Family Line Links: (WikiTree.com)(Ancestry.com)(FamilySearch.org)
In Part 1 of this post, we left our Johnson/Johansson line on Sjundemålen farm in Torpa Parish, Östergötland, Sweden. It was 1878, and the blossoming industrial revolution had collapsed the farming economy that their family had subsisted on for hundreds of years. Johan August Johansson (b.1831) and Carolina "Lena" Johansdotter had 4 children, two of whom were old enough to be taking on annual contract farm work of their own at this point - but there were no jobs to be had. One of these children was our line's direct ancestor, Carl "Charles" Johan Johansson (b.1863).
Though many Swedish peasant farmers moved to cities like Stockholm to begin working in the factories during this period, many others sought to preserve their way of life by emigrating to America instead. In 1865, as the US Civil War was ending, the total Swedish population in the US was estimated to be about 25,000. By 1890, that number had exploded upward to 800,000! A major factor in this was the 1862 Homestead Act which provided up to 160 acres of land for $30 to any person who had "never taken up arms against" the US government. In exchange, the new owner of the land had to agree to use it for private use only and to inhabit and cultivate the land continuously for at least 5 years. Most of the allotted public land was west of the Mississippi River, and this act became a major impetus for White settlement of the Midwest.
.png)
.png)
Another benefit of modern transportation was the steamship. Prior to its 1838 invention, a trip across the Atlantic Ocean was dangerous and time consuming, usually about 3 months in duration. Steamships initially shortened this to 1 month, and by 1880 had further advancements reduced it down to 10-14 days. Before they were able to embark on this journey, however, most spent about a week in Liverpool trying to take care of all the preparations for transatlantic emigration in a country whose language they did not speak (Ref 2, p.4). Luckily, as transatlantic steam travel became more popular, it became more affordable as well, with multiple companies competing for the emigrant family's business. Despite this, most members of the peasant farming class could not afford 1st or 2nd class tickets and instead purchased 3rd class tickets in "steerage" (Ref 2, p.3, 5). This entitled them to an overcrowded space near the bottom of the ship with few amenities. Here passengers were assigned 4 people to a 6x6 foot bunk, where they spent the next two weeks amid the smells of seasickness and unwashed flesh, all while praying there would be no outbreak of cholera on the way over.
Upon arriving in New York City, 3rd class passengers were transported directly to Castle Garden (Ellis Island was not opened until 1892), where they spent about 4 hours being examined for disease and proper paperwork (Ref. 3, p.182-183) (Note 2, Note 3). Assuming all went well, they were then assisted in finding transportation to their final destination. Over half of Swedish immigrants would book passage on a train to the Midwest leaving from the Grand Central Depot of midtown Manhattan. Beginning in 1869, the New York Central Line provided the most direct service west by way of transfer to the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Line in Buffalo, NY. In about 2 days they could reach Chicago, which by the mid-1850s had become the unquestionable railroad hub of the nation. From there, you could go anywhere, and by 1872 the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Line offered passenger train service along the Mississippi River that bordered eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
Many immigrants would stop in Chicago, hoping to take advantage of the more established industrial economy there to hopefully allow then to purchase their own land within a few years. But the Johnsons had enough cash in hand to continue directly onward up to Wisconsin and Minnesota. They likely disembarked there a day later in Red Wing, Goodhue Co., MN, which at that point was Minnesota's largest Swedish American community. Though a beautiful train depot in Classical style would be built there in about 25 more years, in 1880 it was just a simple wooden building along a weedy riverbank (Ref. 4, p.11). Just across the Mississippi River from Red Wing, MN was the town of Ellsworth, Pierce Co., WI, where the family of Johan August Johansson first settled. All told, the journey probably took the family about a month, assuming no unforeseen barriers were encountered along the way. What we know for certain is that by June 1, 1880, they were at home on their new farm when the census worker came to knock on their door.
