Prairieville, Kaufman County
(site within Mercer Colony land grant) Established by colonizer Johan Reinert Reiersen (1810-64). The 1845 founder of Brownboro (Normandy) in present Henderson County, who settled here in 1847. Elise Tvede Waerenskjold, Reiersen's aide on his magazine "Norway and Texas", spurred migration by continuing to write for Norwegian journals. In 1848 colonists organized a church, Erick Bache in 1853 built a hotel which served as post office and station on two stage lines. By 1857 Prairieville had about 80 Norwegians living as neighbors to Anglo-Americans, Danes, Frenchmen, Germans, Swedes, and other early settlers.