Left - Pastor Helge Hoverstad and the Perry Lutheran Church, 1909The following excerpts are from the souvenir book put out by the Perry Congregation in 1915. The book was compiled and edited by C.O Ruste and celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Perry. The following selections give a brief history of the area. They also speaks of the pride of their heritage and attitudes towards Native Americans.
SIXTY YEARS OF PERRY CONGREGATION
To the memory of the pioneers who braved the dangers of a long voyage the hardships of a life in the wilderness and still found time and means to organize and maintain churches and congregations for themselves and their posterity, this little volume is respectfully dedicated.
CHAPTER II.
BLUE MOUNDS SETTLEMENTS
The Blue Mounds settlements included a vast territory of land about the "Mounds. In colonization it ranked about sixth among the early Norwegian settlements of this country, and was widely known both in Europe and America. In the early territorial days "Smoky Mts. as it was then known, was dotted off on maps of the Northwest Territory which was then a wilderness. The first white settler traces back to Ebenizer Brigham who, in the year of 1826, ventured up from Galena in search of mineral lands. He was successful in finding rich lead ore deposits and hundreds of tons of lead were mined and carted one hundred miles over the country to Milwaukee and Galena. During the "Black Hawk Indian War of 1832 the place became famous by thebuilding of the "Mounds Fort which was situated one mile south of the "Mounds on the open prairie. The Fort consisted of a solid log house with a substantial stockade about it. Here the miners and settlers found protection together with the few heads of livestock they had, during the uprisings. The Fort was never attacked by the Indians but four fatalities are reported. The Indians, lying in ambush succeeding in their fiendish thirst for blood, shot and scalped the soldiers and laborers who had wandered too far from the Fort. Here also two white girls were restored to civilization, the Indians having captured them and held them for ransom.
Along the dividing ridge from east to west runs the old military road where the four-horse stage coach would make its regular trips. The sight of these stage coaches caused more of an excitement at that time than the steam trains did later. Aside from the early mining operations there was very little settling for other vocational purposes.
Within the present boundaries of the town of Blue Mounds there were very few settlers at the time when Mr.Brigham and a few others brought about the organization of a town by an act of the legislature, the eleventh of March, 1848. It is reported that a lonely Norwegian, Iver Thorson, commonly called "Brekings Iver, lived for a short time in this neighborhood but this footprints have long ago been obliterated.
During the years of 1848-49-50 there was a large influx of Norwegian immigrants, some coming from the older settlements, but the majority coming directly from Norway. The town of Perry was named after Commodore Perry, the gallant young American officer who, in 1812, won fame and distinction in the naval battle of LakeErie. The township was a part of the town of Primrose up to the year of 1854, when it was organized as an independent town and elected Anders Sanderson as chairman, and O.B.Daley as town clerk, town treasurer, justice of the peace, and superintendent of the schools. The first white people settled in the town in 1846, when John Brown moved in from the East, and the Keller Brothers arrived from Germany. The town had probably less than a dozen settlers when the first Vikings came in and started to take possession of her domains.
The first white settler in the town of Springdale was John Harlow, who later married a daughter of Jorgen Lee. He settled there in the year of 1845. The first Norwegian settlers arrived there during the following year. The town was organized in 1848; from then on the Norwegian influx was great. In the town of Primrose we find the first Norwegian settler in the year of 1846 as being Christian Hendrickson. By the year of 1848 a large number o fNorwegians had settled there.
The town of Vermont was politically a part of Blue Mounds until 1856 when its settlers perfected a local self-government.
CHAPTER XXVI
RETROSPECTIVE
Let us tarry a few moments and ponder over the history and achievements of our community and country for the past seventy years. What a wonderful panorama of advancement presents itself to our mind,s eye, as we try to picture before us our ancestors in the montainous Land of the Midnight Sun, where they saved and hoarded their lonely shillings for years in order to get their transport tickets for America. How they labored on the massively ironed "kufferts and filled them with "lunch for a four months, perilous voyage over the briny blue to the unknown beyond. And when the day of departure dawned-how they fought with that "lump in the throat and the tears that would not stop as they bid farewell to the dear ones they were leaving behind, some of whom probably had uttered all kinds of ill forbodings. And finally when the sails were raised to the breeze and the boat glided out over the fjord, the "bjerg og li of Mother Norway smiling her last Good-Bye so serenely beautiful that it must be seen and felt in order to be fully appreciated.
We will only touch a few of the trials and hardships of the early pioneers as we make comparison with the present, for instance: when we think of the uncertain speed of the sailing crafts and the present rapid whirling steam turbines; the easy going mule on the canal,s bank compared to the powerful railroad locomotives; when we think of Uncle Sam,s bi-monthly mail coaches to Chicago, and the twentieth-century limited and extended branches all around. When we think of the personal messenger on foot or horse-back as being displaced by the lightning flash of the telegraph and the telephone; when we think of the primitive dugouts and rude little houses and see our own commodious residences.
When we remember the poverty and scant necessities of life then and the luxurious abundance of to-day; when our thoughts run from the sedate oxen of that day to the speedy automobiles of the present time; when we reflect on the crude and primitive implements for hand and muscle power, contrasted to the scientifically manufactured machinery for horse, steam, gas, and electric power, we should thank God for having let us live in such an extremely active age, for it can truly be said that the evolution of the past seventy years has been greater than through many centuries at any other time in the world,s history. It behooves us however, not to rest upon the progress of to-day but faithfully speed along as we are given to see the light conscientiously performing our daily duties. The maxim that followed our fathers still holds true with us: "As thy days are so is the power given you. In this great picture one fact looms up as being especially "a live one, and that fact is the Church. As the Church edifice towers heavenward on the highest point in the community and trains the eye to look higher than any other structure, so the spiritual value that it represents has been the ever present force that has guided the life of the community to a broader outlook, a higher ideal, a purer and better standard of real living. The Church has always been the central point of attraction in our neighborhood. It has commanded more interest, it has received by far more attention and sacrifices, efforts and affections than any other cause that we have had in common; and yet when we think of the very large number of beings who have been taught, reminded, convicted of sin, assured of Grace, who have been inspired to hate the evil and love the good, it is fully apparent that the Church has given more than she has received. She has largely moulded the thought, the will, and the deed; and the community bears the stamp of her effort. But the Church is the power, the influence of God on earth. Through it He saves men from sin unto righteousness "that we might be His own and serve Him. In the material and in the spiritual things we see the movement of His fatherly hand. To God should we bring thanks for His goodness, and we may well join in that beautiful sentiment:
"Our fathers God, to Thee
Author of liberty, and all good,
To Thee we sing.
May the beautiful Church that we have been enabled to complete at this time, ever stand as a monument to the blessings of God upon our community. May its beautiful appointments ever remind us that it is the House of God, the palace of the King of Kings, the gate to Heaven. May its blessed influence ever be a fortress against evil, an inspiration to the fear of God, a balm unto the sorrowful heart. And when the sunset of our lives has come, and our bodies shall be carried to their last resting place, may its Holy light cast its reflection upon the dust, in the hope of resurrection unto eternal life and joy.