My Grandparents, John and Carrie Nelson ofFryksändeB Y M.docx

My Grandparents, John and Carrie Nelson of
Fryksände
B Y MYRTLE J. FAGENSTROM AND EUNICE HOLMGREN
FROM MYRTLE'S BOOK "MEMORIES"
The immigration
Grandfather John Nelson, Sr., was a
tailor in Sweden. When his daughters
sewed new dresses, they would get
their dad to make the buttonholes.
Grandpa said he never would have
left Sweden if he could have bought
a sewing machine.
When he sold his property in Swe-
den, he was somehow swindled out
of his money so he had to borrow
money to get to America. I remember
Uncle Victor telling t h a t it was
grandpa's main desire to get out of
debt before he died. He just made it.
The Nelsons left Vermland, Swe-
den, in June of 1869, with four child-
ren, all under eleven years old. They
thought their children would have
greater opportunities in America.
They didn't realize then what hard-
ships they would meet in this land.
When they reached Christiania,

Norway, they had to stay there two
weeks waiting for a boat, but were
finally on their way in a sailing
vessel. It made good time as long as
the wind was in their favor. They
even passed a steamship one day.
Then the wind died down and they
couldn't move. That same steamship
passed them and they never saw it
again. They were on the ocean for
nine weeks, the same time as the
Pilgrims. Grandma was pregnant
and sick most ofthe time, so Grandpa
prayed that she wouldn't die so he
would have to have her thrown over-
board. Lena, who was the oldest,
cried and was consoled with the
promise that she could have all the
white bread she wanted when they
got to America. She was skeptical and
said in Swedish, "Like fun I will."
(Vackertforja.)
They had bought tickets to Cokato,
Minnesota, but when they got to
Minneapolis, found that the railroad
ended there. A bachelor who was liv-
ing in a dugout let Grandma and the
children stay there while he and
Grandpa joined the gang to extend
the railroad. It took sixteen weeks
from the time they left Sweden until
they reached their destination.
After making their home in Cokato

for six years, they decided to move to
Swift County where they home-
steaded five miles northeast of Kerk-
oven. The Indians had been chased
out of Minnesota and there was much
hardship and many massacres.
A new home in
Kerkhoven, MN
When they settled on their last farm.
Grandpa chose the highest spot of
land on which to build a two-storey
house. Folks laughed and asked if he
was building a hotel. Grandma wove
her own rag rugs on a large loom. The
girls sewed these strips together and
used straw for padding so they had
"wall-to-wall carpeting." Curtains
were made from yards of white
cheese cloth. The more you could
drape on the floor, the more stylish
you were. Mattresses were filled with
straw, emptied, and refilled every
Saturday. Each spring their summer
kitchen was freshly papered with
newspapers. To make their own
candles, they had tallow on top of
water in a boiler, fastened strings to
a stick, and hand dipped them. They
had plenty of milk, cream, and eggs,
but an apple sometimes had to be
divided into ten pieces.
When Grandma was asked for a
recipe, she'd say "so much of this and
so much of that." When pinned down

for measurements, she'd say, "maybe
a cup of everything except the soda."
Until the boys were old enough.
grandma did most ofthe milking. She
got really provoked when the kids
would use her wooden-soled shoes for
sliding, as they got too slippery. They
put heated rocks in their sled to keep
warm when they went to church.
When all were aboard. Grandma
would come running with a comb in
hand and would braid and comb her
hair on the way to church.
Grandpa John grew his own tobac-
co, an unusual crop in that part of
the country. Farming wasn't easy in
those days, with more drawbacks
than anyone can imagine.
The locusts came
One of the most trying periods was
during the two summers ofthe grass-
hopper plague. In July of 1876, the
grasshoppers came and destroyed all
the grain. The ground was black as if
it had never been planted and the air
was full of these locusts. They tried
in many ways to get rid of them but
to no avail. Grandpa had to borrow
money to buy seed for the next year.
He, like everyone else, didn't expect
the grasshoppers to return, but they
did, and destroyed everything, leav-
ing in July just as suddenly as they

had come. Grandpa had the seed debt
to pay and nothing to show for his
work.
They drove oxen, and once when
uncle John was in town, the oxen got
scared by the smell of a bear which a
clown had on a chain. They started
for home and arrived covered with
foamy sweat.
Renting land from
Indians
Alfred and Charlie were the ones that
started to go to the Sisseton area to
rent land from an old Indian. This
14 Swedish American Genealogist 2012:3
Indian had four wives and numerous
children and for each child, the
government gave him 40 acres of
land. They would do the spring work
on the farm at Kerkhoven, then take
horses and equipment to the Indian's
land west of Sisseton, break as much
prairie land and sow flax as long as
it was advisable to plant. Then they
would come back home to harvest the
crops, then go back to Sisseton to
harvest there.
Victor said that throughout the
time they did this, Alfred made over

fifty trips between Kerkhoven and
Sisseton with about 120 miles one
way. He would be so lonesome that
he sang the old Swedish h3mins until
he was so hoarse he could only
squeak. Emil got involved in this too,
as they plowed with a steam engine
and were going to put up a tow mill.
One year Emma, who was about
eighteen, went along to be the cook.
An old ugly Indian came, terrifying
her since she was alone. She made
out that he was asking for the Nel-
sons. She asked if he knew where this
Indian's land was. His nod of the head
and an "ugh" indicated that he knew,
so she told him that was where they
were. It turned out that this was the
landlord himself
Victor told about overnight fishing
trips to Norway Lake. They used nets
and came home with a single wagon
box full of flsh, which they would
clean and pack down in salt to pre-
serve. No fish and game laws existed
then. He also told of working in
Emil's shop in Kerkhoven to help
shoe horses. When it got icy as it often
does in winter, every farmer had to
have at least one team shod so they
could walk on ice. There were three
or four men who were kept busy; one
at the forge shaping the shoes as the
others nailed them on the horses.

