Note: Published as a project still being edited (May 2013)
Rev. Karl Xavier's Poem of Hope for a New Year, 1919:
"Til min hustru. Geburtsdagvers. (1919)" ["To My Wife. Birthday Verse. (1919)"]
by John E. Xavier
Rev. Karl Xavier's Poem of Hope for a New Year, 1919:
"Til min hustru. Geburtsdagvers. (1919)" ["To My Wife. Birthday Verse. (1919)"]
by John E. Xavier
Introduction
In February of 1919, Rev. Karl Xavier wrote a birthday verses for his much-loved wife, Bina, after he and Bina experienced a very difficult year at the end of World War I. Rev. Karl Xavier titled his brief poem "To My Wife. Birthday Verse. (1919)" ["Til min hustru. Geburtsdagvers. (1919)"]. It was written in the final year of a nine-year family residence in northeast Nebraska, in the Boone and Madison Counties area of by rural Bradish (Newman Grove), close by Albion.
The poem is a clear expression of hope for the future, in the immediate aftermath of 1918, a peak wartime year which brought loss, sorrow and worry to the Xavier family, as well as to neighbors and friends. In contrast to much of Karl Xavier's work, the poem does not seem to have been formally published in his lifetime. It appeared in a privately published collection, Norwegian Poems, in 1982. In 2010, the poem formally appeared in print, in the Sami North American newsletter, Arran. as a supplement to a biographical article on the life of Karl Xavier
The Arran version, reproduced below, was drawn from Norwegian Poems, a 1982 collection of Karl's poetry translated and edited by his eldest daughter, Magdalene X. Visovatti. The poem appearing here--"To My Wife: Birthday Verse (1919)"--was part of that collection, privately published in 1982. Thanks to Arden Johnson, Editor emeritus of Arran (a publication of the Sami Siida of North America) for his past encouragement, editorial assistance and permission to use material previously published in Arran. In that vein, an interpretive and historical essay follows the poem, with endnotes.[1]
To My Wife:
Birthday Verse.
(1919)
As the sun sinks in scarlatine clouds away,
Let me print a love-wish for you this day:
May the year that is coming touch softly and gently
Each day of your life with joy and with beauty!
And though clouds may threaten, let joy gild
And color their darkest edges.
Then over the whole God's grace will shine,
And give you strength to bear all with patience.
Then surely the year will seem neat and cozy,
Though the days may be mixtures of lights and shadows.
As the sun sinks in scarlatine clouds away,
Let me print a love-wish for you this day:
May the year that is coming touch softly and gently
Each day of your life with joy and with beauty!
And though clouds may threaten, let joy gild
And color their darkest edges.
Then over the whole God's grace will shine,
And give you strength to bear all with patience.
Then surely the year will seem neat and cozy,
Though the days may be mixtures of lights and shadows.
The 1919 World of Karl and Bina Xavier: An Interpretive and Historical Essay
The Xavier household was a nearly textbook model of the "gentry tradition" of the old state church of Norway and its offspring in the United States, the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod (known simply as the Synod). Karl and Bina exemplified the educated clergy family, fully engaged in the "gentry tradition" of high service (very near unto noblesse oblige).
Such families, part and parcel of "a strong leadership class," would carry on the "old tradition of Christian humanism" dating to the founding of the Synod in 1853. The leadership class would carry out its centuries-old tasks, transferred to North America, guiding and educating a heavily rural church through the great shocks and adjustments of immigrant life. Of course, many clergy would also carry out those tasks in an increasingly urban-industrial America, where social, economic and political pressures encouraged assimilation to the English language as well as the larger culture. [2]
World War I itself magnified the shocks and adjustments for the Norwegian American Lutheran church communities, even before the American declaration of war in 1917. Several of those Norwegian faith communities had merged by social and theological agreement in 1917, altering the size and scope of the Scandinavian Lutheran elements in America. By the following year of 1918, many other outside forces converged on the rural-based family of Karl and Bina and so, larger understanding should come our way from our sojourn in their time and place. Thus this exercise in microhistory finds its justification [3].
