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Quie, Halvor Halvorson (1834–1919)

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Halvor H. Quie, ca. 1910.

Halvor H. Quie, ca. 1910.

An early settler-colonist in Wheeling Township (Rice County), Norwegian immigrant Halvor Quie is often remembered as a member of the Second Company of Minnesota Sharpshooters during the Civil War. He was instrumental in local religious and educational affairs and offered lasting support to St. Olaf College.

Halvor Quie (originally spelled Kvi) was born on August 11, 1834, in Flå, Buskerud, Norway. In 1845, at age eleven, his family sold its small farm and immigrated to the United States, joining other Norwegian settler-colonists at the Muskego settlement near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As a farmhand, Quie hired himself out to neighboring New England transplants, learning to speak their tongue and, in due time, to read it.

By 1855, the Quies migrated to Wheeling Township, Rice County, Minnesota, acquiring 160 acres on three adjoining homesteads. With his English fluency, Quie served as an interpreter for fellow Norwegians in their newly established community. To further his formal education, Quie enrolled in the Hamline Institute (later Hamline University), then located in Red Wing.

Quie’s tenure at Hamline was short lived. When he had studied there for less than a term, his father demanded that he return to the farm to assist with the fall harvest. Back at home and somewhat dejected from leaving school, Quie immersed himself in reading, particularly Harriet Beecher’s Stowe’s national bestseller Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852). The anti-slavery novel moved him and proved to be “an epiphany moment” in his life, according to his grandson, Al Quie (Minnesota’s thirty-fifth governor). Afterward, young Quie viewed himself as an abolitionist and fully supported President Abraham Lincoln’s call to end slavery. When he spotted a recruiting advertisement placed by Captain William Russell in the December 25, 1861, issue of the Northfield Telegraph, Quie answered the call.

The twenty-seven-year-old Quie recruited his relatives and neighbors to enlist with him. His cousins Truls (thirty) and Fingal (nineteen) Fingalson, nephew Jens T. Dahle (twenty-two), and friends Arthur A. Flom (twenty-two), Christopher Hanson (twenty-five), and Andrew Lockrem (twenty-five) were mustered in between January 20 and 22, 1862, at thirteen dollars per month. Their basic training took place at Fort Snelling. On May 3, they departed by train for Washington as “Company L” of the First Regiment of United States Sharpshooters.

Between the months of June and mid-September 1862, Quie engaged in eleven battles and skirmishes, including the Battle of Hanover Court House, the Battle of Fair Oaks, and the Siege of Richmond. At the Battle of Malvern Hill, Quie suffered sunstroke and narrowly avoided being captured.

In his last encounter with the Confederacy, at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, he was shot in the left heel. According to a published family history, “due to unsanitary conditions in the overcrowded wards, gangrene set in” once the bullet was removed. Doctors recommended amputation, but Quie flatly refused to comply. With patience, his foot healed over time. On January 8, 1863, Quie, on crutches, mustered out and returned to Minnesota.

Unable to work his farm as a result of his wound, Quie was hired in the fall by the local school board to teach a term in District Number 43. The following spring, Quie, who no longer needed crutches, returned to farming. On December 13, 1864, he married neighbor Anne Finseth. Together they had seven children.

By October 1874, Quie, the Reverend Bernt J. Muus, and other local Norwegian Americans sought to establish a Christian secondary school with the prospect of it becoming a college one day. St. Olaf’s School, founded on November 6, opened in Northfield on January 8, 1875, with thirty-seven students enrolled. In the years to come, Quie’s continued financial contributions helped develop St. Olaf College (as it became known in 1889) into a growing and respected institution. He also served on the college’s Board of Trustees from 1896 to 1903.

Late in life, Quie’s eyesight and hearing failed, so he retired from farming. Wishing to be released from worldly cares and possessions, Quie divided his property among his children, save only his military pension. He died on September 14, 1919, and was buried three days later at Valley Grove Lutheran Church in Nerstrand, Minnesota. Draped over his wood coffin was the American flag.

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Annual Report of the Adjutant General to the Governor of Minnesota, 1863. St. Paul: William R. Marshall, State Printer, 1863.
https://books.google.com/books?id=im1MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA337

“Board of Trustees [Halvor Kvi].” Catalogue of St. Olaf College For Its Twenty-Third Year, 1896–97. Northfield, MN: St. Olaf College, May 1897.
https://stolaf.eastview.com/browse/book/88115/udb/3270?bookFormatType=0

“Board of Trustees [Halvor Kvi].” Catalogue of St. Olaf College For Its Twenty-Fourth Year, 1897–98. Northfield, MN: St. Olaf College, May 1898.
https://stolaf.eastview.com/browse/book/88117/udb/3270?bookFormatType=0

“Board of Trustees [Halvor Kvi].” Catalogue of St. Olaf College For Its Twenty-Fifth Year. 1898-99. Northfield: St. Olaf College, May 1899.
https://stolaf.eastview.com/browse/book/88116/udb/3270?bookFormatType=0

Bonhus, Emma Quie. From Lantern to Yardlight. Minneapolis: Lund Press, 1948.

Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn, comp. History of Rice and Steele Counties, Minnesota. Vol. 1. Chicago: H. C. Cooper, Jr, 1910.
https://archive.org/details/historyofriceste01curt/page/n8

Daley, Mark. “Andrew Lockrem, Sharpshooter, First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment.” Norwegian-American Historical Association Newsletter, 148 (Winter 2013): 8–10.
https://www.naha.stolaf.edu/about/newsletters/Winter2013.pdf

“Dødens høst.” Hallingen (January 1920): 49–51.

Neill, Edward D., and Charles S. Bryant. History of Rice County: Including Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota, and Outline History of the State of Minnesota. Minneapolis: Minnesota Historical Company, 1882.

“Professor Grose Receives List of Main Subscribers.” Manitou Messenger, February 21, 1933.
https://stolaf.eastview.com/search/simple

“Second Company of Minn. Sharp Shooters” [advertisement]. Northfield Telegraph, December 25, 1861.

Sturdevant, Lori. “Roots of State’s Ambition Stem From Civil War.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 31, 2013.

Related Images

Halvor H. Quie, ca. 1910.
Halvor H. Quie, ca. 1910.
Northfield Telegraph, December 25, 1861. Recruiting advertisement placed by Captain William Russell for Colonel Berdan’s Corps of US Sharpshooters. Used with the permission of St. Olaf College Archives.
Northfield Telegraph, December 25, 1861. Recruiting advertisement placed by Captain William Russell for Colonel Berdan’s Corps of US Sharpshooters. Used with the permission of St. Olaf College Archives.
Old Main, St. Olaf College, Northfield, ca. 1890. Photographer: Ole G. Felland. Used with the permission of St. Olaf College Archives.
Old Main, St. Olaf College, Northfield, ca. 1890. Photographer: Ole G. Felland. Used with the permission of St. Olaf College Archives.
Halvor H. Quie residence, 1905. Photographer: Ole G. Felland. Used with the permission of St. Olaf College Archives.Halvor H. Quie residence, 1905. Photographer: Ole G. Felland. Used with the permission of St. Olaf College Archives.
Halvor H. Quie residence, 1905. Photographer: Ole G. Felland. Used with the permission of St. Olaf College Archives.Halvor H. Quie residence, 1905. Photographer: Ole G. Felland. Used with the permission of St. Olaf College Archives.
Halvor H. Quie’s headstone, undated. It uses the original Norwegian spelling of his surname: Kvi. Used with the permission of the photographer, Jeff M. Sauve.
Halvor H. Quie’s headstone, undated. It uses the original Norwegian spelling of his surname: Kvi. Used with the permission of the photographer, Jeff M. Sauve.

Turning Point

In the mid-1850s, Halvor Quie reads Harriet Beecher’s Stowe’s national bestseller Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The anti-slavery novel inspires him to become an abolitionist and proves to be “an epiphany moment” in his life (according to his grandson Al Quie, Minnesota’s thirty-fifth governor).

Chronology

1834

Halvor Quie (Kvi) is born on August 11, 1834, in Flå, Buskerud, Norway.

1845

When Halvor is eleven, his family sells its small farm and immigrates to the United States, joining other Norwegian pioneers at the Muskego settlement near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Quie begins to learn English.

1852

Harriet Beecher’s Stowe’s national bestseller Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published. The anti-slavery novel later moved Quie greatly and proved to be “an epiphany moment” in his life.

1855

By 1855, the Quies migrate to Wheeling Township, Rice County, Minnesota, and acquire 160 acres on three adjoining homesteads.

1862

On January 20, Quie and fellow Northfield relatives and friends enlist in the Second Company of Minnesota Sharpshooters.

1862

On September 17, Quie is wounded in the left heel at the Battle of Antietam.

1863

Quie is mustered out of the Army on January 8 and returns to Minnesota, where he takes up teaching in the fall.

1864

Quie marries Anne Finseth on December 13. Together they would have seven children.

1874

Norwegian Americans in Rice County, including Quie, help found St. Olaf’s School on November 6.

1896

Quie joins the Board of Trustees for St. Olaf College.

1903

Quie resigns from St. Olaf’s Board of Trustees.

1919

At the age of eighty five, Quie dies at his home, near Dennison, Minnesota, on September 14.