ABSTRACT
Thorstein Veblen told Henry Waldgrave Stuart, a student of his at the University of Chicago, that the basic ideas in The Theory of the Leisure Class came from boyhood talks with his father, who was a deep thinker. Thorstein Veblen's mother, Kari Thorsteinsdatter Bunde Veblen was a model pioneer woman, staggeringly competent, talented in many directions, and the patient bearer of twelve children, three of whom died in infancy. In his manuscript, "Immigrant Pioneers", Andrew Veblen says they were isolated in Sheboygan County, surrounded by worthy, but stand-offish, Dutch immigrants. The Veblen family came from the race of Vikings, and "the men in the family", as Andrew wrote, "were all very strong and could generally lift much heavier weights than most men can". He early learned to do things with the greatest economy of effort. His brains would carry him far, but his health was always a problem.
