History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 98

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I > Part 98

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The first Swedish newspaper was "Folkets Röst" (The People's Voice), which made its appearance Octo- ber 14, 1874. That paper, four pages, 14 x 21 inches in size, was owned by The Swedish Printing Association. In 1877 the paper was sold to Conrad Hult and Paul Rosencrantz, and in 1878 to Haller and Gunderson, who enlarged it to eight pages, 25 x 171/2 inches in size, and renamed it "Värt Nya Hem" (Our New Home). In 1891 the paper was sold to the Värtland Publishing Company, and received a new name, "Värtland" (Our Land). The only other newspaper in Jamestown now published exclusively in Swedish is "Skandia," a week- ly founded in 1908.

The first church work among the Swedish people of Jamestown was begun in June, 1851, by Rev. Olaf Gus- taf Hedstrom, a regular Methodist minister, who, hav- ing been converted as a young man in New York in 1829 and ordained a preacher in 1835, became active in 1845 as an immigrant missionary for the Methodists on the historical "Bethel ship." Except when journey- ing westward in the interest of his conference quite frequently, his work was there for upwards of thirty years. On account of his early conversion and exten- sive missionary activity, Hedstrom has been called "the Father of Swedish Methodism," in the old country as well as in the new. This Hedstrom was at the time mentioned (June, 1851), on a journey westward, likely in connection with his work of establishing the first Swedish Methodist Episcopal church in Chicago, which was formerly organized by him in the following year. While passing through here he conducted the first pray- er service in Swedish that was ever held in James- town, at the home of Samuel Sjöstrand (Johnson) on Barrows street. There were only twelve attending. Late the following year (November, 1852), Hedstrom returned and organized the local Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church, which in 1854 had thirty-seven mem- bers. "Father" Hedstrom's life work came to a close in 1877, and in 1886 his Swedish co-religionists raised a memorial shaft over his grave in Greenwood Ceme- tery, Brooklyn.

Samuel Sjöstrand, through the influence of Hed- strom's prayer meeting at his own house, decided to join the First Methodist Episcopal Church, thus be- coming the first Swedish Methodist in Jamestown. Shortly afterwards he was licensed as an exhorter. This gave him and his friends an opening for holding meet- ings in the basement of the then American Methodist Episcopal church (the present Unitarian), on the oppo- site side of Chandler street from where the Swedish Methodist Episcopal church now stands. Sjöstrand was assisted in these meetings by John Larson and An- drew P. Peterson, the latter who came in 1852, and the grandfather of Major A. Bartholdi Peterson.

Rev. Olof Hamrin came here early the next summer (1853), and was for a year the first minister of the church organized by Rev. O. G. Hedstrom whom he had assisted previously in his labors on the "Bethel" ship. He received a local preacher's license in June and be- came a conference member in July of the following year (1854), but was suddenly taken away a couple of weeks later by an attack of cholera.

Such was the beginning of the first Swedish Metho- dist Episcopal church of Jamestown, now presided over by Rev. John Emanuel Hillberg.

There were Swedish Lutherans in the Jamestown

colony, and there were differences between them and the Methodists, but they could not have been serious, as Rev. Julius Lincoln, D. D., pastor of the First Lutheran Church, wrote in his "Memorial Album" in 1907 that "Rev. Jonas Swensson, the first regular pas- tor of the Swedish Lutheran Church in Jamestown, who came from Sweden in 1856, was well received and sheltered by the Methodist preacher, Rev. Jacob Bred- berg, who had succeeded Rev. Olof Hamrin." Rev. Jonas Swensson was a minister forceful in his preach- ing and of a strong character. He possessed the faculty of bringing things into order, not only with regard to daily life experiences, but within the hearts of his hearers. He was the beloved pastor of his flock, and his resignation and removal west after only two years' service was deeply regretted.

The First Lutheran Church was also served by Rev. Carl Otto Hultgren, who was ordained as a minister June 19, 1864, at the meeting of the Augustana Synod in Rockford, Illinois. He entered upon his pastoral duties in Jamestown a month after his ordination, at the age of thirty-three years, and remained the active pastor for thirty-one years. On September 18, 1895, he retired, remaining afterwards its pastor emeritus up to his death, which occurred April 9, 1901. Dr. Hult- gren was born December 25, 1832, in the parish of Hvena, Sweden, and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Jamestown.

