A Man Came From Sweden
Jöns Andersson and his Ancestors
The year was 1814. The United States was still embroiled with England in a
controversy later known as the War of 1812. By this time two national
censuses had been completed in this country. But in Sweden the census had
been an annual event for well over a hundred years. A law had been passed in
1686 which directed the clergy of Lutheran Church, the state church, to keep
the official records for the country. They were already recording the
births, marriages, and deaths of their parishioners.
In the Osterlof parish, Kristianstad County, Skane Providence, the pastor
was carrying out his annual survey. At the farm called Karstad #5 he found
the family of Olu Bengtsson. Olu had been born on this farm in 1780. To this
place he had brought his bride, Ohlu Bengtsdotter from neighboring Nosaby
Parish. They were nearly the same age, Ohlu being a mere five days younger
than Olu. By the time the pastor visited them in 1814 they already had three
children, a daughter, Svenborg, and two sons, Bengt and Anders. The
following year he recorded the birth of another son, Pehr. Then in 1817 he
recorded the birth of daughter, Kirsten, and the death of Ohlu Bengsdotter
two days later.
When Anders Ohlsson reached his teens and was strong enough to do a man’s
work he went to Karstad #9 ¼, probably to work as a farmhand. Here he met
Kjerstena Pehrsdotter who was living on the main farmstead, Karstad #9.
Kjerstena had been born at #14 Fjelkestad, the daughter of Pehr Hansson. It
would appear that she came, as Anders did, to work at Karstad and it would
appear that romance bloomed because in 1838 they had a son, Jöns and two
years later another son, Anders. In June 1842 Anders and Kjerstena were
married. Then they moved to Damhuset where a daugher, Ohlu was born later
that year. By 1850 they had three more sons, Inger, Ola, and Sven.
Jöns and Olu
In this family of six children, Jöns was the one who grew up to become “the
man who came to America”. The United States was fighting a Civil War but
Jöns was not here yet. He had just met Olu Vestesdotter.
Olu was the daughter of Veste Pehrsson and Elna Olsdotter who lived at #21
Grodby in the neighboring Ivetofta parish. This family included Sven
Gustafsson, probably Elna’s son, and Sven, Olu and Anders, who were Veste
and Elna’s children. The pastor made a notation in his record book that
Veste was punished for stealing. One could conclude that times were hard for
this family.
Olu had come to the Osterslov parish but then for a period of time in
1863-1864 she lived in the poorhouse back in the Ivetofta parish, where she
gave birth to a son, Anders. The Ivetofta pastor sent a note to the
Osterslov pastor informing him of this birth, probably so Anders could be
included in the records of his father’s parish. On November 25, 1864 Olu and
Jöns were married. Jöns left the Damhuset farm where he had grown up and
took his little family to live at Osterlof #12. Could it be that Olu felt
that marrying the father of her child was preferable to living in the
poorhouse? Or did it take a while for Jöns to agree to marry the mother of
his son? Or maybe they could not marry until they found a place to live.
Jöns and Olu did not stay at Osterslof #12 very long. Within a year they
moved to Osterslof #41. Jöns is listed here as a crofter. This means he was
living in a cottage, possibly owned a small piece of land, and was probably
required to work for the main landowner certain days per week or month
without compensation. Jöns and Olu’s family was growing. Anders was soon
joined by a brother, Sven.
The year 1867 was a terrible year in Sweden. There were crop failures across
the entire country. At higher altitudes snow lasted until midsummer and the
first frost began in August. The Swedes were literally starving and had to
receive support in the form of grains like a developing country from Russia.
Then during that winter Olu discovered she was pregnant with their third
child. What could Jöns do?
In April 1868, the parish records show that Jöns “Efter uppgift rymd till
Amerika” which translates as “Allegedly escaped to Amerika”. The priest
listed a total of 12 people, farm hands, crofters and tenant farmers, who
escaped to America. None of them were enrolled in the Army. “Escaped” meant
that the person had left the parish without receiving a “passport” or
migration authorization from the vicar. No one was allowed to move or even
travel between different parishes without written permission. So Jöns was
formally a parish member but did not fulfill his duties in the form of labor
and taxes.
Coming to America
Jöns left his wife behind in Sweden with two sons and the third child on the
way. A daughter, Elna, was born in September.
Sometime after arriving in the United States, Jöns changed his name to
David. Possibly, upon arriving in a Swedish community here he found many
Jöns or John Andersons. While David was an unusual name for a Swede, it was
not totally unknown in his native country. It did give him a separate
identity in this country.
There is a family story that when Jöns Andersson, now known as David
Anderson, arrived in this country, he went to Illinois and found work on the
farm of a man who was inventing his own machinery. This farmer was John
Deere.
Most family stories change over the years, often with details added or
amended, but there are always kernels of truth in them. The challenge is to
find those kernels. In the case of this story, we must first look at some
facts about the man, John Deere. John Deere was born in Connecticut and
apprenticed to a blacksmith when he was of an age to learn a trade.
