From Erik Jansson to Nils Olsson, 100 years of a Great Swedish Migration

In the 20 years from 1861 to 1881, Left: Fort Christina monument, erected in 1938, at the site of the first landing By John Bechtel 150,000 Swedes emigrated to America, on the banks of the Christina River in what is now Wilmington, Delaware, two-thirds of them in just the five years on March 29, 1638—the first Swedish settlement in North America and the Freelance writer of 1868-1873. Most of them went to the principal settlement of the New Sweden colony. The Midwest, following the trickle that had monument was a gift from the people of Sweden to the he first Swedish migration to gone before them and who had been people of the United States, the funds raised through North America was in 1637, sending letters home to Sweden about public subscription, with several hundred thousand Twhen a group of Swedish land ______their new life in America. Swedes taking part. Many had family members across speculators settled in Delaware. the Atlantic. The monument—presented by Sweden’s They were drawn by the promises Crown Prince Gustav Adolphus, and received by U.S. Their group was short-lived and was of free land, and the freedom to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was designed by later subsumed by the Dutch and worship as they saw fit. They spread Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. then the British. across the Wheat Belt of America, The “Great Migration” of Swedes and almost 40% of them settled in Stamp issued on June 27, 1938, to commemorate the to America— the second and Minnesota and Illinois. By 1900, founding of Wilmington,Delaware (Fort Christina), by important one, came in the 1800s. Chicago was home to 150,000 Swedes and Finns in 1638. Between 1750 and 1850 Sweden’s Swedes, and was the second largest Below: Map of New Sweden settlements. Following plans by King Gustavus population doubled. Some crops Swedish city in the world. ______Adolphus of Sweden to establish a Swedish colony in North America, the

failed creating food shortages, and KRANS OLOF BY PAINTING Swedes arrived in Delaware Bay and soon after established the settlement of there was agitation due to high The Swedish chain immigration was sharply curtailed in 1924 with the Painting of Erik Jansson Fort Christina—named in honor of Sweden’s then 12-year-old Queen Christina. profile religious differences. There passage of the Immigration Act. devotees migrated to a place in Illinois was a percentage of the population that Jansson named Bishop Hill. that thought the Lutheran Church, The Swedish Great Migration’s Inspired by mystic teachings and which was the state religion, Unlikely Beginning his own claims to divine revelations, had become as doctrinaire and Erik Jansson’s utopian society of Jansson broke with the state Lutheran controlling as the Catholic Church Pietists was conceived in the early Church, got himself thrown in jail a few and they sought refuge in America, 1840s in Sweden, but it was not until times, and finally escaped Sweden by like many other religious groups. 1846 that he and about 1,000 of his (Continued on page 00) PHOTO: NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO NORTH WIND PICTURE ARCHIVES/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO: MAP: EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG PHOTO: WWW.COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG PHOTO: Swedish colonists landing on the Atlantic shores of Delaware during the 1600s. PINTEREST MAP:

O SPRING 2019 | SCANDINAVIAN PRESS SCANDINAVIAN PRESS | SPRING 2019 O (Continued from page 00) skiing over the mountains to Christiana, Norway (now Oslo). About 1200 emigrants followed Jansson to America over a period of time, but many of them died in shipwreck and cholera. Those who survived the trip lived in mud caves in ravines, and many of those starved the first year. Although faced with survival issues on

a daily basis, the motivated believers WIKIMEDIA PHOTO: began their working day at 5 a.m., Swedish women hoeing the sugar beet fields, one of the places they could find employment. and even studied English so they Right: Swan and Christina Turnblad with could proselytize their non-Swedish daughter Lillian, 1890. neighbors. Below: The beautiful Turnblad mansion in This communist utopian society Minneapolis, Minnesota in the early days. thrived for a time because of the rich soil in which to grow food, and they built successful businesses including RIKARDARVIDSSON.WORDPRESS PHOTO: selling broom corn and weaving rugs. Much of the original building on Bishop Hill remains in its original condition. The hotel, administration houses and church are well preserved. The church, In spite of their early successes, above, resembles no other church. The ground floor was housing, one-bedroom the community eventually dissolved, apartments for families without kitchen. Upstairs (see photo below) there was plagued by greed, dishonest business the church hall with room for over five hundred people. The building is now a dealings by leaders, and repressive museum. You can also see how well it was constructed—it would have been social practices (including insistence on considered luxurious at the time it was built. celibacy and guards posted to prevent dissenters from leaving the village).

Jansson himself was eventually murdered inside the local courthouse. CHARLES FRIEDERIC ULRICH PAINTING; The trustees of the village invested in Immigrants waiting for clearance to worthless bank and railroad stocks enter the United States—an exhaustive during the financial crisis of 1857, and process after a long and sometimes the village was dissolved in 1858. The unpleasant journey by sea to get here. land holdings, which were significant, were distributed among the remaining country.” Hard working but forward THE AMERICAN SWEDISH INSTITUTE PHOTOS: villagers. thinking, they adapted quickly to the benefits of mechanized farming over Swan became the sole owner of Svenska The Janssonist diaspora plantation farming in the home country. Amerikanska Posten, and quickly built its circulation from a paltry 1400 The utopian experiment lasted subscribers to over 40,000, through less than 15 years. The village is now The American Swedish Institute the support of the Swedish community Bishop Hill Historic District. In 1984, (ASI) and by buying up smaller newspapers. the surviving buildings were listed Just a few years after the dissolution This newspaper began in 1885 and on the National Register of Historic of the Bishop Hill Colony, Swan continued publication for the next 55 PHOTO: RIKARDARVIDSSON.WORDPRESS PHOTO: Places. The debate as to the cause of the Turnblad immigrated with his family years. Today, the American Swedish movement’s demise continues to this Illinois (birthplace of poet and author American Swedes wanted to emphasize to the United States in 1868, when he Institute publishes an unrelated day. Carl Sandburg) and northwest to their American-ness, and they adjusted was eight years old. The Turnblads left magazine Posten for members. For all of its early melodrama, Minneapolis. Most of the original to an American style of church service. farming in their homeland of Småland In 1903, the Turnblads purchased this Jansson cult triggered a Swedish Janssonists joined a local Methodist Today, only some special-occasion in Sweden, unaware they were near property on which they constructed invasion of emigrants for subsequent church, and others joined the Shakers church services are held in the Swedish the beginning of a great migration a palatial mansion, and, in 1929, decades, mostly from the reports sent and Seventh Day Adventists. Many of language. of 1.3 million Swedes. Their timing they gifted the property and the home to Sweden by the villagers. At the Swedes in the greater region wanted Most of the Swedish immigrants contributed to their success. newspaper to found American its peak it had a population of 1,000. to remain with the traditional Lutheran continued as farmers, and as one of In 1879, Swan moved to Institute for Swedish Arts, Literature THE AMERICAN SWEDISH INSTITUTE PHOTO: It formed the basis for a significant Church and the Swedish language. them wrote home “None who are Minneapolis and found employment and Science—later changed to the Today the Grand Hall of the Turnblad Midwestern concentration of Swedes After World War I and all of its not accustomed to hard agricultural as a typesetter in several Swedish American Swedish Institute (ASI). mansion welcomes visitors to the that extended from nearby Galesburg, ugliness on the European continent, the labor ought to become farmers in this language newspapers. Within ten years (Continued on page 00) American Swedish Institute.

O SPRING 2019 | SCANDINAVIAN PRESS SCANDINAVIAN PRESS | SPRING 2019 O (Continued from page 00) (See the article in this issue How the Swan Turnblad is quoted as saying, Swedish Council Strengthens Cultural perhaps in defense of having built Connections—The Sarah Lucht Story.) such an immense castle for his family Chris Olsson of three “many persons may have Nils’ son, Chris, succeeded his wondered what a small family like father as Executive Secretary of SCA ours, a family which had not great from 1984-1993. In an interview with social ambitions, wanted with so big a They wanted to create a means for Scandinavian Press, Chris provided house. Perhaps they can guess now.” all Swedish American organizations lots of background material from a to network with each other, and to time period few knew or remember. ASI was created to preserve and provide technical expertise to promote Glenn Seaborg was still the Chairman study the historic role Sweden and the success of Swedish American Emeritus of SCA but was quite old Swedish Americans have played in US business interests. They also wanted to and because of his fame, was divided culture and history. nurture understanding and acceptance between many responsibilities and The 34,000 square foot Nelson of Swedish culture in those areas where organizations. Therefore Seaborg’s Cultural Center was added to the they were prominent, and to strengthen position had become more of an Turnblad Museum in 2012, including cultural ties between North America honorary one rather than operational.

