Book 2 - Nathan, Amy, Madison and Ethan Berga

New Home in Wisconsin
The first night in America, the Nordrums
slept along a river bank; 3,19 and waited to be taken
across the state; where it is told that they may have
traveled by paddle boat up the Mississippi to Maiden
Rock. 20 Here they would winter in Maple Springs near
Mr. Pettit’s farm. 3 This trip must have been arduous;
for they carried with them heavy trunks and furniture,
one of the items was a large,
writing desk which alone, was
very heavy. 21
If it was not the immigrant train
that brought the Nordrums to
Eau Galle, then it was by covered
wagons in which they would
cross the state to the Mississippi
River. It was early summer when
the Nordrums arrived in Muskego,
16 spring thaw would give
way to dusty, well worn roads,
etched deep with the ruts of the
thousands of immigrants before
them. Their trip, no doubt, had
been planned through the help
of the Norwegian settlers that
had gone before them; and their
pick up, prearranged along the river banks of Wisconsin.
3
“I Jesu Navn gar vi till bords
a spise og drikke pa ditt order
deg gud till aere, oss till gavn
sa far vi mat I Jesu navn.”
- Norwegian prayer author unknown
Courtesy of Joyce Alton Wada
With their log cabin ready to live in, Johan planted
his first crop of potatoes. 19 At least 13 acres of
fields were in use on the farm. 20 The land was not
the best for farming; more than half was woods: Oak,
Elm, Maple, and Black Cherry, along with some wet
lands. 20 The log cabin had one room on the main floor,
along with a smaller room sectioned off for Johan and
Elisabet’s bed. A ladder went upstairs to a loft where
nine children slept. 19 Lena’s daughter
remembers, “I can’t imagine
my mother with eight siblings,
and two parents, living in two
rooms and the loft of their log
house. Whenever we visited the
log house I felt it was very mysterious.
Mother didn’t say anything.”
23
Johan raised sheep; their wool
was washed, carded and spun to
use for clothing. Elisabet knit,
sewed quilts and suits for her
boys, and taught her daughters
how to sew. 19 When Nettie was
Wearily, Johan’s group arrived in Maple Springs,
where Lena was born on October 31, 1870; 4 Elisabet
was 34. They would wait out the winter in the care
of others until the spring. When thaw came and the
snow had gone, Johan choose a spot of land to homestead,
in the township of Cady, along a stream with
rolling wooded hills and pastures. 3 Johan would not
settle long in Cady; for within two years he moved
his family across the county to Eau Galle. 22 It was
here that they built a log structure on 80 acres. His
nephew, Martinus Amundsen, settled the ajoining
80 acres. 20,22
16
The Nordrum’s writing desk from Norway
Photo courtesy of Charles Vanasse