Norwegian Americans

Norsemen from Greenland and Iceland were the first Europeans to reach North America. Leif Erikson reached North America via Norse settlements in Greenland around the year 1000. Norse settlers from Greenland founded the settlement of L'Anse aux Meadows and Point Rosee in Vinland, in what is now Newfoundland, Canada.[2] These settlers failed to establish a permanent settlement because of conflicts with indigenous people and within the Norse community.

A 1925 U.S. postage stamp featuring the ship Viking honoring the 100th anniversary of Norwegian immigration.

The Netherlands, and especially the cities of Amsterdam and Hoorn, had strong commercial ties with the coastal lumber trade of Norway during the 17th century and many Norwegians immigrated to Amsterdam. Some of them settled in Dutch colonies, although never in large numbers.[lower-alpha 2] There were also Norwegian settlers in Pennsylvania in the first half of the 18th century, upstate New York in the latter half of the same century, and in New England during both halves.

During the colonial period, Norwegian immigrants often joined the Dutch seeking opportunities for trade and a new life in America. The Dutch often took Norwegians with them to the New World for their sailing expertise.[3] There was a Norwegian presence in New Amsterdam in the early part of the 17th century. Hans Hansen Bergen, a native of Bergen, Norway, was one of the earliest settlers of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, having immigrated in 1633. Another early Norwegian settler, Albert Andriessen Bradt, arrived in New Amsterdam in 1637.

Approximately 60 people had settled in the Manhattan area before the region was taken over by the British Empire in 1664. The total number of Norwegians that settled in New Netherland is not known. In the period that followed, many of the original Norwegian settlers in the area remained, including the family of Pieter Van Brugh, a colonial mayor of Albany, who was the grandson of early Norwegian immigrants.[4]

Many immigrants during the early 1800s sought religious freedom. From the mid-1800s however, the driving forces behind Norwegian immigration to the United States were agricultural disasters which led to poverty, from the European Potato Failure of the 1840s to the Famine of 1866–68. The agricultural revolution also put farmers out of work and pushed them to seek employment in a more industrialized America.[5]

The earliest immigrants from Norway to America emigrated mostly for religious motives, especially as members of the Religious Society of Friends or as Haugeans. To a great extent, this early emigration from Norway was born out of religious persecution, especially for Quakers and a local religious group, the Haugeans.[6]

Cleng Peerson

Organized Norwegian immigration to North America began in 1825, when several dozen Norwegians left Stavanger bound for North America on the sloop Restauration (often called the "Norse Mayflower").[7] Under the leadership of Cleng Peerson, the Restauration left Stavanger in July 1825 and ferried six families on a 14-week journey.[8] The ship landed in New York City, where it was at first impounded for exceeding its passenger limit. After intervention from President John Quincy Adams, the passengers moved on to settle in Kendall, New York with the help of Andreas Stangeland, witnessing the opening of the Erie Canal en route. After making the journey to Kendall, Cleng Peerson became a traveling emissary for Norwegian immigrants and died in a Norwegian Settlement near Cranfills Gap, Texas in 1865.[9] The descendants of these immigrants are referred to as "sloopers", in reference to the sloop ship that brought them from Norway.[8] Many of the 1825 immigrants moved on from the Kendall Settlement in the mid-1830s, settling in Illinois and Wisconsin.[9] These "Sloopers" gave impetus to the westward movement of Norwegians by founding a settlement in the Fox River area of Illinois. A small urban colony of Norwegians had its genesis in Chicago at about the same time.

While about 65 Norwegians emigrated via Sweden and elsewhere in the intervening years, no emigrant ships left Norway for the New World until the 1836 departures of the Den Norske Klippe and Norden. In 1837, a group of immigrants from Tinn emigrated via Gothenburg to the Fox River Settlement, near present-day Sheridan, Illinois. It was the writings of Ole Rynning, who traveled to the U.S. on the Ægir in 1837 that energized Norwegian immigration, however.[10][11]

