The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 53, July 1949 - April, 1950 Page: 504

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

plete. His critical use of material would pass any test of his-
torical scholarship. But either he or the publisher must be taken
to task on two points: some illustrative material from the Davis
manuscripts should have been reproduced and a more careful
editing of the work would have gratified historical technicians.
The work, nevertheless (for the above criticisms are minor), is
a distinctive and major contribution to the plantation history
of the ante-bellum South.
EDWIN ADAMS DAVIS
Louisiana State University
Frontier Parsonage: The Letters of Olaus Fredrik Duus, Nor-
wegian Pastor in Wisconsin, 1855-1858. Translated by the
Verdandi Study Club of Minneapolis and edited by Theo-
dore C. Blegen. Northfield, Minn.: The Norwegian-Amer-
ican Historical Association, 1947.
In the introduction of a little more than five pages in Frontier
Parsonage, Theodore C. Blegen tells the reader something about
Olaus Fredrik Duus, his Norwegian cultural background, the
loneliness of a well-educated immigrant on the frontier, and his
devotion to his family, which seemed to have been intensified by
the ordeals of pioneering. The introduction also contains infor-
mation on how this little volume of "America letters" came into
existence. The introduction is helpful in interpreting the spirit
of the letters by Duus to his father and dear ones at home in
Norway from Waupaca, Wisconsin, during the period 1855-1858.
Olaus Fredrik Duus must have found Waupaca, Wisconsin, an
exciting outpost of civilization during his first few months as
minister to the Norwegian immigrants. He was glad that he had
gone to America; he believed that was rendering a service. He
saw the value of land rise rapidly, more land put under culti-
vation, new immigrants arriving, and he felt that he and his
family were more comfortable than they had thought possible
on the frontier. He had a curious interest in Indians, and his
time was taken up by making his home livable, enjoying the
growth of his children, speculating on land, and above all by
arduous travels in performing his duties as clergyman. But he
began to wait impatiently upon letters from Norway. He was
lonely. Blegen has explained admirably the reasons for Duus'

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