Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/403

 I1ISTOKY OF GOODHUE C01 TY 335 Anderson, Wis Gulbrandsen. As far as is known all these came in 1854, most of them from Wisconsin. Next came Svend Nor- gaard, from Telemarken; Ola Gunhus, from Kroedsherrad ; Christian Halvorsen Dbkken, from Hallingdal; Ragnvald Ohn- stad, from Aurland, Sogn ; Ole Eriksen, Elling Halgrimsen, Lars N. By ; G. K. Norsving, Ole Nesseth, Erick Anderson ; Nils Mik- kelsen, Mickel Johnson, P. N. Langemo, Syvert Halvorsen Dokken, Halvor Syvertsen Dokken, Syvert Markussen, Lars Markussen, and Helge Gulbrandsen Bakken, from Vang, Valders. The last named walked from Decorah, Iowa. Mrs. Ole Bakke, the first white woman in Holden, relates that one day she left her child lying in its bed and went out to get some water, and when she returned the child had disappeared. She hurriedly ran out and as she heard the cries from a nearby grove, she ran to it as fast as she could. A squaw had stolen the child, but when she saw the mother coming she left the child and ran away. Mrs. Torbjoern Enersen gave birth to the first white child in Holden. Erik Elton died there in the fall of 1855. This was the first death in the township. The early settlers in Goodhue county were as poor as they were able, the worst was that they did not have sufficient clothing to withstand the severe cold. But they soon overcame this. Soon they began to raise wheat on a large scale. As an example of what the first settlers had to endure the following is given : A man wdio wished to go to Oronoco, Olmsted county, in the winter of 1855 spent the night with Erik Talla and continued his journey the following morning. After three days he returned. During all this time he had been wandering about on the prairie in a blinding snow T storm without knowing where he was and without finding people. The following story relating to Indians was obtained from Cleng J. Dale: "It was in the year 1852. One evening about 7 o'clock there came a warning that the Indians were coming and that they were murdering our next neighbor and his family. It was difficult to say what to do. The thought of saving anything of our possessions we immediately gave up. AVe thought it wisest to flee just as we were. With our one-year-old daughter, my wife and I went eastward to Osmund Wing, who was busy getting his family into a wagon. We decided to go in an easterly direction to Torger Rygh, a devout old countryman, where people frequently held meetings. Here we soon gathered a whole company. The women and chil- dren occupied the second story, while the men remained below and armed themselves as well as we could with axes, pitch- forks; firearms we did not have. Those of the men who were the most Viking-like took their places as sentries about the house during the night. However, the Indians did not come. In the