The church that my father’s parents attended was the Fish Creek Ridge Norwegian Lutheran Church. Just past the "homeplace" the road went up a extremely steep hill that took one to the top of Fish Creek Ridge. This hill is ½ mile long or, at least, that’s what it seems. The church is about 1 ¼ miles from the farm as the crow flies and probably two miles by road. Because of the hill it must have been quite a walk to church or very tiring for the horse that had to take them there.

The following information is taken from the book, "1912 History of Monroe County, WI.

Norwegian Lutheran Church of Fish Creek. BY REV. A. H. EIKJARUD
(Photographs of this church can be found in the link, "Photo Albums for Oscar M. Hagen".)

The territory where the Norwegian Lutheran Church of Fish Creek is located was first settled by Ole Hansen Ekern in 1855. The following year Nils Hansen came and in 1858 Amund Hansen. These pioneers settled in the upper part of Fish Creek valley. The ridge was not at that time considered worth very much and on the distance from Fish Creek to Newry only one dwelling house was to be found. The first settlers on the ridge were Ole Andersen, John Svensen, Gulbrand Paulsen, Mathias, Even and William Johnson (1859), Hans Hansen, Magnus Svensen, Ole Svensen, Marcus Gulbrandsen and John Eriksen (1861). Every year thereafter Norwegian settlers came thick and fast and the beautiful valleys and ridges of Fish Creek became a little Norway. From the early 60s Rev. A. C: Preus from Coon Prairie occasionally preached the gospel among them, and as they as yet had no church meetings were for many years held in the dwelling house of Gulbrand Paulsen. January, 1869, Fish Creek Norwegian Congregation was organized and a constitution adopted. Rev. A. C. Preus served as their pastor to June 5, 1871. December 3, 1871, a meeting was held and it was decided to build a church on a piece of land bought from Mrs. Ole Olsen Damkaasen. Rev. H. Halvorsen from Coon Prairie served the congregation occasionally as his time permitted until December, 1874, when he was succeeded by cand. theol. A. S. Meling, who besides Fish Creek served three congregations at Coon Valley to July 1, 1882. Together with these same congregations Fish Creek called Rev. E. Jensen, who was their pastor for eleven years to July 1, 1893. The congregation now decided to join the charge of Rev. A. H. Eikjarud, North Coon Prairie, Portland and Brush Creek, and he has been the minister of the gospel at Fish Creek to the present time.
From a small beginning the congregation increased every year and it became necessary to build a new and larger church, which was ready for use the last part of 1893, and the next year they took part in the erection of the Norwegian Lutheran parsonage at Cashton. Very seldom have I seen a congregation where the attendance at divine services is better, and especially so among the young people.

Dad was baptized in the church February 28, 1886. His parents are listed as Ole O. and Marit Toftehagen. ( We will get to the parents names and try to clarify them in Generation two.) His sponsors (same as Godparents) were Ole Larsen, a cousin; Lars Olsen, his uncle; Goro Olsen and Dina or Gina Svensen. I do not know the relationship of the last two sponsors to the family, but they were probably neighbors.

We never knew very much about my father as he was growing up as a boy in Pleasant Valley. He never talked about his young life very much and we never asked. He had plenty of brothers and sisters to associate with and there were probably several other Norwegian children in the neighborhood. His cousin, Ole Larsen, lived just a short distance away on his own farm. He was already married and had children of his own that were the same age as Dad.. I imagine that they had good times together on the farm and in school. The valley was nearly all Norwegian by this time, and Norwegian was the everyday language. All of the church services and church classes for young people were conducted in the Norwegian language. School was the only place that English was spoken. Virginia Snowberger Hagen tells a story that Dad related to her in 1952. They were talking about schooling and he said,

The 1900 Federal Census  is the first census in which we find Oscar Hagen listed. The 1890 Federal Census was not available. It was destroyed by fire in Washington D. C. and only about 10 % of it is usable. He was living at home and was 14 years of age. It also gives the month of his birth as January, and the year of birth as 1886.

The Fish Creek Norwegian Lutheran Church show that: "In 1900 the 11th day of November, Oscar Malvin (sic) Hagen was Konfirmerede (confirmed)...."  This confirmation was the conclusion of a couple of years of study in Martin Luther’s Catechism. His parents names were listed as "Ole and Marit Hagen". I do not know who was responsible for the instruction, but the authority that tested them was probably the local pastor, A. H. Eikjarud. The rating which my father received was "excellent, very good". Whether they had some doubts or whether they were rated in two different areas is not known.  
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Where Dad worked after confirmation, (he was then considered an adult), is unknown. He may have worked for his father on the farm but probably was a hired hand for some other farmer in the valley. I do remember one of the stories he told me about himself and his brother, Anton (Tony) during this time:

In 1909, during the month of August, he was in Sacred Heart, Minnesota. He was there either working or trying to find work, probably at threshing grain of some sort. He sent the following postcard to his brother, Anton. I have copied it just as it was written by Dad.