Jamestown Swedes: Gus Peterson and Fiji

Photographer not identified. Photo from publicity for Royal Davui Island Resort.

During these gray days of late winter when the optimism of the rapidly lengthening day is offset by the snow and mud, it is a pleasant distraction to think of lands far away.

The idea of going off to Sea or running away to the Sea was a persistent male trope in Swedish culture. I have written and talked about the artist Lars Gustaf Sellstedt who left for the high seas at twelve or thirteen.¹ Often in America, going to sea was replaced with going West and many Swedes left for gold in California or silver in Colorado. That wanderlust made Jamestown only a stepping stone for some of the earliest Swedish immigrants to our area. Gus Peterson [1850.019] showed up recently in my research and he is an addition to that list of adventurers and/or runaways.

He was the son of Peter Simonsson and Maja Stina Jeremiasdotter who arrived from Lönneberga parish with their family in 1850 and lived in Jamestown, Kiantone and then Chandlers Valley. Peter and Christina Simpson, as they were later known, have been a challenging family to document. Some of the details of their eldest, Lovisa, are known. She married Jonas Peterson [1852.175] and had two children but died of tuberculosis in 1869, five years after her husband had died from the same disease. She is listed as Mrs. Sederburg in her burial record but her second husband has not yet been identified. Peterson's other living sibling were brothers who went to the oil fields to work. In 1885 one was living in Bradford and the other had not been heard from for some time.²

Last week while I was researching an early Swedes who had fought in the Civil War, I came across a transcription of Gust Peterson's death notice in one of the works by Lois Barris.³ That led me to several article in the Jamestown paper that are transcribed here:

Jamestown Evening Journal, 21 September 1885, p 3. Fulton History digital version

DIED IN FIJI.
Remarkable History of a Former Resident of Jamestown.
The first of this week THE JOURNAL received from Thomas F. Bayard, U. S. secretary of state, the following notice for publication:
DEPARTMENT OF STATE.
WASHINGTON, D. C. November 16, 1885.
(Official)
Information has been received at this department from Mr. W. H. Bruce, the vice commercial agent of the United States at Levuka, Fiji Islands, of the death in August 1885 of Mr. Gus Peterson. The legal representatives of the deceased can obtain further information by applying to this department. Per dispatch dated September 30, 1883. dit.

This notice met the eye of Charles Gron,⁴ of Gron Bros., liverymen, who communicated to a reporter the following history of Mr. Peterson:

He was a Swede and came to Jamestown over twenty years ago and remained here two years, going hence to Albany, and afterwards embarking on a whaler for a voyage to the Antarctic ocean. The ship was wrecked and he was cast ashore on an island in the South Pacific where he led an existence similar to that of Robinson Crusoe until rescued by an English vessel and taken to the Fiji Islands where he had ever since lived, a period of thirty years.

He made his home on the island of Ovalau, in the town of Levuka, where there is a large settlement of Englishmen and Americans, and there he married and reared a numerous family. He early embarked in the business of cotton growing, employing the labor of English convicts, and rapidly accumulating wealth. He established a saw mill, importing the machinery from the United States, and was the first man to introduce steam power upon the islands of the Fiji group. A few years ago his mill burned, and from an Indianapolis, Ind, firm he procured a new outfit. At his death he owned hundreds of acres of land and counted his wealth by thousands of pounds. Two brothers formerly lived here, one of whom is now in Bradford, and the other has not been heard from in several years. Mr. Peterson did not correspond with these brothers, but letters were oссаsionally received from him by Charles Gron, his cousin, and several months since Mr. Gron received a large number of Fiji curiosities from Mr. Peterson, a portion of which were seen and admired by hundreds of persons who attended the late meeting of the county fair.

Mr. Peterson witnessed wonderful changes in the islands before his death. He became a resident of Levuka at a time when, as Mr. Gron says, "The natives wore no clothes and ate each other whenever a chance offered," and lived to see civilization and Christian influence spread over all the islands, the abolishing of savagery and cannibalism,⁵ and the establishment of a protectorate by the English government. His was a remarkable career, and more varied than that which usually falls to the lot of men.

