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Subject: Diary of Elisabeth Koren - 224-232
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 13:01:52 -0700
Acknowledgment
The following selection is taken from "The Diary of Elisabeth Koren"
translated and edited by David T. Nelson and published by the
Norwegian-American Historical Association (NAHA) in 1955. The Volume is
still in print and available from NAHA at http://www.naha.stolaf.edu
where you will also find the first 33 volumes of Studies and Records
online as well as Theodore C. Blegen's 2 volumes on Norwegian Migration
to America. This chapter is published with the kind permission of NAHA.
The book this selection is drawn from is under copyright and permission
has been granted for educational purposes and it is not to be used in any
way for commercial purposes.
14 We Are Living at Skaarlia's
Wednesday, May 3. We are now living at Skaarlia's. {1} We moved
yesterday. Embret set off with his wagon filled with our traps. (It's
appalling, all the things we have taken out since our baggage came.) We
followed, walking, Vilhelm with his arms full of clothes and his hands
full of daguerreotypes, and I with a pile of newspapers, the umbrella,
and the spurtle, while holding on to my hat, which threatened to blow off
of my head. So we set out, climbed a couple of fences, and arrived here,
where everything lay in disorder in the middle of the floor.
The coffee mill, spurtle, and four tin cups formed the sum total of our
domestic equipment - nothing to cook in or on, and not a bite of food.
True enough, we had forty dollars in gold, but of what use was that?
Guri, however, had left two chairs, we ourselves had one - in other
words, something to sit on; and so we sat down. Vilhelm lit a cigar, and
as I had just that morning received a letter from my dear Christiane,
written a couple of days after the former one, I now read it aloud to
him. He sang and we made merry over the four-shilling banquet which
Christiane had described. Then we read Emigranten, which had also come. I
brought forth Giering's "Present from Ryde," we drank a little wine, and
had quite a splendid time as we sat there in the midst of all the
confusion.
Then it struck us that it might be time to bring some order out of chaos.
We packed and unpacked, put our clothes in place in the loft, opened the
boxes, and took out the books; so now the boxes are in use as bookcases
and contribute materially to the adornment of the room. At last we were
through, fairly well satisfied with our little room, and especially with
being by ourselves. Now Vilhelm will have much more peace.
At this point it dawned on Vilhelm that we could hardly live on love and
spring water alone, and so we went over to the old [Skaarlia] cabin,
which stood open, to seek more substantial nourishment. {2} I climbed on
a table for a little milk; Vilhelm found bread and butter and cake; and
then we had our meal, standing in the middle of the floor, Vilhelm with
his hat cocked on one side like a tipsy sailor, I in my white cap and
violet dress, which could hardly be called clean, and my knitted shawl
wrapped about me, a bit of food in one hand and a bowl of milk in the
other.
Next I took the broom and swept the room and dusted, and then we were
able to rest on our laurels. Vilhelm read aloud to me from Landstad's
ballads, and soon afterwards the Skaarlia folk came home. {3} We had
supper with them and stayed there awhile, then went back to our own
house, sat up a couple of hours, brought down all the bedclothes from the
loft, laid them on the floor, since everything is open in all directions,
and slept very soundly in our new home. Vilhelm had to go to the spring
this morning for water to wash in. Today he has gone to the smith to get
his wagon. If it is ready, I shall accompany him to Paint Creek tomorrow.
Imagine our joy! They have begun work on the parsonage! Today they are
hauling stones and logs with all their might.
TROUT RIVER P. O., WINNESHIEK CO.
SKAARLIA'S, May 22, 1854.
MY DEAR, DEAR FATHER:
I have been so slow in writing because we have been away on a trip, and
since our return Vilhelm has not been well. Now, God be praised, he is
much better and is up again. He had a very bad cold and was confined to
his bed for some time. {4} Pastor Clausen came here just at that time,
spent nearly a whole day with us, and was a great comfort. He is
friendly, sympathetic, and helpful. I liked him very much. He conducted
services for Vilhelm on Rogation Sunday; his coming at that time was
indeed fortunate for us. We have been invited very cordially to visit him
this summer; he lives about eighty miles west of us. Well, there is no
lack of invitations from all sides. {5}
We are now living by ourselves in this little house, which I feel sure I
mentioned in my last letter.
