Uff Da, Reconnecting with my Ancestry (3/29/24)

Bob and I are currently in separate states. Bob’s in Texas on a baseball trip with his brother-in-law and nephews. They are trying to see games at all of the baseball stadiums in the NBL. This time they are visiting the stadiums in Houston and Arlington, Texas. I left Janesville, Wisconsin, this morning where I had been visiting my mom, and am now in Decorah, Iowa, as I make my way back to Grimes, Iowa, and Bob (post baseball trip).

Decorah, with a population of about 7,500, is the largest community in Winneshiek County Iowa. Decorah has become a center for Norwegian-American culture originating from a number of Norwegian settlements beginning in the 1850s. My mom’s ancestors came from Norway, and I grew up eating Norwegian food during holidays, so I had to check out the Norwegian-American Museum that is here. The local Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum is the largest museum in America devoted to a single immigrant group.

The first exhibit was about food, and I recognized a lot of the foods mentioned.

Between 1825 and 1930, over 800,000 Norwegiansleft Norway for the New World, a number nearly equal to the population of Norway in 1825. Only Ireland would give up a greater percentage of its population to emigration.

This was new information as well. This battalion was created to liberate Norway from Nazi control. They got to Norway too late to do that but did help restore order to Norway after the war and help welcome back the king.

There was an exhibit on Herbjorn Gausta, apparently the most widely known American painter of Norwegian ancestry. I was not aware of him, but as you can tell by the blog, I am continually learning new things. He was born in Telemark, Norway, but came with his family as a young man to southeastern Minnesota. He was studying in Decorah at Luther College when he was persuaded to pursue his artistic talents.

Another art exhibit at the museum was called Seven Summers by Arna Renan. She was a Norwegian-American who grew up in Duluth, Minnesota, and later studied at the National Academy of Art in Norway. Her paintings were created over 7 summers in Norway.