No way like norway

No way like norway Subhead Professor launches book on Norwegian immigration to Bosque County News Staff Wed, 03/13/2024 - 06:14 Image

• Professor Gunner Nerheim gave a presentation on the findings he published in his new book on Norwegian immigration to Bosque County at the Bosque Museum on Sunday, March 2. Nathan Diebenow | Meridian Tribune
• The Bosque Seven Gallery at the Bosque Museum was filled with anxious local history lovers for Professor Gunnar Nerheim’s lecture about his new book called “Norseman Deep in the Heart of Texas: Norwegian Immigration 1845 to 1900” on Sunday, March 2. Nathan Diebenow | Meridian Tribune
• Professor Gunnar Nerheim (red vest) posed for a photo by his wife Inger-Kari (from left) with Virginia Richards, Lance Allen, Bryan Davis, and Julie Davis after his lecture at the Bosque Museum on Sunday, March 2. Nathan Diebenow | Meridian Tribune
• Betty Tindall (right) asked a question of Professor Gunnar Nerheim during a booksigning at the Tolstoy & Co. Bookshop in historic downtown Clifton on Sunday, March 2. Nathan Diebenow | Meridian Tribune

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What’s the real story behind the Norwegian immigration to America?

That’s the question Gunner Nerheim, professor emeritus of modern history at the University of Stavenger, answered during a lecture at the Bosque Museum in Clifton on Sunday, March 2.

The Bosque Seven Gallery was filled with anxious lovers of local history as Nerheim launched his new book called “Norseman Deep in the Heart of Texas: Norwegian Immigration 1845 to 1900.”

The professor explained that he performed his research in Bosque County out of curiosity for the people from Norway who settled in the area.

Nerheim worked in leadership positions for the Norwegian National Museum of Science and Technology in Oslo and later the Stavenger Museum.

During his career he authored or co-authored more than 20 books and 25 articles spanning the fields of history of technology, economics, business, and urban studies.

Nerheim admitted that until later in his career, he had very little, if any, knowledge of his countrymen moving to the state of Texas.

In 2012, Nerheim heard from the Consul General of Norway about the launching of the new Cleng Peerson Institute at the Bosque Museum in Clifton.

“The Norwegian attitude is that it’s crazy to immigrate to Texas,” he said. “No one ever understood why on Earth Cleng Peerson would go to Texas in his old age.”

Nerheim utilized primary and secondary sources in both English and Norwegian languages to tell the story of Norwegian immigration to Texas.

By 2018, Nerheim submitted the manuscript for his book, which was only recently published by Texas A&M University Press.

During his writing and revision process, the COVID-19 pandemic happened as well as an accident that nearly took the professor’s own life.

“I never thought I’d come to Texas again,” he told the audience.

Nerheim explained that the people who left Norway in October 1825 spent their first winter in a deep forest in update New York.

“They survived the Atlantic but not malaria,” he said.

Cleng Peerson’s contribution to the Norwegian immigration is that he likely served as a scout for land speculators, Nerheim said.

Peerson’s travels led him to New York, Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

A Norwegian newspaper editor named Johan Reiersen was persuaded in 1843 to settle in Texas after traveling for 3,000 miles across the United States.

“That was the beginning of a ray of sunshine,” Nerheim said, noting that Norwegian farmers arrived in East Texas by way of New Orleans, Louisiana.

A month after the Norwegians arrived in Bosque County, members of the Comanche tribe raided them, which caused them to plead for safety from the Texas Rangers.

Nerheim’s book covers the Norwegian settlements before and after the American Civil War using the letters from the young Norwegian people and their families who lived during this era.

Nerheim noted that the Norwegians had different attitudes toward slavery depending upon the region where they resided.

While some Norwegian immigrants join the Confederacy, they did so when they were conscripted; otherwise, they would have rather defended their new homes from the native peoples.

At the end of the 1800s, the Norwegians moving to America were indentured workers dreaming of owning their own farm.

“Was it more difficult to climb to the top in 1900 than 1880? Yes,” Herheim said. “What if I compare all the counties here, and say what’s the number of farmers owning their own land? It was much higher in Bosque County. Reason for that? A higher percent of Norwegians.”

Nerheim noted that in Norway the farmers learned subsistence agriculture, so when they arrived in America, they had more skills than other farmers.

He said he didn’t expect Norwegian farms of that era to be able to perform certain trades such as cutting limestone.

In addition, Nerheim said he was very impressed by the high level of education Norwegian immigrants attained compared to his countryman in Norway by the 1880s.

“Many parents prioritized higher education for girls as well as boys (in Texas),” he said. “The girls often became nurses and teachers.”

Nerheim continued, “The Norwegians in Texas were at least two generations ahead of their relatives in Norway.”

Nerheim said that he himself is a firstgeneration academic; no one in his family had ever attained a university education before him.

One reason for this priority in education was that the children of the Norwegian immigrants had less access to land of their own, he said.

Herheim also covered the religious life among the Norwegian immigrants, noting that freethinkers (or atheists) and Freemasons influenced the community’s growth.

“Nevertheless, the church became the carrier of Norwegian-ness,” he said, yet later he asked rhetorically, “Are there still Norwegians deep in the heart of Texas?”

To answer, Nerheim and his wife read a note on a book given to the owner by her aunt: “This book is given to me as a gift by my Aunt Martha for which I –Maria Olsen-- can never thank her enough because it contains so many words of comfort.”

Nerheim thanked George Larson who welcomed him to perform his research at the Jacob Olson Annex at Bosque Museum.

Prior to the lecture, Nerheim signed books at Tolstoy & Co. Bookshop located in historic downtown Clifton.

Nerheim also noted that the 200th anniversary of the organized immigration of Norwegians to America is in 2025.

Members of the Bosque Museum, the Norwegian Society of Texas – Bosque County Chapter, and other partnering groups are currently making plans to honor this occasion.

About the Bosque Museum

The Bosque Museum is dedicated to protect and preserve Bosque County’s historic and prehistoric resources for the use, education, enjoyment, and economic benefit of he public it serves.

The museum features several collections, including seven paintings by the “Bosque Seven” artists, artifacts from local Native Americans and Norwegian immigrants, and photos from Bosque County residents.

The museum is open to the public Thursday – Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and on Sunday, 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.

The Bosque Museum is located at 301 South Avenue Q in Clifton.

General admission is $5 per person; children under 10, free; members, free.

For more information, call (254) 6753845 or (254) 675-3820 or visit www. bosquemuseum.org.