Many forces converged and the untoward events of 1918 were legion, and included for Karl and Bina an almost unending inventory of untoward events, most notably, the death of Karl's father, Rev. Nils Paul Xavier, the torpedoing of Karl's brother, Army Engineer Garth Xavier while aboard the troopship Tuscania (Garth survived); and concern over five of Bina's cousins in Army uniform. Bina's cousins included Julia Hippe, serving as an Army Nurse; she had also been a rural school student of Bina's.
Beyond the immediate heartache of all that, two of Karl's brothers-in-law, Jakob O.A. Larsen and Henning Larsen were in the various army roles, while two more family members, Karl's brothers, Nils Paul II and Heinrich, were subject to draft but not called; seven local funerals for soldiers and sailors who were casualties in uniformed service (this in a young church where there had been not one funeral in 1917!). Meanwhile, there was a fog of other concerns, such as the continuing ill health of Karl's sister, Sara Amanda Xavier, forced to return from missionary nursing duties in China due to malaria; the suspect health of Karl's brother, Johan Ulrik Xavier, who had left teaching and then suffered injuries while working construction at Ft. Lewis, near Seattle.
In the context of general wartime hysteria, and that word is no exaggeration, political repression carried on, based on ethnic or language differences, whereby Norwegians were viewed by many as suspect of Germanic sympathies. the vast swath of death and fear cut by the great "Spanish" Influenza epidemic (all members of Karl and Bina's family, were stricken, except baby Borghild, but all survived); and, finally, a kick to the head by a family horse for four year-old son, Valdemar (he survived, recovered, and lived a long and fruitful life). [4]
All of this, and more, made for a lot of worry for a family to carry, and much of the burden had fallen on Bina, who through it all also managed a large and active household. Bina had been through seven successful pregnancies in twelve years, and so the Xavier household often had ten or eleven children ranging in age from newborn to twenty-one. Even taking into account the help of three older children from Karl's first marriage to the late Henrietta Larsen (with further assistance from Bina's niece Mabel Holtan) there were vast household duties. In the case of Karl and Bina, their baron-like life on a twenty-acre estate included the many duties pertaining to church activities, extensive gardens and the need to care for horses, as well as dealing with the new complexities of a Model T Ford.
Beyond the very busy home front, Bina was active, as an educated pastor's wife in the "gentry tradition" of the Synod, in the on-going parish life of Immanuel Lutheran Church. The Immanuel parish was a large and prosperous one and was probably the dominant Norwegian Lutheran one in Nebraska outside of Omaha. Accordingly, Karl held various roles as a well-known church leader, whose speeches and writings were both in demand and respected, and who was elevated by his peers to the office of Circuit President. That post today would approximate that of bishop.
Bina also had a major role as a music leader called on to coordinate and direct regional mass choir concerts, in the Norwegian Lutheran choir movement in Nebraska, the Omaha Choral Union. Karl served as regional secretary of the Omaha Choral Union, allowing the couple to travel to Omaha and other locales for musical events. Indeed, Karl and Bina were an active and creative couple of shared interests in church, music, family, "the good, the true, the beautiful in human culture," who embraced and loved life well as each other.[5]
Upon Karl's death in 1924, his eldest daughter with Bina, Valborg Henrietta Xavier, was aware of her father's reputation as an author and translator. She also knew that her father, in anticipation of an anthology of Norwegian American poets, had assembled the poem "To My Wife: Birthday Greeting" along with other works, having put them on paper in his "beautifully written manuscript." As Valborg later explained in 1980, in 1924 she had feared that "everything would go and that people would [burn or] take all the papers away." So, to prevent the loss of the many pages of manuscript and some other papers, they all were "carefully preserved" by Valborg for over a half-century. [6].
In the fulness of time, which was in 1980, the manuscripts of the poems emerged, as Valborg Henrietta (Xavier) Houghtelin, by then a 75 year-old widow, needed assistance from several family members to move to a nursing home. The poems were discovered in a manila folder by her brothers, Karl Astrup Xavier and Valdemar Ulrik Xavier, who immediately shared the news with Valborg's sisters-in-law Edith (Bethke) Xavier and Elna (Johnson) Xavier, and her nephew John E. Xavier. The author recalls the degree to which Valborg was adamant that the poems be somehow preserved. Valborg vividly and eloquently recalled her father's death fifty-six years earlier, as though her father's death were a contemporary event. She recounted, as those present listened intently, the hurried disposal of the bulk of her father's books and papers.
