Chapter 4 - SETTLING IN AMERICA – IN NORTHEAST IOWA
Written by Anna Huglen Lommen
Translated by Agnes T. Lommen Hammersland in 1959
It was June 12, 1870 when we arrived in Ossian around midnight or perhaps a little after, so we had spent a week on our way from the ocean. Many passengers in our group continued on farther west when we got off in Ossian. We children slept on the floor of the railway depot in Ossian. At dawn my father went to find directions for reaching relatives. My father was going to Amund Kloster’s and John Amundson was looking for the Kolbein Saboe place, for Mrs. Saboe was John’s sister and the parents of those were along from Norway, so the Amundson’s could make their home at Saboe’s.
When the men folks had walked some distance south of Ossian they met Lars Kloster. He was hauling a load of wheat to sell in Ossian and at the same time there to see if the “newcomers” were there and take us home with him if we were there. So John and my father rode back to town with him. While the men were away, a man who had coffee and beer to sell came along and wanted us to go with him to his place to buy coffee but we didn’t go.
After awhile, Torwald Gunderson came with greetings from my uncle, Ole Higrenes (Hegraness), mother’s brother. He had been in Ossian looking for us the da before. He had said to wait in Ossian until someone came to get us. Of course there were no telephones and no cars in Stavanger at that time.
Arriving at Klosters
Kolbein Saboe and Nels Twedt came after awhile so their relatives had a way out. Mrs. Twedt was also a sister of John Amundson. In company with us were two girls from Twedt (Hugloroen Island). They also got to stay at Kloster’s until they found places to work as hired girls. They loaded up as much of our baggage as there was room for. Then we all sat on top of trunks as we best could and got a speedy ride with frisky horses drawing the wagon. I sat in Lars Holmen’s lap which was fine, for I fell asleep and could easily have rolled out had I been sitting on one of the trunks. We got to Kloster’s at dusk and were treated to delicious warm pancakes and coffee and many other good things. I remember best the pancakes. Mrs. Kloster was my mother’s sister. Their mother, my grandmother, was there before we came, so I got to see my grandmother for the first time. We stayed at Kloster’s until Saturday when we all started walking to Higrenes’ (mother’s brother). We planned to stay there until Sunday. The Twedt girls were along so we were a crowd. We took a wrong path and went into fields and meadows wherever we could, fortunately we met a fellow who could speak Norwegian and new the way to Higrenes’ so we got the directions straight again. We got to our destination in the afternoon sometime. Uncle knew about an Irish family, Barney Finnegan, who wanted to hire a girl. So one of the Twedt girls began working there one of the first days and the other got work with the Anfin Alfernee’s family. We all stayed overnight at Higrene’s. On Sunday afternoon, all but I went back to Kloster’s. I was to stay a week. Uncle went to town and bought for me dress goods and a “shaker”, a kind of headscarf like a bonnet. Bertha sewed my dress and finished the “shaker.” Ella Hegrenes (Higrene’s) came with me home to Kloster’s the following Saturday. My folks had moved to a dugout (a sort of dirt or sod cabin) that my father had bought from a family who moved to Minnesota. The cabin dugout was on Kloster’s land west from the Juvick place in the hillside there.
At Kloster’s they were making preparations for a wedding. Their oldest son, Lars, was to be married and their’s was a larger more roomy house than the bride’s parents had, so the wedding festival was to be at Kloster’s. We all were invited and went to the wedding that took place in church. We had a ride with John Kloster. His wife was the bride’s sister and stayed home to help with the cooking so John had plenty of room for us to ride with him. It had not rained for quite some time, so the roads were very dusty. John said to us to be ready to leave church early, as he wanted to go back home ahead of the wedding group to avoid some of the dust. So we did, and we sat down in the wagon box. He drove very, very fast so we really had a “shake up.” My father and my brother, Andrew, had work during the harvest at John Kloster’s and Helge, I believe, worked for Uncle Higrenes.
A “Hired Girl”
I worked at Nels Tinderholt. I think it was a couple of weeks before harvest would begin that Aunt (Mrs. Kloster), mother’s sister, was to town and then had met and talked with Nels Tinderholt. He had asked if she knew where to get a hired girl so she had mentioned me. So he came that evening about dusk. She told me who he was and that he wanted me to work there and coaxed me to go. It would be fun, etc. Her girls had been there when they were young so I thought it might be O.K. Mother was not at home at the time and father didn’t say much either way. Auntie helped me get some clothes into a bag so I went with him. It was almost midnight when we reached his home. Roads were not improved those days and the transportation of course was team and wagon. I was homesick when I got up and was lonesome most of the time the eight weeks that I stayed there.
