Photograph
Halle Steensland and Family
| Halle Steensland and his wife Sophia pose with their five children (left to right: Morten, Henry, Edward, Halbert and Helen) in front of their home in Maple Bluff. |
| Image ID: | 27029 |
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| Creation Date: | circa 1875 |
| Creator Name: | Dahl, Andreas Larsen, 1844-1923 |
| City: | Maple Bluff |
| County: | Dane |
| State: | Wisconsin |
| Collection Name: | Andreas Larsen Dahl photographs, 1870-1880, 1910-1915 |
| Genre: | Photograph |
| Original Format Type: | negative, original |
| Original Format Number: | (D31)482 |
| Original Dimensions: | 4 x 5 inches |
| The house and farm were later purchased by Robert M. La Follette, Sr., and renamed Maple Bluff Farm. The house is now commonly known as the La Follette house. See also Image ID: 27625. For an enlarged and cropped detail of part of the family see Image IDs: 149282, 149284. Steensland left Stavanger, Norway, in 1854, and after working in Chicago and Janesville, Wisconsin, he took a job as a clerk in Clinton and Madison. After four years, he opened his own seed, grocery and crockery store and remained in that business nearly ten years. In 1871, he joined with other Norwegian-Americans, including Knut Heimdal, O.B. Dahle and John A. Johnson to found the Hekla Fire Insurance Company. Within a few years, Norwegian farmhouses all over Dane and surrounding counties had Hekla signs mounted above their front doors. Steensland wrote a life reminiscence in 1909, a year before his death. This narration is widely quoted in David Mandel's "Settlers of Dane County: The Photographs of Andreas Larsen Dahl" (Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission, 1985) p. 46-47, which also reproduces this photograph. |
| This image is issued by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Use of the image requires written permission from the staff of the Collections Division. It may not be sold or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with a staff member. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please Credit: Wisconsin Historical Society. |
| Location: | Wisconsin Historical Society Archives, 4th Floor, Madison, Wisconsin |
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