June 20-22, 2019 Luther College, Decorah, Iowa
The Valdres Samband and the Vestlandslaget held a joint meeting at Luther College in Decorah Iowa. It was a memorable event. A quick recap of the weekend’s activities follows:
Highlights
Thursday
In her presentation, Midge Kjome covered Decorah’s early settlement, especially Norwegian immigration. Genealogy was busy and the silent auction drew in quite a few bidders. The bus tour began in Spillville, Iowa with visits to St. Wenceslaus Church and Billy Clocks Museum and continued on to Washington Prairie Lutheran Church where, after a tour of the church and its graveyard, a great dinner was served. This was followed by a performance at the church by the all-male Luren Singers.
Friday included a number of great presentations by author Elaine Hegg, DNA expert Dr. Jonathan Storlie, Gordon Eddy who talked about Norman Borlaug, author Dr. Willfred F. Bunge about Luther College and his book on its history, and Paul Cutting spoke about log cabin construction. The banquet entertainment was “Ladiesw of the Fjord.”
Saturday morning was the time for lag meetings and board meetings. An afternoon tour of Vesterheim found many people staying to visit that wonderful museum. A number of young people participated in activities in the Barneborgen (“Kids Castle”)/youth program. They had their own special tour of Vesterheim!
Detailed Trip Report
Thursday’s bus tour took in Spillville, IA. St. Wencelaus Church and Billy Clocks Museum were the primary sites visited. I hear the clock collection was really impressive and unique. The plan was to visit Washington Prairie Methodist Church but that was scuttled, for the most part, due to the lack of adequate space to park and back up the two large tour busses. Next stop was Washington Prairie Lutheran Church, which has many Valdres connections, particularly those emigrants from Vestre Slidre.
Wayne Wangness gave tours of inside this 1873 stone church and an extended talk in the graveyard. The tour group was served a marvelous dinner with many staff of the church accommodating the hungry visitors so efficiently. Following that was a lovely concert of choral music by the Luren Singers, an all male group. Pastor Don Berg, one of our incoming board members, sings with this fine chorus. The Luren Singers performed at the Decorah stevne of 2007. Upon return to campus, photographs of the various lags were taken.
Thursday’s seminars kept many busy and quite a few scooted back and forth from the lecture hall to genealogy & silent auction. Midge Kjome discussed Decorah’s early periods of settlement, especially highlighting the impact of Norwegian emigration. Utilizing census records, she noted the diverse talents brought to the area by the Norwegians in listings of their occupations. The interesting patterns emerged that while those bringing their valuable skills and craftmanship were represented in double digits in a community, those in unskilled work such as laborers and domestic servants numbered in triple digits. This was not lost on family historians who have scoured page after page of local census records and recognized similar findings.
Tom Standal provided excellent and timely assistance to the many who sought expert genealogical information, as did Vicki Hart.
Friday at the stevne Elaine Hegg read passages from her book, Death in a One Room Country School. Elaine wanted to keep alive the memory of 23-year-old Inga Magnusson, the school teacher murdered in Bee school’s basement in 1921, in a remote area south of Spring Grove, MN. Researching for more than 15 years, she has collected information and items relative to Inga, including a dress she wore at graduation. Elaine arranged to have the dress copied and wears it during her presentations on the unfortunate victim while showcasing the original on a coat hanger. One of the more unusual items the author has collected was the purchase of Bee school’s outhouse, which she then relocated and reroofed. As her book is self-published, if one wants to obtain a copy, contact Elaine Hegg. 208 2nd St. N. E., Waukon. IA 52170. Phone (563) 380-9540. Her current book agent is Lee Griffin.
Dr. Jonathan Storlie mesmerized the audience by his knowledge of genetic testing and the amazing range of findings elicited by it. He pointed out that many residents of Spring Grove, MN were related— but hastened to add that this was created by the intermingling of genes in Norway prior to emigration. Dr. Storlie also mentioned that the widespread sowing of Viking seed has been demonstrated through genetic testing results. He holds great hope for even more accurate and far reaching results in the immediate future as methods are further refined.
The next scheduled speaker, Tom Spindler, was a “no show.” Fortunately, Gordon Eddy did an impropmtu short lecture and Q & A session to retrieve the moment and speak about the work of Norman Borlaug. Dr. Willfred F. Bunge had at hand his 2011 work, Transformed by the Journey: 150 years of Luther College in Word and Image. Afterwards, a number of attendees crowded the podium to ask questions and express regard for his work. Next was Paul Cutting, no stranger to our stevner. Paul’s illustrated lectures on log cabin construction evoked much interest and many queries.
The One room Stue: most commonly the first-generation house and consequently the earliest Norwegian-American log house, was often owner built. It incorporated purchased elements like window sashes, milled lumber and cedar shingle roofs. Characteristics included being 1 ½ stories in height–a door usually on on the long side with a window next to it. A staircase in the corner was opposite the window. The chimney was set on a shelf or atop a log wall, projected through the peak of a gable roof. Exterior and interior were originally white washed, later sided. Incorporated into a larger house or abandoned and relegated to farm use, Paul went on to say, “Very rarely do you find buildings like this left unaltered…Often times [they are] abandoned or made into a different building like a chicken coop or a granary, or incorporated into a larger building with additions onto it. Else [they are] burned or forgotten about or left to rot.” Beyond the one room plan there is the two/three room plan–an entry way plus a one room log. It became a house plan in and of itself. The main room was framed in log construction, frame construction or timber and frame construction, a combination of the two. It was based on ideas and evolution over time by taking a one room stue and adding on timber frame extension. The Three room plan was the prototypical house that people had in their head of what they would build when they came here. It was the evolution from a two to three room plan. Instead of having the entry way in the forestue, the main entrance was moved into the main room of the house. It became the house plan in and of itself. To either side of the front door was a window and opposite that window another interior wall that separated or divided two smaller rooms and often a staircase between those two smaller rooms. “2×4” wall construction or an interior log wall was between those two spaces. Placement of the chimney was located somewhere along this interior wall—usually in the middle, sometimes it sat on top of the log wall that separated the main room from the two smaller rooms above the second story, essentially, and the stove pipe was run into that masonry chimney. Often the main room was done with logs while the smaller rooms are framed construction.