Settling Wisconsin: Milwaukee and Shawano
- Becky Byerly-Adams
- 23 hours ago
- 4 min read
by Becky Byerly-Adams
Wisconsin was the chosen settlement area for many Icelandic emigrant families in the 1870s. Becky provides background and insights from the areas of Milwaukee and Shawano. These settlements were not without challenges; many relocated while others remained. Their preservation of Icelandic life and culture remains their legacy. We still celebrate them today.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
Milwaukee, Wisconsin was the center of Icelandic immigration to the United States between 1870 and 1875. The Icelanders found employment on the docks and the fishing boats. On June 13, 1872, the ship Thor departed Eyrarbakki with 15 Icelanders bound for Quebec, Canada who then traveled by rail to Milwaukee.
Most of the group continued on to Washington Island but some stayed in Milwaukee. Reverend (Séra) Páll Þorláksson (I36310), his brother Haraldur, and wife María Stefanía were among those who stayed.
More Icelandic immigrants arrived in Milwaukee late in 1873 including Reverand Páll’s parents and seven siblings, Reverend Jón Bjarnason (I205869) who became one of the most influential leaders in the North American Icelandic community, and Jón Ólafsson (I186820) a journalist fleeing Iceland to avoid criminal charges due to his criticism of the Danish government.
By 1874 there were 200 Icelanders living in Milwaukee.
Iceland had been under harsh Danish rule for hundreds of years, and the people wanted their freedom. Finally Danish King Kristján IX approved a new constitution allowing the Icelanders limited home rule. King Kristján IX approved a new constitution allowing Icelanders limited home rule. The King proclaimed he would present this new constitution to the Icelandic parliament at Þingvellir and every church in in Iceland would have services on that same Sunday.
The Constitution on the Special Affairs of Iceland / Stjórnarskrá um hin sérstaklegu málefni Íslands gave Iceland increased autonomy, but executive powers remained with Denmark. While not perfect, it was a significant step toward independence.
Jón Ólafsson formed a small committee to organize the first Icelandic celebration in America to coincide with that 1000th-anniversary celebration of Iceland’s settlement at Þingvellir. On this monumental day, August 2nd 1874, Icelanders on two continents celebrated the “Day of the Icelanders.”
In Milwaukee, at a Norwegian Lutheran church, a congregation of nearly 70 people gathered to hear Reverend Jon Bjarnason deliver the first Icelandic religious sermon in North America. It also was based on Psalm 90, the exact passage heralded throughout Iceland on this day.
After the service, a parade formed outside the church led by two men wearing the Icelandic national costume. One carried a United States flag while the other carried a blue flag printed with an Icelandic falcon. There was no official Icelandic flag then.
Following the flag bearers were men and women adorned in traditional Icelandic costumes. Behind them were the remainder of adults, followed by the teenagers and children. Winding its way through the streets of Milwaukee the parade stopped for the official program of the day with speeches by Jón Ólafsson and Reverend Páll Þorláksson.
Before the event ended, The Icelandic Organization of North America was created. Their goals were to preserve and strengthen the Icelandic cultural identity in North America; to maintain deep ties with Iceland; and to support the establishment of Icelandic communities in both the United States and Canada.
The small group of Icelanders in Milwaukee had been canvassing possibilities for a larger settlement in the US. A group travelled to Nebraska in quest of land where a few families settled in1875. Other Icelanders found their way to Minneota and New Iceland in Canada.
Many more immigrants came through Milwaukee, but it was primarily a stopover for people continuing west. By 1876, the settlement here had disappeared.
SHAWANO, WISCONSIN
Another group arriving in 1874-75 founded a small Icelandic settlement near Shawano County in northeastern Wisconsin that they called Ljósavatn. It was in Shawano County that the first Icelandic congregation in North America was founded by Reverend Páll Þorláksson. The first Icelandic child born in the settlement was Reverend Páll’s niece, Maria Lovisa. She was also the first to be baptized in the church.
Reverend Páll received approval for an Icelandic settlement in Shawano County around Shawano Lake. The settlers would receive no more than 80 acres each for half price. The soil was poor and the land north of Lake Shawano was useless for planting crops, although it could be used for raising sheep. This was not enough land for a major settlement and only a few Icelanders moved here.
The poet Stephan G. Stephansson (I187678) was among the early settlers to this area having emigrated with his parents and sister in 1873 from Akureyri. In 1878, Stephan and Helga Sigríður Jónsdóttir were married with Reverend Páll officiating.
Departures from this area began almost immediately, with a few going to the Minneota community in 1876 and the majority relocating to Pembina County, North Dakota in 1880. The Shawano settlement disappeared after 1880.
Resources
Icelandic Roots Database
Jonas Thor, Icelanders in North America: The First Settlers (University of Manitoba Press, 2002).