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| Lovisa Petersdotter and Samuel Sjöstrand.1 |
At this summer's Scandinavian Folk Festival in Jamestown, New York, Tina Scott and I presented a talk about Lovisa Petersdotter and Samuel Sjöstrand, the first Swedish family to settle in Jamestown. I've written previously about Sjöstrand. Lovisa's role as the first emigrant from Vimmerby to settle in Jamestown established the extraordinary link between these two small cities – comparable to the Danish connection between Jamestown and the island of Bornholm.2
In researching and talking about the importance of the Johnsons on the Jamestown Swedish community it was impossible for me not to postulate: what would have happened if they had chosen instead to settle in Illinois or Iowa?
I studied economic development as an undergraduate in college, so I am somewhat better prepared to evaluate the industrial rise of Jamestown than most who write about history. I disagree with the histories that push the viewpoint that Jamestown's enlightened tycoons made the city great after the Civil War.
Instead, I credit the plentiful supply of cheap labor for the economic development of Jamestown. The textile mills and other emerging industries in this period could not have succeeded without abundant cheap labor. Later, at the end of the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, the city's development was further advanced by immigrant capital reinvestment in the area.
If you agree with my analysis, then the timing of the arrival of the first Swedes in Jamestown was critical. The region had to have an established immigrant community to attract the large number of immigrants who arrived in the 1870s and 1880s.
If the Swedes hadn't settled in Jamestown during this era, it could have been the Germans instead. But their developed community in Buffalo and burgeoning community in Rochester would have served as competing labor markets. It could have been the Irish, Scots or English, but they too had other options. Scandinavian immigration was unique in its cultural and language separation and its mass numbers. The end result of this course of thought is the recognition that Jamestown only developed in the manner that it did because of the Scandinavians and that Jamestown without the Swedes might never have developed into a substantial industrial city. There is a saying that the Swedes built Chicago. It is a phrase that carries both literal and figurative meaning and comes off as braggadocious. But it is reasonable and not an overstatement to suggest that the Swedes built Jamestown.
THE SETTLEMENT OF THE JOHNSONS IN JAMESTOWN
Samuel Sjöstrand arrived at the end of the summer of 1849. The next summer, his wife and children plus his sister and brother-in-law arrived. Louisa and Samuel Johnson, as they would be known in Jamestown, had a daughter named Kate -- this is Tina Scott's connection to the family. Kate Johnson married Conrad Hult making Tina related to two of the most influential Swedes in the early decades of the Scandinavian community.3 Their combined influence on the religious, professional, political, social, journalistic, military, and urban landscape of Jamestown was essential to the city's development. Their connection to the Methodist community, his professional preparedness, and her connection to Vimmerby paved the way for a Jamestown that was receptive to the new immigrants.
1. The settlement of Swedes in the Jamestown area – the Methodist connection of Samuel and Louisa Johnson
If Samuel and Louisa Johnson had not settled in Jamestown then the area might not have been strongly connected to Rev. O.G. Hedstrom. Olof Gustaf Hedstrom has been mentioned in several earlier blogs. Hedstrom's decades of mission work in New York City harbor aboard the John Wesley, the converted Bethel ship (bethelskeppet) influenced the early settlement patterns of Swedes in America.
Hedstom's mission influenced the decision by Peter Cassel to settle in Iowa in 1845. Cassel met Peter Dahlberg onboard the Bethel ship and was persuaded that Iowa was a better destrnation than Wisconsin. Cassel traveled with Dahlberg to Jefferson County, Iowa where Cassel established the New Sweden community.
The location of the Bishop Hill community in Illinois was decided that same year again through Hedstrom's connections. In 1845 Olof Olson and the advance team for the Janssonists arrived in New York City and stayed for some time onboard the Bethel ship. Hedstrom recommended that Olsson visit his brother Jonas in Victoria, Illinois to look at land in that area. A year later, Jonas Hedstrom and Olof Olson traveled with Eric Jansson and his followers to Illinois where Jansson established the Bishop Hill Colony in Henry County.
Our Swedes who arrived aboard the Virginia in 1846 arrived in New York City without sufficient funds to travel to their destination in Iowa (to join Cassel). I believe that this group was encouraged by Hedstrom to travel as far away from New York City as possible on the money that they had left – thereby landing them in Buffalo and beginning the saga of their settlement in Sugar Grove.
There is good circumstantial evidence indicating that the John Wesley (moored between Pier 10 and 11 on the Hudson side of Manhattan) served as a nationwide information distribution center before there were Swedish-language newspapers in America. If you wanted to learn the conditions or needed help with travel information, then you could find that at Hedstrom's mission. If you wanted to learn what was going on in one of the dispersed Swedish communities, you got in contact with Hedstrom and his aides in New York City. While the bethelskeppet was a Methodist mission and Hedstrom was a Methodist minister, their influence extended far beyond Methodist interests.
In Jamestown, Samuel and Louisa Johnson established an early strong connection to O. G. Hedstrom. The obituary of Samuel Johnson notes his conversion to Methodism in 1849 suggesting that event occurred aboard the bethelskeppet. Louisa and Samuel hosted Hedstrom in their home on his first visit to our area in 1851 as well as on his return trip in November 1852 to establish a Swedish Methodist class within Jamestown's Methodist church. When Olof Hamrin was named as a missionary to the Swedish community in Jamestown in 1855 under the initiative of Hedstrom, Samuel Johnson was named at the same time as exhortant and Class Leader.4
The farming community in Sugar Grove split in 1857 with the Methodists and some Lutherans leaving the Jamestown area for Minnesota. The division was so bad that the founders of the community, Germund and Catherine Johnson, pulled up stakes and moved to Vasa. Without Louisa and Samuel Johnson in Jamestown and their continuing connection to Hedstrom, it is difficult to believe that Swedes arriving in America would have had Sugar Grove recommended as a destination at the Bethel ship.
In the succeeding decades it is likely that Jamestown was recommended as a good choice for Swedes who stopped at the bethelskeppet for advice, directions, information, and worship. The completion of the Erie Railroad in 1851 with its western terminus in Dunkirk and its eastern terminus opposite the Bethel ship on the other side of the Hudson (Jersey City, NJ and connected by nearby ferry) likely made the recommendation of Jamestown as a destination that much more reasonable.
When Hedstrom retired from his decades of work in 1875 Jamestown was well established as a destination for emigrating Swedes. Louisa and Samuel Johnson remained constant Methodist connections in Jamestown during this period. Hedstrom died in 1877 and Samuel Johnson died in 1879, Louisa prevailed until 1899.
2. The settlement of Swedes in the Jamestown area – Professionals in the city
It is important to recognize the critical importance of city centers and the continuance of Swedish settlements in America. An economy that attracted Swedish tradesmen (Jamestown in our case) factors significantly in the success and persistence of rural Swedish settlements. A favorite story is that told by Eric Norelius reminiscing about his long familiarity with Germund Johnson. Norelius noted their shared forlornness at the exodus of their youth from Vasa to the cities. This left both the Methodist and Lutheran church congregations greatly reduced in their shared community. Without Jamestown, it is likely that Sugar Grove and Portland would have experienced the same cycle and these Swedish communities would be as relevant to us today as the earlier Norwegian community outside of Rochester, New York.
This year marks the bicentennial of the arrival of the Norwegian sloopers aboard the Restaurationen who settled northeast of Rochester. They were a group of 52 Quakers who had left from Stravenger, Norway (between Christiansand and Bergen on the west coast) in 1825 and arrived in New York City. They then traveled up the North (Hudson) River, arrived in Rochester using the newly opened canal, and established the Kendall Colony (now Murray) in Orleans county near its western boundary with Monroe county. Nine years later, many of these settlers left Kendall and moved to Illinois (Fox River settlement). One of the reasons that this community did not grow into an important Norwegian settlement was its lack of connection to a city (Rochester was still in its infancy).
The progress of American history meant that rural communities had to be connected to an urban area to prosper. Sugar Grove and the later communities throughout northwest Pennsylvania and western New York all owe their continuation to their satellite status near a Swedish urban center that was turn-of-the-century Jamestown. Jamestown provided elemental opportunity, alternatives, commerce, finance, culture, religion, and newspapers to the surrounding Swedish communities.
