Western Illinois Regional Studies Fall 1978
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Mt sterling Petersburg ... Q . Virginia Jacksonville Bowling Grejsrr VOLUME^^%^ Carrolllon NUMBER 2 ardin Qjerseyvilta I WESTERN ILLINOIS REGIONAL STUDIES Published semiannually by the University Libraries and the College of Arts and Sciences at Western Illinois University Macomb, Illinois 61455 BOARD OF EDITORS DONALD W. GRIFFIN VICTOR HICKEN JOHN E. HALLWAS DENNIS J. READER ROBERT P. SUTTON, Oiairman ADVISORY COMMITTEE DAVID D. ANDERSON, M/c/h;?^/? State University MICHAEL BECKES, Illinois State Museum RICHARD W. CROCKETT, Western Illinois University RICHARD QKO^X^EK, Purdue University JAMES E. DAVIS Jllinois College RODNEY DAVIS, Knox College ARLIN D. FENTEM, Western Illinois University MYRON J. FOGDE,Augustana College PEARCE S. GROVE, Western Illinois University THOMAS E. HELM, Western Illinois University^ WALTER B. HENDRICKSON,MacM«rray College ROBERT JOHANNSEN, University of Illinois FREDERICK G. JONES, Westerri Illinois University JERRY KLEIN, "Peoria Journal Star" CHARLES W. MAYER, Western Illinois University DENNIS Q. Ucl^EKHy , Bradley University RONALD E. NELSON, District Historian, Illinois Department of Conservation RONALD E. NELSON, Western Illinois University RICHARD D. POLL, Western Illinois University STUART SlRViEVEK, Northwestern University ROALD D. IV^EEl , AugListana College WILLIAM L. \}R^ AN, Monmouth College ELLEN M. WHITNEY, Editor emeritus, " "Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society DOUGLAS WILSON, Knox College Subscription rates are $2.00 a year for individuals and $3.00 for institutions. Single issues are $1.50. Correspondence about subscriptions, contributions, and books for review should be sent to Chairman of the Board of Editors, Western Illinois University, Macomb, Illinois. WESTERN ILLINOIS REGIONAL STUDIES VOLUME I FALL 1978 NUMBER 2 CONTENTS Bishop Hill: Swedish Development of the Western Illinois Frontier 1 09 Ronald E. Nelson Emigrant Letters by Bishop Hill Colonists from Nora Parish 121 Lilly Setterdahl "A Romantic and Miraculous City" Shapes Three M id western Writers 1 76 Marcia Noe Notes and Documents 199 Reviews of Books 203 Contributors 211 Copyright 1978 by Western Illinois University REVIEWS OF BOOKS Gates, WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE: THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 203 By Roger D. Bridges Cooley, THE MONUMENT MAKER: A BIOGRAPHY OF FREDERICK ERNST TRIEBEL 205 By Titus M. Karlowicz Keiser, BUILDING FOR THE CENTURIES: ILLINOIS, 1865 TO 1898 207 By Victor Hicken Griffin, A TECHNICAL GUIDE FOR DETERMINING LAND USE SUITABILITY 208 By Robert G. Palmer BISHOP HILL: SWEDISH DEVELOPMENT OF THE WESTERN ILLINOIS FRONTIER Ronald E. Nelson In comparison with other sites of particular cultural and historical significance in western Illinois, including Mormon Nauvoo and Lincoln's home village of New Salem, Bishop Hill is relatively little known and appreciated. Located about thirty miles southeast of Rock Island and now populated by less than 200 inhabitants. Bishop Hill was founded in 1846 by a colony of communally organized Swedish fundamentalists who subsequently developed it into an amazingly prosperous frontier village. Only an assortment of impressive nineteenth-century buildings, some of which have benefited from recent restoration activity, now provides an immediate visual suggestion of the community's unusual and distinguished past. There are various reasons why Bishop Hill deserves continuing attention from those interested in midwestern culture and history. First of all, the colony's remarkable adaptation to the frontier environment in northwestern Illinois and its amazing economic development and rise to prosperity in the 1850's give it genuine importance in the cultural history of the Prairie State. The colony also holds particular interest because it was one of the earliest beachheads of Swedish settlement in America and an intriguing social experiment in communal life. Furthermore, the colony helped attract thousands of other Swedish immigrants to the upper Mississippi Valley during the second half of the nineteenth century as members reported on their survival and success at Bishop Hill in letters to friends and relatives in the old country. These aspects of the colony's significance can best be emphasized by tracing Bishop Hill's development as a frontier community. The colony of fundamentalists who planted Bishop Hill on the Illinois prairie was organized under the leadership of Erik Janson, a self-proclaimed prophet, in the Swedish province of Helsingland during the early 1840's.'' Unified by their opposition to liberal trends in the Established Church, the Jansonists rapidly coalesced into a prominent religious sect dedicated to strict adherence to the Bible. 109 ^ 110 WESTERN ILLINOIS REGIONAL STUDIES After conflicts with authorities and the eventual jailing of Janson, the prophet decided to lead his flock to America where— as reported in letters from earlier emigrants— religious freedom existed. Olof Olson, a Janson lieutenant, was dispatched in 1845 to select a settlement site for the colony. His choice, southern Henry County, was greatly influenced by a Swedish Methodist clergyman in nearby Victoria, Illinois. The vicinity was still a sparsely settled frontier; only 1 ,260 inhabitants were found in Henry County by the federal census takers in 1840— a population density of 1 .5 persons per square mile. Although abundant acreages with remarkably SITUATION OF BISHOP HILL ^, BISHOP HILL: A SWEDISH COLONY 111 productive soils were present, it was a prairie-dominated landscape distinctively unlike Swedish environments with which the Jansonists were familiar. Between 1846 and 1854, Jansonists departed from Swedish ports in groups ranging from about 20 to 400 individuals. Their journey across the Atlantic and to Bishop Hill, usually by way of the Great Lakes, required two months or more and was marked by hardship, sickness, and death. The eventual arrival at Bishop Hill unfortunately did not provide immediate relief, for the sudden addition of each new group of colonists severely strained available facilities and food supplies. During its first few years, the colony's survival was threatened by a variety of problems. The need for housing on a large scale resulted in hasty construction of log-fronted "dug-outs" in the sides of a ravine for shelter during the first winter; even the colony church, built in 1848 as the first permanent structure in the community, had its basement and ground floors pressed into use as dwelling units. The inadequacy and crowded conditions of the early housing contributed to the spread of disease, most notably cholera. The colony was nearly devastated by a cholera epidemic in 1849 when 143 deaths occurred in less than three months. Because most of the Jansonists' financial resources had been depleted by migration expenses, the initial acquisition of land in satisfactory quantities to support the colony was restricted by a shortage of funds. In 1847 the population at Bishop Hill surpassed 800, but the colony had been unable to acquire more than 700 acres of land. The situation necessitated fasting at times, and Erik Janson required the colonists to avoid marriage temporarily. The colony's single significant commercial activity prior to 1 851 the production and marketing of linen and carpeting from flax raised near Bishop Hill, was only a temporary success. The Jansonists, familiar with the growing and processing of flax in Sweden, transferred the crop to Bishop Hill and operated their few looms both day and night to manufacture the textile in quantities for sale in the immediate area. Peak production was attained in 1851 when 30,579 yards were manufactured, but a sharp decline soon followed.^ Cloth manufactured in Eastern mills became readily available in western Illinois during the 1850's, and the Jansonists were unable to compete successfully. The most severe blow to the colony's spiritual well-being was the assassination of Erik Janson in 1850. John Root, an outsider on whom Janson had imposed restrictions as a condition for marrying the prophet's cousin, fired the fatal shot. An elder member of the colony, Jonas Olson, made a sincere effort to provide leadership 112 WESTERN ILLINOIS REGIONAL STUDIES Courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association. Painting by Olaf Krans Courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association. Painting by Olaf Krans BISHOP HILL: A SWEDISH COLONY 113 following Janson's death but was unable to maintain the initial religious fervor. Nevertheless, the colony remained unified through the following decade and succeeded in diversifying and dramatically improving their economy. The Jansonists' accomplishments at Bishop Hill reflect remarkable adaptations to an unfamiliar physical and cultural environment as well as the ability to survive hardships, an epidemic, and their prophet's mortality. A few" examples of the colony's adaptations will illustrate their variety and display the short time span during which they appeared. First, the handicap of language was quickly overcome, for by the early 1850's a colony school was established with classes conducted in English, and colony records were maintained in both English and Swedish. Also, with timber in limited supply in their prairie environment, the Jansonists learned to manufacture brick by 1848 and subsequently used it as the primary building material in constructing most of their major buildings. At the same time, both Indian corn and broom corn, crops particularly suited to the middle Mississippi Valley climate, were adopted from neighboring pioneers by 1851. Another economic