CLAUS L. CLAUSEN: PIONEER PASTOR AND SETTLEMENT PROMOTER: "ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS"

Abstract

CLAUS L. CLAUSEN: PIONEER PASTOR AND SETTLEMENT PROMOTER ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS Translated and edited by Cablton C. Qualey INTRODUCTION One of the most prominent and vigorous characters in early Norwegian-American history is the pioneer pastor and farmer, Claus L. Clausen. Of Danish birth, he came to the United States in 1843 at the age of twenty-three as a member , with his newly-acquired wife, of a party of Norwegian immigrants who joined the Norwegian settlement which had gathered about Lake Muskego, northwest of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Although Clausen had studied theology, he had never been ordained into the ministry. On petition of the settlers, who felt deeply the lack of a spiritual leader, Clausen was ordained by a German Lutheran pastor of Milwaukee and served the congregation at Muskego until 1846. In that year he accepted a call from Norwegian settlers in the so-called Rock Prairie settlement in Rock County, southern Wisconsin, and made Luther Valley the center for his activities amongst the widespread Norwegian settlements in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. He remained at Rock Prairie until 1853, when he removed with his family to his new home west of the Mississippi River at St. Ansgar, Iowa.1 Clausen was popular in the pioneer Norwegian settlements , and through his missionary activities and his writings he became widely known. He was one of the three founders 1 Margreth Jorgensen, " Claus L. Clausen, Pioneer Pastor and Settlement Promoter , 1843-1868." This is a manuscript thesis submitted for the degree of master of arts at the University of Minnesota in June, 1930. A copy is in the possession of the Minnesota Historical Society. 12 A PIONEER PASTOR 13 of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran church in America and was one of the storm centers of early church controversy between factions in the Norwegian Lutheran church bodies both in this country and in Norway. In addition to his religious work, Clausen engaged in considerable journalistic activity. He was the first editor of the influential Norwegian-American newspaper, Emigranten , and was also associated for a time in the publication of a monthly Lutheran church paper, the Luther sk Maanedstidende. Ole Munch Raeder, a Norwegian traveler, visited Clausen in 1847 and in his account of the visit stated: He is busy writing a book on America, which, to judge by the few portions of it which he read to me, will not merely discuss the merits of Wisconsin as an immigrant residence but will give a comprehensive survey of the history and the political institutions of the entire country. As he has spent several years in America, has been both pastor and farmer in several places, under conditions which made it imperative for him to familiarize himself with all that pertains to the lot of the immigrant and since he is as trustworthy as he is capable and enterprising, his book will undoubtedly be a great help to Scandinavian immigrants in the future.2 This book does not seem to have been published, however. While pastor at Rock Prairie, and, previously, at Muskego , Clausen was brought into direct contact with the problems of immigration and of settlement. Hundreds of Norwegian immigrants came to the Wisconsin settlements annually and Clausen was forced to take measures to aid these people to earn temporary subsistence and to find land. The increasing number of immigrants coming and the gradual exhaustion of good government land in southern Wisconsin made the problem of the care of the new immigrants very serious. Clausen was deeply concerned over this state of affairs and set out in person to find new areas 2 G. J. Malmin, ed., America in the Forties ; The Letters of Ole Munch Raeder , 136 (Norwegian- American Historical Association, Travel and Description Series , vol. 3 - Minneapolis, 1929). 14 STUDIES AND RECORDS where the Norwegians might obtain good farm land from the government. Naturally, his attention was attracted to the lands west of the Mississippi River, particularly to those in Minnesota. This new area had just become a territory, and steps were being taken to acquire the land from the Indians. Clausen therefore wrote to Governor Alexander Ramsey of Minnesota Territory in January, 1850, inquiring about opportunities offered in Minnesota Territory for...