The Janssonites

Several years ago I learned about a Swedish commune, a religious cult, that included several hundred Swedes from Gavleborg County where Maude Edith Olofson's Barquist ancestors are from. Over a period of about 5 years in the mid 1800's, Swedes from this area migrated to Bishop Hill in western Illinois.

Erik Jansson, along with many Swedes in the 1840's, became disenchanted with the state church, its rules, and the oppression they felt. Erik Jansson became a leader of a movement that rebelled against the state-run Lutheran Church. Meeting in secret in various homes to hear Jansson speak, the group lived in fear that they would be found and arrested. As the group of Jansson followers increased, a plan was made to flee to the United States, to establish a colony where they could worship freely.

Members wishing to join Erik Jansson, and the group known as Janssonites, sold all of their belongings and put the proceeds into a common fund used to transport followers and to establish their American colony. The first settlers, around 1,500, arrived in Henry County, Illinois, in 1846 and bought 60 acres, establishing Bishop Hill as their home.

Readers can learn more about this colony and Erik Jansson through a Google search or by following these links:

Bishop Hill 1846

Bishop Hill, Wikipedia

Erik Jansson Wikipedia

More Janssonites arrived over the next few years, and more land was bought to accommodate these Swedish settlers. Adults worked the land, children were schooled in English and Swedish, and strict Christian values, as interpreted by Erik Jansson, were followed.

In 1850, Erik Jansson was murdered by a man wishing to leave the colony and take his wife (Jansson's cousin) and children. Without their leader, Bishop Hill struggled, and in 1858, the male voters decided to dissolve the commune. Property was divided among the residents, but fighting and court cases continued for many years.

The question for us, though, is "are we related to the Janssonites?"

Even after I learned about this group and their origins in the same general area as my Olofson and Barquist ancestors were from in Sweden, I didn't give this much thought. That was, until we went to Sweden in 2008 and met with a local historian. I had sent her several surnames and parishes and farms ahead of our visit, and we arranged for a day to follow her to see as many as we could.

While having lunch, she asked for more information about my Barquist ancestors. When did they come to America? Where did they settle? Did I know if they were part of the Janssonite colony in Illinois?

We think of the Barquists immigrating directly from Sweden to Iowa, but some of our Barquists did settle for a time in Illinois. Maria Barquist Olofson's oldest brother Jan/John came to the United States in 1856, ahead of the rest of his family, and lived in Altoona in Knox County from the time he immigrated in 1856 until 1863 when he and his wife moved to Iowa.

The rest of Jan's family, parents John Barquist, Sr., wife Margaret, and children Anders, Maria, Peter, Lars, and Greta, came to the United States in 1857. It makes sense that they would have stayed with Jan in Knox County, Illinois, where he had immigrated a year before.

Later, when the parents and their children moved west to Hardin Township in Webster County, one son, Anders/Andrew Barquist, stayed behind, in Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois, at least until 1885 when we find him and his family in the Stratford area of Iowa.

Alma Nordbloom, who later married Henry Linn (son to John August Linn; grandson to Gustus Linn), was from Galva, Illinois.

Galesburg (lower left), Altoona and Gavla on Highway 34; Bishop Hill above Highway 34

Our Barquists, as well as a person who married into the Linns, are found in Galesburg, Altoona and Gavla, all near the Bishop Hill colony in western Illinois. Clearly, this part of Illinois was a place where many Swedes settled, either for a short time on their way west, or for a longer time, including those who were Janssonites.

To this date, however, I've not found our ancestors listed in any Bishop Hill records or censuses, but there is no doubt that Henry and Knox counties in Illinois were places our ancestors lived during the time when Bishop Hill, as a Swedish settlement, existed. Our ancestors came from the same part of Sweden that Janssonites came from, but came after Erik Jansson had been killed and there was upheaval in Bishop Hill. Our ancestors would have known the Jansson followers in Sweden, socialized with them, helped each other in this new country, perhaps sympathized with the Janssonite beliefs, or even came with the idea of living in Bishop Hill itself. But in 1857, they would have seen the last days of the commune and the dissolution of Bishop Hill in 1858.

Were some of our ancestors disillusioned with the state-run church in Sweden? Probably, because this disillusionment was especially true in the northern counties of Sweden including Gavleborg County. But there were many other reasons our Swedish ancestors came during the 1840's and 1850s. Religion was just one. The opportunity to own land, fertile land for farming, crop failures in Sweden, rocky terrain that was difficult, even impossible to clear and farm, the belief that the roads really were paved with gold in the United States were some of the other reasons.

