USA > Illinois > Henry County > Bishop Hill > A history of Bishop Hill, Illinois : also biographical sketches of many early pioneers in Illinois, 100 years > Part 3
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And necessity seemed to demand some such plan of emi- gration. Some of the Jansonists were penniless, others had but small means, while some were well-to-do. A common fund was necessary if all should obtain sustenance and transporation across the Atlantic to America and Illinois and support during the first period in their new homes. Thus from scriptural ex- ample and circumstance the principles of communism were adopted by the Jansonists to be continued during the entire existence of the colony.
It was found that about eleven hundred persons were will- ing to emigrate. The undertaking, therefore, was not a small affair for those days. Passports must be obtained. This implied in the first place a certificate from the pastor of the parish and next the passport proper for an individual or his family as the case might be. Passports were at first denied the people, and it was only through a petition to the royal authorities that they were granted. There were cases, however, of persons whose husbands, or parents, or other guardian relatives were opposed to their going and so these usually ran away, and, by using the ministerial certificates of others to obtain passports, or by using the passports of others, or by also disguising them- selves succeeded in getting on ship board.
The exodus did not take place at once and the same season of the year, nor was it accomplished within the same year. Some did not leave for four or five years. A few never left Sweden at all. The first company of emigrants-a small band of six- teen or seventeen persons-sailed from Soderhamn in the fall of 1845 on a ship loaded with iron-a commodity which Swedish ships usually carried to America. The vessel, unfortunately, was wrecked in a storm the second day out. The surroundings
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were terrifying. All aboard believed the end was at hand. But the Jansonists were calm, engaged in devotions, partook of the holy communion and left a deep impression upon the crew and the rest, including a sailor-lad who later became a noted Swedish Methodist preacher, both in Sweden and the United States- Victor Witting. The storm subsided, no lives were lost, and the emigrants left for America again the next year.
In the early part of 1846 Eric Janson succeeded in getting into Norway by traveling on skiis across the mountains, and armed with the passport of another family, he departed from Christiana, thence by merchant vessel to Kiel, next by rail to Hamburg and from there by steamer to Hull. and thence by rail to Liverpool. Here they boarded a sailing vessel for New York, their voyage taking about six weeks.
In the same year-1846-occurred the main emigration. The vessels departed from Stockholm, Soderhamn, Goteborg, Gefle and Christiana. The ships were small and in some cases old and unseaworthy. They were all sailing vessels and so dependent on fair winds for good traveling. The emigrants furnished their own bedding and victuals, and before embark- ing spent some time in baking Swedish hard tack, curing meat and gathering other food. One company took with them two goats which furnished milk on shipboard. Water and fuel were furnished free.
In a contract made on the above basis in 1850 for con- veying one hundred and fifty-seven persons from Soderhamn to New York on the ship "Eolus," the transportation charges were seventy riks-daler (about seventeen dollars and fifty cents) per passenger above the age of twelve, while infants were free. Two dollars were also paid out in advance for each to cover the landing and hospital fee, which cannot have been far from the actual amount required, for in the case of the ship "New York" wich sailed from Gefle and carried one hundred and eighty-one passengers to New York in the spring of 1847, this fee was one dollar and eighty-seven and one-half cents. Pre- sumably the passenger rates varied according to circumstances and agreements. An emigrant who traveled with a small party in 1847 states that the rate in that case was one hundred riks- daler when the passenger furnished his own food.
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The Oldest Methodist Pulpit in America. Made in Victoria, Ill., 1854.
Rev. Oliver Hedstrom of Victoria, Illinois
THE FROG SWEDISH METHODIST ORURCHIR THE WORLD FOUNDED HET
J.J.HEJ UST ENEG EDOPAD
MONUMENT
Victoria, Illinois
Inscription-The First Swedish Methodist Church in the WORLD. Founded here by J. J. Hedstrom in 1848.
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METHODIST CHURCH
Victoria, Illinois
VICTORIA, ILLINOIS
Cradle of Methodism in America
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The number of emigrants on a ship varied. In some cases it was less than fifty, again about seventy-five, or one hundred and fifty or one hundred and sixty, or nearly two hundred. The times for the voyage also varied, as six weeks, nine weeks, twelve weeks, while one vessel, the "New York," was five months on the way, of which time seven weeks were spent on the English coast near Dover in repairing the vessel. Not all who embarked in Sweden lived to see the promised land. Some died on the sea, others after reaching New York, and the journey inland was begun. One vessel with about fifty em grants was lost at sea, another was wrecked on the coast of Newfoundland, another lost its rudder in a storm while within a day's sailing of New York, protracting the voyage.
From New York the journey was continued up the Hud- son river to Albany, thence on the Erie canal to Buffalo, next on the Great Lakes to Chicago, whence the first emigrants went on foot for the most part while wagon transportation was se- cured for the luggage, and for such as could not walk a long distance. Later arrivals went from Chicago by water to LaSalle, Henry or Peru, whence they walked or rode. The last comers in 1854 traveled by rail the entire distance from New York to Galva-the year when the C. B. and Q railway was finished to that point. The journey from New York before the days of rail required about three weeks.
When the emigrants arrived in New York not a few of them visited the Bethel ship and heard missionary Hedstrom. Janson did the same, and also preached, Hedstrom trying hard to win him over, but to no avail. Meanwhile a Swedish woman who resided in New York -- Mrs. Sophia Pollock -- was con- verted to Janson's belief, and when Janson and his party started for Victoria, Illinois, Mrs. Pollock and her husband went with them.
It was the first part of July, 1846, that Janson and his party reached Victoria. Shelter was given to Janson and his family in a log cabin occupied by Olof Olson. In this cabin was organized the first Swedish Methodist church by Jonas Hedstrom, December 15th, of the same year. In Victoria Jan- son used his efforts to dissuade Olson from maintaining the Methodist faith and is said to have succeeded.
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After a short rest it was decided to secure a location for the Jansonistic settlement. On August 1, 1846, there was pur- chased in Olof Olson's name forty acres on section nine and twenty acres on section seventeen near Red Oak Grove in Wel- ler township for two hundred and fifty dollars from a Stark county settler. On August 21st a deed was signed by which for one thousand, one hundred dollars, a tract consisting of one hundred and fifty-six acres of improved land was bought on the south east quarter of section eight, in the same township and at Red Oak Grove. Here were buildings, live-stock and grain and here was established the first home of the new settlers. In that same month came the first company of Jan- sonists after Janson's arrival. They were chiefly from the province of Dalarne and among them was Gabriel Larson, who had contributed twenty-four thusand riks-daler.
After some prospecting it was agreed that the colony should be located at Hoop Pole Grove on the south east quarter of section fourteen, for here was a supply of water and wooded shelter. On September 26th the quarter section indicated was bought together with the north east quarter of section twenty- three and the north west quarter of section twenty-four, in all four hundred and eighty acres of contiguous land, and all pur- chased from the government at the rate of one dollar and twenty- five cents per acre.
The new settlement became known as Bishop Hill-an exact translation of the name of the Swedish parish where Eric Janson was born, but the name was later spelled without the "S."
A few log-houses and tents were first erected to be fol- lowed by a number of dugouts, most of which were made in the sides of the ravine passing north and south through the settlement. The rear wall of a dug-out as well as the rear parts of the side walls were of earth, but the front parts and the front wall were of logs, there being a door at the front flanked by two small windows. The roof was of rails, sod and earth. A dug-out was usually about eighteen feet wide and twenty- five or thirty feet long. There was a fire-place in the back wall, while usually two tiers of berths ran along the side walls accommodating about twenty-five or thirty persons. Sometimes the dug-outs were comfortable, sometimes unhealthy.
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Dugout Cellar-First one used by the Colonists. Located on the Orlie Chilberg Farm.
Old Millstones in the Park.
RED OAK MONUMENT
INSCRIPTION-Hereabouts rests 50 members of B. H. Colony who died 1846-47. This Monument was erected by remaining members of B. H. C. 1882
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In the same fall a large structure was built to serve the purposes of a church. It was in the shape of a cross, was built of logs and covered with canvas, whence it was called "the tent church." At the north end was the pulpit, at the south a gallery and a fireplace, and it is said that this church ac- commodated about eight hundred to one thousand persons. Dur- ing this fall there arrived a large number of emigrants so that when winter set in there were about four hundred persons in the colony, including seventy at Red Oak Grove. Small houses were made of sod and rails were used for kitchen and dining purposes. As the accommodations were not the best, the food supply scanty and fasting obligatory, malaria and dysentery attacked the settlers and the angel of death was busy.
