Online Books

These are some excellent free books available online. In addition to some really colorful early history, these books list many names of settlers and some of their accomplishments. Almost all of them are downloadable as PDFs – so you can read them whenever. A couple of them are in Norwegian… if you’re a little rusty, bookmark this Dano-Norwegian- to- English translation dictionary.

Houston County, Minnesota

History of Houston County, Edward Duffield Neill, 1882

History of Houston County, Minnesota, Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge, 1919

The advantages and resources of Houston County, Minnesota, Reynolds & Wertz, 1858

Allamakee County, Iowa

History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, W. E. Alexander, 1882

Past and present of Allamakee county, Iowa: A record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1 and Volume 2, Ellery M. Hancock, 1913

Winneshiek County, Iowa

History of Winneshiek and Allamakee Counties, Iowa, W. E. Alexander, 1882

History of Winneshiek County: with biographical sketches of its eminent men, Charles H. Sparks, 1877

Indian History of Winneshiek County, Charles Philip Hexom, 1913

Luther College through sixty years, 1861-1921, Luther College, 1922

Past and Present of Winneshiek County, Iowa: A record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1 and Volume 2, Edwin C. Bailey, 1913

Immigration and Immigrants

A history of Norwegian immigration to the United States: From the earliest beginning down to the year 1848, George T. Flom, 1909

De norske settlementers historie; en oversigt over den norske indvandring til og bebyggelse af Amerikas nordvesten fra Amerikas opdagelse til Indianerkrigen i nordvesten, med bygde- og navneregister, Hjalmar Rued Holand, 1908

History of the Scandinavians and Successful Scandinavians in the United States, Olof Nickolaus Nelson, 1899

Minnesota: Its Advantages to Settlers, Girart Hewitt, 1869

Nordmændene i Amerika: deres Historie og Rekord, Martin Ulvestad, 1907

Nordmændene i Amerika: Nogle optegnelser om de Norskes udvandring til Amerika, Knud Langeland, 1889

Norske lutherske menigheter i Amerika, 1843-1916, Volume 1 and Volume 2, Olaf Morgan Norlie, 1918

Norwegian immigrant contributions to America’s making, Harry Sundby-Hansen, 1921

The first chapter of Norwegian immigration (1821-1840), its causes and results. With an introduction on the services rendered by the Scandinavians to the world and to America, Rasmus Björn Anderson, 1896

The First Norwegian Settlements in America, Within the Present Century, Rasmus Björn Anderson, 1898