Swedish origins

While Sweden is a very large country, the early immigrants who settled in the Jamestown area were usually from a small geographic region.  More than 90% of these immigrants were from remote rural parishes near the conjunction of Östergötland, Kalmar and Jönköpings läns.  This region is similar in size to Chautauqua and Warren counties combined.  

County (län)	Birth	Emigration
Kalmar	55	51
Östergötland	45	43
Jönköping	34	25
Älvsborg	7	5
Kronoberg	1	3
Others	2	4

Swedish emigration to the United States was a massive exodus.  The histories and statistics (see below) usually note that the emigration was predominantly from rural areas (4 out of 5) and that the emigrants came from Småland (Kalmar, Jönköping, Kronobergs läns: 20%),  Västra Götaland ( Älvsborg, Gothenburg and Bohus, Skaraborg läns: 18%) and Skåne (Malmöhus and Kristianstads läns: 11%), with the remaining half from the rest of Sweden.  Those statistics do not represent very well the particular regionalism of emigration that occurred before the American Civil War. The statistics are dominated by the nature of the broader exodus after 1865.  Even the regional descriptions (Småland, Västra Götaland and Skåne) don’t represent very well the nature of the exodus.  The Swedes emigrated from a very limited number of parishes before 1855.

An example of this very specific emigration was the arrival in Boston on July 11, 1851 of the Swedish barque Calzone with 56 passengers.  Two-thirds of the passengers were from just two parishes:  Lönneberga and Målilla.

The map and table below identify the parish of birth and emigration for the group of immigrants living in Chautauqua County in 1855 whose origin has been determined.  This is a limited sampling of all of the Swedes in Chautauqua County (30% of about 429 Swedish immigrants enumerated) and may be biased by the under-sampling of immigrants in the northern part of the county (Portland and Pomfret townships) who are likely from the same region, but who have not yet been documented.  Likewise, this table does not include the large population of Swedish immigrants in Warren County at the same time period. Despite these limitations, I think that the distribution is likely to be representative of all of the Swedes who came to the area before the Civil War.  This makes sense based on the established connections between later groups of immigrants with the earlier Swedish settlers in Chautauqua and Warren counties.  

Note in the map below that the center of gravity for the origin of Swedes has shifted from Kisa south towards Hässleby and Lönneberga parishes. A separate center has developed in northeastern Älvsborgs län. Nearly all emigrants who settled in Chautauqua and Warren counties departed from Göteborg.

The parishes of birth of Swedish immigrants in Chautauqua County in 1855 [revised 2014.10.15]

The parish of birth and parish of emigration for Chautauqua County Swedes in 1855.

 

Parish	County (Län)	Birth	Emigration		Parish	County (Län)	Birth	Emigration
Hässleby	Jönköping	14	11		Karlstorp	Jönköping	1	2
Vimmerby	Kalmar	13	14		Annerstad	Kronoberg	1	1
Ingatorp	Jönköping	12	13		Åtvid	Östergötland	1	0
Lönneberga	Kalmar	12	11		Norra Vi	Östergötland	1	0
Pelarne	Kalmar	9	7		Stora Åby	Östergötland	1	0
Rumskulla	Kalmar	8	11		Svinhult	Östergötland	1	0
Järeda	Kalmar	8	9		Ulrika	Östergötland	1	0
Ekeby	Östergötland	8	5		Vadstena	Östergötland	1	0
Horn	Östergötland	6	5		Edshult	Jönköping	1	0
Ödeshög	Östergötland	5	7		Hult	Jönköping	1	0
Södra Vi	Kalmar	5	6		Jönköpings Kristina	Jönköping	1	0
Oppeby	Östergötland	5	1		Mellby	Jönköping	1	0
Asby	Östergötland	4	4		Säby	Jönköping	1	0
Sya	Östergötland	4	3		Helsingborg	Skåne	1	0
Västra Eneby	Östergötland	4	3		Helsingborg stadt	Skåne	1	0
Målilla	Kalmar	4	3		Gällstad	Älvsborg	1	0
Lekeryd	Jönköping	4	0		Hössna	Älvsborg	1	0
Frödinge	Kalmar	4	0		Sexdrega	Älvsborg	1	0
Timmele	Älvsborg	3	5		Södra Säm	Älvsborg	0	5
Herrberga	Östergötland	3	4		Vena	Kalmar	0	3
Sund	Östergötland	2	4		Kölingared	Älvsborg	0	3
Västra Ryd	Östergötland	2	0		Stockholm	Stockholm	0	2
Marbäck	Jönköping	2	0		Torpa	Östergötland	0	2
Blidsberg	Älvsborg	2	0		Torpa	Kronoberg	0	2
Dalskog	Älvsborg	2	0		Mo	Gävleborg	0	2
Marbäck	Älvsborg	2	0		Kisa	Östergötland	0	1
Örberga	Östergötland	1	4

This table (below) compares the origin of Swedish immigrants in Chautauqua County in 1855 to the overall Swedish statistics for emigration. See Cecilia Thorborg, Historisk statistik: Massutvandring till Amerika slag mot befolkningen, Nr 2013:56, Statistika Centralbyrån (SCB) website, Published 2013-08-28.  [Source: www.scb.se/sv_/Hitta-statistik/Artiklar/Massutvandring-till-Amerika-slag-mot-befolkningen/ : accessed 2014.09.24]

Origin of Swedish Immigrants in Chautauqua County in 1855 compared to total immigration 

Swedish Immigrants in Chautauqua County, 1855			Total Swedish Emigration, 1851-1910
Region / Län (County)	Birthplace of Emigrants	Emigration  to Area	Emigration to USA	Percent of USA	Total Emigration
Småland
Kalmar län	39%	44%	69,291	7%	75,405
Jönköpings län	23%	18%	67,945	7%	70,897
Kronobergs län	2%	1%	49,479	5%	61,411
Västra Götaland
Älvsborgs län	6%	5%	73,544	8%	91,712
Göteborg & Bohus län			38,855	4%	66,968
Skaraborgs län			54,802	6%	57,254
Skåne
Malmöhus län	1%	0%	55,061	6%	100,616
Kristianstads län			53,088	6%	70,755
Värmlands län			77,574	8%	97,234
Stockholms stad och län	0%	1%	52,048	5%	74,940
Östergötlands	31%	29%	66,176	7%	69,701
Hallands län			46,298	5%	53,903
Blekinge län			26,905	3%	39,189
Gävleborgs län			36,058	4%	38,673
Örebro län			36,666	4%	38,648
Kopparbergs län			36,852	4%	38,401
Västernorrlands län			28,133	3%	31,962
Jämtlands län			17,612	2%	20,371
Norrbottens län			12,879	1%	17,259
Västmanlands län			11,661	1%	12,867
Södermanlands län			11,047	1%	12,388
Gotlands län			11,349	1%	12,092
Västerbottens län			9,888	1%	11,338
Uppsala län			5,612	1%	6,472
Total			948,823		1,170,456
Number from rural areas					928,197

Origin of Swedish Immigrants in Chautauqua County in 1860 United States Federal Census 

Origin parish of Swedish immigrants enumerated in the 1860 Census in Warren and Chautauqua County


Intensity map of origin parish of Swedish immigrants enumerated in the 1860 Census in Warren and Chautauqua County