With all of this in mind, it was decided, on the spot and unanimously, to refer the folder and, indeed, the entire matter of preservation and translation, to Magdalene X. Visovatti. "Mag," the eldest daughter of Karl's first marriage to Henrietta Larsen, was for decades in various ways, an extended family elder, leader and matriarchal figure who would in all situations bring to bear brains and creativity.
In addition, Mag had good literary material to work with: most of Karl's poems were already proven worthy of preservation and translation, having previously "appeared in various papers and magazines." It also was widely known that Karl had been a respected colleague and collaborator of O.E. Rolvaag, notably for the periodical Nord-Norge and other educational, publishing, and church-related projects.
Rolvaag was Professor of Norwegian at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and was also generally recognized as the premier Norwegian-American writer, having authored of Giants in the Earth, among other works of a literary and ethnic history nature [7].
Finally, Magdalene herself had studied Norwegian at St. Olaf under Prof. Rolvaag, had maintained correspondence with him, and had herself published "a few poems in Norwegian and had taught Religion in Norwegian Parish Schools." And thus, it fell upon elder-sister-aunt Mag to put forth great effort in her preservation and translation work. She had printing and production help through the good offices of brother Valdemar who knew printers from his school principal days in Albert Lea, Minnesota. The resulting privately published book, Norwegian Poems, was completed in time for the holiday season of 1982. The following summer, Mag received great family recognition for her work at the Xavier Family Reunion at Glacier Park in August of 1983. [8].
Endnotes:
Abbreviations key: NAHA = Norwegian-American Historical Association; NAS = Norwegian-American Studies; US Postal Service abbreviations for states (e.g., NE = Nebraska)
[1] Magdalene X. Visovatti, "Introduction," in Rev. Karl Xavier, "To My Wife: Birthday Verse. (1919)" / ["Til min hustru. Geburtsdagvers. (1919)"], Magdalene X. Visovatti, trans. and ed., Norwegian Poems, (Albert Lea, MN: Valdemar U.A.H. Xavier, 1980), p. 1. The poem, "To My Wife" appears in English and Norwegian (Dano-Norwegian) on facing pages, pp. 73a and 73b. Minor changes in translation and "progressive spelling" were made by John E. Xavier.
[1a] John E. Xavier, "Karl Xavier (1869-1924)," Arran No. 54 & 55 (2009-2010), pp. 5-8. This article is useful for those seeking more details on the life of Karl and Bina Xavier.
[1] Magdalene X. Visovatti, "Introduction," in Rev. Karl Xavier, "To My Wife: Birthday Verse. (1919)" / ["Til min hustru. Geburtsdagvers. (1919)"], Magdalene X. Visovatti, trans. and ed., Norwegian Poems, (Albert Lea, MN: Valdemar U.A.H. Xavier, 1980), p. 1. The poem, "To My Wife" appears in English and Norwegian (Dano-Norwegian) on facing pages, pp. 73a and 73b. Minor changes in translation and "progressive spelling" were made by John E. Xavier.
[1a] John E. Xavier, "Karl Xavier (1869-1924)," Arran No. 54 & 55 (2009-2010), pp. 5-8. This article is useful for those seeking more details on the life of Karl and Bina Xavier.
[2] On assimilation and urbanization trends: Jon R. Jenswold, " Becoming American, Becoming Suburban: Norwegian-Americans in the 1920s," NAS XXXIII (1992), pp.3-26. Jenswold addresses immigrant assimilation and urbanization trends.
On the role of clergy in the Norwegian Lutheran tradition: Leigh D. Jordahl, "The Gentry Tradition--Men and Women of a Leadership Class: How Shall the Faith and Human Culture Interrelate, " in Charles P. Lutz, Ed., Church Roots. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1985), pp. 101-117.The Lutz work, has become a standard source in the history of The American Lutheran Church (TALC), a successor the Synod of pre-World War I.
