Letters
These letters have been included because they depict pioneer life so well:
I. 26 APR 1840: To Sjur Gilderhus from his son-in-law
II. 24 JAN 1849: To Lars Gilderhus from a friend
III. 24 APR 1842: To Sjur Gilderhus from his son Nils
Note especially their concern for religious instruction and their willing trust in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
Date: April 26, 1840
To: Sjur Anderson Gilderhus
From: Knud Larson Brekke (son-in-law)
To the honorable man, Sjur Anderson Gilderhus;
in Voss Parish, Vangs district, Province of Bergen, Norway:
As opportunity is given me to send a letter home to my own and my friends, I write, and it may be my last letter.
If it was only a farewell from this earth and its strife, it would be easy, but to know that I shall never see my own, and my dear friends any more grieves me bitterly.
But I must look upon this parting from my friends in a sensible way, for I know and am fully convinced that friends here on earth must part, but will be reunited in the hereafter.
The first thought of parting grieves me, but the last thought gives me comfort.
Now I will write about conditions here, and about our journey up through the country.
We left New York on the 8th of July and came to Chicago on the 24th of the same month. It being 1600 miles.
There we found some of our country men, Nils Rothe, Sjur Ulven and others. We stopped only 2 hours in Chicago, but went 70 miles up the country to a place called Fox River. There we arrived on the 27th of July. We then rested on the Sabbath; also on Monday, then we were given work. I was paid half a barrel of wheat per day, and my wife was paid a little less. We worked nine days, and received 6 bushels and 6 "sheppe", or about 11 bushels in all. Then I bought a cow and paid 22 dollars for the same.
While I was cutting hay for me cow I got boils in one hand and infection set in. I was sick for three weeks. On the day I got up out of bed my wife took to bed with sickness called Ague-fever. She was very ill for 20 weeks. And I want to tell you, my friends, I don't want to advise anyone to come to this country, on account of this sickness. But as far as making a living, conditions here are good.
One barrel of wheat costs 2 dollars. One pound of pork costs 6 shilling (Norwegian money). One lb. of butter, 1 cts. One bushel of potatoes, 12 cts. One lb. of coffee 18 cts. One lb. sugar, 12 cts.
We stayed at Fox River until the 1st of January, when we returned to Chicago. There I bought a house for which I paid 50 dollars. We also bought a stove, which cost me 16 dollars; three kettles, three pans, a coffee kettle and a dipper came with the stove. I have taken a piece of ground for which I pay neither for land nor crop. I live as independent as any one. No one has it better than I do. But I long for my own and my friends.
My father-in-law, my mother-in-law, my two sons, my son's wife, also Nils Ygre, Knud Molster and their wives, my wife's brothers and sister. This pains me that I may never see them again, but I pray day and night that we my be reunited in the Heavenly home, where we will have eternal joy if we follow God's commands.
Now I will describe the country. It is just as Ole Running wrote it in his book. Ole Running is now dead and will write no more letters to Norway.
In Fox River there is more land to be had unless I buy from speculators, and then I would have to pay 5 dollars per acre for Prairie land or 18 dollars for timber land. But even if I could have gotten land there, I would not have lived there. There was no church, no preacher, no communion services. If a person died, a rough coffin would be fashioned, the deceased placed therein, a grave dug and burial on the same day. There is baptism, and if a couple wishes to get married, the Squire comes to the house and says three words and it is all done. There are few books here. I was told by some that they had not read a word since they came here. They never say Grace, nor thank the Lord at the table. So we returned to Chicago, here we have religious exercises the same as in Norway.
It cost me 71 dollars from Bergen to New York, and from New York to Fox River 50 dollars, and from Fox River to Chicago again 10 dollars. And besides our living expense on the boat across, and up through the country.
But the hardest of all is the language. Here are so many languages. English predominates, but there is French, Irish, and German. I find the German the easiest to understand, but I have learned sufficient so I can sell and buy, and understand what I am told to do. As I have already stated, I advise no one either for or against coming here, because of this terrible sickness which attacks the immigrants on their arrival here.
Lena Christine Bryndelsdaughter from Bergen, John Olson Flage, Andres A. Flage, Lars Kielson Gjostien, Ole Svelgane and wife, Gunner Tveite, wife and child, Brytva Monsdaughter Skuttle, Nils Varnbeim, Shovat Vasenden and 2 children, Halle Vethe, wiffe and oldest daughter, Briet Brog, and Nils Bjorgo. All these have died at Fox River while we were there. In Beaver Creek settlement about 20 have died. I have not the names of all the Norwegians in Chicago that have died. It has been sad to see so many sick and helpless. Some in every home, not able to help themselves to as much as a drink of water. They also call this sickness malaria. My sister's husband has been ill with this fever ever since he came here, but my sister has been spared. She has been well and earned quite a bit of money. They have bought an old house for 28 dollars and a rifle. Ole Gilderhus, Endre "Hatmaker" Rude, his wife and Kiel Gjosten are those suffering the most. First they get the chills so hard they shake the covers of the bed, this lasts from one to two hours, then the fever sets in, they feel as though they are burning up. This weakens a person so they never regain their full strength.
I have my cow and get so much milk that I sell enough to pay for meat, pork and cornmeal, and still have enough for butter. The main food is meat, pork, butter and coffee. My work at present is sawing wood. I get 1 dollar per cord, on my own board. A cord is the same here as in Norway. It is a day's work to saw one cord. A woman gets from 4 to 6 shilling for washing clothes. Four American shilling are equal to one half dollar Norwegian money. Now I will tell about the winters here.
We had to begin feeding the cattle 8 weeks before Christmas and the cold is severe. I never experienced such cold in Norway. I came from the canal one day about a month before Christmas and I crossed over the prairie which was six miles. I tied a new scarf over my ears and still I froze my ears badly, and the snow was 2 feet deep. This was the hardest winter in many years they tell me, and it lasted until in March. We did not feed the cow very much after April 14th.
They tell us that Vestchusine (Wisconsin) has plenty of land to be had at 10 shilling per acre. Many of the Norwegians are going there this summer, also from Fox River, and it is much healthier there. Nels, my brother-in-law is going there. While we were at Fox River Nels stayed at the same house as we did, and he stayed on when we came back to Chicago.
The day we moved my cow came in, and I gave Nels hay and a barrel of Indian corn and he was to get the milk for feeding the cow through the winter. On the 6th of May I went to fetch my cow. I went 50 miles, and Nels came 20 miles with the cow to meet me. He was very well and had not been sick at all, and we write to each other quite often.
I forgot to tell how we came up through the country. In New York we met a man by the name of Trompari, from Bergen. He helped us make a bargain for 4 dollars per person, including baggage, from the city of New York to a place named Buffalo. They took a steam boat (a tug) and fastened nine boats onto it, and we sailed quickly up the Hudson River to Albany. There they weighed our baggage. They then took 14 wagons and placed us and our baggage thereon, about 20 people on each wagon. They then hitched these wagons unto a steam wagon and away we went, so fast I could hardly see what kind of trees grew beside the road. That was the fastest ride I have ever had.
Then we came to a town named "Shinnage" (Schenectady), and there they put us on a canal boat pulled by horses, to a city called Buffalo. We came to a town where they chased us off the boat in the middle of the night, and there they weighed our baggage, boat and all. Then we came to Rochester, and there we hired the wife of Lars Larson to go with us as an interpreter to Buffalo. According to the bargain we made in New York, we thought all was paid for as far as Buffalo, but they made us pay for our baggage on the canal boat. I had to pay 9 dollars which made it 17 dollars in all. Mrs. Larson then bargained for us to Chicago, and I had to pay 28 dollars from Buffalo to that city. We then came on a steam boat to Chicago. When we came there we went by wagon to the Fox River settlement. For this trip I paid 10 dollars.
I have so many other things to write about, but time and space does not permit me. It might interest you to know more about labor conditions, machinery, canal work and other things, but would make half a book to write it at all. If I am spared life and health I shall write more next time. Kindly greet Knud Knudson Finne and my sister-in-law Gudve Thormodsdaughter, and all who may ask about me.
Nels Gilderhus, Nils Bolstad, and Magne Bystolen have bought land in "Vestchusen" and are moving there. If I will go there I do not know. It is a good place to live here in America, if one only is well. Now we buy the best wheat for 1 dollar a barrel. All our acquaintances are well, except Odd Himle and Anna Bukketun. The are very bad with the Fever-ague. Anna is married to rich captain named Nicklos. Odd Himle had planned to go to Norway this summer had he been well.
My letter has been delayed until now, August, and I must send it by mail. Those of my friends mentioned in this letter will have to pay the postage when it reaches them.
I have heard some Norwegian families have come to New York.
I will close with kind greetings to my nearest relatives, and friends, and may God bless them and keep them, and wherever you may be, do not worry about us as far as our living is concerned.
I have been well, except the boils I had in my hand, and my wife is well now, and does not suffer from ague any more.
She has had work off and on. Many are so poor they have to work as soon as they are up after an attack of ague, and that is bad, but their money was used up on their journey here.
