History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 37

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264

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CHAPTER XXI.

SWEDISH SETTLEMENT.

Early Colonies-Coming to Minnesota-Mattson, Willard and Norelius-Story of the Early Swedes Told by Dr. Norelius- The Churches at Red Wing and Vasa-Reminiscences by Early Settlers-Characteristics of the Swedes.

The first Swedish settlement in the United States dates from 1638, when there sailed into Delaware bay a man-of-war, the Kalmar Nychel, and a smaller vessel. Fogel Grifs, bearing a band of Swedish colonists. The voyage had taken over six months, owing to terrible storms, and when the colonists finally arrived they were so thankful and delighted that they called the cape Paradise Point. They purchased land on the west bank of the Delaware bay from the Indians for a fair price. This land stretched from Cape Henlopen to the fall near Trenton, taking in nearly all the state of Delaware and a portion of Pennsylvania. They immediately built a fortress, which they named Fort Chris- tina, in honor of the queen. They called the new state New Sweden. Here they remained and prospered, being at peace with the Indians, who had learned to trust them on account of their fair dealings. They had brought with them from the old home the fear of God, their Bible, respect for sacred things and a striet observance of the Sabbath. It has been said that no emi- grants more closely resemble the Pilgrim Fathers of New England in works and faith than the Swedes. Some of these Swedish colonists continued to live on the banks of the Delaware, and their descendants are today among the most honored citizens of America. The man who cast the deciding vote for Pennsylvania as a member of the Continental Congress, in favor of the Declara- tion of Independence, was a Swede of Delaware, named John Morton. When the Civil War broke out General Robert Ander- son. with a handful of men. bravely and calmly met the first shock of the Rebellion at Fort Sumter.

The idea of a New Sweden originated in the mind of Gustavus Adolphus, but was not carried out until after his death. when his chancellor. Axel Oxenstjema. completed the plans. The

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Swedish king had intended the colony to be an asylum for the oppressed of all nations, a free state where all would have equal rights and where slavery should never exist. Trade between the white man and red men was fair and square; they always kept their word with the Indian and never cheated him. When William Penn arrived on this eontinent in 1662 it was the Swedish settlers and their children who received him and made him wel- come to the new world. They were Penn's interpreters with the Indians. Penn did precisely as the Swedes had done, bought land of the Indians at a fair price, treated them kindly and kept faith. The Swedes had become so prosperous through their industry that in 1698 they were able to erect a church of stone, and the city of Wilmington has now grown up around its walls. This church, known as the "Old Swedes' Church," still stands, after nearly 200 years, a fitting monument to the New Sweden of Gustavus Adolphus.

Swedish immigration was not large throughout the colonial period. Only about ninety-four people arrived from Sweden in the ten years, 1820-30. . Since then it has rapidly increased, but it is only in the past fifty years that the influx of Swedish settle- ment has been great.

The first governor of New Sweden was Johan Printz of Vester Gotland, who was appointed August 15, 1642, when he was knighted. He died in 1683.

The men of Swedish stock who rendered service in the Rev- olutionary and Civil wars are numbered by the thousands. Among them are Admiral Dahlgren, General Robert Anderson, General Nelson, who was shot in Kentucky, General Stohlbrand, General Vegesach, Colonel Hans Mattson, and Colonel Elfiring. Then, too, there is John Erickson, the great inventor who planned and built the "Monitor," which saved the country from great peril. He was born in Sweden, son of a Swedish miner, and lived in a miner's hut in the backwoods of Sweden.

The first Swede to come to Minnesota was Jacob Falstrom, who came to the state before 1819. The first Swedish settlement in the state was commenced at Marine, Washington county, in 1850, by Oscar Roos and two other Swedes.

The first Swede in Goodhue county was Nils Magnus Nilsson, known as Nels Nelson and as Dr. Sweney's Nels. He was brought from St. Paul by William Freeborn and here spent the remainder of his life. He served in the Civil War and spent his declining days in a eabin on the island opposite Red Wing's levee. In this cabin he was found dead, and all the old settlers turned out to his funeral.

The influx of Swedish immigration to Goodhne county was started by Colonel Hans Mattson, but was also greatly assisted

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by Dr. E. Norelius and S. J. Willard. The real beginning of the Swedish settlement in this county was in 1854.

