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Their 1869 Swedish Lutheran Galesburg Colony and Olsson Colony Smoky Valley Arrivals,
~ With a Galesburg account by Mr. Holmquist
Their 1869 Swedish Lutheran Galesburg Colony and Olsson Colony Smoky Valley Arrivals,
~ With a Galesburg account by Mr. Holmquist
To understand the earliest history of the Smoky Valley Lindsborg Swedes, is to look back at the two Swedish Lutheran colonies that entered the Smoky Valley in 1869 at different times. There is no doubt that Emil and Lydia knew this history as they were both members of the Bethany Church, Lindsborg's first Lutheran church of 1869.
This church was founded by twenty-eight-year-old Rev. Olof Olsson the pastor of the Lutheran Sunnemo Church of Värmland, Sweden, who brought many of those church members to the Smoky Valley in 1869, where they would worship at his newly formed Bethany Church of Lindsborg. The other group of Swedes to enter the Valley was from Galesburg, Illinois, whose Lutheran pastor was Rev. Anders Wilhelm (A.W.) Dahlsten and who was a member of the Class of 1861, the first graduating class of the Lutheran Augustana Seminary in Chicago, part of the newly formed 1860 Scandinavian Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America, the Augustana Synod.
Both of these groups emigrated to America to worship God freely and to grasp onto a much-improved farming way of life which had been made available by President Abraham Lincoln's Homestead Act of May 20, 1862. The way was made possible for both these groups through members of the Augustana Synod. Although, individuals and families were entering the Smoky Valley at various times in the 1860s, this Galesburg Colony was the first Swedish group to arrive there. Many of these Swedes were from the provinces of Småland and Darlana who had first sojourned in Ohio or Illinois, before living in Galesburg.
This church was founded by twenty-eight-year-old Rev. Olof Olsson the pastor of the Lutheran Sunnemo Church of Värmland, Sweden, who brought many of those church members to the Smoky Valley in 1869, where they would worship at his newly formed Bethany Church of Lindsborg. The other group of Swedes to enter the Valley was from Galesburg, Illinois, whose Lutheran pastor was Rev. Anders Wilhelm (A.W.) Dahlsten and who was a member of the Class of 1861, the first graduating class of the Lutheran Augustana Seminary in Chicago, part of the newly formed 1860 Scandinavian Lutheran Augustana Synod of North America, the Augustana Synod.
Both of these groups emigrated to America to worship God freely and to grasp onto a much-improved farming way of life which had been made available by President Abraham Lincoln's Homestead Act of May 20, 1862. The way was made possible for both these groups through members of the Augustana Synod. Although, individuals and families were entering the Smoky Valley at various times in the 1860s, this Galesburg Colony was the first Swedish group to arrive there. Many of these Swedes were from the provinces of Småland and Darlana who had first sojourned in Ohio or Illinois, before living in Galesburg.
Concerning the Galesburg Colony, Mr. Thomas N. Holmquist's a fourth generation Smoky Valley settlement descendant whose antecedents arrived there in 1868, explains in his 1994 Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs, that Pastor A. W. Dahlsten who had been chosen by the Synod to pastor the growing and dynamic First Lutheran Church of Galesburg did so until a period of internal unrest erupted concerning the interpretation of Scriptural matters. This brought about great changes in the church with many members leaving. Many of those were to form the Galesburg Colony. As a result, Pastor Dahlsten left First Lutheran also for the Kansas Smoky Valley where ,under his leadership, the Lutheran Salemsborg and Freemount churches were founded in 1869, which gave birth to the settlements of Salemsborg and Freemount. The Galesburg Colonization Company made this possible with their "search for land" committee, composed of President Olof Thorstenberg, Secretary John P. Stromquist, John Rodell, Gustaf Johnson, and William Johnson.
