Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/404

 336 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY morning we sent out two spies to examine how matters stood in our homes. They returned with the report that as far as they could see and hear, everything was quiet and our homes were in the same order in which we had left them. Then we returned. At this time B. J. Muus was pastor of the Holden congregation. He removed his family to Red AVing." Mr. Muus, however, returned and continued his labors. Herman Hansen Bakke, who now lives in Spring Valley, AVis., relates that die settled at Belvidere Mills, Goodhue county, in 1855, and that he had no crops the first five years. Prairie fire destroyed them. On one occasion he also lost his tools and every- thing else which he owned except his house. The pioneer Peter Langemo relates, among other things : "The houses in Goodhue county occupied by our fellow countrymen were si nail, as a rule 10x]2, but small as they were, they often accommodated two or three families. The first year after Min- nesota became a Mate a law was passed that the taxes should be collected by the town treasurer. Thus it happened in Holden that the treasurer and his family lived together with another man in the latter- 's log hut, which to all appearances was still smaller than the others. So it happened one day that a Hailing who lived in the western part of the township came to pay his taxes, bu1 he seemed to harbor a fear that he had come to the wrong place. After having carefully examined the 1 1 u I on all sides, he entered and made his observations and asked, "Is it here that the high official lives?' The treasurer was Ole Solberg, and a Tier an affirmative answer the Hailing paid his tax. The Holden congregation was founded in 1856, by Rev. H. A. Stub, belonging to the Norwegian synod. Jt was the first Nor- wegian congregation in the county. Nevertheless the congrega- tion did not have regular service before Rev. B. J. Muus arrived in 1859. The church was buill in 1861. Hans Hanson Holtan was the first Norwegian in Goodhue county to hold a public office, he being elected to the legislature in 1857. His brother-in-law, 0. O. Hagna, was the first Nor- wegian in the county to hold county office, being elected treasurer in 1869. He is still living, and makes his home with his sons in Minneapolis. A list of public officers in Goodhue county of Norwegian birth or descent follows : Members of the state legis- lature — Hans Hansen Holtan, from Naes, Telemarken; Lars K. Aaker; A. K. Finseth, of Kenyon, from Hemsedahl. llallingdahl; Olaf O. Norvold, of Zumbrota, from Lesje, Gudbranclsdal; 0. J. Wing, of Aspelund, parents from Htavanger district; O. K. Nae- seth, of Wanamingo. parents from Holden, Skien ; Frederick Pet- tersen, Zumbrota. from Ondenhus; Knut K. Finseth. of Kenyon, from Hemsedahl; A. A. Flom, of Cannon Falls, from Aurland,