THE EMIGRANT JOURNEY IN THE FIFTIES

Abstract

THE EMIGRANT JOURNEY IN THE FIFTIES By Karl E. Erickson Edited by Albert O. Barton INTRODUCTION Karl E. Erickson was born on January 9, 1828, at Christiania , Norway, the son of a teacher in a district school. He attended his father's school for several years, later went to higher schools, and finally entered Heltberg's well-known " student factory," where he continued his studies of ancient and modern languages and mathematics. There severe application to his work affected his health, and after a year he was obliged to withdraw from the university. In the spring of 1853 Erickson took passage in the cabin of the bark " Peter Tordenskjold," and on June 23 he arrived at Quebec. From there he went to Milwaukee, and thence to Muskego, where for a time he visited at the home of the Reverend H. A. Stub. In Madison he met Gabriel Bjornson, then county clerk for Dane County, and upon Bjornson 's recommendation he was engaged as clerk in a general store. In the spring of 1854 Erickson accompanied Elias Stangeland to the Wisconsin immigration office at Quebec, where he served as clerk for five months. He returned to Madison with Stangeland and in the fall of the same year assisted him in starting his new paper, Den Norske Amerikaner . Erickson continued to work on this paper until he was relieved by Knud Langeland. Thenceforth Erickson worked both as a store clerk and as translator of state reports; at that time it was customary for the legislatures to order these reports translated into several foreign languages for distribution among settlers not familiar with English. He removed to Lodi, Wisconsin, in 65 66 STUDIES AND RECORDS 1859, and to Black Earth a year later, being occupied as a merchant in both places. In 1855 he married Mrs. Lena Hoal, who died in 1857, and in 1858 he married Mrs. Bollene Erickson, by whom he had two daughters. He acted as district and high school clerk and as town clerk in Black Earth for a number of years. He died October 19, 1903. The accompanying reminiscences were written by Erickson in 1896. They are historically interesting and valuable, particularly for the vivid detail with which they picture the emigrant journey of the fifties in all its stages and aspects. Erickson was a sharp observer and had a good memory. His narrative, however faulty in general organization, is a welcome addition to the literature of Norwegian immigration . A.O.B. i In the first years after 1850 a socialistic agitation headed by the celebrated labor leader Marcus Thrane was started and carried on in the southern part of Norway, with headquarters at Christiania. Many who have emigrated to America since that memorable time will remember the excitement caused by this movement, which was set on foot to expose the wrongs, real or imaginary, that were endured by the poor working classes at the hands of wealthy and powerful employers, the moneyed men, and the aristocracy in general. By lectures and through a weekly illustrated organ, Thrane and his lieutenants exposed many gross injustices, vices of people of standing, and the suffering of the poorer classes. Against this agitation arose the Reverend H. Hailing, a young and energetic clergyman who was a very popular and forceful speaker and exhorter. He would get right up in the gatherings of the agitator Thrane and address the crowds with such force and eloquence that he won over a great many of the more lawabiding and cool-headed people to the maintenance of " law and order." He forthwith formed a society that was called Samfundet paa Enerhaugen, for the suburb in which it was first proposed . A liberal sum of money was raised by subscription and THE EMIGRANT JOURNEY 67 a commodious building was erected and finished, with the country 's flag raised at the entrance in token of the loyalty of the people gathered within its walls. Early in 1853 Elias Stangeland of Norway, Racine County, Wisconsin, appeared in the city. He had emigrated to America a few years before from Karmoen, near Bergen. In America he was a country merchant selling and bartering goods at a little store at Muskego...