Poverty and circumstances determined the nature of the burials. There was no supply of sawed lumber to make coffins, therefore sheets had to suffice. Sometimes one grave must serve for several bodies. Funeral services were dispensed with, nor was the place of interment always known. It is said that a number were thus buried in a large grave in the west part of the settlement near the south edge of the grove, but the exact spot is unknown. In the east edge of Red Oak Grove there was a place for the burial of the dead. A monument erected there in 1882 informs the chance visitor that in that locality fifty found a last resting place in '46 and '47.
These hardships were too much for some who accordingly left for other places. Some who crossed the ocean at the ex- pense of the common fund never came to the colony at all, some remaining at Chicago, some elsewhere.
In June, 1847, there arrived about four hundred addi- tional emigrants. These had come to New York in various ships during the winter being obliged to wait until the water-ways were again open before proceeding on their westfard journey. In February, however, there came to the colony a company of twenty-one men and a woman as cook who left New York the month before and traveled across the country by boat, rail, stage and on foot. They were members of a party that had left Sweden in the previous October, and the men took a leading part in building a sod fence surrounding the town and over a thousand acres of land.
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THE BIG BRICK-Destroyed by fire, 1928
The first floor of the Big Brick, or the kitchen building as it was originally called, was the kitchen and dining hall; while the three upper floors were made into dwelling rooms, one or two allotted to a family. In 1850, a similar contiguous building was erected to the south, thus making the building 200 feet long and contain- ing 96 rooms. Incidentally, this is said to be one of the first apart- ment houses in the middle west.
STEEPLE BUILDING-as seen from the Park.
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In 1847 was begun the making of adobe of clay and coarse grass, and a few houses were made of this material, standing for several years. In that year also was built the first frame house, which was in part occupied by Eric Janson and family. A sawmill was secured by the colonists, but was exchanged for another, while in 1848 a third one was purchased. But not all the needful lumber could be obtained in this way and some had to be transported by wagon for many miles from such places as Peru or Rock Island.
In 1848 a man smoking a pipe set afire to a pile of chaff from flax near one of the log-houses. There was a strong wind blowing and soon the log-houses near by were in flames and also the tent-church in the same locality. Therefore measures were taken to build a new church. Siding and finishing lumber were hauled from Peru; adobe was placed in the walls next to the siding. The basement and first story were fitted up into dwell- ing rooms, while in the second story was the church proper.
The making of kiln-dried brick began in 1848. Both men and women were engaged in this work. Suitable clay was found a short distance west of the village and there the kilns were fired. A hundred thousand bricks were made the first month. It is said that in all, five million bricks were made from first to last. Brick was made for the market and for home use. A dozen sub- stantial buildings of this material were erected during the ex- istence of the colony, some of the masons being women. From the chalk-stone in the ravine cement was manufactured, while sand was procured in the neighborhood. In 1849 a four-story brick building was begun, forty-five feet wide and one hundred feet long, and was finished in 1850. The first story became the kitchen and dining hall. In 1850 work was commenced in extending this building another one hundred feet on the south and the next year the new structure was finished. The first story of this extension was also fitted up into a kitchen and dining hall. Thereupon the dining hall in the north part was used for the children, and the one in the south part for the adults. This building, two hundred feet long, was called the kitchen building but in English acquired the title of "the big brick." The three upper stories were divided up into dwelling- rooms, and after the close of the colony the first story was
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likewise fitted up into dwelling rooms, making a total of ninety- six such, exclusive of six halls.
Another of the more important brick structures was "the Steeple building," which, erected 1854, was designed for a hotel, but was finally converted into dwelling rooms, a couple of rooms being used for school purposes until the schoolhouse was built. In the tower was installed a clock, made by three of the colonists, striking the hours and designed to be wound once a week. In calm weather the striking of the old clock may still be heard today for a considerable distance.
