History of First Swedish Settlers

LAMSON, STEPHENSON, JACOBSEN, DANIELSON, KASSEL, ANDERSON, DAHLBERG, HAKANSEN, ONONIOUS, PALMQUIST, NILSON, HEDSTROM

Posted By: Volunteer
Date: 9/20/2006 at 19:37:42

 Lockridge Times; Lockridge, Jefferson Co, IA; Friday, March 1, 1916

HISTORY OF FIRST SWEDISH SETTLERS

The first Swedish settlement west of the Mississippi river was established in the fall of 1845, in what is now Jefferson county. Of the original colony, only four persons are still living, Mrs. Maria Lamson, Mrs. Matilda Stephenson of Fairfield, Mrs. Matilda Danielson of Four Corners, and Mrs. Louise Jacobson of Creston. Mrs. Lamson and Mrs. Stephenson are sisters, their maiden name having been Danielson.

These people with a colony from Sweden settled at what is known as Stockholm, or New Sweden, located three miles northeast of Lockridge. The manner in which Iowa thus secured her first Swedish settlers is interesting. One of the first Swedish settlers in Wisconsin wrote a letter home to his father in Sweden telling of the wonderful opportunities and advantages in the new country of America for immigrants. The letter was widely read in that region and as a result in the summer of 1845 a party under the leadership of Peter Kassel, then a man of 54, came to this country and intended to locate in Wisconsin, whence the latter had come to Sweden. On landing at New York, however, the party accidentally met Peter Dahlberg who was there to meet his family and he told them of Iowa and Illinois as being splendid places for locating settlements. Through this influence the Kassel party decided to make the trip to Iowa. They first laid out their course which was overland, by rail to Philadelphia, thence by canal to Pittsburg, and from there on down the Ohio and Mississippi to Burlington. From here they journeyed overland by wagon to Jefferson county and located in Lockridge township. They finally became settled in their new home Sept. 13, 1845. The land they purchased then was worth $1.25 per acre. The same land today cannot be purchased for many times that amount. They built the usual style log houses and at once began to cultivate the rich and yielding soil.

This company was composed of Peter Kassel with his wife and five children, his brother-in-law Peter Anderson and wife and two children, John Danielson, wife and five children, John Munson, wife and three children...[line I cannot read]...family from Stockholm. The voyage from Sweden to the United States cost them $20 apiece.

Peter Dahlberg who had persuaded the colonists to come to Iowa, was the first Swede to take out a government claim in Iowa. His location is still on record and is dated Oct. 7, 1847. He moved to Keokuk the following year and in 1849 he went to Columbus, in Van Buren county where he was the first Swede settler in that county.

Peter Kassel was the leading spirit of the colony at this place. Thru his influence there were a number of other immigration parties attracted to this region and also in Illinois and other states. One or two parties who had been persuaded to come to America by Kassel were switched from their path by clever land agents and persuaded to settle in other localities. One thing that retarded immigration of Swedes and others to Iowa was the difficulty in crossing the Mississippi. There was not a bridge or ferry anywhere along the river and several parties bound for this locality, after visiting on the Illinois side of the river for means to get across became discouraged after several weeks and turned back locating claims in Illinois.

Among those who came to this locality in 1857, was the well known Magnus Fredrick Hakansen from Stockholm. He was a Swedish minister of the Lutheran denomination the first of that denomination to come to Iowa. He organized the first Swedish Lutheran church in the state, which was located at New Sweden, in 1848. For several years Rev. Hakansen was the only Swedish Lutheran minister in Iowa. He had five congregations under his charge and he was kept very busy going from place to place. In 1859, a Rev. Ononius, an Episcopal minister came to this locality. In 1850, Rev. Jonas Hedstrom organized the First Swedish Methodist church in the state now at New Sweden. In 1856 Rev. G. Palmquist and F.O. Nilson, Baptist ministers, came to attempt to organize a Swedish Baptist church. The history of the church in this colony during this time is one of controversies and squabbles. Henderson, the Methodist minister was particularly bitter against the Lutherans. He converted a considerable number to Methodism. Kassel and Danielson were converted to Methodism and they were among the first of the Methodist ministers in that locality.