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Shelby County |
Home 1915 History Index |
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Shelby County |
Home 1915 History Index |
CHAPTER VII -- EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS IN SHELBY COUNTY (CONT'D)THE NORWEGIANS.[The author is much indebted to Frank Faltonson, of Des Moines, for many of the facts contained in this article.] The Norwegian settlement in Polk township, Shelby county, Iowa, was founded by Marcus Anderson, the father of Jacob, Rasmus and Henry Anderson. He came out here with a goodly number of his neighbors from LaSalle and Grundy counties, Illinois, in the fall of 1879, and bought a large tract of land from the Rock Island Railroad Company, the prices therefor ranging from seven to fifteen dollars per acre. The following persons purchased land at the time: Nels Olson, Jacob O. Johnson, Sven Monson, Mons Thompson, Tom Anstigar, Martin Benson, Jacob Anderson, Ras and Henry Anderson, all of whom settled on their land in the spring of 1880 or the following summer. Chris Thompson, Sam Solovin and Sven Qualm, who also came from the same place in Illionis that the others did, settled in the fall of 1880. George Heglin, Andrew and Emanuel Hanson, Falton A. and Frank Faltonson, Gunard Olson and Jacob Knudson settled in the spring of 1881 and 1883, all of whom came from Iowa county, Iowa. About the same time came George Nelson, also from Illinois, and a little later the father of Ole E. Johnson came with his several sons, direct from Norway. About the year 1885, Andrew Obe Thompson and Hans Knudsen joined the settlement. Several of the very earliest pioneers of Lincoln township were natives of Norway. Among these were J. G. Johnson, Martin Johnson, Jacob Watland, E. H. Erickson, T. B. Olson and, later, A. A. Havick. The Norwegians were and are practically all Republicans in politics and Lutherans in religion. They have furnished a number of able and prominent leaders in Republican politics in the county and one or two members of the board of supervisors. Among these prominent leaders and officers were T. B. Olson, familiarly known as “Tobe” later a resident of Douglas township, and Marselius Larson, also of Douglas township. The Norwegians were very prominent during the eighties in the Farmers’ Alliance movement and were very able, active and aggressive opponents of the railway monopoly and domination of state politics, which obtained in Iowa at the time. The “Advance Alliance” of Polk township was composed largely of Norwegians. One member of the “Advance Alliance” who was especially active and prominent was Frank Faltonson, now a resident of Des Moines. A great many of these pioneers or their sons, are yet residing in Shelby county, particularly in the old settlement in Polk township, but many of them have sold their farms to Danish settlers and have moved to Minnesota, to the Dakotas, or elsewhere, in search of cheaper lands.
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