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| The Clausen Home and Parsonage |
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| The Clausen Home and Parsonage |
Dedicated To
The men and women who have gone before us, who with their hands, their hearts and their minds labored to build this community which we call home.
The pioneers dreamed as they clove a path
Through hardships we cannot guess;
They wrenched our land from a savage hand
And the clutch of the wilderness.A thriving people-a fruitful land,
This was their dream and prayer;
You were their thought as they hewed and wrought!
You were their deepest care.So strive and keep faith with the warrior bold
That bought you this priceless soil.
Yours is the gain of their brawn and brain.
Protect it with faithful toil.(Lines from "Song of Iowa," by Carleton Culmsee, son of Dr. L. A. Culmsee, and grandson of pioneer Christopher Hanson.)
THE COMING OF THE
PRAIRIE SCHOONER AND ITS CARGO
If the Indian in the Cedar River Valley had been on the lookout for newcomers on June 17, 1853, he would have seen moving slowly across the prairies from the east a winding thread of gray, which as it came closer resolved itself into a line of covered wagons drawn by oxen, with a herd of cattle bringing up the rear. This long line of prairie schooners had as its cargo a people, who brought with them all their worldly goods with which to build new homes in this new land. Some of these people were the founders of St. Ansgar. This migration was no haphazard movement. It was the result of careful investigation and planning.
Years ago, a young man left Denmark to go to Norway, where he became a minister. He was zealous in his ministerial work and, after a few years spent among the Norwegians, he felt the call of America and started across the ocean for the new world. After
weeks on the boat, he finally reached New York. Once in America, this Danish minister, the Rev. Clausen, continued preaching the gospel, first to one group and then to another, slowly moving westward. At last, he reached Rock Prairie, Wisconsin where he remained several years, teaching and preaching, being ordained as a Lutheran minister in 1844 by L. E. Krause of Muskego, Wis. After much thought and prayer, the Rev. Clausen and a group of Norwegians in this part of Wisconsin decided to move westward to find a place where land suited to their needs and wishes could be secured.
Rev. Claus L. Clausen, Founder of
St. Ansgar.
(larger rendition)In 1851, the Rev. Clausen left his little congregation to explore, with the hope that he might find a suitable place. He traveled over parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin but was not satisfied with the nature of the country so he returned and continued to preach during that winter. The next spring he and two scouts traveled over parts of Minnesota as far west as Albert Lea. The land was very wet and they felt it was not desirable. However, they were not discouraged and decided to turn south. They came to a small stream, which they named Deer Creek. They followed this stream to its entrance into the Cedar River and explored the woods along the river and the
prairies to the east and to the west. They observed very carefully the nature of the country and felt they had reached the place for which they had been searching. Hastening back to Wisconsin, they told the good news.
Mrs. Claus L. Clausen The Rev. Clausen in "The Immigrant," the first Norwegian paper published in America, told about this land with plenty of woods to meet the needs of a large group of settlers, prairies for miles to the east and to the west, good building places, flowing water, rich soil and plenty of land open for settlement.
The people were delighted with the description. Early that fall, the Rev. Clausen with Levor Lindelein, G. Gilbertson, Hans Halvorson Smesrud, Ole Hanson Haugrud and Mikkel Tollefson Rust returned to explore still farther and found it fully as attractive in the fall as it had been in the spring. To make certain of securing the land, they all, with the exception of G. Gilbertson, who did not intend to return, built log cabins. The Rev. Clausen's cabin was built in the southwestern part of the present town of St. Ansgar on what in later days was known as the Treichel place. Haugrud and Smesrud built theirs on the Deer Creek and Mikkel Tollefson Rust built his on what is known as the T. M. Tollefson place. They then returned to Wisconsin to prepare for the return trip.
One can imagine the excitement in that Norwegian community. Wagons must be made ready, oxen and stock secured, and the
necessities for a life away from railroads and cities must be provided-food, clothing, dishes, furniture for the home, and innumerable things for the building of a farmstead.