Now you shall hear what it looks like. It is a little oblong room with a
door in the middle of the long wall and two windows, with chintz
curtains, just opposite each other. Under each window is a table; on one
of them rests my writing case --- where I am now writing --- also a bowl
of wild flowers; by the other Vilhelm sits in a rocking chair, reading.
The bed is in one corner; it occupies the long wall, together with one of
Vilhelm's boxes for books, which is shaped somewhat like a bookcase and
which, to our joy, stands upright, so that we can get at its contents. On
the wall where I am sitting there is another box for books and likewise a
closed stairway to the loft, where we keep our clothes and the hired girl
sleeps. Finally, Guri has been so kind as to leave us a large shelf just
opposite the bed; that is my pantry. And now you have a description of
our present home.
These two, Erik and Guri, who have given us their cabin and are
themselves living in the old one, are kind, excellent people, and very
helpful and obliging to us. We get what milk and potatoes we need from
them. We now have our stove, with which I am greatly pleased, and I have
had a shed built in which to put it and prepare our food. It is out of
the question, of course, to have it inside the cabin during the summer,
since there is only one room.
I have one of Anne Aarthun's daughters to help me --- she is one of the
candidates for confirmation --- so you may be sure that I begin to feel
my dignity as a housewife. I have begun to bake bread, too. Something
went wrong the first time and I was quite disgusted with my new stove,
thinking it would not bake properly, but I found a man who taught us how
to operate it --- it is a new type, it seems. Now all goes well and the
other day I ventured to bake white bread and rusks for Vilhelm's barley
soup. They tasted good but gave Vilhelm a chance to laugh at me because
of the remarkable shapes they assumed.
I was really at a loss to get some barley soup for Vilhelm while he was
sick. Ground barley and oats are not found here; I hope they can be had
in Wisconsin. Well, it was no use to stand there helpless; I got some
barley, dried it, ground it in my coffee mill, and made soup. Then I had
to find something to mix with it; the only solution was to cook some
dried apples and use the juice from them --- one has to do the best one
can.
You should have seen me, Father, when I went to get salt for the dough
for my rusks, walking to Guri's house and back to ours accompanied by two
frisky calves, which run loose outside here, and Vige dashing on ahead.
We have received many gifts from neighbors --- butter, eggs, cream, and
flour. As long as we lived with others there was no pleasure, they
thought, in bringing us anything; but now it is different. The other day
I made chicken soup with dumplings and was very proud of it; it must have
been an excellent chicken to make such good soup. It was given me by
Mother [Anne] Aarthun, and I was happy to have a meat soup for my
convalescent. The only way of getting fresh meat here is to kill a
rooster or shoot a bird; as yet, people butcher only hogs. Not long ago
we received a splendid gift when one of the candidates for confirmation
brought us a fine mess of trout; they were really delicious. There are
fish in abundance, mostly pike and other fresh-water fish, about three to
four English miles from here; but it is so difficult to send for them. It
will be good to have an errand boy, as we must have when we get the
parsonage --- one of the candidates for confirmation.
Here you have a little account of my household activities, dear Father;
it is fun to have one's own home, you may be sure. It seems to me that I
am very busy now, especially teaching my girl, who has never seen other
housekeeping than that at Aarthun's and is quite bewildered by everything
I undertake and by the new dishes she has never seen before.
We returned from Paint Creek the evening before Rogation Sunday. {6} On
the whole it is more beautiful there than here, and of course everything
then was in its spring glory. The scenery is marvelous, but wild; it is
easy to realize that one is only five or six miles from the Mississippi.
We also made a trip to Columbus, a little beginning of a town, which lies
right on the Mississippi --- a delightful trip. {7} It had just rained,
so everything was fresh and full of fragrance from the newly leaved
trees. The road was charming and interesting, the last part of it
parallel to the river. As it lay fairly high, we had the beautiful river
with its luxuriant valley and small, thickly wooded islets below us. The
bluffs, most of which are covered with grass and are partly wooded, had
here somewhat the form of a sugar loaf. It was the most beautiful summer
evening we have had. The river was blue and clear; one rarely finds it
so.
We took a walk along the bank - a road through the woods. The trees
extend to the water on one side, and on the other there are bluffs
thickly overgrown --- such luxuriant foliage! There was a profusion of
brush and bushes of every sort. The sun's last rays were falling on the
thickly wooded islets dotting the river and up the heights of the
opposite bank. It was lovely. In addition there was a fresh smell of
verdure, large rocks overrun by creepers, many kinds of vines,
bird-cherry thickets, plum trees in blossom, and more that I did not
recognize, and many new wild flowers which I saw for the first time. So
you may imagine, dear Father, what a pleasure it was. Ah, if you, too,
could only have seen these flowers, bushes, and creeping plants! I
thought of you, you may be sure.
