THE VALDRIS VEBLEN alifornia ional lity THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES I 364 (I THE VALDRIS BOOK THE AUTHOR THE VALDRIS BOOK A MANUAL OF THE VALDRIS SAMBAND BY ANDREW A. VEBLEN MINNEAPOLIS PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 1920 COPYRIGHT I82O BY ANDREW A. VEBLEN USIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LIBRAE! PREFACE The Valdris Book is written because some sort of Manual of the Valdris Samband appeared to be required at this time. The undersigned became its author for the reason that there seemed to be no one else available for the undertaking; and he became solely responsible for its contents and its general character, for the further reason that he had no opportunity to secure collaboration in its production. Those Americans who are in any degree of Valdris strain or descent, doubtless outnumber their kinsmen in the old home valley two or three times over. A considerable number would of course have enjoyed to have the book offered to them in the language of the fathers; but to make the contents acces- sible to all of them, as well as to the general public, with whom Valdrises will wish to share whatever of special infor- mation the volume may contain, it has been written in the language which forms our national medium of expression. The first chapter, on Valdris^ is designed to serve the purpose of introducing the young American Valdris to the ancestral habitat of the fathers, and it is hoped that it may help to stimulate deserved interest in the fair valley that produced our sturdy pioneer forbears. The bygdelag movement, which has grown out of the kinship feeling between those that have come from a com- mon neighborhood, began among the Valdrises twenty-one years ago. They gave this sentiment concrete expression in their stevne-reunions and in the building up of their "Sam- band", which stood as a unique, fully evolved type for the "lags" that the other kinship groups formed, when, some years after, they began to emulate the example set by the Valdrises. This peculiar position of the Valdris Samband among its 1927979 younger sister bygdelags, so interweaves its history with that of the whole movement, that it can not well be isolated for treatment. Hence the outline sketch embodied in the second chapter, which it is hoped will, moreover, be found useful for its own sake inasmuch as a fulfer history of the bygdelag movement is not yet available. The lists of members and of war service people, with the information which they contain, are commended to all con- cerned for careful scrutiny. They have been compiled with painstaking care, but doubtless they are marred by errors, which in the nature of the case have likely crept in. If cor- rections are sent to the author, he will endeavor to supply the proper rectifications for the records of the Samband, from which the compilations have been made. An overlooked omission in copying the manuscript is re- sponsible for the misleading reference to Harold's realm at the top of page 26. The author wishes to tender his thanks to all who have aided in securing the information concerning those who served in the war, to his colleagues of the Styre for their encourage- ment and active aid in bringing about the publication of the Valdris Book, and particularly to Mr. Iver Hain, to whose ever unfailing efforts, in- these for bookmakers troublous times, is in large measure due the successful issue of the undertaking. Andrew A. Veblen. East San Diego, California June, 1920. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. VALDRIS. A SKETCH OF THE ANCES- TRAL HOME OF THE VALORISES. Xonvay, 9. Valdris, the Name, 11. Situation and Sub- divisions, 13. Physical Characteristics, 15. Roads, 22. Dairying, 24. Tradition and History, 25. The Princess Gyda, 25. Historical Personages, 27. Schools, 29. Folk- lore, 31. Church Architecture. Stav-Churches, 35. CHAPTER II. THE BYGDELAG MOVEMENT. Some Definitions, 44. Conditions that Led up to the Movement, 45. Chronology. 48. History of the Move- ment, the Valdrises, 51. Newspaper Agitation, 54. The Fargo Coterie, 56. Formation of Bygdelags, 61. Claims of Originating the Movement, 68. Co-operation, 17th of May Celebration, 70. Council of Bygdelags, 81. Consti- tution of the Council, 83. Bygdelag Publications, 84. The Bygdelags and the War. 87. List of the Lags and Of- ficers, 88. CHAPTER III. THE VALDRIS SAMBAND. Chronicles of the Samband, 91. First Reunions of Val- drises, 97. Organization of Valdris Samband, 102. The Constitution, 105. Personl Records of Members, 107. Valdrisgjesteb0, 111. Valdris Helsing, 116. Local Sam- lags, 119. Expansion of the Stevne, 122. History Com- mittee, 124. Parish Tags, 126. Samband Magazine, 127. The 1914 Celebration, Valdrisgave, 132. The Samband and