Normandy

Normandy was near the site of present Brownsboro twelve miles northeast of Athens in northeastern Henderson County. It was established in 1845 by Johan Reinert Reiersen, of the district of Christiansand, Norway, as the first of his three Norwegian settlements in Texas. He brought his parents and his own family to Normandy, and other colonists followed. In the summer of 1847 a number of settlers in the adjoining Neches bottom lands died, and many of the Norwegians moved to Four Mile Prairie in Van Zandt County and Prairieville in Kaufmann County, also established by Reiersen. A Lutheran church and cemetery were established in Normandy in 1853, but after that the community seems to have merged into the Brownsboro settlement, which had been established nearby. A Texas historical marker in Brownsboro commemorates the old townsite.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.