Settling in Iowa

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about the early days of our ancestors in Iowa. I'm thankful for your comments and questions that keep me learning more and exploring more about our family history and those brave men, women, and children who had the courage to make the difficult voyage into an uncertain future.

Jim Carlson, descended from Elsie Linn and Francis Carlson, is a fellow researcher who has shared many photos and stories with me. Below is his email response to the question about why John Linn didn't settle with Andrew Peterson. 

With the aid of diaries and stories passed down, we can make educated guesses like the one below, but it is probably impossible to know with 100% certainty. Still, it seems plausible that John Linn couldn't afford to stop where the Petersons did and made his way farther north where he was able to find land on which to settle for the winter.

Thanks, Jim, for being a great resource for all of us.

In answer to a question about why John Linn was 25 miles upriver from Andrew Peterson (who had paid for the trip for John Linn and his wife), I believe it is because John Linn did not have funds to be able to purchase land at Swede Point, and Peterson did. Linn was forced to continue up the river looking for some free land that he could lay claim to. Here are some excerpts from Swede Bend, Iowa The Early Years 1848-1855  by Birgitta Blomqvist and Jerry Lundgren. It draws from information in the Daniel Peterson diary, the John Linn diary, and the Carl Anderson diary.]

On the 10^th of October 1849, after a journey from New York of 4 months and 14 days, what was left of the group from Ulrika arrive at Swede Point [now known as Madrid, Iowa]. The Andrew Peterson’s family had lost a daughter and the parents of his wife. Andrew had also lost a brother, who left a widow, Mary Blad, with three children. The Lawrence family, John Linn with his wife, Anna Welander and Carl (Charles Anderson) could be happy that they all survived. Eric Carlson had left the group.

They were emaciated from hunger, illness and all other difficulties. It is hard to say if Swede Point was as they originally envisioned. It must have been a great disappointment when they heard that all the desirable land had been claimed but some could be purchased.

Daniel Peterson wrote that his father bought a place they moved into, adding, you can be sure it was not modern. This account indicates that the property that Andrew Peterson purchased contained a dwelling of some sort.

Lawrence and Linn found they could not earn their living in Swede Point, nor did they have the money to purchase a claim, so they had to move on. They needed to find a place of their own as soon as possible as winter was approaching. They were going to seek land that had not yet been claimed further north, near the Des Moines River. Not a good time to journey into the unknown. 

The Linn Diary states that he and the Lawrence’s were the first to stake out claims in what became known as Swede Bend. There could be no worse time to settle in that area as ill equipped as they were in knowledge of English, the local flora and fauna, and lack of equipment and supplies. They had two immediate needs – shelter and warmth. As for tools, Lawrence had a hand axe brought from Sweden and a wood chopper’s axe he picked up in Swede Point. Apparently, they had no firearms, a meager supply of food, no animals except for two hens and a rooster brought by Lawrence. There is no record of what the Linn’s carried.