Peter Gunderson The following May, this fleet of thirty Prairie schooners, about seventy-five people, three horses, one carriage and one hundred fifty cattle started out. In so vast and trackless a wilderness, it was easy to take different routes and this company divided, although both were working toward the same goal, a new home in the Cedar River valley.
They all had faith in their pastor, and they were willing to trust him in this new venture of finding homes. This was the fleet of prairie schooners, which the Indian would have seen if his keen eye had been on the watch this June in 1853.
One can picture the hardships of this westward trip and the weariness of it. The goal was certain, westward to the sunset regions, over the prairies of Wisconsin, crossing the Mississippi on a ferry at McGregor, over the prairies of Iowa, through sloughs, across rivers, through woods, passing a Norwegian settlement at Calmar, delayed by breakdowns, by straying cattle, by storms until, between the 16th and 17th of June, 1853, these people reached the place destined to become the town of St. Ansgar.
And who made up this group of people the Rev. Clausen and his family and brother and the following men and their families: Mikkel Tollefson Rust, who already had a cabin built; Hans Halvorson Smesrud and Ole Hanson Haugerud, who had built cabins the previous fall but now found them occupied and therefore took land nearer the Cedar; Jacob Asleson; Assor Knudson; Hans Rust; Eric Espedokken and Helek Rasmussen. Also, there were Halvor Thorson and son, Erick Thorson Saagebroten, Peter Gunderson, and Ole and Tollef Grovo. These all settled in the neighborhood of St. Ansgar. There were others who went west into Worth county, south into what is now Rock Township or north into Minnesota. Late in '53 Helek Benson, Thore Mork, Gubrand Myre (Gilbertson), Peter Goldberg, Christopher Hanson and Endre Olson (Dokken), with his wife and their oldest son, Ole E., came here.
The first settlers were so well satisfied with the land chosen for their new homes that they invited their old friends at Rock Prairie to come. In 1854 another line of Prairie schooners brought another group of Settlers, consisting of Knute Kittleson, Hans Knudson, John Helgeson, Erick Stovern, Endre Olson, Helek Benson, Narve Golberg and Knute Tollefson, each with his family. Assor Groth, Peter Golberg, G. Blakkestad, Christopher Hanson, Knute Rauk, C. G. Classen, Nels Nelson, and perhaps others were also in this group.
These were the people who first came to the valley of the Cedar River to make homes in what is now St. Ansgar. These are the pioneers, courageous, industrious, God-fearing men and women who have left the impression on the community they founded.
E. L.
Jacob Asleson
Ole O. Grove
Mikkel & Growe Rust
OUR NAME
More than eleven hundred years ago, there was born in Amiens, France, a boy, who during his lifetime and for years afterwards was to exert a great influence, not only in France, but also in
Denmark, Norway and Sweden. He has influenced greatly our own community. You ask how? This lad became a Christian, a monk, a bishop, and was sainted by the Catholic church. He did much to bring the Scandinavian countries into the Christian fold. His influence has inspired many to become followers of Christ. Among these was C. J. Clausen.
Bronze plaque above, presented by
Mary Benson to the town of
St. Ansgar, giving a complete
list of the Pioneers of 1853 and 1854.
(larger rendition)The Rev. Clausen worked as a minister in Denmark and in Norway, and later came to America, where, through his missionary labors, there came to be a settlement at St. Ansgar founded on the Christian ideal. To honor the man whose influence had much to do in the shaping of his Own life, the Rev. Clausen gave to this town the name "St. Ansgar," (meaning "God's Spear.")
So, today we are honoring not only the Rev. Clausen and his followers, but also St. Ansgar, who provided the name for our community--the only town so named in this entire United States, and even in the entire world.
E. L.
Photos of Some Pioneers
Hans Rust
Knud H. Thorson
Tollef O. Grove
© 2004 - Tracey Stickney-VanHise
HTMLization by Kermit Kittleson
