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.
No comments:
Post a Comment