DISCOVERY AND IMMIGRATION

on, and among these were many Norwegians. The Societas

Scandinaviensis was founded in Philadelphia in 1769; its first

president was Abraham Markoe (MarkjjJe), a Norwegian. This

society ceased to be active about the year 1802. It is interesting

to note in this connection that on February 28th, 1868, eighteen

gentlemen, all of Scandinavian birth and residents of Phila-
delphia,met and formed an organization under the name The
Scandinavian Society of Philadelphia. This society regards it-
self a continuation of that founded in 1769. In the South,
except as noted above in one case, Norwegians rarely settled
in those early days; nor indeed in later times except on a
limited scale. Occasional names do come down to us in- ;

vestigation would here probably not reveal many more. Pos-

sibly the first Norwegian to settle in Georgia was Captam
Iverson in the close of the eighteenth century (Alfred Iverson,
United States Senator from Georgia, 1855-1861 was a descend-
ant of this sailor-pioneer of Georgia).
There were Norwegians in the American marine and in

the army both before the Revolution and after. They served
in the War of the Revolution, and in the Indian wars, as later
in the Mexican war. The careers of some are well known, as
Thomas Johnson, who was with Paul Jones in 1779 and later.
Johnson, born, 1758, was the son of a pilot of Mandal, Norway.
There were Norwegians among those who fell at Fort Dear-
born in 1812. And in all later wars of their adopted country,
the Civil War and the Spanish War, the World War they
made the same when the call came.
sacrifice

Immigration XlXth Century. With the XlXth cen-

in the
tury Norwegian immigration enters upon a new phase. It be-
comes more intensive and it takes on something like a system-
aticform. This period takes its beginning with the sailing of
the Restaurationen in 1825, a sloop of forty-five tons carrying
fifty-two passengers, all but one of whom were from Stavanger
and the districts thereabouts. The history of the "sloopers"
has often been recounted and I shall only mention them here.
The arrival of the ship attracted considerable attention at the
time, as evidenced by the space given it in the American press,
especially in the East. The founding of the settlement at Ken-
dall, Orleans County, N. Y. on the shores of Lake Ontario,
24
 DISCOVERY AND IMMIGRATION
inaugurates the period of the formation of settlements. Other
immigrants from Norway joined the Kendall settlement clear
down to 1883; but of the original founders of the settlement
some moved away, as to the City of Rochester, N. Y., but es-
pecially to the State of Illinois, where they helf>ed to found
the extensive and prosperous Fox River settlement in Illinois
in 1834-36. The descendants of the sloopers live especially in
New York, Illinois,and Iowa, but some are in Michigan, Min-
nesota, Missouri, South Dakota, Kansas, Utah, and California.
During the years 1826-1833, inclusive, there was but little
immigration. There were new arrivals from Ryfylke, while
in 1 83 1 the first immigrant came from Hardanger, and in 1832
the first one from Gudbrandsdalen. But with 1836 it takes a
definite start with the coming of the brigs Norden and Den
norske Klippe bringing some 200 immigrants from Ryfylke,
Sjz^ndhordland, Hardanger, Bergen, and also the first immi-
grants from Voss. Finally I note the continuation of this
exodus from southwestern Norway in 1837 when the ship Enig-
heden from Stavanger, brought ninety-three passengers mostly
from Egersund, Stavanger, and Ryfylke again, while the ship
Aegir from Bergen brought eighty-two from Hardanger, Voss
and the vicinity of Bergen, And there were other sailings with
ships from other ports, bringing the first contingents from Tele-
marken and Numedal. During the years 1837-1845 the move-
ment shifted to these districts and Voss, Sogn and Hallingdal.
In the last two it began in 1842 (though one man had left
Sogn in 1839). In 1843 the first came from Saetersdalen, in
1844 from Land, 1847 from Valders, somewhat later other
districts east and north. By 1850 many large settlements had
been established, elsewhere in Illinois, and in Wisconsin (Kosh-
konong, 1839), and Norwegians were beginning to locate in
considerable numbers in Chicago. From 1846-55 date the begin-
nings of the numerous prosperous Norwegian communities in
Iowa and Minnesota, and the colonies in St. Paul and Min-
neapolis. In all these regions it was almost wholly unsettled
where they came. They had a very large share in the reclaim-
ing of that wilderness and transforming it to what it now is.
And similarly later in the Dakotas and west and no less in
;

the upbuilding of the cities. To follow the westward move-

25
 DISCOVERY AND IMMIGRATION

ment of Norwegian settlement would be to follow the ever-

moving line of the frontier.
We have been concerned here only with the immigration.
And I have avoided names and dates, and statistics, as much
as possible. The tide of immigration that set in in 1836 con-
tinued to 1859, then there was almost complete cessation until
after the Civil War. Now began a long period of heavy immi-
gration in 1865 which continued to 1911. The heaviest year
was 1882 with 29,101. In this period Gudbrandsdalen and
Trondhjem and eastern Norway in general have contributed
most of those who came, and their destination generally was,
as is their present home, the great Northwest and the Pacific
Coast.
But I shall stop at this point. All that has been attempted
here is to tell in outline the story of the coming of Norwegians
to this country, as a first chapter in the much longer story of
their contribution to the Making of America.

26