The reasons people left Norway are numerous and
varied. Sometimes, several reasons were combined to help Norwegian citizens
make the decision to leave their homes and to make new lives for themselves in
the United States.Norwegian Immigration
Emigration from Norway to the United States occurred in great numbers throughout the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. During the early 1800s, the majority of Norwegian emigrants were family units from rural Norway. Single people left Norway as well, but more men left during this period than women. By the mid-1860s, extensive emigration was taking place, and more and more of these individuals were younger, often unmarried, individuals. By the late 1800s, the profile of the average emigrant had change from rural family units to single men from the city. However, no matter where these people came from, they all had their own reasons for choosing to leave Norway and come to the United States.
Why They Left and Why They Came
The reasons people left Norway are numerous and
varied. Sometimes, several reasons were combined to help Norwegian citizens
make the decision to leave their homes and to make new lives for themselves in
the United States.
Because many of the early settlers were farm families, it is no surprise that the promise of finding land in the United States led many Norwegians to the United States, and to Minnesota. The Homestead Act of 1862 opened up land to settlers who promised to farm and live on the land for five years. Other government actions, such as treaties with Minnesota Indians, including the Treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota, and various other treaties with the Winnebagoes (Ho-Chunk), Wahpekeute and Mdewkenton, opened up even more land for white settlement. Land in the United States was also quite inexpensive. In Minnesota, land costs were as low as $1.25 per acre by the mid- to late-1800s when purchased from the government, or $5 to $10 when purchased from private corporations.
The difference between America and Norway socially and politically also pulled immigrants to the United States. Socially, people in Norway lived under a strict social system. Under this system, people were expected to show public signs of respect to members of the upper classes. For example, if a man of a high social class were to talk to a man of a lower class, the man from the lower class was expected remove his hat as a sign of respect to the other man's higher status. This was a very humbling experience for the man of lower status. Because the United States did not have an official caste system or such strict protocol for interactions among people, many Norwegians looked at the U.S. as an appealing place to live.
Politically, America also seemed like the land of opportunity and freedom to Norwegian immigrants. The fact that the U.S. was a republic where the people held regular elections to place political officials in power was appealing to many people in Norway. During the nineteenth century, Norway only gave the right to vote to an elite minority of the population. Suffrage in the United States was not given to everyone in the nation, but white men were given universal suffrage in the 1820s, and by the end of the 1860s many states were looking into the possibility of allowing some women the right to vote as well. The possibility of voting rights was quite appealing to many Norwegian men and women.
Large numbers of Norwegians also left their homeland during the middle of the 1860s due to the ever-increasing population. Although there was a higher Norwegian population, there were less jobs for these people because many jobs that had previously performed by humans were now being performed by machines. Also, little farmable land was available to the average Norwegian. A great deal of the country was covered with mountains and forests and could not be farmed, and what little land was available for that occupation was extremely expensive. Those individuals who do have land to farm also faced crop failures and farm foreclosures during this period. Because of this, many people sought out new jobs and/or available farm land in the United States.
For those individuals who were not farmers, the potential wages available in the United States were far more attractive than those in Norway. For example, by the late 1800s, a sailor on an American ship could earn three to four times the wage of a sailor on a Norwegian ship. Also, jobs in the growing American cities offered work and high wages for Norwegian immigrants. A laborer in Norway, for example, could earn $40 to $50 a year, while a person involved in such activities as crafts in an American city could earn as much $4 to $5 a day when times were good.
Also influencing emigration from Norway to the United States was the promotion of the U.S. by emigration agents, newspapers and writers, and earlier settlers. Many American states had their own emigration agents as did various organizations such as the Northern Pacific Railroad. These individuals worked to advertise the benefits of the United States to the people of Europe, and Norwegians were no exception. Also, in 1862, American consuls in Norway were urged to promote the employment opportunities that America had to offer. Newspapers and authors also praised America and Minnesota to potential settlers in Norway. The Bergenposten, for example, advertised the many mining jobs that existed in Lake Superior region during 1864. Handbooks were also published and circulated throughout Norway praising the climate and condition of the United States. One such book was Ole Rynning's Sandfaerdige Beretning om Amerika (True Account of America), which was published in Norway in 1838.
As occurred with other European groups, earlier Norwegian settlers to America often sent letters back to friends and family in the homeland. These letters told of the benefits of living in the United States, and they sometimes urged the receivers of the letters to immigrate to the U.S. These letters helped increase the "America fever" (the desire to leave Norway for America) that was growing throughout Norway.
Settlement in Minnesota
Many Norwegian settlers often arrived and lived in various other locations in the United States before permanently settling in Minnesota. The first Norwegian emigrants to come to the United States often settled in the eastern Mid-west. From these new homes in America, the settlers would write to family and friends back home, praising the U.S. and urging these people to move to the U.S. as well. These letters were often successful in recruiting new immigrants to America, resulting in a rapid increase in population at the original Norwegian settlements (which was helped along by a high birth rate). Thus, as more and more Norwegian settlers arrived in the U.S., immigrants often first came to the original Norwegian settlements, but would later decide to move westward where land was plentiful and less inexpensive and where new settlements could be created.