the renowned FIKA Café, which serves THE AMERICAN SWEDISH INSTITUTE PHOTO: and Sweden. Creating this network Chris remembers that the task of traditional Swedish delicacies alongside ELISABETH THORSELLS PHOTO: Turnblad Museum today as a part of the American Swedish Institute (ASI). was the council in the name Swedish organizing meetings and events was Nils William Olsson Council of America. a huge one. Periodically members of (ASI) from 1967 to 1972. (The staff of [Editor’s note: There often is the board would recommend new ASI has grown from two persons in confusion about some of these members to the board, in recognition 1967 to 30 today.) As a director Nils organizations’ names. There is no of service to the organization or the worked in Turnblad Castle and he Swedish American Institute. Also, the Swedish American community. But no knew far more than most about the American Swedish Institute (ASI) is one ever thought about taking anyone history of the Swedish Great Migration often erroneously abbreviated to The off the board to make room for new to America; he certainly knew no time Swedish Institute, much to the regret nominees. So the board kept getting should be lost collecting and preserving of The Swedish Institute, another bigger and bigger, and the same of the details of this history in the organization that goes by that name.] course was true of the meetings. Like generations before them, they learned making. The early movers and shakers It comes as no surprise that Nils and evolved. were passing on, and they were also the Olsson was persuaded to resign from The century of the Swedish Great ones who could be relied on to provide ASI in order to become the Executive Migration has long ended, but it funding for anything that was needed, Secretary of this new Swedish Council changed the lives of millions of people, just as Swan Turnblad had funded of America (SCA), and he served there then and now, and it changed and the startup of The American Swedish from 1973 to 1984. Institute 43 years before. enriched America, and it continues to PHOTO: THE AMERICAN SWEDISH INSTITUTE PHOTO: Although eminently successful at do so through the Swedish Council of The new addition—Nelson Cultural Center, left, houses the renowned FIKA Café. Turnblad Museum on right. During Nils’ tenure, in 1979, SCA a regional level, by 1972 Nils knew through its Foundation created the America. To further understand what it modern interpretations of the immigrants to America, and he something more than ASI was needed. Glenn T. Seaborg Science Scholarship, does, and how they pay for it, read the New Nordic Cuisine and that was witnessed the events of almost a full He and leaders of three other Swedish named after the 1951 co-winner article that follows, rated “One of the Hottest Travel century, dying two months before his institutions strongly believed that a of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, a Destinations for 2013” by Travel + 98th birthday. national American/Swedish umbrella Swede. (See the article in this issue John Bechtel is a professional Leisure Magazine. Nils found employment in the organization was needed to coordinate Fifteen things you may not know freelance writer for the food, wine, and university world and then the Foreign and connect the over 1200 local and Nils Olsson and the creation of the about Glenn Seaborg.) The student Service in Reykjavik, Oslo, and regional clubs, museums, etc. awarded the scholarship would be tourism industries; Swedish Council of America Stockholm. He participated in the These four organizations are invited to spend a week in Stockholm ghostwriting Nils Olsson was born in 1909 in Swedish Pioneer Centennial celebration considered the institutional founders of during Nobel Prize Week in close non-fiction Seattle, six years after the first flight in 1948 and subsequently the founding the Swedish Council of America: association with fellow exceptional books; at Kitty Hawk, NC by the Wright of the Swedish Pioneer Historical • American Swedish Historical students from all over the world, and web content brothers. He was taken back to Sweden Society (now the Swedish American Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; with the opportunity to mingle with strategist for when his mother died to be raised by Historical Society). The purpose was • The American Swedish Institute, the laureates themselves. The young his Swedish grandparents. His family to preserve emigrant memories and Minneapolis, Minnesota; scholars would carry the lasting impact businesses. moved back to the States in the early promote emigrant research. • Swedish-American Historical Society, of this life-altering experience with ’20s. A Swedish-American diplomat, Upon his retirement from the Chicago, Illinois; them for the rest of their lives, creating Follow him on his website: PHOTO: THE AMERICAN SWEDISH INSTITUTE PHOTO: Nils had a lifelong fascination with Foreign Service, Nils became a director • Detroit Swedish Foundation, Inc., powerful intergenerational bonds www.johnbechtelwriter.com Nelson Cultural Center’s spacious lobby. the statistics and stories of Swedish of the American Swedish Institute Detroit, Michigan between Sweden and North America.

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