Kasson MN

September 15

I continue to ask myself how it is that we keep finding these charming spots in small town rural America. The campsites in Ryder and Madison were a pleasure. Kasson MN, the birthplace of my Grandmother Wigen, is quite charming.

We arrived Thursday afternoon. We did stop at Walnut Grove, site of the Laura Ingalls Wilder book “Beside Plum Creek”. We toured an excellent museum there. Thanks, Susan Larson, for the hot tip.

There are no campgrounds listed in our RV resources within 15 miles from here so I emailed the Kasson Chamber of Commerce two months ago and they suggested Stussy RV park in neighboring Mantorville. Mantorville (pop 1054) and Kasson (pop 5057) blend together as towns.

The RV park is situated along the bank of the Zumbro River. There are 10 spaces. We, again, are the only ones. We are parked on the edge of a National Historic District because the stage coach line ran through here in the 1850’s. The Hubbell House (if you google this make sure it is the one in MN) is a block away. The restaurant has fed the likes of U.S. Grant, Eisenhower, Horace Greeley, Roy Rogers, and Mickey Mantle. One of the restaurant’s characters was Ole Bornemann Bull. Google that name if you want to read about a Norwegian character.

Fortunately, for us, this is the Dodge County Seat so the Court House with Grandma’s birth records is another block away. The “County Seat” is across the street from our RV. It is a latte shop, so Barb is elated, which has free WiFi which reaches our RV, so I am elated.

We have been to the South Zumbro Lutheran Church twice. It is located 7 miles SE of Kasson. It is a beautiful flourishing church sitting on a hill overlooking the South Zumbro River valley. The church is flourishing because Rochester (Mayo Clinic) is 17 miles away and young couples are coming to the Kasson area to live. (In fact, I read in some brochures that Dodge County is the only county in MN where the average age is getting younger. I am going to drink a lot of the water!!)

The church cemetery is filled with the names that dominate the cemetery of my home church, Selbu Lutheran, in Lacrosse. I noted Kyllo, Emerson, Wigen, Slind, among others. A prominent placed headstone is of Brita Hansdatter Svardal and Jon Bottleson Tennefoss, both Norwegian immigrants from the Vik area in the 1850’s. They are my great, great grandparents on my mother’s side. Jon helped build the church.

There is no one at the church to let us in. Later, Barb and I phoned the pastor who was to leave the door of the church open for us, but on return, we found the door still locked.

We traveled about a 1 ½ miles from the church to the farm home of Ardean Erickson. It is a long story, but he lives on the property where Grandma Wigen was born and raised until the age of 16 when she moved to Lacrosse. Apparently there was a fire in the early 1900’s and a 16’ X 24’ (Interesting, just a little bit smaller than our RV.) building was constructed there. The generations of families have added on to that structure. Grandma left that area in 1901 so it is not clear that she lived in the original structure.

Ardean is a spunky 89 and had just returned from a drive into town. He is delighted in Barb’s offer of a pint of homemade marionberry jam (I tell you, these things have been worth their weight it gold. People really open up when you offer them homemade jam.) and he eagerly sits and shares his story and the story of the area. He lives alone. A grandson lives in the house next door. Ardean has outlived two children and his wife.

As we leave his farm we drive north on some gravel roads that lead down to the river. The roads are primitive and not well traveled. On arrival to the small river, we disturb a flock of 20 or so wild turkeys.

We return to town and meet with Sandy Dean. Sandy knows that we are coming and she has prepared for us some 60+ pages of data, which she has transcribed from the original records to a database. They contain the church’s baptismal, confirmation and burial records from 1839 to 1930. GGGparents are there. Grandma Wigen is there. Jim (my brother in law) Emerson’s grandfather, father, and uncles/aunts are there as well. Many of the former generation from my home church, Selbu Lutheran in Lacrosse, WA, are listed in the baptism and confirmation lists. One interesting find is that the confirmation records include a comment of evaluation. Grandma Wigen (then Gustafson) received an “average knowledge” report. Brown Emerson, my brother in law’s dad, received a “better than average” evaluation. There were some names that received a “very poor”. Hope my grandkids do not get a hold of my confirmation evaluations…

We are relaxing today, Saturday. Actually we will do laundry, wash the car, etc. I find that writing these blogs is a lot of work but very enjoyable. I want to thank Torgeir, LeRoy, Jill, Wayne, Phyl and Ed Pullen for responding to our blog. It really helps to know if someone is reading it “on the other side”.

Tomorrow, we will go to church and, depending how it goes at church, head out around noon toward Wisconsin. We plan to head east to the Mississippi, follow it up to just outside of Minneapolis, the head east, south east through Wisconsin. I don’t know when I will be able to email again.