Name:                     Knud (Knut) Anderson SLOGVIG^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18}

   AKA:                    Knud Anderson; Kanute Anderson; Knud Slagvigen; Knud Slogvigen

Sex:                         Male

Father:                    Anders Knudsen SLOGVIG (1775 - 1848)

Mother:                  Anna Jacobsdatter FIKSTVEDT (FIKSTVEIT) (1769 - )

 

Individual Facts

Birth                       1797                                                        Slogvik, Tysvær, Rogaland, Norway

Baptism                  28 Oct 1798 (age 1)                               Norway

Burial                      Jan 1867 (age 70)                                  Anderson Cemetery, Sugar Creek Settlement, Lee Co., IA

Death                     10 Jan 1867 (age 70)                             (prob) Sugar Creek Settlement, Lee Co., IA

 

Marriages/Children

1. Anna Olesdatter HETLETVEIT

Marriage                1840 (age 43)                                         Edina, MO

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Notes (Individual)

General: IMMIGRANT    ( Slooper ??)* - He was the older brother to Jacob A. Slogvig.  Knud was listed in the Norwegian 1801 census, Stavanger Co., Skjold Parish, Tysvær subparish, Slogvig farm, as age 3.

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    No information about Knut's life in Norway prior to 1825 has been found other than some mention by Alfred Hauge in Vol. 1 of his historical novel based on the life of Cleng Peerson (often called the "father" of Norwegian/American migration).  Hauge indicated that Knut was imprisoned in Norway because he refused to serve in the military when drafted.  Hauge's account indicated that Knut "regarded it sinful for a man to kill his fellow human beings and, furthermore, that he was unable to swear allegiance to the king, as required.

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    He was the oldest son of Anders Slogvig and would have been in line to inherit the family farm upon his parents' death.  However, some believe he chose to sail to America on the sloop Restoration in 1825 while most authorities now agree that he first came to America shortly thereafter (some sources say "probably 1829").  Qualey¹⁷ identifies Knud as "an immigrant of the year 1930" and indicates that he "migrated" from the Kendall settlement to the Fox River settlement in Illinois in 1834 with his brother Jacob.   

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    Indicating an earlier date of immigration, Rosdail's Slooper book¹ (p. 51) states that "Knud Anderson Slogvig apparently returned to Norway with Ole Johnson Eie May 22, 1828, but he again immigrated in 1830." (Slooper book)  The Slogvik Chapter in the Tysvær local history book, vol. 2, has the following to say about Knud: "... went to America on the Restoration in 1825.  He came back after 10 years and got married.  In 1836, he went back to America with the brig Norden with 110 immigrants on board.  Knut was a Quaker and came to Fox River and lived later in Kendall and LaSalle." 

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    From the above, apparently there is some disagreement in historical sources about the details of Knut's life and travels.  The Slooper book (on pp. 10, 587, 606) questions whether he was on the Restoration, suggesting that he probably came to America first in 1929, but should be included with the Sloopers because of the significant role he played with this group and with subsequent immigration. He is not listed  on the "Emigrants from Stavanger" Internet web site (http://www.hist.uib.no/arkivverket/dnuEng.htm) as having emigrated in 1825.  In the latter part of the Slooper book (p. 587), Rosdail gives a footnote explaining that he found record books in 1960 belonging to Knud's daughter and granddaughter.  These indicated that Knut "first came to America in 1829 living here 6 years, then returned to Norway where he staid [sic] one year, and came to America the second time in 1836 where he settled in Mo. removed to Iowa in 1843."

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    In his Slooper book, Rosdail states that Knut "became the Slooper's chief ambassador to inform their countrymen in Norway of life in America, and to encourage and even lead immigration to join them there." (p. 587).  Early immigrant Ole Rynning, in his famous little book, True Account of America, stated, "In 1835 one of the first emigrants, a young bachelor named Knud Slagvigen [sic.], ... made a trip back to Norway, and many persons traveled a long way just to talk with him."¹⁹  Quoting R. Anderson, Rosdail earlier in his book had this to say about the role Knut played in encouraging immigration: "When Knud Anderson Slogvig returned to Norway in 1835, the news of his arrival in Skjold 'spread far and wide and created the greatest excitement. It made him the hero of the day. People traveled hundreds of miles to see and talk with him.'  Letters from the first Norwegian immigrants to America had been circulated with great interest but now 'Here was a man who had spent ten years in the New World.'" (Rosdail, p. 86)  Blegen⁹ states that Knud was "prominent in Norwegian-American history as an immigrant leader in 1836."