Good bye my friends.
Chicago, April 26th, 1840
Knud Larson Brekke
Date: January 24, 1849
To: Lars Sjurson Gilderhus
From: Bryngel Knudson Dugstad (friend)
Lars Sjurson Gilderhus,
Dyrvedalen, Voss Parish,
Bergen Province, Norway.
My dear relatives and friends. The past summer I received 2 letters from you, by which I see that you are well and content. This gives me great pleasure, but through Iver Knudson I hear that my father is not so well. This gives me sorrow, as I now live at such a great distance that I can neither help nor comfort him in his old age.
I thank the Lord that I now am able to send you the good tidings that I and me family are all well and have been ever since we left Norway, so we have no reason to complain or wish us back to Norway. Last simmer I bought 20 acres "Speculation" land, and paid 395 dollars for it. It lies about one-half English mile from the land I live on. I also bought a claim of an American 120 acres, and paid 195 dollars for the same. There is also a house on this land which was included in the sale. This land is about 10 miles from my homestead, and joins David Anderson Nyre, and Bryngel Larson Lei. I now have in all 400 acres. The crops were a little lighter this year than last year, due to the hot summer. They tell this was the hottest summer for many years.
Last summer I milked 3 cows and they give as much as nine cows in Norway. I also have 2 yoke of oxen, 4 young stock, 15 hogs, 13 sheep and 40 chickens. Last fall I butchered 6 pigs for our own supply. Pork costs from one and half to 3 cents a pound. Butter is from 6 to 12 cents per pound. Wheat is 2 dollars a barrel. Indian corn costs 80 cents a barrel. Potatoes are one-half dollar per barrel.
My oldest son Knud went to Michigan 2 months before Christmas. He hired in Chicago to go there, and was to be paid 13 dollars a month, including board for all winter. It is 180 miles from here where he is working.
Where religion is concerned it is very difficult. Here are so many sects, and much confusion. But for one that wants the true religion here is also a chance for them. We have now joined with Lutheran minister by name Claus Clausen from Denmark. He is as good a preacher as Rev. Ville at Voss. Clausen has organized a congregation here and a large number of Norwegians have joined. Erick Erickson Steen has school for 2 months, and Iver has joined the confirmation class. Our other children have also received religious instruction and if we now continue with school our children will not suffer lack of Christian knowledge. We have now built a school house at the cost of 150 dollars. I paid as my share 4 dollars. The school house is one English mile from my place.
The land here is divided into sections, and each section into eighties, and one sixteenth of every section has been set aside by the Government for school land, and when this land gets sold the money goes to hire a teacher if we have a school house. I paid 3 dollars and 10 cents as tax for the land I am living on, and 2 dollars to the pastor's salary.
The people here have been fairly well. Nothing unusual as regards illness. But I hear of some places where the people have been too ill to take care of the harvest, and much grain has been left uncut. This sickness seems to attack the Americans mostly, because they work so hard in hot weather, and then drink a lot of cold water, cold as the spring water in Norway. I have seen wells a hundred feet deep.
Sjur Knudson Quarene and family are well. He has now 420 acres of land. Erick Knudson Dugstad and wife are now well, but he was sick for 5 weeks this winter. No one here that I know is sick, nor has anyone died, of my acquaintance this last year.
If any of my acquaintances plan to come to this country this year, then I would ask most kindly if they will bring me 2 of the finest silk scarves, black in color, and for men, two of the largest and best scarves, and two kards, without the wood. Perhaps Tosten Seim, my wife's brother would oblige us by getting these things and sending htem with responsible parties, and we shall pay the cost of the articles, and also for their trouble.
I thank my father-in-law and family most heartily for the costly book the sent us. There are few Norwegian books here. The book "Luther's Daily Prayers" would be most welcome if you could send it. My wife also wishes some goat skin for a jacket.
Here, I say to Lars Sjurson Gilderhus, that you must let all my relatives read this letter, as I send it to you all, my friends in my native homeland. And try your best to write me in return. It will not cost you any to send letter with the immigrants, and let me know if you wish me to further write you. I will gladly write if any letters are welcome.
We would wish very much that my wife's brother Peder Knudson was here with us, and we would look after him, he should not want, but the journey coming here may be more than he can endure.
From Iver Knudson Seim to my place is 42 English mile. I have been 3 times to visit him and other friends on Koshkonong. Lars Olson Dugstad is well, and he has 180 acres of land. He visited me a few weeks back.
Gunvor Olsdaughter Dugstad and Britha Olsdaughter Hellene we thank very much for their kind letters.
Now, I hope you will understand my letter correctly and excuse all mistakes.