The Swedes have taken an important part in the development of Goodhue county and are now numbered among her best citi- zens. Their children and grandchildren are thoroughly American and are taking the places in official and business life to which they are entitled.

The characteristics of the Swedish people have been admirably summed up by Colonel Mattson as follows :

"Yes, it is verily true that the Scandinavian immigrants, from the early colonists of 1638 to the present time. have fur- nished strong hands, clear heads and loyal hearts to the republic. They have caused the wilderness to blossom like the rose; they have planted schools and churches on the hills and in the valleys ; they have honestly and ably administered the affairs of town, county and state; they have helped to make wise laws for their respective commonwealths and in the halls of Congress; they have with honor and ability represented their adopted country abroad; they have sanctified the American soil by their blood, shed in freedom's cause on the battlefields of the Revolutionary and Civil wars; and though proud of their Scandinavian ancestry, they love America and American institutions as deeply and as truly as do the descendants of the Pilgrims, the starry emblems of liberty meaning as much to them as to any other citizen.

"Therefore the Scandinavian-American feels a certain sense of ownership in the glorious heritage of American soil, with its rivers, lakes, mountains, valleys, woods and prairies, and in all its noble institutions : and he feels that the blessings which he enjoys are not his by favor or sufferance, but by right-by moral as well as civil right. For he took possession of the wilderness, endured the hardships of the pioneer, contributed his full share toward the grand results accomplished, and is in mind and heart a true and loyal American citizen."

Dr. Eric Norelius some years ago wrote an account of the early Swedish settlement and consequent growth of their colonies, which is of deepest interest to all who have considered the beginnings of the Swedish influx, which has continued to have so important an influence on the life of the county. The contri- bution of Dr. Norelius follows :

"The honor of having first directed the influx of Swedish immigration into Goodhne county belongs to Colonel Hans Matt- son. He was a young man with a military education, from Sweden, and had spent some time in Moline. Ill., after his arrival in this country. The following is gathered from an article written by him in the early part of 1856 and published in 'Hemlandet,' a Swedish paper, then at Galesburg :

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"'In the month of September, 1853, I started from Moline with a small company of immigrants for Minnesota, in order to find a place where we could commence a colony. Having arrived at St. Paul, Minn., some of our party took a contract for some work, while I, together with four others, started out to find a place for our future home. We were directed to Red Wing, which a short time before had been laid out as a village. We were told that good land could be had in the neighborhood. We went on board a steamboat and made directly for that place. When we landed we found the whole bank, where the town now stands, covered with Indian tepees, but we did not see more than four dwelling houses to prove to us that the people of our race lived there. Soon we met several Americans, who received us with much hospitality, and when they learned the object of our visit they got us a team and a man who was acquainted in the wilder- ness to go with us and show us the land. The following day we started out, but we did not feel satisfied before we got upon the prairie, now known as Vasa. On this prairie we found the. best of soil and we saw good oak timber in all directions. Now we had seen enough, and we went immediately back to St. Paul, in order to make ourselves ready to move to our new place.

" 'It was in the month of October and we expected a cold winter. As we considered it impossible at so late a season to build houses comfortable enough for the women and children, all those who had families resolved to stop at St. Paul over the winter. In company with two other men we returned to make claims for all of ns. When we for the second time returned to Vasa prairie we were provided with a tent, a stove, some pro- visions and some winter tools. After having pitched our tent on the bank of the big creek, now Belle creek, in a elump of trees, and arranged our romantic camp, we went out to recon- noiter the land around about and took several claims. There- upon we went about to build a house where we could live during the approaching winter. Some weeks after two families of our party came down from St. Paul to stay, and during the following summer, 1854, we numbered ten families.

" 'On one occasion, when the Rev. E. Norelius, of Indiana, conducted religious services, a Lutheran church was organized, and the settlement received the name of Vasa, in memory of the great hero, Gustaf Vasa, who liberated Sweden from foreign despotism and brought about the establishment there of the Lutheran faith. The name seems to be well chosen, as the Swedes at Vasa strive to imitate the great Gustaf and his coadju- tors. Before this name was applied the place was known as "Swede Prairie," "Mattson's Settlement," and also "White Rock," from a big rock of white sandstone somewhat similar in

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form to a small, old church in the old country, situated in the southern part of the town.'

