The Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 1, number 2, December 1917

              160 rasmus b anderson nattestad was born december 24 1807 died may 28 1886 his wife died september 15 1888 ansten k nattestad was born august 26 1813 died april 8 1889 the fourth norwegian settlement in america and the first in wisconsin was founded by ole knudsen nattestad changed in america to natesta who was accordingly the first norwegian to set foot on wisconsin soil he came to clinton rock county wisconsin july 1 1838 and this was the beginning of the so-called jefferson prairie settle ment which occupies the southeast corner of rock county and extends into boone county illinois they came from vegli rolloug parish in numedal norway by way of gothenborg and fall river massachusetts when the beaver creek settlement was abandoned ansten nattestad in the spring of 1838 returned to nor way taking with him the ole rynning manuscript and also the manuscript of a journal kept by his brother ole nattestad ansten stated that this manuscript of his brother was published in drammen norway that same year but in spite of the most diligent search i have never been able to secure a copy of that edition in norway copies of all publi cations are placed in the university library i had this library searched for a copy of nattestad's book but none could be found in an interview published in billed magazin in madison wisconsin in 1869 ansten nattestad made the fol lowing statement : in the spring of 1838 i went from beaver creek illinois by way of new orleans to liverpool in england and thence to norway to visit friends and acquaintances in my native land i brought with me letters from nearly all the earlier norwegian emigrants whom i had met and in this way information was scattered far and wide in norway my brother's journal was published in drammen and ole rynning's work on matters of the new world appeared at the same time in chris tiania of rynning's book i brought the manuscript with me from america the rev mr kragh in eidsvold read the proofs and left out the chapter about the norwegian clergymen who therein were accused of intolerance in religious matters and inactivity in questions concerning the betterment of the people in temporal affairs and in questions concerning the advance ment of education