Swedish American Genealogist Volume 14 Number 1 Article 2 3-1-1994 Swedes in the 1880 Census of Dickinson County, Kansas Thomas Branigar Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag Part of the Genealogy Commons, and the Scandinavian Studies Commons Recommended Citation Branigar, Thomas (1994) "Swedes in the 1880 Census of Dickinson County, Kansas," Swedish American Genealogist: Vol. 14 : No. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag/vol14/iss1/2 This Article 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]. Swedes in the 1880 Census of Dickinson County, Kansas Thomas Branigar* Swedes formed one of the earliest ethnic groups in Dickinson County, KS. The first immigrants arrived in the late 1850s, shortly after the territory was opened to settlement and settled south of the Smoky Hill River in what is today Center Township. By the time of the 1880 census the Center Township group had grown to several dozen families and had overflowed into Logan and Liberty Townships. A much smaller group df Swedes had settled in Fragrant Hill Township in the 1870s, anda few isolated Swedish families were scattered around the rest of the county. Extensive information is available on the Swedes of Center Township. Two churches were established by the immigrants - the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, based upon the state religion of Sweden and the Swedish Mission Church, later known as the Pleasant Hill Church, which was independent.