U.V. and Else Koren

Ulrik Vilhelm Koren was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1826. His father, a ship captain, was killed by an earthquake in Haiti when he was 16, and U.V. supported himself during studies for the ministry. In 1853 he was called by the Iowa settlements, married Else Elisabeth Hysing and immigrated to North America. Elisabeth Koren was born in Larvik, Norway, in 1832. She was brought up "in a sheltered home," and wrote a diary of the first years in Iowa (The Diary of Elisabeth Koren, translated and edited by David T. Nelson, 1955, and available from Dragonfly Books).

Materials included are

• Family pictures

• Sketches by Herbjørn Gausta from the walls of the Washington Prairie church parsonage

• "Memories from Little Iowa Parsonage," by Caroline Mathilde Koren Naeseth

• Autobiography of Paul Schonevik Stub Koren (1794-1842), father of U.V. Koren

• Chicago Tribune article about art by F.W. Schiertz

• Decorah Newspapers article: "Norwegian immigrant letters donated to Luther College by Nelson family" (156 letters by Elisabeth Koren found by Betty Nelson and now in the Luther archives)

• Biographical information from The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa