EARLY HISTORY OF CHISAGO LAKE REEXAMINED EMEROY JOHNSON

Chisago Lake in Chisago county, Minnesota, is the place where about a dozen Swedish immigrants settled in 1851. They had emigrated from in 1850 and come to the vicinity of Moline, Illinois, in the fall and spent their first winter in the United States there. They set out for Minnesota Territory in response to a communication from Erik Ulrik Norberg, a Swede who had been in America since 1842 and who had gone to investigate the land in Minnesota. Several more Swedish immigrants came to Chisago Lake that summer and fall, and some Swedes came to the area around Scandia at about the same time. This was the beginning of a movement that eventually brought some 100,000 Swedes to Minnesota. The first Swedish minister to visit the new colony, in 1852, was the Reverend Gustaf Unonius, pastor of the St. Ansgarius Episcopal Church in . Norberg and Unonius have been mentioned in several historical books and articles that tell of the origins of the Chisago Lake community. In general, the main facts are well known and substantiated. However, Ulf Beijbom, director of the Emigrant Institute in Växjö, has found interesting material in the Unonius archives in Uppsala, which sheds new light on the story, as recounted in an article published in 1983. Beijbom has discovered that Norberg was personally acquainted with Unonius and that they had some correspondence with each other during the time that Norberg was in Minnesota. This significant fact had been unknown to the authors who have previously written about the origins of the Chisago Lake communi¬ ty.1 Gustaf Unonius, a graduate of Uppsala University, emigrated to the United States in 1841, and lived as a pioneer in the woods at Pine Lake, Wisconsin, some miles west of Milwaukee. He met some Episcopal clergymen and became convinced that that church was the "true representative" of the , since it had a hierarchical form of organization like the Swedish Church. He was ordained by the Episcopal bishop and organized the

215 Swedish Episcopal St. Ansgarius Congregation in Chicago in 1851. There he was active in meeting Swedish immigrants and helping those in need. In 1858 he returned to Sweden, where he later wrote his reminiscences of his seventeen years in America.2 Unonius mentions Chisago Lake only briefly in a footnote, but it is known from other sources that he visited the Chisago Lake colony in September 1852, where he conducted worship services and served communion. But no Episcopal congregation was organized there, then or later.3 Erik Ulrik Norberg was in his early twenties when he emigrated to the United States in 1842. He had received some education and had held various responsible positions in his home community in Västergötland. Here in this country he lived in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois, joining the Bishop Hill colony briefly in 1848, where he came into disagreement with the leader, Erik Janson. Norberg thereafter became a member of Andover Lutheran Church in 1850. It was from that vicinity that he journeyed to Minnesota in the summer or fall of 1850.4 Some time in the winter or early spring of 1851 he sent a letter to Per Anderson, a newly arrived immigrant from Hassela parish in Hälsingland, or perhaps Norberg wrote a letter to some friend who showed it to Anderson. This letter described the Chisago Lake region, its woods, lakes, and soil. Norberg also sent a map showing the way from Illinois to Chisago lake. As a result the Per Anderson family, two more families who had come from Sweden at the same time, and one other family arrived by boat at Taylors Falls and from there were guided to Chisago Lake. The Anders Swenson family, which had come to America by a different route, also came to Chisago Lake early in 1851. It is known that at least two other families came to this place as a result of letters from Norberg. Why did Norberg go to Minnesota in 1850? What was involved in his efforts to get Swedish immigrants to go to Chisago Lake? Ulf Beijbom sheds new light on the story of Norberg and Unonius. His diligent research in the Unonius archive at Uppsala University has revealed a number of letters written by Norberg to Unonius in the years 1851-1853. The letters were written from Chisago Lake to Unonius in Chicago.5 Beijbom relates in some detail the story of Norberg's life in Sweden and his early years in America. He was born in 1813 in Ullervad, Västergötland, went to school in Skara, served as a 216 bailiff, and was being investigated for some "financial improprie• ties," but before he was to be questioned he and his sister Erica Sophia emigrated. They went to Wisconsin and became acquainted with Gustaf Unonius, who then lived in his pioneer home at Pine Lake.

Gustaf Unonius in later years. (Courtesy of Emigrant Institute, Växjö.)

They evidently met several times thereafter. In the first of the letters to Unonius that have been preserved, dated February 12, 1851, Norberg refers to the last time they had been together. He relates that he had come to the vicinity of St. Croix Falls in the fall of 1850. Soon after coming to that place he had made a journey of about 100 miles north and after his return he had looked around to see if the land in the St. Croix Falls vicinity might be suitable for farming. Norberg found, after this reconnaissance, that Minneso• ta, especially the St. Croix Valley, had good possibilities. The fact that Norberg sent such reports to Unonius indicates that the two men had discussed the matter beforehand, that Unonius probably had requested Norberg to see if Minnesota might become an alternative to Illinois as a place for Swedish settlement. Norberg, in his letter of February 12, 1851, to Unonius, reported that he had found a good place. "West of Taylors Falls about five 217 or six miles there are many lakes, streams, and rivers, and a better place for a large settlement I have hardly ever seen." In the very center of this paradise there lay "an especially wonderful lake." Norberg sent along a map showing the peculiar form of the lake, and told of how suitable the place was for farming along its shores. Presumably he made several copies of the map, one of which reached Per Anderson in Moline.6 In March Norberg wrote to Unonius telling of a journey to "Big Lake," that is, the Indians' Ki-Chi-Saga. Seldom had Norberg seen anything more wonderful. "The land around there was particular• ly beautiful and fertile, lightly covered with timber, mainly sugar maples. The shores of the lake had a romantic appearance and the islands scattered here and there delighted the beholder." On the islands were sugar maples and grass that stayed fresh all through the winter and could be eaten by cattle without being made into hay. Norberg wanted Unonius to urge all Swedish immigrants to come to Minnesota rather than to Illinois, which hitherto had been the main goal for Swedish farmers.7 On July 21, 1851, Norberg wrote from Chisago Lake that there was already "a little Swedish settlement," consisting of 26 persons, all of whom were thriving and well satisfied. Efforts at identifying the early settlers fail to account for that many. In my article, "Norberg, First Swede at Chisago Lake," I have listed the following: Per Anderson, wife Carin, children Anders, Daniel, Helena, and Ingrid; hired man Daniel Rättig; Per Berg, wife Martha, children Nils and Carin; Per Wicklund; Anders Swenson, wife Cajsa Lisa, children Johan Ferdinand and Johanna Christina; and Lars Peter Sjölin. When we add Norberg's name to the list we have a total of eighteen. Per Anderson, in a letter to , dated September 1, 1851, says: "We are now ten who have begun farming here, nine Swedes and one American." The only ones he mentioned by name are Per Berg, Wicklund, and himself.8 It seems that Swenson also had started farming and that Anderson's hired man, Rättig, and Sjölin had also started farms of their own. If these suppositions are correct we can account for six of the nine Swedish farmers, be we still have to account for eight of the twenty-six settlers mentioned in Norberg's letter of July 1851. Eric Norelius lists the original members of the Chisago Lake Lutheran congregation by the year of their immigration. Those who had come to America in 1850 were Per Anderson and family, 218 Eric Norelius.

Per Berg and family, Daniel Rättig and wife, and L. J. Stark and wife. Those who had immigrated in 1851 were Johan Smith, Jonas Anderson, Claus Dahlhjelm, and Magnus Olson.9 We have evidence that the Dahlhjelms did not come to Chisago Lake until late in the fall of 1851. It is possible that Stark and wife, Smith, Anderson and Olson had been there before July 21. We learn that Rättig was married. Thus we can probably account for a total of 23 persons. It is possible, meanwhile, that there were some Swedes at Chisago Lake in 1851 who were no longer there when Eric Norelius organized the Lutheran congregation there in 1854, or that there were some there at the time who did not join it. The story of the Anders Swenson family is given in a footnote in Unonius' memoirs: I recall among others a workingman from Östergötland who had been planning to settle in a certain place in Illinois where he had some relatives, but on his trip out west he was shipped to the wrong destination. Such things happen at times in the case of emigrant families. Instead of coming to Chicago he landed by some mistake in St. Louis. There he found himself at the end of his financial resources, and, added to all else, he, 219 his wife, and his children fell sick. In St. Louis there were at that time hardly more than three or four Swedish families and I do not know whether he came in touch with any of them. However, there were Americans who took pity on the helpless strangers. When Jenny Lind was in St. Louis in 1851 the husband sought her out and asked her for money to continue his journey to his relatives in Illinois. As it happened I was present at the time. He asked for $25, and like many another he did not appeal in vain to the benevolent spirit of the noble singer. However, I advised against his going where he planned to go, as I knew that all the land was occupied in that section and that he would have a hard time to secure employment there. Instead, I advised him to go to Minnesota on the grounds that there was more suitable land for him to make his home. Jenny Lind, who was listening to the conversation, said, "I will give you another fifty dollars if you follow that advice." The man did so. With no other money than what he had received from Jenny Lind he proceeded to the new Swedish settlement around Chisago Lake, where I saw him two years later when he blessed Jenny Lind and me for the good fortune he was enjoying. Now he was the owner of eighty acres of land, oxen, a cow, and other stock, and living with his family, happy and well situated, in his small cottage. But he was a fine man, and both he and his wife were good workers.10

This footnote about the Swenson family is the only place where the Chisago Lake settlement in Minnesota is spoken of in his book. And it is only mentioned incidentally in a chapter where he warns immigrants about travel routes and conditions. The story of this family was later recounted by Robert Grönberger and F. M. Eckman. Neither mentioned Unonius in connection with the Jenny Lind gift. Both Grönberger and Eckman identified them as Anders Swenson and children. The visit at Chisago Lake by Unonius, during which he met the Swensons living in peace and a measure of prosperity, was in September, 1852, when he came to conduct worship services and give holy communion. This visit was mentioned in a letter by Per Anderson to Eric Norelius, dated September 17, 1852.11 In 1979 I raised objections to Unonius' story. It was in March, 1851, that Jenny Lind was in St. Louis. How could Unonius then 220 advise the family to go to the Swedish settlement at Chisago Lake? There was no settlement until Per Anderson and his group arrived in April or May.12 Now Ulf Beijbom has revealed the contacts between Unonius and Norberg, which shows that Unonius knew in March that Norberg was at Chisago Lake preparing for the coming of several Swedish families. Unonius and Norberg were in the business of getting Swedes to Minnesota and there in St. Louis Unonius had a an unexpected opportunity to advise a family to go to the new settlement. It is possible that Jenny Lind's gift, in the possession of the Swensons, came up the river on the same boat that brought Per Anderson and his group. This is not certain, but it is known that the Swensons came to Chisago Lake in 1851. It was not only Norberg who was urging Unonius to send Swedes to Minnesota. Beijbom has found a letter from Carl August Fernström, one of the three men who came up to Hay Lake in 1850, which describes in charming fashion the possibilities for a Swedish settlement in the St. Croix Valley. Minnesota offered only advantages, compared with the places recommended by the Lutheran pastor Lars Paul Esbjörn in Illinois. "This miserable Andover," wrote Fernström, "Where is there a more unhealthy place? What would have become of us if, instead of meeting Pastor Unonius when we were strangers, we had followed the advice of the self-seeking counselors?" The allusion was aimed at the Lutheran Esbjörn and the Methodists Olof and Jonas Hedström. Fernström also wrote about opportunities for work for almost any number of men in the logging camps at $20.00 per month.13 The fact that a Swedish settlement around Chisago Lake was connected with hopes of expansion of the Episcopal church is not contradicted by Fernström. Erik Ulrik Norberg, who in religious matters was changeable, seemed for a time to have been attracted to Unonius' Episcopal church. During his first winter in Minnesota he had visited an Episcopalian American family. Particularly significant are Norberg's relations with the Indian missionary James Lloyd Breck, who was Unonius' mentor in the Episcopal church. Breck was living in Minnesota at this time. Ulf Beijbom writes:

Since 1845 Breck had followed the fortunes of the Scandinavi• an immigrants in Wisconsin and had tried to get them under the influence of the Episcopal church. Like Fredrika Bremer he 221 saw the possibility of Minnesota becoming a place for Scandinavians. In a letter dated St. Paul, November 15, 1850, Breck gave an enthusiastic description of Minnesota's possibil• ities and advantages for. new settlers. Breck reported that the west side of the St. Croix Valley was still uninhabited and that it was in all respects "highly favored for Scandinavian settlers." He had dreams of seeing a Scandinavian colony with a "second Unonius" as the religious leader of a second Scandinavian parish. Breck wanted Unonius to visit Minneso• ta—"to Minnesota I greet you with open arms."14

No doubt Norberg talked with Breck, Fernström, and probably others about an Episcopal congregation. In the letter of March 17, 1851, Norberg told of a conversation with Breck, in which the latter expressed his desire to see a Swedish settlement at Chisago Lake. He considered the climate as especially healthy for Scandinavians. At the end of this letter Norberg again mentioned Breck, speaking of him as a respectable and zealous servant of Christ. He had given Norberg and other Swedes invaluable service, but unfortunately had not been rewarded with gratitude. One may be led to believe that Norberg's involvement in the planning of a Swedish settlement also had other grounds, besides love for humanity and a liking for the Episcopal church. This former official and smart businessman certainly thought of economic possibilities to be created by an influx of immigrants to the place he had explored.16 In Ulf Beijbom's words:

If Norberg now plays his cards well, that is, Unonius' interest in getting immigrants from cholera-infested Chicago to Chisa• go Lake and Breck's zeal for his church, then the colonization ought to progress. The Norberg-Unonius alliance ought to be just as strong as that of the Hedström brothers. . . .

However, Norberg and Breck did not attain that goal or win that game. It was the Swedish Lutheran pastor Erland Carlsson who came to Chisago Lake in the spring of 1854 and organized a congregation which became a stronghold of orthodox Lutheran• ism.16 Beijbom says that the Unonius archive shows that it was Unonius who turned the thoughts and the feet of Swedish immigrants toward Minnesota and who became the catalyst for

222 many ideas and plans in the years of immigration from Sweden. His research and writing certainly clarify the story of the beginnings of Swedish settlement at Chisago Lake and Hay Lake. I was born in Chisago Lake Township, grew up, went to school and worked for a few years in the community, and have tried to write about its history. Some of the details have never been clear to me. Beijbom's study has had the effect of a projector adjusted to perfect focus. Beijbom gives a great deal of credit to Unonius for his efforts to send Swedish immigrants to Minnesota. There is another angle to the story, one which Beijbom has not mentioned. The group which accompanied Per Anderson had made plans before leaving Sweden. Eric Norelius wrote in his memoirs:

Toward the end of July 1850 more than a hundred people from Hassela, Bergsjö, Gnarp, and Hudiksvall parishes in Hälsing• land and from Medelpad and Gästrikland, gathered in Gävle, and they agreed to make the journey together to the New World and if possible form a settlement there and establish an evangelical Lutheran congregation. To accomplish this they thought it would be best to call a pastor before leaving Sweden. . . ,17

Their plan to stay together was abandoned when they came to New York. Some found work there. After the remaining members of the group came to Chicago, some stayed there and others settled in western Illinois, at Andover, Galesburg, Princeton, Rock Island, and Moline. Per Anderson did not, however, forget the original plan. He still wanted to start a new settlement, and when he heard of Minnesota, a land of woods, lakes, game, and fish, it appealed to him because it sounded so much like his old surroundings in Sweden. He was a ready target for the news from the Norberg report. When Norelius came to Chisago Lake for the first time in 1854 he wrote of his impressions: "The next day I walked nine miles through the forest to Chisago Lake. There I saw at last in this three-year-old settlement the result of our original colonization plan when we left Sweden."18 We thus know of only a few immigrants who came to Chisago Lake as a direct result of efforts by Unonius and Norberg, although 223 it was largely through the efforts of these few early settlers that that Swedish settlement at Chisago Lake and in other parts of the state increased rapidly, especially after the Civil War. It was on November 14, 1850, that the Per Anderson group arrived in Chicago on its journey from Sweden, and the next day they met Gustaf Unonius. Eric Norelius was among them. He wrote in his memoirs: "We learned that there was a Swedish congregation here with a pastor by the name of Gustaf Unonius. This pastor came later that day to visit us. He seemed to be in his best years, neatly dressed, and with a cheery voice and active disposition."19 Could it be that Per Anderson told Unonius of their plans to form a new colony? Could this have spurred Unonius to give instruc• tions to Norberg to look for a suitable place for a man who loved the woods and the lakes, the fish and the game? Although it might seem as if Norberg had found a place that was custom-made for Per Anderson, this pioneer Swede stayed at Chisago Lake only five or six years, then moved to Goodhue County, later to Houston County, then to Cambridge in Isanti County, where he died in 1881.

The last pioneer log cabin near Shafer, Minnesota, in the Chisago Lake country. (Courtesy of Theodore A. Norelius.) 224 NOTES 'Ulf Beijbom, "Gustaf Unonius' arkiv och vad det berättar om den första svenska bosättningen i Minnesota," Personhistorisk tidskrift, 79 (1983), 49-61, also contained in Ulf Beijbom, Utvandrarna och Svensk-Amerika (Stockholm, 1986), 55-72. In addition, see: Robert Grönberger, Svenskarne i St. Croix-dalen (Minneapolis, 1879), 17 ff.; Eric Norelius, De Svenska Luterska Församlingarnas och Svenskarnes Historia i Amerika, 2 vols. (Rock Island, Dl., 1890,1916), I, 540 ff.; Emeroy Johnson, A Church Is Planted (Minneapolis, 1948), 23 ff., and "Erik Ulrik Norberg, First Swede at Chisago Lake," Arkivfynd, 1 (St. Peter, Minn.), 1 ff.; Theodore A. Norelius, In the Land of Ki-Chi-Saga (Stillwater, Minn., 1973), 3 ff.; Emil Lund, Minnesota- Konferensens och dess församlingars historia (Rock Island, El., 1926), 341 ff.; James Taylor Dunn, The St. Croix, Midwest Border River (New York, 1965), 161 ff.; Allan Kastrup, The Swedish Heritage in America (Minneapolis, 1975), 197 ff.; F. M. Eckman, Minnesskrift 1854-1904. Svenska lutherska församlingen, Chisago Lake (Minneapolis, 1904), 21 ff.

2Gustaf Unonius, Minnen från en sjuttonårig vistelse i Nordvästra Amerika, 2 vols. (Uppsala, 1861-62); English translation by Jonas Oscar Backlund, ed. Nils William Olsson, A Pioneer in Northwest America, 1841-1858: The Memoirs of Gustaf Unonius, 2 vols. (Minneapolis, 1950, 1960). 3Letter by Per Anderson to Eric Norelius, in Emeroy Johnson, "Per Andersson's Letters from Chisago Lake," Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, 24 (1973), 21-22. "Johnson, "Erik Ulrik Norberg," 7-12. sBeijbom, "Gustaf unonius' arkiv," 57. °Ibid, 57; Norelius, De Svenska Luterska Församlingarna, I, 544 ff. 'Beijbom, "Gustaf Unonius' arkiv," 57. "Ibid., 58; Johnson, "Erik Ulrik Norberg",21-22, and "Pers Andersson's Letters," 9. 9Norelius, De Svenska Luterska Församlingarna, I, 554 f. ' "Unonius, Pioneer in Northwest America, II, 22n. "Johnson, "Per Andersson's Letters," 21-22. 12Johnson, "Erik Ulrik Norberg," 33. 13Beijbom, "Gustaf Unonius' arkiv," 58. uIbid., 58. "•Void., 59. "Må., 59. "[Eric Norelius], Early Life of Eric Norelius (1833-1862), trans, and ed. by Emeroy Johnson (Rock Island, 111., 1934),97. "Ibid., 233. "Ibid., 110.

225