Elise Wærenskjold (February 19, 1815 – January 22, 1895) was a

Norwegian-American Norwegian Americans ( nb, Norskamerikanere, nn, Norskamerikanarar) are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the ...

writer,

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

leader and early pioneer in Texas.

Background

Elise Amalie Tvede Wærenskjold was born in Dypvåg parish in

Tvedestrand is municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative center is the town of Tvedestrand. There are many villages in the municipality including Dypvåg, Fiane, Gjeving, Gødders ...

in the county of

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, en, "East Agder") was a county (''fylke'') in Norway until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . The ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. She was the daughter of

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

parish priest Nicolai Sejersløv Tvede (1779–1832) and Johanne Elisabeth Meldahl (1773–1839), both of whose families were

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

-born patriots of the newly formed independent country of Norway. Educated by private tutors, she became a teacher and later opening a handicraft school for girls. She became involved in the national

temperance movement The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...

and became editor of a Norwegian temperance magazine. In 1839, she married a young sea captain,

Svend Foyn Svend Foyn (July 9, 1809 – November 30, 1894) was a Norwegian whaling, shipping magnate and philanthropist. He pioneered revolutionary methods for hunting and processing whales. Svend Foyn introduced the modern harpoon cannon and brought ...

. The marriage, which began without the customary reading of

banns The banns of marriage, commonly known simply as the "banns" or "bans" (from a Middle English word meaning "proclamation", rooted in Frankish and thence in Old French), are the public announcement in a Christian parish church, or in the town cou ...

, ended in an amicable separation in 1842. Svend Foyn later became the founder of Norway's modern whaling industry and became a powerful and wealthy figure in modern Norwegian history.

Immigrant pioneer

When Christian and Johan Reinert Reiersen immigrated to Texas, she assumed the editorship of their popular magazine ''Norge og Amerika'', a position which she held from 1846 until she herself immigrated to Texas in 1847. In October 1847, she first joined a Norwegian immigrant colony in

Brownsboro, Texas Brownsboro is a city in Henderson County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,212 at the 2020 census, up from 1,039 at the 2010 census. The city is on Texas State Highway 31. History Brownsboro was first settled in 1849 by John (Red) Br ...

. On September 10, 1848, she married the leader of the immigrating party, Danish-Norwegian Wilhelm Wærenskjold. The Waerenskjold family relocated to Four Mile Prairie in Kaufman County and began raising cattle. The couple took an active part in the life of the Norwegian immigrant community, in the affairs of the local

Lutheran church Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

, and in the

. In 1866 both her husband Wilhelm and her youngest son Thorwald died.

Writings

Elise Wærenskjold persevered through the hard years of drought, plagues of insects, and poverty on her farm. She taught school and she wrote for various Norwegian publications. She held to her belief in equal rights for women and her opposition to slavery and steadfastly maintained her stand on temperance. Her numerous writings including letters from the late 1840s through the mid-1890s remain an invaluable source of information on Norwegian immigrant life in Texas. In 1961, her writings were translated into the English language and published under the title ''Lady With the Pen: Elise Wærenskjold in Texas.''''Wærenskjold, Elise Amalie Tvede'' (Crystal Sasse Ragsdale. Texas State Historical Association)

References

Additional sources

*Qualey, Carlton C. ''Norwegian Settlement in the United States'' (Norwegian-American Historical Association. Northfield, Minnesota. 1938) *Nelson, Estelle G. ''A First Lady of Texas'' (Our Lutheran Heritage. Minneapolis, Minnesota: 1943) * Blegen, Theodore C. ''Land of Their Choice: The Immigrants Write Home'' (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1955) * Crawford, Ann Fears and Crystal Sasse Ragsdale ''Texas Women: From Frontier to Future'' (State House Press. 1998) * Lovoll, Odd Sverre ''The Promise of America'' (University of Minnesota Press; Revised edition. 1999)

External links

The Handbook of TexasGreat Texas WomenThe Promise of America Agnes Mathilde Wergeland and Elise Wærenskjold. Daughters of Norway
Norwegian {{DEFAULTSORT:Werenskold, Elise Norwegian people of Danish descent People from Kristiansand People from Tvedestrand People from Kaufman County, Texas American Lutherans Norwegian emigrants to the United States Norwegian newspaper editors 1815 births 1895 deaths Norwegian feminists Women newspaper editors 19th-century journalists 19th-century Norwegian writers Norwegian women writers 19th-century American women writers 19th-century Norwegian women writers 19th-century Lutherans