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Lydia's and Emil's Smoky Valley Swedish Immigration Background
~ With a far larger account of why Swedes were leaving Sweden by Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist
Lydia's and Emil's Smoky Valley Swedish Immigration Background
~ With a far larger account of why Swedes were leaving Sweden by Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist
Emil O. Deere and Lydia Sohlberg Deere would be first generation Swedish Americans. Lydia would arrive in the Smoky Valley's McPherson, Kansas, in 1880, at the age of 7 with her parents and seven siblings. Her parents left Sweden on their honeymoon the day after their Midsummers wedding in June of 1854. They sojourned in Swedish immigrant communities found in Chicago, Wisconsin and Minnesota where they lived for 18 years which was her birthplace in 1873.
Emil, on the other hand, arrived in Lindsborg in 1899 to finish college at Bethany College upon the invitation of college founder Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson. In 1877, he was born in the midst of the Swedish community of Moline, Illinois, 4 miles from the Swedish immigrant founded Augustana Lutheran College located in Rock Island. Exact departure years from Sweden by Emil's parents are unknown as are their emigration experiences. He had three siblings.
However, what is known, though, is that Lydia and Emil, arrived much later than the Smoky Valley 1869 arrivals of the two colonies of the Galesburg Swedes and the Värmland Swedes whose pastors were Rev. A. W. Dahlsten (1836-1918) and Rev. Olof Olsson (1941-1900) respectively.
Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist, fourth generation Smoky Valley resident Swedish American, a homegrown local historian and educator with a master's degree in history, in his 1994 Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs provides a well-researched documented background on the two major reasons why a good majority of Swedes left Sweden during the great migration era of the nineteenth century. This information is very pertinent to the foundational history of the Swedish Smoky Valley people and their descendants, and, therefore, it most certainly should be the first piece of foundational information to be mentioned in SWEDES.
Therefore, Mr. Holmquist begins his Pioneer Cross with first chapter, "Farewell, Mother Sweden," when he opens with:
"The Swedes who came to the Smoky Valley of Central Kansas to settle were recent immigrants from Sweden. The decision to move away from their homeland to come to America and settle in a vast, far-off country was made by thousands of Swedish people. The choice to leave their native homeland and their families, and to travel halfway round the world and build a home in a foreign land, would not have been an easy one to make.
"Sweden was not alone, as many other European countries experienced great emigrations of their populations during the nineteenth century.
"Mass migrations have taken place at many times during the history of the world. However, this migration was unique. A vast new country across the Atlantic Ocean was open and welcoming anyone with the courage and initiative to develop its seemingly boundless resources.
"Nineteenth century Sweden was plagued by economic, political, social, and religious turmoil. This massive unrest stirred the population to desire more from life than mere subsistence. Swedes looked first for fulfillment within Sweden, but when their homeland could not meet their growing needs, many turned toward America and its opportunities. Emigration became the answer to problems of the downtrodden."
Regarding the Church of Sweden state-controlled worship, Mr. Holmquist explains this condition in his second chapter "By Faith Alone," on pages 16 and 17 as follows:
"As a result, the church became so rigid and steeped in formality that it lost sight of the needs of the people, especially those in the more isolated rural areas of the Swedish countryside. To fill the unmet spiritual needs of Sweden's rural population in the late eighteenth century, there arose in the most isolated areas, a movement whose premise was to return to a more fundamentalist Bible-reading form of private worship called the Lassaire Movement. Followers of this movement would gather together in private homes, read the Bible and the devotional writings of Martin Luther. They would then read the prayers and confessionals of the church, ask for a benediction and return to their own homes. The Lassaire Movement began very quietly, but eventually grew to impact all of Sweden.
"This underground spiritual movement was illegal. In Sweden, the policy of state control of the church brought about laws that prohibited the reading of the Bible without the presence of a clergyman. Even though it meant breaking the law, these secret meetings were held, and Bible reading flourished despite the efforts of the church and state to retain control.
"Before the first quarter of the nineteenth century had passed, revivalism had taken hold in Sweden. Revivalism was in fact the spiritual manifestation of the political, cultural, and economic upheavals that pushed Sweden into the modern world. Spiritual revivalism swept the country and soon developed into a more formalized form known as the Pietistic Movement. Pietism centered on the "emotional and subjective aspects of the Christian experience and the ethical and moral demands of sanctification."
Emil, on the other hand, arrived in Lindsborg in 1899 to finish college at Bethany College upon the invitation of college founder Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson. In 1877, he was born in the midst of the Swedish community of Moline, Illinois, 4 miles from the Swedish immigrant founded Augustana Lutheran College located in Rock Island. Exact departure years from Sweden by Emil's parents are unknown as are their emigration experiences. He had three siblings.
