Histories: Trempealeau Co. Historical Accounts:
"Trempealeau County" by Clarence J. Gamroth:
Volume 1A:
Biographies: Gilbert and
Maria (Dauer) Amundson
The Coming of the Norsk to Borst Valley
by Prosper Sylla
In the middle of the eighteen hundreds from Oslo, Norway came a girl by
the name of Maria Peter Dauer, the name meaning Mary daughter of
Peter. She came to America and emigrated to a valley near La
Crosse, namely "Coon Valley" where she was employed binding
grain. At the neighbors was employed a Mr. Gilbert
Amundson. He was clearing land for crops. He usually
managed to be working near where Marie was so he could go there to get
a drink of water. This was only an excuse to go and see
Marie. Finally after going there long enough, they got acquainted
and later decided to get married. Gilbert was a common working
man and he insisted on getting married in his working clothes, and that
he did. She also was dressed in very informal dress.
Soon after their marriage, they set out by foot to find a place to
homestead. They came to Borst Valley and homesteaded the present
Marsolek farm near Russell Store. This is believed to be one of
the first permanent Norwegian settlements here.
Their start in life was not easy. The timber on the place was not
good enough to build a cabin so they had to live on a side hill in a
sod house. They had very few cattle because there were no
fences. Their young children followed the cattle all day and
brought them home at night.
The mother of Marie came from Norway at this time and she also lived
with the Amundsons. She went out to the woods daily to get
firewood. One day, as she was gathering the wood, she discovered
an animal that appeared to her to be a kitten, so she took it home in
her apron and showed it to the family. The first thing the
Amundsons did was to gently take the kitten out of the house. The
kitten turned out to be a skunk with which she was not yet acquainted.
The settlers of this time were very much afraid of the Indians because
they were frequently attacked by them. One summer night there was
a great amount of confusion in the Amundson house. Marie's mother
woke up during the night and saw what she thought were Indians setting
fire to the buildings. Gilbert and the rest of the family got up
and investigated and found that she was looking at fire bugs flying
around. She had never seen them before she got here.
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