Daily life
Emma used to play her guitar and
her brothers, Alfred and Victor, sang
with her at meetings in the various
homes before the church was built.
The Bethel Baptist Church in Kerk-
hoven was organized in 1894 with
thirteen charter members. Grandma
Carrie and John, Jr., among them.
Grandpa John had sometime before
this donated one acre of his farm to
the young congregation for a ceme-
tery. As it turned out, he was the first
one to be buried there [d. 1899 Oct.
30]. His body was later moved to the
Hillside Cemetery in Kerkhoven
where Grandma was buried at his
side.
Grandma lived with daughter
Emma's family from time to time
when she wasn't at Aunt Ida's in
Sisseton. She never did master the
English language, so she spoke to the
children in Swedish, which was no
problem since that was what they
mostly used at home.
During one of Grandma's stays at
Emma's place, Eunice and her broth-
er had gone to bed. But something
very funny had come up so they were
having a hilarious time. Grandma
appeared in the doorway and she

quoted a Bible verse, perhaps John
3:16. The children were too much
wound up to stop, so they were still
giggling. Grandma said, "Ya skratter
ni àtt, skrattar ni âtt Gud's OrdT
(What are you laughing at, are you
laughing at God's Word?)
Grandma said, "I have ten child-
ren and it got to be people out of all
of them. It grows sense into them."
She would read her paper and come
upon some account of a family with
a sick member. This sickness would
become progressively worse to the
point of desperation. Then someone
would go out into the woods and find
some herb and bring it home. From
that they would make a concoction
which turned out to be "Kuriko."That
was a patent cure-all, good for what
ails you, from dandruff to ingrown
toenails. When Grandma got that far
she would throw down her paper in
disgust. She would sit and read her
Swedish paper, covering one eye with
her hand, but never wearing glasses.
As she read she would weep in sym-
pathy for the people she did not know,
had never met, or even heard of be-
fore. Her heart must have been big
enough to include everyone. She
prayed for her family even to unborn
generations. Grandma died in 1921
July 5, but I'll never forget cousin
Ruby Lepler's hearty laugh when she

told about Grandma being such a
happy widow.
John Nelson left Svenneby, Fryks-
ände, Sweden, on 1869 May 3, with
his family. In Sweden he was Jan
Nilsson Hagberg, and his wife was
Karin Jansdotter. They traveled with
their children: Karin (b.l858 Sep. 7);
Nils (b. 1860 Oct. 8); Johan (b. 1863
Sep. 23); and Per Emil (b. 1865 Nov.
26). In the U.S. six more children
were born, including the writer's
mother Hilma (b. 1872 Apr. 14 in
Cokato, MN). Hilma married Isaak
J o h a n Moe, born 1869 Sep.3 in
Hatt:Qelldal, Norway. Their daughter
Mjrrtle was born 1899 Sep. 1 in Black
Eagle, MT. (Dates from Emibas).
Story submitted by Christine and
David A. Larson, Salt Lake City,
Utah.
E-mail: <[email protected]>
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Minnesota Historical Society
COMMON THREADS: The Minnesota Immigrant Experience
Author(s): LINDA A. CAMERON

Source: Minnesota History, Vol. 62, No. 3 (Fall 2010), pp. 96-
106
Published by: Minnesota Historical Society Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25769528
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COM MO IN THREADS
The Minnesota
Immigrant Experience

LINDA A. CAMERON
Lockport, New York, April 18,1855: "I have made up my
mind," wrote Wenzel Petran to his
family in Germany, "that when I have sold my land and other
possessions, to go further into the
interior, where I will look for a well situated town in the States
of Illinois, Iowa, or Minnesota
and start a business of my own. These states are now being
settled very rapidly and land and
well situated property is rising in value."1
More than a century later, Sudhansu S. Misra, a recent
immigrant from India, told an oral
historian: "Various people of various backgrounds, particularly
from Europe, came here and
settled and had a hard life, of course. But culturally, they have
adapted to this country but they
have not forgotten their own homeland. They still retain their
heritage. Now, the time has come
for other ethnic groups to be a part of this state_It is important
to record our history."2
2016 00:45:04 UTC

Minnesota has long been the destination of im migrants from
the far corners of the world. Some
have traveled directly to Minnesota, while others, like
Wenzel Petran, migrated to the state from another part
of the country. Despite their differences in nationality, all
shared common threads of experience that bound them
together into the rich tapestry that has become the mod
ern state of Minnesota.
Over the years, the Minnesota Historical Society has
collected and preserved information documenting the
state's newcomers. Manuscripts, letters, and oral histories
shed light on the immigrant experience and how that
experience relates one generation of immigrants to the
next. Oral history projects conducted over the past 20
years with members of the Latino, Asian Indian, Hmong,
Khmer, Tibetan, and Somali communities have yielded
stories remarkably similar to those of earlier immigrants.
With the help of an Institute of Museums and Library
Services grant, the historical society is now bringing
these stories to the worldwide web through audio clips
and transcripts in a new project, Becoming Minnesotan.
Immigrants began coming to Minnesota in earnest
after the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (1851) opened the
land for white settlement. The Homestead Act of 1862,
which offered 160 acres to qualified settlers who agreed

to live on and improve the property for a period of five
years, enticed many to leave countries where conditions
impeded the dream of owning land. After the Civil War,
the growth of railroads in the state spurred further settle
ment as new towns were platted along expanding rail
lines. In 1867 the legislature created the State Board of
Immigration, not to control the influx but to promote
settlement. Encouraged by advertisements that boosters
placed in foreign newspapers proclaiming the healthful
climate and opportunities in Minnesota, hoards of north
ern Europeans poured into the new state.3
Today, Minnesota welcomes immigrants and refugees
from Asia, Africa, Mexico, and many other countries. Re
gardless of when they have arrived or where their journey
began, these newcomers share with their predecessors
common goals: they hope to find gainful employment,
Facing Page: Young Somali women in Minnehaha Park,
June 2004: (back, from left) Farhyia "Ubah"Mohamed,
HodanAbdi Budul, AminaAbdi, Marian "Muna"Farah,
Amina Nur, Saida Hassan, BibiAbdalla, Mary an Mohamed;
(front, from left) Nasra Budul, Hibo Mohamed, Sagal Haji.
Linda A. Cameron was a researcher on the Minnesota Histori
cal Society's Immigrant Oral History Project, funded by a

grantfrom the Institute of Museum and Library Services. She
currently serves as program manager for the Minnesota State
Capitol historic site.
obtain a better education, own property, and escape war,
oppression, or persecution in their homelands. All come
seeking opportunities to build a better life for themselves
and their children.
For early immigrants, getting to Minnesota was the first
challenge. Even if they had the wherewithal
to obtain passage, the often perilous journey across the
ocean could last for weeks, with crowded conditions and
sickness taking their toll. German immigrant Wenzel
Petran sailed from Antwerp, Belgium, on May 25,1849,
and arrived in New York 35 days later. He remarked that
there were some 135 passengers of all ages and from all
parts of Germany onboard. In recounting the journey, he
wrote, "We made the best of crossings, with no storms
at any time, no long calms, but very strong and cold
winds."4
Not all immigrants enjoyed such an easy crossing, as
Petran soon discovered. "When we arrived in New York
we learned that there were about 40,000 immigrants
there who had come on other ships. On many ships there
were 350 passengers, and the crossing had taken 42, 52
or even 90 days. On one ship with 350 passengers 42 had
died, on another 14, and the average was five to seven
deaths."

