The Story of Erick Carlson

Our story starts with Erick…we could go back farther…someday perhaps we should. For now, however, we start with Erick who was born in 1848 on a farm called Vasda near the small town of Sodem in the Provence of Telemark located south of Oslo in southern Norway. The closest trade center is Skien (she-in), the capital city of Telemark. It makes good sense to say that our ancestors came from Skien.

Erick’s father was Carl Vasdahl who, following a common practice in those days, took his sur-name from the place he lived, Vasda. Erick had a twin brother named Christ (rhymes with twist) who preceded him in the journey to America and settled near Whitewater, Wisconsin. I have found no information on Erick’s mother except a reference to Vasdahl “and wife”. The date of Erick’s emigration is also rather vague but would probably be about 1867, when he was still in his teens. It is quite possible that one reason Erick left Norway was to avoid a five-year hitch in the King’s Guard. At the time of Erick’s departure he assumed the name Bohle as his surname. Erick arrived in the New York harbor years before the Statue of Liberty had been erected (in 1886, as we have recently been reminded).

Erick made his way across the country with Whitewater as his destination where he was reunited with his brother Christ and where he lived for several years. It was here that he met and married Anne (ahn-ah) Karine Anderson. Anee’s family also came from Bohle in Norway and they most likely took the name Anderson during the emigration process. Except for an unimaginative customs officer our family name might have been Bohle or Vasdahl (“what was your father’s first name, son?”). Anee was born in Walworth County, Wisconsin in 1854. Her nick name was “Kaja”.

The move from Whitewater to Morken Township (Felton) Minnesota must have been about 1879. The small family, which by this time included children Adolph, Grace and George, established their new farm home. Anne died when she was 40, just a year after Mabel was born, and the older children, especially Grace, helped raise the family.

Erick became a successful farmer, landowner, clerk of the township, and a respected leader of the rural community.

So…now in 1987, adding to the “bloodline”, the husbands, wives, stepchildren and adoptions, we number well over 400 people in six generations. This in itself is a fitting memorial to Erick: Norwegian-American, Pioneer, Father, and Great, Great, Great Grandfather.