Assimilation of German-Russian and Norwegian Immigrants: A Comparison of North Dakota Pioneers

Barbara Handy-Marchello, In Completion of Requirements for Germans from Russia Workshop, June, 1986, October 22, 1986

Norwegians started to settle the eastern and north central counties of North Dakota in the 1870's. The 1880 census recorded 8,814 Norwegians in North Dakota. The flow of Norwegian immigrants continued and by 1900 73,744 Norwegians lived in North Dakota. Some had stopped a year or two in other states before moving to North Dakota, but many came directly from Norway.

Both of these groups of immigrants were basically agrarian and intensely religious. They arrived during the same time period, and at once faced the problems of homesteading the prairies and learning to live in a foreign land. Both groups coped with drought, prairie fires, poor crops and homesickness and both groups thrived. Today, North Dakotans of Norwegian descent are the largest ethnic group in the state, closely followed by Germans from Russia. The process of becoming American and how that process was reflected in these communities is the subject of this study.

The assimilation of ethnic groups can be measured in numerous ways. One can study the reasons for leaving the home country and the way of traveling to the new; the emotional, nationalistic ties to the homeland; and the formation of social clubs to maintain national ties. Studies can be made of education (in the old and new homes), use of language and development of ethnic, foreign language newspapers in America. One can study religion, politics, families and cultural traditions, or the visible, physical characteristics such as clothing, housing and food. An exhaustive study could also include farming techniques, business practices such as banking, insurance and store-keeping, the topography of the homesteaded areas and place names. This paper is limited to a comparison of education, political involvement and clothing as indicators of cultural assimilation. Education is significant because sending children to public schools is the fastest route to assimilation in the United States. Acceptance or resistance of public education indicates the ethnic group's determination to remain isolated or assimilate. Political involvement, voting and office holding, indicate the interest of the adult population of each ethnic group in a basic tenet of American freedoms. Clothing was a visible remnant of old country ways that marked a person as a “foreigner” before any other contact was made. These three subjects do not present a complete picture of the assimilation process, but can be indicators of general trends in each ethnic group.

Public schools were common in Norway. In 1848 a law was passed in Norway requiring every town to have at least one common (public) school. In Russia, parochial grammar schools were established in most colonies. Most of the Norwegian and German-Russian immigrants were literate on arrival and understood the need for a school as soon as one could be built or organized.

Schools were often conducted in homes in the early years, with a member of the community serving as teacher to all the neighborhood children. In the German-Russian community of Jefferson Township, Pierce County, a school was set up in a home even before a church was organized. These early schools were usually conducted in the native language. When the community became established and school teachers arrived from outside the community, English became the main language of the classroom. Schools were conducted for two or three months of the year at first. After the English schools were established, both Norwegian and German-Russian communities set up parochial schools which were conducted for a month in the summer or on weekends. These parochial schools taught the native language, religion and ethnic traditions. Norwegians maintained parochial schools for at least twenty-five years after settling North Dakota.

Norwegian immigrants and German-Russian immigrants viewed public education differently. Norwegians understood the importance of public schools and an English curriculum in fostering Americanization. George Sverdrup, a pioneer Norwegian educator, stated that Norwegians could not be effective American citizens unless they were educated in a public school. The destiny of Norwegian immigrants, he said, was to be "a little part of a great people,” and public school education would contribute to their adjustment. Public schools were a high priority in the settlement of a Norwegian community and teachers were revered. It was a source of pride to the community that they were able to hire their own people as teachers. Evening or English schools were set up to teach English to adults.

Norwegian immigrants were proud of their command of English, though small children continued to learn Norwegian at home and English at school. The importance of education was emphasized with the establishment of Norwegian colleges like St. Olaf and Augsburg. As early as 1906, a writer stated that a "large percent” of Norwegian immigrant children had at least one year of post-secondary education.

The German-Russian immigrant valued education but only for smaller children. There was a point to which education should go and no further. Christian Becker, an early McIntosh County resident complained to Nina Farley [Wishek] that some teachers did not teach enough, but she was trying to teach too much. Another problem for Miss Farley was that older Russian boys had never had a woman teacher in Russia and refused to attend a school taught by a woman.

In some German-Russian communities the language difference caused problems after the community began to hire outside English-speaking teachers. Esther Vaagen, a schoolteacher from Wisconsin, arrived in Taylor, North Dakota to teach school in 1915. She had twenty-six pupils and eleven spoke only German. She had had German in high school so was able to speak a sentence in English followed by the same sentence in German (though German was forbidden) and in that manner taught school. Vaagen's students were lucky to have a teacher who spoke German. Some German-Russian parents complained that their children were neglected in school because the teachers could not understand them.