However, what is known, though, is that Lydia and Emil, arrived much later than the Smoky Valley 1869 arrivals of the two colonies of the Galesburg Swedes and the Värmland Swedes whose pastors were Rev. A. W. Dahlsten (1836-1918) and Rev. Olof Olsson (1941-1900) respectively.
Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist, fourth generation Smoky Valley resident Swedish American, a homegrown local historian and educator with a master's degree in history, in his 1994 Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs provides a well-researched documented background on the two major reasons why a good majority of Swedes left Sweden during the great migration era of the nineteenth century. This information is very pertinent to the foundational history of the Swedish Smoky Valley people and their descendants, and, therefore, it most certainly should be the first piece of foundational information to be mentioned in SWEDES.
Therefore, Mr. Holmquist begins his Pioneer Cross with first chapter, "Farewell, Mother Sweden," when he opens with:
"The Swedes who came to the Smoky Valley of Central Kansas to settle were recent immigrants from Sweden. The decision to move away from their homeland to come to America and settle in a vast, far-off country was made by thousands of Swedish people. The choice to leave their native homeland and their families, and to travel halfway round the world and build a home in a foreign land, would not have been an easy one to make.
"Sweden was not alone, as many other European countries experienced great emigrations of their populations during the nineteenth century.
"Mass migrations have taken place at many times during the history of the world. However, this migration was unique. A vast new country across the Atlantic Ocean was open and welcoming anyone with the courage and initiative to develop its seemingly boundless resources.
"Nineteenth century Sweden was plagued by economic, political, social, and religious turmoil. This massive unrest stirred the population to desire more from life than mere subsistence. Swedes looked first for fulfillment within Sweden, but when their homeland could not meet their growing needs, many turned toward America and its opportunities. Emigration became the answer to problems of the downtrodden."
Regarding the Church of Sweden state-controlled worship, Mr. Holmquist explains this condition in his second chapter "By Faith Alone," on pages 16 and 17 as follows:
"As a result, the church became so rigid and steeped in formality that it lost sight of the needs of the people, especially those in the more isolated rural areas of the Swedish countryside. To fill the unmet spiritual needs of Sweden's rural population in the late eighteenth century, there arose in the most isolated areas, a movement whose premise was to return to a more fundamentalist Bible-reading form of private worship called the Lassaire Movement. Followers of this movement would gather together in private homes, read the Bible and the devotional writings of Martin Luther. They would then read the prayers and confessionals of the church, ask for a benediction and return to their own homes. The Lassaire Movement began very quietly, but eventually grew to impact all of Sweden.
"This underground spiritual movement was illegal. In Sweden, the policy of state control of the church brought about laws that prohibited the reading of the Bible without the presence of a clergyman. Even though it meant breaking the law, these secret meetings were held, and Bible reading flourished despite the efforts of the church and state to retain control.
"Before the first quarter of the nineteenth century had passed, revivalism had taken hold in Sweden. Revivalism was in fact the spiritual manifestation of the political, cultural, and economic upheavals that pushed Sweden into the modern world. Spiritual revivalism swept the country and soon developed into a more formalized form known as the Pietistic Movement. Pietism centered on the "emotional and subjective aspects of the Christian experience and the ethical and moral demands of sanctification."
Swedish Emigration Trunk
A Cochran Sohlberg Inheritance
The to-be Lindsborg "spiritual leader" Pastor Olsson (1841-1900) was a leader of this Pietistic movement in the Värmland province at the Fernebo Lutheran Congregation near Filipstad, supporting the Bible readers who met regularly in homes for Bible study, prayer and fellowship", as explained by Mr. Bill Carlson in his 2011 Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now, the first chapter, "Dreams and Visions," page 3.
Pastor Olsson's classmate of the Fjellstedt School in Uppsala, Sweden, the to-be "spiritual leader, Rev. A. W. Dahlsten, of the Smoky Valley Galesburg Swedes was just as involved with the Movement.
Go HERE to Their 1869 Swedish Lutheran Galesburg Colony and Olsson Colony Smoky Valley Arrivals ~ With a Galesburg account by Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist
Pastor Olsson's classmate of the Fjellstedt School in Uppsala, Sweden, the to-be "spiritual leader, Rev. A. W. Dahlsten, of the Smoky Valley Galesburg Swedes was just as involved with the Movement.
Go HERE to Their 1869 Swedish Lutheran Galesburg Colony and Olsson Colony Smoky Valley Arrivals ~ With a Galesburg account by Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist
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These shared selections of Pioneer Cross have been shown to author Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist for approval as of 9-12-22.
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These shared selections of Pioneer Cross have been shown to author Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist for approval as of 9-12-22.
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"Let Us Celebrate Them"
* * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
"Let Us Celebrate Them"
* * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated.
Copyright © since October 8, 2015 to Current Year
as indicated on main menu sections of
www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
