Abstract During a depression which began in 1893, 18 Norwegian immigrants living in Minneapolis created a fraternal organization as a mutual assistance society built on the moral principles of American fraternalism and based on a group assistance plan from Trondheim. The name “Sønner av Norge” was settled upon and the formal inception of the organization was completed on 16 January 1895. In 1903 a similar organization was founded in the Pacific Northwest, the Grand Lodge of the Sons of Norway of the...