German-Russian communities were slow to accept the idea of high schools and post-secondary education. Two townships in Pierce County offer information on the establishment of high schools. Balta, a German-Russian township, offered the first year of high school in 1926, but it was ten years before four years of high school were available. Two girls graduated in 1937. The Barton School, predominantly Norwegian, offered four years of high school in 1928 and graduated the senior class in 1929. Duchscher studied a school in Silva Township, Pierce County, that was nearly evenly divided between Norwegian and German-Russian students. His study concluded that while 81% of the male Norwegian students who started school finished the eighth grade, less than 40% of the male German-Russian students completed eighth grade. However, of those male students who finished eighth grade, 68% of the German-Russian students and 89% of the Norwegian students entered high school. For the females, the percentages finishing eighth grade were about even, but fewer German-Russian girls (56.1%) went to high school than Norwegian girls (77%).

Generally speaking, German-Russians were not very concerned about sending their children for school until recently. Duchscher found a higher rate of absenteeism for German-Russian students than Norwegian students. German-Russian students were kept out of school when they were needed for farm work. Sherman writes, "In their scale of values, farm work came first for livelihood depended on it. School had of necessity to take second place.” Duchscher says that the increasing importance of high school education among German-Russians in the 1930's indicates a point of “serious Americanization” of German-Russians. The Great Depression may have influenced this change by forcing many farm families to reconsider their future on the farm. Nevertheless, by the end of World War II most German-Russian boys were finishing high schoo1 and some were attending college, though German-Russians never established colleges as the Norwegians did.

In politics, again, Norwegians and German-Russian immigrants took differing routes. Norwegians had some experience with democracy in Norway, and though they had little time to spare during the homestead period they took an interest in civic affairs. The situation was different in Russia. Germans were reluctant to participate in Russian politics, and the Russians who held office were often thought to be dishonest and oppressive. Therefore, German-Russians arrived in the United States with a long-standing distrust of public officials as well as lack of experience with democratic practices. Both the Norwegian and German newspapers provided information on politics and government.

Norwegians plunged into electoral politics far more quickly than did German-Russians. A Norwegian was elected Secretary of State in 1893, but it was 1937 before a German-Russian achieved state office. A group of Norwegians arrived in Griggs County from Stavanger, Norway in 1881. In 1882, a Norwegian was elected Griggs County Surveyor and a Norwegian was sent to the State Legislature in 1889.

Duchscher examined the records of school board elections for the Silva School District. The study showed that Norwegians dominated school board politics. Between 1913 and 1940, of the twenty-six people who served on the school board, twenty-five were Norwegian and one was German-Russian. The German-Russian served only one year. Duchscher also found that German-Russians were less likely to vote in school board elections. Another observation, also mentioned by other writers, was that if a qualified German-Russian was running for school board, the German-Russians went to the polls in higher numbers, but tended to vote against their own. Solidly German-Russian communities elected people to office, of course, but in mixed communities, Duchscher states, German-Russians felt like foreigners and left public office to others. It was 1920 before a German-Russian was elected to the Pierce County Board of Commissioners and 1940 before a second one achieved that office. Sherman and Voeller conclude that jealousy and bickering within the German-Russian community caused them to vote against German-Russians at the polls.

Norwegians formed societies or lager which were designed for maintaining language and cultural ties and also functioned as political pressure groups. The German counterpart, the Verein was a parish men's club with a religious, not political purpose.

Part of the difference between the two groups was the political situation in the old country. Lack of fluency in English probably contributed to the German-Russians lack of interest in politics. Some Norwegians had arrived ten to fifteen years ahead of most German-Russians and that time gap was significant. In addition, as one observer states, “the majority of them [German-Russians] went about their own business and did not get involved in the running of the community…”

Differences between the two ethnic groups are apparent in the clothing worn during the early years in North Dakota. Many writers describe the sheepskin greatcoat, or Pelz, and Astrakhan cap of the German-Russian farmer and the Tuechle or shawls worn by their wives. This colorful, distinctive clothing was perfectly appropriate to the climate of North Dakota. Skirts, shawls and men's coats were made of handspun, handwoven wool.

In Norway, rural costume was similar to, but simpler than, traditional festive costumes, particularly for women. Fabrics were of coarse homespun wool or linen. Women wore a kerchief tied around their heads. Men's dress clothing, "Sunday best," was very much like clothing worn by most American men. The work clothes of rural men might differ slightly from American styles with a blouse type shirt.