Church Roots includes considerable information and bibliography on the process of church body mergers, and spin-offs by those remaining outside of the big merger of 1917, including solid essays on other Norwegian-American Lutheran groups. These include Hauge Synod, as well as Iowa, United Norwegian, and Lutheran Free groups. It is worthy of note that member of the extended Xavier family had roles in all of these Norwegian ethnic Lutheran groups, over many decades, and up to and including our time in 2012.
An example of the active gentry-class leadership of Karl and Bina in the work of religion and assimilation is found in Karl's leadership in favor of the adoption of English-language worship services at the Immanuel and Vor Frelsers churches. The move to English was well in advance of the war-inspired anti-foreign language pressures and measures to require political conformity which emerged after the United States declared war in April of 1917. Larry Spomer, Ed., 100th Anniversary History of Immanuel-Zion Parish. 1874-1974. (Albion, NE: 1974), p. 6.
For a thorough study of the complexities of the Norwegian-American situation in mid-America in World War I, see Carl H. Chrislock, Ethnicity Challenged: The Upper Midwest Norwegian-American Experience in World War I. Topical Studies, Vol 3. (Northfield, MN: NAHA, 1981), especially the chapter "The Politics of Loyalty," pp. 89-121.
On microhistory: Jill Lepore, "Historians Who Love Too Much: Reflections on Microhistory and Biography," Journal of American History, Vol 88, No. 1 (June, 2001), pp. 129-144. Prof. Lepore explains the workings and advantages of close-in studies such as this, as scholars and the reading public-at-large seek to understand the larger picture.
On the role of clergy in the Norwegian Lutheran tradition: Leigh D. Jordahl, "The Gentry Tradition--Men and Women of a Leadership Class: How Shall the Faith and Human Culture Interrelate, " in Charles P. Lutz, Ed., Church Roots. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1985), pp. 101-117.The Lutz work, has become a standard source in the history of The American Lutheran Church (TALC), a successor the Synod of pre-World War I.
Church Roots includes considerable information and bibliography on the process of church body mergers, and spin-offs by those remaining outside of the big merger of 1917, including solid essays on other Norwegian-American Lutheran groups. These include Hauge Synod, as well as Iowa, United Norwegian, and Lutheran Free groups. It is worthy of note that member of the extended Xavier family had roles in all of these Norwegian ethnic Lutheran groups, over many decades, and up to and including our time in 2012.
An example of the active gentry-class leadership of Karl and Bina in the work of religion and assimilation is found in Karl's leadership in favor of the adoption of English-language worship services at the Immanuel and Vor Frelsers churches. The move to English was well in advance of the war-inspired anti-foreign language pressures and measures to require political conformity which emerged after the United States declared war in April of 1917. Larry Spomer, Ed., 100th Anniversary History of Immanuel-Zion Parish. 1874-1974. (Albion, NE: 1974), p. 6.
For a thorough study of the complexities of the Norwegian-American situation in mid-America in World War I, see Carl H. Chrislock, Ethnicity Challenged: The Upper Midwest Norwegian-American Experience in World War I. Topical Studies, Vol 3. (Northfield, MN: NAHA, 1981), especially the chapter "The Politics of Loyalty," pp. 89-121.
On microhistory: Jill Lepore, "Historians Who Love Too Much: Reflections on Microhistory and Biography," Journal of American History, Vol 88, No. 1 (June, 2001), pp. 129-144. Prof. Lepore explains the workings and advantages of close-in studies such as this, as scholars and the reading public-at-large seek to understand the larger picture.
[3] On the life of N.P. Xavier (1839-1918): Einar Niemi, "Nils Paul Xavier: Sami Teacher and Pastor on the American Frontier," NAS, vol. 34 (1995), pp.245-270. Also on N.P. Xavier: Karl Xavier, "Nils Paul Xavier: En skisse," Nord-Norge, 12 (1918), p.14-18. (P. 18 includes Karl's unsigned poem, "In Memoriam," dedicated to the honor if the late Nils Paul Xavier.) Finally: John E. Xavier, "Nils Paul and Amanda: Technology Expands theStory of My Sami-American Family," Arran, Number 46 (Gidda/Spring 2007), pp. 4-6.
