CHAPTER XXXIX
Blue Mounds in Western Dane County, Wisconsin
The extensive Norwegian settlement in Western Dane County, ordinarily referred to as Blue Mounds from the “blue mounds” in the township of that name, was founded in 1846. Three families had, however, located there as early as 1844, namely those of Thor Aase, Peder Dusterud, and Lars P. Dusterud. Thor Aase, with wife Martha, five sons and two daughters,[370] settled on section ten in Springdale; they came from Sogn in 1843 and had lived one year at Wiota. Peder Dusterud and wife and family settled on section 33 in Blue Mounds and the son Lars Dusterud and wife located on section 27, both in Blue Mounds Township. These two came from Rock Run, Illinois, where they had located in 1842, immigrating from Vægli, Numedal.[371] They had also worked for some time in the Dodgeville, Wis., lead mines.
In 1846 a company of eleven persons arrived from Racine County; they were the following: Tore Toreson Spaanem, Halvor and Nils H. Grasdalen, John I. Berge and wife Julia and one child, his sister Mrs. Knut Sörenson Kvisterud, Tosten Thompson Rue, Ole T. Garden, Ole Kvisterud, and Ole Sjutvett. Knut S. Kvisterud, who had just before this gone to Mineral Point and secured work there, came to Blue Mounds in 1848. John Thompson later was more generally called “Snow-shoe Thompson” from the fact that he carried the U. S. mail over the Sierra Nevada Mountains for twenty years (1856–1876), walking on skis.
All these came from Muskego, Wisconsin, whither they had immigrated from Tin, Telemarken. Spaanem and Halvor Grasdalen had come there in 1841, Knut Kvisterud and wife in 1843, and Berge in 1845. The Rue family had come from Norway, as we have seen, in 1839 (see above page 125). In 1846 the Town of Primrose, immediately south of Springdale, also received its first Norwegian settlers, namely, Christian Hendrickson, wife Maria and three children, Caroline, Henry, and Charles. He had emigrated from Lier, Norway, in 1842, and worked four years in the lead mines at Wiota to pay his passage from Norway. Mr. Hendrickson drove from Wiota to Primrose with oxen, all his possessions being then a wagon, a cow, and seventy-five cents. He lived eight years in the log hut first erected and built a stone structure in 1855.
The next arrivals to Blue Mounds were Erik Solvi, who came from Sogn in 1847, and lived successively in Springdale, Vermont, and Blue Mounds, and Gullik Svensrud and family from Vægli, Numedal, who had immigrated in 1844,[372] and first located on Rock Prairie. It was also in 1847 that the first immigrant from Valders arrived in Blue Mounds; this was Ragnild Fadnes who in 1851 married Ever Halsten. She was born in North Aurdal in 1826; as near as I am able to determine she was the only member of the family who came at the time.
During 1846–1847 other localities, Wiota, Western Koshkonong, Spring Prairie and Norway Grove had claimed a considerable portion of the immigrants. But in 1848 they began to come in in large numbers in the townships of western Dane County and neighboring parts of Iowa County. To Primrose the following came in that year: Nils Skogen, Salve Jörgenson, and Nils Einarson. To Perry: Ole O. Bakken and wife Anne (Bergum) and two sons (Ole and Tideman) from Valders. This was the first Norwegian family to locate permanently in Perry; Bakken bought the claim of a “squatter” named Andreas Olson, who was therefore the earliest Norwegian in the township. Later in the same year came Lars Langemyr from Christiania, Norway, Torger T. Tvedt from Aamli in Nedenæs, Reiar Aarhus from Telemarken, Halvor O. Milesten from Hadeland, and Lars Halvorson and Hans Johnson from Drangedal.
The arrivals of 1848 were Ole Barton, wife Ingeborg and son Ole, Gulbrand Elseberg,[373] wife Ingeborg and two daughters, Christian O. Skogen, Ole O. Braaten and Nils O. Belgum; and in 1849: Knud Larson, Anders Lundene, Iver Halstein, Iver Lund, Ole Jelle, Sr., and Tore Maanem, all of whom were from Valders, mostly from North Aurdal. Tollef S. Anmarksrud and wife Karen came to Koshkonong the latter year, but he also removed to Blue Mounds in 1850. During the next few years immigration to the various townships of western Dane County was rapid. For the fall of 1849 and in 1850 are to be mentioned, e. g. the following arrivals in Springdale Township: Harald and Arne Hoff, Ole and Aslak Lee, Levor Lien, Ole Thompson Brenden, Anders, John and Knut Lunde, Knut J. Lindelien, Harald Stugaard, Michel Kolskett and Erik O. Skinrud; several of these had large families. To Blue Mounds Township came: Erik Engen, Ole Boley, wife and four children, and Arne Röste, with family of eleven children; all those named here came from Valders.[374]
From Sogn came Ole A. Grinde and Ole Menes, the latter remaining, however, two years in Norway Grove before coming to Blue Mounds. Michael Johnson (b. 1832 in Leikanger, Norway) emigrated to America in 1853, located first in Windsor, then removed to Vienna, finally settled permanently in Springdale in 1856. His parents, Jon Michelson Dahlbotten and wife Randi, and his sister Martha[375] and younger brother Botolf came to America in 1854. Mr. Johnson became a prosperous farmer and stock-raiser, his farm of 400 acres being one of the finest in that part of the state. He took an active part in church and school affairs and was for many years a member of the governing body (Kirkeraad) of the Norwegian Lutheran Evangelical Synod of America. He held many positions of trust in the town and the county, was a member of the State Legislature for three consecutive terms, 1874–75-76, and for years a well-known figure in the politics of the state. Mr. Johnson lived in Mt. Horeb since 1894; he died in 1908, leaving a widow and seven children.
In Primrose and Perry the Norwegians also settled extensively in 1849–1850. Among those who arrived in the former year were Gunnuf and Ole Tollefsen from Sæltersdalen, who as we have seen above, page [281], had immigrated to Muskego in 1845. Others who came to Primrose that year were G. and Ole Danielson[376] from Telemarken, Leif Olson, Kittil Moland, Ole Anderson and Peter P. Haslerud. Tollefson relates how he became the possessor of his quarter section in Primrose as follows:[377]