A major consideration in clothing is not so much what the immigrants brought with them from the old country, but how long these styles stayed with them in America. Winslow studied photographs of Norwegian immigrant families and found that men's costumes were virtually the same as American's from the beginning, but women's clothing was distinctly Norwegian in the first few years after immigration. Fifteen years after immigration the only visible sign of Norwegian dress in the family portrait was a traditional piece of jewelry, a silja, on the woman's dress. Early immigrants wrote home to others preparing to leave for America to plan to re-cut their Norwegian clothes to minimize differences between the immigrants and Americans. Norwegian women who expected to work as domestic servants in America brought few clothes with them because their American employers would expect them to dress in American styles. Norwegian men had to make few changes in their clothing styles.

Examination of a photograph in Nina Farley Wishek's Along the Trails of Yesterday, offers information on clothing. The photograph shows a large group of people standing in front of St. John's Church in McIntosh County. The photograph is not dated, but the church was built in 1893, about ten years after the first immigrants arrived. The men in the photograph, wearing suits, ties and straw hats, are not dressed differently than other rural men of the period. The women are wearing colorful skirts with white aprons, and kerchiefs (white and black) cover every head. The aprons and kerchiefs are described by Wishek as distinctly Russian.

Another source, which discusses characteristics of ethnic communities, mentions the "old country dress" of the German-Russian women. No mention is made of Norwegian immigrant clothing. The book is dated 1938, so even forty-five years after their arrival the German-Russian women were still distinguished by their clothing.

Clothing is important as a symbol of assimilation or isolation. Women were slower to change their styles because they were less likely to "go to town" and remained fairly isolated in their homes socializing mainly at their community church. Even among the women, however, Norwegian women Americanized sooner than did German-Russian women. Men of both groups soon adopted American style clothing. Norwegian women changed their styles as their situations required, farm women keeping the old style longer than domestics and urban immigrants. The German-Russian women, however, maintained their distinctive style, at least throughout the lifetimes of the first generation.

Norwegians and German-Russians eventually became Americanized, but at a different pace. The isolation of rural North Dakota allowed those who wanted to retain their ethnic characteristics, as did the German-Russians, to do so. There were also opportunities for those who wished to quickly lose their ethnic distinctions and take advantage of American lifestyle as the Norwegian immigrants often did. As is true of any group of people there are no absolutes, no dividing lines. There are trends from which generalizations can be drawn.

The German-Russians sought to retain their "Germanness" in North Dakota as they did for one hundred years in Russia. They consciously strove to isolate their children from Americanizing influences and tried to ignore traditional American institutions such as political participation. As one observer notes, "They built the same type of homes, formed and built the same type of churches, raised the same kind of crops, gardens and animals, wore the same type of clothing, ate the same foods, raised and educated their children in the same manner and kept the family unit intact."

The Norwegian immigrants were noted for “their eagerness to embrace the American way of life.” The major lingering characteristic of their Norwegian heritage is the language, and even that quickly gave way to English as domestics gave up their Norwegian for the English of their employers and as children succeeded in American public schools.

The sum total of the research presented here is that German-Russians viewed themselves as a unique, self-sustaining community and sought to preserve that uniqueness. Norwegians saw themselves as one part of the larger American society. These views aided or delayed assimilation accordingly.

LITERATURE CITED

Aberle, Msgr. George P. From the Steppes to the Prairies. Bismarck, ND: The Bismarck Tribune Co., 1963.

Babcock, Kendric Char1es. The Scandinavian Element in the United States. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1914.

Blegen, Theodore C. Norwegian Migration to America: The American Transition. Northfield, MN: The Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1940.

A Century of Area History – Pierce County and Rugby, North Dakota, 1886 - 1986.

Duchscher, Walden. "A Study of Educational Differences in a German-Russian -Norwegian Community” Unpublished manuscript, 1972. Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota. North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State. Fargo, ND: 1938.

Herigstad, Omon B. "The First Norwegian Settlement in Griggs County, North Dakota.”
Collection of the State Historical Society of North Dakota. I (1906), 131-155.

"North Dakota Oral History Project.” North Dakota History, XLIV, (No.4, 1977), 14-15.

Sa1let, Richard. Russian-German Settlements in the United States. Fargo, ND: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1974.

Sherman, William C. “Assimilation in a North Dakota German-Russian Community." Unpublished M.S. thesis, University of North Dakota, 1965.

Sherman, William C. Prairie Mosaic: An Ethnic Atlas of Rural North Dakota. Fargo, ND: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1983.

Skrien, Sandra H. "Ole Johnson Skrien: A Norwegian Immigrant in the 1870's." North Dakota History. XLIII, (Winter, 1976), 32-35.

Tanner, Jesse A. "Foreign Immigration into North Dakota."
Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, I (1906), 180-200.

Voeller, Joseph B. "The Origins of the German-Russian People and Their Role in North Dakota." Unpublished M. S. thesis, University of North Dakota, 1940.

Vrooman, Nicholas Curchin and Patrice Avon Marvin, eds. Iron Spirits. Fargo, ND: North Dakota Council on the Arts, 1982.