The great majority of the colonists were from the province of Helsingland which was famous for the cultivation of flax and the weaving of linen goods, hence it is not surprising that the colonists entered early upon this industry. At first the flax was prepared by hand, but afterwards water-power was used. All spinning and weaving were done by hand. Coarse and fine goods, linens, woolens and carpets were made. The largest production for the market for a single year was in 1851, when twenty-eight thousand, three hundred and twenty-two yards of linen and three thousand, two hundred and thirty- seven yards of carpets were produced. From 1848 to and in- cluding 1860 the total manufacture of woven goods appears to have been one hundred and sixty-nine thousand, three hundred and eighty-six yards.
There were tailors to make clothing; a tannery prepared leather for the shoemakers. In a period of thirteen years there were prepared about three thousand hides and five thousand skins. Brooms were manufactured. Carpenters made furniture and some with the help of blacksmiths made implements and wagons. Every department of the colony's industries had its overseers and each member belonged to some department for a longer or a shorter time according to adaptability and inclination.
As the colonists had been for the most part agricultural people in the old world so agriculture was their principal oc- cupation in the new. As the years rolled by more land was pur- chased. The products of the middle west were gradually under- stood. In the busy season the shops must turn out their work- men, both men and women. At certain places there were build- ing where both laborers and oxen were used, though the latter
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were less and less employed as the years went by. It was the duty of men and boys to take care of the horses and oxen, while women and girls milked the cows, and fed the calves and hogs.
When prairie land was to be broken there was at first used a thirty-six inch plow, pulled by eight yoke oxen. While a man guided the plow, a couple of boys usually urged the oxen on with the aid of long whips. Later a smaller plow was utilized, drawn by three yoke of oxen. In the plowing of cultivated land horses were ordinarily employed.
Indian corn was planted for several years in the following manner: Two men, walking in a straight line opposite each other, carried each a stake to which was fastened a rope stretched out and having a ribbon tied to it every four feet. Behind each ribbon walked a woman, who, with the help of a hoe, planted the corn she carried in an apron. After a time corn was planted in another manner: A "marker" made of wood was driven over the prepared soil, and where the lines crossed girls dropped the kernels after which women, carrying hoes, covered up the seed. As the years passed by corn-planting machines made their appearance.
Wheat and oats were at first cut with a scythe, but in 1848 the cradle appeared, a hand implement consisting of a handle, a scythe-blade and above the latter a light frame of wooden fingers which caught the grain when cut and held it so that it could be laid evenly in a swath. Thereupon the grain was bound into sheaves by women oftentimes, while boys and girls carried the bundles into piles and old men shocked. Sometimes at the close of some such day's work the laborers would form in line and march home to supper while they sang some cheery song. Thus the arduous work of a day was ended in joy.
In the beginning the eclonists ground their corn on hand- mills, but these had to be worked night and day to supply the need. To get wheat ground into flour it was necessary, it is said, to go twenty-eight miles away to Green River, or to Cam- den, now Milan. But a grist-mill run by water was erected, 1847, by the creek at the north end of the village. When the water was low a few men who were studying and preparing themselves to go out as missionaries for Jansonism, sometimes tramped the wheel. A mill run by wind was built of brick and
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finished in 1851. Here a hundred barrels of flour could be turned out in a day. Much flour was therefore marketed while there was a large custom trade. A fourth mill driven by water- power served for various industrial purposes.
In the early days the colonists were often obliged to fast, but changes soon came for the better. A sort of thin bread of the nature of hard-tack was the principal kind of bread during the entire period of the colony. At first butter was used for the most part only at breakfast on Sundays, but oftener later on. While a greater variety of food was prepared for breakfast and dinner as time went on, the regular article of food for supper was mush of corn-meal or middling, served with skim- milk or a fluid consisting of small beer and molasses. Coffee was served only at breakfast ordinarily, but at first there was little of real coffee about it-water was boiled with a sort of roasted bread made usually of corn-meal, or middling, with some potato flour and molasses. Sometimes wheat was roasted and mixed with the coffee. Milk and molasses took the place of cream and sugar. As a matter of fact the usual beverage was small beer, a Swedish drink brewed in the colony. It is said to have been more generally used than water and was con- sidered wholesome and appetizing. A commodious brick build- ing a short distance east of "the kitchen building" served the purposes of a bakery and b-ewery.