...

    "In the summer of 1836 two brigs, 'Den norske klippe' and 'Norden,' sailed from Stavanger with a total of 167 people destined for America.  Knud Anderson Slogvig, who like Hovland had emigrated in 1831, had returned to Norway the previous year and served as leader for the emigrants on board 'Norden.'  His return created a great stir, and people from all over Rogaland and Hordaland came to hear about America.  Almost without exception the emigrants were from Ryfylke and Jaeren, and a few from Hordaland.  Most of them went to the Fox River settlement and surrounding areas." (Lovoll's The Promise of America²)  He might have first settled in the Kendall, NY, area, but it is known that he settled in La Salle Co., IL, (Fox River area).  Along with his brother Jacob, his brother-in-law Andrew Askeland, and Cleng Peerson, Knud moved to Shelby Co. in northeastern MO in 1837.  There he married his wife in 1840.  In 1843 he, his wife and their 2 children moved to the Sugar Creek Settlement, Lee Co. in southeastern Iowa, where they had 4 more children.  (Knud's wife Anna was a sister of the prominent Slooper Ole Olson Hetletveit; Ole being the "first Norwegian layman to preach the Lutheran doctrine in America," according to Norlie¹⁶.)

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    The Slooper book (p. 587) states that in the year 1837 Knud "returned from the Shelby County, Missouri, settlement to the Fox River settlement in Illinois.  However he returned to northeastern Missouri, possibly in 1839, and probably to the Shelby County settlement. His principal town was Edina, county seat of the present Knox County, or Palmyra, about 12 miles northwest of Hannibal.  The area has been spoken of as a wilderness in which one of the first settlers walked for nine days, living on wild strawberries, before finding a human habitation.  It was certainly a long way from a market, nevertheless another settler stoutly asserted that no other Norwegian settlement had a better appearance or a better location." On page 588 of the Slooper book, Rosdail states that in 1843 Knud and his family "moved to the Sugar Creek settlement in Lee County, Iowa. This had been founded by Cleng Peerson and others in 1840 and included the majority of the Shelby County settlers. The location had the advantages of nearness to market and being in a state which did not allow slavery."  Rosdail further points out that Knud was known as a Quaker and a Republican due to his opposition to slavery. 

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    Knut's Sugar Creek farm was located in the "southwest corner of Montrose Township, adjoining Jackson Township on the south, and with some land in Des Moines Township on the west. .. Settlers were buried in the Anderson Cemetery, located on the north side of Knud's land.  It was in this cemetery that 'Kanute Anderson, Native of Norway' was laid to rest after his death Jan. 10, 1867, at the age of 68.  Thousands of Norwegian-Americans descend from the four shiploads of 1836/37, owe their presence in America to this quiet little Quaker pioneer.  His wife Ann lived until she was 75, when she died of pneumonia and was laid beside him on the hill overlooking the farm and the creek." (Rosdail, p. 588)

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*For more information on the Sloopers see notes for Tormod Jensen MADLAND.  For more information about Knud's Norwegian home farm see notes for his brother Jacob.

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Note:  We would like to know more about Knud, his life, his family and/or any descendants.  If you have such information, please contact Keith at:  okwheeler@saber.net

 

Sources

1.  Rosdail, J. Hart.  The Sloopers; Their Ancestry and Posterity; The Story of the People on the Norwegian Mayflower, The Sloop, "Restoration.".  Broadview, IL: Norwegian Slooper Society of America, 1961.  pp. 10, 48, 51, 587-588, 606.

2.  Lovoll, Odd S..  The Promise of America; A History of the Norwegian-American People.  Minneapolis & London: Univ. of Minnesota Press in cooperation with The Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1984.  pp. 11 & 33.

