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. The reasons people left Norway are numerous and varied. Still, there were general trends that caused large populations of Norwegians to come to the United States.

Why They Left and Why They Came

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. This land was available because the U.S. government coerced the Native people of the area to sign treaties, including the Treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota with the Dakota. Because these treaties were often signed by force, the U.S. government paid next to nothing for the land and it was later made available at low cost to German immigrants. 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 Homestead Act of 1862 also opened up land to immigrant settlers who promised to farm and live on the land for five years.

A major factor influencing emigration from Norway to the United States was heavy promotion 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. Railroad companies sent recruiters to Norway to get the church involved in organizing migrants to establish colonies in Minnesota. 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.

Recruitment was relatively easy because of economic conditions in Norway. Due to an increasing population, farmable land was scarce and expensive. The invention of labor-saving machinery also resulted in a surplus of labor in Scandinavia, so it was difficult to find work. Jobs in 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.

Politically, America seemed like the land of opportunity and freedom to Norwegian immigrants. 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.

Similar to other European immigrants, Norwegians sent letters to friends and family back home. These letters sometimes urged the receiver to join their loved ones in America. This contributed to the "America fever" (the desire to leave Norway for America) that was growing throughout Norway.

Settlement in Minnesota

Many Norwegian settlers 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. As more and more new immigrants came to America there was 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 America, the original Norwegian settlements would move westward where land was plentiful and less inexpensive and where new settlements could be created.

Norwegian settlement in Minnesota increased after the Civil War and the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, especially to the Minnesota River Valley, where land was taken through the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. Following the war, the majority of Dakota people were expelled from Minnesota and European settlement increased rapidly.

Because the land of Minnesota was taken by force from the American Indians, land was cheap for the European immigrants who came here. Before long, the immigrant population exploded in Minnesota. Norwegians settled all over the state, but they established the first permanent settlements in the southeast. One such settlement was the 1851 colony in Goodhue County. They soon settled in Fillmore and Houston Counties as well. 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, there were Norwegian settlements in the counties of Goodhue, Fillmore, Houston, Freeborn, Steele, and Waseca. Norwegians also made settlements 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. This was all Dakota land.

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. Much of this land belonged to the Lakota and Nakota peoples.

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. In 1870, 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 these 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. There was a large influx of Norwegian immigrants into the city of Minneapolis from the 1880s to early 1900s, although they settled in St. Paul as well.

Norwegian Culture

Holidays

Cuisine

Links

University of Minnesota Norwegian Ancestry Map

Norskland.com

Norwegian-American Genealogical Association

Sons of Norway

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].

Hedges, James B. 1926. "The Colonization Work of the Northern Pacific Railroad." The Mississippi Valley Historical Reivew 13(3): 311-342.

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.