Accustomed to fish in their lake-dotted home-land, the col- onists made especial efforts to obtain fish in this lakeless region. Fish was secured for several seasons from the Mississippi River, the camp being on the government island at Rock Island. Some went to Henry and Chillicothe to secure a supply of fish from the Illinois River.
When the times had brightened the laborers were not only enlivened by the regular meals, but refreshments between meals -a custom which is still practiced in many a Swedish-American home. While coffee with rusks and cake forms the essential refreshments between meals today, the menu in the colony consisted of bread, with cheese or meat, and small beer, and sometimes a little of a strong drink called "No. 6," whose object was chiefly medicinal. Barrels of water and small beer were hauled through the harvest fields all day long.
Going back to 1849 it appears that in the summer a party
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of Norwegian emigrants came and had with them the dreadful Asiatic cholera which they had encountered on the way be- tween Chicago and La Salle. The disease quickly fastened itself upon the colony in grim earnest. Strong, healthy men were caught, only to succumb in the fatal clutches of the plague. Eric Janson ordered a number of the people who were well to hurry off to the farm operated by the colony east of La Grange, now Orion, and remain there until the cholera was stamped out at home. But to no avail, for on the day after their ar- rival the first case broke out among them, and others followed in quick succession. One woman who cooked dinner was dead at 4 o'clock the same afternoon. Physicians prescribed but the deaths continued.
At the La Grange farm the deaths were most numerous, and trenches were dug for the dead, no coffins being used. At Bishop Hill the number was less, the burials were in the present cemetery, opened in 1848, and coffins were used. Some who were staying at a place near Cambridge fared no better and several died of the scourge. Here a woman buried her dead husband with her own hands, Janson took his wife and two of the children to the fishing camp at Rock Island, but it was useless-his wife and the two little ones passed away in the awful disease and were buried there, the location of their graves being today unknown.
It took about three weeks for the cholera to rage among the colonists. When it was over a considerable number over a hundred had breathed their last and been imbedded beneath the soil. Of this number seventy are said to have died on the La Grange farm. The site was marked in 1888 by a monument which is located on section thirty-six of Western township, near the road leading to Cambridge. A year after the cholera had devastated the colony it attacked a number of emigrants bound for the colony. They were seized by the scourge on the Great Lakes, where it had been raging, and a considerable num- ber met with suffering and death.
The colonists had left their home-land for religious reasons, as has been indicated. It was therefore to be expected that the religious life in the new settlement should be of great import- ance. At first two services were held each weekday in the tent- church, and three on Sunday, Janson roused the people early
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Major Eric Berglund 57th Reg. Illinois
Rev. Andrew Berglund
nabor Anll. M. A. It Appeared I: 1280
BISHOP HILL-1869
in the morning for the first service before breakfast. At Chiist- mas time the first year a bell was produced which continued throughout the colony to serve the double of calling the people to worship and to their meals, and is now in the cupola of the village schoolhouse, calling the children to school. The second service was in the evening and many years elapsed before candle- light was displaced by oil lamps. In the summertime of the first two years services were held in the woods, usually only at noon, when the work in the fields was urgent. There were two such meeting-places in the grove. It also happened that Janson sat on the porch of the frame house he occupied and preached to the people seated about. Janson, wearing a cloak of black, had direction of the services and frequently preached. Others who often officiated as preachers were ; Jonas Olson, Olof Stone- berg, Nels Hedeen and Andrew Berglund. Other men were also called upon, sometimes at a moment's notice. As time went on the weekday morning services were discontinued, while the evening services became less frequent. The Sunday services were reduced to a morning and an evening service.
Eric Janson's own hymn-book, printed in Sweden, 1846, was used. Besides the hymns it contained several prayers. Later on there was a choir and an organ played by S. Bjorklund, a musician who arrived from Sweden, 1852. A revised edition of the hymnal was printed at Galva in 1857.
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