Throughout much of the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th century, a vast majority of Norwegian emigration to both the United States and Canada followed a route commonly shared by most Swedish, Danish and Finnish emigrants of the period, being via England by means of the monopoly established by the leading shipping lines of Great Britain, primarily the White Star Line and the Cunard Line, both of which operated chiefly out of Liverpool, England.[12][13] These lines negotiated with smaller 'feeder lines', primarily the Wilson Line, which was based out of the port city of Hull on England's east coast, to provide emigrants with passage from port cities such as Christiania (present-day Oslo), Bergen and Trondheim to England via Hull.[14] Steamship companies such as Cunard and White Star included fares for passage on these feeder ship in their overall ticket prices, along with railroad fares for passage between Hull and Liverpool and temporary accommodations in numerous hotels owned by the shipping lines in port cities such as Liverpool.[15]

Most Norwegian emigrants bound for the United States entered the country through New York City, with smaller numbers coming through other eastern ports such as Boston and Philadelphia. Other shipping lines such as the Canadian Pacific Line,[16] which operated chiefly out of Liverpool, and the Glasgow-based Anchor Line[17] operated routes to ports in eastern Canada, primarily Quebec City, Montreal and Halifax. Because Canadian-bound routes were slightly shorter, lines which disembarked at Canadian ports often provided quicker passages and cheaper fares. The Canadian route offered many advantages to the emigrant over traveling to the U.S. directly. "They moved on from Quebec both by rail and by steamer for another thousand or more miles (1,600 km) for a steerage fare of slightly less than $9.00." Steamers from Quebec, Canada brought them to Toronto, Canada then the immigrants often traveled by rail for 93 miles to Collingwood, Ontario, Canada on Lake Huron, from where steamers transported them across Lake Michigan to Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay. Not until the start of the 20th century did Norwegians accept Canada as a land of the second chance. This was also true of the many American-Norwegians who moved to Canada seeking homesteads and new economic opportunities. By 1921, one-third of all Norwegians in Canada had been born in the U.S.

Data from the U.S. Office of Immigration statistics showing trends in Norwegian immigration to the U.S. from 1870 to 2016

Between 1825 and 1925, more than 800,000 Norwegians immigrated to North America—about one-third of Norway's population with the majority immigrating to the U.S., and lesser numbers immigrating to the Dominion of Canada. With the exception of Ireland, no single country contributed a larger percentage of its population to the United States than Norway.[18] Data from the U.S. Office of Immigration statistics of the number of Norwegians obtaining lawful permanent resident status in the U.S. from 1870 to 2016 highlights two peaks in the migration flow, the first one in the 1880s, and the second one in the first decade of the 20th century. It also shows an abrupt decrease after 1929,[19] during the economic crisis of the 1930s.

Norwegian settlers in front of their sod house in North Dakota in 1898. Photo taken by John McCarthy and collected by Fred Hultstrand

A 1962 U.S. postage stamp commemorating the centennial of the Homestead Act was issued. The image on the stamp is based on Norwegian settlers in front of their sod house.

Beginning in 1836, Norwegian immigrants arrived in significant numbers annually. From the early "slooper" settlement in Illinois, Norwegian pioneers followed the general spread of population northwestward into Wisconsin. Wisconsin remained the center of Norwegian American activity up until the American Civil War, a war in which a number of Norwegian Americans fought for the Union, such as in the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment. In the 1850s Norwegian land seekers began moving into both Iowa and Minnesota, and serious migration to the Dakotas was underway by the 1870s.

Norwegian immigration through the years was predominantly motivated by economic concerns. Compounded by crop failures, Norwegian agricultural resources were unable to keep up with population growth, and the Homestead Act of 1862 promised fertile, flat land. As a result, settlement trended westward with each passing year. The majority of Norwegian agrarian settlements developed in the northern region of the so-called Homestead Act Triangle between the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. Early Norwegian settlements were in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Illinois, but moved westward into Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. Later waves of Norwegian immigration went to the Western states such as Montana, Washington, Oregon, and Utah through missionary efforts which gained Norwegian and Swedish converts to Mormonism. Additionally, craftsmen also immigrated to a larger, more diverse market. Until recently, there was a Norwegian area in Sunset Park, Brooklyn originally populated by Norwegian craftsmen.

The upper Midwest became home to most immigrants. In 1910 almost 80 percent of the one million or more Norwegian Americans lived in that part of the United States. In 1990, 51.7 percent of the Norwegian American population lived in the Midwest. At that time, Minnesota had the largest Norwegian American population and Minneapolis functioned as a hub for Norwegian American secular and religious activities.