"From the time of Mr. Mattson's account. as above, up to 1860. a large number of Swedes arrived, partly from Sweden direct and partly from the older states of the Union, and filled up not only the town of Vasa but also parts of the surrounding townships, such as Leon, Cannon Falls, Belle Creek. Goodhue, Featherstone, Burnside and Welch. Quite a number settled in Red Wing from the beginning of Swedish immigration to Good- hue county. The most of them were of the Lutheran profession, at least nominally.

"The organization of the Swedish Lutheran churches at Red Wing and Vasa stood in connection with a missionary tour to Minnesota, which I made in 1855, in the months of August and September, I at that time being pastor of several Swedish churches in Tippecanoe and surrounding counties in Indiana. From my diary kept at that time I may here transcribe some items.

"1855, August 31. Landed at Red Wing at 12 o'clock at night : took lodging at a miserable hotel ; tried to sleep, but could not for mosquitoes. September 1, made an attempt to scale Barn Bluff before sunrise. but was recalled by the breakfast bell. I made some inquiries to find out if there were any Swedes, but I obtained no information. After a while I met a Swedish servant girl, who told me that there were quite a number of them in Red Wing and gave me directions how to find them. After having spoken to several of them and 'explained the object of my visit, I proposed to hold a service in the evening if a place could be had. They told me that the Presbyterians had a meet- ing house, a shanty, in the burgh, and that we might possibly get it. I then went to the Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Mr. Hancock, introduced myself and asked for permission to use his chapel, to which he consented, provided I would preach the sound gospel. In the evening I had about one hundred hearers, among whom, no doubt, were hard cases. One poor fellow told me that 'the old devil may run after preachers, but he would not.' However, not a few seemed to be edified and desired me to hold as many services as my time would permit.

"September 2, the Lord's day, I remained at Red Wing and preached in the afternoon in the Presbyterian chapel, the house being full; and making a new appointment for Monday night, I got a horse and a guide in the evening and went out to Vasa, word having been sent before, for divine service in the forenoon on Monday. We went up the Spring creek valley and got over the prairies to Carl Carlson's after dark. Carlson lived in a log house a little to the northeast from the present brick church.

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I was hospitably entertained at his house, and on the.following morning, September 3, I was to hold service there. Almost every soul in the settlement came together at Mr. Carlson's. No Swe- dish minister had visited them before in their new home. After the service it was proposed to organize a congregation, and the organization then adopted resolutions under the name of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran church, of Vasa. Swen Jacobson, S. J. Willard and Ola Olson, Sr., were elected deacons. The following persons handed in their names as members of the con- gregation : Carl Carlson, wife and four children ; Ola Olson, Sr., widower, and four children; John Bergdahl, widower, and one · child; Samuel Johnson, wife and one child; Gustaf Carlson, wife and three children; Erik Anderson, wife and two children; S. J. Willard, wife and one child; Jonas Gustafson, wife and one child; Nils Peterson and wife; Peter Nilson, wife and four chil- dren; Nils Westerson, wife and four children; August Johnson, single; Peter Johnson, wife and one child; Swen Jacobson and wife; Anders Nilson, wife and two children; Swen Swenson, wife and three children; Swen Olson, wife and one child; Benzt Anderson and wife; Ola Swenson, single; Sizuild Andersdoter, single ; Matts Mattson and two sons; M. Flodquist, single : Gustaf Peterson, single ; Carl Peterson, single; Olof Peterson, wife and one child; Nicklas Peterson and wife; Bonde Olson, single: Nils Eklund, single ; Bengt Kilberg, single; Peter Wedin, single; Carl Roos, wife and two children; A. G. Kempe; in all, eighty-seven persons.

"It was now the great desire of the congregation to secure a pastor. On the same occasion three children were baptized. viz. : Maria, born at Vasa August 21, 1855, daughter of Samuel John- son and his wife, Stina Lisa; Selma Adelaide, born October 15, 1853, daughter of S. J. Willard and wife, Anna; John Wilhelm. born on good Friday, 1855, son of Peter Johnson and wife, Caro- lina. The meeting was elosed by singing and prayer, and in the afternoon I went to Red Wing, where I preached in the evening, organized a congregation and baptized two children.

