KNUTSONS
IN
AMERICA
SINCE
1870
Preface-
I
began this project in an effort to present my personal story from birth to
present. I decided to include some history of the lives of my father,
grandfather and even great- grandfather Knutson. As my family and I gathered
more details and memories, the stories grew to include my paternal grandmother's
history, stories from my mother's side of the family all the way back to Norway,
and other information that I thought belonged here such as my Uncle Wilfred's
war experiences. The surname may not always be Knutson, but all the stories
represent my ancestors and ultimately influence my own story.
--Norton
Knutson
NELS BOLSTAD KNUTSON
-painted by Louie's wife, Amy, from a photograph ~1904
Bolstad
Rasdal
Good land was scarce and difficult to farm.
Nels and Maglie decided to emigrate to America.
May 6, 1870
Arrived Quebec City
June 25, 1870
In 1870 among other immigrants, were a party of friends who
traveled from Voss to Bergen, Norway where they sailed on the Harmonie on
May 6,1870 to Quebec, Canada and
arrived June 25, 1870. According to
the ship’s records the names of two of the passengers were Niels
Knudsen Bolstad, born at Evanger, and
Maglie Knudsdatter Bosdal
born at Evanger .
A
courtship had evidently been carried on during the voyage. They arrived in
Chicago in July and the two friends named above were married on August.1870.
This couple was grandmother Maglie and grandfather Nels Bolstad Knutson.
They went to Newark, Illinois
where a large contingent of Norwegians had settled. They lived on a farm near
Newark for ten years, where they had six children namely, Knute, Henry, Nels J.,
Nutie, Belle and Louie.
Adventure was still in their
blood, so they set out for the West in a covered wagon, which contained all
their belongings and two oxen named Brick and Brite.
There were cows, hogs, sheep and chickens walking behind. They pushed
westward until Maglie could no longer travel. The North Preston Community was
the site of their homestead, which was established on March 9, 1880. This area
was called Kingsbury County, Dakota Territory.
Volga was the nearest supply
center, as it was as far as the railroad extended. A trip to Volga took Nels at
least a week to secure the necessary provisions
for about six months.
Their
buildings, frame structure, were built entirely by themselves.
The house consisted of a
wood frame, the roof and sides of which were filled with sod. The windows with a
glass pane approximately in the center, were about two feet deep. The floor was
wooden. These buildings were warm in the winter and cool in the summer months.
.
When the coal supply was exhausted, hay was twisted and burned.
Their crops made them self-sufficient.
The earthen cellar, a hole under the house, was the most important place
of storage. The
wool from sheep was washed, carded, and spun into yarn.
The yarn was then knitted into clothing.
Coyotes
and wolves freely roamed the prairies and could be heard at night
Maglie was a midwife and
aided in the treating of many sicknesses. She
had the first sewing machine in North Preston.
During the blizzard of 1888, ropes were tied to the men when they went
outside. A hole had to be cut in
the roof of the barn to tend the animals.
The school was used for holding church services until enough settlers
moved in to make it possible to build a church.
The children did not attend high
school but went to Brookings to the
State College for short courses in engineering and domestic science. These
courses lasted about three or four
months.
A family of ten children,
except for Belle, who died at the age of two before they left Newark, Illinois,
were raised by the couple. The children born in Kingsbury County, Dakota
Territory were Belle, Lena, Bert and Nellie. It seems their second daughter was
named after the girl who died in Newark, Illinois.
Back
l. to r. Louie, Belle, Nutie, Bert
Knute,
Lena, Nellie, Nels J. (missing Henry)
The
Knutson Family was as follows :
Nels
Bolstad Knutson -Father- Born in Evanger, near Voss, Norway on August 21,
1839, Died April 1,1917 at Lake Preston, South Dakota.
Maglie Raasdal Knutson ,-Mother-was
born May 3, 1844 at Evanger, near
Voss, Norway , died November 3,
1908 at Lake Preston, South Dakota.
Children
(1)
Knute Knutson born Newark, Illinois on January
1871, died May 1, 1930 at Lake Preston, South Dakota.
(2) Henry J. Knutson born
Newark, Illinois on May 1872, died May
1927 at Lake Preston, South Dakota.
(3) Nels
Jorgenius Knutson born Newark, Illinois on January 27, 1874,died December
26,1945 at Clearbrook, Minnesota.
(4) Nutie Knutson born
Newark, Illinois, on December 14,
1875, died August 30, 1940 at
Lake Preston, South Dakota.
(5) Louie Knutson born
Newark, Illinois on November 2, 1879, died November 3, 1953 , buried at
Nora Springs, Iowa.
(6) Belle (Stubkjaer) born
Kingsbury County, Dakota Territory on November 1881, died
June 1951 at Huntington Beach ,California.
((7) Lena (Burlingame)
Kingsbury County, Dakota Territory on February 16, 1884, died 1966.
(8) Bert Knutson born
Kingsbury County, Dakota Territory on March 1885, died February 26, 1935.
(9) Nellie (Kopperud) born
Kingsbury County, Dakota Territory on
May 28, 1890, died November 25, 1958.
Nutie and
Lizzie
Louie and Amy
Nels J. and
Jennie 1939
Based
on Ruby (Knutson) Remme story of Nels Bolstad Knutson, modified for information
obtained from a Ship Lists Bergen-Quebec 1865-1873
and other data known by Norton Knutson from family data.
Compiled by Norton Knutson January 23, 2003.