Surviving the sea voyage was just the beginning for
immigrants who sought to reach the westernmost territo
ries of the U.S. After six years in New York State, Petran
recounted his journey from Lockport to St. Paul in 1855.
We left Lockport on May 3rd, on the railroad. Our journey
took us after a day and a night to Detroit, the principal
city of Michigan-After one night's rest we continued
our journey on the railroad through the states of Michi
gan and Indiana, to Chicago in the State of Illinois_
As it was our intention to go to the State of Iowa, we
To learn more about Minnesota's newer immigrant
communities, visit Becoming Minnesotan:
www. mnhs. org/immigration.
Fall 2010 97
2016 00:45:04 UTC
took one of the 11 trains that go out of Chicago_After
arriving at Rock Island, not an important city, we crossed
over the river to Davenport, Iowa. I wanted to go from
here into the interior of the State, but this could be done

only by wagon transportation-After three days delay,
I decided to go up the river to Minnesota, where St. Paul,
the principal city, is situated on the Mississippi. We
therefore embarked in Davenport on a steamer bound
for St. Paul (400 miles from Davenport) and arrived
after a 6-day journey.5
Many modern immigrants arrive by plane. Even so,
the trip can be filled with anxiety and hardship. Refu
gees from Southeast Asia, escaping a brutal regime in
the 1970s and 1980s, risked their lives to reach crowded
refugee camps where they spent months, if not years, be
fore finally obtaining permission to leave for the United
States. Like refugees streaming into the United States
from Eastern Europe a century earlier or European Jews
fleeing the Nazis during World War II, they were often
separated from family and waited many years to be re
united.
See Lee, a Hmong woman who emigrated to the
United States in 1980 at the age of 60 with her husband
and two teenage children to join other members of her
family, remembered her journey from a refugee camp in

Thailand. "We stayed in the camp for six months. [We]
heard from the Immigration office that we have been
cleared through and we will be coming to America. We
stayed ... in Bangkok for two nights. On the eleventh
day [after learning that the family had been cleared for
6 6 I have taken a month leave from
the school in order to only concentrate
on the English language. I am studying
English from early in the morning till
late in the evening. 9 9
travel], we boarded a jet destined for America. I don't
remember the city name when we got to America but we
were delayed for two additional days. It was the sixteenth
day before we finally reached [Minnesota]."6
For Bo Thao, whose family journeyed to America
from Laos when she was a small girl, the trip was a puz
zling adventure. "[We] got on the bus, and had no idea
where we were going. I see my grandparents crying, and I
questioned myself, Why are they crying?'... We were so
happy, because we've never been on a bus before, but my
parents and grandparents are crying."7
Finding employment is an important first step to settling into
life in America. While many nineteenth
century immigrants arrived with little education and few

assets, they had transferrable skills, such as farming or
carpentry, which made it easier to find suitable employ
ment in a frontier state. Carl Martin Raugland, a teacher
and church musician who emigrated from Norway to
Minneapolis in 1885, was eager to share news of his
prospects with his family at home. "Now I have to tell
you what kind of possibilities I have. Yesterday I was to
gether with the Norwegian Conference pastor, Gjertsen,
who is known to be a serious Christian, and he told me I
only had to write an announcement for our Norwegian
papers, and I would surely get a position right away. He
also promised to do what he could."8
A few weeks later, Raugland wrote to his brothers:
I must say that I have been very fortunate over here. I
am now employed as teacher and precentor in a little
village a few miles from here called Edvatter [Atwater],
In this village there are two Swedish and one Norwegian
church. 8 days after writing my first letter to you I had
this post offered to me by the Norwegian minister up
there_As a teacher and precentor I will, according to
Yang family, Ban Vinai refugee camp, Thailand, about 1978

2016 00:45:04 UTC
the minister, earn 400 dollars. Furthermore I shall be
serving as organist in another church where the same
man is preaching.9
After just two months in Minnesota, Wenzel Petran
was able to report to family in Germany, "Upon arriving
in St. Paul, I lodged my family in a boarding house and
went to several places looking for openings, but could
find none, as so many thousands of others had arrived
this spring. I made my way on foot into the interior," he
continued, "where I looked up an acquaintance from
Lockport-On my return trip, I passed through St.
Anthony, where I again looked for an opening and suc
ceeded in finding a shop, which I rented for one year for
$146-I opened my business here on June 18th, after
buying my stock in St. Paul. It consists of groceries, hard
ware and farmers supplies."10
Today's immigrants come from landscapes and cul
tures vastly different from those they encounter in the
United States, and many lack the education or skills

needed by American employers. In spite of assistance
they receive from improved social-service organizations,
cultural obstacles hinder their chances for success in the
workplace. In 1991 Hmong immigrant Yang Cha Ying
described his daughter's attempt to find a job.
Most of my children have not accomplished anything
yet_They get married when they are still teenagers
so they don't even have the diploma_They have their
own children so they just don't go to school_[My]
grandchildren ... come every day to stay with me, so my
daughter can go and find a job. She cannot find a job be
cause she doesn't have a degree. She job hunt every day.
I would rather we were still in our own country because
then we would just do farming.... it's really hard. I am
worried all day and night.11
Language barriers can make the quest for work even
more difficult. In 1849 Wenzel Petran wrote, "I need to
train myself in the English language. Within a few hours
after my arrival here [Lockport], after having gone to
a number of business houses, I found employment....
During the crossing I had learned a little English out of

a borrowed book, and this helped me get a start, as Eng
lish is spoken exclusively here." Within a year, Petran had
learned enough English to secure a position with a higher
salary.12
Khmer immigrants Pitaro and Mary Khouth listening to
English-language tapes, Centennial School, Richfield, 1980
Unlike Petran, Carl Raugland made a serious study of
the English language shortly after his arrival.
I have taken a month leave from the school in order to
only concentrate on the English language. I am studying
English from early in the morning till late in the eve
ning-It is not so easy as I first thought it would be,
but shall one first learn to write and speak as it should
be, then it is difficult and takes much time, particularly
the pronunciation and grammar which are very difficult.
But I am doing fine with the language and know already
quite a lot, so when I return to you then we can if you
want to speak in English!13
Recent immigrants face the same language barriers. In
the early 1980s Thaly Chhour, a 22-year-old Khmer refu