"Three weeks after that time, when I returned from an ex- tended tour to St. Paul, Stillwater, Marine and Chisago county, divine service was held at Vasa in Nils Peterson's new log house. It was September 21, in the midst of the equinoctial storms, the rain was pouring down and I was suffering badly from the fever and ague, which I had brought with me from Indians. A young man had taken me out from Red Wing in a lumber wagon hitched to a pair of horses, a great institution in those days. The Lord's supper was also to be celebrated at this occasion, the first in the history of the congregation at Vasa. After having preached the sermon, or just at its end, I had a very bad attack

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of the chills and had to go to bed, the people in the meantime patiently waiting' until the spell was over, after which I got up and administered communion. On September 24 I bade the good people of Vasa farewell, and was exceedingly glad to find an ox team to take me down to Red Wing. Soon after I had left, on September 30, a meeting was held by the congregation at Vasa for the object of electing a pastor. It was then unani- mously resolved to extend a call to me. The sum of $200 was guaranteed as salary for the first year, with the expectation that the congregation at Red Wing. which desired to participate in the call, would contribute a like amount. With a view that most of my parishioners in Indiana. who owned no land there, would go along with me to Minnesota and settle there, I accepted the call and moved to Goodhue county in the spring of 1856. I was in my twenty-third year and had been married nearly one year. I knew that a life full of hardships was before me, but I had made up my mind beforehand. with the help of God to conquer or die. I told my excellent young wife that we should have to swim or else to sink. and she consented to do her part.

"May 25, 1856, the first Sunday after Trinity Sunday, I preached my introductory sermon at Vasa, in Peter Wilson's new log house. which was filled to overflowing. My sermon was on the text for the day, treating of the rich man and Lazarus, and I tried to tell my new parishioners that it was better for them to be truly pions with poverty and go to heaven with Lazarus than to be ungodly with riches and go to hell with

the rich man. I told them plainly that my object in coming here was to preach and teach the pure gospel of Jesus Christ, and by study, earnest and patient work, to build up a Christian eongre- gation, not by periodical extraordinary efforts and occasional high steam, but by diligent and faithful instruction in the word of God. Looking back now upon those years, we have witnessed many movements and changes, but I have no occasion to regret or change my standpoint which I took from the first. and I modestly think that my labor. under God's blessing, has not been altogether in vain. For several weeks we lived at Peter Nilson's in the same room in which I preached. Our whole property con- sisted of a bedstead of the rope bottom kind. a plain. square table. an old bureau, an old cooking stove and a few books. Bacon and flour were high at Red Wing, and it cost $4 to bring a sack of flour and a ham home to Vasa. In the spring of 1856 a log house. designed for a school and meeting house. had been put up on Mr. Willard's farm. but it was not completed at the time when I arrived. and it took the whole summer to get it in order for winter use. However, we used it for divine service during the summer. after the floor was put in.

HISTORY OF GOODIIUE COUNTY

"June 22, 1856, a business meeting of the congregation was held, when a constitution for the church was adopted, the prin- ciples of which are still in force, although considerable altered several times. The question as to the location for a church and graveyard was also brought up. Mr. Willard proposed to donate ten acres of land to the congregation for this purpose, round about the schoolhouse, a short distance to the southeast from the present brick church, and the offer was thankfully accepted. As Mr. Willard had the misfortune to lose his land, the con- gregation could not secure a deed to the property, and conse- quently could not use his offer. A number of dead were buried there, and the schoolhouse was occupied as a meeting house up to 1862.

"July 6, 1856, a meeting was held for the election of three trustees, and the following named persons were duly elected, viz .: Peter Nilson, for the term of one year; Carl Carlson, for the term of two years, and Olof Peterson, for a term of three years. A certificate of incorporation of the trustees of the Swe- dish Evangelical Lutheran church, of Vasa, was made ont the same day, duly acknowledged on July 13, before Mr. Willard, he being then a justice of the peace, and filed for record July 17, 1856, and recorded in first book, religious societies, pages 9 and 10. by J. M. Hancock, register of deeds.