In the Pacific Northwest, the Puget Sound region, and especially the city of Seattle, became another center of immigrant life. Enclaves of Norwegian immigrants emerged as well in greater Brooklyn, New York, in Alaska, and Texas. After Minnesota, Wisconsin had the most Norwegians in 1990, followed by California, Washington, and North Dakota.

In a letter from Chicago dated November 9, 1855, Elling Haaland from Stavanger, Norway, assured his relatives back home that "of all nations Norwegians are those who are most favored by Americans." Svein Nilsson, a Norwegian-American journalist recorded that "A newcomer from Norway who arrives here will be surprised indeed to find in the heart of the country, more than a thousand miles from his landing place, a town where language and way of life so unmistakably remind him of his native land."[20]

This sentiment was expressed frequently as the immigrants attempted to seek acceptance and negotiate entrance into the new society. In their segregated farming communities, Norwegians were spared direct prejudice and might indeed have been viewed as a welcome ingredient in a region's development. Still, a sense of inferiority was inherent in their position. The immigrants were occasionally referred to as "guests" in the United States and they were not immune to condescending and disparaging attitudes by old-stock Americans. Economic adaptation required a certain amount of interaction with a larger commercial environment, from working for an American farmer to doing business with the seed dealer, the banker, and the elevator operator. Products had to be grown and sold—all of which pulled Norwegian farmers into social contact with their American neighbors.

Norwegian-American debating societies provided opportunities for immigrants to discuss and debate issues of the day in an atmosphere conducive to learning while also developing skills useful in American life. Beginning in 1889, both the Wig Debate Society and Forward Debate Society, located in Minnesota, hosted weekly debates. Many topics were discussed including voting rights, women's rights, and racism. These societies helped to develop friendship and understanding.[21]

In places like Brooklyn, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle, Norwegian-Americans interacted with the multi-cultural environment of the city while constructing a complex ethnic community that met the needs of its members. It might be said that a Scandinavian melting pot existed in the urban setting among Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes, evidenced in residential and occupational patterns, in political mobilization, and in public commemoration. Inter-marriage promoted inter-ethnic assimilation. There are no longer any Norwegian immigrant enclaves or neighborhoods in America's great cities. Beginning in the 1920s, Norwegian-Americans increasingly became suburban.[22]

Norwegian-Hawaiian girl, 1909

Norwegian Americans cultivated bonds with Norway, sending gifts home often and offering aid during natural disasters and other hardships in Norway. Relief in the form of collected funds was forthcoming without delay. Only during conflicts within the Union between Sweden and Norway, however, did Norwegian Americans become involved directly in the political life of Norway. In the 1880s they formed societies to assist Norwegian liberals, collecting money to assist rifle clubs in Norway should the political conflict between liberals and conservatives call for arms. The ongoing tensions between Sweden and Norway and Norway's humiliating retreat in 1895 fueled nationalism and created anguish. Norwegian Americans raised money to strengthen Norway's military defenses. The unilateral declaration by Norway on June 7, 1905, to dissolve its union with Sweden yielded a new holiday of patriotic celebration.

In American popular culture, Norwegian Americans were the central characters in the popular CBS network television series, Mama (1949–1956). Set in San Francisco around 1900, the weekly program focused on working-class family life.[23] They also form the background to Garrison Keillor's "Lake Wobegon" series of novels as well as A Prairie Home Companion, a radio variety show that contains much humorous material from the "Norwegian American Midwest".

According to a 2018 paper, Norwegian immigrants who lived in large ethnic enclaves in the United States in the 1910 and 1920 "had lower occupational earnings, were more likely to be in farming occupations, and were less likely to be in white-collar occupations."[24]

Most Norwegian immigrants to the United States, particularly in the migration wave between the 1860s and early 20th century, were members of the Church of Norway, an evangelical Lutheran church established by the Constitution of Norway. As they settled in their new homeland and forged their own communities, however, Norwegian-American Lutherans diverged from the state church in many ways, forming synods and conferences that ultimately contributed to the present Lutheran establishment in the United States.[27] The Norwegian Lutheran church was a focal point in rural settlements in the Upper Midwest. The congregation became an all-encompassing institution for its members, creating a tight social network that touched all aspects of immigrant life. The force of tradition in religious practice made the church a central institution in the urban environment as well. The severe reality of urban life increased the social role of the church.