gee, was sent first to the Philippines for cultural orienta
tion before coming to the U.S. with her mother and sisters.
She was taught some English there but felt unprepared for
the task of providing for her family in a new country.
When I got here I was so worried and concerned, I don't
know what to do. I did not speak any English, I learn
very little from the camp but when we stay in Philip
pines, I learn a little bit, a few more months over there.
So when I got here, I was concerned, I thought, "In my
family I don't have any brother to depend any more, now
Fall 2010 99
2016 00:45:04 UTC
I have to stand up, be independent," so I went to school
... and my first teacher in Minnesota tried to encourage
me to speak, just speak to anybody on the street, on the
bus and all that. So I remember what she say and I try so

hard to speak so I can get better and better.14
Immigrants interviewed for the BecomingMin nesotan project,
particularly those who were refugees
from Southeast Asia and Somalia, appreciate the freedom
they have found in America?and the educational oppor
tunities, employment, and human rights afforded by that
freedom. Tashi Lhewa, a Tibetan born in India whose
family came to America in the late 1990s, sees a bright
future for the children of Tibetan immigrants. "[One]
thing I noticed, that is parents strive strongly to make
sure their children have all the opportunities that they
didn't. And so I believe that in the U.S. especially they
have opportunities which their parents couldn't dream of,
whether it be academic or professional." Lhewa, himself,
earned both undergraduate and law degrees.15
Earlier arrivals appreciated similar benefits. In 1854
Karl Bachmann, who settled briefly in Easton, Pennsylva
nia, before migrating to Minnesota, wrote to his former
employer in Saxony (present-day Germany):
Every man can conduct his business as he likes, he
need not pay taxes and assessments, does not have

to make out reports nor help to support idlers and
princes. Here is freedom to choose your own work, no
tariffs, freedom of the press.... Also there is plenty
of work, hundreds are sought for by the railroads and
earn 11/8 Doll, per day. Generally, whoever wants to
work can find enough work.
Wenzel Petran agreed with this view of democracy: "In
no country could it be better to work than in America,
as there is no great difference between employer and
employee, master and apprentice, and one is regarded
merely as a co-worker."16
European women who came to Minnesota in the mid
nineteenth century were pioneers in the traditional sense
of the word. Accustomed to hard work, they adjusted to
life on the prairies, often taking on male responsibilities
in a harsh environment. In many ways, modern women
immigrants are also pioneers, especially as they embrace
what America has to offer and struggle to redefine their
gender role in a very different culture.
Hmong immigrant Bao Vang pointed out the benefits
women have in the U.S.

I think just to be able to go to school in the United
States is wonderful. In Laos, very, very few people,
Hmong girls, go to school and even if they did go to
school, when they came back they don't have any op
portunities. They just become farmwives or something
like that, so I think that to have an opportunity to go to
school to be whatever you want... You can go to school
and be a doctor. You can go to school to be a teacher,
or go to school just to do community work. Anything is
possible.17
New immigrants often settle in areas where earlier ar
rivals of similar background and religion have made their
homes. Irja Laaksonen Beckman, who emigrated from
Finland to Massachusetts, then to Virginia, Minnesota,
and finally to the rural Fairbanks-Brimson-Toimi area,
recalled that her family's social life revolved around the
Finnish halls and cultural events that "drew Finnish au
diences from all over the Iron Range, even from Duluth."
The Irish clustered in St. Paul, many Swedes settled just
north of the Twin Cities, and Germans initially colonized

southwestern Minnesota.18
More recently, Mexicans, Southeast Asians, Tibetans,
and Somalis have been drawn to Minnesota by existing
communities. This "chain migration" makes resettlement
easier, and newcomers enjoy the advantages offered by
cultural centers and businesses specific to their needs.
The India Association of Minnesota, established as the
India Club of Minnesota in 1973, reaches out to new ar
rivals and seeks to share Indian culture with the wider
community. The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of
Minnesota provides career counseling and training, help
in establishing new businesses, and assistance in pur
chasing property. The Tibetan American Foundation of
Minnesota was formed in 1992 to assist in resettlement
of new immigrants and to preserve Tibetan cultural and
religious traditions.19
Jigme Ugen, a Tibetan who immigrated to Minne
sota from India in 2000, observed that living in enclaves
strengthened an ethnic community but could be limiting,
too. "Tibetans are very, very well established in Min
nesota, unlike anywhere in America. The Tibetan com
munity is ... getting stronger, but it's getting stronger

internally. There's been nothing going outside of it. So
100 Minnesota History
2016 00:45:04 UTC
one of the problems that we have is we are too clustered
and too much together as a community; we haven't given
any room for anyone from the outside to come inside."20
Religious institutions are integral to social as
well as spiritual life in an immigrant enclave. The
first settlers from any country are quick to recognize the
need for their own religious centers, which then become
a draw for later immigrants. Carl Raugland discovered
"many Norwegians and Swedes" living in Minneapolis,
while conceding that "there are also all kinds of nation
alities here." He took comfort in the fact that there were
no less than eight Scandinavian Lutheran churches in the
city when he arrived in 1885.21
Minnesota's spiritual fabric today includes both West
ern and Eastern religious practices?and coexistence has
required compromise and understanding on all sides.
Many deeply religious people feel that their principles
are compromised in a nation that separates "church" and

state. Hared Mah summed up the challenges Muslim
Somalis have faced in a secular yet predominantly Chris
tian country. "[We] are a Muslim community, a Muslim
society, and the culture is different. We live according to
religion_You have to pray and you have to follow your
religion. The environment is different, so it's very hard to
pray, especially if you're going to school or maybe work
ing someplace_For Muslims, there are also certain
foods you have to avoid. You have to explain all that stuff.
That's a challenge."22
Unlike contemporary immigrant populations, people
arriving during Minnesota's early years had few social
services to help them assimilate into American culture.
The established immigrant communities looked after
|
6 6 You can go to school and be a doctor.
You can go to school to be a teacher, or go
to school just to do community work.
Anything is possible. 99
their own, and even the slightest acquaintance from
home became a valued contact in the New World. Carl
Raugland wrote to relatives in Norway: "I regard the An
dersens as family and they regard me as one of them."23

