Estate Near Sjohester, Sweden |
When my husband and I went to Sweden in April we visited the
family home and church for ancestors who were on both his maternal and paternal
sides.
Kris and Mangus, of MinnesotaSwede.com, mentioned they were
intrigued by how early Samuel August Samuelson and his parents had emigrated to
the US and settled in Chicago – 1851! I never thought much about that date but
knew from a mug book account that the family only remained in Chicago for one
year and then relocated to Porter County, Indiana.
I discovered in Sweden the reason they first went to
Chicago. Sam’s older half-brother, Carl Gustaf Johnson, had left Sweden for
Chicago in 1849. Why? Samuel Eriksson was a tenant farmer who had married Anna
Elisabet “Lisa” Torstensdotter after she had birthed Carl. The family stayed
together working for an estate for years but in 1849 the estate let the family
go as it appears that the property was sold and the new owners had their own
tenants that they wanted to hire.
Samuel, Lisa, and their four surviving children moved to
work at a smaller estate as tenant farmers. Perhaps there wasn’t room for Carl
or he decided to set off on an adventure in America. According to Kris and
Mangus, this wasn’t the time that most Swedes left the country. Only those who
believed there was nothing left for them in Sweden took the long and dangerous
route to North America. This was the era of sailing ships.
By 1850, Samuel had to move on to another tenancy. From
visiting it became apparent that the family was on a downward slide. Each home
was smaller, the land surrounding it was tiny, and the estate where they worked
was not as prosperous as the former ones. It is no surprise that the family
decided in 1851 to join Carl in Chicago.
But where in Chicago? Carl does not appear in the 1850
federal census. Samuel and family arrived after the census. I searched city
directories for the time period but they are not found. I stopped at the
Swedish Museum hoping their archive might hold some clues. Unfortunately the
archivist was not in so I had to follow up with an email. Got a response that
she was busy with setting up a new exhibit and would get back to me when she
had time.
I then asked at the Chicago History Museum if they knew of
Swedish churches in Chicago during that time period. There weren’t any as there
were too few to form a congregation.
So, this mystery remains – where did they live and what did
they do for the short window when they lived in Chicago?
What I did finally understand was why Samuel’s son, Samuel
August Samuelson, volunteered as a Union Soldier and became a lifelong
Republican (not to be confused with the current party’s belief systems). Samuel
had experienced life as a child of a tenant farmer. He likely empathized with
the enslaved which resulted in his joining the Civil War. I would never have
figured this out unless I had stood in his former homes and saw for myself what
the family had experienced.
Next week, I’ll write about another Swedish mystery that I’m
still working on.
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