Winslow, Katherine. "Acculturation as Reflected in Dress of Norwegian Immigrants to North Dakota, 1870-1900." Unpublished M.S. thesis, North Dakota State University, 1983.

Wishek, Nina Farley. Along the Trails of Yesterday. Ashley, ND: The Ashley Tribune, 1941.

i Richard Sallet, Russian-German Settlements in the United States, trans. by Lavern J. Rippley and Armand Bauer )Fargo, ND: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1974), p. 68.
ii William C. Sherman, Prairie Mosaic: An Ethnic Atlas of Rural North Dakota (Fargo, ND: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1983), p. 50.
iii Theodore C. Blegen, Norwegian Migration to America: The American Transition (Northfield, MN: The Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1940), p. 505.
iv Ibid, p. 505.
v Ibid, p. 280.
vi A Century of Area History – Pierce County and Rugby, North Dakota, 1886-1986, p. 242.
vii Nina Farley Wishek, Along the Trails of Yesterday (Ashley, ND: The Ashley Tribune, 1941), p. 182.
viii Sherman, Prairie Mosaic, p. 72.
ix Kendric Charles Babcock, The Scandinavian Element in the United States (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1914), p. 110.
x Blegen, Norwegian Migration, p. 271.
xi Ibid, p. 271.
xii Sandra H. Skrien, “Ole John Skrien: A Norwegian Immigrant in the 1870’s,” North Dakota History XLIII (Winter, 1976), 34-35.
xiii Omon B. Herigstad, “The First Norwegian Settlement in Griggs County, North Dakota,” Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, I (1906), 146.
xiv Blegen, Norwegian Migration, p. 230.
xv Skrien, “Ole Johnson Skrien,” p. 35.
xvi Herigstad, “Norwegian Settlements,” p. 149.
xvii Wishek, Trails, p. 182.
xviii Ibid, p. 182.
xix “North Dakota Oral History Project,” North Dakota History, XLIV, No. 4, (1977), 14.
xx Jesse A. Tanner, “Foreign Immigration into North Dakota,” Collections of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, I, (1906), 200.
xxi Pierce County, p. 311.
xxii Walden Duchscher, “A Study of Educational Differences in a German-Russian – Norwegian Community,” (unpublished manuscript, 1972), p. 33. Statistics are for the years 1913-1940.
xxiii Ibid, p. 30.
xxiv William C. Sherman “Assimilation in a North Dakota German-Russian Community” (unpublished M.S. thesis, University of North Dakota, 1965), p. 77.
xxv Duchscher, “Study,” p. 31.
xxvi Sherman, “Assimilation,” p. 77.
xxvii Heristag, “Norwegian Settlement,” p. 14.
xxviii Msgr. George P. Aberle, From the Steppes to the Prairies, (Bismarck, ND: The Bismarck Tribune Co., 1963), p. 19.
xxix Sherman, “Assimilation,” p. 98.
xxx Sallet, Russian-German Settlements, p. 93 and Blegen, Norwegian Migration, p. 290.
xxxi Sherman, “Assimilation,” p. 101. Christian Dahl was elected Secretary of State of North Dakota. Alvin Strutz was the German-Russian office holder.
xxxii Herigstad, “Norwegian Settlements,” p. 147.
xxxiii Duchscher, “Study,” p. 13.
xxxiv Ibid, p. 18.
xxxv Ibid, p. 19.
xxxvi Ibid, p. 19.
xxxvii Sherman, “Assimilation,” p. 97.
xxxviii Joseph B. Voeller, “The Origin of the German-Russian People and their Role in North Dakota,” (unpublished M.S. thesis, University of North Dakota, 1940), p. 100, and Sherman, “Assimilation,” p. 97.
xxxix Serhman, “Assimilation,” p. 102.
xl Nicholas Curchin Vrooman and Patrice Avon Marvin, eds., Iron Spirits (Fargo, ND: North Dakota Council on the Arts, 1982), p. 19.
xli Wishek, Trails, pp. 232-233.
xlii Katherine Winslow, “Acculturation of Reflected in Dress of Norwegian Immigrants to North Dakota, 1870-1900” (unpublished M.S. thesis, North Dakota State University, 1983), p. 27.
xliii Ibid, p. 25.
xliv Ibid, p. 23.
xlv Ibid, p. 53.
xlvi Ibid, p. 27.
xlvii Ibid, p. 28.
xlviii Wishek, Trails, p. 322.
xlix Ibid, p. 232.
l Federal Writers’ project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota, North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State (Fargo, ND, 1938), p. 80.
li Vrooman and Marvin, Iron Spirits, p. 18.
lii Sherman, Prairie Mosaic, p. 70.