Samuel Johnson was the first skilled tradesman from the apprentice system in Sweden to work in Jamestown. His usefulness and compatibility with his employer likely influenced the later acceptance of the arriving woodworkers, blacksmiths, tailors, shoemakers, and others who followed.7 The success of these tradesmen altered the industrial development of Jamestown and led to more extensive incorporation of a Swedish immigrant workforce in capital planning. If Johnson had not fit well within the existing industrial base then later exploitation of immigrant workers may not have developed as it did.
3. The settlement of Swedes in the Jamestown area – Emigration from Vimmerby
In the summer of 1850 Samuel Johnson travelled to Buffalo to meet his family and bring them to Jamestown. In all, 26 of the 76 passengers (34%) aboard Lovisa's ship, the Swedish brig Minona, that arrived on 2 July 1850 in Boston settled in the Jamestown area.
Louisa Johnson is the beginning link to that chain migration that had a strong impact on the make-up of our Swedish community. Draw a radius centered on Vimmerby and you take in a large percentage of our ancestors.
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| Address book of the grandmother of Johan Hjertberg in Vimmerby showing the address of Lovisa Petersdotter Sjöstrand Johnson in Jamestown. |
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| Samuel Sjöstrand's origin in Lönneberga and Lovisa Petersdotter home in Vimmerby. The surrounding parishes include Södra Vi, Djursdala, Frödinge, Pelarne, Vena, Målilla, Jareda, Karlstop, Lönneberga, Hässelby, Rumskulla. Generalstabskartan Vetlanda, 28-1 (1876) and Vimmerby 36-1 (1891) Collection of Rikets allmänna kartverks arkiv courtesy of Lantmäteriet (historiskakartor.lantmateriet.se) |
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| The parishes of birth of Swedish immigrants in Chautauqua County in 1855 [revised 2014.10.15] |
- Colorized, composite image by John Everett Jones of Lovisa Petersdotter and Samuel Sjöstrand with many details not correctly shown. Despite the errors included (facial hair, fur, etc.), the image reimagines in a surprising manner this couple. Both images are from photographs included in my earlier blog (www.jamestownswedes.org/2019/11/notes-about-first-swede-to-settle-in.html).
- In preparing notes about the artists in the art exhibition at this year's festival, I researched the Danish-American architect Charles C. Pederson. Family trees online identified his birth as 30 August 1850 in Maribo, Storstrøm, Denmark, but in verifying that information it turned out that that Charles C. Pedersen lived and died in Denmark. As is so commonly the case for Danish immigrants in Jamestown, the architect had instead been born on the island of Bornholm.
- I reviewed my own family notes and it turns out that I am related to Samuel Christoffersson/Sjöstrand/Johnson. My farfarfarfarmor (great-great-great grandmother) was Maja Lisa Nilsdotter (1802-1849) who was a first cousin of Samuel Sjöstrand. Her morföräldrar and his farföräldrar were Jaen Christoffersson (1737-1811) and Lisken Larsdotter (1750-1814). Part of my family was from Lönneberga and Vena so it is almost impossible not to have been related... That then makes me a first cousin five times removed (five generations difference) of Samuel Sjöstrand. Significant to our family history, my great great-grandfather's older brother, Carl Jonsson Klang (Charles Jones), was working as a dräng on the farm of Samuel's older brother at the time of Samuel and Lovisa's emigration. Carl emigrated to Jamestown in 1852 and was the first of seven siblings to leave for America – including my great, great-grandfather and his family in 1866.
- Swedish Mission, Jamestown, New York. Record of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Archive of Christ First United Methodist (Jamestown).
Endnotes
Colorized, composite image by John Everett Jones of Lovisa Petersdotter and Samuel Sjöstrand with many details not correctly shown. Despite the errors included (facial hair, fur, etc.), the image reimagines in a surprising manner this couple. Both images are from photographs included in my earlier blog (www.jamestownswedes.org/2019/11/notes-about-first-swede-to-settle-in.html).
In preparing notes about the artists in the art exhibition at this year's festival, I researched the Danish-American architect Charles C. Pederson. Family trees online identified his birth as 30 August 1850 in Maribo, Storstrøm, Denmark, but in verifying that information it turned out that that Charles C. Pedersen lived and died in Denmark. As is so commonly the case for Danish immigrants in Jamestown, the architect had instead been born on the island of Bornholm.