Eventually Deere had his own blacksmith shop where he repaired farm equipment and made improvements on them. As the westward movement expanded into Illinois, Deere moved there and continued in his occupation of blacksmithing. He developed a metal covering for the plowshare, making it a much more effective implement than the original wooden shares. By 1870 he owned and operated a plow manufacturing plant in Galva, Illinois.
We do not know how long it took David Anderson to travel from his native
Sweden to the United States. We are told that he came to Freeport, Illinois,
where he had a friend. Freeport is located in northern Illinois between
Chicago and Dubuque, Iowa. At about the time David would have arrived here
there, factories in Freeport included one started by William and Walter G.
Barnes which made walking cultivators, Peerless and hand rakes, corn
shellers, harrows, and other farm implements. We do not know how long David
stayed in Freeport or if he ever worked for the Barnes factory. We do not
know when he moved to Galva. We do know he needed a job so he could earn
enough to bring his family to this country. Did he work at the farm
implement factory in Freeport? Or did he move on right away to Galva and get
a job at John Deere’s plow factory? Perhaps he worked in Freeport, brought
the family there and moved later to Galva.
What we do know is that by 1871 David was able to send for his wife and
three children. On April 24, 1871 they left with six other immigrants from
their parish to go to “Amerika”. Ula, Anders, Sven, and Elna soon
joined their husband and father in Illinois.
Living in Illinois and Iowa
Like David, the rest of the family also Americanized their names. Ula became Olivia. Andrew was an obvious change from Anders. Sven took the name Frank. Elna became Allice, then Ella, and finally Mary Ellan.
In the year following their arrival a second daughter, Matilda, was born in Illinois, but at this point, we do not know where. Then in May 1875 William Oscar was born in Galva, Illinois.
Sometime within a year or so after William's birth, the Anderson family left
Illinois for a farm in York Township, Iowa County, Iowa. It was here that
Edward was born. Later they moved to Hilton Township south of Marengo where
Minnie was born in 1880.
In May 1889 Olivia died at age 51. She was apparently buried in what was to
become a family plot in the cemetery at Marengo, Iowa. Three years later
David married Regina Swan, also a native of Sweden. Or perhaps she was born
in Canada of Swedish parents. Regina had two children from her first
marriage, a son and a daughter. A daughter, Harriet, or Hattie, was
born in December 1892 to David and Regina.
The Nebraska Years and Retirement to California
Sometime during the following two years David moved his family to a farm in Colfax County, Nebraska, in the Howells area. Regina’s son remained with her sister in Iowa, but her daughter, Ida, accompanied them to Nebraska. A second daughter, Myrtle, was born to David and Regina in January 1896.
David and Regina stayed in Colfax County until 1905 when David decided it was time to retire. He quit farming and moved to Nester, California where it is said he purchased a small orange grove. He died there sometime before 1910.
* * *
David Anderson was a farmer. His places of residence in Sweden, Iowa and
Nebraska were on farms, never in towns or villages. He was apparently always
a farm laborer and possibly owned a small piece of land in Sweden. In this
country he may have always been a renter. So far no land records have been
found to prove he ever own any of the land he farmed.
A family story explains that he came to this country to avoid serving in the
Swedish military. But records do not support that story. A major crop
failure in Sweden in 1867 was probably the determining factor in his
decision to come to the United States. No source of income and the prospect
of a third child would provide considerable pressure to force such a
momentous decision.
The David Anderson family about 1878 or 1879.
From left to right: Sven (Frank), Jöns (David), holding William,
Anders (Andrew), Elna (Mary Ellen), Ula (Olivia), seated,
holding Edward, and Matilda (Tillie).
Sources
1880 [Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, Book 977.333/D3h]
1880 Federal Census, York Township, Iowa County, Iowa, ED 207, sheet 1
1885 Iowa State Census, Hilton Township, Iowa County, Iowa, Anderson,
Township 80, Range10, Section 4, SE & NE
1900 Federal Census, Lincoln Township, Colfax County, Nebraska, ED 47, sheet
14, line 41.
1910 Federal Census, Otoy Township, San Diego County, California, ED 159,
sheet 6
History of Stephenson County, Illinois by M.H. Tilden (Chicago: Western
Historical Company)
Edward L. Anderson Collection
John Deere's Company, A History of Deere & Company and Its Times by Wayne G. Broehl, Jr., (Doubleday & Co.), 1984.
Microfilm 142022 Marriages, Births, Deaths, Movements in & out of Osterslof,
Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah
Microfilm 142020 Survey Book - Osterlof Parish, Family History Library, Salt
Lake City, Utah
Microfilm 141688 Survey Book – Ivetofta Parish, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah
Microfilm 141690 Births – Ivetofta Parish, Family History Library, Salt Lake
City, Utah
Microfilm 196958 Births – Ivetofta(?), Family History Library, Salt Lake
City, Utah
Microfilm 196961 Marriages – Osterslof(?),Family History Library, Salt Lake
City, Utah
Microfilm 438025 Clerical Survey Osterslof 1861-1870, Family History
Library, Salt Lake City, Utah
Sikeborg, Urban, Sollentuna, Sweden, email message of results of research
about Jöns Andersson in Swedish National Archives, Stockholm, 2 May
2006