A PIONEER PASTOR'S JOURNEY TO DAKOTA IN 1861

Abstract

A PIONEER PASTOR'S JOURNEY TO DAKOTA IN 1861 By Abraham Jacobson Translated by J. N. Jacobson FOREWORD Abraham Jacobson came to America from Norway in 1848, when he was twelve years old. At the age of sixteen he went to study at what was then known as the State University of Illinois, at Springfield, making most of the journey from his home near Decorah, Iowa, on foot. He helped work his way through school by acting first as janitor and then as custodian of the courthouse, where Abraham Lincoln occasionally made political addresses. Later Jacobson served as librarian in the supreme court rooms, where Lincoln and his friends were wont to meet in the evenings to discuss politics and tell stories. A year after the journey described in these reminiscences, Jacobson was sent to the immigrant quarantine station at Quebec, where he was instrumental in improving accommodations for Norwegian immigrants.1 He spent the winter of 1868 in Minnesota, traveling on snowshoes or skis, holding services and organizing congregations; and for the following ten years he was a pastor in Dane County, Wisconsin. In 1908, at the age of seventy-two - two years before his death - Jacobson wrote the present account, which has been turned into English by his nephew. Miss Clara Jacobson surveys Jacobson ^ career in an article entitled "A Pioneer Pastor Who Knew Lincoln," published in Scandinavia , vol. I, no. 3, p. 38 (March, 1924) . 1 See post, p. 76. 53 54 STUDIES AND RECORDS PASTOR ABRAHAM JACOBSONS ACCOUNT In the vast domain of the Northwest there may still be found places where roads are poor, but the ease and facility of presentday travel cannot be compared with conditions fifty years ago. In the summer of 1850, when I was a boy of fourteen, my trusty legs carried me across the state of Wisconsin from the vicinity of Milwaukee to Prairie du Chien, a distance of more than two hundred miles. This journey was made in company with a large caravan of emigrants who were to settle in Iowa. The day's journey was short and the roads were good, so the four weeks' trip was an enjoyable one, though it was strenuous enough for many of the older people. In the eleven years that followed, among many varied experiences, I was ordained into the ministry and served a congregation in Chicago. Circumstances so shaped themselves that a journey to the then new Dakota Territory seemed to me a duty from a religious point of view. A keen desire for recreation for both mind and body was also an impelling factor in my determination to undertake the trip. An opportunity for the realization of this wish soon presented itself. In October, 1861, a small party of eight people in Decorah were in readiness to make the trip westward to Dakota. The company had four yoke of oxen and four wagons. Three of these wagons had just been driven in from Dakota by settlers who came to meet some newly-arrived relatives from Norway. The leading man in the company, and the one with whom I became most closely associated, was Lars Severson. He had resided in Nebraska for a couple of years, but, like nearly all the earliest settlers, had moved across the Missouri River to Vermillion in Dakota Territory. Severson or rather Sigvatson, R0nnestrand , later removed to Decorah and resided there with his family until his death about a year ago (1907) . Our wagon was constructed in a practical manner, in true prairie schooner style. The arched bows were covered with canvas and, as an extra precaution , were again covered with oilcloth, so that we were well protected against both wind and rain. We were amply provided A PIONEER JOURNEY TO DAKOTA 55 with provisions and cooking utensils; and this later proved to have been a wise forethought. The first event that occurred on our trip, and which yet remains vivid in my memory, happened near Calmar. Along the main highway to McGregor came a man with a yoke of oxen hauling a load of wheat. A little boy, who was a cripple, sat on top of the load. The weather was warm and the road...