The official State Church in Norway did not extend pastoral care to emigrants and provided no guidance in the formation of new congregations in the United States. The Church of Norway was seen as an integrated part of the Norwegian state administration with no particular responsibility for people outside of Norway, with the exception of sailors and those who remained citizens. As a consequence, no fewer than 14 Lutheran synods were founded by Norwegian immigrants between 1846 and 1900. In 1917 most of the factions reconciled doctrinal differences and organized the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America. It was one of the church bodies that in 1960 formed the American Lutheran Church, which in 1988 became a constituent part of the newly created Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.[28]

Several Lutheran colleges and higher education institutions were founded by Norwegian Americans, which retain a Norwegian lutheran identity today. Luther College, located in Decorah, Iowa was founded by Norwegian immigrants in 1861 and is today associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota is also associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and was founded by Norwegian settlers in 1891. Other Norwegian Lutheran colleges include: Augsburg University, Augustana College, Bethany Lutheran College, Pacific Lutheran University, St. Olaf College, and Waldorf College.

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  Lutheran church on Sletta, Radøy, built 1908 to 1922 in Brampton, North Dakota, and moved as a gift from Norwegian emigrants in the United States in 1997.
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  St. Olaf Kirke, constructed in 1884, in Cranfills Gap, Texas.
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  Norwegian Lutheran Church in Irwin, Iowa, in 1941.
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  Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, built in 1922.
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  Chapel in the Hills, a replica of an historic stave church, consecrated in 1969 in Rapid City, South Dakota.
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  Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church, or Minnekirken, completed in 1912 in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood.
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  Historic Norwegian church in Herkimer County, New York

As of 2000, U.S. communities with high percentages of people who use Norwegian language were:[30]

1. Blair, Wisconsin 8.54%
2. Westby, Wisconsin 7.67%
3. Northwood, North Dakota 4.41%
4. Fertile, Minnesota 4.26%
5. Spring Grove, Minnesota 4.14%
6. Mayville, North Dakota 3.56%
7. Strum, Wisconsin 2.86%
8. Crosby, North Dakota 2.81%
9. Twin Valley, Minnesota 2.54%
10. Velva, North Dakota 2.52%

As of 2000, the ten U.S. counties with the highest percentage of Norwegian language speakers were:[30]

1. Divide County, North Dakota 2.3%
2. Griggs County, North Dakota 2.0%
3. Nelson County, North Dakota 2.0%
4. Norman County, Minnesota 2.0%
5. Traill County, North Dakota 2.0%
6. Vernon County, Wisconsin 1.8%
7. Steele County, North Dakota 1.6%
8. Trempealeau County, Wisconsin 1.6%
9. Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota 1.5%
10. Pennington County, Minnesota 1.0%

• Blegen, Theodore C., ed. (1936). Norwegian Emigrant Songs and Ballads. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Evjen, John O. (1916). Scandinavian Immigrants in New York 1630–1674. Minneapolis: K. C. Holter Publishing Company.
• Gulliksen, Øyvind T. "Letters to Immigrants in the Midwest from the Telemark Region of Norway ". Norwegian-American Studies. 32: p. 157.
• Nilsson, Svein (1982). A chronicler of immigrant life: Svein Nilsson's articles in Billed-magazin, 1868-1870 (trans. and ed. C. A. Clausen). Norwegian-American Historical Association.
• Øverland, Orm, ed. (2013). From America to Norway: Norwegian-American Immigrant Letters, 1838–1914, Volume One: 1838–1870. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
• Ræder, Ole Munch (1929). America in the Forties: The Letters of Ole Munch Ræder (ed. and trans. Gunnar J. Malmin). Norwegian-American Historical Association.
• Varg, Paul A., ed. (1979). "Report of Count Carl Lewenhaupt on Swedish-Norwegian Immigration in 1870" Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly. 30(1): pp. 5–24. — Swedish diplomat provides a wealth of factual detail on immigrants.