I can't rule out that our ancestors were involved with the Bishop Hill commune. Perhaps the Barquists immigrated with other Janssonites but were not satisfied with communal living and the rules they had to live by and moved to a neighboring community. Perhaps they saw in 1857 that the commune could not sustain itself and simply lived near those they knew in Sweden until they could make their way further west. At this point, all I can say is that our Barquists did settle for a time very near the Janssonite commune of Bishop Hill and no doubt would have known many of the members.

I do find John Barquist, Sr., his eldest son Jan, second oldest son Anders and their families listed in various Iowa censuses, the Stratford Lutheran Centennial book, and Stratford Lutheran membership book as being Lutheran. So, even if there was a time of disdain for the Lutheran Church in Sweden, this family clearly came back to practice their Lutheran faith in the United States.

Still, I find this an interesting part of Swedish history, Swedish migration, and at least something that our ancestors would have been aware of during their own migration.

Another Set of Twins

Hi Everyone,

I should have known I would miss a set of twins in our ancestry. Shortly after I posted yesterday, I was sitting at my computer working on some obituaries and remembered a set of twins, this time on the Linn side.

We still aren't a family known for multiples, but now we have 3 sets that I know of. Still not alot when you think about the thousands of people in our lines over the past 300+ years.

Gustus Olausson Linn's father was Olaus Fredericsson.
Olaus' father was Fredric Smedbom.
Fredric's father was Peter Smedbom.

Peter married Sigrid Jonsdotter in 1722, and they had 7 children including our Fredric Smedbom. But the two youngest children were twins, a boy and a girl.

Birth of Hedewig and Jons Petter, children of Peter Smedbom

Hedewig, a daughter, and Jons Petter, a son, were born on March 29, 1734, in Eksjo (pronounced Ear-kroo) Parish in Jonkoping County.

Peter and Sigrid are my 5th great grandparents on the Linn side of our ancestry.

I'd like to say that I've found them all, and I think I have. But if you know of any others in our ancestry, please let me know so I can share with everyone.

One set of Linn twins born in 1734; one set of Olofson twins born in 1804; and one set of twins incorporating both the Linns and Olofsons, born in 2002.

Multiples

We seem to be a family with very few multiple births. The only modern day multiples I know of are the twins born to my cousin Joel and his wife in 2002. But we certainly aren't known for our multiple births. Yet, there is ONE that I can report on in this post.

Kerstin Larsdotter is my 3rd great grandmother on the Olofson side. She was born to Lars Larsson and his wife Greta Ericksdotter in Farila Parish in Gavleborg County. Kerstin was one of 5 children born to this couple, and she is a twin.

• Son Lars, born July 27, 1800
• Son Eric, born April 23, 1802
• Daughters Kerstin and Marta (or Martha), born May 4, 1804
• Daughter Brita, born March 2, 1807

Marta and Kerstin, twins, born May 4, christened May 5, to farmer Lars Larsson and his wife Greta Ericsdotter in Fone (the farm in Farila Parish). The mother was 36 years old; the last column contains names of witnesses

So, maybe there's nothing too remarkable about one set of twins. But let's take a closer look at Kerstin and Marta.

Every year in Sweden, the priest would conduct a clerical survey of each household in the parish. His goal was to check on the knowledge of the Bible that each family member had, vaccinations, determine any births, marriages or deaths that occurred in the past year, and who might have moved in or out of the parish. The records are incredibly useful to a family historian and very detailed.

In several clerical surveys for Farila Parish, Marta Larsdotter is shown as having epilepsy. In the early 1800s, there would have been no treatment for epilepsy, and the physical toll it would have taken on Marta would have been tremendous. Marta died at the age of 24 on June 18, 1828. The cause of death was listed as convulsions.

The farmer Lars Larsson's daughter, Martha of Fone (the farm) died of convulsions on June 18, buried on June 22. She was 24 years, 1 month, and 14 days old.

Marta was the second child in this family of 5 children to die. In 1827, older brother Lars died of a "nerve fever" (perhaps rheumatic fever). Lars' and Marta's deaths left just 3 siblings in this family, one being the surviving twin Kerstin.

We know that Marta had epilepsy that was recorded by the parish priest in each yearly survey, but twin Kerstin also suffered from a life-long problem. My 3rd great grandmother was listed as being "hard of hearing" in several clerical surveys while she was growing up.

