This is a presentation by David Dahl, son of Paul Eugene Dahl and Grandson of Paul Alexander Dahl. The audience was the annual May 17th celebration in Salt Lake City in 2025 (a compilation of input from historians and family descendants and a touch of artificial intelligence to tell me about life in Fredrikstad in the 19th Century.)
Something Better
I’m Dave Dahl, a descendant of Alexander Paulsen Dahl my great, great grandfather and a Norwegian. I’m honored to share what I’ve learned about him. I’m the oldest grandson of Paul and Esther Dahl who were residents of Midvale, Utah. My parents are Paul and Shirley Johnson Dahl. When Alexander Dahl settled in Midvale, it was referred to as East Jordan. In Midvale, Paul and Esther raised 6sons. My dad is the oldest. His two living brothers are my uncles Richard and Rex.
My grandson Kyle is in his final months as a Norwegian missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has had a great experience meeting people and enjoying the sites of our ancestral land of Norway, always finding time to take photos over-looking various fjords and surrounding mountains.
I became weak kneed when Kyle posted a photo of him or one of his missionary compatriots sitting on the top of Pulpit Rock with his feet hanging over the edge. Pulpit Rock rises almost 2000 feet above Lysefjord.
I am proud of my ancestry of southern Norway.
Dugnad…a Norwegian word that can’t be translated into an equivalent English word.
Dugnad…a Norwegian practice where all friends and neighbors join to support each other in a task or cause.
I’ve learned that Dugnad highlights the strength of the Dahl Norwegian legacy. It’s not just about volunteering for one
task on one day, but it’s a complete lifestyle focused on equality, community service and making life better for everyone.
Something
Better! …
It’s a reason why Norwegians celebrate Syttende Mai, the 211th anniversary of the creation of the Norwegian constitution. After the Napoleonic wars, the Treaty of Kiel required Denmark to cede Norway to form a union with Sweden, which many Norwegians opposed.
They sought outright independence as a country…They wanted something better.
On July 26, 1814, war began between Norway and Sweden. Swedish forces advanced into Norway towards the fortress, in the town of Fredrikstad, built in the 1600s to defend Oslofjord and Christiana (now known as Oslo) from eastern attacks.
Fredrikstad is important to my family story. It’s here, in Ostfold County, 60 miles south of Oslo where the Dahl family presence
dates back into the 17th century.
The Swedish forces, with greater numbers and resources, overwhelmed the Fredrikstad fortress. The Swedish Norwegian War was brief but decisive for Sweden, resulting in Norway remaining united with Sweden until the dissolution of their union in 1905.
But always, the Norwegians embraced independence.
Later, in the mid-1800’s, Fredrikstad thrived. The community was a trade and industry hub, producing timber and red brick for shipment to Christiana. It was a strong community that offered a valued lifestyle and strong connections between its residents. It is that spirit of
Dugnad that likely explains why several generations of Dahls found Fredrikstad to be a good place to live.
Alexander Paulsen Dahl was born to Paul and Ann Marie Dahl on August 11, 1831. He was christened in November of that year in a Lutheran church that still stands in the town of Glemmen, just a little north of Fredrikstad.
The Dahls were farmers…but at the age of 18, Alexander left his parents’ farming livelihood to pursue his own a trade as a carpenter. More specifically he was a joiner, or finish carpenter. (Not a carpenter from Finland.)
In a search for something more in his life, Alexander came in contact with missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was converted and baptized at the age of 21 on September 26, 1852. Based on historical accounts he was taught and baptized by
Johan Frederick Dorius a convert from Denmark.
According to ancestral records, Alexander and his brother, Niels Christian (known as Christian), were the only members of his family who joined the Church. Christian married his wife Helene Mathisdatter in 1853. Helene was also a resident of Ostfold County.
This year is a bicentennial celebration shared by Norway and the United States. On July 4, 1825, fifty-two Norwegians set sail from Stavanger to New York City on the sailing sloop named The Restauration. These people were Quakers and Haugeans seeking a more
favorable life in America.
In the 1800’s for some Norwegians their sense of community was built around long-standing religious traditions. Some didn’t take kindly to new religious movements.
Maybe for these Quakers, America offered something better.
Not unlike those “sloopers” of 1825, thirty years later, America offered unique opportunities, new freedoms, and a new worship community for Alexander Dahl and other Scandinavians who would migrate to the territory of Utah.
Alexander, his brother Christian and Christian’s wife Helene decided to join the migration of fellow converts. Their journey started in the fall of 1854.
It’s uncertain whether Alexander’s decision to leave Norway was supported by his parents or met with contention. Surely, leaving their family and homeland presented challenges, but it also offered hope for something new…something better.
Alexander’s first phase of this journey went through Copenhagen, where many Danish emigrants joined the travelers.
On the ship Cimbria (CAMbria) the party departed Denmark for England on November 26, 1854. However, due to continuous storms requiring 21 days of docking at two different ports, one being Mandel, Norway, the emigrants didn’t arrive in Liverpool England until December 25.
The ship James Nesmith, with the Dahls onboard, sailed from England in January 1855, docking in New Orleans on February 23, 1855. Of over 400 Scandinavians on board, only about three dozen were Norwegian; most were Danish.
James Nesmith Ship
Manifest
343 Ingeborg
C. Sandersen 42 f Norway
344 Caroline
Sandersen 17 f Norway
345 Berthe J.
Sandersen 68 f Norway
346 Ellen
Olsdatter 73 f Norway
347 Christian
Christiansen 24 m Smith Norway
348 Niels C. Dahl 26 m Farmer
Norway
349 Alexander Dahl 23 m Joiner Norway
350 Helena Matthisdatter 28 f
Norway
351 Simon
Halvorsen 25 m Wheelwright Norway
352 Berthe A.
Halvorsen 6 f Norway
353 Niels A.
Mauritzen 26 m Joiner Norway
354 Johanne
Mauritzen 21 f Norway
355 August
Mauritzen 2 m Norway
356 Anne C.
Mauritzen 21 f Norway
357 Henrick
Ericksen 36 m Seaman Norway
358 Ingeborg
Ericksen 35 f Norway
359 Erick B.
Ericksen 13 m Norway
360 Torber E.
Ericksen 10 f Norway
The next leg of the Dahls’ travel was north by steamboat on the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers through Fort Leavenworth and on to Mormon Grove, Kansas which is just outside of Atchison.
Here they joined other immigrants in preparation to continue the wagon journey to Utah.
Mormon Grove was not just a pass-through point, but a busy outfitting station for those planning the next leg of their trek to Utah.
When Alexander, Christian, and Helene arrived, they found Mormon Grove plagued with cholera.
Niels Christian Dahl died of cholera at Mormon Grove.
Determined to reach their destination, Alexander joined the Jacob Secrist party heading west. Helene remained in Kansas for a time. Captain Secrist died of cholera on the trail. Noah Guyman then took over the role of captain of the wagon train. Despite many challenges,
they arrived in Salt Lake valley on September 7, 1855. It’s reported that the party members dressed in their cleanest clothing to ensure a good impression when they arrived in the valley.
In Utah, Alexander worked as a carpenter, but due to food shortages caused by a grasshopper plague, he struggled for 3 years in his trade.
Finally, he was able to secure a small farm. However, in 1857, he was called away from this farm to join the militia appointed to head off Johnson’s Army…a U.S. force on its way to the Utah Territory to put down anticipated but non-existent rebellion by these settlers.
Alexander joined with the militia in Echo Canyon.
After that mostly uneventful tour of duty, Alexander returned to the Salt Lake Valley where he found many of the settlers had moved south. (Maybe greater distance from the approaching U.S. army).
Alexander decided to move south to Spanish Fork.
Here he found, someone who was definitely something better.
He met Ellen Jorgensen from Malmohus, Sweden. Her whole family had joined the Utah-based church and immigrated together. The Jorgensens were prosperous and funded other Scandinavians’ journeys to Utah.