By the early-twentieth century, settlement houses
began to offer help with finding accommodations, em
ployment, and learning the English language. The in
flux of Slavic immigrants into Northeast Minneapolis,
for example, prompted the opening of the North East
Neighborhood House in 1915. Today, such institutions as
the St. Paul Neighborhood House and the Brian Coyle
Community Center in Minneapolis carry on the tradi
tion of helping newcomers feel at home by offering so
cial services and educational courses. The International
Institute of Minnesota, founded in 1919 to aid northern
European immigrants, continues to provide services to
new residents. Even so, some recent immigrants and
their American-born children have difficulty finding their
place, as Ramona Advani, the daughter of Asian Indian
immigrants, discovered: "I think the hardest thing ...
about being first-generation Indian ... is that there's no
one to model myself after. I've struggled with that a lot.
Sometimes I've looked to other women of color for clues
as to how to function and fit in, but it's not quite the
same_I feel like I'm making it up as I go along, what it
means to be a U.S.-born Indian person."24
MONEY is OFTEN a major cause of concern for
immigrants. Becoming established in America
purchasing a home, settling in, and contributing to soci

ety?is a common goal but one that requires capital. Many
have arrived with few material possessions and found it
hard to make ends meet, let alone achieve their American
dream. Cycles of economic recession have compounded
the difficulty, making those dreams even more elusive.
In 1855 Wenzel Petran wrote to his family in Germany
Vietnamese restaurant and deli on St. Pauls University Avenue,
home to markets, eateries, and other businesses serving the
areas
many immigrants from Southeast Asia
f 2010
2016 00:45:04 UTC
about Minnesota: "There is still much good government
land here, of which every man may take 160 acres if he
builds a cabin on it, lives there and cultivates the land.
However, after several years, until it is measured, he
must pay $1.25 per acre. This would be a good place for
speculation in real property as the land is rapidly being
populated." By 1858 he not only had his business property
in St. Anthony but also purchased an additional building
lot there and two more in the new town of Minneapolis,

as an investment.25
Using good business sense, Petran survived the Panic
of 1857 by avoiding the temptation to overextend his
assets. Writing to his aunt and uncle in early 1858, he
described the economic situation in America.
Trade was practically stopped for a time and trades
people who depended on credit (without capital) were in
distress, being broken in pieces like thin wood, because
they could not sell their merchandise quick enough_
It is not to be expected that business enterprises can
stand another revolution like it, which caused many of
the factories to let their employees go; which left thou
sands of people breadless, especially in the great cities.
... The amount of money squandered for luxuries and
so forth for which the Americans are famous is the cause
of the down fall.
Arvid Person arrived in Stillwater in the summer of
1868. Writing to his family in Ellestorp, Sweden, just
Businessman Wenzel Petran and his young family, 1850s
15 months later, he laid the blame for the bad economy

on immigrants: "I can tell you that the times are very
poor. The reason is the great influx of people, so it looks
to me that the Emigration should be completely turned
around?at least for those who do not have enough to
settle down with. Because poverty is the same here as in
Sweden nowadays. The times have fallen by one third
since I came here." Person's ironic bias against immi
grants was a reflection of prevailing attitudes that would
later lead to restrictive immigration policy.26
In August 1875 he reported, "The times have not
been this bad since before the war. The only activity is
in farm work. Everything else is at a standstill. So I and
others in my trade [carpentry] have nothing to do."
Person went on, "If there is no change soon one must
take hold of the plow. Which is also hard to do for one
who is poor because he lacks everything and everything
costs money. When one must buy everything from first
to last it takes more than a little capital. If that were
not the case I would have been a farmer long ago. When
one has nothing to start with it is not easy to come up
in this world."27
Carl Raugland had left church work and opened a
music store in Minneapolis when he found himself in
the midst of the Panic of 1893. He blamed the govern
ment for trying to pass a law that would reduce import

duties on all manufactured goods, an action that had
alarmed American businessmen into withdrawing finan
cial support from domestic industries. "[We] are pres
ently experiencing a period of bad recession due to a new
Government. Thousands of factories have ground to a
halt and hundreds of banks have closed down-It has
been an endless waiting for better times to come round,
with no improvement so far in sight." He tried to reassure
himself that the setback was temporary: "Still?when the
People elects a new Government with a more widespread
popular support, I am certain that America is going to
experience better times than she has ever seen before,
the only problem is that there is not going to be another
Presidential election for the next three years. America is
in many ways a strange Country."28
Like their predecessors, modern immigrants, par
ticularly those used to an agrarian lifestyle, find it hard
to make a start without means and with little educa
tion. Hmong writer and poet Mai Neng Moua was born
in Laos and arrived in Minnesota in 1981 as a child. By
1999, she clearly saw the obstacles:
2016 00:45:04 UTC

There aren't any work skills that are transferable to this
country. But farming is very hard because we Hmong
don't have machines; we only have hoes_You can
only grow enough for your little family. If you want
to be a farmer, to start a business, you have to have
money, you have to have the technologies and those are
things that we Hmong do not have ... we can't compete
against the Americans. That is a source of sadness. Our
background is so different.29
Discrimination always compounds the difficul ties that
newcomers face. Established Americans,
whose ancestors were immigrants, sometimes focus on
differences in race, culture, and religion in attempting to
discourage people from entering the country or obtain
ing citizenship. In April 1855, just before moving west
to Minnesota, Wenzel Petran reported to his family in
Germany: "I received my citizenship papers in the month
of February and now I am accordingly a citizen and voter
of the United States. A new political party [the Know
Nothings] is contesting the rights of foreigners to citizen
ship. In case it should get the upper hand in State and
law making, each foreigner that arrives would have to live

in the States 21 years instead of 5 (as now) before he can
become a citizen."30
American fears that "less desirable" newcomers would
bring disease and poverty into the country and take jobs
away from citizens prompted legislation that authorized
officials to deny entry to those with certain physical or
mental illnesses. Fueled by suspicions of foreign cultures
perceived as threats to American wellbeing, laws such
as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Oriental
Exclusion Act of 1924 were enacted. The United States
Bureau of Immigration was created in 1891 to enforce
these laws.31
Just as it has in the new millennium, national security
posed a serious concern for immigration officials in the
early-twentieth century. The assassination of President
William McKinley by an anarchist in 1901 prompted the
passage of the Anarchist Exclusion Act in 1903 to prevent
the admission of political extremists. One hundred years
later, following the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001,
the Patriot Act was passed with similar intention.
The Dillingham Commission, established by Con
gress in 1907 to investigate the impact of immigration
on the United States, produced a 42-volume report that
favored northern Europeans and cast suspicion on those

The Know-Nothings
The "new political party" Petran referred to was a secre
tive organization established in 1854 with the goal of
discouraging Irish Catholics, fleeing the potato famine,
from immigrating. Party members feared that a large
Catholic population would put the predominantly Prot
estant United States under the control of the pope in
Rome. The organization got its curious name from its
furtive nature; when asked about the party, members
replied, "I know nothing." The Know-Nothings had many
supporters in both the northern and southern states
but dissolved over the issue of slavery just before the
Civil War.
Minnesota Territory, eager to attract settlers, did not
seem to have much sympathy for the Know-Nothings.
In 1854 the St Paul Pioneer poked fun at the mysteri
ous organization by reprinting the following piece from
the Petersburg, Virginia, Express, comparing the Know
Nothings to a less-than-admirable Dickens character.