On the torpedo attack and sinking of the troopships Tuscania: an in-depth website, managed by Steve Schwartz: Tuscania, An American History: Histories, Photos, Memorials, and more, at http://www.freepages. history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~carmita/index.htm (Site visited Jan 10, 2012. Thanks to Mr. Schwartz for posting detailed information about Pvt. Gothard Xavier of 6th Batallion, 20th Engineers Regiment, Company F (later 18th Co.). When the Tuscania was torpedoed with heavy loss of life, Mr. Schwartz notes, it "was a story that shocked America, for it was the first time since the American Civil War that Americans had felt the loss of mass casualties on such a large scale." (from Home page). Garth survived the war, and re-entered the lumber industry, where he held several positions, including as a government lumber inspector.
Bina's cousins in World War I military service were Edwin S. Camrud, Martin M. Camrud and Richard M. Camrud (of the "Kamruds with a C"-a family branch that chose alternative spelling); Julia E. Hippe, serving as a nurse; and Theo. I. Rotto. All five returned from the war safely, although Theo. "Ted" Rotto died shortly thereafter from general ill health and tuberculosis. Carl Narvestad and Amy Narvestad, Valdres Samband 1899-1974: A History of the Oldest Norwegian Bygdelag in America, (Granite Falls, MN: Valdres Samband, 1974, pp. 354, 360, and 370. Also, Chester Habberstad Jr. and Marlys (Kamrud) Habberstad, The Kamrud Tree (Fergus Falls, MN: The Authors, c. 1981), pp.13, 21-22.
Regarding brothers of Karl Xavier, see Johan U. Xavier, List of Nils Paul Xavier's Descendants gathered by his son Johan at age 90," (Parkland, WA: The Author, 1960), pp.1. Johan's Ft. Lewis work is related on p. 2. Material on Johan's Ft. Lewis work and injury can be found in Pacific Lutheran University Archives, The Diaries of J.U. Xavier (Seattle, WA 2004), p.4 (Materials in Box 3). Summary states: "He now works at the [Ft. Lewis] Army Post doing some sort of construction. The scaffolding he's standing on breaks and he falls 17 feet. He is confined to bed rest for the next two days and he is laid off when he returns on the third day." A puzzling fact is noted in the summary: Johan U. Xavier, given the wide-ranging Xavier family involvement in the larger events of the war years, "only mentions World War I when the Armistice is signed." p.4, (Materials in Box 3).
Two of Karl's brothers-in-law (from his first marriage to Henrietta Randine Larsen) served in World War I. Henning Larsen, a Luther College graduate, was training as an army officer when the war ended. Jakob Aal Otteson (J.A.O.) Larsen (1888-1974) entered service as a U.S. Army officer in the military attache office of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Henning would later earn the degree of Ph.D. at Princeton; J.A.O., the first Norwegian-American Rhodes Scholar, went on to earn the degree of Ph.D. at Harvard.)
The impact of the Influenza epidemic on the Xavier family is recounted in Valborg (Xavier) Houghtelin, "The Flu and our Family," in The Grandmother Book (1983), p. 8, as assisted by Mary Xavier LaBelle. Valborg recalled that no doctors could come to assist the family, as the entire area was stricken and doctors were spread too thin. Everyone was miserably ill, Valborg states, "except the baby." (Borghild [Xavier] Selid, the last of the children of Karl and Bina, born just a few weeks before the epidemic struck Nebraska.
For a general discussion of the ("Spanish") Influenza Epidemic, which killed worldwide more people than what was then called the Great War, John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic (New York: Viking, 2004). In that regard, also, see, Carol R. Byerly, Fever of War: The Influenza Epidemic in the U.S. Army in World War I, (New York: New York University Press, 2005).
Valdemar Xavier's incident of a horse kick to the head has long been an item of family lore, and was mentioned by brother Karl Astrup Xavier in a family remembrance in Larry Spomer, Ed. Immanuel Lutheran Church Centennial 1874-1974 (Albion, NE, 1974), p. 15.
For a thorough study of the complexities of the Norwegian-American situation in mid-America in World War I, Carl H. Chrislock, Ethnicity Challenged: The Upper Midwest Norwegian-American Experience in World War I. Topical Studies, Vol 3. (Northfield, MN: NAHA, 1981), especially the chapter "The Politics of Loyalty," pp. 89-121.
