Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Future Hopes—Farm Life—Norwegian Pioneers—The Condition of the Immigrant at the Beginning of the Fifties—Religious Meetings—The Growth of the Settlement—Vasa Township Organized—A Lutheran Church Established—My Wedding—Speculation—The Crisis of 1857—Study of Law in Red Wing—I am admitted to the Bar and elected County Auditor—Politics in 1860—War is Imminent
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IS 4.2 Story of an Emigrant.
along that we could afford some pie or cake for dessert, the
good house-wives were in a perfect eestacy. The joys and
sorrows of one, were shared by the others, and nowhere in
the wide world, except in a military camp, have I witnessed
so much genuine cordial friendship and brotherhood as
among the frontier settlers in the West.
One tine Sunday morning that summer, all the settlers met
under two oak trees 011 the prairie, near where the present
church stands, for the first religious service in the settlement.
It had been agreed that some of the men should take turns
to read one of Luther’s sermons at each of these gatherings,
and I was selected as reader the first day. Some prayers
were said and Swedish hymns sung, and seldom did a temple
contain more devout worshipers than did that little
congregation on the prairie.
Before the winter of 1S54–55 set in, we had quite a large
community in Yasa, and had raised considerable grain,
potatoes and other provisions. During that winter the Sioux
Indians again became our neighbors, and frequently
supplied us with venison in exchange for bread and coffee. The
following spring and summer the settlers increased still
faster, several more oxen and other cattle, with ahorse or
two, were brought in, and I had no longer the exclusive
privilege of hauling goods 011 the little truck wagon.
That summer I again went to Illinois to meet a large
party of newlv arrivcd emigrants from Sweden, who formed
a settlement 111 Yasa, known as Skane. The people from
different provinces would group themselves together in little
neighborhoods, each assuming in common parlance the
name of their own province; thus we have Yasa, Skfme,
Smaland and Jemtland.
About this time a township was formally organized,
and, at my suggestion, given the name of Yasa, in
commemoration of the great Swedish king. Roads were also
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