Do not these gentlemen date simply from the ap
pearance of "Bleak House," and is not "Joe" of that
history their great founder and prophet? It will be
remembered that Joe was always "a movin' on"; now
the Know Nothings undoubtedly have been doing this
for some time past,?Then Joe was a mysterious
and obscure individual, of unknown origin, and undis
covered dwelling place; the second point of resem
blance is plain. Lastly, the only reply which could ever
be extracted from the mysterious Joe was a dolorous
repetition of the phrase, "I don't know nothing";
there is the conclusive point.
A few months later, a St Paul Pioneer editorial,
"Patriotism of Foreigners," pointed out that eight of the
56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were of
foreign birth. It decried the movement to deny worthy
immigrants their citizenship: "Yet in the face of this page
of our annals, so honorable to the foreigners who have
sought our land as a home of their choice, there is a

crusade engendered, in secret, to proscribe them for
the exclusive behoof of those whom accidental birth has
given the title of natives. Shame, where is thy blush?"
Sources: St. Paul Pioneer, July 25, 1854, p. 2, Oct. 2, 1854, p.
2.
Fall 2010 103
2016 00:45:04 UTC
coming from southern and eastern Europe. This study
resulted in the Quota Acts of the 1920s. Beginning with
the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, legislation set limits
on the number of people of all nationalities that would be
allowed into the country, based on a percentage of those
populations already in the United States. The U.S. Border
Patrol was created by an act of Congress in 1924 to secure
the borders against smuggling of illegal substances and
illegal aliens, a situation that remains controversial to
this day, particularly in light of increasing Mexican im
migration.32
Mexicans recruited as seasonal agricultural laborers
started entering the United States in large numbers in

the early-twentieth century, as the sugar-beet industry
began to grow. While not the first people of Latin ori
gins to find a home in Minnesota, Mexican migrants
were in the state as early as 1907, working for such firms
as the Minnesota Sugar Company in Chaska. While
most returned south at the end of the growing season,
some decided to stay. The number of migrant workers
declined during the Great Depression but soared dur
ing World War II, when a national labor shortage sent
employers south of the border to find help. The Bracero
Program, established in 1942 to address this demand,
continued until 1964; recruiting peaked in 1956 at more
than 445,000 temporary workers. Policies of the 1960s
and 1970s sought to control the influx from Mexico and
Latin America by capping immigration at 20,000 from
each country of origin, a mandate that proved difficult
Mexican migrant workers topping beets in the East Grand
Forks region, about 1930
6 4 Our children who are born here
or who are growing up here, are they
going to be able to keep this language
and continue speaking it? Or are
they going to lose it and assimilate

into the mainstream? 9 9
to enforce. By the 1980s the number of undocumented
aliens was estimated at 6 million, the majority of them
Mexicans, and the public began to pressure the federal
government to tighten the border. The result was the
Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which al
lowed those in the country illegally to gain legal status
while cracking down on future illegal border traffic.33
Lourdez Ortega Schwab, born in El Paso to Mexican
parents, recounted their discouraging experiences seek
ing a new life in the U.S. as young newlyweds.
My mother and father met while he worked for my grand
father. My father was 16 years older than my mother but
he stole her when she was 25 years old and they eloped
to the United States. My mother had her visa at the time
because she would cross the border daily into El Paso
and nanny and house keep for people. My father did not
have documentation, so he would cross illegally. When
my mother's visa expired, they stayed in Texas in a small
town called Silverton in the panhandle_They would
always move around so that they wouldn't get caught by

immigration. They always seemed to find odd farm jobs
to survive until the next move_My parents worked
004W
71
Iwo
2016 00:45:04 UTC
hard and were deported many times before finally going
through the amnesty in the Reagan era of 1986 or so, and
they were proud to become U.S. citizens. That is the year
that our entire family was finally able to breathe and live,
rather than survive.34
fter navigating the maze of American im
-ZjL migration law and breaking through the barriers
of language and discrimination, immigrants who become
Minnesotans face one more significant challenge: pre
serving their own culture and traditions while embracing
those of their new country. Throughout history, immi
grant parents have bemoaned the fact that their children

had become "too assimilated," that they were losing the
family's native language in favor of English and preferred
American cuisine and customs.
As early as 1858, Wenzel Petran recognized this loss
of culture. Writing from St. Anthony, he told his Ger
man relatives, "Our boy, now over five years old, comes
in very helpful in many things and is quite willing to do
so. Although we always speak German to our children,
they don't learn the language because they mix with the
neighbor children with whom they always talk English,
which I regret very much because both languages are
very essential."35
Carl Raugland, who had been so eager to learn Eng
lish upon his arrival, acknowledged a similar disappoint
ment in a letter to his brother in 1900: "Our little Martha
is already year [sic] old and has been in school for
more than a year. Our children's language is almost ex
clusively English, even if they understand almost every
word spoken to them here at home. It is hard to teach the
children Norwegian in this country, because English is
easier for them."36
Somali community leader Abdisalam Adam has seen
this trend, too, among Minnesota's most recent im

migrants. "Our children who are born here or who are
growing up here, are they going to be able to keep this
language and continue speaking it? Or are they going
to lose it and assimilate into the mainstream and forget
about Somali? Right now, I'm worried that when it comes
to the Somali language, we seem to be losing it, and we
have not done much about preserving it."37
Throughout state history, many immigrants have come to
Minnesota planning to return home
after achieving their goals of education and wealth or, in
Tibetan Cultural School students singing, St. Paul, 2008
the case of refugees, when it became safe to repatriate.
In most cases, events transpire to keep them in their new
home. Wenzel Petran's aunt and uncle wanted him to
return to Germany to take over the family business, but
when he began to speculate in land, found a nice German
girl to marry, and started a family, he knew his roots were
in Minnesota.38
Arvid Person, who had settled in Stillwater in 1868
and started a family there, realized that he was becoming
too Americanized to return to his homeland.
[If] I thought that you really wanted to see me I could
take a trip home and visit you?but I really could not