[4] John Edward Xavier, "Karl Xavier 1869-1924," pp.5-8. For biographical details on Karl and Bina, see Olaf Morgan Norlie, School Calendar: A Who's Who of Norwegian Education, 1824-1924 (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1924), pp***** and Norlie N
Again, on the social status and role of the Pastor and wife, see Jordahl, p. 106.
****[4] See Xavier, p. 1, for a brief recounting of the role of Valborg Henrietta Xavier in the preservation of her father's papers. Valborg was during her entire lifetime a boundless source of family history.
On the torpedo attack and sinking of the troopships Tuscania: an in-depth website, managed by Steve Schwartz: Tuscania, An American History: Histories, Photos, Memorials, and more, at http://www.freepages. history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~carmita/index.htm (Site visited Jan 10, 2012. Thanks to Mr. Schwartz for posting detailed information about Pvt. Gothard Xavier of 6th Batallion, 20th Engineers Regiment, Company F (later 18th Co.). When the Tuscania was torpedoed with heavy loss of life, Mr. Schwartz notes, it "was a story that shocked America, for it was the first time since the American Civil War that Americans had felt the loss of mass casualties on such a large scale." (from Home page). Garth survived the war, and re-entered the lumber industry, where he held several positions, including as a government lumber inspector.
Bina's cousins in World War I military service were Edwin S. Camrud, Martin M. Camrud and Richard M. Camrud (of the "Kamruds with a C"-a family branch that chose alternative spelling); Julia E. Hippe, serving as a nurse; and Theo. I. Rotto. All five returned from the war safely, although Theo. "Ted" Rotto died shortly thereafter from general ill health and tuberculosis. Carl Narvestad and Amy Narvestad, Valdres Samband 1899-1974: A History of the Oldest Norwegian Bygdelag in America, (Granite Falls, MN: Valdres Samband, 1974, pp. 354, 360, and 370. Also, Chester Habberstad Jr. and Marlys (Kamrud) Habberstad, The Kamrud Tree (Fergus Falls, MN: The Authors, c. 1981), pp.13, 21-22.
Regarding brothers of Karl Xavier, see Johan U. Xavier, List of Nils Paul Xavier's Descendants gathered by his son Johan at age 90," (Parkland, WA: The Author, 1960), pp.1. Johan's Ft. Lewis work is related on p. 2. Material on Johan's Ft. Lewis work and injury can be found in Pacific Lutheran University Archives, The Diaries of J.U. Xavier (Seattle, WA 2004), p.4 (Materials in Box 3). Summary states: "He now works at the [Ft. Lewis] Army Post doing some sort of construction. The scaffolding he's standing on breaks and he falls 17 feet. He is confined to bed rest for the next two days and he is laid off when he returns on the third day." A puzzling fact is noted in the summary: Johan U. Xavier, given the wide-ranging Xavier family involvement in the larger events of the war years, "only mentions World War I when the Armistice is signed." p.4, (Materials in Box 3).
Two of Karl's brothers-in-law (from his first marriage to Henrietta Randine Larsen) served in World War I. Henning Larsen, a Luther College graduate, was training as an army officer when the war ended. Jakob Aal Otteson (J.A.O.) Larsen (1888-1974) entered service as a U.S. Army officer in the military attache office of the U.S. Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark. (Henning would later earn the degree of Ph.D. at Princeton; J.A.O., the first Norwegian-American Rhodes Scholar, went on to earn the degree of Ph.D. at Harvard.)
The impact of the Influenza epidemic on the Xavier family is recounted in Valborg (Xavier) Houghtelin, "The Flu and our Family," in The Grandmother Book (1983), p. 8, as assisted by Mary Xavier LaBelle. Valborg recalled that no doctors could come to assist the family, as the entire area was stricken and doctors were spread too thin. Everyone was miserably ill, Valborg states, "except the baby." (Borghild [Xavier] Selid, the last of the children of Karl and Bina, born just a few weeks before the epidemic struck Nebraska.
For a general discussion of the ("Spanish") Influenza Epidemic, which killed worldwide more people than what was then called the Great War, John M. Barry, The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic (New York: Viking, 2004). In that regard, also, see, Carol R. Byerly, Fever of War: The Influenza Epidemic in the U.S. Army in World War I, (New York: New York University Press, 2005).
