South Dakota: Norwegian American settlements



The first Norwegians arrived in the Dakota's as early as 1859, shortly after the treaty with the Yankton Sioux was signed 10 Jul 1859. It took another ten years before the greater influx of Norwegians took place. According to the 1860 census there were 129 Norwegians in South Dakota. That changed fast; in 1880 one-tenth of the population was Norwegian, and in 1889 one-third of the population were Norwegians. The towns of Roslyn and Pierpoint were originally almost 100 percent Norwegian.

http://www.augie.edu/cws/ Augustana College, The Center for Western Studies. The Center is historically a Norwegian American center, and houses collections relating to the Norwegian American presence in South Dakota.

Norwegian American periodical and serials also found at the center:
Norwegian-American Studies (1926-1979)

Nord-Norge (1917-1952)

Sons of Norway (1922-1967)

Sons of Norway Viking (1968-1984)

South Dakota Norwegian American Newspaper (In the Norwegian language)
Vesterheim (1888-1889) Sioux Falls

Syd Dakota Ekko (1889-1893) Brookings

Almueven (1890) Pierre

Fremad (1894-1940's) Sioux Falls; Fremad would often include stories from Scandinavian newspapers, selections of Norwegian litterature, and local advertisements.

Visergutten (1926-1944) Canton

Posten (1902-1912) Sisseton

Posten (1908-1916) Sioux Falls

South Dakota Genealogical Societies:
http://www.genealogyforum.rootsweb.com/gfaol/resource/SD/GS.htm


 * MITCHELL AREA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, c/o Mitchell Public Library, 221 N. Duff St., Mitchell, SD 57301 (605/996-6693). The society does not have a library, but it does possess a card file of all known burials (1880-1980) in Davison County, South Dakota, some of whom were Norwegian immigrants. The society reported that Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Irene, South Dakota, has the records of several Norwegian communities, including James River, organized 1875;Bang, 1887; and Bethlehem, 1889. These records are in Norwegian and untranslated.