By member Bjørn Sveigdalen  After I came back to Norway this summer, I got to know that our local theater group, in cooperation with Heidal Historical Society, was planning to have an outdoor play at the old farm Prestgardshagen (Prestgardshågån) up in the hill side above my moms house. The name of the play was “Det første amerikabrevet” (The first letter from America), and the events in the play takes place at this same farm in the late 1870’s when the couple Elland and Eldri Hågå lived there. Their son Arne Hågå had gone to the USA the year before, and now he had sent a letter back home to his parents in Norway. Unfortunately neither of his parents could read, so they sent for this young boy, Kristian Prestgard, to read the letter out loud for them. The play starts with Kristian comes walking up to the farm. After he read the letter, he helps them to write a letter that they send back to their son. On his way back home, Kristian meets the girl, Marit Glenna, with whom Arne had fallen in love before he left. She is curious as to hear what Arne said about her in the letter, and she tells Kristian that Arne had promised to send her a ticket to the USA when he one day had earned enough money to afford it. The problem is that Marit's father, and Elland, Arne's father have a conflict going on. Marit's father is mad at Elland because of a fence, and the fact that Ellands son threatens to take his daugther away to the USA doesn't help either. He wants Marit to marry a wealthy famers son in Heidal and stay there. Eventually the two men realize that their children will be together anyway, and that they better cooperate and make the best out of it. Finally one day Marit's ticket to the USA arrives, and she leaves her home place to meet her boyfriend again and spend the future with him in a new country. When she left, she brought a huge trunk carrying the label: Marit Hansdatter Glenden
In care of Ola Gjordet Glenville Center Viskonsien (Wisconsin) USA Marit had to use train, boat and horse in order to get to Oslo (Kristiania, as Oslo was named then) From there, it took 7 weeks to get to Quebec by boat, so she had a long and tough journey before her. At the same time carrying the knowledge that she would probably never see her homeplace, her parents and her country again. The play ended with Marit and her trunk sitting on a horse carriage, disappearing down the gravel road. Back home, her father and Arne's father decided to tear their famous fence down and later drink coffee together as friends. Kristian Prestgard, the boy who read the letter, also went to the USA later in his life. He became a journalist, and he traveled there to attend the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He decided to stay in the USA after that, and in 1898 he joined the editorial staff of Decorah-Posten, a norwegian language newspaper in Decorah, Iowa. He was the editor-in-chief of Decorah-Posten from 1923 until his death in 1946. He was also an author, and wrote several books, among them “Tilbake til Heimbygda”, telling about his experiences, thoughts and feelings visiting his home place after 34 years in the USA. He also wrote the book “Streiftog: Stemninger og Skildringer” in 1937. The first chapter of the book is “The first letter from America”, on which the play is based. My grandmother had contact with a relative in Stoughton, Wisconsin, named Josie Furseth, and she sent my grandparents old Decorah Posts for many years. So my mom grew up with reading this special newspaper made by norwegians in the USA. The outdoor play at the old farm was a really nice event, taking place on a nice and warm Sunday in June. Before the play, everyone had to walk on their feet up to the farm. On our way up, we passed by a water spring where the people on the farm stopped and drank water while they were walking back up the steep hill to the farm on a hot summer day. One of them, Kristian Hågå, also had his own rock by the side of the road, where he sat down and rested. That is “Kristianstein” (The Kristian rock), and two young girls were standing on top of the rock, playing their fiddles. The last man at Prestardshagen died in the early 90’s, and since he was unmarried, the farm was abandoned for years. Some years ago the farm was bought by Per Prestgard (Not a relative of Kristian, they originated from two different Prestgard farms) and he has rebuilt and restored the farm to the state it is today. |
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Letter from America |