Valder, Hans 1813 – 1901

VALDER

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 3/7/2020 at 16:04:32

Source: Decorah Republican Jan. 31, 1901 P 2 C 4

A PIONEER AMONG PIONEERS.
A Norwegian Immigrant of 1837— One of the First Settlers in Southeastern Minnesota —Passes Away.
Hans Valder, the aged father of Prof. C. H. Valder, of this city, died last Sunday at his home in Newberg, Minnesota,, and will be buried to-day. By his death this section loses one who was entitled to claim all that the word pioneer means. Mr. Valder was born Oct. 18, 1813, on the farm Vaelde, Vats Parish, Stavanger Amt, Norway. His father was at the time a sergeant in the Norwegian army. The son Hans was educated as a farmer and itinerant school teacher and for several years taught school in his native land. In 1837 with his wife and one child, he embarked on the sailing vessel “Enigheden” with a number of other Norwegians and sailed for America. The journey required three months and after landing in this country the company started westward. Mr. Valder accompanied them as far as Detroit. From there he went to Lenawee Co., Mich., and spent the winter with a Norwegian family that had settled there in 1833. In May, 1838, he and his family went to Mission, LaSalle Co., Ill., where they resided until 1853, when they again moved, this time to southern Minnesota. When they reached there they found several families at Spring Grove and other places, and lacked but two days of being the first settlers at Newberg. Probably the first Norwegian settlers in the state antedated them not more than a year. Here Mr. Valder took up farming and kept a hotel. He was a strong man, both physically and mentally, and. he was not long in becoming interested in his adopted country. Politics had a fascination for him and he allied himself with the Republican party, his first presidential vote being cast for William Henry Harrison. For forty years be continued his activity in party matters, a large part of that time being honored by election to various positions. He organized the township in which he resided and gave the town of Newberg its name. In 1871 he represented his county in the Minnesota legislature. Mr. Valder was a man of positive religious convictions- and although he never made any pretentions in the matter he was the first Scandinavian Baptist preacher in America. He was married three times and had sixteen children. From Hon. Rasmus B. Anderson's book on Norwegian Emigration, from which many of the foregoing facts are taken, we learn that in 1892 there were more than 150 descendants of Mr. Valder residing in six states.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows he is buried in the Newberg Methodist Church Cemetery in Newberg, MN and that he died Jan. 28, 1901.