Johan Reinert Reiersen

Johan Reinert Reierson (April 17, 1810, Vestre Moland, Aust-Agder - September 6, 1864) was a Norwegian-American writer, author and publisher as well as an early Texas pioneer and emigration activist.

Reierson had been sponsored in 1843 by a group of prospective emigrants and financiers to tour the United States and report settlement possibilities.

Reierson traveled to Austin, where President Sam Houston encouraged him to bring Norwegian settlers to the republic and promised aid in the establishment of a colony.

[1] In 1844, Reierson wrote and published a comprehensive book about America titled Pathfinder for Norwegian Emigrants to the United North American States and Texas (Norwegian: Veiviser for norske emigranter til De forenede nordamerikanske stater og Texas) a comprehensive book about America published in Norway.

His pro-American letters to Norwegian newspapers continued to mark him as a controversial figure in his homeland.