THORSON, Erick & Ragnild & Ole
THORSON, ROGNE, SAGABRAATEN, TURTNES
Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 8/4/2010 at 19:25:54
Erick and Ragnald Thorson
Erick Thorson was born April 16, 1823 in Gol, Hallingdal, Norway, to Thor Halvorson and Barbaro Sagabraaten. Erick made his first trip to America in 1851. He lived in Wisconsin and Illinois for about two years, and then in 1853 he came to Mitchell County, Iowa with the colony that was led by Rev. C. L. Clausen. Erick was one of the seventy-five members of the colony, who in May, 1853 left Rock Prairie, Wisconsin to establish a new home for their families in the Cedar Valley area in Mitchell County.
If we had been living here on June 17, 1853 we would have seen moving slowly across the prairie from the east a line of covered wagons drawn by oxen, with a herd of cattle bringing up the rear. The covered wagons carried the people and all their worldly goods, with which they intended to build new homes in Mitchell County. These people were the founders of St. Ansgar and the First Lutheran Church.
Erick continued to live in Mitchell County for 11 years and in 1864 he returned to Norway. He he was a shoemaker by trade. He again came to America in 1866 and this time he was accompanied by his parents. Records tell us that he was therefore prominently and closely associated with the agricultural interests of Mitchell County.
Erick later married Raginald Nilsn Rogne who was born August 16, 1823 in Valders, norway. In 1812-1815 there was a great famine in Norway, and it was most severe in the area where Raginald lived. She often told about how they dried moss, bones, bark and a kind of grass and ground it into meal for bread.
Raginald's first marriage was the Andres Olson Turtnes in Norway, and they had four young children when her husband died at a very young age. relatives in America advised her to bring her children to America where they would have a better life.
She hired a girl to help her on the trip, and they left Norway in 1861, from Bergen, on a ship named "Hebe."
There were 400 people on board the ship--and each family had to cook their own food and board themselves. It took nine weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean. There were many storms during which the sailors had to work hard with the sails. Then the people would pray to God, but when the waters were still and calm they danced. The wind carried this sail boat out of its way northward and they came among icebergs. Accounts tell us it was a wonderful sight. They looked like large churches with steeples, and when the sun shown upon them there was a glory, but there was also a danger near.
Raginald and family reached their destination in St. Ansgar where she met Erick Thorson. They were married in 1866 and made their home in Newburg Township. They were the parents of one son, Ole E. Thorson.
Erick died on December 28, 1901 and Raginald died on September 30, 1889. Erick had long been recognized as a leading farmer of Mitchell County, and as a self-made man who earned his prosperity entirely through his own unaided efforts.
by Mrs. Wilmer Feldt
[From: MITCHELL COUNTY HISTORY, 1989]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Photo of Erick, Ole E. and Raginald Thorson, from the same book.
Mitchell Biographies maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen