Swedish American Genealogist

Volume 15 Number 2 Article 1

6-1-1995

Full Issue Vol. 15 No. 2

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag

Part of the Genealogy Commons, and the Scandinavian Studies Commons

Recommended Citation (1995) "Full Issue Vol. 15 No. 2," Swedish American Genealogist: Vol. 15 : No. 2 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag/vol15/iss2/1

This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Swedish American Genealogist by an authorized editor of Augustana Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. (ISSN 0275-9314)

Swedish American Genealo ist

A journal devoted to Swedish American biography, genealogy and personal history

CONTENTS

Anders Fredrik Kindberg, the Helpful Swede in New York in the 19th Century 6 5

Johan Ferdinand Peterson: Minnesota Pioneer and Civil War Casualty 6 8

Swedish Residents in an Old People's Home in Chicago 7 3

Ernst von Vegesack - a Swedish Officer in the Civil War 7 4

My Angels of Genealogy 8 0

Protection Certificates Issued to Swedish Seamen in Philadelphia 1824-1861 86

Jacob Fahlström's Declaration of Intention 9 2

A Cemetery in Colorado 9 6

Genealogical Queries 108

Vol. XV June 1995 No.2 Swedish American -~~~ealogist~

(ISSN 0275-9314) Swedish American Ge11ealogist Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center Augustana College Rock Jsland. IL 6120 I Tel. (309) 794 7204 Publisher: Swenson Swedish rmmigration Research Center Editor: Nils William Olsson. Ph.D .. F.A .S.G., P.O . Box 2186. Winter Park. FL 32790. Tel. (407) 647 4292 Associate Editor, James E. Erickson, Ph.D .. Edina, MN Contributing Editor, Peter Stebbins Craig, J.D .. F.A .S.G., Washington, DC Editorial Committee: Dag Blanck. Uppsala, Sweden Glen E. Brotander, Salem, se Carl-Erik Johansson, Salt Lake City, UT Christopher Olsson, Minneapolis, MN Col. Erik Thorell . Stockholm, Sweden El isabeth Thorsell, Järfälla, Sweden Dr. Erik Wiken, Uppsala, Sweden

Contributions are welcome, but the journal and its editors assume no responsibility for errors of fact or views expresscd, nor for the accuracy of the material presenred or books reviewed. Queries are printed free of charge to subscribers only. Subscriptions are $20.00 per annum and run for the calendar year. Single copies are $6.00 each. Swenson Center Assöciates are entit(ed to a special discounted subscription price of I $ I 0.00. Questions dealing with membership. back issues, mailing, advertising' and other financial I matters should beJ refer,ed 10 Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, Rock Island. \ Questions dealing with edit.orial matter. qucries, manuscripts, ahnentafeln, etc. should be referred to the editor in Winter Park. I In Sweden the subscription price is 150.00 Swedish kru11or per year for surface delivery, ! 200.00 kru11 vr for air. In Scandjnavia the subscripuon fee may be deposited in a postgiro account No. 260 10-9, Swedish American Genealogist. Box 15222. 16 1 15 Bromma, SWEDEN.

Salt Lake City Genealogical Tour 22-29 October 1995

In view of the fully booked tour in the fall of 1994, it is not too early to mark your calendar for 1995. We are able to offerthe same week fhis year, 22-29 Oct., which former participants can vouch for, isa good time to visit SLC. The weather is usually good and the library is not as crowdedas at other times of the year. Space is limited and it a good idea to get your rrame on the list early. Applications are-being mailed to all subscribers and will be honored on a first come, first served basis. For further information write to the Swenson Center or SAG or call (309) 794 7204 or (407) 647 4292. Anders Fredrik Kindberg, the Helpful Swede in New York in the 19th Century Erik Wiken*

Kindberg was the name of a Swede, residing in New York City, who often during the 1840s and 1850s was recommended by Swedish emigrants as a person whom new-comers could contact upon arrival in New York.

, It might be of interest to readers ofSA G to cite a few examples referring to this well-known Swede, to determine his background and to study what we know of his many activities.

In 1843 Erik Hedström relates the following: "A young country man, rnr. Kindberg, spared neither time nor pains on our behalf." 1

Johannes Heljesson writes in 1852: "persons to whom one may safely tum to (for advice) in New York area ship chandler named Kindberg and a pastor Hedström."'

Olof Andersson writing in 1853: " ... find a man ... , namely shipping agent Kindberg and ask him for a contract on the railroad to Chicago. He will help you."'

Carl E. Swalander gives the following judgment concerning Kindberg in 1854: "he can be recommended to every businessman as a man of integrity, whom one may depend upon as a reliable and reasonably priced agent, who enjoys the unlimited and well deserved confidence of his countrymen. "•

His full name was Anders Fredrik Kindberg, bom in Gärdserum Parish (Ög.) 1 Dec. 1813, son of Jonas Kindberg, forester (skogvaktare), and Anna Lisa Månsdotter. 5 After having been employed in Stockholm as a bookkeeper for a few years he emigrated to the U.S. in 1838, after having secured a passport 7 Aug. 6 He settled in New York as a ship chandler, residing first at 29 Old Slip and later at 85 West Street. He married, unknown when, a considerably younger woman named Sarah M. Thompson, daughter of John Thompson. She died in 1854 at the age of 23 years.7 Kullgren refers to Kindberg in 1856 as a widower with children.8

* Dr. Erik Wiken, a frequent contributor to SAG and a member of its editorial board, resides in Uppsala, Sweden.

65 Swedish American Genealogist

Witting refers to Kindberg as "an outstanding Swedish merchant" and relates that Hedström, the Swedish Methodist pastor aboard the Bethel Ship in New York harbor, deposited funds given to Hedström by Jenny Lind to be distributed to the poor. He suggested this method since he believed that Kindberg, better than himself, understood and could document the needs of those seeking financial help.9 7 I i He was an agent for Gustaf Obom's Swedish American newspaper, Skan­ \ 10 dinaven, which was published in New York 1851-1853. In 1851 Erik Ulrik ,I Norberg wanted Kindberg to promote the new Swedish settlement in Chisago Lake, \ MN11 to the newly arrived Swedes in New York and on 17 March 1858 the Norwegian American newspaper, Emigranten, published in Madison,WI announced that Kindberg could offer information conceming emigration to the United States.

A special note should be made of Kindberg's relationship to Skandinavi­ ska föreningen (The Scandinavian Society) in New York, an organization which has been largely neglected by emigration scholars. 12 The society was founded 9 July 1844, at the behest of Harro Paul Harring (1798-1870), at that time residing in New York. Though he was bom in the German-speaking portion of Schleswig­ Holstein, he was an activist in the cause of Scandinavian unity. 13

At a meeting of the society 5 April 1847 Kindberg was elected president. He had probably been the driving force when the society at the beginning of the year published the first Scandinavian newspaper in America, Skandinavia, and was its editor

During Kindberg's time as president, the society collected funds Denmark, whose husbands and fathers bad lost their lives in the war with Prussia.15

The society also established a library, of which two catalogues have been _preserved, one from 1867 (now in the University Library in Oslo) and one from 1902. 16

I have not been able to deterrnine the eventual tie that the Scandinavian Society might have bad with later and similar organizations.

66 Anders Fredrik Kindberg

Notes

1 Undated letter, pub!. in Aftonbladet (Stockholm) 20 Sept. 1843, trans!. in Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly 1981, pp. 241-247. Erik Hedström arr. in New York 6 June 1843, Nils William Olsson and Erik Wiken, Swedish Passenger Arrivals in the United States 1820-1850 (Stockholm 1995) (abbreviated SPAUS) (723), pp. 35, 190. 2 Letter, dated Anderstorp, P. 0. Prairie la Cross, WI 30 Nov. 1852, pub!. in Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfanstidning 2 March 1853. Johannes Heljesson emigr. with Iris wife and seven children from Lena Parish (Älvs.) and arr. in New York aboard the Arethusa 12 June 1852. Pastor Hedström is the well­ known Methodist clergyman ofthe Bethel ship in New York's harbor, SPAUS (222), pp. 13, 158-159. 3 Letter, dated Bishop Hill l Feb 1853, pub!. by Lilly Setterdahl in Vår hembygd (Östervåla) 5, 1981, p. 435 and trans!. by her in Western lllinois Regional Studies 1:2, Fall 1978, pp. 163-165. Olof Andersson arr. in New York 8 March 1847, SPAUS (2124) pp. 71, 297. 4 Letter, dated 1 July 1854 in Carl E. Swalander, Bref om America till Hemmavarande Landsmän, Andra Brefvet (Halmstad 1855),p. 28. Concerning Swalander see Gösta Lext, Studier rörande svensk emigration till Nordamerika 1850-1880 (Göteborg 1977), pp. 325-327. 5 Gärdserum Church Archives (Vadstena District Archives). An erroneous statement by Thomas Hansen Erslev in Almindeligt Forfatter-Lexiconfor Kongeriget Danmark. Supplement, Andet Bind (Kj{6benhavn 1864), p. 45 states that Kindberg was b. in Denmark and Juul Dieserud (see note 14) states that he was a Norwegian national. 6 Överståthållarämbetets passjournal 1838 (Stockholm City Archives). 7 New York Evening Post 4 April 1854 (Gertrude A. Barber, New York Evening Post Death Notices, in New York Historical Society). 8 Carl Allvar Kullgren, Dagbok (Göteborg District Archives). 9 Victor Witting, Minnen ur mitt lif. Second edition (Worcester, MA 1904). 10 Skandinaven 27 Oct. 1852 (Royal Library, Stockholm). 11 UlfBeijbom, Utvandrarna och Svensk-Amerika (Stockholm 1986), p. 67. 12 Older references are to be found in Axel Felix (pseudonym for Hans Peter Christian Hansen), Langt fra Danmark (Kj{6benhavn 1852-1855) I, pp. 54-65, furthermore in an article by Ferd. S. Winslow in the newspaper Emigranten (lnmansville, WI) 30 Jan. 1857 and Robert Watt, Hinsides Atlanterhavet (Kj{6benhavn 1872-1874) Il, pp. 142-160. 13 Concerning Harring see Neue Deutsche Biographie 7 (Berlin 1966) pp. 702-703. Fora bibliography ofhis many works see Gesamtverzeichnis des Deutschsprachlichen Schrifttums (GV) 1700-1910, vol. 56 (Miinchen ... 1982) pp. 117-119. In New York he published in 1844 Episteln an die Fourieristen and Moses zu Tanis . In a number of Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfartstidning dated 13 July 1847 there is a reference to an issue of the society' s newspaper Skandinavia, now !ost, which stated that in the quarters of the society in New York there hung a painting by Harring, which depicted Scandinavia as a beauiful young lady, who, leaning against an old rune stone, tramples the symbols of absolutism under her feet. Over her head one could view the North Star and in the background could be seen the sea, reflecting the clear and rosy glow of the early morning light. 14 Juul Dieserud, "Skandinavia, ikke 'Nordlyset', var det färste norsk-danske blad i Amerika" in Nordmannsforbundet 22, 1929, pp. 14-17. In a letter by Johannes Wilhelm Christian Dietrichson, da~ed Kos~onong, WI 23 Aug. 1847 (trans. in Land of Their Choice, ed. by Theodore C. Blegen, Minneapo~s, MN 1955, p. 150) he believes that there were 15 or 16 issues of Skandinavia published. Only four 1ssues, Nos. 5-8 have been preserved in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. These are dated 15 March, 15 April, I May and 15 May 1847. _ 15 Letter, dated 30 Nov. 1848 from the Scandinavian Society in New York to Skandinavisk Selskab in Kj{6benhavn, mentions the collection and gives a list of the almost 200 Scandinavian donors (Skandinavisk Selskabs handlingar, Add. 290 fol. in the Royal Library, Kj{6benhavn) . 16 National Union Catalogue Pre-1956 Imprints,Vol. 48, p. 65.

67 Johan Ferdinand Peterson: Minnesota Pioneer and Civil War Casualty

James E. Erickson *

The Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal Church of St. Paul, organized 23 July 1853, was the first congregation established solely by and for Scandinavial!s in Minnesota. 1 It emerged from the English-speaking Methodist Episcopal church in St. Paul, itself a fledgling congregation less than four years old, during the pastorate of the Rev. Thomas M. Fullerton. 2 Fortunately, Fullerton was not only an active participant in the development of the Scandinavian class within his congregation; he was also a keen observer who kept a journal!

While researching the history of the Scandinavian congregation in St. Paul, I came across a number of excerpts from Fullerton's journal. The following two entries in particular peaked my curiosity, because they described a rather mysterious and intriguing Swede by the name of Peterson:

"Saturday Feb. 26, 1853. We have continued our meetings in the church, having preaching every night. Several have been converted, and a deep seriousness is manifested among all who attend. The church is much revived, especially among our Swedish members. A Swede, formerly a Lutheran, came fifteen miles today on foot, having heard of our meetings, to enjoy the means of grace tomorrow. He said, 'There is something here,' laying his hand on his breast, 'which makes me very unhappy, and I came here to see if I cannot get it removed.' I have today written to Bro. Willerup, of our Norwegian mission in Wisconsin, to come up. There are many of these people here, ripe for the harvest, but they cannot understand English."

"Monday Feb. 28. [1853] The Swede mentioned Saturday was converted on Saturday night. He has just called on me at the parsonage before starting home. His statement is that he has been a Lutheran-has a wife and six children - lived a while in New York- his wife attended Methodist meetings

• James E Erickson is Contributing Editor of SAG and resides al 7008 Bristol Boulevard, Edina, MN 55435.

68 \

\ I Johan Ferdinand Peterson

there - but when she became serious he laughed her out of it. They came to Minnesota. He made a claim- built a house-opened his farm, but a man entered his land, and he lost all. Last spring he entered some land, raised a good crop, got it threshed and housed, and the fire consumed it all. He is now poor. A week ago yesterday some of our Swedish brethren visited him. Since then he could not sleep or work-felt something bad in his heart. Ris wife told him he had better go to St. Paul and get the people to pray for him, but he thought he would get over it, but got worse-went to work on Saturday morning but could do nothing-dropped his ax and started to St. Paul. Now he says he sees through all his rnisfortunes- God was leading him a way he did not know_:_says his old religion has no warmth- no soul in it. He speaks seven different languages, and is an intelligent man. His name is Peterson." (This man was a neighbor of Uncle Jacob, in Washington Co.)3

The vague, almost cryptic, clues notwithstanding, it is now quite clear that the man noted by Fullerton is none other than Johan (John) Ferdinand Peterson, a Minnesota pioneer and Civil War casualty.

Johan Ferdinand Peterson was b. in Landskrona (Malm.) 3 April 1819, the s. of Nils Petersson, a bookbinder, and Maria Elisabeth Moberg. On 23 Aug. 1839 he married Catharina Erika Hördin (Herdin), who was b. in Gävle (Gävl.) 18 May 1821, the illegitimate dau. ofMargareta Hördin (Herdin), a servant. They had the following children (all b. in Gävle): Erika Paulina, b. 18 Dec. 1840; Victor Ferdinand, b. 30 Jan. 1843; Johan Emanuel, b. 7 Mar. 1845; Theodore Erik (Erik · Oscar?), b. 1 May 1846; and Nils Gottfrid, b. 6 Oct. 1848.4

Although Johan Ferdinand is purported to have ernigrated to the U.S . before his wife and children, his name has not yet been found on either passport registers or ship manifests. Catharina Erika, however, received passports for herself and the five children (ages 11, 9, 7, 4, and 2) in Gävle 20 Aug. 1850. They arrived in New York from Stockholm on 8 Nov. 1850 aboard the ship Walter R. Jones. 5 After a brief stay in New York, the farnily headed west. They arrived in St. Paul, MN 23 May 1851 aboard a paddle boat.6

John opened a tailor shop in St. Paul and quickly struck up friendships with two Swedes who had preceded him- Henry Russen, a tailor and charter member of the Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal Church (and, coincidentally, a schoolmate of Catharina Erika's in Gävle!) and Jacob Fahlström, the first Swede and the first Methodist convert in Minnesota. In 1852, the Peterson farnily moved to Washington Co. near Mound Prairie, and thus became neighbors of the Jacob Fahlström farnily. A.E. Strand briefly mentions this relationship:"The first Swede

69 Swedish American Genealogist whom Fahlström ever met, since his arrival on this continent, was a tailor by the name of John Peterson. They met in St. Paul. Peterson accompanied Fahlström to his home in Afton and liked the land so well that he decided to make his home there. He moved there in 1852 and was the second Swede in that settlement." 7 Johan F. Petterson and Christina [sic] E. Petterson of Washington Co. were received on probation in 1853 by the newly organized Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal Church of St. Paul. 8 The following children were born into the Peterson family while they lived near Mound Prairie: Elizabeth, b. 15 Feb. 1852; Hortense Christine, b. 2 Sept. 1855; and Adolph Fritchief, b. Aug. 1857.9

Peterson family history corroborates the misfortunes alluded to by Fullerton in his journal entries. At the time of the birth of Elizabeth, the family was living in a rented house near the original claim on which John Ferdinand had filed; but, before he could "prove up" on this claim, one of his neighbors had "jumped" it. He subsequently filed a second claim on land approximately two miles from the original claim. Oscar Augustus Peterson, John Ferdinand's youngest son and family historian, writes: "That season they raised a splendid crop of grain, threshed it and stored it in the field, while a granary was being built on the claim. Before the crop could be transferred a prairie fire took crop, lumber for the house, and everything in the field." 10

After losing this · second claim because of an inability to make payment on it, John anda neighbor traveled to Stearns Co. in the spring of 1859 and took up adjoining claims near the city of Sauk Centre. The rest of the Peterson family joined John in the fall . The 1860 U.S. Census lists 10 members of the Peterson family living on this farm near Sauk Centre, and indicates the value of their real estate at $800; the value of their personal estate at $300. 1 1 The last Peterson child, Oscar Augustus Peterson, was b. near Sauk Centre 13 July 1861 and was named after a neighbor, August Lindbergh, the grandfather of Charles Lindbergh, the famous aviator. 12

Two of the Peterson men-Victor, the oldest son, and John, the father-enlisted in the Union army

70 Johan Ferdinand Peterson

Afton in Washington Co.; and finally bought a 200 acre farm near Afton. Johan F. Petterson was received into full membership of the Scandinavian Methodist Epis­ copal Church, St. Paul by letter 23 Mar. 1863. 16 According to the 1865 Minnesota Census, all Peterson family members (except the father, John F.) were living together in the town of Afton as of 1 June. 17 Pvt. John F. Peterson hadd. at Jefferson Barracks, MO 16 Oct. 1864 and was also buried there. 18

According to the 1870 U.S. Census, enumerated 22 July 1870, Catharina Erika and her five youngest children were still living in Afton. 19 Just two days earlier, however, John G. Holms [sic] and Erica C. Peterson had filed for a marriage license at the Washington Co. courthouse in Stillwater. Neither the marriage

LIGHTNING A Man Killed in Washington County Woodbury, Washington Co., Aug. 25 To the Editors of the Saint Paul Pioneer.

During the storm, yesterday, Mr. Holmes, who recently married the widow Peterson, residing in the town of Afton, was struck and instantly killed by lightning, while lying on the floor. He was the only person in the room. Several persons in other parts of the house were stunned. When he was discovered they saw just one quiver of one arm. They cannot find any marks on his person oron the house, where the lightning struck .... 22

In 187 4, Catharina, Hori:ence, Adolph, and Oscar mo ved to 118 W oodwani St. in St. Paul. 23 Catharina died here on 4 Dec. 1878. Her funeral was from the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church, on the corner of Tenth and Temperance streets, on Friday, 6 Dec. at 2 o'clock p.m. 24

Notes 1 T. Otto Nall, Forever Beginning (Nashville: Parthenon Press, 1973), 66-67. 2 Rev. Thomas M. Fullerton was readmitted to the Wisconsin Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1851 and stationed (appointed to serve) at St. Paul from 1851 to 1853. He located (stepped away from the itinerant ministry) in 1853. - Minutes oj the Wisconsin Annual Conference ofthe Methodist Episcopal Church, 1851-53, United Methodist Church, Minnesota Annual Conference Historical Society Archives, Minneapolis, MN. For a recent discussion on the founding of the Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Paul, MN see James E. Erickson and Laura J. Erickson, "Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Paul, MN Members, 1853-1860," Swedish American Genealogist Vol.14 (December 1994).

71 Swedish American Genealogist

3 Fullerton's journal entries were taken from "Sketch of Scandinavian Missions by T. M. Fullerton, 1878," pp. 3-4, Methodist Episcopal Church, Minnesota Annual Conference Historical Society Papers 1840-1909, BA6.l.M592h, Box 1, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul (hereafter cited as Meth. Hist. Soc. MSS). They are also cited in Chauncey Hobart, The History of Methodism in America (Red Wing, MN: Red Wing Printing, 1887), 118-19. The neighbor referred toas "Uncle Jacob" was Jacob Fahlström. 4 Nils William Olsson, Swedish Passenger Arrivals in New York 1820-1850 (Chicago: Swedish Pioneer Historical Society, 1967), 258-60 (hereafter cited as SPANY). 5 Ibid. 6 Oscar Augustus Peterson, "Our Horse and Buggy Days-And Before: An Historical Sketch of the Family of John Ferdinand Peterson," San Bernardino, CA, 3 Dec. 1947, Minnesota Historical Society Manuscript FF615.S2P4, 2-3. 7 A. E. Strand, ed., A History of the Swedish-Americans of Minnesota, vol. 1, (Chicago: Lewis Pub!. Co., 1910), 133 . 6 See Table 2, nos. 27 and 28 in James E . Erickson and Laura J. Erickson, "Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal Church, St. Paul, MN Members, 1853-1860," Swedish American Genealogist Vol. 14 (December 1994). 9 Peterson, "Horse and Buggy Days," 3-4. The 1857 Minnesota Census, enumerated 4 Nov. 1857, lists the following individuals in the Peterson household located in Washington Co., T. 28 N., R. 37 W.: John F., 39, farmer; C. E., 37; Pauline, 17; Victor F., 14; John E., 13; Eric, 12; Godfried, 9; Blizabeth, 6; Hortenze, 3; and Adolph, 4 months. - 1857 Minnesota Census, Washington Co., T. 28 N., R. 21 W., p. 138, nos. 13-22, Minnesota Historical Society microfilm r. 5. 10 Peterson, "Horse and Buggy Days," 3-4. 11 The 1860 U.S. Census, enumerated 30 June 1860, lists the following individuals in the Peterson household located in Stearns Co., NO TWP L (near ~auk Centre): John F., 41, farmer; Bricka C., 39; Paulina B., 19; Victor F., 17, farm laborer; John B., 15, farm laborer; Brick T., 14; Nelson, 12; Blizabeth, 8; Christina, 5; and Adolph, 3. - 1860 U.S. Census, Minnesota, Stearns Co., NO TWP L (Sauk Centre), p. 66, nos. 1-10, Minnesota Historical Society microfilm r. 574. 12 Peterson, "Horse and Buggy Days," 5. 13 Board of Commissioners, Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1861 -1865, 2d ed., vol. 1, (St. Paul: Pioneer Press, 1891), 193. 14 Ibid., 381. 15 Fora more detailed discussion of this conflict see Kenneth Carley, The Sioux Uprising of 1862, 2d ed. (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1976). 16 See Notes for Table 2, no. 27 in James B. Brickson and Laura J. Erickson, "Scandinavian Methodist Bpiscopal Church, St. Paul, MN Members, 1853-1860," Swedish American Genealogist Vol.14 (December 1994): 17 Peterson, "Horse and Buggy Days," 5-7. The 1865 Minnesota Census, enumerated 1 June 1865, lists the following individuals living in the Peterson household in Afton, Washington Co.: Erica C., Pauline, Victor, John, Theoder E., Godfrey, Elizabeth, Hortense, Adolph, and Oscar A. - 1865 Minnesota Census, Washington Co., Afton, no. 90, Minnesota Historical Society microfilm r. 3. 18 Commissioners, Civil and Indian Wars , vol. 1, 381 ; "164 Minnesotans lie buried in Jefferson Barracks graves," Minnesota Genealogist 22 (Dec. 1991), 158-59. 19 The 1870 U.S. Census, enumerated 22 July, lists the following members of the Peterson family living together in Afton: Catharine, 49, keeping house; Godfrey, 21, farming; Blizabeth, 18; Hortense, 14; Adolph, 13; and Oscar, 9. The value of their real estate was estimated at $6000; their personal estate at $2416. - 1870 U.S. Census, Minnesota, Washington Co., Afton, p. 15, nos. 25-30, Minnesota Historical Society microfilm r. 12.

72 Johan Ferdinand Peterson

20 LeRoy DuBois, "Washington ·County Marriages- 16 Jul. 1870 - 1 Dec. 1870," Minnesota Genealogical Journal 7 (Nov. 1987), 689. 21 Peterson, "Horse and Buggy Days," 8. 22 Saint Paul Pioneer, 30 August 1870, 2. 23 Peterson, "Horse and Buggy Days," 8-9. The 1875 Minnesota Census lists the following individuals living at 118 Woodward in St. Paul: E. C., 54; Oscar, 14; Adolph, 18; and Hortence, 20. Two boarders-George Eastwood, 20, and Wrn. Murry, age 25- were also listed in the household. - 1875 Minnesota Census, Rarnsey Co., St. Paul, No. 3 - 5th Ward, p. 985, nos. 25-30, Minnesota Historical Society rnicrofilrn r. 14. 24 "Died / Peterson-Holrnes," Saint Paul and Minneapolis Pioneer Press, 5 Dec. 1878, 7.

Swedish Residents in an Old People's Home in Chicago

Recently, one of our subscribers, John R. Moore of Chicago, sent us an unusual item -A History of the NorwegianOld People 's Home in NorwoodPark, IL, written by the attending physician of that institution, Dr. L.M. Bowes, and published by him in 1940. Of particularinterest is the fäet that the history lists all of the residents by name, birth date, when he or she entered the borne and from which part of Scandinavia they came. As one would surmise, the majority of the residents were Norwegians, but there were also a few Swedes, who were as follows:

Danielson, Charles Johan, b. 26 Jan. 1847; camefrom Göteborg, enteredthe borne 16 Oct. 1916.

Hedberg, Elizabeth, Mrs., b. 17 Jan. 1869; came from Borås, entered the borne 1 June 1939.

Lee, Christine N., Mrs., b. 15 Sept. 1853; camefrom Värmland; enteredthe borne 20 Nov. 1931.

Pearson, Johanna C., Mrs., b. 13 Sept. 1865; camefrom Dalsland; entered the borne 16 June 1940.

73 Ernst von Vegesack - a Swedish Officer in the

Civil War \ Roger Kvist* _l

Baron Ernst von Vegesack was born on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic in 1820, the scion of a farnily which in the 15th Century had moved from Westphalia in Germany to the Baltic littoral. The family was enobled by the Swedish Crown in 1598 and was raised to the baronial class in 1802. Just as in the case of his father and grandfather, Vegesack became a military officer, at first in the National Guard of Gotland in 1840, and two years later in the Dal Regiment. In 1850 his penchant for adventure took over and he became gunnery officer on St. Barthelemy in the Caribbean. He remained on the Swedish island for six years. When he retumed to Sweden he was commissioned company commander in the Dal Regiment, a position he held but a brief period before he accepted a position as chief tt'affic officer on the Gefle-Dala Railroad.

Staff Officer with Generals Wool and Butterfield

Receiving the necessary permission for a leave of absence, Ernst von Vegesack left Sweden in 1861 in order to trave} to North America, where military hostilities recently had erupted between the South and the North. In September of that year he became a captain on the staff of General Daniel Butterfield, but already after a month he was transferred, as a newly appointed major, to the staff of General John Wool, the military commander in Virginia. Vegesack then served as an officer on General Wool's staff at Ft. Monroe in Virginia from the autumn of 1861 until the spring of 1862.

On 8 March 1862 Vegesack could view how the rebels with their rebuilt armoured vessel, the Merrimac, had rammed and sunk the U.S.S.Cumberland as well as driving the U.S.S Congress aground. Vegesack was ordered to take two cannon and three companies of sharpshooters down to the beach in the attempt of driving the separatists from the Congress, which maneuver was successful. They were also able to wound the captain of the Merrimac, who, however, from a distance, was able to set fire to the Congress. (As is well-known, it was possible for John Ericsson the following day to neutralize the Merrimac with his Monitor at the naval battle of Hampton Roads). i * Dr. Roger Kvist is assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Umeå in Sweden. He is a specialist on the Civil War, particularly the participation in that conflict by Swedish officers and men. I I 74 \ I I i Ernst von Vegesack

Later in the spring of 1862, Vegesack was ordered by General Wool to join the staff of Brigadier Butterfield and Vegesack took part in the pursuit of the rebel forces by the Army of the Potomac close to the environs of Richmond. On 27 May the Fifth Army Corps, of wbich Butterfield's brigade was a unit, encountered a brigade from North Carolina at Hanover Court House. The enemy was lined up on large open field, bebind wbich was a ravine covered by undergrowth. Vegesack volunteered to reconnoiter the ravine.

Vegesack rode through a narrow forested belt beside the open field and arrived at a place where the ravine joined a marshy area. Here be could scout the grouping of the enemy forces and estimate its strength. On bis retum Vegesack discovered that the rebels bad formed a firing line through the forest, thus brooking bis passage. Vegesack then rode to the point, where the line of fire cut through the edge of the forest, gave bis horse the spurs and rode through the enemy grouping. The entire line began firing at him, but be could reach bis staff headquarters without injury. The Fifth Army Corps was then ordered to engage the rebel brigade, wbich bad threatened the flank of the Union Army. In the battle, which lasted six hours, Vegesack led the attacking charge in the center.

The Battle of Gaines' Mill

The input wbich Vegesack bad bad in the reconnaisance at Hanover Court House resulted in bis being given a permanent assignment as major on the staff of General Butterfield's brigade in the summer of 1862. The Fifth Army Corps, of wbich the brigade was a part, was stationed at Mechanicsville, separated from the main part of the Army of the Potomac by the Cbickahorniny River. On 26 June 1862 the rebels opened a counterattack against the corps, wbich was forced to retreat to Gaines' Mill, where they were attacked the following day. At 6 o'clock in the evening of 27 June, Vegesack was dispatched to scout the enemy forces. He rode together with an orderly, but a grenade killed the orderly as well as both horses and showered Vegesack with blood and soil. When be came to, be observed that the entire army corps was in flight toward the forest at the shore of Cbickahorniny River.

Vegesack ran toward the 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry, which was on the verge of fleeing. All the regimental officers bad been put out of comrnission but Vegesack was able to stay the fleeing regiment and ordered the men to face the front. This maneuver so puzzled the enemy wbich was about 100 yards away, that they stopped and began signaling, finally sending forward parlamentarians and from their superior position to demand the surrender of the regiment. This was refused.

75 Swedish American Genealogist

In the meanwhile Vegesack gatbered together about 1,300 men and placed : them in a favorable position in a copse of trees. The group was able to hold off the I rebels for 2 1/2 hours but when it seemed as if the force would be surrounded I Vegesack decided that the regiment should retreat toward the river. To cover the l retreat he ordered four companies to hold off the enemy, a force which he himself .. ) commanded. He was thus able to protect the rear from the enemy artillery. Rafts made from bridge timbers were hastily constructed on which about 70 wounded l could cross the Chickahominy River. The remainder of the men bad to swim. About 250 men were lost to enemy fire

Commanding the Turner Rifles

As a reward for his achievements at Gaines' Mill, Vegesack was promoted to colonel 19 July 1862 and given the command of the 20th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Originally recruited from German immigrants in New York, foremost men who had belonged to the New York Turnverein, a gymnastic society, the regiment was for this reason also called the United Turner Rifles. But Vegesack could not immediately assume command of bis unit. Soon after Gaines' Mill he had fallen ill with dysentery and fever and was cared for in New York by the Swedish consul, Carl Edvard Habicht. It was not until 14 August that Vegesack could return to his command, even though he had not fully recovered. The illness was to affect him

On 17 September 1862, about ten o'clock in the forenoon, the Sixth Army Corps, to which the Turner Rifles belonged, arrived at the battlefield of Antietam. Vegesack's regiment was the first unit of the army corps to engage the enemy. The army corps had taken a position approximately in the middle of the battle area, where early in the morning some of the bloodiest fighting had taken place. The Union forces, who now were being relieved, had lost a few hill tops to the enemy and the Third Brigade, to which Vegesack's unit belonged, was ordered to recapture these heights.

The attack was led by Vegesack's regiment. In a letter to a friend he describes the action: "I arrived from the flank, ordered 'close ranks' and as the regiment came abreast I ordered 'forward march', placing myself at the head with the lieutenant colonel behind heading the right wing and my adjutant behind with the left wing. And we were off, shouting hurrah! I captured the heights, threw back the enemy and held my position, so that everything was accomplished when the other sections of the brigade arrived." The man carrying the flag was killed at the first salvo of the enemy, but Vegesack seized the regimental colors and riding in

76 Ernst von Vegesack the front of bis regiment led the charge of the heights wbich were captured by the use of bayonets.

The brigade grouped itself on the captured heights and held them for 26 hours under constant bombardment and fire from artillery and sharpshooters. Vege­ sack's 20th New York Infantry was exposed to the most furious fire along the entire line and he was praised by the brigade commander for the courage and composure of bimself and his men. During the battles of the day Vegesack's regiment lost 38 killed in action, 96 wounded and 11 missing, totalling 145 men.

The bayonet attack led by Vegesack with the regimental colors in hand created quite a sensation.Ha,pers Weekly in New York published a wood cut ofthe affair as visualized by the artist and the subsequent capture of the enemy-held positions on the heights. In Sweden the news was received with elation because of the success of "Swedish military glory" and the wood cut illustration in Ha,pers Weekly was published in Illustrerad Tidning in Stockhom. Suddenly Ve- gesack's name became a household word in Sweden.

Return to Sweden

On 6 May 1863 the 20th New York Infantry Regiment bad served its voluntary period of two years. The following day the journey turned north to the borne city. The troops were received in Baltimore and Philadelpbia by festive arrangements accompanied with flowers and wreaths. On 10 May the regiment arrived in New York and was received with an enthusiastic welcome punctuated by shouts of hurrah and flowers showered on the returning heroes. Accompanied by a mass of people, the regiment arrived at the Turnerfudle, the society's headquarters, where the soldiers and officers were honored at a gala dinner. On 1 June the regiment was officially mustered out of service, but Vegesack did not begin bis homeward journey until September of that year.

In Sweden Vegesack was to encounter a brilliant career. King Charles XV presented Vegesack with an honorary sabre and bestowed on bim the military decoration "For courage shown on the field of battle" in gold. He was also knighted with the Order of the Sword. The following year he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Military Science and was promoted from captain to lieutenant colonel and commanding officer of the Västerbotten Light Infantry Corps. The same year he was given the Norwegian decoration, the Order of St. Olav. Already in 1868 Vegesack was promoted to colonel and commander of the Hälsinge Regiment and in 1873 he was made military commandant of bis home island of Gotland. During bis tour of duty on Gotland he was elected by the Gotland County

77 Swedish American Genealogist

Government as a member of the First Chamber of the Swedish Riksdag, where he served the years 1879-1887. In 1884 Vegesack was promoted to major general and commanding officer of Sweden's Fifth Military District. He retired on a pension in 1888 and died in Stockholm 12 January 1903.

Vegesack also received several honors from the United States. Already before his departure for Sweden he had received the American medal, Union League oj Philadelphia. By general order he was made brevet brigadier general, \ U.S.V. in 1867 with seniority dated back to 1 March 1865. Much later Vegesack \ was also decorated with the Medal oj Honor. Upon a recommendation of Daniel \ Butterfield, the War Department in Washington, DC awarded Vegesack this honor i1 ! 23 August 1893 accompanied by the citation "for distinguished gallantry at the I Battle of Gaines' Mill." 1 Sources l

American Swedish lnstitute in Minneapolis ! The von Vegesack Civil War Collection*

The Military Archives (Krigsarkivet), Stockholm I! Biograficasamlingen (Biographies) I Tjänsteförteckningar (Service Records)

The National Archives, Washington, DC Records of the Veterans Administration (Record Group 15) Civil War and Later Pension Files,1861-1934 Records of the Adjutant General's Office 1780s-1917 (Record Group 94) Muster Rolls, Civil War Regimental Books, Civil War Compiled Medical Records, Mexican War and Civil War Compiled Service Records of Union Staff Officers, 1861-1866 Compiled Service Records ofVolunteer Union Soldiers, 1861- 1866 Volunteer Service Division, Letters Received, 1861-1889 Records of Movements and Activities of Volunteer Union Organizations (Record Groups 94 and 407)

War oj the Rebellion: A Compilation oj the Offical Records oj the Union and Conjederate Annies. Series I. (Washington, DC; Government Printing Office, 1880-1901.) 128 vols.Vol. 11(1),11(2),19(1).

78 Ernst von Vegesack

Laurin, Casimir, "Vegesackar på Dalregementet." Armborstet. Ärsskrift för Kungl Dalregementets Kamratförening 1963: 165-174. Metzner, Heinrich, Gedenschrift zur feier des 25jährigen Jubiläums des N. Y. Tumvereins (New York: J. Scholer,1875).

* Editor's note: The Ernst von Vegesack Collection was acquired by purchase from the heirs of General von Vegesack by the American Swedish Institute in the 1970s. It consists of much of the memorabilia which has a hearing on his Civil War experience - his sword, pistols, medals and decorations, correspondence with American officers· and his handwritten dispatches he wrote for the Swedish press.

Courtesy Rollins College Archives

Woodcut illustration in Harpers Weekly of New York, dated 25 Oct. 1862 showing von Vegesack leading the charge at the Battle of Antietam. Curiously bis name is given as Van Vegesark.

79 My Angels of Genealogy Lindie Lindstrom Banks*

\ I When my father first arrived in Los Angeles, Califomia, in 1931 at the \ age of förty, he was the first of the Lindstrom family from Rock Island, Illinois, to settle here. I was bom a year later. The depression followed by World W ar Il pre­ cluded travel back to his hometown, where my grandmother, uncles, aunts and cousins still lived, so I never met any of them until some of them joined the service and visited us on their way to duty in the Pacific or the European front. I was thrilled to meet them even though I was a shy, gangly ten year-old, but I never met my grandmoter who had been a widow since my father was two.

I enjoyed hearing my father's stories about his childhood in a Swedish American community, which he often told in a mock Swedish accent, but I was too young to take much interest in my Swedish heritage. Not until I retired from teaching high school English and became a grandmother myself did I begin seriously wondering about my ancestors. My father had told me that his father had died drunk fälling from a streetcar in Moline, Illinois, in 1893, leaving a widow and four young sons. Their one daughter, Ruth, for whom I was named, had died at the age of six in 1889, two years before my father was bom. I never knew my grandfather's Christian name, let alone what he had done with his short life, a few weeks short of 32 years, besides drink and procreate. He must have earned a living to support his farnily and he must have had some redeerning qualities in order to win the heart of the bright-eyed, statuesque Swedishflicka he married.

Although I never knew my grandmother, I have a photograph of her that must have been taken of her in her late fifties or early sixties. She stands in front of a lilac bush in a long taffeta skirt and a blouse with lace collar and cuffs. Since she took in sewing as well as boarders to support her four sons as a widow, I am sure she made the outfit she wears. Her white hair is drawn up in a braid and she wears rimless spectacles. Her head is at a jaunty angle and her smile is warm. After my husband died of cancer 19 years ago, when my three daughters were teenagers, I used to look at her picture in amazement. She had not only been widowed as a young woman of thirty, but two of her children had died by the time the picture was taken.

My parents had both died by the time I retired and had time to begin the genealogical research that would eventually lead me to Sweden. I don't remember who told me about the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, located on

• Lindie Lindstrom Banks resides al 529 South Juanita Avenue, Redondo Beach, CA 90277. 80 My Angels of Genealogy the Augustana College campus in Rock Island, Illinois, but that is where I first wrote in the summer of 1989. My first inquiry yielded some copies of church records including the births and baptisms of my father and his three brothers and the funeral ofmy grandfather, whose name I learned for the first time: Erland Edvin Lindstrom.

In the meantime my two older daughters made me a grandmother for the first time within four months of each other. Two grandchildren later, I wrote the Swenson Center again in the fall of 1993. This time I asked for specific infor­ mation about my grandparents. What had Erland Edvin done for a living? Did he have brothers and sisters? Who was the first in my father's family to emigrate from Sweden?

Once I made the decision to find out more than just vital statistics, I had the uncanny feeling that my ancestors wanted me to know about them. The first coincidence occurred when Jill Seaholm, a researcher who had just returned from a vacation, happened to see my letter together with the reply of her colleague at the Swenson Center. She recognized the name of Johan Peter Lindstrom, Erland's father, and called her mother, Marjorie Seaholm, to ask who in their family had that name. Her mother replied that it was her great-grandfather, Johan Peter who had emigrated with his father David Persson and their respective wives and children from the parish of Kölingared in Älvsborg län in Sweden in 1852. It tumed out that Jill's mother and I were second cousins! She wrote me a letter waming me to sit down before I read it all and signed it "Jill Seaholm, researcher and second cousin once removed." She also made the offer to have her mother send me all the informaton that Jill's grandmother and her uncle had gleaned over several decades. Oh, this was more than I had dared hope for! I wrote back immediately and a few days later a manila envelope arrived from Marjorie Seaholm that showed my father's family back to the late 1700s.

By this time I had already signed up for an Elderhostel trip called "Scandinavian Seminar" to take place in the middle of June of 1994, but I thought, wouldn' t it be great if Elderhostel offered a course near Rock Island so I could meet my cousins and see where my father gre~ up. When the next Elderhostel catalog came a few days later, there it was. It seemed I had a genealogical angel poised on my shoulder. On 5 June 1994, just two weeks before I was to leave for Scandinavia, there was an Elderhostel on the Augustana College campus in Rock Island, whose courses included one, "Coming to America: Swedish Emigration and Genealogy." I signed up the same day.

Because of the information that Jill and her mother had sent me, I came to

81 I i I Swedish American Genealogist I I \ the Elderhostel in Rock Island well prepared. The first night I was there, Marjorie Seaholm picked me up and took me out to dinner. She bad a tape of children i singing in Swedish on the cassette player in ber car. After dinner she took me to j ber borne in Moline where I later met Jill and ber father and watched a video \ cassette of their recent trip to Sweden that included views of the Kölingared area where our great-great-grandfather was bom and raised. During the week I learned a great deal about the Swedish community in the Quad-cities area, which includes Davenport, Iowa, across the Mississippi River from Rock Island and Moline and \ I Bast Moline, Illinois. \ .,\ One of our off-campus tours with the Elderhostel was a trip to the Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois, and the Jenny Lind Chapel, so named because the famous Swedish soprano agreed to donate $1,500 at the request \ of the Swedish clergyman Lars Paul Esbjörn in 1851. It is a small, simple ' building without a steeple. The lumber that would have gone into the building of a steeple was used to make coffins for the victims of the cholera epidemic that swept the area at that time. The basement of the chapel, which bad served as a makeshift hospital and morgue in those days, is now a museum looked after by Marjorie and ber hus band, Robert Seaholm, who grew up in Andover. In a glass case in that little museum is a stringed instrument made by our great-grandfather, Johan Peter Lindstrom, called a psalmodikon. It was used by congregations too poor to afford an organ. Johan Peter made and played the instrument when he led the singing at the weekly prayer meetings in bis borne in Paxton, Illinois, where the Lindstroms bad setted before moving to Moline in 1882. Marjorie also showed me an article from The Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly that mentions Johan Peter Lindstrom had made spinning wheels for neighboring Swedish women. Now I bad a sense of connection with my Swedish heritage that was concrete.

On the same trip I also met a first cousin for the first time. Lois Saunders and ber husband Allan picked me up on a Sunday after the Elderhostel and took me to their church before driving me to the airport. I had known her brother Bill \ Lindstrom since he moved to San ta Monica with bis bride just after W orld War Il. He had told me that his sister had sung with the Sweet Adelines and was now an \ avid hell ringer. During the service as we sang a traditional Lutheran hymn, I blinked back tears as I thought of my heritage. My parents had become Christian II \ Scientists early in their marriage. In that church there is no choir - just soloists. I I remember asking my mother the reason for this since I had always longed to be a part of a choir. My grandmother, Emma Emilia, Erland's widow, had sung a solo in the first production of Handel's Messiah at Augustana College. Bill bad told me that she bad a little pump organ in ber living room and remembered her playing it and encouraging everyone to sing at family gatherings. Both Marjorie Seaholm and

82 My Angels of Genealogy daughter Jill sing in the choir in their church. And I recall my father playing the piano and telling me about the Lindstrom Brothers' Band when be was a teenager. He said that the clergyman in the First Moline Lutheran Church would announce from the pulpit in a Swedish accent. -"God villing and the veather permitting, ve are going to have a picnic next Saturday and music by the Lindstrom brothers." Now I knew where my love of music came from.

Four days after I arrived borne from Rock Island, Mike and I left for the Elderhostel in Scandinavia,which included a week on the Sogndal Fjord in Norway, a week at the Brandbjerg Folk High School near Jelling, Denmark, and a week at the Grimslöv Folk High School in Sweden, which Vilhelm Moberg, the author of The Emigrants, bad attended. Just 26 kilometers away is the city of Växjö, where the House of Emigrants is located.

When the Elderhostel ended, Mike and I rented a car and headed north to Ulricehamn, where Johan Peter' s wife, Anna Christina Andersdotter Grönlund was bom in 1825. We stopped to inquire about accommodations in the area. Claudia Berguson, our guide on the Elderhostel, spoke fluent Norwegian and some Danish and Swedish as well. We were giving ber a lift to Göteborg, and she stepped up to the counter and explained in Swedish who I was and what I wanted. The gentleman said, with a twinkle in bis eye, "I have just the place for you." He called the youth hostel in Kölingared called Årås and made reservations. Youth hostels, or van­ drarhem, as they are called in Sweden, are only open for two hours, between five and seven in the evening. We drove Claudia to Göteborg, took a canal tour of the city, and headed back to Kölingared. My heart began to pound as I saw the signs. In the late afternoon we pulled up in front of the church where my great-grandfather bad baptized bis oldest son in 1849 - just three years before they left Sweden forever. The white steeple was startling against the intensely blue summer sky. The church was locked, but I was determined to return the next morning on Sunday. Small parish churches are not open every Sunday for services, but this weekend I was in luck. Less than two miles down the road was the vandrarhem, where we would be staying. Now the second uncanny coincidence was about to occur.

As I signed in, the young lady at the desk said that she knew a lady who knew all about the Lindstroms and where they bad lived in the area. She asked me if I would like ber to call for me. I felt almost faint as I nodded yes.

The next morning I was up at 5:00 A.M. perusing the material that I'd received from Jill and ber mother. Then I took an early moming walk through the nearby woods hoping to spot a moose, and came back for breakfast in the charming mill house next to thevandrarhem. At exactly 9:00 A.M. Anna-Lena Hultman was

83 Swedish American Genealogist on hand with a notebook and introduced herself with a strong handshake. She is well-known as a genealogist with a great interest in the emigrants from the parishes in Älvsborg län. We sat down in the dining room where she began to explain how we might be related. She also had my great-grandfather's diary containing 60 pages, written in Swedish, together with the memoirs of his oldest son, Andrew Peter, who would later become a widely respected Lutheran clergyman in the Augustana Synod after studies at Augustana College. Anna-Lena spoke excellent English, so that I was able to take notes and record her voice on my micro-cassette recorder. I felt as I were in a dream ! After an hour she suggested that \ we visit the Kölingared Church before the service began. She sat in the front seat \ of our tiny Renault "Elf," Mike drove and Isat in the back. Inside the church was \ the baptismal font, which looked centuries old.

Next Anna-Lena guided us to the soldier's cottage, where my great-great great-grandfather, Per Kant, had lived with his wife, Maria Davidsdotter. They had one son, bom in 1802, before Per Kant was sent off to Stralsund, Germany, as No. 680 in the Älvsborg Regiment to die in the Pomeranian War in 1805. Later that son, David Persson, would marry his first wife, Stina Isaksdotter. The couple had two children before she died at the age of 35. The oldest was my great-grandfather, Johan Peter, bom in 1826. David remarried a year after his wife died. He and Maria Lisa Andersdotter would have three more children before he and his now grown and married son, Johan Peter, would emigrate together with their families. There were in all ten in the emigrant party. In excerpts from David Persson's diary he wrote: "They came to America Sept. 16 1852, had to wait about three months in Sweden before boat sailed, which took a great deal of money. Landed in New York after a voyage of 11 weeks by sailboat - a very dangerous and perilous passage travelled on to Chicago & lived in Ft.Dearbom after travelling from New York in a boxcar."

When they arrived in America they adopted the family name of Lindstrom, instead of the patronymic system used in Sweden at that time. David Persson goes on to describe how two of the daughters were left behind in New York, "owing to cholera raging in Illinois." The girls,who were eleven and thirteen, finally arrived in Chicago a year later. Due to a miscommunication in the mails, there was no one to meet them. A finely dressed gentleman offered to take them to their destination, but the older one became suspicious and refused. She had been in America long enough to know about white slavers in the area. A Methodist farnily took them in until they were reunited with their farnily in St.Charles. David wrote: "There was great rejoicing when the girls finally reached their home and parents after the long separation."

Later, Johan Peter's oldest son, Andrew Peter,would repeat many ofhis fa- 84 My Angels of Genealogy mily's struggles in bis 16-page memoir. It is a close variation on the novels by Vilhelm Moberg, wbich I am reading again with new perspectives.

After visiting the tiny red soldier's cottage with the wbite trim, Anna­ Lena directed us to the Bygget farm,where David and bis first wife lived. The buildings are gone, but the farmer that owns the land has put up a post marking the spot where David and bis first wife lived. We also visited the beautiful farm overlooking Lake Vallem where Johan Peter and bis bride, Anna Christina, lived when they were first married. There are several cottages on the land wbich are a part of a bed and breakfast institution run by Mona Myre. We could have stayed iri the one where Johan Peter and Anna Stina first lived as man and wife. Mona is a fine crafts-woman who holds a Christmas bazaar each year in the beautiful old barn where Johan Peter worked as a skilled carpenter. Close to the lake is the tiny wash house where Anna Stina boiled clothes and rinsed them in the lake. In the winter she would have bad to crack the ice first. We, also visited Gullskog farm where Johan Peter and bis growing family moved, together with bis father, who also bad young cbildren with bis second wife. Shortly after that they decided to leave. Andrew Peter wrote:"My parents were extremely poor, and could scarcely, even with care and economy, get enough for our daily bread, although my father was a skilled cabinet-maker. Tired of tbis almost payless job (if work could be obtained), as well as a dark outlook for the future, my father and grandfather decided, together with their families, to emigrate to the much talked about America."

Our day and a half with Anna-Lena bad been emotional for me. I bad walked where my ancestors bad worked and struggled, loved and married, bad given birth and many bad died. Two weeks after visiting the Dalarna area and the homes of two well-known Swedish artists, Anders Zorn and Carl Larsson, as well as Uppsala and Stockholm, we retumed to Växjö where I spent a day searcbing the microfilmed records to learn about my grandmother Emma's family, wbich came from a parish near Jönköping not far from Ulricehamn.

My joumey has really just begun, but the genealogical angels have given me an incredibly rich beginning. Knowing about one branch of my farnily makes me feel a part of an ongoing saga. I have a renewed interest in the bistory of my country and its people, the emigrants who came to find a better life.

Because of the Swenson Center and Elderhostel, I was able to go beyond just names and significant dates in church records. I know something about what my ancestors did, and I'm especially grateful to those of them who, despite the bard work their lives demanded took the time to write down some of their family bistory. And thanks to Anna-Lena Hultman who goes to great lengths to keep the stories of the Swedish emigrants alive. These are my genealogical angels. 85 I I Protection Certificates Issued to I I Swedish Seamen in Philadelphia i 1 ,I I 1824-1861 \ Ruth Priest Dixon* l' Seamen's Protection Certificates were uthorized by the U.S. Congress in '1' . 1796 to identify American merchant seamen as itizens of the United States and as 1 such entitled to protection against impressmen . The British practice of forcing l American seamen to serve in the Royal Navy was a major cause of the War of 1812. Accounts of the impressment by the Brit sh and other nations are found in American State Papers, primarily in volumes relating to Foreign Affairs and Commerce.

The Certificates were a kind of passp rt and apparently were useful to seamen in other situations, for they continued to be issued up to the Civl War. They were again issued 1872-1940, and are in Re ord Group 41 , National Archives.

These applications contain informatio of great significance to genealo­ gists, sociologists, and historians. As a group, s amen were unlikely to own land and often were missed at census time. This ma be the only record available for many men and women serving in the early Am ican merchant marine. In 1994 I compiled and published an Index containing 8,354 names gatbered from the original applications for Seamen' s Protection ertificates fil ed at the Port of Philadelphia between 1824 and 1861. Among the e names are six women who filed as stewardesses. The Index gives the name, date of application, age at that time, color of complexion if of Afro-American or Indian descent and state or country of birth. The applications themselves contain additional information: city and/or county of birth, color of hair, complexion and eyes, as well as height. Information concerning identifying physical marks such as scars, injuries, tattoos and deformities are also included. Practically all of the applications were witnessed by someone who swore to or affirmed the information given. They often were \ someone with the same surname as the seaman, sometimes identified as a relative. Scholars speculate that some female witnesses were the sailor's "Wife in port," a \ common semi-permanent arrangement. Of particular interest is the fäet that the ·1 sailor himself signed the application, if he were literate. If he was not, be signed i with the letter (x). l

* Ruth Priest Dixon, C.G.R.S., resides at 10450 Lottsford Road, # 2217, Mitchellville, MD 20721.

86

II I I I Protection Certificates Issued Swedish Seamen

For naturalized citizens, birth country, and the date, name, and location of the court of naturalization are usually given. In 1790 the U.S. Congress authorized the courts to grant citizenship to free white aliens who bad resided in the country for two years, were of good moral character, and supported the Constitution. Most naturalized citizens came from the British Isles, Western Europe and Scandinavia. Several came from the Caribbean Islands and one with an Anglo-Saxon name was bom in China.

For this particular study I have culled the certificate applications of the 79 Swedes listed in my Index. Dr. Nils William Olsson has kindly furnished ancillary information found in "The Master Index for Naturalizations in Phladelphia," a typescript copy on deposit at the Pennsylviaa Historical Society in Philadelphia.

The names listed here are taken from the applicant's own signature and may differ from the name as listed in the Index itself. It was not unusual for the clerk to garble a foreign name, particularly if that name differed greatly from an Anglo-Saxon name.

Additional Information on These Records

Dixon, Ruth Priest, "Genealogical Fallout from the War of 1812," Prologue,Vol. 24, Spring 1992, pp.70-76. Dixon, Ruth Priest, Index to Seamen 's Protection Certificate Applications. Port oj Philadelphia 1824-186/ (Baltimore 1994), 170 pp. Dye, Ira, "The Philadelphia Seamen's Protection Certificate Applications," Prologue, Vol. 18, Spring 1986, pp. 46-55, reprinted by the Archives in Our Family, Our Town. Dye, Ira, "Seafarers of 1812 - A Profile," Prologue, Vol. 5, Spring 1973, pp. 3-23. Guide to Genealogical Research in the National Archives (Washington, DC.: National Archives Trust Pund Board, 1985), pp. 189-191. Rorsman, Reginald, Causes ojthe Waroj 1812 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1962). Olsson, Nils William, "Naturalized Scandinavian Seamen in Boston 1815-1840," SwedishAmerican Genealogist, Vol. 1, 1981, pp.125-133. Zimmerman, James Fulton, Impressment oj American Seamen, Studies of History, . Econornics and Public Law, Columbia University Political Science Faculty, ed. (New York: Columbia University, 1925).

87 00 Name Age Date of Certificate Court of Naturalization Height Hair Complexion Eyes Miscellaneous Cl) 00 ~ ('D e: rJl Johnson, Charles 26 12 July 1824 Mayor's, Philadelphia 5,7 1/2 Lt.Brown Light Bom in Göteborg (x) :r Anderson, Joseph 26 16 April 1825 Mayor' s, Philadelphia 5,5 Brown Light (x) •9 ('D ::i. Cloth, Börje 43 13 Feb. 1826 C.P., Craven County, NC 5,9 3/4Dk.Brown Dark Hazel Bom in Göteborg (") i;., Henderson, Joseph 36 9 May 1826 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,4 3/4 Lt.Brown Light Blue ::s 0 ('D Surling, Robert 29 13 May 1826 C.P., Philadelphia 5.5 1/2 Brown Light Bom in Stockholm ::s Blue ('D i;., Peterson, Peter 35 24 May 1826 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,7 1/2 Light Fair Blue 0 ~ - Van Horn, William 25 6 Oct.1826 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,7 Dk.Brown Dark Hazel Died in Philadelphia ....rJl 9 Oct. 1827 Anderson, Martin 36 1 Nov. 1826 Q.S., Philadelphia 5, 3/4 Brown Ruddy (x) Anderson, Andrew 37 25 March 1827 D.C., Philadelphia 5,7 1/4 Dark Fair Blue (x) Clengstrom, Mathias 39 26 March 1827 D.C., Philadelphia 5,7 3/4 Lt.Brown Fair Hazel Mullin, John 25 10 May 1827 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,8 Dk.Brown Dark Dark Thompson, Christopher 33 19 May 1827 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,9 1/4 Light Fair Green, Peter 27 7 Feb. 1828 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,5 3/4 Black Fair Larsen, Jacob 29 24 June 1828 Mayor's, Philadelphia 5,6 1/2 Dk.Brown Fair Roose, Peter 24 10 July 182 Mayor's, Philadelphia 5,7 3/4 Light Light Blue Bom in Gävle Widen, Daniel 46 10 Oct. 1828 D.C., Philadelphia 5,7 3/4 Light Light Eleven years in the U.S.

Hall, Charles William 35 28 Nov. 1828 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,2 3/4 ~Auburn Fair (x) Melton, Zacharia 57 18 June 1829 5,7 l/2 Brown Dark Coutts, John William 28 2 July 1829 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,5 l/2 Dk.Brown Light Bom in Göteborg Armstrong, Lawrence 40 6 Aug. 1829 C.P., Philadelphia 5,41/2 Black Dark Black

- ___ ..______,_,..---1-,-~------'- ...l-- Name Age Date of Certificate Court of Naturalization Height Hair Complexion Eyes Miscellaneous

Anderson, Jacob 40 17 Aug. 1829 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,4 3/4 Oark Fair Blue Blanck, Jacob 38 17 Aug. 1829 C.P., Philadelphia 5,8 Oark Light Blue Adams, John 40 28 Sept. 1829 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,6 1/2 Light Light Forss, Charles 29 26 Oct. 1829 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,6 1/2 Ok.Brown Light Blue Linn, Henry 48 12 Aug. 1831 S.C., Philadelphia 5,6 1/4 Brown Light Anderson, William 25 7 Nov. 1834 City Court, Baltimore 5,6 1/2 Brown Light Blue Simpson, Peter 43 14 Nov. 1834 C.P., Philadelphia 5,5 3/4 Brown Light Sundberg, Gustavus 35 9 April 1835 C.P., Philadelphia 5,9 Brown Light Blue

Comet, Charles Fredric 41 15 Oct. 1835 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,9 1/4 Ok.Brown Oark Blue :::ri 0 Nelson, John 27 5 June 1837 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,6 1/2 Sandy Light Hazel ;- c(") . Johnson, John 47 3 Aug. 1837 Marine Court, N.Y. City 5,5 Sandy Light Blue Bom in Stockholm 0= Peterson, John 29 2 Nov. 1837 Marine Court, N.Y.City 5,6 1/2 Brown Light Blue ('0n a. Wilson, Alexander* 30 9 June 1840 5,5 1/2 Brown Light Blue ::tl (")

Anderson, John 21 7 Sept. 1840 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,9 Brown Light Blue ~ Sutherlund, Andrew M. 24 19 Nov. 1841 5,9 1/4 Lt.Brown Light Blue "'...... "' "'i:: Brown, Charles 32 10 Oec. 1841 5,7 Oark Oark Blue Bom in Luleå ('0 p.. Johnson, Amos 26 Q.S., Philadelphia 5.6 3/4 Black Fair Blue Cl) ~ ('0 Wilson, John Alexander* 31 18 Jan. 1842 5,6 Ok.Chestnut Light Bom in Karlstad e: Swenson, Gustavus 24 20 May 1843 Q.S., Philadelphia Light Light Blue "'=- 6 3/4 Cl) ('0 Nordin, Lawrcnce** 26 27 June 1843 5,5 Light Light Blue 00 Nordin, Lawrence** 26 13 Nov. 1843 S.C., Philadelphia 5,6 1/4 Light Light Blue Bom in Chester Co., PA i '° = \0 Name Age Date of Certificate Court of Naturalization Height Hair Complexion Eyes Miscellaneous en ~ 0 (1> Thompson, John 23 21 Sept. 1844 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,5 Brown Light Blue (x) e: "'::r Davidson, John 33 4 Jan. 1845 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,9 1/2 Light Light Blue Bom in Stockholm •s 0 Jackson, Andrew Oliver 23 26 Aug. 1845 D.C., Philadelphia 5,9 1/2 Light Light Gray .... c=;· :,, Johnson, William 32 11 Oct. 1845 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,7 Lt.Brown Light Gray (x) ::i 0 Batts, Erick 49 7 Feb. 1846 5,9 1/2 Light Lt. Ruddy Blue 0 ::i 0 Bergner, John Magnus 46 D.C., Philadelphia 5,8 3/4 Brown Light Blue e:.. 0 Chase, John 44 15 Feb. 1847 5,7 3/4 Light Light Blue o;s. "' Carlson, Peter Augustus 28 18 June 1847 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,8 LI.Brown Light Gray - Anderson, Peter 22 27 Oct. 1847 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,8 1/4 Lt.Brown Light Hazel Bom in Stockholm Nelson, John 35 29 Oct.1847 5,5 3/4 Lt.Brown Light Blue (x) Knutsson, William 26 16 March 1848 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,4 1/2 Red Light Blue Hammerfors, Johan 40 26 May 1848 Philadelphia 5,6 Brown Light Blue Emery, John 38 5 Sept. 1848 Boston 5, 11 Ok.Brown Swarthy Hazel Bom in Kalmar Down(s), Daniel 27 26 July 1849 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,3 1/2 Brown Light Blue Danielson, Charles 35 15 July 1850 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,5 1/4 Lt.Brown Light Gray (x) Norström, Axel 37 27 Jan. 1851 C.P., New York City 5,5 1/2 Lt.Brown Light Blue Limps Brant, Peter 48 16 Feb. 1852 5,8 Light Light Blue Bom in Göteborg (x) Sherborna, Peter 51 16 Feb. 1852 5,6 3/4 Brown Light Blue Bom in Västervik (x) Anderson, John 32 11 March 1852 --- 5,10 Brown Light Gray Snow, Charles 32 21 Jan. 1853 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,7 Ok.Brown Light Blue Thompson, Peter 25 22 June 1854 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,8 Light Light Blue (x) Name Age Date of Certificate Court of Naturalization Height Hair Complexion Eyes Miscellaneous

Ahlberg, Lorentz 32 2 Jan. 1855 S.C., New York City 5,6 Brown Light Gray Thompson, Charles 37 5 Jan 1854 (1855?) Q.S., Philadelphia 5,6 Brown Fair Hazel Sunman, Fredrik 31 1 Feb. 1855 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,5 Brown Fair Blue Nelson, Nel(s) 30 3 Feb. 1855 D.C., Philadelphia 5.7 Light Light Blue Thompson, Peter 27 15 June 1855 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,9 Brown Fair Blue Thompson, George 29 13 June 1856 C.P., Philadelphia 5,6 Brown Light Lt.Gray Peterson, Francis 35 8 Aug. 1856 C.P., Philadelphia 5,6 3/4 Brown Light Blue (x) Brown, Charles 46 12 Dec. 1856 New Haven, CT 5,3 3/4 Light Light Blue (x) Jinsin, Martin 44 21 July 1858 C.P., Philadelphia 6,- Lt.Brown Light Blue 43 19 Jan. 1859 5,7 Lt.Brown Light Blue (x) ?.... Swenzon, Martin Boston {1) (") Walström, Charles Gustave 28 27 Jan. 1859 Q.S., Philadelphia 5,7 Brown Light Hazel a. 0 ::i Brown, Charles 28 11 June 1860 D.C., Philadelphia 5,5 Brown Ruddy Gray n {1) Johnson, Franz Emanuel 35 1 Sept. 1860 NewYork City 5,11 3/4 Lt.Brown Light Blue a. t:ti Burress, Charles 26 25 June 1861 C.C., Philadelphia 5,6 3/4 Light Light (") ~ 7 Nov. 1861 NewYork City 5,5 3/4 Light Light V, Peterson, John 36 ..... V, V, Hill, John 45 11 Nov. 1861 S.C., Philadelphia 5,7 1/4 Ok.Brown Light Blue i:: {1) 38 19 Nov.1861 S.C., New York City 5,7 1/1 Chestnut Light Gray 0.. Robertson, William en ~ * The two seamen named Wilson may be identical;**The two seamen named Nordin may be identical. {1) V,~ Abbreviations ::r en C.C. = Circuit Court; C.P. = Court of Common Pleas; D.C. = District Court; Q.S. = Quarter Session; S.C. = Superior Court {1)

I.O ~ ,_. (x)= Individual cannot read nor write. ::i Jacob Fahlström's Declaration of Intention James E. Erickson*

It is noteworthy that a complete, well-documented biography has not yet been written for Jacob Fahlström, who is regarded as Minnesota's first Swede. The biographers who have chronicled various aspects of his life story have generally been long on hearsay and short on fäets, and disagreements in their stories abound. Unfortunately, unsubstantiated material, ranging from truths to half-truths to falsehoods, is entrenched in the Fahlström literature as a result of over a century of cursory research and numerous instances of covert and overt plagiarism. 1

While the early history of Fahlström's life is still shrouded in mystery, a number of documents have been located that establish his whereabouts in what is now the state of Minnesota from 1819 until his death in 1859. 2 Among the more significant, I would include the following: American Fur Company records,3 Fort Snelling records, 4 Lawrence Taliaferro papers, 5 a marriage record, 6 census records, 7 William R. Brown's diary, 8 Methodistchurchrecords, 9 andprobaterecords. 10 To this growing list of documents can now be added another-Fahlström's declaration of intention to become a U.S. citizen.

Fahlström's naturalization papers consist of two separate documents located on two different rolls of microfilm in the twelve-roll series labeled SAM 49, which is deposited at the Minnesota Historical Society (hereafter MHS). The SAM 49 series contains the naturalization records for Washington County, MN for the years 1847 through 1944. While perusing roll 1, I discovered a cataloging and/or indexing error of rather major import. The first material to appear on this roll of microfilm was not, as expected, Vol. A (Declarations of Intention, 1852-1868) with its accompanying index. lnstead, I encountered a separate, fourteen-page record book that, although untitled, is clearly an index for declarations of intention. The dates of the declarations contained therein, which range from 17 January 1847 to 18 September 1852, 11 leave little doubt that this is the first index used in Washington County for this purpose; yet, inexplicably, its presence is neither noted nor described in the MHS's "Guide To The Use Of This Microfilm." 12 The names of two-hundred-sixty-two individuals, including that of Fahlström, were indexed in this "lost" record. 13 The following information was recorded for him: Name: Folstrom, Jacob; Birthplace: Sweden; Arrived in the U.S.: 1814; Date of Declaration: 2 Sept. 1850; Before Whom: H. Wilson, Clk. Dist. Ct.

* Dr. James E. Erickson, Associate Editor of SAG, resides at 7008 Bristol Boulevard, Edina, MN 55435. .

92 Jacob Fahlström's Declaration of lntent

Operating under the premise that "where there is an index there must be a document," I researched the "Loose Naturalization Papers" on roll 8 of the SAM 49 series, where I subsequently located Fahlström's Declaration of Intention (see 1 Figure 1). • This document records the following crucial information: 1) he was fifty-four years old as of 2 Sept. 1850; 2) he was bom in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1796; 3) he landed at "Mackinaw" (i.e. Mackinac Island, then Michigan Territory) in the United States in 1814; and 4) he could not sign his own name.

To

Figure 1. Declaration of Intention of Jacob Folstrom (Fahlström), swom and subscribed to before Harvey Wilson, Clerk, Washington County District Court, Stillwater, MN on 2 September 1850. 93 Swedish American Genealogist

Notes

1 The following list (presented in chronological order) provides a sampling of the type of work that constitutes the rather voluminous Fahlström literature: Robert Grönberger, Svenskarne i St. Croix­ dalen, Minnesota (Minneapolis: Stats Tidningens Tryckeri, 1879), 4, 44-48; Edward D. Neill, History of Washington County and the St. Croix Valley, Including the Exp/orers and Pioneers of Minnesota (Minneapolis: North Star Pub!. Co., 1881), 295, 406-407; W. H. C. Folsom, Fifty Years in the Northwest. With an Introduction and Appendix containing Reminiscences, Incidents and Notes (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Co., 1888), 392-393; Eric Norelius, De Svenska Luterska Församlingarnas och Svenskarnes Historia i America (Rock Island, IL: Lutheran Augustana Book Concem, 1890), 1:537- 538; 0. N. Nelson, comp. and ed., History of the Scandinavians and Successful Scandinavians in the United States, 2d ed., rev. (Minneapolis: 0. N. Nelson & Co., 1904), 1:395-396; Algot E. Strand, comp. and ed., A History of the Swedish-Americans of Minnesota (Chicago: Lewis Pub!. Co., 1910), 1:129-133; L. J. Ahlström, Femtiofem dr i vestra Wisconsin (Minneapolis: Larson Printing Co., 1924), 61-69; Norman Himle, "Bertil Honors State's First Swede Today," St. Paul Pioneer Press, 26 June 1948; Bengt Hildebrand, Svenskt Biografiskt Lexicon (Stockholm: Albert Bonnier, 1956), 15:62-64; Theodore A. Norelius, "The First Swede in Minnesota," Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly 8(1957): 107-115. 2 Fahlström died 29 July 1859 and was buried in a private family cemetery located on bis farm in Washington Co., MN. - John G. Erickson and Elizabeth B. Erickson, "The Burial Places of Washington County: XII. The Fahlstrom Cemetery," Minnesota Genealogist 8(1977): 129; Hildebrand, Svenskt Biografiskt Lexicon, 15:62. 3 Jacob Fallstraw [sic] was employed as a boatman for the Fond du Lac Outfit (which was headquartered in the present-day Duluth, MN-Superior, WI area) of the American Fur Company from 1819 to 1822. - American Fur Co. Papers 1817-34, Michilimackinac, Fond du Lac Outfit, 23 June 1820, p. 25, no. 315 and 7 July 1821, p. 257, no. 315 (MHS microfilm BC2.3, m.A512a, roll I); 26 Sept. 1821 , p. 86, 6 July 1822, p. 209, no. 114 and 10 July 1823, p. 414, no. 114 (MHS microfilm BC2.3, m.A512b, roll I). 4 Fahlström worked as a blacksmith's helper (striker) at Fort Snelling. Zylla writes: "In employment at St. Peters [Fort Snelling] in 1830 were the agent Taliaferro at a salary of $1300; the subagent, Elias Largham, at $500; the interpreter, Scott Campbell, at $470; the gunsmith, Oliver Cratts, at $360; and the striker, Jacob Faustion [sic], at $168." - Paul Zylla, Major Lawrence Taliaferro, Indian Agent in Minnesota, 1819-1839, M. A. Thesis, October 1948, Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, D. C. Fahlström was one of ten settlers (squatters) residing in the St. Peter's (Baker's) settlement on the west side of the Mississippi River, approximately one-half mile from Fort Snelling, who signed a memorial addressed to Martin van Buren, President of the United States, regarding the potential purchase of this land by the government from the Sioux Indians for a military reservation. - Executive Documents, The House of Representatives, 3rd Session, 40th Congress (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1869), Vol. 7, Document No. 9, 14-17 (MHS). 5 Lawrence Taliaferro, Indian Agent at Fort Snelling, mentions Fahlström in his journal on several occasions. On 14 Apr. 1828 he wrote: "Louis Masse and Jacob Faustram [sic] two foreigners left this Post this morning under a passport granted by me for them to pass up the Mississippi to Crow Island [i.e. Ft. Biddle, a post of the American Fur Co. on an island in the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Crow River) on business and return in twenty days." On another occasion, Fahlström came to Taliaferro seeking compensation for an ox that was allegedly killed by the Sioux Indians. Taliaferro's journal entry for 13 July 1834 reads in part: "Jacob Faustrom [sic] called this evening to say that for four days passed he had missed an oxen of his and this day after a thorough hunt for him over the country-that the Indians must have eaten him this is likely enough-but the matter must be fully investigated and justice rendered the poor man." - Lawrence Taliaferro Papers, Vol, 8, Journal, May 1827-May 1828; Nov. 1828-May 1829 (MHS microfilm M35, roll 3, 192) and Lawrence Taliaferro Papers, Vol. 13, Journal, May-Sept. 1833; May-Aug. 1834 (MHS microfilm M35, roll 3, seg. 4, 66). 6 In the Crawford Co., WI marriage records (Vol. 1, p. 31) is recorded the marriage of Jacob Falstram [sic] to Margaret Pierce of Prairie du Chien, WI on 25 Aug. 1829. The ceremony was performed by J. H. Lockwood, Justice of the Peace. - James L. Hansen, "Crawford County, Wisconsin Marriages, 1816-1848," Minnesota Genealogical Journal 1 (1984): 46. 7 The Fahlström family is listed in the 1838, 1846 and 1847 Wisconsin Territory Censuses; the Minnesota Territorial Census 1850; and the Minnesota Census 1857. - Wisconsin (Ter.) Census, Population Schedules, 1838, roll I, Clayton Co. north of Root River, p. 7 (MHS microfilm M25); 94 Jacob Fahlström's Declaration of lntent

Wisconsin (Ter.) Census, Population Schedules, 1846, roll 2, St. Croix Co., Precincts of Stillwater and Kaposia, p. 4 (MHS microfilm M25); Wisconsin (Ter.) Census, Population Schedules, _1847, roll 3, St. Croix Co., District No. 1, East and South and West of Stillwater, p. 6 (MHS !Illcrofilm M25); Minnesota Census 1850, Washington Co., Stillwater Precinct, p. 167 (hand written) and p. 76 (printed) (MHS microfilm MN Census 1850, roll 367); t,{innesota Census 1857, Washington Co., T28N, R20W, nos. 17-24 (MHS microfilm MN Census 1857, roll 5). 8 William Reynolds Brown described in his diary a legal case in which he acted as counsel for Fahlström, who was accused by a neighbor, Edward Worth, of forcible entry and detainer. The entries relating to Fahlström were made on 8, 9, 10, 15 and 29 Nov. 1845; l and 6 Dec. 1845; and 23 May 1846. - William Reynolds Brown Papers, Diary, Oct. 25, 1845 to June 14, 1846, Kaposia, St. Croix County, Wisconsin (MHS microfilm M93, roll I). This diary was also published in Rodney C. Loehr, ed., Minnesota Farmers' Diaries·: William R. Brown 1845-46; Mitchell Y. Jackson, I 852-63 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society, 1939), 37-46, 79. 9 Fahlström was converted to Methodism at Fort Snelling ca. 1837. He subsequently became a Methodist lay preacher and worked as a Methodist missionary among the Chippewa Indians. His twenty-year association with the Methodist church in Minnesota is noted by two pioneer Methodist missionaries, Rev. Alfred Brunson and Rev. Chauncey Hobart. - Chauncey Hobart, Recol/ections of My Life. Fifty Years of Itinerancy in the Northwest (Red Wing, MN: Red Wing Printing Co., 1885), 259-262, 265; Chauncey Hobart, History of Methodism in Minnesota (Red Wing, MN: Red Wing Printing Co., 1887), 19-21, 33, 36, 69; Alfred Bi:unson, A Western Pioneer: or, Incidents of the Life and Times of Rev. Alfred Brunson, A. M. , D. D., Embracing a Period oj over Seventy Years (Cincinnati: Hitchcock and Walden, 1879), 2:83-84, 119-120. 10 The probate records relating to Jacob Fahlström are filed (i.e. indexed) under Folstrom [sic], Jacob, Probate #65, Estate 11-23-1859, microfilm 3. Probate Court Division, Registrar, Washington County Govemment Center, 14900 61st St. North, P. 0. Box 3802, Stillwater, MN 55082-3802. 11 One exception to this range of declaration dates (1847 to 1852) is the seemingly misplaced entry for Sven Peter Nelson, a Swede, whose date of declaration was 4 Sept. 1855. 12 This "First Index" is unequivocally distinct from the Vol. A Index for the following reasons: I) In the "First Index," the word "INDEX" is centered at the top of each page and the right edge of each page has a tab containing a pair of letters from the alphabet (e.g. A-B, C-D, E-F, etc.). In the Vol. A Index, the word "INDEX" does not appear on any page and the right edge of each page has a tab with a single letter (e.g. A, B, C, etc.); 2) There appears to be no redundancy in the two indices, i.e. individuals listed in the "First Index" are not listed in the Vol. A Index and vice versa; 3) The "First Index" does not refer to another record, i.e. it is self-contained; whereas the Vol. A Index contains only names and page numbers associated with specific Declarations of Intention found in Vol. A; and 4) None ofthe individuals listed in the "First Index" have Declarations oflntention in Vol. A. On the contrary, it appears as though the actual Declarations of Intention for individuals listed in the "First Index" are scattered throughout the "Loose Naturalization Papers, A-Z, 1847-1922" (MHS microfilm series SAM 49, rolls 7-12) 13 The twenty-three places of birth listed for them included Baden (l individual); Bavaria (l); Bremen (l); Canada (8); Canada, Lower (103); Canada, Upper (17); England (14); France (3); Germany (18); Great Britain (6); Hanover (3); Ireland (39); New Brunswick (6); Nova Scotia (2); Orkney Islands (l); Poland (l); Prince Rupert (2); Prussia (7); Saxony (l); Scotland (3); Sweden (6); Switzerland (10); and Wiirttemberg (2). Six individuals had nothing listed for place of birth and one entry was illegible. - Declarations of Intention, Vol. A, 1852-1868, Washington County [MN] District Court, Naturalization Records,NOTES1847-1944 (MHS microfilm SAM 49, roll l). 14 Loose Naturalization Papers, D-H, Washington County [MN] District Court, Naturalization Records, 1847-1944, Loose Naturalization Papers, A-Z 1847-1922 (MHS rnicrofilm SAM 49, roll 8, frames 737-738). 15 Jacob Fahlström is purported to have been bom in Stockholm, Sweden on either 25 June or July 1793 or 25 July 1795. Most writers state that, at the age of9, 12, or 14, he irnmigrated to Hudson Bay and/or the Selkirk settlement in Canada. See references cited in notes l and I 6. 16 Nels Hokanson, Swedish Immigrants in Linco/n's Time (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1942), 10, 12. 17 In the Selkirk papers that I have examined on microfilm at the MHS, a list of settlers is neither a part of nor does it accompany the letter cited by Hokanson (i.e. Miles MacDonnell to the Earl of Selkirk, 11 Aug. 1812). - Thomas Douglas Se/kirk Papers, Vol. 2, p. 443 (MHS microfilm M216, roll 1). 95 • A Cemetery ID Colorado

Elisabeth Thorsell*

One day a few years ago the Swedish Federation of Genealogical Societies in Stockholm received a letter from America, in which a kind lady wished to know if we would be interested in a book of cemetery inventories she bad done in San Juan County in Colorado. She mentioned that her inventory included some Swedes and since the whole idea sounded appealing we accepted ber offer with thanks.

Mrs. Freda Carley Peterson was apparently pleased that we were interested and wrote back that she bad mailed the volume by surface mail, since it bad been too expensive to ship it by air. She also sent along some color photographs of the Hillside cemetery which gave us the impression of a mountain location.

When the volume finally arrived it turned out to be an impressive work containing more than 700 pages, covering 2,600 burials between 1871 and approximately 1990. Since we bad expressed an interest in the Swedes to be found in the material, Mrs. Peterson bad been kind enough to extract the references to such notations where there was some connection with Sweden. This material has now been systematized and is published herewith. I am sure that there are additional persons in this giant undertaking who have some Swedish connection, but this would have entailed a careful scrutiny of every page.

The cemetery is called Hillside and is located in Silverton, San Juan County, Colorado. Silverton is a small mining community in the San Juan Mountains, apart of the Rockies. The first immigrants to settle here arrived ap­ proximately 1871 and built this little town, which is still in existence, with a population of 800, according to the Census of 1980. Many other mining communities have disappeared and are today mere ghost cities.

* Elisabeth Thorsell resides at Hästskovägen 45 , 175 39 Järfälla, Sweden and is the editor of Släkthistoriskt Forum. She has graciously permitted the reprinting of her article, which first appeared in Sveriges SläktforskatförbundArsskrift 1992, pp. 25-50.

96 A Cemetery in Colorado

Here people gathered from the whole world and many of the men had had mining careers in the old country. According to the U.S. Federal Census of 1910 there were 12,446 persons residing in Colorado bom in Sweden. Some of these people lived in Silverton.

The first church was built in 1881 and the following year the railroad reached Silverton, which greatly eased the problem of transporting the ore, as well as stabilizing the contacts with the outside world. The earlier genuine "Wild West" environment had calmed down.

Mrs. Peterson has used a number of sources in spotting persons buried in the cemetery - gravestone inscriptions, local newpapers, county histories and correspondence with relatives of those having their final resting place in Hillside. Her volume also contains, which I have not included here, ancillary information to be found in the press at the time of the funeral, which may mention relatives, friends and which organization paid for the funeral if the deceased had no surviving kin. This material may provide clues for discovering additional information, particularly if the societies, churches and lodges to which the deceased belonged have archives still in existence.

An interesting detail to be found in Mrs. Peterson's work is that she often gives the cause of death. Many of the miners died of pneumonia or silicosis. Accidents in the mine were numerous, often caused by cave-ins, or when drilling a hole, striking explosives left behind from past drillings. Another danger was the snow avalanche which from time to time killed those unfortunate enough to be caught in the path of the onrushing snowpack.

If no other information is given the death occurred in Silverton.

Mrs. Peterson is planning a new edition of her book and would be pleased to hear from anyone who can shed further light on the fate of these Swedish immigrants. Her address is - Mrs. Freda Carley Peterson, 1808 West Wilshire Boulevard, OklahomaCity, OK 73116.

97 Cl'.l \0 I Cl I tlJ I :$E 00 I "Il I til I 0 > (1) LARAMIE 9: Wyomi~g K1MBA'N b CHEYENNE KEITH "'::r ~En raska ... --- ..::r SEOGWICK PEAKIN i MOFFAT - ::i. LOGAN (") "'::r LARIMER WELD I» C. PHILLIP$ ::s ..= CHASE C. 0 (1) 'Cl TAH Q MORGAN ::s .. (1) OUNOY =-Q RIO BlANCO s Q iUMA = WASHINGTON o.s. ... ADAMS ...,. ;. CHEYENNI "' .. GARFlfLO EAGLE ARAPAHOE a X N 'Cl ::, = en 5· .t::.,, D)SHERMA ... ELBERT KIT CARSON en e:.., :J = M(SA ~"'"'" ~ ii • µLINCOLN! I WALLAC[ EL PASO ;. t..,) /__ L CHEYENNE .. GUNNISON ..,ö MONTRO~ ) FREMONT --' ~ '-<( I GREELEY l t.,,) Q I I I I I 7 KIOWA e.= SAN MIGUEL (l.l SAGUACHE - ,o~ = BENT I ....= I PROWERS .,$" = I OU:RO I ,lo = MINERAL n I RIO GRAND( j ALAMO/ Q I STANTON MONT[ZUMA / I = LA PLATA 4= ' I AACHULETA '-, LAS ANIMAS BACA COfrilEJOS l COSTILLAL ~ I i I Oklahoma

CIMARROH SAN 11,.,..

,. , ·.- A Cemetery in Colorado

1. Allard, John, miner, b. in Sweden in Nov. 1870; d. 5 March 1918. He arr. in the U.S. as a youth and lost the use of his legs in an accident in Butte, MT. 2. Anderson, A.P. ("Pete"), blacksmith and toolmaker at the Sunnyside Mine, b. in Örebro ca. 1843; d. 16 Feb. 1902 ofpneumonia. He arr. in Silverton 1891. He left a sister, Mrs. A. Nelson, in Longmont, CO. 3. Anderson, Augusta (Mrs. William Anderson, earlier Mrs. Gustafson), b. in Stockholm 13 July 1878; d. 24 April 1952. Arr. in the U.S. as a small girl. She was m. (1) Erik Anton Gustafson, d. 1915 (see No. 32); m. (2) 1920 William Anderson, d. 1929. Heirs were Edward A. Gustafson, Oak­ land, CA; Herman Walter Gustafson and Reuben Gustafson, Silverton; Mrs. Emma Sandstrom and Mrs. Ida Carlson, Parker, CO and brother, August Johnson, Denver, CO. 4. Anderson, Charles, miner, b. in Skåne 1877; d. 18-19 July 1935. He arr. in the U.S. 1891, in Silverton 1902. Left sister Cora Collins, Platte City, NE and brother Oscar Anderson, Englewood, CO. 5. Anderson, Gustave L. ("Gus"), miner and carpenter, b. in Central Sweden 1876; d. ofheart disease 2 May 1933. He arr. in the U.S. before 1901. He left two brothers in Sweden. 6. Anderson, J.P., miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1857; d. of apoplexy 27 Nov. 1905. He had res. in San Juan County three years, where he owned a ranch near Hermosa, CO. 7. Anderson, John, b. in Sweden, d. 10 June 1896. 8. Anderson, John A., miner, b. in Sweden 8 June 1870; d. of silicosis 7 March 1918. He arr. in Chicago 1888, then Silverton. He left two sisters in Sweden. 9. Andrews, Thomas G., Justice of the Peace, restaurant owner, merchant, etc., b. in Sweden 1843, d. 15 March 1885 by suicide. He arr. in the U.S. ca. 1850 together with his parents. He participated in the Civil War and was wiped out economically in the Chicago Fire of 1871, after which he left for the West. 10. Backman, Elmer, miner, taxi driver, b. in Sweden 13 March 1887; d. in Farmington, NM 22 April 1928. He was the son of No. 11 and arr. in the U.S. in 1911 together with his father. He was survived by siblings Aman­ da (Mrs. Victor Nelson); Svea Miller (later Mrs.William Mowat); Hulda (Mrs. John Gustafson); Agnes (Mrs. E. Hubert Curtis); Esther (Mrs. lvor Johnson) and brother Ragnar. He died at the home of his sister Amanda in Farmington. 11. Backman, Erik Johan, miner, b. in Sweden 1860; d. 6 March 1919 in an avalanche. He arr. in the U.S. 1909 and in Silverton 1911. He was m.

99 Swedish American Genealogist

to Maria Johnson (see No. 13). He was survived by his wife, sons (see Nos.10,12 and 14 and daughters under No.10). 12. Backman, Fritz Gustaf, miner, b. in Värmland 27 March 1891; d. 31 July 1945. He arr. in the U.S. 1912. Unmarried. (For his family see No. 11). 13. Backman, Maria Johnson, b. in Värmland 24 Jan. 1862; d. in Farm­ ington, NM 23 Dec. 1928. She m. No. 11 in 1885. She had ten children of which two died in Sweden. Arr. in Silverton from Sweden in 1918. 14. Backman, Ragnar, miller, b. in Sweden 17 Nov. 1902; d. 27 Nov. 1968. Unmarried. (For family see No.11.) He arr. in the U.S. in 1918 together with his mother and several siblings. 15. Bastian, Hulda Olivia Fredriksson, b. in Sweden 7 Sept. 1878; d. in childbirth 10 July 1914. She was m. in Holdrege, NE 13 Nov. 1907 to Louis 0. Bastian. She left children, Herman (5 years) and Helen Lucille (2 years). She had arr. from Sweden as a young woman. 16. Bats, Annie, operated the Commercial Hotel in Silverton, b. in Sweden; d. in surgery in St. Luke's Hospital in Denver, CO 2-5 July 1900. Married AJ. Bats from whom she was divorced. She bada son, Herbert, b. 1881. 17. Benson, Knute, owner of a mine, saloon and other real estate, b. in Sweden in Oct. 1838; d. in Los Angeles in Feb. 1902. He was m. to Helen K. Benson. He had arr. in the U.S. in 1865; had come to Wyoming in 1869 and to Silverton in 1875. 18. Berg, Louis, miner, b. in Sweden 1861; d. in a mine accident 4 April 1903. He was believed to have been unmarried. He had arr. in Silverton shortly before the accident that killed him. 19. Berquist, August ("Gus"), operated a saloon in Silverton, b. in Sweden 1868 (?); d. from a lung ailment 28 Oct. 1913. He was m. 1901 to Hilda Swanson and left a son Arthur, b. 10 March 1905. He bad res. in the U.S. 20 years. 20. Bloomgreen, Olaf, probably a miner, b. in Sweden 1887 (?); d. of pneumonia 23 July 1911. He had two brothers, Fritz and Sigfrid, res. in Silverton. At time of death he had res. in Silverton 5 years. 21. Brumfield, Ida Christina Johnson, b. in Sweden 1866; d. from a malignancy 8 April 1911. She had m. in Denver 1894 Michael Brumfield, a photogapher,with whom sbe had 2 sons, Carl A. (15 years) and Roy (14 years). She had arr. in the U.S. as a chiid with her parents. 22. Carlson, John L., miner, b. in Sweden 1847 (?); d. in a mine accident 9 Feb. 1903. At time of death he had res. in the U.S. 20 years. 23. Carlstrom, Charles, mine prospector, owner of a salon, b. in Sweden 1854 (?); d. 19 Marcb 1909. Hem. 3 Dec. 1883 Eliza Stratton, with

100 A Cemetery in Colorado

wbom be bada daugbter, Mae, b.1885. He bad arr. in tbe U.S. before 1878, at whicb time be res. in Poughkeepsie, NY. 24. Charlberg, Gus, miner, b. in Sweden, d. in a mine accident in Feb. 1902. 25. Chris tofsen, Victor, miner, b. in Sweden 1864 (?); d. in a mine accident 17 Jan. 1907. Left widow and seven children in Sweden, in addition to parents, siblings and one brotber in tbe U.S. He bad res. in Silverton 18 months prior to bis death: 26. Dillon, Peter, owner of The Mine Headquarters Saloon, b. in Sweden 1868 (?). He m. in Golden, CO 1893 Anna K., with wbom be bad children Carl and Hilda (b. twins in Central City, CO 1899) and Olga, (b. in Black Hawk, CO ca.1900). The widow remarried 1911 Emest Jackson and d. 1959. 27. Ekholm, Louis, mine foreman, later employed in a saloon, b. in Skåne 1867; d. ofpneumonia 27 Nov. 1910. He left a niece in Denver anda cousin, Mr. Nelson, in Pueblo, CO. He bad res. in the U.S. more tban 20 years before bis death. 28. Elias, Swan, miner, b. in Sweden 1836 (?); d. of pneumonia 24 Dec. 1910. He bad res. in the area ca. 33 years before bis death. 29. Erickson, Olaf, miner, b. in Sweden 1873 (?); d. of silicosis 23 April 1915. He left widow and three cbildren, all under two years of age. He bad res. in the area ca. 15 years. 30. Erickson, Rudolph, miner, b. in Sweden 1883 (?); d. of a beart ailment 7 April 1933. He was unmarried but left a brother anda sister in Sweden. A brother Albertino, d. in influensa in Silverton 1918. Rudolpb bad res. in Silverton since 1908. 31. Forsback, John, mine owner, b. in Sweden 1851 (?); d. from tuberculosis 15 Jan. 1896. 32. Gustafson, Erick Anton, miner, b. in Luleå ca.1868; d. 2 May 1915 of silicosis. He bad m. No. 3,with wbom be bad sons, Herman Walter and Edwin A. He was a brother of No. 33 and bad arr. in Silverton 1906. 33. Gustafson, Nels, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1876; d. in an avalancbe 17 Marcb 1906. He was a brother ofNo. 32 and bad arr. in Silverton 1904. 34. Hallen, John Ellis, miner, b. in Sweden 13 April 1882; d. in a mine accident 12 Sept. 1908. He bad m. Brita K. Hyert,witb wbom be bada son. He also left a sister, Mannie Melburg of Silverton. 35. Ranson, Charles, miner, b. in Sweden 1862 (1849?); d. in a snow accident 24-25 Dec. 1884. 36. Hendricksson, Erick, miner, b. in Värmland 12 Sept.1849; d. of silicosis 14 Sept. 1899. Left a father in Sweden anda brother in Worcester, MA. He bad res. in tbe area since 1881.

101 Swedish American Genealogist

37. Hendricksson, John, coachman, b. in Sweden 1875; d. 27 April 1929. He was m. but divorced. He had a son and two daughters res. in Salt Lake City. He arr. in the area 1909. 38. Holmgrain, Hannah Johnson, b. in Sweden 1850; d. in childbirth 5 Sept. 1890. She had m. in Emporia, KS 1874 Peter Holmgrain with whom she had daughters Lillie and Alka, b. in KS and children Agnes, John, Hattie and Harry, b. in Del Norte, CO. The latter two d. in Silverton. Peter Holmgrain and children moved to Cripple Creek, CO in 1894, where Holmgrain remarried Christina Paulson in 1896. 39. Jackson, Anna, b. in Sweden 1865; d. of old age 10 May 1959. M. No. 26 in 1895. M. (2) in 1911 Ernest Jackson,who d. in influensa 1918. 40. Jackson,Charles, mine driller, b. in Sweden ca.1869; d. by suicide 27 Nov.1901. Left a brother in Sweden. He arr. in the U.S. ca 1887. 41. Jepson, Peter, miner, b. in Sweden ca.1850; d. 21 March 1906. 42. Johnson, Benjamin, miner, b. in the province of Halland ca. 1879; d. of pneumonia 3 May 1915. He had cousins Alfred and John Benson, who res. in Silverton. He had res. in Silverton since 1906. 43. Johnson, Charles, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1879; d. 28 Feb. 1909. He left widow and four children in Sweden and a sister in Silverton. 44. Johnson, Charles, miner, b. in Sweden; d. 3 April 1896. 45. Johnson, Charles W., miner, b. in Sweden 1873; d. of silicosis 10 June 1929. He had res. in the area ca. 25 years. 46. Johnson, Fred A., miner, b. in Sweden; d. of pneumonia 25 Aug. 1927. 47. Johnson, Hjalmer, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1868; d. in a mine accident 2 March 1898. He left a mother in Sweden, a sister in Denver and two brothers in Ouray, CO. He had res. in the area about 10 years. 48. Johnson, Joseph, miner, b. in Värmland 5 March 1891; d. in a mine accident 18 Oct. 1913. He had arr. in the U.S. 1910. 49. Johnson, Louis M., miner, b. in Sweden; d. of silicosis 14 May 1911. He left a sister, Justina Johnson Trembath (see No. 104) in Silverton; a brother Gus in California, two brothers and a sister in Sweden and cousins Fred and Louis Pearson in Silverton. He had res. in Silverton 30 years. 50. Johnson, Olaf H., miner, b. in Sweden 11 Nov.1866; d. in a mine accident 2 March 1896. 51. Johnson, Swan, mine owner, b. in Sweden 9 Oct. 1869; d. of silicosis 29 Dec. 1912. He left a brother J. Albin Johnson in Ouray, CO and relatives J.A., Alma Lovisa and Josephina Maria Johansson in Folkestad, Sweden. 52. Klang, Emil, blacksmith in the mines, b. in Lindesberg ca. 1880; d. of pneumonia 13 Jan.1930. He left a sister in Chicago. He arr. in the U.S. in his youth. 53. Larsson, Charles A., worked in an ore concentrate plant, b. in Vårgårda 2

102 A Cemetery in Colorado

Jan.1875; d. 4 Nov. 1935. M. in Dec. 1904 Ida Nelson, a widow, nee Hall, from Finland with whom he had sons Edwin and Carl. He also left a sister, Mrs. Carl Johnson in Cloverton, MN as well as three sisters in Sweden. He arr. in the U.S. 1891. 54. Larson, Gustav, undertaker, b. in Sweden ca.1875; d. 18 April 1932. He arr. in the U.S. in his youth. 55. Leonard, Charles, town marshal, b. in Sweden; d. after 1918. M. Mary Belle Harwood with whom he had daughters Frankie (b.1902) and Marian. He arr. in Silverton 1886 from Iowa. 56. Libon, Peter John, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1873; d. in a mine accident 16 March 1909. He left a widow and four children in Sweden anda cousin in Silverton. 57. Lind, John, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1877; d. from a heart attack 22 Sept. 1935. Had three daughters anda son in Denver, whom he had not seen in 20 years. Had res. in Colorado 35 years. 58. Lindberg, Oscar, miner, b. in Sweden 1885; d. 8 Jan. 1940. Arr. in the U.S.1911. 59. Lofgren, LarsW., miner, b. in Sweden 29 April 1867; d. 14 June 1903. He left widow and three children in Silverton. Had earlier res. in Anaconda, CO. 60. Lundberg, Anna Greta Forsell, b. in Tierp Parish (Upps.) 7 Dec. 1866; d.19 Jan. 1952. M. 24 March 1892 to No.61; a daughter, Mrs. Ida L.Grimes, res. in Silverton. Arr. in the U.S. 1892 together with her husband-to-be. 61. Lundberg, August Verner, blacksmith, b. in Tierp 2 Aug. 1867; d. 5 March 1937. M. to No. 60. Arr. in the U.S. 1886, retumed to Sweden 1891 and emigr. once more 1892 together with Anna Greta Forsell. 62. Lundquist, Gustaf F., miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1853; d. 23 Oct. 1910. He left a brother in New Castle, CO. 63. Lundstrom, Gus, b. in Luleå ca. 1864; d. of silicosis 23 May 1905. He had res. in San Juan County 17 years. 64. Lundstrom, Wally, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1880; d. of silicosis 5 April 1920. He had res. in the area more than 15 years. 65. Magnussen, Andrew, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1882; d. of pneumonia 31 Aug. 1908. He left brothers William in Silverton and John in Sweden as well as a sister in Bingham, UT. He had res. in Silverton about four years. 66. Melburg, Mannie, Sr., miner, b. in Gemplin (Jämtland?), Sweden 5 Feb. (10 Jan.?) 1873; d. of apoplexy 31 Oct. 1945. M. 18 July 1901 Marie Johnson but divorced ca.1910, remarried 1939. They had children, Mannie, Jr. (b. 29 July 1904) and Agnes. The mother was still living

103 Swedish American Genealogist

in Sweden. He arr. in Durango, CO 1893. 67. Melburg, Marie Johnson, b. in Sweden 27 June 1878; d. 16 Nov. 1958. M . No. 66; m. (2) 1912 a Mr. Dyer. Arr in Silverton 1896 together with hermother. 68. Mickelson, Eric, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1881; d. in a gun accident 29 Aug. 1905. Had res. in the area but a few months. 69. Morrison, Gus, miner, b. in the province of Halland ca. 1876; d. in a mine accident 15 May 1898. He left parents, three sisters and two brothers in Sweden, a brother in Denver and two brothers in Silverton. He arr. in the u.s. 1894. 70. Mowat, Svea Backman, store clerk, b. in Sweden 7 Nov. 1905; d. by suicide 28 July 1967. Daughter of No. 11; m. (1) a Mr. Miller; m. (2) 1929 William Mowat, operator of a cafe in Silverton. She arr. in the U.S. 1918. 71. Nelson, Amanda Backman, b. in Sweden 26 Sept. 1885; d. in Santa Monica, CA 10 March 1970. Daughter of No. 11; she m. Victor Arvid Nelson (see No. 77). She arr. in the U.S. 1913. 72. Nelson, Charles Edward, miner, b. in Sweden 1865; d. in a mine accident 25 Sept. 1902. He had a sister in Sweden. He had res. about seven years in San Juan County. 73. Nelson, Lee, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1879; d. in a mine accident 1 Nov. 1915. He left a widow and many minor children in Sweden. 74. Nelson, Martha Olson, b. in Blekinge 7 Sept. 1866; d. from a heart ailment 17 June 1908. M. 9 Feb. 1898 in Silverton Charles Nelson, brother of No. 77. Charles d. in Silverton 17 Oct. 1935. They had a daughter Esther, b. 1899 who m. Alex A. Nyquist. Martha Olson Nelson arr. in Iowa from Sweden 1887 and came to Denver 1897. 75. Nelson, Nels, miner, b. in Ystad 30 March 1872; d. 4 Oct.1932. Hem. a woman named Mary and had two sons, Oscar and Frank Edward. He arr. in the U.S. 1892. 76. Nelson, Olaf Arvid, miner, merchant, b. in Sweden 1856; d. of pneumonia 16 April 1891. Hem. Lovisa Erickson and had the following children - Anna Augusta, b. in Denver 14 Sept. 1882; Oscar Alvin, b. in Colorado, as were the remainder of the children, 27 Dec. 1884; August Edwin, b. 13 April 1886; Nellie Sophia, b. 27 Jan. 1888; Oliver Arthur, . , b. 3 July 1889 and Nels Arvid, b. 28 Dec. 1890. He arr. in this area in the 1870s. 77. Nelson, Victor, miner, b. in Sweden 22 March 1884; d. of tuberculosis 19 Dec.1923. He was m. to Amanda Backman (see No. 71), with whom he had a daughter Elsie. He left a brother and sister in Sweden and a brother Charles (see No. 74) in Silverton. He arr. in the U.S. ca. 1900.

104 A Cemetery in Colorado

78. Olson, Alfred, miner, b. in Naverstad Parish (Göt.) 10 Feb. 1866; d. of pneumonia 13 Nov. 1895. He had the following family - brothers Henry (see No. 82), Julius and Otto in Silverton, two brothers in Minnesota and two brothers and a sister as well as parents in Sweden. He arr. in the U.S. 1884 79. Olson, Andrew, miner, b. in Naverstad ca 1865; d. 2 Dec. 1901. Arr. in this area 1893. 80. Olson, Charles, miner, mailman, b. in Sweden ca. 1870; d. by suicide 26 Feb. 1895. He had a brother Swan (see No.85), a sister Elsie, who 1895 moved with her husband and son to Minnesota. His parents lived in Sweden. He arr. in the U.S. 1891. In 1893 he froze his hands so severely that all of his fingers had to be amputated. He only had the stump of his index finger on his left hand, which he used to fire the pistol that ended his life. 81. Olson, Gus W., miner, b. in Sweden 23 Aug. 1901; d. 17 Nov. 1975. He m. 27 March 1932 in Silverton Elizabeth Frank with whom he had a daughter Agnes. He had three sisters in Sweden. He arr in the U.S. 1923. 82. Olson, Henry, miner, operator of a saloon, b. in Bohuslän 28 Dec. 1868; d. of pneumonia 16 Jan. 1908. His brother was Alfred Olson (see No.78). Hem. in Durango, CO 1898 Hilda Olson (see No. 83). He arr. in the u.s. 1889. 83. Olson, Bilda, keeper of a boarding house, b. in Sweden ca. 1868; d. of peritonitis 22 June 1904. She m. No. 82. She had a mother and sister in Bohuslän anda sister Olga in Silverton. She arr. in the U.S. ca 1890. 84. Olson, Oscar, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1874; d. in a mine accident 23 Dec. 1906. Left widow and chidren. He had res. in the area hut a brief time. 85. Olson, Swan, miner, b. in Järnshög Parish (Blek.) 14 July 1864; d. of pneumonia 19 Nov. 1895. M. in Chicago 1891 Hanna Nilson. He was a brother of Charles Olson (see No. 80). He arr. in tb.e U.S. 1888. 86. Peterson, Charles, miner and merchant, b. in Sweden ca. 1868; d. in a mine accident 26 Sept. 1906. He was a member ofthe Odd Fellows in Rock Springs, WY. 87. Peterson, Charles, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1860; d. 10 Oct. 1907. He had a cousin Peter Holmgrain in Silverton. He was considered to be an "oldtimer" in the area. 88. Peterson, Charles 0 ., b. in Sweden 15 Dec. 1865; d. in Durango, CO 4 May 1937. He left a widow, son Cecil and daughter Mrs. Paul Ransom of Nyassa, OR as well as five brothers in Sweden. He res. in Silverton until 1931 when he moved to New Mexico. 89. Peterson, Emma Sophia Carlson, cook, b. in Sweden 27 March 1888; d.13 June 1971. M. (1) a Mr. Olson, with whom she had a son William;

105 Swedish American Genealogist

m. (2) in 1917 Carl 0. Peterson who d. in Cheyenne, WY 1947 (Carl had a brother John and a sister Mrs. John Olson in Silverton and was the maternal uncle of Carl Swanson, also res. in Silverton). He arr. in Pueblo, CO at the age of 17. 90. Peterson, Gustaf Hjalmer, miner, b. in Torsås 25 Feb. 1898; d. of a heart ailment 5 Jan. 1950. He was m. 1929 to Agatha Salfisberg, with whom he had the following children - Karl J., Gustaf Fred, Ande H., and Alice Marie. He arr. in the U.S. 1917. In 1947 he visited his father and two brothers in Sweden. 91. Peterson, Paul M., worked in the oil industry, b. in Lindsborg, KS 12 Nov. 1921; d. 27 Nov. 1990. M. in McPherson KS 3 Sept. 1948 Freda Carley (the compiler of this study). His father came from Schleswig and the mother from Askeby Parish (Ög.). 92. Shelton, Jennie, b. in Sweden; m. to W.R. Shelton, with whom she had a daughter Nellie, b. in Colorado anda son. who d. in Silverton 15 Nov. 1884. 93. Smith, Herbert, postmaster, proprietor of a billiard hall, b. in Göteborg 1864; d. of pneumonia 27 July 1917. He left a widow anda son Alvin, a mother anda sister in Brooklyn, NY. He had res. in the area at least 15 years. 94. Smith, Lou, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1844; d. of pneumonia 7 April 1899. He had a brother Will in Silverton. He had res. in the area about 20 years. 95. Snickers, Andrew, miner, b. in Sweden; d. of typhus in Nov. 1905. 96. Strom, Albert, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1869; d. of pneumonia 19 Feb. 1899. He had a sister in Cripple Creek, CO. He had res. in the area about five years. 97. Sundberg, Richard, miner, b. in Boden 13 Jan. 1884; d. 16 Nov. 1938. He m. in Montrose, CO 11 May 1929 Mittie von Fintel, a niece of John Holmgren in Silverton. He left a nephew Elden Sundberg in Red Cliff, CO, a brother William, and sisters Eveline Holmgren and Mrs. Axel Johnson, the latter in Sweden. He arr. in the U.S. 1910. 98. Sutherland, Annie Stromberg, b. in Sweden, d. in Durango, CO 1954. She was m. (1) 20 July 1901 in Denver to Matthew Sutherland, who was b. in Finland 18 Nov. 1874 and d. in Silverton 25 March 1915. She m. (2) 4 May 1927 in Silverton Lauritz Larson. In the first marriage she had the folfowing children - Carl, Roy and Myrtle Sutherland. 99. Svedenborg, Knut Sigfrid, miner, war veteran, b. in Sweden, d. in Durango, CO 18 May 1957. Hem. in Durango 8 May 1923 Anna Olivia Holmberg, nee Lärka, b. in Finland 20 July 1885 and d. 14 August 1949. She had a sister Edla, who was m. to Louis Quarnstrom of Durango.

106 A Cemetery in Colorado

100. Swanson, Frank, Mrs., bin Sweden ca.1857; d. 28 Aug. 1897. She left a widower and four children. The family had earlier res. in Leadville, CO. 101. Swanson, Gus, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1859; d. in a mine accident 25 Dec. 1899. 102. Swanson, John, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1854; d. ofpneumonia 7 Sept. 1892. He may have bad two cousins in Chicago. He had res. in the area about four months. 103. Swanstrom, Peter, b. in Sweden 8 April 1888; d. of tuberculosis 5 June 1913. He bada sister, Mrs. Solomon F.W. Anderson in Gladstone, CO and a brother Otto and another sister res. in Vancouver, BC. He bad res. in the area about seven years. 104. Trembath, Justina Johnson, keeper of a boardinghouse, b. in Sweden in June 1864; d. of cancer 28 April 1924. M. in 1885 John T. Trembath from Comwall, England (1862-1905), a miner. She had a brother in Silverton who was a carpenter, who d. 1911 and a brother in Oakland,CA. She arr. in Silverton 1884. 105. Waldberg, Gus, b. in Sweden; d. oftyphus 19 Sept. 1898. He had a brother in Ouray, CO. 106. Westerlund, Peter, cook at Western Colorado Power Co., b. in Sweden ca. 1838; d. of old age 26 Dec. 1913. He bada brother in Sweden. He had lived in the area 12 years. 107. Westland, Nels, miner, b. in Sweden ca. 1867; d. of silicosis 14 Dec. 1905. He was unmarried and was the cousin of Justina Trembrath (see No. 104). He had two brothers in the U.S. 108. Wick, Peter J., miner, b. in Sweden 12 April 1856; d. of pneumonia 20 Dec. 1917. He was m. in Sweden to Margareta Juliana Carlsson, b. in Targsarken, Franstra, with whom he had the following children, the oldest b. in Sweden, the remainder b. in the U.S.- Alma, Carl, Lydia, Bessie Amalia, Elmer, Leon, Lucille and Marguerite. He arr. in the U.S. in the 1880s, his wife and children came in 1889. 109. Wickstrom, William J., lumber yard worker, b. in Sweden 1862; killed in an accident 8 July 1904. His parents lived in Sweden and he bada married sister in New Haven, CT. He arr. in Silverton 1901. In 1904,while helping to move a house, he was killed when the chirnney collapsed. 110. Yeager, John, mine prospector, b. in Sweden 1850; d. of pneumonia 4 Jan. 1917. He arr. in the U.S. in his youth.

107 Genealogical Queries

Genealogical queries from subscribers to Swedish American Genealogist will be listed here free of charge on a "space available" basis. The editor reserves the right to edit these queries to conform to a general format. The enquirer is responsible for the contents of the query.

Eckman, Ekman

My great-grandmother, Maria Christina Eckman (Ekman) was b. in the province of Värmland 25 Oct. 1859 and arr. in the U.S alone ca. 1876-1877 at the age of 17. Her parents were Olof and Elisabeth Eckman (Ekman). Maria Christina first arr. in New York, where she was employed as a nanny, but then moved to Lawrence, KS with heremployer. Hereshe met andm. 1 Sept. 1885 John Alfred Anderson, who was b. in Askersund (Öre.) 13 Dec.1857, the s. of Alfred Anders­ son and Christina Nilsson, both b. probably in Trahaton (Trollhättan ?). Chris­ tina's parents were Måns and Anna Nilsson, both of Trahaton. All of the above information has come to me by way of family records and by word of mouth. I need to have it corroborated. Can anyone help?

Karen Gamett P.O. Box 830 West Plains, MO 65775 982

Sjolander

We are trying to trace my husband's Swedish ancestry. His grandfather, Ragnar Pär Sjölander, was b. 11 March 1882, probably in Stockholm, where his family supposedly owned a shoe store. He was m. to Christina Andersson. Any help I can get, based on these few details, would be appreciated.

Nancy M. Sjolander 211 East Holly Avenue Pitman, NJ 08071 983

Johnson

I am looking for information on my great-grandfather, Joseph Johnson, b. in Stockholm in Dec. 1841. He arr. in the U.S. in 1864 and seems at first to have

108 Genealogical Queries settledin Illinois, wherea s. Henry, was b. in 1878. Laterhe moved to Colorado, where he homesteaded. I would like to know the name of the ship on which he arr.

J anice Shangle 14875 West 52nd Avenue Golden, CO 80403 984

Kruger

I am looking for information conceming my patemal grandfather's bro­ ther Victor.Kruger, who emigr. to the U.S. 1903.We have very little information to go on hut Victor m. a woman named Selma. The couple had two sons,Victor and Carl. Victor m. a woman named Astrid and Carl m. Helen. In Victor's marriage were two sons, Harold and Robert. Carl and Astrid had three daughters, Carol, Jeannie and Susan. One report places Astrid in Port Richey, FL.

Kerstin Kruger Reveljgränd 13 831 38 Östersund, SWEDEN 985

Norden, Vahlberg

I am searchingfor two relatives who emigr. to the U.S. 1915-1920. They were: 1. Gertrud Valborg Pettersson Norden, b. 27 Sept. 1895. She was m. to T.S. Jonsson and res. at 97 Moreland Ave., Atlanta, GA. They had a s. named Stig, who according to one report was an aircraft pilot. 2. Ruth Vahlberg was b. 20 Aug. 1903. She also m. andres. at 9 Doris St., Worcester, MA. Supposedly she had several sons.

Helene Olsson Hansjö 6551 794 90 Orsa, SWEDEN 986

Nelson, Carlson, Johnson

My husband's grandparents and great-grandparents arr. m the U.S. in the

109 Swedish American Genealogist late 1880s from Sweden and settled in Mankato, MN. We have no idea from which part of Sweden they came and would appreciate any help in finding this vital information. They were: 1. Carl M. Nelson and his wife Brita Maria Johnson. We don't have Carl M. Nelson's birth date but his wife was b. 12 May 1837. She d. in Seattle, WA 21 May 1929. 2. Charles OscarCarlson was b. 30 Jan. 1866 andemigr. 1887. Hed. in Selah, WA 3 Dec. 1918. 3. IdaMaria Carlson, the dau. ofCarl M. andBritaMaria Nelson, was b. 12 Oct. 1867. She emigr. 1888 and d. in Seattle 12 Nov. 1937.

Virginia Olsen 330 Pinecrest Drive, Kala Point Port Townsend, WA 98368 987

Andersson, Davidsson

Looking for information on three relatives who left for America: 1. Johan Oskar Andersson or maybe Davidsson, b. 6 Feb. 1876, his wife, Klara Maria, b. 3 Oct. 1877 and childrenJohan Albert, b. 27 Sept. 1903 and Hil­ ma Sofia, b. 15 May 1905. The family emigr. to Nebraska or Oklahoma 19 Oct. 1906. 2. Gustav Emil Andersson or Davidsson, b. 23 Jan. 1887. He emigr. to Nebraska or Oklahoma 5 May 1906. He probably m. in the U.S., since according to reports, he had two daughters - Ruth and Marie. 3. Ida KatarinaDavidsson or Andersson, b. 16 Jan. 1895. She emigr. to Chicago 18 July 1911. She apparently m. in America Gunnar Wahlberg, and had a s. named Lennart.

Anna-Lena Andersson Lassbyn 402 96197 Gunnarsbyn, SWEDEN 988

Anderson

I would like information on Axel R. Anderson, b. in Vena Parish (Kalm.) 16 June 1859, the s. of Anders Andersson, b. in Kristdala Parish (Kalm.) 23 Mar. 1820 and his wife Kajsa Lisa Carlsdotter, b. in Kristdala 25 Feb. 1829. The fami-

110 ', Genealogical Queries ly emigr. to Henry County, IL in 1868-1869. Siblings in the U.S.were Huldah Nichols, Carl Oscar, Aaron, Amanda Chrysong, John August and Mary Peterson, all of them b. in Kristdala or Vena, except the last two. The family settled in Republic County, KS in the late 1870s. Axel R. Anderson became a missionary, serving in Alaska with the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant Church. Last known address was in 1932 when he res. at 2218 Minor Ave, Seattle, WA. I am interested in knowing more about him. I am descended from Anders Andersson, his father, in his first marriage to Kajsa Maria Persdotter (1823-1849).

Glenwood Lundberg Route 1, Box 249 Courtland, KS 66939 989

Ottosson

I would like to know what happened to a kinsman of mine, Emanuel Ottosson, who was b. in Sunne Parish (Värm.) 14 Oct. 1883, and who emigr. to the U.S. 7 April 1907. He embarkedon the steamship Calypso out of Göteborg, destination Hull, England, from where he went overland to the large embarkation port of Liverpool. His destination in America was Ottawa, IL.

Helge Gustavsson Slottsvägen 3 861 34 Timrå, SWEDEN 990

Utterström My great grandfather, Oskar Rubin Utterström, arr. in Arnerica 1866. He was b. in the village of Porsnäs, .Piteå Country Parish (Norr.), the s. of Carl Olof Utterström and Anna Margareta Jonsdotter. He had relatives in the U.S. before he d. in 1929. The name of Utterström is not common in Sweden and all probably came from the northern part of Sweden. Some reportedly went to Canada. Utterströms have been reported in Maine, Oregon;Washington, Louisiana and Flo­ rida. Oskar Rubin Utterström changedhis name to Robin and lived and diedin Throckmorton, TX. Anyone knowing of other Utterströms please contact me.

Tex L. Robin P.O. Box 351 Coleman, TX 76834 991

111 Swedish American Genealogist

Larsson

I would like to find descendants of Hulda and Gerda Larsson, two nieces of Anna Gustava Larsson Eastberg. The latter had come to New York from Sundsvall in Sweden 16 Sept. 1893 and lived at 1161 Foote Street in the Bronx, where her nieces also may have lived. Hulda Gustava Larsson was b. 30 Oct. 1886 anddepartedforNew York 16 Sept. 1905 andhersister, GerdaAmandaLarsson, b. 28 Oct. 1890 arr. in the U.S. some time after 1908. They wereall b. in Skellefteå in northern Sweden. Hulda and Gerda were the daughters of Johan Larsson, b. 18 Dec.1858 anda brother of Anna Eastberg. Hulda was the niece of my grandfather, Hjalmar Carlson, and the maid of honor at my grandparents' wedding which was held in Anna Eastberg's borne on Foote Street 21 Nov. 1906.

Joyce Kallgren Marcy 214 Haldeman Avenue. Louisville, KY 40206-2933 992

Olofsson, Larsen

My great grandmother's brother, Lars Ferdinand Olofsson, emigr. to New York 15 April 1880. He may have changedhis surname to Larsen. We neverheard from him and wonder if he had a family and possible descendants in the U.S.

Sigvard Henriksson Kastanjegatan 24 621 44 Visby, SWEDEN 993

Larsson, Olin

I am looking for descendants of my great-grandfather's cousin, Anna Martin, b. 27 Dec. 1861 on Fårö on Gotland, who emigr. to the U.S. 27 April 1878. We have a letter from the 1930s where she was a widow after a Larsson and that she had six children. Two of the sons ran the family farm locatedat RFD 68, Chester, CT. I have an addressfrom1930 fora daughterwhich may give me a clue. She was Mrs. Joseph E. Olin, res. at 51 Winter Avenue, Deep River, CT.

Åsa Gustavsson Mjölmossevägen 38 541 62 Skövde, SWEDEN 994 112 He abolished He ordained for women Man '.s vested freedom their rights ta seek vengeance ta security for blood shed in feud and ta herifage . and secured by liiw He fortified the sancfi ty the cihJ af Stockholm, of the honre. and promoted tlre c/111rclr overseas h-ade. 1111d tlre luwca11rts . Birger Jarl Re~ent ot S, eden 1250-1260. Hotel Birger Jarl Stockholm

Make Our Hotel Your Headquarters While Searching Your Roots in Sweden.

252 rooms with bath/shower, TV and radio. Conference rooms for groups from 10 to t7 5 persons. Private banquet facilities for 225 guests. Cafeteria - garage. Centrally located - Tulegatan 8 at Jarlaplan. Address: Box 19016, S-104 32 Stockholm, Sweden. Telephone +46 8 151020. Telefax +46 8 317366. Telex 11843. SCANDUiA\JIA ..

- NOBODY._ I • , - • u _. KNows -1r BETTER. t~NSAS.

Scandinavia is our home. We offer more flights to Scandinavia year-round than any other airline. We fly nonstop from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle with convenient connections to cities throughout Scandinavia.

Ask your travel agent about SAS' vacation packages, frequent schedules and low air fares or call SAS, toll free 1-800-221-2350.

SAJ: SCANDINAVIAN AIRLINES

I I.

~ I