On the arrival at Milwaukee in 1845, Thyge, his wife Mariken, Gunder and Asborg Nelson, and sons Ole and Elling made their way, probably largely on foot, through wooded wilderness to the Pine Lake settlement which was about 30 miles inland and almost due west of Milwaukee. Milwaukee itself was a primitive outpost. Most Scandinavian immigrants has started in Chicago, and took a more southern route (less than 100 miles further south) to make their way to the pairie settlements in Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa.. By 1845, both Muskego and Dane County had small, but established settlements and farms. The first arrivals at Pine Lake, in the late 1830s, were Episcopal missionaries, from Pennsylvania. Their mission was to bring the Gospel to both immigrants, who were beginning to arrive, and to the Native Americans who had lived in the area for centuries. The first Scandinavian immigrants were a Swedish group led by Gustav Unonius. Only Unonius stayed . The rest of his group were rather aristocratic, poorly suited to the wilderness, and soon left. Next to come were the Norwegians. In 1842, Hans Jacob Gasman, with his large family and servants, arrived. He had been a wealthy farmer in Gerpen, Telemark, and his emigration has been a cause of much notice in Telemark. In the 1850s, Hans Jacob's grandson, Henry Christian Gasman married Elling and Anne's daughter Inger Tomine Minnie Thygesen.
By the time that our family arrived, there were quite a few more immigrants. and they had begun to move out to unclaimed land to clear and farm. German immigrants claimed land as well, and were quite numerous in their own enclaves. Gustav Unonius, although of the Swedish Lutheran Church, turned to the Episcopal Church to bring services to the Sandinavian settlers. He believed that there were no fundamental theological differences, and that the Episcopal services could be performed in Norwegian. For at least a while, the settlers agreed. Unonius himself became the first seminarian at the Nashotah Episcopal Seminary, and the first ordained as a priest. As the Norwegian settlers moved out, their participation in services became more difficult, and in any case they wished to have more fully Norwegian churches. Eventually the Norwegian State Church sent their own priests and there was a 'rearrangement', with most of the Norwegians choosing to found their own Norwegian Lutheran congregations. The early history of the first churches, and especially St Olav's congregation are discussed in depth, from original materials, in Roger Johnson and Clayton Swanton's small book published to celebrate the 150th anniversary of St. Olavs. That book was mentioned in an earlier post. I was able to contact Roger after Jean Cornwell told me how helpful he had been.
I was very fortunate to have Roger and Clayton as my guides to the locations of the earliest Naas and Thygesen farms, and to those of families into which they married (Simonson, Gasman). We spent an entire spring day visiting the churches, cemeteries, early homes and farm locations. My only contribution was to introduce them to the site of the original farm of Gunder and Asborg Nelson, which became the farm of Gunder's eldest son, and Asborg's stepson, Nils Gunderson. There are 'cousins' of varying closeness in all the cemeteries. Thyge's burial site is unknown, but was most likely in one of the cemeteries closest to Pine Lake. Most of the Gunderson graves are in the St. Luke's Cemetery. Asborg and Gunder moved to Kasson, Minnesota, before 1860 and are buried there in the Nelson family plot, as is Mariken. Elling and family moved to Pierce County in the late 1850s, and are buried in the Rush Lake Cemetery. Ole and Petra, as well as their only son Edward, and daughter Amelia moved to Bellingham, Washington, by way of Minnesota and North Dakota. The following is a map drawn with the help of Roger Johnson, with a number of home/farm sites identified.
The farm at the very top of the map, marked as Nilsmund and Aaste Olson, is of particular interest to me, and to any of you who are related to Mariken Knudsen (Thygesen) and her husband Peter Ambortius Langvarp. Peter Ambortius' father is my other Norwegian gr gr GF, Nils Taraldsen Orvick. The Norwegian cousins had lost track of Nils Taraldsen' actual mother. His father had had two prior 'Nils Taraldsen' sons, who had died, with his first wife. Then his first wife died, and with his second wife had the third Nils Taraldsen ... who was my gr gr GF. But there were five siblings who followed, all of whom emigrated to America, unremembered in Norway. One was his youngest sister Aaste, who married Nilsmund Olson, and then came to the Pine Lake area ... probably in part because the Thygesen cousins had preceded them.
It is my hope that a number of you will find an opportunity to visit this area. I will be happy to join any of you who do, and I'm sure that Roger and Clayton would again be happy to act as expert guides.
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