1880s photograph of Miller's store in Vasa, Goodhue, MN, an early Swedish enclave that sprung up in Minnesota about 10 miles SW of Red Wing. Beginning in August of 1853, a group of several hundred Swedish immigrants came to settle here under the community leadership of Hans Mattson. It must be noted, however, that the way forward for this new town was enabled by the reluctant signing of a land treaty by the Mdewakanton Dakota peoples, which relegated the tribe to its present-day reservation near Morton, MN.
By the time our Johnson's arrived in 1880, the land in Goodhue and Pierce counties had been cultivated by White settlers for a full generation. In addition to Swedish immigrants, there were also many Norwegians, Germans, Irish Catholics, and even a few Scots-Irish. Many of these early residents had taken advantage of the work available in the sawmills, lumber yards, and railways as land was cleared and the transportation system expanded. By 1880, however, most of the land had been cleared and converted to farmland or city already by this first wave of immigrants (Ref 5, pp.205-207). When he arrived, Johan August Johansson, who was now going by the Americanized name of August Johnson, purchased a vacant 40-acre piece of land from CMO Railroad (Note 10). Ellsworth township by now had over 1000 residents, as well as schools, churches, newspapers, and a variety of industries that were creating a vibrant community.
By the time of their 1880 arrival, August and Lena Johnson's oldest daughter, Anna Charlotta, was 23 years old and of marriageable age. Within 2 years she had tied the knot with a neighbor 1/2 miles to the southwest named Andrew J. Johnson, the son of a family friend who had traveled with them to America (see Note 4). Sadly, their next oldest daughter, Augusta, died 3 years later of unknown causes at age 19. Their youngest daughter, Maria Lovisa (Americanized to Mary Louisa), married 2 years later to another neighbor, Johan August Holden, the son of Sven ("Swan") Huld (see Note 5). Finally, a year later in 1887, their son Carl Johan Johansson, now going by Charles Johnson, married Christine Albertina Anderson, the daughter of his neighbor Johannes ("John") Anderson. They bought a 40-acre farm adjacent to August & Lena's farm and started what would become a large family of 9 children. The first child of our Johnson line to be born on American soil was Ernest Albin Johnson, born in Ellsworth in 1889. The second born child, Fred Clarence Frandolph Johnson (b.1891), was our line's direct ancestor.
.jpg)
Francis, who was 18 that year, had already married to Clarence Bigelow the year prior and given birth to their first child, Clarence ("Click"), just short of 9 months later. Perhaps to help with the war effort, her younger sisters, Florence and Alice, came to live with her and her husband in Minneapolis where they worked in a factory operating power machines for knitting (an important part of keeping the soldiers in warm, clean socks, scarves, hats, and sweaters). As more and more men went to war, women were needed to take on the industrial jobs they had left behind. (This situation ended up being a major contributor to women finally being given the right to vote in 1920). Meanwhile, Raymond and Gladys, just 12 and 10 at the time, continued on at home in Borgholm with their schooling.
The war officially ended on Nov 11, 1918, though the process of returning such a large number of troops back home took months. Ernest Johnson had to wait until the following spring but finally set foot on American soil again Apr 17, 1919. By the end of that year, he had married Laura Eli, whose family from Norway had come to Borgholm about the same time as our Johnsons. They started a family that would grow to 6 children, and eventually settled in Milaca, MN where Ernest worked as a Section Head for the railroad. Meanwhile, Fred and Ellen (Lee) Johnson went back to Minneapolis, MN where Fred continued his work as a streetcar conductor for another couple years. Ellen had given birth to their first born, Lillian, during their time at Fort Dodge, and their second born, Grace came a year and a half later in Minneapolis. In about 1921, however, Fred obtained a job as a mail carrier in Foreston, MN. The family moved to nearby Milaca, MN where they initially rented land in the Chase Brook neighborhood next to Ellen's parent's, Hans and Anna Marie ("Mary") Lee (formerly Hansen, see Note 11).
Ellen's parents were near and dear to the Johnson children and there are many fond memories of them mentioned in the pages of Lillian (Johnson) Hanson's memoir (Ref 7). Their middle child, Tilda (Aunty Ted), was a particular favorite of the Johnson children, remembered fondly for the celluloid Kewpie dolls she would bring them during visits she made with her Swedish boyfriend, John Wicklund, who later became their Uncle John (Ref 7, pp.8-9). Grandpa Lee, who loved to read, would often share installments of his favorite Norwegian comic, "Per and Ole", with them, while Grandma Lee spoiled them with homemade taffy, sugar donuts, and homemade bread that was served with sugar and sour cream from the well house (Ref. 7, p.6). This was before electricity (much less indoor plumbing) was found in most rural homes. The home they lived in was just one large room for everything except a small side bedroom for Fred and Ellen and a kitchen lean-to. The kids all slept on a brown leather Duofold sofa bed and used a foldable drop-leaf table for meals (Ref 7, p.4).
For the next several years, the Johnson family lived a semi-nomadic existence, while their family grew to accommodate 3 new members - Gordon ("Gordy", b.1921), Curtis ("Curt", b. 1925, direct line), and Bonna ("Bonnie", b.1927). Every spring, they would move to the farm (see Note 9) where their father Fred, said to have been a hard worker, would somehow manage to both run a mail route and raise a field of crops to harvest. Luckily for him, by the time the war ended, cars had started to become a more common piece of property for many Americans. Fred was known to be very punctual with his mail service - neighbors could "set their watch" by him. However, such punctuality required a reliable car and rural mail carriers were required to provide their own vehicle for deliveries. Thus, Fred had a good argument for getting a new car every year (Ref 7, p.19)! In the winter, however, when farming season had passed and the roads more difficult to travel, the family would find someone to rent from for a few months in order to make the mail route easier.
The bi-annual relocation of the Johnson family continued until about 1928 when Fred and Ellen began renting a home a half-mile SW of the town of Foreston, MN. Though they still did not have electricity or indoor plumbing at this point, the house was said to have been much nicer than the one in Chase Brook (Ref 7, p.19). Winters were still very cold and illness common, but the family had a number of time-tested home remedies to deal with such maladies. Fred always started off the winter season with a pint of brandy. Mixed with sugar, it was supposed to be a cure-all for coughs and colds (Ref 7, p.23). This seems to have been a slightly different version of Grandpa Johnson's (Charles's) remedy for coughs which relied on brandy mixed with wild purple clover. Likewise, whenever a sore throat struck, Ellen made liberal use of goose fat applied to the throat and then wrapped with a wool sock. Additionally, barely a meal a went by without slices and raw onion and vinegar at the dinner table, which were thought to ward off the flu (Ref 7, p.18). Sadly, in this time before antibiotics, there was no cure when Fred's younger brothers, Levi and Wilhelm ("Bill"), both came down with spinal meningitis in 1926. Though Bill eventually recovered from the disease, Levi died from it at the age of 32 (Ref 7, p.23).
The next year was a very difficult one for the Johnson family as one can imagine. Though Lillian, Grace, and Gordy were already adults, Joyce was only 5 years old, and Bonnie and Curt were minors as well still. Fred was so sick with pneumonia that he was unable to even attend the funeral, and so Gordy came to hold vigil with him instead. Ellen's mother, Mary Lee, was beside herself to have lost yet another child. The funeral took place at the Norwegian Lutheran Church in Milaca and the long procession to the Forest Hill Cemetery showed just how beloved a figure Ellen (Lee) Johnson had been (Ref 7., p.43). Uncle Len Lee and his fiancé Leona Stevens delayed their intended wedding day and ended up having just a small ceremony instead later that month. Meanwhile, Lillian and Grace were both in college near finishing teaching degrees up to that point, but someone was needed to help out at home. After a long discussion, it was decided that Grace would defer her remaining 2 courses until the summer term so that Lillian could complete her final quarter, and then they would flip. Eventually, a distant relation of Fred's, Amanda Skogen, came out to help keep house, but no one liked her at all (Ref 7., p.44)! For starters, she didn't seem to even like children, and young Joyce, who had had problems with her feet and legs since her premature birth, required special care. For a time, she went to live with her Aunty Ted and Uncle John instead so that they could make sure she got the care that she needed.
In August of 1945, the US dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan. On Sept 2, 1945, Japan surrendered, and the war officially came to an end. A week later, Bonnie flew to Colorado Springs and married Bob Dale, who had been stationed at Ft. Snelling during the war. Both Grandma Lee (Mary) and Grandma Johnson (Christine) had passed away in 1944 while the fighting still raged. In 1948, the last of our first-generation Swedish immigrant ancestors was lost to time when Grandpa Lee (Hans) passed as well. By 1955, however, all of the first-generation American born Johnsons had settled down to raise families of their own, including our own Grandpa Curt, who married Ruth Cornelius on Nov 12, 1950 (you can read more about them in my previous post here). Now on American soil, our Johnson line continues strong, and its many descendants can thank the courage Carl and Christine Johansson when they crossed the ocean in 1880 to start a new life in a new world.
Notes
1) Though Carl Johansson was only 17 at the time, from 1856 to 1921, Swedish men and women were of legal age upon reaching 15 years old. However, during the same time period, when an unmarried woman married, she suddenly became "omyndig" (not of age) again, so that her husband could legally make decisions for her!
2) Sadly, most of the US immigration records from this time period were destroyed by a fire in 1897, which probably explains why I have not yet been able to track down a ship passenger manifest from our family's voyage.
3) During immigration, Swedish immigrants were required to adopt the uniform hereditary surname system of the United States, rather than continue in their patronymic naming system. Most Swedes simply converted all the -dotter endings of their female children to -son at this point, as well as dropped the double 's' (ie Johansson to Johanson). Wives discarded their maiden names for their husband's surname as well. Names like Johan were usually Americanized to their equivalent "John" as well, and therefore Johanson usually just became Johnson at this point. Thus, the Johnson surname did not truly begin until 1880 when the family reached Castle Garden.
4) Actually, this was a sad story. Andrew John Johnson's Swedish name was Anders Johan Johansson, and his birth record in Torpa, Östergötland, Sweden shows that he was born to Johanna Johansdotter. Johanna had worked as a maid on Rorsberga farm starting in 1849 at age 22. This was also where the family of Adolph Hansson lived. Adolf was married, the father of 3, and almost 20 years older than Johanna. He and his wife had another child that died shortly after birth the year Johanna started on the farm, and two years later in 1851, they had another child with a similar outcome. Two and a half months after that, Adolf murdered his wife.
Johanna had moved to the nearby farm of Farsbo in 1850. By Dec. of 1851, she was pregnant with Adolp's child. She moved back to Rorsberga and on 29 Feb 1852 they tried to marry, but Adolf was arrested instead. By 1 Mar 1853, Adolp had given a confessional, and the couple had been forbidden to marry. Adolph and his 3 remaining children left for Iowa shortly after. Johanna was left to fend for herself. She kept the baby, Gustaf Adolf Hansson, and moved to Transberga farm in 1856. There she was living with another couple who was betrothed to be married soon, but somehow Johanna became pregnant with this man's child as well. (This seems to have temporarily broken the engagement, though they did end up getting married 4 years later.) Once it was found out that she was pregnant, Johanna was quickly switched to another dwelling on the farm and soon gave birth to our Anders Johan Johansson. Within a couple more years, she was living at the church parish farm and seems to have fallen on hard times. She gave up Anders up to his father at age 3 and ended up moving to a backstuga of Rorsberga farm.
Her luck did turn finally turn in 1861 when she married a widow, Anders Magnus Sandstrom, who had also been living in the backstuga with his daughter. They ended up having 1 more child together, Karl Johan Folke (people were beginning to use the patronymic surname system less at this point). This was the same farm that our family worked at from 1871-1878, and although Anders Johan Johansson was living elsewhere with his father at that time, Johan August and Lena clearly knew his mother. Johanna's other 2 sons left for America in 1868 (though one returned 18 years later.) Meanwhile, the 1880-1885 Asby Parish Household Survey shows that Anders had been working at Sillefall farm, but applied to leave for Göteborg on 10 Apr 1880 - 3 days after our Johnsons did the same. Given they left at roughly the same time and settled in the same place after arriving, it seems likely that they traveled together. Hopefully, August and Lena took him under their wing and made the journey less daunting for a young 23-year-old young man without family traveling alone across half the world.
Of note, an Engstrand family was also working at Rosberga at this time, and seem likely to have been related to Johan August Johanssan's stepmother, Maria Catherina Engstrand.
5) Sven Huld was actually born as Sven Jonasson in Kärda, Jönköping, Sweden. Huld seems to have been his military name in Sweden as he used it on his emigration record. He came to America in 1869 and initially settled in Red Wing, Goodhue Co., MN, where he worked as a laborer for 4 years until he had saved to enough money to buy a 40-acre farm in Ellsworth, Pierce Co., WI. During this time, his wife Johana Sofia Jacobsdotter died, leaving him the widowed father of 3 young children. One of those children was Johan August Huld, Maria Lovisa's future husband.
Just before moving to Ellsworth, Sven remarried to another woman from Sweden named Sabina Olsson and they eventually had 5 more children. On early American records he wrote his name as Sven Huld but over time the Sven became Swan and the Huld became Hulden and eventually Holden. Perhaps he had an accent he just couldn't shake and decided to just go with it? (Swan was a common nickname for Scandinavian Sven's, so I assume it sounded similar to Americans). Oddly, his son Charles Huld/Holden listed his birth mother's name as Mary Holden on his marriage certificate. As far as I can tell though, no such person ever existed. His actual mother, Johanna, either died at his birth or shortly after, and he was raised by Sabina from the age of 5 onwards, so it is likely that he simply did not remember correctly when giving the information for his marriage license. (This happened more commonly back then than you would think in our current state of prodigious record keeping and high literacy rates).
6) The destruction of the 1890 Federal census by fire is particularly unfortunate timing for this family, but thankfully there were state censuses in the '05 years and land surveys in 1878 and 1895. Though great for locating specific locations, however, land ownership in the surveys was fairly out of date unfortunately. On the other hand, WI state censuses were up to date, but give no specific information regarding location or dependents. What we do know is that by 1895, August's son Charles owned land just north of the original homestead, and likely this was purchased just before his marriage in 1888. At the same time, we know that August Johnson was on the 1885 WI census, but not the 1895 WI census, so even though he still shows up on the 1895 land survey, he had probably died before then. And since Charles would likely have simply assumed ownership of his father's land, rather than buy land adjacent to it were his father not still living, we can assume he died sometime after 1888. No burial records for him have been found at any of the local cemeteries, so it is likely he was buried on the farm.
7) This information is said to have been passed on to Lillian (Johnson) Hanson by her "Aunt Minnie". The only name I see in the family tree that makes sense to have that nickname would be the wife of her uncle Raymond Carl Johnson ("Uncle Ray"). Given Raymond was not born until 1905 though, he would have had to been told this detail by one of his older siblings. Certainly, a family story like this I'm sure was one they repeated to one another many times, but it is worth noting how far removed from the actual source it was.