In case you don't know how Kerstin fits into our family, she married Olof Olsson in 1834. They had 6 children before immigrating to the United States in 1850, settling in Wisconsin. They lost their youngest child during their immigration. The family of Olof, Kerstin, and 5 children lived in Wisconsin where Olof died, family stories indicate from a logging accident. No one researching this family has found a location or date of his death. Another family story has Kerstin (now known as Christine Olofson) walking with  her surviving children to Iowa where she settled in the Stratford area. 

Christine Olofson's son Olof Olofson was my second great-grandfather, his son William Edward Olofson was my great grandfather, and Maude Edith Olofson was my grandmother.

I've not seen a mention in any record in the United States that Christine Olofson (Kerstin Larsdotter) had difficulty hearing, but I have no reason to doubt what the priest wrote in every yearly survey in Sweden.

And so, to my knowledge (and with apologies if I've left out a multiple birth in our family), we have just the two: Joel's and Lars', 198 years apart. I feel safe in saying that our Swedes aren't known for multiples!

How They Died

What do we know about how our Swedish ancestors died? Do we have any common illnesses, genetic issues, that we should know about?

The Swedish death records, depending on the parish priest's interest in writing a proper obituary,  sometimes contained elements of our ancestors' lives, hints about other family members, and sometimes the cause of death. Here are just a few from our ancestors:

One of my 7th great grandmothers, Anna Larsdotter, an ancestor to Maude Edith Olofson, was born on March 11, 1694 in Farila Parish, Gavleborg County. Her death record states the following:

Farmer's daughter, Anna Larsdotter, born in 1694, on March 11, was the daughter of the farmer Lars Mansson of Fone, and her mother was Karin Olofsdotter. She was married in 1721 and had 6 children -- 4 sons and 2 daughters. She was a widow as of March 28 of last year She had good health, but in the last year she was in mourning. She probably laid on her soft bed as she was taken with grief. She died at 80 years, 10 1/2 weeks.

What wonderful hints about her, her husband and his death, how many children to research and follow.

 A 7th great grandfather, also on the Olofson line, was Olof Ersson, who lived from 1666 to 1747 in Farila Parish, Gavleborg Parish. His death record indicates that he "lived with his wife of 50 years who is still living. They had 5 sons and 3 daughters. He lived an honest life but was in weak health and died of rheumatoid arthritis on Sunday, April 27, 1747, at the age of 81 years and 4 months."

From this record, we learn that his wife is still alive; how many children, in case we've missed any, how old he was so we can trace back to his birth record if we don't have it.

Going to the Linn ancestors, my 4th great grandmother Greta Carlsdotter, mother-in-law to Olaus Fredricsson, has the following obituary that contains several hints for research:

Greta Carlsdotter from Amundarp died June 24, 1823. She was born in Edshult on December 15, 1764. She was married in 1782 to the farmhand Jonas Mansson and was widowed in 1788. Mother in this marriage to two daughters, both of whom are living. She married in 1793 to Corporal Johan Tomt and with him conceived 4 children, 3 sons and 1 daughter, who are still alive. She died at age 58 years, 6 months, and 9 days. Cause of death was pain.

Greta married twice and had a total of 6 children to follow. Her second husband, Johan Tomt, a military man, is also someone to follow as Sweden was at war during this time.

Carl Lundblad, Catherine's father, and my 3rd great grandfather, died on August 17, 1841, at the age of 47. His death record below shows that he was from Saxebacken, was a lifegrenadier from Skarlunda, born in Tidersrum Parish in 1793, married to Anna Stina Jonsdotter (his second wife), and had 1 son and 2 daughters. He was buried on August 22. He died of "slag" or a stroke.

Notice all of the elements of his life in this short death record that a researcher can use to follow other people, to find a birth, to find his military record, and more.

And then we run across a husband and wife, my 5th great grandparents, who died within 6 months of each other. Maria Ericksdotter, of Stromskullen in Malexander Parish of Ostergotland County, and her husband Olof Ekstrom of the same place are Linn ancestors, Catherine Lundblad Linn's great grandparents. This one threw me a bit when, last November, I was sitting at a computer in Salt Lake City just after the opening of the library. I had Maria's death record pulled up on the screen. She died June 15, 1799, buried on the 23rd. She was 75 years old. But then the library computers all froze, and all I could do was stare at the page on the screen, but not translate anything using the library online dictionaries. I wanted to know what Maria had died of. It's in the far right column below. And so, while waiting for the power to return, I used a translate feature on my Iphone and entered what I thought I could read of her cause of death: "venerisk sjekdom".

