ARNE AND ELI--PIONEER SPIRITS

my great-grandfather Arne reading, while Eli, my great-grandmother sits near the door

My great-grandparents Arne and Ellen (Eli) met one another at the border between Norway and Sweden.  He was born in 1843 and she was born two years later.  They married in 1870 and within a year Arne had set sail for Wisconsin, sailing first to Quebec and then journeying on to Detroit, Milwaukee, and finally the wilderness area of central Wisconsin.  By 1872 Eli sailed for the U.S. as well, with little Oluf (barely a year old) on board.  The 1918 History of Clark County, Wisconsin said this about Arne as he struggled to make a home for his young family:  “Long years lay before him ere he could hope to be the owner of a fertile farm.  With nothing but his hands he grubbed in his first crops, having erected a log dwelling, and from that time on he labored assiduously in the work of home building.”

They were pioneer settlers, raising eight sons along the way, with my grandfather Oluf being the oldest.  By 1904, typhoid fever deaths had reached epidemic proportions in Clark County and my great-grandmother Eli succumbed.  The water supply in the area had become highly contaminated.  She was only 59.

my great-grandfather with his grandchildren on the porch of the farm house he built

Years later my mother told me that my great-grandfather Arne, who was a heavy drinker, had a vision of Eli after her death and never had a drink after that.  Upon his death at 89, the local newspaper wrote:  “He was a kind and indulgent husband and father with generous impulses.” 

I wish that I could have known them, particularly my great-grandmother.  There’s often very little written about pioneer women and their struggles and dedication to their families. They willingly or unwillingly followed their husband’s pursuit of a better life in a new land.  Rarely were they able to return to their homeland to visit family they left behind.  I am grateful to my great-grandparents for making those tough choices.  At times it must have felt excruciatingly painful.  An unknown writer once expressed:  “Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.”  That sums it all up for me.

my great-grandmother