Last updated: August 3, 2026
Person
Knud K. Steen
U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, Accession Nr:
Quick Facts
Significance:
Community builder, homesteader
Place of Birth:
Ringerike kommune, Buskerud fylke, Norway
Date of Birth:
December 12, 1827
Place of Death:
Jasper, Pipestone County, Minnesota
Date of Death:
May 14, 1901
Place of Burial:
Jasper, Pipestone County, Minnesota
Cemetery Name:
Eden Church Cemetery
Minnesota experienced a surge of Norwegian immigration during the late 19th century. One immigrant by the name of Knud K. Steen played an instrumental role in building community on the prairie.
Knud K. Steen was undoubtedly a “sticker,” the type of homesteader that author Wendell Berry described as “those who settle and love the life they have made in the place they have made it in.”1 Originally from Norway, Steen traveled from Allamakee County, Iowa, to Pipestone County, Minnesota, with his oldest son Magnus who was just 12 years old. They were just one of many Norwegian families who staked a homestead claim in the American West. By 1928, there were over 850,000 Norwegian immigrants like Knud who made the decision to settle in Minnesota.
2After claiming his homestead in 1878 at the General Land Office in Worthington, Minnesota, he moved to the land with his oldest son, Magnus, age twelve, the following year.3 Harboring a multitude of emotions, Magnus wrote: “It was for father and me an exciting feeling–that of going to leave the old home, going west to establish a new home on the prairie.”4 Once they had finished proving up, they returned back to Iowa where they waited until next spring to make the move with the whole family (GLO Accession No. MN2540__.366).
The Steen family rode covered wagons as they moved their lives and drove their cattle to the Minnesota homestead. Each morning, they heated their ten-inch square stove to make some coffee and pudding. Bread was something they went without.5 Every member of the family, including the dog, was responsible for herding the cattle. Dinners were typically a prairie chicken but sometimes they made pancakes. On the very last day of their move, as they were riding through modern day Blue Mounds State Park near Luverne, Minnesota, their wagon hit an unexpected bump. The children’s beloved dog fell out of the wagon and got crushed by the wheel.6 Instead of a triumphant final march to their homestead, they most likely rode in silence as they stifled their cries. It was a horrible loss.
When the Steen family finally settled in Jasper, Minnesota, Knud played an important role in helping the new town grow into a strong community. Within a year, Steen, who had some clerical experience, was appointed postmaster of the area. There was no official Post Office, so he ran the operation out of his home. He held the postmaster position until 1895.7 He also helped in establishing the Eden Church that held Lutheran religious services in the Steed family home, too.
Knud’s son Magnus carried on his family’s homesteading legacy when he staked a Timber Culture Act claim and earned his own land patent in 1895 (GLO Accession No. TC-0215-236).8 The Timber Culture Act of 1873 was passed as an expansion of the Homestead Act that granted land for tree cultivation. Reminiscing in his journal, Magnus pondered: “Where would I have been if my father had not made this move even if there were a lot of hardships connected with this pioneer life. But, we were well repaid for our struggles by getting our own homes.”9
Both Knud and Magnus fulfilled their “sticker” destiny. Knud died in the homesteading community he helped to thrive. He was buried in Eden Church Cemetery just a few miles from his homestead. His son Magnus lived in Jasper until his death in 1940. 10
1Berry, Wendell. “It All Turns on Affection”. National Endowment for the Humanities. April 23, 2012.
2The People of Minnesota, 1.
3Bureau of Land Management. State Volume Patent, May 20, 1862; K. K. Steen Collection (#30212). Center for Western Studies. Augustana University. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1.
4K. K. Steen Collection, 1.
5K. K. Steen Collection, 7.
6K. K. Steen Collection, 9.
7Knut K Steen (1827-1901) - Find a Grave Memorial. Find a Grave.
8Bureau of Land Management. State Volume Patent, June 11, 1895.
9K. K. Steen Collection, 1.
10Bernt Magnus “Magnus K.” Steen (1863-1940). Find a Grave Memorial. Find a Grave
By Nicholas Lundberg and Ava Pautz with research support from Augustana University
Bibliography
Berry, W. (2016, August 12). “It All Turns on Affection.” resilience. https://www.resilience.org/stories/2016-08-12/it-all-turns-on-affection/
Bernt Magnus “Magnus K.” Steen (1863-1940). Find a Grave Memorial. Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30178034/bernt_magnus-steen
Bureau of Land Management. State Volume Patent, April 5, 1883. https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=MN2540__.366&docClass=STA&sid=q52m5mjh.k3m#patentDetailsTabIndex=1
Bureau of Land Management. State Volume Patent, June 11, 1895. https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx?accession=0215-236&docClass=TC&sid=ept4dbxf.n40#patentDetailsTabIndex=1
Gjerde, J., & Qualey, C. C. (2002). The People of Minnesota: Norwegians in Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society Press.
Hargreaves, Mary W.M. “Homesteading and Homemaking on the Plains: A Review. Agricultural History 47, no. 2 (1973): 156–63. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3742031.
K. K. Steen Collection (#30212). Center for Western Studies. Augustana University. Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Knut K Steen (1827-1901) - find a grave memorial. Find a Grave. (n.d.-a). https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/29618334/knut-k-steen
Lovoll, O. S. (2010). Norwegians on the Prairie: Ethnicity and the Development of the Country Town. Minnesota Historical Society Press.
"United States Census, 1880", FamilySearch , Entry for Knud K. Steen and Caroline Steen, 1880. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYB6-9ZFZ?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMZ9G-H9X&action=view&cc=1417683&lang=en&groupId=