Valdemar Xavier's incident of a horse kick to the head has long been an item of family lore, and was mentioned by brother Karl Astrup Xavier in a family remembrance in Larry Spomer, Ed. Immanuel Lutheran Church Centennial 1874-1974 (Albion, NE, 1974), p. 15.
For a thorough study of the complexities of the Norwegian-American situation in mid-America in World War I, Carl H. Chrislock, Ethnicity Challenged: The Upper Midwest Norwegian-American Experience in World War I. Topical Studies, Vol 3. (Northfield, MN: NAHA, 1981), especially the chapter "The Politics of Loyalty," pp. 89-121.
[4] John Edward Xavier, "Karl Xavier 1869-1924," pp.5-8. For biographical details on Karl and Bina, see Olaf Morgan Norlie, School Calendar: A Who's Who of Norwegian Education, 1824-1924 (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1924), pp***** and Norlie N
Again, on the social status and role of the Pastor and wife, see Jordahl, p. 106.
****[4] See Xavier, p. 1, for a brief recounting of the role of Valborg Henrietta Xavier in the preservation of her father's papers. Valborg was during her entire lifetime a boundless source of family history.
[5] On Rolvaag's own evaluation of Rev. Karl Xavier, see also, O.E. Rolvaag, Concerning Our Heritage, Solveig Zempel, trans. and editor. Travel and Description Series, Vol. XII. (Northfield, MN: NAHA, 1998), p. 151. Rolvaag states: "...many others [are] now dead around whose names some of us see a halo, and with good reason...[including] Karl Xavier...." [Italics added by John E. Xavier].
See further, as an example of Karl's writing in both prose and poetry, Karl Xavier, "Nils Paul Xavier: En skisse," Nord-Norge, 12 (1918), p.14-18. (P. 18 is Karl's poem, "In Memoriam," dedicated to the honor of the late Nils Paul Xavier.) The Nord-Norge quarterly, in which O.E. Rolvaag actively participated, was published as the print organ of the Nordlandslaget [Nordlands Society or Lag], an association of Norwegian immigrants from the upper regions or Norway. The Saami (usually referred to a century ago as "Lapps") did not in the early part of the 1900s have their own ethnic association. At that time, the organizations now known as the Sami Siida of North America TM and the Finnmarkslag did not yet exist, so several prominent Saami, Kven and Norwegians from the Arctic regions tended to associate with the Nordlandslaget and the Nord-Norge publication.
[6] On Rolvaag's stature among Norwegian-American authors, see Theodore C. Blegen, Norwegian Migration to America: The American Transition, Vol. 2. (Northfield, MN: NAHA, 1940), pp. 594-596. Blegen writes of Rolvaag's monumental Giants in the Earth: "Its truth was not merely that of a realistic portrayal of scenes and events, but ... that of a wise understanding of the psychological realities underlying the immigrant frontier experience." (p. 595)
On the same topic, see also, Einar Haugen, "O.E. Rolvaag: Norwegian-American," Studies and Records, Vol. VII (1933), pp. 53-73. Haugen's article and others in this volume were dedicated to the memory and honor of the then-recently deceased Rolvaag.
Yet another contemporary of the era of Rolvaag, saw him as one of the great voices of immigrant literature. See N.N. Ronning, Fifty Years in America (Minneapolis, MN: Friends Publishing, 1938), p.
Yet another contemporary of the era of Rolvaag, saw him as one of the great voices of immigrant literature. See N.N. Ronning, Fifty Years in America (Minneapolis, MN: Friends Publishing, 1938), p.
As an example of the on-going scholarly interest in Rolvaag, see, Raychel A. Haugrud, "Rolvaag's Search for Soria Moria," NAS XXVI (1974), 103-117. Prof. Haugrud both summarizes and interprets major themes in across the spectrum of the work of Rolvaag.
Finally, Rolvaag's historic place often reminds me of a question asked at different times about Irving Berlin's place in American popular music. I recall the answer was to the effect that "Irving Berlin is American popular music." As to Rolvaag's place in Norwegian-American literature, well, it seems to me "He is (or he defines) Norwegian-American literature."
