This study reveals why Anders Einarsen Aasen, Gunder Christensen Aarvaagen, Lars Eriksen Lodve and Helge Larsen Vatnem and their families immigrated to America from 1836 to 1846, decades before significant migration began in 1866. They all settled in the Fox River Settlement in LaSalle County, Illinois, the first permanent Norwegian settlement in America. The book includes the parishes and farms from which they emigrated and gives centuries of genealogical data for the ancestors and descendants of these immigrants, their wives and siblings. The book contains photographs, maps, charts and an index and is fully footnoted.