I reviewed my own family notes and it turns out that I am related to Samuel Christoffersson/Sjöstrand/Johnson. My farfarfarfarmor (great-great-great grandmother) was Maja Lisa Nilsdotter (1802-1849) who was a first cousin of Samuel Sjöstrand. Her morföräldrar and his farföräldrar were Jaen Christoffersson (1737-1811) and Lisken Larsdotter (1750-1814). Part of my family was from Lönneberga and Vena so it is almost impossible not to have been related... That then makes me a first cousin five times removed (five generations difference) of Samuel Sjöstrand. Significant to our family history, my great great-grandfather's older brother, Carl Jonsson Klang (Charles Jones), was working as a dräng on the farm of Samuel's older brother at the time of Samuel and Lovisa's emigration. Carl emigrated to Jamestown in 1852 and was the first of seven siblings to leave for America – including my great, great-grandfather and his family in 1866.
Obituary, Jamestown Daily Journal, 19 December 1879, page 4. The history of the Swedish Methodist church in Jamestown indicates his conversion to Methodism during Hedstrom's visit in 1851. Svenska Metodist Episkopal Församlingens i Jamestown (1912) Minnes-Album Ord och Bild utgivet av Första Svenska Metodist Församlingen i Jamestown, New York med anledning av dess Sextio-Ars Jubileum, page 19. Digital access: https://archive.org/details/jamestown_svenska_metodist_jubileum_album
Swedish Mission, Jamestown, New York. Record of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Archive of Christ First United Methodist (Jamestown).
Tannery business. The economy of the Catskills where Hedstrom was a circuit rider in the 1830s was dominated by lumbering and tanneries. See, for example, Hugh O. Canham (2011) "Hemlock and Hide: The Tanbark Industry in Old New York," Northern Woodlands. https://northernwoodlands.org/articles/article/hemlock-and-hide-the-tanbark-industry-in-old-new-york A letter from Eric A. Helsten for Swedish immigrants to work in his tannery resulted in an 1857 response written by Hedstrom and Newman. Olof Gustaf Hestrom and Sven B. Newman (1857). "Letter to E.A. Hellsten," MS 2958.4467, The New-York Historical Society. https://nyhistory.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01NYU_NYHS/186u31g/alma990016565720107873
Olof G. Hedstrom again enters the equation as a possible influence on Swedish settlement in Jamestown. Hedstrom's early experience as a Methodist circuit rider made him familiar with the tanning and the hemlock debarking industries in the Catskills.5 So, Samuel Johnson and O. G. Hedstrom would have shared a knowledge of the tanning trade. Hedstrom might have been aware of the tanning business in Jamestown through his ties with the new Sugar Grove community but that seems highly speculative. Nevertheless, it is a possible reason for Samuel Johnson's decision to head to Jamestown.
Why Sjostrand decided to settle in Jamestown is not known. Hedstrom and the bethelskeppet connection remains the most likely reason, but this may have been chain migration. I have not identified a direct link between Samuel Sjöstrand Johnson and earlier Swedes who settled in Sugar Grove, but there is a general link to settlers in Sugar Grove and with his fellow travellers aboard the Brodrene did have connections to Sugar Grove.
Lars Larsson 1807 Hassleby-1883 Sugar Grove > Lawson Methodist Cemetery and Anna Olafsdotter 1814 KARLSTORP-1849/1851
Charles J. Peterson 1815 LONNEBERGA - 1894 Andover IL (Stayed in Germund Johnson household in Sugar Grove) and Anna L. 1816 Hvena -
John Peter Tinnerstedt 1817 Rumskulla-1857/1860 Wrightsville and Maria C. Johansdotter 1817 Rumskulla-1884 Wright Co. MN sister of Andrew Peterson
Samuel Samuelson [1849.036] 1819 Pelarne-1905 Emigrated from Hassleby parish and Maria 1817 Hassleby -1875 Chandlers Valley
Andrew Peterson [1849.046] 1811 Rumskulla-1888 Jamestown and Catharine Jonsson Fisk 1813 KARLSTORP - 1883 Jamestown
John A. Peterson [1849.047] 1842KARLSTORP and
Andrew Johnson [1849.051] 1825 LONNEBERGA -1866 JAMESTOWN marriage 1850 on Bethelskeppet
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