"From that time the congregation may be said to be fully organized. My object now will be to show something of its development during the subsequent twenty-two years of its exist- ence. My own history is so much interwoven with that of the congregation at Vasa, not to mention that of Red Wing and other places in the county, that I cannot well relate the one without having to touch the other. And I hope, therefore, that the reference to myself will not be looked upon as too egotistical. After having lived for several weeks at Peter Nilson's we moved to a place in the neighborhood of White Rock, on Belle creek, where I bought the improvements on a quarter-section from old Mrs. Bockman, for $130, proved up the claim and paid the gov- ernment price the following winter. When I bought the claim there was a small log hut on it, 8x10 feet in size, with flat sod roof and with no floor. This was to be our kitchen department. I got some common lumber at Red Wing, at a high price, and put an addition to the hut, a shanty 12x16 feet, intended for a parlor, sitting room, bedroom, etc., all in one. We moved in when three sides were up, without roof or floor, withont doors and windows. Well do I remember the first night in that house, if house it was. We made our bed on the ground on a pile of shavings and hay, with the blue sky above us. I had filled the mattress with new-cut grass, and unintentionally put

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in with it a small snake. No wonder. then, that in the mnorn- ing. when my wife made up the bed, she caught hold of the dead snake in the mattress. By and by the roof and ceiling were made, consisting of sheeting; the floor was laid of common lumber, and the carpet put on; the walls were papered and then we had a nice, clean, cozy house to live in. The only incon- veniences we had were when it stormed and rained, for the carpet then stood like a bellows and the rain came pouring down through both roof and ceiling. On such occasions we used an umbrella. It was only a little odd to sleep under an umbrella in the house. In the middle of September we had a visit from. the well known Rev. Dr. Passavant, of Pittsburg. Pa .. who stayed with us one night. He had a dream. In his nocturnal imagina- tion he thought he lay under the bottom of a lake, and no wonder, for it rained that night. A little later a number of our friends from Indiana came up, and for some weeks we were no less than twenty-one persons, and the weather was at that time very ugly. Horses were yet scarce. Our neighbors were in no better condition, and some were a great deal worse off than our- selves. My friend and neighbor, J. Robertson, first used a big loom for a house : then he dug himself down in the ground, till he got a small cabin put up. T. G. Pearson, our nearest neighbor, was busy putting up a solid log house that summer; in the meantime he lived in the same primitive way we did. My time was divided between Red Wing and Vasa and other places. and my duties often called me away from home. On this account it was a trying time for my wife, especially as the Indians were occasionally passing by. In the fall the prairie fire threatened to burn down our house, while I was away, and my wife had to fight for dear life. We continued to live in our frail house until November 4, when we moved to Red Wing in a snow storm.

"I will now return to the congregation and my pastoral work. As soon as I got to be a little 'fixed' I bought a horse and a rickety old wagon; most of my trips, however, were made on horseback or afoot, as the roads were poor and far between. During the summer I made a pretty thorough canvass of the whole settlement. People were pouring in very fast, and settled down on the unoccupied land. On November 8 I could report to a special meeting of the congregation that the church num- bered 185 persons, of whom 101 were communicants. At the same time it was determined to establish a Congregational school, and on November 15 it was opened. J. Engberg was the first teacher, with a fixed monthly salary of $35. Ever since that time the school has been a fixed institution in the congrega- tion and has done much good for the religious instruction of the children. Among the early teachers were Lovisa Peterson.

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Jane Nilson. L. Anderson, A. M. Lundin, S. Westendahl, A. Anderson and P. Lindholm. The winter of 1856-57 was a long and a cold one, and the snow was very deep. One Sunday morn- ing when I went from Red Wing to preach at Vasa I stuck fast in a snowdrift, just as I got up on the prairie, and I had to return. I learned afterwards that only three persons ventured out to meeting that day. It was a very cold day and they showed their warm religious disposition by grumbling over the non-appearance of the preacher. This, however, was the only appointment I missed that winter.

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History of Goodhue County, Minnesota, Part 37

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1264

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago, H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1264