the War, 134. CHAITKR IV. THE/ MEMBERS OF THE VALDRIS SAMBAND. Introductory Explanation, 136. The Membership List, 139. CHAPTER V. VALORISES WHO ENTERED THE COUNTRY'S SERVICE IN THE WORLD WAR. Introductory Statement, 218. The Service List, 221. CHAPTER VI. SOME DOCUMENTS. SELECTIONS WRITTEN BY VALORISES IN AMERICA. The Constitution of the Valdris Samband, 280. Lajord's Letter of Febr. 2, 1899, 282. The "Otter Tail" Letter, 283. Lajord's Song at First Stevne, 285. Lajord's Song of 1900, 286. Letter from President G. Hoyme, 289. Valdrisn, O. K. Fuglei, 290. Valdris, T. K. Rogne, 292. Bufardagen, R. N. Qualley, 293. Eit Minde fraa Slidre, E. A. Hjelle, 295. Haelvtumsingen, Prof. John Dahle,* 296. I Valdris, O. L. Kirkeberg, 297. Vang, O. I. Platen, 298. Langbein Rese, O. I. Flaten. 298. Diktarsjuka, O. K. Fuglei, 299. Tenistgutn, Johs. Belsheim, 301. Han Ellend Sjel, 302. A .MAP OF NORWAY AND OF VALDRIS Folding to Inside of Back Cover. CHAPTER I. VALDRIS A SKETCH OF THE ANCESTRAL HOME OF THE VALORISES. NORWAY. The Scandinavian Peninsula, lying between the Baltic and the Gulf of Finland on the east and the North Sea and Atlan- tic and Arctic Oceans on the west and north, is occupied by the two kingdoms Norway and Sweden. The area of the former is to that of the latter in the ratio of 11 to 14, and Norway embraces very nearly 125,600 square miles. The dis- tance in a straight line from the Naze, Lindesnes, at the ex- treme south to Vardoe at the farthest northeast, near Russia, is 1120 miles. If a line be drawn so as to touch the headlands of the coast, from the Swedish border in the south to the Rus- sian boundary on the Arctic, it will be 1710 miles long. But the total length of shore line, traced into all the bays and numer- ous deep inlets, measures about 10,500 miles. The northearn part of the country, for nearly two-thirds of its entire length, from the Russian border to the Trondhjem fjord, is a strip of varying breadth from the coast to the watershed, averaging perhaps 65 miles. Southern Norway, containing the greater part of the population and being other- wise the portion of chief general importance, may be described as a fairly regular oval, some 400 miles long from north to south and about 260 miles maximum width from the cost to Sweden. A fairly well marked ridge forms a watershed along the between Northern but boundary Sweden and Norway ; though Southern Norway is very largely a mountainous region it can hardly be said to have any clearly marked chains of mountains. 10 THE VALDRIS BOOK The interior is rather an elevated table-land but quite broken with gorges and valleys and rising into many peaks and a number of icefields of considerable elevation inland. The wildest and most elevated portion of the mountainous interior, occupying approximately the center of the oval, is often called Jotunheimen, meaning the Home of the Jotuns, or fabled giants of the ancient Norse mythology. The population of Norway, which is not far from two and a half millions, is distributed upon the limited areas of low- lying coast lands in the south, along the shores of the peculiar long inlets, and among the narrow and frequently canyon- like valleys of the watercourses throughout the interior. In the political subdivision of Norway the Amt is the chief administrative district and the highest officer is called Amt- mand. There are twenty amts. Below the amt is the Fogderi or district presided over by the foged. It is in a way the nearest equivalent of the American county, as a political divi- sion, and there are 50 or 60 fogderier. The Herred is a town- ship-like subdivision of the Fogderi, and there are some 500 of these rural communes. The cities and towns have a some- what different system of subdivision and administration. Norway has a state church, and the ecclesiastical subdivi- sions are, in order, the Stift or diocese, the Provsti or deanery, the Prestegjeld or parish, and the Sogn or congregation. The bounds of a congregation are generally dependent on the ease or difficulty of communication as determined by natural bar- riers of the settlements, or bygds. each with its church in its midst. Two to four congregations are grouped in a parish with its pastor, who may have an assistant or Kapellan, as may be determined by the size and importance of his charge. The congregation within which the pastor resides is styled Hovedsogn, head congregation, and its church is Hovedkirke. The other congregations of the parish are called Annexes and their churches are annex churches. The same natural features that have served to set off the parishes as divisions of definite extent, have likewise operated VALDRIS 11 to fix the boundaries of the administrative districts, so that the township or herred is almost always coextensive with the parish.