• Bergland, Betty A., and Lori Ann Lahlum, eds. (2011). Norwegian American Women: Migration, Communities, and Identities. Minneapolis: Minnesota Historical Society Press; 2011. — scholarly essays on the experiences in rural and urban settings.
• Bjork, Kenneth. (1958). West of the Great Divide: Norwegian Migration to the Pacific Coast, 1847–1893. Norwegian-American Historical Association.
• Blegen, Theodore C. (1931–1940). Norwegian Migration to the United States. Norwegian-American Historical Association. 2 Vols.
• Blegen, Theodore C. (1921). "Cleng Peerson and Norwegian Immigration", Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 7(4): pp. 303–21. doi:10.2307/1886191
• Brøndal, Jørn (2004). Ethnic Leadership and Midwestern Politics: Scandinavian Americans and the Progressive Movement in Wisconsin, 1890–1914. University of Illinois Press.
• Brøndal, Jørn (2014). "'The Fairest among the So-Called White Races': Portrayals of Scandinavian Americans in the Filiopietistic and Nativist Literature of the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries". Journal of American Ethnic History. 33(3): 5–36. doi:10.5406/jamerethnhist.33.3.0005
• Eriksson, Katherine (2019). "Ethnic enclaves and immigrant outcomes: Norwegian immigrants during the Age of Mass Migration." European Review of Economic History. doi:10.1093/ereh/hez013
• Evjen, John O. (1972). Scandinavian Immigrants in New York 1630–1674. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company.
• Flom, George T. (1909). A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States: From the Earliest Beginning Down to the Year 1848. Iowa City: Private Printing.
• Gjerde, Jon (1997). The Minds of the West: Ethnocultural Evolution in the Rural Middle West, 1830–1917. University of North Carolina Press.
• Gjerde, Jon (1985). From Peasants to Farmers: The Migration from Balestrand, Norway, to the Upper Middle West. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Gray, Hans-Petter (2020). "Good Americans 'born of a good people': Race, whiteness, and nationalism among Norwegian Americans in the Pacific Northwest". Nordic Whiteness and Migration to the USA. Routledge. pp. 98–116.
• Grav, Hans-Petter (2018). "Vesterheim in Red, White and Blue: The Hyphenated Norwegian-American and Regional Identity in the Pacific Northwest, 1890–1950". (Dissertation. Washington State University, 2018).
• Jacobs, Henry Eyster (1893). A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States. New York: Christian Literature Company.
• Joranger, Terje Mikael Hasle (2019). "The Creation of a Norwegian-American Identity in the USA." Journal of Migration History. 5(3): pp. 489–511.
• Lovoll, Odd S. (2014). Riggs, Thomas (ed.). "Norwegian Americans." Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. Vol 3 (3rd ed.) vol. 3. Gale. pp. 343–357.
• Lovoll, Odd S. (2010). Norwegian Newspapers in America: Connecting Norway and the New Land . Minnesota Historical Society Press. — discusses more than 280 Norwegian-language papers, both short-lived and successful, founded after 1847.
• Mathiesen, Henrik Olav (2014). "Belonging in the Midwest: Norwegian Americans and the Process of Attachment, ca. 1830–1860," American Nineteenth Century History. 15(2): pp. 119–46.
• Munch, Peter A. (1979). "Authority and Freedom: Controversy in Norwegian-American Congregations". Norwegian-American Studies. 28.
• Nelson, E. Clifford, and Eugene L. Fevold (1960) The Lutheran Church among Norwegian Americans: A History of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House. 2 Vols.
• Nelson, O. N. (1904). History of the Scandinavians and Successful Scandinavians in the United States. Minneapolis: O. N. Nelson & Co.
• Norlie, Olaf M. (1925). History of the Norwegian People in America. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House.
• Olson, Gary D. (2011). "Norwegian Immigrants in Early Sioux Falls: A Demographic Profile". Norwegian-American Studies. 36: pp 45–84.
• Qualey, Carlton C. (1938). Norwegian Settlement in the United States. Norwegian-American Historical Association.
• Rygg, Andreas Nilsen (1941). Norwegians in New York, 1825—1925. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Norwegian News Co.
• Thaler, Peter (1998). Norwegian Minds--American Dreams: Ethnic Activism among Norwegian-American Intellectuals. Newark and London: University of Delaware Press.
• Woods, Fred E., and Nicholas J. Evans (2002). 'Latter-day Saint Scandinavian Migration through Hull, England, 1852–1894'. BYU Studies. 41(4): pp. 75–102.