The lay pastor C. J. Brodin would accompany the colony to Kansas while Pastor Dahlsten remained in Galesburg making arrangements for his remaining First Lutheran Church congregation. On February 23, 1869, filling three train cars, they left Galesburg, Illinois, for Salina, Kansas, arriving there on February 25, 1869. On page 67 of Pioneer Cross, Mr. Holmquist writes:
"....The Swedes disembarked to find a rugged little town very different from the established cities of Illinois. Salina was a collection of shacks, saloons, and the railroad yards. . . .
".... Among those who came were many families whose descendants still live in the Smoky Valley today. The travelers who disembarked from the train that February day included Nyberg, Bondison, Burnison, Freeburg, Cedarholm, Peterson, Hart, Swanson, Hawkinson, Rodell, Hokanson, Lindquist, Lundquist, Feldt, Johnson and others. These families, mostly associated with the Andover and Swedonia area in Illinois, had taken land in the future Freemount community. [Freemount is located In McPherson County, 6 miles west of Lindsborg.]
"Family names such as Brodine, Mattson, Lindholm, England, Frost, Thelander, Falk, Berquist, Thorstenberg, Bengtson, and Anderson and many more settled in the Salemsborg region. These people were generally more closely associated with the Galesburg's Swedish community. ..." [Salemsborg is located in Saline County, 9 miles northwest of Lindsborg.]
The lay pastor C. J. Brodin would accompany the colony to Kansas while Pastor Dahlsten remained in Galesburg making arrangements for his remaining First Lutheran Church congregation. On February 23, 1869, filling three train cars, they left Galesburg, Illinois, for Salina, Kansas, arriving there on February 25, 1869. On page 67 of Pioneer Cross, Mr. Holmquist writes:
"....The Swedes disembarked to find a rugged little town very different from the established cities of Illinois. Salina was a collection of shacks, saloons, and the railroad yards. . . .
".... Among those who came were many families whose descendants still live in the Smoky Valley today. The travelers who disembarked from the train that February day included Nyberg, Bondison, Burnison, Freeburg, Cedarholm, Peterson, Hart, Swanson, Hawkinson, Rodell, Hokanson, Lindquist, Lundquist, Feldt, Johnson and others. These families, mostly associated with the Andover and Swedonia area in Illinois, had taken land in the future Freemount community. [Freemount is located In McPherson County, 6 miles west of Lindsborg.]
"Family names such as Brodine, Mattson, Lindholm, England, Frost, Thelander, Falk, Berquist, Thorstenberg, Bengtson, and Anderson and many more settled in the Salemsborg region. These people were generally more closely associated with the Galesburg's Swedish community. ..." [Salemsborg is located in Saline County, 9 miles northwest of Lindsborg.]
The Olsson Colony of Värmland Swedes arrived in the Smoky Valley in June of 1869 at various times, with their leader Pastor Olof Olsson, arriving on June 27, 1869.
These two Church of Sweden Lutheran leaders and pastors had known each other while at university studying theology in Sweden; and now they were destined to share their early Smoky Valley pioneer Lutheran church days together as they led their respective congregations in making a life for themselves in their respective Swedish towns located on the Central Plains of Kansas.
For more on the Galesburg Colony through the work of Mr. Holmquist's Pioneer Cross, go HERE - not linked yet.
For more on the Olsson Colony, Go HERE to Their Värmland Swedes ~ The "First Swedish Agricultural Company" Lindsborg Founders, 1868 ~ an account by Dr. Emory K. Lindquist.
These two Church of Sweden Lutheran leaders and pastors had known each other while at university studying theology in Sweden; and now they were destined to share their early Smoky Valley pioneer Lutheran church days together as they led their respective congregations in making a life for themselves in their respective Swedish towns located on the Central Plains of Kansas.
For more on the Galesburg Colony through the work of Mr. Holmquist's Pioneer Cross, go HERE - not linked yet.
For more on the Olsson Colony, Go HERE to Their Värmland Swedes ~ The "First Swedish Agricultural Company" Lindsborg Founders, 1868 ~ an account by Dr. Emory K. Lindquist.
* Dr. Lindquist, Bethany in Kansas, page 37.
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~ Let Us Remember 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, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © 2022 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
~ Let Us Remember 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, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © 2022 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