3.  Dybdal-Holthe, Nils.  Tysvær, Gard og ætt 2, Tysvær Sokn (Vol. 2 of "Tysvær Bygdebok" or local history book for "farms and families" for Tysvær subparish, Tysvær kommune, Rogaland county, Norway).  Stavanger, Norway: Tysvær Kommune - Dreyer Bok, 1990.  p. 25.

4.  Hillbrand, Percie V..  The Norwegians in America.  Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co., 1991.  p. 23.

5.  Hauge, Alfred.  Cleng Peerson, Volume 1 & 2, Translated from the Norwegian by Erik J. Friis. (Historical novel/fictionalized biography originally published in 3 volumes by Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Oslo.).  Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1975. Vol. 1, pp. 310, 312-314, 317, 329, 332-333, 347, 369; Vol. 2, many references.

6.  Anderson, Rasmus B..  "'Restaurationen' -- the Norse Mayflower,"  AMERICAN SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW, Vol. 13., pp. 348-360. (Copy of original from Washoe Co. Library, Reno, NV; furnished by Bob Westberg.).  January 1925.

7.  Cadbury, Henry J..  "Four Immigrant Shiploads of 1836 and 1837" in Volume 2, Page 20, Norwegian-American Studies (NAHA).  Northfield, MN: The Norwegian-American Historical Assoc. (NAHA), 1927.

8.  Flom, George T..  A History of Norwegian Immigration to the United States; From the Earliest Beginning down to the Year 1848.  Iowa City, IA: Privately Printed, 1909; Facsimile Reprint by Heritage Books, Inc., Bowie, MD, 1992.  pp. 47, 55, 62, 84, 91, 97, 111, 125, 192, 196-7.

9.  Blegen, Theodore C..  Norwegian Migration to America 1825-1860.  New York: Haskell House Pub., 1969.  pp. 60, 66, 70-72, 75, 78, 82, 85, 102, 112, 395.

10.  Blegen, Theodore C..  Norwegian Migration to America; The American Transition.  Northfield, MN: The Norwegian-American Historical Association (NAHA), 1940.  p. 107.

11.  Anderson, Rasmus B..  The First Chapter of Norwegian Immigration, (1821 - 1840), Its Causes and Results.  Madison, WI: Published by the author, 1895, pp. 102, 103, 135, 136, 147-149, 154, 155-159, 195, 196, 206, 240, 267.

12.  Langhelle, Svein Ivar.  Tysvær, Slik levde dei 9 - Frå 1820 til 1920 (Vol. 9 of Tysvær local history), Stavanger, Norway: Tysvær Kommune - Dreyer Bok, 1997, pp. 182, 184, 185, 187, 254, 255, 256, 257, 289.

13.  Nag, Martin.  Ryfylke-kvekerne! Utvandring! Essays og myter. Stavanger, Norway; Kveldsbel-eika; 2000, pp. 16, 17, 18, 19, 21.

14.  Nag, Martin. Lys over Lars Hertervig og kvekerne i Tysvær. Stavanger, Norway:Kvekerforlaget 1995, pp. 85, 90.

15.  Tysvær historielag.  Vestover! Gløtt frå utvandringa frå Tysvær til Amerika; Årsskrift 1993, Tysvær historielag, p. 14.

16.  Norlie, Olaf Morgan.  History of the Norwegian People in America. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1925 (Heritage Books Reprint, 1999), pp. 123, 132, 137, 536.

17.  Qualey, Carlton.  Norwegian Settlement in the United States.  Northfield, MN: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1938, pp. 25, 27.

18.  Tjossem, Wilmer L. Quaker Sloopers; From the Fjords to the Prairies. Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, p. 14.

19.  Rynning, Ole. True Account of America. Norway: 1838.  NAHA's 1926 English translation available online courtesy of Nasjonalbiblioteket Norge (The National Library of Norway) at: http://nabo.nb.no/trip?_b=EMITEKST&r=635

20.  Clausen, C. A. [translator]. A Chronicler of Immigrant Life: Svein Nilsson's Articles in Billed-Magazin, 1868-1870. Northfield, MN: The Norwegian-American Historical Association (NAHA), 1982, pp.28, 47, 51, 88. (Note: In this book, Knud is referred to as "Knud Slogvigen.")

 

Prepared by:

O. Keith Wheeler

Mad River, CA 95552

(707) 574-6595

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