stay in Sweden, as it would be difficult for me to get
used to the Swedish customs that are so different from
those in America. But that alone would not be so bad,
it would be the Swedish laws that I could not endure.
That one person should have greater privileges than
another. That is to say the rich with their privileges. But
here we all ride alike, said the scoundrel when he rode
alongside the king.
A few years later he admitted, "Were it not for parents
and brothers and sisters I would forget Sweden com
pletely."39
Immigrants will continue to stream into Minne sota in the years
to come. Like those who came before,
they, too, will face the challenges of leaving home, family,
and all things familiar, of overcoming discrimination bred
of misunderstanding, of striving to retain their homeland
culture while finding their place in a new one. And like
their predecessors, they will also experience both trial
and success as they put down roots and endeavor to make
their own contributions to Minnesota's diverse culture. M

Fall 2010 105
2016 00:45:04 UTC
Notes
1. Wenzel Petran to Johann and Theresia
Pompe, Apr. 18,1855, typescript translation,
Wenzel Petran and Family Papers, Minne
sota Historical Society (MHS), St. Paul. All
subsequent Petran quotes are from these
translations.
2. Sudhansu S. Misra, interview by Polly
Sonifer, May 5,1994, transcript, India Asso
ciation of Minnesota Oral History Project
(Phase 1), Oral History Collection, MHS.
3. For an overview of immigration to the
state, see "Introduction," They Chose Minne
sota: A Survey of the States Ethnic Groups,
ed. June D. Holmquist (St. Paul: Minnesota
Historical Society Press, 1981), 1-14.
4. Here and below, Wenzel Petran to
Johann and Theresia Pompe, Aug. 26,1849.
5. Wenzel Petran to Johann and There
sia Pompe, July 18,1855.
6. See Lee, interview by MayKao Hang,
Jan. 23, 2000, transcript, Hmong Women's

Action Team Oral History Project, Oral His
tory Collection, MHS. The prospect of the
flight frightened Mrs. Lee. According to her
granddaughter, MayKao Hang, "Grandma
felt that she would disappear into the clouds
and not come back. She felt that her spirit
would leave her body and that she would get
sick when she [flew] up into the air. When
she arrived, my dad was at the airport, and
she was so happy she cried. In fact, she was
never sure she would actually make it here
to the United States."
7. Bo Thao, interview by MayKao Hang,
Jan. 17, 2000, transcript, Hmong Women's
Action Team Oral History Project, MHS.
8. Carl Martin Raugland to "My dear
Brother and Sister!" Aug. 24,1885, type
script translation, Carl M. and Sara K.
Raugland Papers, MHS. All subsequent
Raugland quotes are from these transla
tions.
9. Carl Martin Raugland to "Dear Broth
ers," Sept. 16,1885.
10. Petran to Johann and Theresia
Pompe, July 18,1855.
11. Yang Cha Ying, interview by Linda
Rossi (translator, May Herr), Nov. 20,1991,
transcript, Hmong Oral Histories Project,
1991-93, Oral History Collection, MHS.

Pompe, Aug. 26,1849.
13. Carl Raugland to "My Dear Brother!"
Feb. 14,1886.
14. Thaly Chhour, interview by Cheryl A.
Thomas, Aug. 14,1992, transcript, Khmer
Oral History Project, Oral History Collec
tion, MHS.
15. Tashi Lhewa, interview by Dorjee
Norbu and Charles Lenz, Aug. 28, 2005,
transcript, Minnesota Tibetan Oral History
Project, Oral History Collection, MHS.
16. Karl Bachmann to G. Peip, Oct. 15,
1854, typescript translation, Charles W.
Bachmann and Family Papers, MHS;
Petran to Johann and Theresia Pompe,
Aug. 26,1849.
17. Bao Vang, interview by Kim Yang,
Dec. 17,1999, transcript, Hmong Women's
Action Committee Oral History Project,
MHS.
18. Irja Beckman, "Echoes from the Past,
1958," 19, typescript draft, manuscripts col
lection, MHS; Ann Regan, "The Irish," 134,
Hildegard Binder Johnson, "The Germans,"
155-57, and John G. Rice, "The Swedes,"
256-57, 259?all in Holmquist, ed., They
Chose Minnesota.

19. To learn more, see: India Association
of Minnesota, www.iamn.org; Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce of Minnesota, www.
hispanicmn.org; Hmong Cultural Center,
www.hmongcc.org; United Cambodian
Association of Minnesota, www.ucaminc.
org; Tibetan American Foundation of
Minnesota, www.tqfin.org (all accessed
June 3, 2010).
20. Jigme Ugen, interview by Tsewang
Sangmo Lama and Charles Lenz, Aug. 31,
2005, transcript, Minnesota Tibetan Oral
History Project, MHS.
21. Raugland to "My dear Brother and
Sister!" Aug. 24,1885.
22. Hared Mah, interview by Andy
Wilhide, June 3, 2004, transcript, Somali
Skyline Tower Oral History Project, Oral
History Collection, MHS. Minnesota's Mus
lim population is not the first to encounter
difficulties in following religion-mandated
diets in their new community. Kosher Jews,
vegetarian Hindus, and others have faced
similar challenges.
23. Raugland to "My dear Brother and
Sister!" Aug. 24,1885.
24. For more information, see North East
Neighborhood House Records, 1889-1961,
2002-2003, MHS; International Institute of
Minnesota, www.iimn.org (accessed June 3,
2010); Ramona Advani, interview by Polly

Sonifer, Feb. 19,1998, transcript, India Asso
ciation of Minnesota Oral History Project
(Phase 2), MHS.
25. Here and three paragraphs below,
Petran to Johann and Theresia Pompe,
July 18,1855, Jan. 30,1858.
26. Arvid Person, [no salutation], Nov.
25,1869, copy of typescript translation,
Arvid Person Letters, MHS.
27. Arvid Person to "Dearly beloved
parents, brothers and sisters," Aug. 5,1875,
Person letters.
28. Carl Raugland to "Dear Brother
Martinius," Nov. 18,1893. Democrat Grover
Cleveland won a second (nonconsecutive)
term in 1892, defeating incumbent Benja
min Harrison.
29. Mai Neng Moua, interview by Kim
Yang, Dec. 1,1999, transcript, Hmong
Women's Action Committee Oral History
Project, MHS.
Pompe, Apr. 18,1855. For more on the
Know-Nothing Party, see Thomas Cieslik,
David Felsen, and Akis Kalaitzidis, eds., Im
migration: A Documentary and Reference
Guide (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2009), 19-21.
31. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration

Services, www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis
(accessed June 3, 2010).
32. Cieslik, Felsen, and Kalaitzidis, eds.
Immigration, 39-40. See also U.S. Citizen
ship and Immigration Services, www.uscis.
gov/portal/site/uscis and National Border
Patrol Museum, www.borderpatrolmuseum.
com (accessed June 3, 2010).
33. Susan M. Diebold, "The Mexicans,"
in Homquist, ed., They Chose Minnesota,
92-107; Cieslik, Felsen, and Kalaitzidis, ed.,
Immigration, 179-99.
34. Lourdez Ortega Schwab, interview
by Ruth Trevino, May 10, 2009, transcript,
Latino Oral History Project, Oral History
Collections, MHS. The Ortegas were in
Minnesota when the parents and one sibling
born in Mexico obtained U.S. citizenship.
Pompe, Jan. 30,1858.
36. Carl Raugland to Martinius, Jan. 2,
1900.
37- Abdisalam Adam, interview by
Sumaya Yusuf and Andy Wilhide, June 24,
2004, transcript, Somali Skyline Tower
Oral History Project, MHS.
Pompe, Feb. 9,1852.

39- Arvid Person to "My dearly beloved
parents, brothers and sisters," Apr. 16,1874,
and to "Dear Papa, Mama, brothers and
sisters," Sept. 1,1879, Person letters.
The photo on p. 96 (and contents page)
is courtesy David McGrath; p. 101, Bill
Jolitz; and p. 105, Wangyal Ritzekura.
All other images are in MHS collections,
including p. 102 from the Wenzel Petran
and Family Papers, and p. 104, Ameri
can Crystal Sugar Co. Records.
2016 00:45:04 UTC
Contentsp. [96]p. 97p. [98]p. 99p. 100p. 101p. 102p. 103p.
[104]p. 105p. 106Issue Table of ContentsMinnesota History,
Vol. 62, No. 3 (Fall 2010) pp. 81-120Front
MatterTimePiecesEyeWitness: Double Wedding [pp. 82-
82]LandMarks: Merchants National Bank, Winona [pp. 83-
83]Bicycling in Minneapolis in the Early 20th Century [pp. 84-
95]COMMON THREADS: The Minnesota Immigrant
Experience [pp. 96-106]UP! UP! STADIUM: PLANNING and
BUILDING a WAR MEMORIAL [pp. 107-116]Book
ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 117-117]Review: untitled [pp.
117-118]News &Notes [pp. 119-120]Curator's ChoiceBack
Matter

Name:
EAP 102
Research Paper
Please find one source that you would like to use for your
research paper. This source should be academic in nature (i.e.
NO Wikipedia), and should be on your topic. Think about how
you will use this source in your final presentation and answer
the following questions about your source.
Your topic:
- Swedes in the twin cities: immigrant life and Minnesota’s
urban frontier.
Source 3.
APA Citation: (see www.owl.english.purdue.edu)
-Winkle, K. J. (2003). Swedes in the Twin Cities: Immigrant
Life and Minnesota's Urban Frontier (Book). American
Historical Review, 108(4), 1163-1164.
Summarize the main ideas of this source.
- Distinctive and persistent Swedish neighborhood, the Swedish
historical society of America, the America history institute, the
Norden society, Swedish-language publications, and Dania Hall
all receive able treatment as institutions of ethnic identity,
cultural persistence, and mutual support.

What interesting facts have you found from this source? (At
least 4)
· Swedish- American community during its formative American
historical review October 2003 1164 Reviews of book decades..
· Bigott calls attention to immigrant working-class homeowners
as a basis for the sort progressive reforms normally associated
with middle-class professionals.
· The cumulative effect of Bigott’s date, maps and illustrations
is to provide us with much clearer nation of what working-class
housing looked like and how it changed over the course of the
early twentieth century.
· More Swedish Americans lived in Chicago and most
Minnesota Swedes
Lived in rural communities, this volume justifies and analyzes
in the Twin Cities’ identity as the most Swedish of all American
cities.
How will you use this source in your paper? (Think about how
you will organize your overall paper. Where will this source fit
in? What ideas will it support? Hint: do not say “I will use this
source accurately/well/effectively/etc…”)
- I will use source three as body 3 and conclusion and maybe I
can use it in body one and two.

How will this source work together with your 1st and 2nd
sources? Does it provide similar information or different?
I can mix it with source one and two in the project.
Furthermore, they have a little similarities and differences
details.
Finally, create a brief outline of your paper using the three
sources you’ve found.
*Source one,
· Wenzel Petren starts a business.
· Sudhansu S. Misra immigrant from India
· Minnesota has long been the destination of the immigrant
· Finding employment is an important first step for settling
into the life America.
*Source two,
- A new home Kerkhoven, MN
- Renting home from Indians
- Two summers of the grass
- Indian had four wives and Nemours
*Source three
- Bigott describes the late nineteenth-century formation of
Hammond, Indiana
· Bigott notes, it is ironic that social historians has devoted so
little attention in their materialist.

· Phlip J. Anderson and Bag Blanks editor. Swedes in the Twin
Cities: immigrant life in Minnesota.
· Chautauqua Week was an important cultural event in small
towns across the country from 1904 to 1932 thereafter.
·
Outline Introduction
Early immigrant in Minnesota
Hook:
East or West home is the best. How true are these set phrases?
From time immemorial, people always migrate from one place
to another for different purposes. What motivates people to
become immigrants? Does life always end up as anticipated?
How do immigrants act in response if the situation turns
different?
Connecting Information:
In fact, and in many cases, the life of immigrant is highly
complicated and takes shape depending on the existing
conditions in a foreign land.
Thesis Statements: A closer reflection on Minnesota immigrant
experience demonstrates that the objectives to look for habitat
in a different country vary significantly, and the settlement
though beneficial in many ways, encounters numerous
challenges, which prompt the settlers to adjust their lives to suit
new demands.

My Grandparents, John and Carrie Nelson ofFryksändeB Y M.docx

My Grandparents, John and Carrie Nelson ofFryksändeB Y M.docx

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