Here, for Alexander and Ellen, was a Norwegian Swedish union that was mutually acceptable and bound by a couples love not a treaty of nations.
They were married in Spanish Fork and soon returned to the Salt Lake valley.
The Dahls’ first home in Salt Lake Valley was a dugout near the Jordan River in the Midvale/West Jordan area. They worked hard and succeeded, acquiring land and thriving as farmers. Ellen, acting as a nurse and midwife, cared for their neighbors and local Indians. Ellen
gave birth to four children while the Dahl’s lived in the dugout.
The Dahl’s rented portions of their land to other Scandinavian immigrants. A story’s told about a Norwegian couple, Olaus and Anna Johnson who made 7,100 adobe bricks to trade for a milk cow.
Coincidently, the house the Dahl’s built in Midvale was one of the larger adobe brick homes in the area.
The Dahls found a strong sense of community and care among these early Scandinavian settlers. The spirit of Dugnad was instilled in them before they left Norway. Those included among the Dahl’s lifelong friends were the Malstroms, Wrights, Goffs, Linds, Ayletts,
Andersons, Culters, Linnbergs, and Bennetts.
Ultimately, Alexander and Ellen sold their land to the U.S. Smelting and Refining Company. My dad and uncles grew up very close to that resulting Midvale smelter, an environmentally controversial operation, now replaced by new housing and businesses.
Ultimately, the Dahls later moved to a home in the south Cottonwood area. This stately home still stands on Spring Lane.
The holdings of the Dahl’s grew to include a ranch at Kimball Junction. The large barn you see today at the exit to Park City is now the Hi Ute Ranch, it was once owned by the Dahls. This is where my grandfather, Paul, was born. The area was called Parleys Park in the early 1900’s.
The Dahls paid for a number of young Scandinavians to immigrate to Utah. These immigrants would live with the Dahls and assist with farm and household duties until they were able to be self-sufficient and move on independently.
Ellen gave birth to 9 children, 6 male and 3 female. Four died at birth (Mary Ann and Peter) or before they were adults (Neils and Ellen). My great grandfather, Alexander Jr., was the oldest to live to adulthood. He died at age 71. His other siblings who lived as adults were Soren, David, James, and Louise.
There is an existing structure that serves as a reminder of the Dahl legacy. This is the old rock church on the west side of the Jordan River near Gardner Mill and the West Jordan cemetery.
It’s recorded that Alexander hauled the first load of stones for the small building’s construction. The cornerstone was
laid in 1861. The structure served as a church, a school and social hall.
Dahl children were taught there.
Alexander’s delivery of the first stones to build that small community building serves as a metaphor.
With an assembly of many stones set on a solid foundation, that little church in West Jordan still stands.
Just like those first stones he delivered to construct the church, Alexander was one of the first Norwegians to arrive in the Utah territory. These brave immigrants joined together to create something better…something enduring…something greater… than anyone of them would or could have individually.
The rock work of the church couldn’t stand today, if not for its firm foundation. A strong foundation of ethics and that unique spirit of Dugnad must have been instilled in Alexander and the others while they still lived in Norway.
What they knew in Norway helped them build something better in America.
Together, they grew a community in Salt Lake valley that continues to prosper.
I am proud and grateful for the legacy built by this young immigrant from Fredrikstad… my great, great grandfather Alexander Dahl along with his Swedish wife, Ellen.
He, along with other Norwegians, sought something better. Joined with others of a common Norwegian heritage something
better was built.
Alexander passed on February 18, 1911, of general debility and is buried in Murray City Cemetery.
I’m happy to have a grandson, Kyle Dahl, living in Norway, learning of Norway, and absorbing the Norwegian legacy we
share as Dahls. At this writing he lives north of the Arctic Circle in Tromso.
On May 17 of each year we celebrate Norway and share memories of what Norwegian Americans created, and what they grew…it’s something better than good and it’s something to be treasured.