Our dear parents, Knud Erickson Dugstad, and Knud Iverson Seim, Lars Larson Save and family, Tosten Knudson Seim and wife, Ole Dugstad, Erick Knudson Ofsthus and family, Lars Nilson Nasheim, Peder Knudson Seim, and all other friends are greeted most cordially. It would be dear to see you all, but as the distance between us is so greaaat, my wish will have to be that we may meet in the next world, may we be claimed by our Savior, and always be under His protection.
Rock County, Jefferson Prairie, January 24, 1849.
Bryngel Knudson Dugstad
Date: April 24, 1842
To: Sjur Anderson Gilderhus
From: Nils Sjurson Gilderhus (son)
Note: "Wisconsin" and "Dane" County have been left in his original spelling. His style of writing was also used as much as possible in the translation so as not to make it sound too modern. Translated by Julia Lee Reque, 1933.
To the Honorable man
Sjur Anderson Gilderhus
Voss Parish, Bergen, Norway
A: G: Gilderhus: Dean County
Vestconsind, 24 April, 1842
Since it gives good opportunity for me send a letter to my dear parents, brothers, and sisters, first I will let you know that I am well and with good health up to date, God be thanked.
Then I want to tell you that in Norway there were so many stories about America. Some said that when you came here, there would be nothing missing. Here was to be cheap land (which is true) and that it would not cost anything to clear it and to build a house. People would come and help you. Other stories were about the high daily salaries. I wonder how it would be for those that had to pay those high wages, especially for the newcomes who had to go to the pocketbook for every cent?
Now I will tell the truth in all circumstances as I have observed it since I began to look for land. The first expense was in looking for land that was pleasing and that I was satisfied with. I traveled for three weeks before I got what I wished for and had to pay 1 shilling bed and 2 shillings for each meal, so you can figure for yourselves how much it cost me. The time we came to Vestconsin where I now live, I hired a man for three days to lay out my land, and I paid him 1 dollar and 1 shilling for each day. Three of us together bought 2 pair of oxen and paid for the one pair 70 dollars, and for the other 58 dollars. We also bought one four wheeled wagon for 60 dollars, and each of us bought a cow. I paid 19 dollars for mine. The same summer I traded for me 1 pair of oxen that was one year old (and are now three years old) and gave for them my 20 alen of "Valdmaal" (each alen of vadmaal is 2 feet of homespun material). This vadmaal is considered worth 1 dollar an alen. Then we took what was necessary with us in the wagon and moved from Illinois to Visconsin. When we arrived at our land we had nothing else but our wagon for shelter. That was our home. I saw no one come to help us build a house, or to help in any other way. Our nearest neighbor to the east is 3 English miles, 20 miles to the west, 12 miles south, and nobody to the north.
We then used what we had bought together, until in the fall of 1841. Then we divided our common property. Magne Bystol kept the wagon and one pair of oxen, Nils Bolstad kept the other pair of oxen, and I lost 10 dollars on the deal. I broke 6 acres of land with the oxen while we owned them together. Now I have my three year old oxen and I can well do all my work with them except break prairie land. For that we take three yoke of oxen and help one another.
Two weeks ago I bought me a cow, and paid 20 dollars for her, as the price for cows is much higher that in Illinois. I bought a calf from Knut Larson Brekke and paid 4 dollars for it. So now I have in all 8 head of cattle. Here they do not kill the calves as you do in Norway. Here we let live all that want to live, because it costs nothing but the labor to gather feed for them. This is likewise true for swine and sheep. All are allowed to live if they can survive.
When a man has cultivated his field for two years, he needs only one man and one yoke of oxen to work it, as no one walks after the plowman to break up the clods, as they do in Norway. One man can do all the work. I have seen some even sow without plowing. That is all the trouble they have with it.
Now some new Norwegian settlers have come. Lars Dugstad, Lars Reque, John Bjorgo have decided on land and are going to Milwaukee to pay for it. There are also 1 from Nummedal and 2 from Stavanger who have bought land here.
I will tell you how they put steel into iron, for example in making a tooth for a plane. You take a piece of iron you want to work and place it in the fire until it gets so red hot that it will melt borax. Then you sprinkle dry borax on the hot iron, and don't spare the borax. You can judge for yourself how hot you need it.
Andres Lie and wife and children are well and in good health. They haven't been sick since they came here. Andres had been out working nearly every day since he came. His work is mostly to split rails, and is paid 1 dollar for each hundred rails. He has earned as much as 6 shilling a day with this work.
Live well in the Lord all of you.
Nils Sjurson Gilderhus