8) Actually, there may have been a bit of a fib here on the parts of Levi and Wilhelm. Ernest, Levi, and Wilhelm were all living at home still and working the farm with their father at the time of the required June 5 draft registration. But Ernest listed his occupation as farmhand while Levi and Wilhelm both listed their occupations as farmer. (Only Charles, the owner of the farm, could truly make that designation). More damning though, Levi and Wilhelm both claimed themselves as has having 2 parents and 2 siblings under 12 that were financially dependent upon them, whereas Ernest did not. (Or at least, he first wrote "yes" but then crossed it off and wrote "no". Perhaps a moment of conscience kicking in?) Based on the 1920 census, there is no reason to think that Charles Johnson was not capable of working the farm for himself at that time, but this dependency exemption allowed both Levi and Wilhelm to defer. Fred, on the other hand, had been living outside the home in Minneapolis and working as a streetcar conductor for the railroad since shortly after reaching adulthood, so he was not at first able to claim any kind of exemption. That is, until he quietly married Ellen Lee just 2 months later in a small ceremony with only 2 attendants (Ref 7, p.2). It is possible that this quick tying of the knot was in part to help Fred secure an exemption himself, which it seems to have achieved.
9) The first year or so this growing season seems to have been undertaken at the Lee family farm, but the 1930 census shows them renting at a different residence in nearby Milo so it must not have always been at the Lee's. Lillian's memoir does mention some years when her Lee Grandparents went to stay in Minneapolis for a while, though she did not remember when or for how long.
10) Between 1850 and 1870, many aspiring railroad companies were given large land grants by the US government to help facilitate the expansion of the rail network. Other rail companies purchased their land outright in areas that seemed to have good potential for industrial transportation needs. Often, however, this land was purchased or acquired years in advance of when the rail was actually built, and more formal land surveys made to decide on the best route for the track. Thus, it was common for railroad companies to have land to sell off once a decision was made to lay the track elsewhere.
11) Hans and Mary Lee were originally Hans Karl Hansen and Anna Marie Arnesdotter when they immigrated from Telemark, Norway in 1896. They first Americanized their names to Hans and Mary Hansen and settled in Santiago, Sherburne Co., MN. According to Lillian Hanson's memoir, in 1906 the family relocated to the very most eastern edge of Montana. So close to North Dakota, in fact, that their closest post office was in Beach, Golden Valley, ND (Ref 7, p.1). Apparently, there were so many Hansen's in this area that the mail kept getting mixed up. Eventually, Hans decided to change the family's surname to Lee (after the name of a farm he had worked at in Norway) in order to avoid further mix-ups. By the time they returned to Minnesota in about 1910, they were using the surname Lee instead. Though I have not yet been able to find the record, their daughter Lilli, who was born there in 1906 but died in 1909 at only age 3, is said to be buried in the Beach Cemetery.
12) One story Curt used to tell the kids was that he had to take a swimming test as part of his training for the Navy, but he couldn't swim. According to him, he sunk to the bottom instead and then proceeded to just walk across! Perhaps that's why he got assigned to cook duty?? On the other hand, Curt's tendency to be a jokester definitely followed him into adulthood. Another story is that he once had a tree stump in the yard that he wanted to get rid of. So he buried a few coins around it and then told the kids that there was a treasure hiding underneath it. The kids dug, and dug, and dug. They didn't find much treasure, but the stump sure was a lot easier to remove after that!
1) Barton, H. Arnold. “A Folk Divided : Homeland Swedes and Swedish Americans, 1840-1940.” Internet Archive, 1994, https://archive.org/details/folkdividedhomel0000bart.
5) Folsom, William H. C. “Fifty Years in the Northwest : With an Introduction and Appendix Containing Reminiscences, Incidents and Notes.” Internet Archive, 1888, https://archive.org/details/fiftyyearsinnort00folsuoft.
6) Geister, D., & Mory, P. (2013). Pierce County’s Heritage: Ellsworth & Ellsworth Township, Vol. 10 (D. O’Keefe, Ed.). Available from: https://piercecountyhistorical.org/product/volume-ten-pierce-countys-heritage-ellsworth-ellsworth-township/
10) Transfers for June. (1899, July 6). The Princeton Union, p. 1. Retrieved from https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-princeton-union-transfers-for-june/159772153/.