Is it not strange that the wild cherry grows only as a shrub here? I have
not seen a real cherry tree, though there are two kinds. The black
currant grows wild --- asparagus, too, Clausen told us; he had many at
his place. They are good, but not so good as the tame. If the fruit lives
up to the promise of the blossoms, there will be great quantities of
strawberries, and raspberries too, I hope, so that I may get some for
preserves.
The following day we rowed from Columbus to Lansing, quite near by, which
is a town of more importance and is growing. Here one can get whatever
one wants. The steamboats come here; yes, in fact, they go much farther
--- to St. Paul, I believe, in Minnesota. {8}
It was my dear Lina's birthday. Greet her and tell her that I sat on a
pile of planks down by the Mississippi and thought of her while I watched
the beautiful birds that flew over the water. {9}
On the way down Vilhelm got out of the wagon more than once to bring me
an unfamiliar flower. Although it is not yet really the season for
flowers, I have found quite a number; for example, a yellow flower whose
petals and leaves, especially, resemble certain wallflowers and smell
almost like auriculas; a white flower, without fragrance, but pretty,
which has much in common with the lily family; some fiery-red phlox, both
in scent and appearance much the same as those in the garden at home,
though they grow only in very small bushes. The ground has really been
blue with violets, but they have no fragrance. Cat's-foot, as we called
it, and pansies, somewhat different from those at home, were also here in
abundance. {10} Rumor is slanderous in what it says about the fragrance
of flowers in America --- many are fragrant.
As to songbirds, rumor is perhaps more truthful, although there are said
to be many that sing beautifully; but most of the time we must be content
with chirping. There are, however, a great many beautiful birds, large
and small, of all colorings. There are three kinds of swallows, some very
pretty, blue with brownish wings. But the little bird of indigo blue wins
the prize. I have not noticed gnats and mosquitoes yet, but most of May
was cold and very stormy. We had spring in March. But this rain has done
good; now everything is green and beautiful. The oak, however, which is
very slow, is not fully leaved out yet.
As I mentioned before, we came home the evening before Rogation Sunday
and heard on the way that Pastor Clausen had arrived. Vilhelm immediately
went over to Katterud's, where he was lodging, and when he came back told
me he had invited Pastor Clausen to dinner the following day. "What are
you thinking of?" said I. "We haven't a bite of food in the house except
the ham." Well, he had invited Clausen on the strength of the ham --- and
there it rested. I wished that I had the five lobsters with which Marie
had entertained Herr Bang. {11} Well, it was not so easy. I had to do my
best with the ham and go to Guri's for boiled potatoes, and then we ate
with good appetites. When the gentlemen had drunk their coffee and smoked
their pipes, we walked up to the parsonage grounds and looked at the
building, on which work was in full swing. The next day the trout came
and I was glad to have something for the pastor which was a rarity even
for him, though he lives, it is said, next to a river so full of fish,
mostly carp and pike, that at times one cannot see bottom. One evening he
himself caught a large mess of fish with his hands.
Thank you a thousand times, my dear, dear Father, for your kind blessed
letter of March 9, which I received toward the end of April. At last you
had received a letter from Iowa! God be praised for the joy it brought
you, and because I am able to send you good news this time, too! You may
be sure there is joy in Iowa when a letter comes from home.
You were in good health, dear Father, and now, I imagine, you are in the
garden every day. Have your flowers stood the winter well? Here flowers
often have a hard time, I think, for sometimes there is spring in March
and winter in April. Has the ivy in the corner done well this year? My
cherry tree is no doubt blossoming beautifully now. I am glad Marie has
my garden; ask her to look after it well. {12} Was the beech wood
beautifully in leaf for my birthday? Here everything is really well
advanced.
We were at the parsonage land yesterday. It was lovely. The large wood
and small groves were beautiful; during the last few days the oak has
leaved out fully. The leafy trees are much larger than at home. The grass
is very high. The foliage is luxuriant. The low hazel brush is dense,
interspersed with raspberries, somewhat different from those at home and
now in full bloom; the blossoms rather resemble apple blossoms, have a
little fragrance, and are beautiful. We shall be in a wooded area. The
house will have two large oaks in front of it, on one side an old gnarled
oak whose branches reach the ground, and behind it the beautiful grove of
oaks and poplars. It should be charming surrounded by a garden.
