of Blanchardville, La Fayette County, where they are now living.
I may conclude this chapter by saying that Arne Vinje, whose name is so intimately interlinked with the history of the community, died in 1903, having lived on the old homestead for sixty-two years. Of his eight children, three are living: Peter S. Anderson, Newell, Iowa, Daniel K. Anderson and Mrs. Martha Brunkow of Woodford, Wisconsin.
CHAPTER XXXVI
Continued Immigration from Aurland, Sogn, to Koshkonong. The Arrival of Settlers from Vik Parish, Sogn, in 1845.
In the year 1845–1846 immigration to Koshkonong from Laurdal, Vinje and Moe Parishes continued and a considerable number came from Flesberg. The accessions from Laurdal, Moe, and Hvideseid for these years record the end of a movement that began in 1843. But that which especially characterized the growth of the Koshkonong Settlement in 1845–1846 was the extensive additions through immigrants from Sogn. So extensive, in fact, was the influx from Sogn these years as to make their total representation on Koshkonong at once exceed that from either Voss or Numedal, and equal to about half that from Telemarken. These four have ever since been the dominant elements in Koshkonong’s population. A part of this immigration from Sogn was from parishes represented among the arrivals of the year before. Such were Botolf J. Grinde, Ole N. Steenhjerde and Sjur I. Romören from Leikanger, Herman T. Vee, Joseph J. Gjellum and Hermund O. Offerdal from Lærdal, Anders S. Övrebö, wife Anne and three children from Lyster, Erik L. Grov and Anders H. Ödegaard and wife Martha from Hafslo.
But much more significant was the immigration from Aurland Parish in 1845–1846, from Sogndal in 1846, and the new immigration from Vik Parish in 1845. We shall discuss these three groups in order briefly.