Swedish American Genealogist Volume 15 Number 3 Article 1 9-1-1995 Full Issue Vol. 15 No. 3 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. 3," Swedish American Genealogist: Vol. 15 : No. 3 , Article 1. Available at: https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/swensonsag/vol15/iss3/1 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 Declarations of Intent by Swedes in Cleveland, Ohio, 1842-1906 113 Scandinavian Methodist Episcopal Church St. Paul, Minn., Marriages, 1858-1885 133 Ahnentafel for Conrad Bergendoff 15 2 Genealogical Queries 15 5 Vol. XV September 1995 No.3 Swedish America~n Genealogist~ _ Copynght © 1995 (ISSN 0275- 9314) Swedish Ameril'an Genea/ogisr Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center Augustana College Rock Island. IL 61201 Tel (309) 794 7204 Publlsher: Swenson Swedish Immigration 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. Brolander, Salem, SC Carl-Erik Johansson, Salt 'Lake City, UT Ch,ristopher Olsson, Minneapolis, MN Col. Erik Thorell, Stockholm, Sweden Elisabeth Thorsell, Järfälla, Sweden Dr. Erik Wiken, Uppsala, Sweden Contributions are welcome, but the Journal and its editors assume no responsibility for errors of facr or views exprcssed, nor for the accoracy of the material presented or books reviewed. Queries are printed free of charge to subscribers only. '8ubscriptions are $20.00 per annum and run for the caiendar year. Single copies are $6.00 each. Swenson Center Associates are entitied to a special discounted subscription price of $10.00. Questions dealing with membership, back issues, mailing, advertising and other financial matters should be referred to Swens.on Swedish Immigration Research Center, Rock Island. Questions dealing with editorial matter, queries, manuscripts, ahnel}tafeln, etc. should be referred to the editor in Winter Park. In Sweden the subscription price is 150.00 Swedish kronor per year for surface delivery, 200.00 kronor for air. In Scandinavia the subscription fee may be deposited in a posrgiro account No . 260 10-9, Swedish America11 Genealogisr. Box 15222, 161 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 this year, 22-29 Oct., whicb former participants can vouch for, ~s a 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 name 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. I - Declarations of Intent by Swedes in Cleveland, Ohio 1842-1906 Patricia D. Whaley* and Nils William Olsson The name of Cleveland, OH, does not usually conjure up visions of a vast Swedish settlement area similar to that of Chicago, Minneapolis or Worcester, MA, but a doser look will show that this metropolitan area, located in Cuyahoga County at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River as it enters Lake Erie, proved to be a magnet which eventually attracted several thousand Swedes to settle here. The city's bustling industry, consisting of hundreds of factories, steel mills, foundries and slaughterhouses, served by a major port, was inviting enough to cause many a Swedish immigrant to stop off and to remain here for the balance of his life. Prof. Helge Nelson of the University of Lund in Sweden has in his major study, The Swedes and the Swedish Settlements in North America, demonstrated that by 1890 a total of 559 persons, bom in Sweden, had settled in Cuyahoga County. By 1910 this figure had risen to 1,883, in 1920 it was 2,766 and by 1930 had reached a total of more than 3,000 persons.' It is difficult to prove who the earliest Swedes were who either arrived or settled in Cuyahoga County. We know from travel descriptions that early lake­ going steamers, plying the Great Lakes - the major route westwards before the advent of the railroads - made Cleveland a major port of call. It is, therefore, con­ ceivable that an occasional Swedish passenger may have stepped ashore to explore the fledgling city. We know that as early as 28 Feb. 1846, a young Swedish journeyman dyer by the name of August Wilhelm Möller (in the U.S. he called himself Miller), declared his intent of becoming a U.S. citizen in the District Court of Cuyahoga County, barely ten years after Cleveland had become a city. 2 The death records of Cuyahoga County tel1 us that a Swedish woman, Catharine Halenstein (sic!), died en route through Cleveland 24 Sept. 1849. 3 There were several Swedish deaths recorded in the county <luring the 1850s and 1860s proving that Swedes had settled early in "The Forest City" as it was sometimes affectionately called.4 * Patricia D. Whaley, a professional genealogist, resides at 5722 Millwood Drive, Broadview Heights, OH 44147. 113 Swedish American Genealogist As more and more Swedes arrived, the need arose to gather in religious and secular groupings. Thus in 1885 the oldest Swedish church, The Bethlehem Swedish Lutheran Congregation, was organized. Four years later, in 1889, both the Swedish Baptist Church as well as the Swedish Mission Covenant Church were ·founded, and after an additional three years the Swedish Methodist Church came into being. A Swedish branch ofthe Salvation Army was formed in 1905. On the secular front a number of organizations were created. One of the oldest and possibly the most prestigious society, because of its local orgin, was the Gustavus Adolphus Mutual Aid Society, founded in 1890. In 1889 the "Hundred Men's Society" was organized, which in 1902 changed its name to Harmony. In 1902 the Nordenskjöld Lodge No. 46 ofthe Scandinavian Brotherhood of America was founded. The Nobel Lodge No. 130 of the Vasa Order of America was formed in 1908. Other groups came into being, representing the Templars of Temperance, the International Order of Good Templars, the Scandinavian Fraternity of America, as well as several musical organizations. Swedish Cleveland had come of age. Unfortunately, the documentation of the extent of the Swedish element in Cleveland has been quite meager. Thanks to the pioneering work done by a Cleveland Swede, Emil Forsberg, we do have a brief study of the Swedes in Cleveland from the first decade of the 20th century. 5 This short, but excellent treatise, was the basis of an anonymous article, "The Swedish-Americans in the State of Ohio," published in Vol. I of The Swedish Element in America, printed in Chicago in the 1930s, where the author has done little more than to paraphrase Forsberg's work.6 We also have a Swedish city directory for Cleveland which gives us a good account of the Swedish population in Cleveland in 1898.7 This study embraces about 1,500 names. 8 In the present study of the Swedes who in the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County declared their intent of becorning American citizens, the authors hope to give the readers yet another genealogical source for tracing Cleveland Swedes. Though the material to be found in these documents is scant, it offers three distinct fäets - (a) the name of the applicant, (b) the <late of arrival in the U.S., and (c) the <late ofhis declaration. In addition, we get his actual signature. The authors wish to thank the director of the Cuyahoga County Archives, Dr. Judith Cetina, and her able assistant, Glenda Hopkins, for their gracious help and cooperation in providing the important materials for this study. Additionally they wish to extend their appreciation to Western Reserve Historical Society for permission to use material from the Gustavus Adolphus Aid Society of Cleveland on deposit at its library. 9 114 Declarations of Swedes in Cleveland, OH Notes 1 Helge Nelson, The Swedes and the Swedish Settlements in North America I-Il (Lund 1943), I, p. 121; Il, map 14. :: 2 August Wilhelm Möller, a joumeyman dyer from Norrköping, left the Hedvig Parish in that city 11 Aug. 1841 for Arnerica and arrived in New York 19 Oct. 1841 aboard the Flavius. He was b. in Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland 8 Aug. 1817, the son of Carl Möller, saddler, and Margareta Elisabeth Leufstadius, who after her husband's death, married a sailor named Peter Wengström. Nothing is known as to Möller's subsequent fate. - Nils William Olsson & Erik Wiken, Swedish Passenger Arrivals in the United States 1820-1850 (Stockholm 1995), pp. 32,191,461 (SPAUS). 3 Catharine Halenstein was in reality Catharina Elfström, the widow of Jonas Elfström, a sailor from Gävle. She was b. Catharina Ersdotter Hedström in Tjämås, Torsåker Parish (Gävl.) 3 Dec. 1789, dau. ofErik Pehrsson and Kerstin Ersdotter.