I think the whole population of Wisconsin must be moving west. A young
man who came here yesterday with greetings from Pastor Preus had passed
more than three hundred wagonloads of Norwegians, the greater part bound
for Minnesota - some few for Pastor Clausen's. {13} There is no land for
them here. Those who journey thus are either newcomers who have wintered
in Wisconsin, or others who have sold their small farms to older
Norwegians and now move to where they can easily pick up large tracts at
a lower price. Many are migrating from the congregations of the Preuses,
Stub, and others. In Minnesota people are so eager to get a minister that
it can hardly be long before they arrange to send a call to Norway. Duus,
I understand, has now been called to Waupaca; he will no doubt be the
farthest from us of them all. I wonder, will no one apply for Blue
Mounds? {14}
You ask about our chests and trunks. Yes, we have received them. We were
unable to take them with us on the train on which we traveled; they were
sent on another. When we got to Milwaukee, they were not expected for a
couple of days, at least. We could not wait, and so left it to Preus to
take care of them, and then made an agreement with a man in Dodgeville,
[Wisconsin,] to forward them. {15} Finally in April they arrived after
having stood in Dodgeville for a long time; the Mississippi was the
barrier to their being forwarded. No, that little nutshell of a canoe
could never have taken our heavy chests across!
Vilhelm greets you affectionately. He is making good progress and has a
good appetite; he has not yet started on his journeys, for which I am
happy. God bless you, dear Father.
Your own
LEIS
<1> Pastor Koren states that he and Elisabeth moved from Sørland's to
Skaarlia's for family reasons, just as they had moved from Egge's to
Sørlands. The Sørland's son, Gudbrand E., was born July 15, 1854; Koren,
in Symra, 33 (1905); Bailey, Winneshiek County, 1:210.
<2> The Skaarlias gave the Korens a small house that they had just
completed and themselves continued to live in their old cabin for the
summer This was the first home that the Korens had to themselves; Koren,
in Symara, 33 (1905).
<3> Magnus Brostrup Landstad (1802-80) was a Norwegian clergyman, hymn
writer, and collector of folklore.
<4> "It was a severe attack of bilious fever-no doctor. It took weeks
before he recovered his strength"; Fra pioneertiden, 165 n.
<5> Claus L. Clausen (1820-92 ), pioneer pastor and colonizer, was a Dane
who went to Wisconsin in 1843 with the idea of being a teacher for the
Muskego pioneers. The settlers requested that he be their minister, and
he was ordained that same year. He became a prominent and controversial
member of the Norwegian Synod. During 1853-56 he had a congregation at
St. Ansgar, Iowa. See Carlton C. Qualey, "Claus L. Clausen, Pioneer
Pastor and Settlement Promoter," in Norwegian-American Studies and
Records, 6:12-29 (Northfield, 1931). Rogation Sunday is the fifth Sunday
after Easter.
<6> In 1854 the evening before Rogation Sunday fell on May 19.
<7> Columbus was a hamlet at the mouth of Village Creek just south of
Lansing, Iowa.
<8> Lansing is in Allamakee County, Iowa, on the west bank of the
Mississippi.
<9> Mrs. Koren's sister, Caroline Mathilde Hysing, was born May 9, 1840
and died March 6, 1928: Johnson, Slekten Koren, 1:189.
<10> Cat's-foot is ground ivy.
<11> Marie was Johan Koren's wife. See chapter 1, footnote 10.
<12> Here Mrs. Koren speaks of her sister, Christine Marie Cappelen
Hysing See chapter 8, note 22.
<13> Clausen was at St. Ansgar, Iowa. See footnote 5.
<14> The Reverend Claus Fredrik Duus (1824-93) migrated to America in
1854 and was a pastor in Wisconsin until 1859, when he returned to
Norway. See Frontier Parsonage. The Letters of Olaus Fredrik Duus,
Norwegian Pastor in Wisconsin, 1855-58 (Northfield, 1947). Waupaca is a
city in Wisconsin thirty-five miles west of Appleton; Duus was pastor
there, 1854-57. Blue Mounds is near Madison, Wisconsin.
<15> The name of the man in Dodgeville was Solner; he was possibly the
Solner who was a friend of the Herman Preuses. See chapter 12, footnote
20.
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