I'm quite sure that I uttered something when my Iphone translated those Swedish words into English. Venerisk sjekdom means venereal disease. My 5th great grandmother. 1799. What?

When the computers were working again, I hailed THE BEST Swedish researcher at the library and asked him to look at Maria's death record and tell me what her cause of death was. He said "venereal disease". I had to ask if that meant what I thought it did and he assured me it did. He said it was probably syphilis, completely untreatable, and a painful and prolonged way to die.

Shock. Just shock. Then sadness that she suffered so. Then anger. What about her husband Olof Ekstrom? I found his death on the same page.

Olof Ekstrom died on December 5, 1799 and was buried on the 15th. He was 70 years old. And he died of breast fever, known as pneumonia.

Well, something doesn't add up. Either Maria contracted syphilis from someone other than her husband, or Olof died of pneumonia before the syphilis killed him. They probably both suffered quite a bit and were in a great deal of pain.

Whether the diagnosis at the time was accurate, I don't know. Whether there are other plausible reasons for Maria's disease, I have no clue. It is clear from the record above that, in 1799, her diagnosis was venereal disease. But, I leave any possible interpretations to you.

Our Swedish ancestors died of many different diseases, from influenza, to TB, to pneumonia, to cancer, and venereal disease. There were horse, car and work accidents, old age, and the death of small infants, not able to survive. I've not found a single cause of death to warrant our being concerned about a specific illness or genetic problem.

The details of our ancestors' lives are what puts the meat on their bones. Last week's post was about the "boring begats" that turn many people off. But don't you think that this was an interesting look at some of our ancestors?

How Far Back?

Often people want to know how far back a family historian or genealogist has gone in the family line. When I was in my first few years of genealogy research, collecting a new ancestor, a new generation, going back farther in time was a real thrill.

Today, I'm all about trying to learn more about their lives and document HOW they lived and died, WHAT they did for a living, WHY they moved or immigrated.

But I can tell you the farthest I've gone back on Elin Andersson Linn's line is to my 7th great grandfather, Jons Larsson, born in Vastra Eneby Parish in Ostergotland County on August 1, 1680. Once a person can establish an ancestor that far back, you can imagine how few records there are to give any details about a person's life. That's why I've not spent more time writing about these ancestors of ours who are back that far in Swedish history.

Unless we had an ancestor who did something extraordinary, there would be little mention of that person except in the birth, marriage, and death records. Maybe a probate record. Perhaps a tax record. And even then, there would be just a notation, a date. No proper obituary. No details about their occupations. Nothing more about their lives.

The "begats" of our genealogy lines can be boring and cause many people to just roll their eyes when I tell them that my hobby is genealogy. While I wouldn't agree 100 percent, it's the thrill of learning about their lives and telling their stories that is really exciting. But just to show you some of the "boring begats", here is our pedigree from Elin's line, starting with my 7th great grandparents:

Jons Larsson married Maria Mansdotter, also from Vastra Eneby Parish on May 16, 1706. Together, they had 11 children. Their second child is my 6th great grandmother, Kerstin Jonsdotter, born October 11, 1710.

Kerstin married Lars Mansson in 1729 and had 6 children, the oldest of whom was my 5th great grandfather, Carl Larsson, born in 1732.

Carl married Brita Carlsdotter in 1760, and they had  just 3 children, the middle child being my 4th great grandfather, Carl Carlsson.

Carl married Lena Abrahamsdotter in 1792 and had 5 children, the fourth being my 3rd great grandfather, Abraham Carlsson.

Abraham married Anna-Brita Johannesdotter in 1826 and had 8 children, their third being my 2nd great grandmother, Anna Maja Abrahamsdotter.

Anna Maja married Carl Magnus Andersson in 1856. They had 5 children. And here is where I'm sure everyone can pick up the story. Their 3rd child was my great-grandmother, Elin Mathilda Andersson.

You can see that, with just 7 generations and all of the children and in-laws and cousins who could be researched, this hobby of mine will never end.

I learned very early in my research that we are fortunate to be Swedish descendants. Their records are fantastic!! And not hard to read once you get the hang of it. You just need a few Swedish words and the ability to strain and squint to read some very old handwriting. Beginning in 1686, every birth, marriage and death needed to be recorded by the local parish priest. So, to work my way back to the late 1600's, as long as the records weren't destroyed and are readable, can be done. Anything prior to 1686 would just be available as long as a priest had decided on his own to keep records and those records were preserved.

So who wants to join me in this hobby? There are plenty of people, more lines, more records to research!