1:
From Gjert G.
Hovland, at Kendall Settlement, New York, to Torjuls A. Maeland
I must take this
opportunity to let you know that we are in the best of health, and that both
my wife and I are exceedingly well satisfied. Our son attends the English
school and talks English as well as the native born. Nothing has made me
more happy and contented than that we left Norway and came to this country.
We have gained more since our arrival here than I did during all the time
I lived in Norway, and I have every prospect of earning a living here for
myself and my family ‑ even if my family becomes larger ‑ so long as God
gives me good health.
Such excellent
plans have been developed here that, even though one be infirm no one need
go hungry. Competent men are elected to see that no needy persons, either
in the cities or in the country, shall have to beg. If a man dies and leaves
a widow and children who are unable to support themselves ‑ as often happens
‑ they have the privilege of petitioning these officials. Each one will then
receive every year as much clothing and food as he needs, and no discrimination
is shown between the native born and those from foreign countries. These
things I have learned through daily observation, and I do not believe there
can be better laws and arrangements for the benefit and happiness
of the common man in the whole world ..
When assemblies
are held to elect officials to serve the country, the vote of the common
man carries just as much authority and influence as that of the rich and
powerful man. Neither in the matter of clothes nor in manners are distinctions
noticeable, whether one be a farmer or a clerk. The one enjoys just as much
freedom as the other. So long as he comports himself honestly he meets no
interference. Everybody is free to travel about in the country, wherever
he wishes, without passports or papers. Everyone is permitted to engage in
whatever business he finds most desirable, in trade or commerce, by land
or by water. But if anyone is found guilty of crime, he is prosecuted and
severely punished.
No duties are
levied upon goods that are produced in the country and brought to the city
by water or by land. In case of death, no registration is required; the survivor,
after paying the debts, is free to dispose of the property for himself and
his family just as he pleases. There is no one here who snatches it away,
like a beast of prey, wanting only to live by the sweat of others and to
make himself heir to the money of others. No, everyone must work for his
living here, whether he be of low or high estate. It would greatly please
me to learn that all of you who are in need and have little chance of supporting
yourselves and your families have decided to leave Norway and come to America;
for, even if many more come, there will still be room here for all. Those
who are willing to work will not lack employment or business here. It is
possible for all to live in comfort and without want ...
But alas, many
who want to come lack the means, and many others are so stupid as to believe
that it is best to live in the country where they have grown up even if they
have nothing but hard bread to satisfy their hunger. It is as if they thought
that those who move to a better land, a land of plenty, do wrong. But I cannot
find that our Creator has forbidden us to seek our food in an honorable way.
I should like to talk to many persons in Norway for a little while, but we
do not wish to live in Norway. We lived there altogether too long. Nor have
I talked with any immigrant in this country who wished to return.
2:
From Sjur J.
Haaeim, at Middle Point, Illinois, to Bishop Jacob Neumann
Now I promise
to relate the truth about everything and call God in heaven to witness that
I will not say one word that is not true. Most of us left Norway in 1836
and had no better information than some letters written by Gjert Gregoriussen
Hovland, who praised both the country and everything in it so that we all
imagined that this country must be Canaan, a land of milk and honey, and
thought that we should find our countrymen here in very good circumstances.
But ‑ unfortunately ‑ when we came to what they called their homes, we saw
some huts that looked more like the barricades in Bergen than like anything
else, and we could look right through their walls. Another sight caught our
eyes: a flock of half‑naked children and their parents dressed in rags. In
spite of all this, however, we were happy to visit with them, mainly because
to them we could speak our own language.
Here, then, we
had to start putting up other houses of the kind I have described, and after
that every man had to get out and make a living for himself and his family.
This was true whether he had owned one of the best farms in Norway or had
owned no farm at all. Here we worked the first winter and made a little money.
After that some of us wanted to go farther into the country to a state called
Missouri, where twelve of us traveled on for another 560 miles and, as we
had expected, found land that was not occupied. Here each of us started cultivating
a piece of land, and we built houses of the same poor quality I described
earlier. We had with us one of the first Norwegian immigrants, who spoke
the English language well. The land had been surveyed there and was to be
sold, but everybody assured us that it would not be sold for six years. When
we had worked it for about three years, however, the land came up for sale,
and only three of us were able to buy a small piece. All the rest of us had
to give up our land and leave, with no compensation for all our work.
Our land was
bought by strangers, and we and our families had to go back to the state
of Illinois. All this happened last summer.
Shortly after
this, illness broke out among the Norwegians, and it was quite pitiful to
hear the reports of all this misery. A great many were called away from this
earthly existence by the good Lord, and those who survived have not yet regained
their health. I was among those who suffered this hard fate. I was laid up
last fall, on September 1, and am still not able to earn enough to buy myself
a meal. From my knowledge of them, I shall say a little about the Norwegians
who live here. Some of them left Norway because of hatred of the clergy and
other officials, others because of hatred of their neighbors, still others
because of other vices. When all these come together in one neighborhood,
one can imagine what kind of life they lead in these American forests.
Furthermore,
there is not a church for a distance of a hundred miles, and we are almost
in the worst conceivable state of heathendom in the whole world.
Some single persons
had decided to go back to Norway, but they died last fall. If these persons
had returned home safely, I believe that not so many would have come to America
after that.
I could tell
a great deal about the Norwegians here, but I do not have
enough space. I therefore request that you, Reverend Sir, instruct
all my fellow brothers in Christ never to plan on coming over here. I assure
them that they will regret it, unless they are among those people who are
completely indifferent to everything. I and many others are now in poor circumstances,
mainly because of illness. If I dared be so bold as to ask the inhabitants
of Bergen if they, out of a loving Christian heart, would be so kind as to
give me a little help to enable me to return to Norway with my wife and two
children, nothing in this life would make me happier.