The Illustrated London Times, 8 March 1887, p 232. Levuka, Fiji.

Jamestown Evening Journal, 21 March 1885, p 2. Fulton History digital version

GATHERING UP THE SHELLS.
A Rare, Beautiful and Costly Collection Received by a Jamestown Man from the FIJI Islands.

Chas. Gron is the recipient of a very handsome collection of rare, curious and valuable shells from the Fiji Islands. They were sent by John Simpson,⁶ a cousin of Mr. Gron's, who formerly lived in this village but left here about thirty years ago for the far away island home where be at present resides. This collection he has spent years in gathering, taking the greatest part of them himself from the ses shore and receiving the rest from friends in the islands in that vicinity. In a letter accompanying the gift Mr. Simpson states that the shells must be taken from the sea while the animal within is living, in order to retain their lustre.

The collection numbers nearly six hundred shells and while anyone can wonder at their queer shapes and markings only a conchologist could appreciate the value of them. Many of the tints are most beautiful, especially those of pearl and rose color. Dark brown and glossy black and other colors which are not generally associated with shells are to be seen here, and some have regular designs which appear as if those of large size to those which can be mounted and worn as jewelry, several small shells of a pinkish color, with white stripings, are so valuable and scarce in the islands where they are found that it is stated that the jewelers will mount a pair in gold in exchange for two pairs of the shells.

In the collection were included two articles of the earthenware made by the natives on the islands, and also several pieces of their bark cloth, including a large quilt painted in curious designs. Mr. Simpson also inclosed samples of the tea and coffee grown on his plantation and which are stated to be of very fine quality. At the same time he sent a smaller collection of shells and other articles to Mrs. E. T. Hovey⁷ of this village.

If you should happen to know what became of this shell collection, please send me an email at jamestownswedes@gmail.com. : )

Endnotes

Lars Gustaf Sellstedt (1819-1911). See blog Staddin and Sellstedt (2025) and Wikipedia article.
Peter and Simpson were Methodists and there is a lack of documentation for their lives in our area.
PETERSON Gus [death] recently FC 25 NOV 1885 "Of Figi Islands, where he settled after being wrecked on a whatling voyage, weathly cotton planter....cousin of Charles Grow[sic] of Jamestown. Lois Barris (1991). Death notices, 1819-1899, reported in the Fredonia Censor and a few other sources. Chautauqua County Genealogical Society, p. 418. Digital access: www.familysearch.org/library/books/idviewer/328522/423

Peter Simpson [1850.016] was the maternal uncle of Charles Gron [1850.050] making Gron a first cousin of Gus Peterson. Gron was a Civil War veteran serving form 1861-1865 in the New York Ninth Cavalry, and co-owned with his brother a livery in Jamestown. He was one of the two Swedes elected for Chautauqua County office in 1873, the first political success for Swedish Americans in our area.

The extent of cannibalism in traditional Fijian cultures is in open debate. It is clear that the issue was used for political gain by the Europeans and its existence either fabricated or grossly over exaggerated.

John Simpson aka Gus Peterson [1850.019] aka Augustavus Petersen, född Johan August Petersson. He was born 10 June 1834 at Järnemåla in Lönneberga parish, Kalmar län, son of Peter Simmonson/Simpson and Maja Stina Jeremiasdotter. Lönneberga kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängd (1843-1862), SE/VALA/00237/AI:11, p 7; and Lönneberga kyrkoarkiv, Födelse- och dopbok (1828-1860), SE/VALA/00237/CI:3, p 51.

Mrs. E. T. Hovey was Mrs. Harriet Emeline Hovey née Whicher (1836 Westfield, NY - 1910 Jamestown) wife of carpenter Edward T. Hovey. In 1860, they lived two doors down from a shoemaker named Augustus Peterson in Jamestown.