The first Sunday I was there, I had permission to go home for a while. I lost my way, so I turned back toward Tinderholt’s and ran much of the way until I caught up to my mother and my cousin, Carrie Kloster. They were on their way to Tinderholt’s, coming to visit me. So we walked together the rest of the way. Mother brought more of my clothes, as I had not taken much along in the first place. It was just once I went home during the eight weeks. That was a Sunday that Nels and the oldest of their children and I walked to the big woods (storeskogen) to pick plums and wild grapes. It was on the other side of the Turkey River. We drove team and wagon and our first stopping place was at Lars Kvamme’s. They had a grown up adopted son who came with us and shook the plum trees and helped us pick. These old people lived in a log cabin about where Kaut Kvamme (Kleppe brothers’ father) now lives. We picked almost a huge clothes basket full. Then Nels began picking wild grapes. He pulled the vines down and ribbed them. Then the man who owned the land came – angry of course. So that ended the fruit picking.
We drove back to Lars Kvamme’s where they gave us dinner. We stayed there and visited for a while. Then on our way home we stopped in to see my parents. It was only a little while, for it was far going with a team. They wanted to make lunch for us, but we couldn’t stay and didn’t need any lunch either. Nels gave mother some of the plums. I was more homesick again after having been home. When the eight weeks at Tinderholt’s were almost up, they drove to West Union one day and bought dress goods for two dresses for me and material for one apron calico. That was my pay for working eight weeks. That wasn’t much, but then it wasn’t worth much either, and I got my room and board.
When they took me home they gave me a black and white speckled hen. She was very pretty. By this time they had several chickens at home that people had given them. I think we had eight or nine hens the first winter. We had a small yellow one that Lars Holmen gave us. We had her a number of years. She was very tame, but once when Olai and I were home alone, we thought of feeding her as much corn as she would eat. She ate from our hands and ate until the crop (kroen) burst, so she never was healthy after that big feed. I also got a puppy along from Tinderholt’s that they would not let me keep. Mother gave the pup to Mons Kolsoi. They were glad to get it.
Soon after I came home from Nels Tinderholt’s, I had to go and babysit at Mons Kolsoi. I was there five weeks. I don’t recall what they gave me for the help. While I was there, my Grandmother passed away, nearly 95 years old. So I got permission to go home on Sunday afternoon and stay until after the funeral which was to be on Monday.
A New Cook Stove
My father had bought and also had it delivered -- a new cook stove -- and what a novelty (begivenhet) a dandy, and with it as was customary in those days, cooking utensils. There was a complete set of pans and kettles and kitchen utensils. We were all so very happy about it. Up to that time we did all our cooking outdoors and our bread mother got baked over Auntie Kloster’s oven, but now we had “our own” stove. We had done all our cooking out under the sunny or otherwise open sky. We had two clefts of wood cloven sticks, and set into the ground. Between them was a small stick. It was O.K. in calm nice weather, but not so in windy, rainy days—that was tough.
Our cooking utensils, up until now, were an iron kettle and a copper tea kettle (kaffe kjel). That was the whole outfit or supply until they got the new stove. No wonder everyone was so happy.
Times have changed and years have flown since 1871. The Kobein Saboe place, I think, was where their son Aanwnd Saboe, Cora’s father, lived. Now Mike and Harold Moritz own it.
The bread baking had been a big trouble for both my mother and her sister, Mrs. Kloster. I don’t know where the Kloster house was, but the Lars Kloster who was married later lived where Andrew Kloster and Lena lived and Lena still owns. Lars’ wife was Lisa, a sister or sister-in-law of the Anfinson – Anfin Anfinson, I believe.
My brother Andrew worked two months at Tinderholt’s that first fall. After that, we were all at home until the latter part of February 1872, when I went back to Tinderholt’s and stayed all summer. My wages were $6.00 – total pay and not much, but no one had big pay nor over time those days.
The first fall in America I went to school one day in Saboe Schoolhouse with my cousin Carrie Kloster. I never have found out why I went just that one day to English school that fall. That day I read all the letters of the alphabet correctly except the last. That I had forgotten. My brother Andrew went two months to English (public) school that winter. I recall one time, I believe in January 1872, that it snowed continuously for nearly three days and the snow got too deep that it came above father’s knees. We thought that was a lot of snow.
We never had much snow in Norway, and it would melt soon if we did have some at times. I recall only one winter that we had much snow in Norway. Then we had depths of 2 or 3 feet in places. It fell on a Friday evening and Saturday morning early we had no school so we had time to enjoy it all day long. We played house. Helge and I built a snow house, in Norway, that had several rooms. Afterwards Helge built a grotto so large that he could sit inside it. First he shoveled a huge pile of snow and then made the grotto inside it. We were expecting father home that night – Saturday night – Andrew shoveled a path for him to come through. He worked in a copper mine in Norway. But soon all this snow melted so that ended its glory. “Slut paa den Herligheten”