From the First Lutheran Church sprang the Swedish Lutheran Immanuel Church, organized in 1887. The Swedish Baptist Church was organized July 20, 1884. In 1879 the Swedish Evangelical Mission Church of Jamestown, New York, was formed, was incorporated in 1885, and was accepted by the Swedish Evangelical Mission of America in May, 1891. Swedish Zion Mis- sion Church was organized October 4. 1894, and on May 16, 1895, was admitted to membership in the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant of North America. These distinctively Swedish congregations all have well plan- ned modern church edifices and are a power for good in the community.

At the time war broke out between the North and South, there were a number of young Swedes living in Jamestown. Almost to a man they enlisted in the Union army, but owing to their youth none returned with a commission. Neither do the records contain any mention of one of them being punished for a crime, nor was one ever tried by a courtmartial, nor did one desert the flag of his adopted country. Many of these boys sleep in national cemeteries, some perhaps in graves marked "unknown," but some returned to lives of useful citizenship under the flag they helped to de- fend. No attempt was made at the time to preserve the names of these boys, and what is known is from the recollections of survivors.

The first real organization of a secular nature among the Swedes of Chantanqua county was "The Swedish Singing Society Brage," in 1871, although "Freja," also a singing organization, existed for several years until 1876. "Brage" remained a singing society for males but a year, then both sexes were admitted and the aims of the organization were widened; "Brage" dis- banded in 1878. The Scandinavian Temperance and Benevolent Society was organized in 1872, the last char- ter member of that society, Olof Lundquist, dying April 21, 1909. Various Swedish singing societies have ex- isted since "Brage," one of them, "Pacius," having a life of several years. There was also the Jamestown Glee Club, and Lyran, the present society.

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405

THE SWEDISH PEOPLE IN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY

Brage Hall, June 6, 1875, and on August 25 "The First Separate Company" of the New York National Guard was mustered into the State service in Jones Hall, East Third street, by General Rogers, in the presence of his entire staff. The company roster contained seventy-six names, with John P. Hollers, captain ; Conrad A. Hult, first, and A. W. Ljungberg second lieutenants. Captain Hollers resigned his command later, and in 1880 Lieu- tenant Hult was commissioned captain. This was the first company organized under the State law authorizing separate companies. Its designation "First," was chang- ed afterwards to "Fourth," and later to "Thirteenth," and then to Company E, 65th Regiment, now Company E, 74th Regiment, National Guard, New York. Its popular name, Fenton Guards, was conferred in its early days as a compliment to Governor Reuben E. Fenton, a townsman, and in the newspaper of the day this account of the naming of the company is given :

The Swedish military company, the Fenton Guards, made a call the other day on Governor Fenton at his handsome residence on Brooklyn Heights. The band played a lively march, and the boys, resplendent in their pale blue and yellow uniforms, kept in step steadily and beautifully. The company presented a fine appearance, their bearing being much praised by the spectators. After the commanding officer had ex- plained the purpose of the visit and thanked the Gov- ernor for his permission to name the company after him, Fenton stepped forward and made a speech, in which he expressed his satisfaction at such a company having been organized. He also hid the Swedes wel- come to these parts, where their strong arms were well needed and where he hoped they would work out their own prosperity. The speech was received with enthusiastic hurrahs, after which the singers in the company sang "Lovely May," the words of which had been translated from Swedish into English by August Lund.