Norwegian immigrants then began to populate these newer
settlements in the west, resulting in a great many farmers and laborers finding
themselves compelled to settle there. In Minnesota, land was inexpensive and
much was available due to treaties with the American Indians, attracting many
Norwegian immigrants. Also in Minnesota, farmers often persuaded additional
Norwegian immigrants to come to these new settlements by paying for their
tickets to America.
Norwegians settlements in Minnesota occurred all over the state, but the first permanent settlements occurred in the southeast. One such settlement was the 1851 colony in Goodhue County. Settlements soon followed in Fillmore and Houston Counties as well, and by 1860, half of Minnesota's 12,000 Norwegians resided in Goodhue, Fillmore, and Houston Counties. Ten years later, these three counties were home to nearly 25,000 of Minnesota's 50,000 Norwegian residents. By 1880, Norwegian settlements could be found in the counties of Goodhue, Fillmore, Houston, Freeborn, Steele, and Waseca.
Norwegian settlement in Minnesota also
increased after the Civil War and the Dakota Conflict of 1862, especially to
the Minnesota River Valley, where land was made available through the Treaty of
Traverse des Sioux. Settlement to this area continued to increase as the
railroads were being built in the middle-to-late 1800s.
Immigrants also came to the Red River Valley in northwestern Minnesota, settling in the counties of Clay, Marshall, Norman, and Polk. During the early 1870s, the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad helped increase migration to the Red River Valley. As a result, by 1875 Norwegian immigrants made up a 30 percent of the total population of the counties of Polk and Clay. Later, immigrants also made homes in Grant, Pennington, Red Lake, Roseau, and Kittson Counties.
Duluth was also a center for Norwegian immigration. It's location on Lake Superior provided those Norwegian fishermen with ample employment. As a result, the Norwegian population of Duluth increased dramatically between 1870 and 1900. While in 1870 only 242 Norwegians were counted in Duluth, by 1900 the population had reached 7,500 people of Norwegian ancestry.
By the middle of the 1880s, Norwegian migration to Minnesota began to shift to the cities. Most of the new Norwegian immigrants were single people who were accustomed to city life. Many also planned merely to make some money in America and then to return to Norway. The city of Minneapolis saw a large influx of Norwegian immigrations during the period from the 1880s to early 1900s, although settlement in St. Paul occurred as well.
Norwegian settlements are also found in Blue Earth, Brown, and Watonwan Counties (the "Linden Settlement"), Lac qui Parle County, the Park Region in west-central Minnesota, and the prairies of southwestern Minnesota.
Norwegian Culture
Links
University of Minnesota Norwegian Ancestry Map
Norwegian-American Genealogical Association
Sources for Norwegian Immigration, Holidays, and Cuisine
Andersen, Arlow W. The Norwegian-Americans. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1975.
Bergmann, Leola Nelson. Americans from Norway. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1950.
"Christmas Dinner: Rommegrot." <http://www.norway.org/xmas/engelsk/dinner.html> [Accessed 01 April 2000].
Harden, Richard M. Map of Minnesota. Harden Political InfoSystems. <http://hpi.www.com/mn/map.html> [Accessed 04 February 2000].
Heritage Recipes. "Rommegrot." <http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/~lyndale/rommegrot.html> [Accessed 28 April 2000].
"Lefse: Norwegian Potato Pancakes," Searchable On-line Archive of Recipes. <http://soar.berkeley.edu/recipes/ethnic/norwegian/lefse1.rec> [Accessed 28 April 2000].
"Krumkake #1." Searchable On-line Archive of Recipes. <http://soar.berkeley.edu/recipes/baked-goods/desserts/cookies/recipe1134.rec> [Accessed 28 April 2000].
Map of Norway. CIA Factbook 1999. <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/no.html> [Accessed 11 April 2000].
Meyer, Michael Holmboe. "Liberty Day International Pave Peace: May 17th. http://home.online.no/~kanda/may17.htm [Accessed 21 April 2000].
Mykland, Knut. "The 17th of May: A Historical Date and a Day of National Celebrations." <http://odin.dep.no/ud/nornytt/uda-503.html> [Accessed 21 April 2000].
"Norwegian Desserts - Desserts and Baking." <http://baking.about.com/library/weekly/aa030898.htm?once=true&> [Accessed 27 April 2000].
"Recipe for Krumkake." <http://christmas.com/pe/784> [Accessed 28 April 2000].
Semmingsen, Ingrid. Norway to America: A History of the Migration. Einar Haugen, trans. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1978.
"St. Hans Aften." <http://library.thinkquest.org/18802/norhans.htm> [Accessed 24 April 2000].
Stoa, Terry. "Terry's Lefse Links." <http://geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/8823/lefse.html> [Accessed 28 April 2000].
Mathiesen Family. "The Norwegian 'Nisse.'" <http://www.stavanger-web.com/jul/christma.htm#nisse> [Accessed 01 April 2000].
Qualey, Carlton C. and John A. Gjerde. "The Norwegians." They Chose Minnesota: A Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups. Judith Drenning Holmquist, ed. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1981.
