The first documented parishioner from Holla to emigrate to America was John Jensen Graver. The documents relating to the estate of Jens Augustinussen Graver (who died in February 1818) state that John Jensen was living in America at that time. - (Arne Johan Gjermundsen "Skifteregister for Holla Nedre Telemark" p.57.)

Cleng Peerson was the first person to lead a larger group of emigrants over to America, in 1825.

After that time people began to emigrate in groups from all over Norway. The first emigrants in this period from Holla, left as far as we know in 1842. In the years preceding 1930 between 1700 and 2000 people emigrated from Holla. Some of those who left had more of a pioneering spirit than others! From Martin Ulvestad's book "Nordmændene i Amerika" (Norwegians in America) we can see that many people from Holla were the first to settle new ground in the West of America.

Ole Anundsen Lunde (Holla 1, p.818) was one of these pioneers. He arrived in New York on the boat `Washington' and first set foot on American soil on 1st August 1842. Ole was from `Søgal-Lunde' in Valebø and was the first person we know of who emigrated from Holla after the mass emigration started in 1825. Ellis Island

In O.M.Norlie's book "Norsk Lutherske Menigheter i Amerika 1843-1916" (Norwegian Lutheran congregations in America 1843-1916) published in 1918 we find 46 congregations with names from Telemark (totals in brackets): Brevig (1), Bø/e (4), Drangedal (1), Gjerpen (1), Helgen (1), Hitterdal (4), Holla (11), H/Videseid/Hvidsøi (3), Lunde (4), Melum/Mellem (1), Mo/e (3), Saude (2), Skien (1), Solum (3), Telemark (2) and Vinje (3). - Some, for example Bø, Mo and Lunde may have their names from other places in Norway, outside Telemark.

What is remarkable is that Holla/Holden alone has given it's name to nearly one quarter of all these. We find congregations called `Holden' in 4 States: Wisconsin (WI), Minnesota (MN), South-Dakota (SD) and North Dakota (ND).

Congregation	Beg./Stop	Town or	distance to town	County	State	Comments:
Muskego 1 Holden Heart Prairie Sugar Creek 2 Holden 3 Holden 4 Holden 5 Holden 6 Holden 7 Holden 8 Holden 9 Holden 10 Holden 11 Holden Helgen	1843 - 1890 1848 -1910 - - 1854 - 1856 - 1864 - 1874 -1879 1879 -1896 1885 - 1895 -1897 1895- 1901-? 1908-? 1880 -	Waterford Port Washington - - Mt.Morris Kenyon Colfax St.James 1) Sinai 2) Beardsley Geneseo 3) RedTop Maxbass New England Florence	4 miles N - - - - 7 miles N.Ø. (N.E.) - 13 miles S.W. 1 mile S 5 miles S. 6 miles S.W. 7 miles N.W. 6 miles Ø. (E.) 12 miles N.W. 6½ miles S.Ø. (S.E	Waukesha Ozonkee Walworth ------ " ------ Waushara Goodhue Dunn Watonwan Brookings Big Stone Sargent Aitkin Bottineau Slope Codington	WI WI WI WI WI MN WI MN SD MN ND MN ND ND SD	1) From 1874 -1886 in LOM, whitch from 1886 merged with LONG LAKE congregation. 2) Merged with BLOM in 1896 and formed LAKE SINAI congregation. 3) In 1897 the name was changed to BERGEN congregation.

The table shows that naturally enough the development of the churches follows to a large degree the pattern of immigration from the East towards the West of America. As far as I can see there are two reasons that the name `Holden' was chosen. The first is that emigrants from Holden/Holla named the new churches after the one they left behind, and this is the most likely explanation for the naming of most `Holden' congregations. Another possible explanation is that people who settled first in a `Holden' in America and then moved on to settle new ground took the name with them, despite the fact that they had no connection with Holden in Norway. Before we take a closer look at these congregations we first visit Muskego, where the first Norwegian church in America was built.