Skatval Sketch: The Ending that Opened a New Beginning

Author: Dennis R. Winge

ISBN 978-1-951985-56-1(softcover)

166 pages

A rural farm family living in 1800s on the Skatval peninsula near Trondheim Norway encounters the challenges of living with mental illnesses, infectious leprosy and other issues that led to high infant mortality. Infectious diseases have caused widespread misery throughout the ages, but the scourges this family faced were long-lasting that tested the family bonds and faith. The story follows the lives of Willum Torsteinson Bjørkmoen, his wife Malena and their son Peder Willumson through their hardships and challenges. Escaping the hardships of rural Norway, Peder emigrates to America and finds a glorious new life in the new Scandinavia in Minnesota. The foundation of the story and details of the family are historical facts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dennis R. Winge is a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Utah who managed a research laboratory for 40 years continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health. He has long had an interest in Norwegian history and the mass emigration to America in the mid-to late 19th century. This is his third book on Norwegian emigration to America. The first two books were entitled "In Search of a New Scandinavia" and "The Little Stream of Straum."