Where did Santa's elves come from?

In 1821, the poem "Old Santeclaus with Much Delight" was published. The author's mother was an Idigineous person from the Arctic. She had seen reindeer where she had lived, and had heard legends that they were mystical beasts who were able to fly. Santa has been associated with snow for a long time, and the Arctic/North Pole was not largely discovered until the mid 1800s (which made it the perfect place for him to live).