source of which mention has already been made.

Thomas Johnson lived to the good old age of ninety-three, dying July twelfth, 1807, in the United States Naval Hospital in Philadelphia. He had been a pensionist here for a number of years, being known generally by the nickname “Paul Jones.” A biography of Johnson written by John Henry Sherburne was published at Washington in 1825, to which I have, however, not had access. Another Norwegian by the name of Lewis Brown (Lars Bruun) also served under John Paul Jones. I lack further particulars, however, regarding Brown, except that he is spoken of in Sherburne’s book, Life of Thomas Johnson.

A Norwegian sailor, Captain Iverson, settled in Georgia some time about the close of the eighteenth century. United States Senator Iverson from Georgia was a grandson of this Norwegian sailor pioneer in Georgia.[25] About 1805 another sailor, Torgus Torkelson Gromstu, from Gjerpen, near Skien, Norway, settled in New York.

In my article on “The Danish Contingent in the Population of Early Iowa,” Iowa Journal of History and Politics, 1906, I spoke of a society, styling itself Scandinavia, as having been organized in New York City on June twenty-seventh, 1844. I there designated this as the earliest organization of the kind in this country. This I find now to be incorrect. As early as 1769 the Societas Scandinaviensis was founded in Philadelphia. The membership of this society was made up of Swedes, Norwegians and Danes, the first of these presumably being in the majority. The first president of the society was Abraham Markoe (Markö), a Norwegian. One of the memorable events in the history of the society was a farewell reception given in “City Tavern” on December eleventh, 1782, in honor of Baron Axel Ferson, hero of the Battle of Yorktown. The committee of seven appointed to present the invitation and also to wait upon General George Washington at Hasbrouch House, Newburg, with a view of securing his presence consisted of the following: Captain Abraham Markoe, Sakarias Paulsen, Andreasen Taasinge, Rev. Andrew Goeranson, Jacob Van der Weer, John Stille and Andrew Keen. Says the chronicler of the event: