Book 2 - Nathan, Amy, Madison and Ethan Berga

Top Ten Reasons for
Leaving Norway 9
1. The gloomy prospects in Norway for
the future generation.
2. There was not enough land for the
producing and working class.
3. General dissatisfaction with the administration
of Norwegian law, especially
with reference to relations between debtors
and creditors.
4. A general feeling that the state did
too little to promote agriculture and the
welfare of the common people, though
it devoted large sums of money to other
purposes.
5. Dissatisfaction with Norwegian officialdom
and the clergy, which formed a
caste system that looks upon an ordinary
citizen as an inferior.
6. Failure in Norway to realize the freedom
and equality that the constitution of
1814 had promised.
7. The pressure upon the “bøndsman” to
supply poor-relief burdens.
8. The pressure upon the “bøndsman” to
fund the Norwegian road systems.
9. Uncertainty of poor producing crops
and over utilized farm land.
10. Idealization
of America.
A Lutheran pioneer pastor, by the name of
Claus Lauritz Clausen, had arrived at the Muskego
Norwegian settlement in Wisconsin in 1843. 9 C.L.
Clausen was from Ærø in Denmark and had been one
of the first pastors to gain permission to emigrate. By
law, Clausen’s passport was granted him only after he
met the requirements of the state along with gaining
permission from the parish. 9
Early in 1850, Clausen appealed to the governor of
Minnesota Territory, Alexander Ramsey, for information
about the governor’s territory. He wrote,“A large
number of Emigrants who came last season, are now
staying over the winter around here in the settlement,
purposing to lookout in the spring for public lands
to settle upon, but as they are unacquainted with the
country and the language here, it is to be feared that
many of them may be misled to their serious disadvantage,
if left entirely to themselves; or, which is often
worse, to the guidance of interested speculators.” In the
interest of these people, Clausen desired information,
especially about the region in the vicinity of Lake Pepin
and of the St. Croix. “On behalf of the Norwegians,
I now principally write,” he continued, “are generally
poor, but sober, hardy and industrious farmers and mechanics;
but I have received letters from Norway and
Denmark, informing me that several men with considerable
capital, wish to go over here, I can lead them to
places where they can invest their capital profitably, in
improving water powers, erecting mills and other machineries,
and building towns, etc…” 9 Clausen stated
that if the governor’s reply was favorable he proposed
to make a journey to Minnesota to examine the region
for himself. The next summer he set off for Minnesota
Country, his travels taking him to such places as St.
Paul, St. Cloud, and St. Anthony Falls, up the
Minnesota River, and to the vicinity of
C.L. Clausen and
St. Croix Lake, where on the Wisconsin
side, in the neighborhood of Rush River,
he found land that seemed satisfactory
to him. When he returned to Rock Prairie,
his reports aroused the interest of a