The State militia were under no regulation as to the design of their clothes in those days, and consequently the "Fenton Guards" could adopt as their own the uniform of the hodyguard of Charles the Twelfth, a handsome blue with yellow trimmings, which combined the Swedish national colors and was much admired. The "Fenton Guards" retained its character of a dis- tinctly Swedish organization up to 1887. During the railroad riot of 1877 it was ordered out, but did no active military service. In 1884 the boys were enter- tained for three days by the 32nd Regiment of Brook- lyn. The same year the company attended State camp under Captain Hult, and in 1886 under Lieutenant Ljungberg. In February, 1887, Captain Hult resigned his command, his resignation being followed in a few months hy those of First Lieutenant Ljungberg and Second Lieutenant Smith. Lieutenant Smith had suc- ceeded Lieutenant John H. Swanson, who resigned in 1885 on account of moving to Buffalo, where he organ- ized and for a while captained a company composed most- ly of Swedes, in the 65th Regiment. After the Swedish officers resigned, the Fenton Guards reorganized as an open-for-all institution. The emoluments from the State, as well as the local support, became generous again. Quite a number of Swedes have belonged to it since then, and when in 1898 the Guards were ordered into national service, during the Spanish-American war, it had Frank A. Johnson as its second lieutenant, besides other Swedes in its ranks. Lieutenant John- son enlisted as a private, August 3, 1880, and arose gradually, until he was elected second lieutenant, Feb- ruary, 1892. When the company returned from the war, Frank A. Johnson was its captain, appointed in May, 1898, but later resigned, and accepted a lieutenancy in the company, which he retained until his final resig- nation in the spring of 1914. During the World War he attempted to enlist, but age barred him, and he en-

tered the Home Guard, becoming its captain. For twenty-two years he was Jamestown's chief of police, then was out of office four years, but in 1920 was re- appointed, and is now (August 1, 1920) serving.

Captain Conrad A. Hult was a man who always gave little concern to appearances and conventionalities, but was always "a live wire" even in his later years, which is proven by his election in the nineties to the city council for a period of eight years. During his last term he was chosen president of the council, and served as acting mayor upon certain occasions. For three years (1895-1898) he was deputy sheriff of Chautauqua county, and during the Spanish-American war was commissioned by Governor Black to recruit his own company of volunteers had such additional troops been needed. The old captain passed beyond in 1902, and his funeral was conducted from the Armory with full mili- tary honors.

It was not until 1876 that Swedes began to exert any influence in local politics, the American born sons of the early comers being then of age, and as interested citizens began exercising their rights. They asked for representation on the village board of trustees, sug- gesting the name of John Gelm to the village caucus. They were promptly "turned down" and, smarting un- der a sense of injustice, they "bolted" and nominated John Gelm as an independent Republican candidate for village trustee. Gelm was elected, and from that time onward the Swedes have made themselves a factor in city, district and county politics. J. Emil Johnson was the first Swede to fill the mayor's chair in Jamestown, his first election occurring in 1900. Through two re- elections he was continued in the mayor's office for six years. Samuel A. Carlson, a city official, was elected mayor of Jamestown in 1908, and has been re-elected at the expiration of each term, his last election occur- ring in November, 1919. No better comment can be made upon his efficiency than to refer to his six re- elections.

John Gelm, the pioneer Swede officeholder, was elected sheriff of Chautauqua county in November, 1894, having previously served the city of Jamestown as chief of police. Gust A. Anderson was elected sheriff of the county in 1913: Fred R. Peterson was sent to the As- sembly in 1896; and Rev. Julius Lincoln, of Swedish parentage, pastor of the First Lutheran Church of Jamestown, was twice elected assemblyman during his pastorate, for nine years was a member and six years president of the city Board of Education. There are but a very few offices in Chautauqua county which have not had or now have Swedish incumbents, no other Swedish-American colony perhaps outrivaling James- town in that respect. It is, moreover, a fact that the Swedish officeholders, elective and appointive, have as a rule been re-elected or reappointed for a second or more terms, conclusive proof of efficiency and fidelity. There are several striking examples of this, the most noteworthy, the retention in the mayor's chair of J. Emil Johnson for six years; Mayor Samuel A. Carl- son's twelve years of continuous service as mayor, with still an unexpired term of two and one-half years to serve ; Gust T. Johnson's twenty-two years of service as assistant postmaster of Jamestown, a post he yet ably fills : Charles A. Okerlind, term of eleven years as city auditor ; and Frank A. Johnson's connection with the Jamestown police as chief, he being head of the force for twenty-two years, and again holds the po- sition after an interval of four years.

The Norden Club, a social organization of represen- tative men of Swedish antecedents, occupies quarters in a handsome club house owned by the Norden Realty

406

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE

Company, the stockholders of the Realty Company all being members of the club.

The Gustavus Adolphus Orphans Home an institu- tion for the care of orphans and neglected children, lo- cated in the eastern section of Jamestown, was found- ed by Swedes in 1884, and since that time has been the object of generous giving by Swedes as individuals, as well as by their churches and societies. Named after that illustrious defender of the faith, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and established by and under the authority of the Swedish Lutheran New York Con- ference, the administration of the Home is controlled by that body, but is also under State supervision. For its maintenance, however, the Home largely depends upon the voluntary donations from individuals and or- ganizations. While no denominational or social lines are known in connection with the Home, it is but jus- tice to the First Lutheran Church to add that the heavy- ier part of the burden of support in the past has been

borne by that organization. But support for the Home has been generous regardless of nationality or denom- ination, and when a quite recent drive was made to raise $30,000 to free the Home from debt, and to pro- vide for extensive improvements, the amount was raised in four days. John S. Swensson has been superinten- dent of the Home since 1898.

The Swedes have taken a strong position among the farmers of Chautauqua and are a contented, prosperous class of agriculturists. The towns around Jamestown and the Chautauqua Lake region proved the most at- tractive to them, but a scattering of Swede farmers is noticeable in other parts of the county. Chautauqua county has been wonderfully aided in her manufactur- ing and business development by her thirty thousand Swedish sons and daughters of foreign and native birth, and in return has given opportunity which has been gratefully and profitably improved.

DONALD MacKENZIE; KING OF THE NORTHWEST. By Ernest Cawcroft

The mind of the aging man turns to the scenes of his youth and early prime. When he meditates upon the eternal eventualities, memory carries him back to his native heath, and his reflections are eased by the hope that his ashes will mingle with the soil which gave him birth.

But Donald Mackenzie does not sleep the deep sleep at Inverness, the capital of the Mackenzie clan in Scot- land and where the future "King" of the Northwest found his birthplace on June 15, 1783. He does not rest at Fort William, now the leading grain port at the head of Lake Superior, but one century ago the capital of the Northwest Fur Company, no less than the centre of the commercial enterprise and the social and political intrigue of the vast Hudson's Bay territories.

And is there a tomb to mark for him a resting place at thriving Winnipeg? No, the man who had his seat at the then Fort Garry, and who by virtue of his governorship ruled the vast Provinces now known as Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, does not sleep under the soil over which he reigned for eight years as a governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. Donald Mackenzie sleeps the celestial sleep in Evergreen Ceme- tery, just at the foot of Mayville Hill, and overlooking the waters of Lake Chautauqua.

The Regents of New York State once required the reading of Washington Irving's "Astoria" for purposes of high school study. There I gleaned my first knowl- edge of Donald Mackenzie. Later I became interested in the development of Western Canada; my studies of and trips through that region brought home to me the name "Mackenzie" on many occasions. But one must go a long way from home to get the real importance of new events. "The Times" (London), publishes an obituary column which is distinguished throughout the world for its discriminating freedom from funeral plati- tudes, and its devoted effort to chronicle the achieve- ments of those who have passed from the King's ser- vice by death. During the early part of 1912, I found at the bottom of an article devoted to a deceased Peer of the Realm, the following item: "Our Mayville, New York, correspondent informs us that Henry Mac-

Note .- (This article was read before the Chautauqua County Historical Society Meeting at Dunkirk, and printed in the February, 1918, issue of "The Canad- ian Magazine" of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.)

Kenzie, one of the surviving sons of Donald Mac- Kenzie, the Canadian Explorer, is dead at that place."

This item connected my travels in Canada with my previous high school reading. Moreover, it impelled me to study the career and to seek to visualize the personality of a man cast in a large mould. I accepted the invitation to prepare this paper on "Donald Mac- Kenzie: The King of the Northwest," because I felt that many students of Canadian history have had but a vague conception of the deeds of this hero. To be born in Scotland, to achieve fame in Oregon and Mani- toba, and to live for eighteen years in Chautauqua county, breaks the links of personal history.

It has been my task to connect some of the links in the historical chain of Donald Mackenzie's life. The Mackenzies have written their names in large letters over the map of Canada. The habit of Dominion his- torians and biographers of referring to their particular Mackenzie by his last name only, has deepened the con- fusion in proportion to the books published. But in view of the fact that the record of the Mackenzie clan is distinctive in the history of Scotland and Canada, I shall trace out the career of Donald Mackenzie by a process of exclusion, just as I have been compelled to do in the verification of certain biographical data for the purposes of this paper.

Thus Donald Mackenzie must not be confused with Sir Alexander Mackenzie, who hailed from the same region of Scotland, and whose explorations placed the Mackenzie River upon the map of Canada in 1789. Nor with Kenneth Mackenzie, who looms large in the "History of the American Fur Trade," by Chittenden, and who in his trading and explorations traversed a large portion of the same territory covered by Donald in his American trip to the Pacific Ocean.

James Mackenzie was a governor of the King's Posts in Quebec Province. Henry Mackenzie served as secretary of the Northwest Company at Montreal ; and the premier member of that competitor of the Hudson's Bay Company was Roderick Mackenzie. These men were first, second, and third cousins of each other. They played a leading part in the lives of each other, some as friends and others as the executives of rival fur and trading companies. Between their friend- ships and their rivalries, they placed the name of Mac- Kenzie in the history of North America, beyond erasure.

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407

DONALD MAC KENZIE, KING OF THE NORTHWEST

This Roderick Mackenzie was the correspondent of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, and the cousin of Donald. The romantic explorations of Alexander were being told by proud Scotsmen about the time the youth of Donald was getting under way. Then Roderick Mac- Kenzie was writing home to Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as to Donald, telling of the opportunities for young Scotsmen in seeking the vast fur wealth of the Canadian Northwest.

Thus the wanderlust of the young man was stirred, and in 1801, Donald Mackenzie, then seventeen years of age, left Scotland for Canada, where he entered and remained in the employ of the Northwest Fur Com- pany for eight years. During these eight years he re- ceived his collegiate training by clerking, trapping, and trading, by exploration and adventure, and by playing a man's part in defending the accumulations of the fur season against the plunder spirit of primitive outlaws and angry Indians. He was a famous man, even in his youth, in this primitive country, and this prestige of the wilderness soon brought him into positions of great responsibility.

The career of Donald Mackenzie, as a factor in the making of North American history, must be timed from the day he connected himself with John Jacob Astor. The limits of this paper compel me to spare you the details ; but the New York Legislature incorporated the American Fur Company on April 6, 1808. The dashing and enterprising John Jacob Astor longed to tap the wealth of the wilderness to invest his profits in the lands of the metropolis. His broad mind conceived the idea of establishing a line of trading posts, connecting the Missouri with the mouth of the Columbia river on the Pacific. He not only foresaw the commercial possi- bilities, but he perceived, as his letters to the President and Cabinet officers show, the need of asserting Ameri- can title to the American Northwest. Rival fur and trading companies were claiming ownership on behalf of their respective governments and without thought of the present international boundary line. Mr. Astor made overtures for peace, and proposed to consolidate his venture with first one and then the other of exist- ing companies. Meeting with no success, he decided to offer positions to the best men of the Northwest Fur Company. Alexander M'Kay, who had accompani- ed Sir Alexander Mackenzie in his 1789 and 1793 ex- peditions ; Duncan M'Dougal, Donald Mackenzie and Wilson Price Hunt, of New Jersey, were finally asso- ciated with Mr. Astor under a new named corporation : "The Pacific Fur Company."

The Astor party outfitted at Montreal, the emporium of the fur trade. It crossed the Rocky Mountains in 1810, exploring and establishing trading posts enroute, and finally arrived at the point to be known as Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia river. Washington Irving described Donald Mackenzie at this period of his prime as "excelling on those points in which the others were deficient ; for he had been for ten years in the interior and valued himself on his knowledge of wood-craft and the strategy of Indian trade and Indian warfare. He had a frame seasoned to toil and hardships; a spirit not to be intimidated, and was reputed to be a re- markable shot, which of itself was sufficient to give him renown upon the Frontier."

Once the Pacific Fur Company party had fixed its capital at Astoria, leading members were delegated to establish additional posts at distant points. It was the policy to pre-empt good trading grounds, as well as to win the ultimate support of the United States Govern- ment by pushing the boundary line far north. Donald established the most distant post from Astoria on the

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History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people, Volume I, Part 98

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc. Number of Pages: 649

Author: Downs, John Phillips, 1853- ed. [from old catalog]; Hedley, Fenwick, Y., joint ed. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Boston, New York [etc.] American historical society, inc.
Number of Pages: 649