America

1
Americas Little Sweden

• Rockford Becomes a Major Destination

2
Swedish Beginnings

• Most Swedes highly literate
• 1.3M Swedes emigrate between 1840-1930
• 1/3 of nation
• 1840S-1850S Mostly landowning society leaving in
  small groups and searching for economic
  opportunity. Few for religious reasons.

3
Mass Emigration

• After American Civil War
• 1867-8 failure of crops in Sweden
• Sweden was quite rural and under developed
• Better economic opportunities
• Available land after 1862 Homestead Act
• Avoidance to military service
• Opposition to the Lutheran Church

4
Amerika feber och sjukan

• Shipping advertising
• American railway company advertisers, such as
  Illinois Central
• America Letters and ads for land published in
  Swedish newspapers
• Pop boom in early 19th Century
• Inheritance only to 1st born son
• WWI ends migration

5
Småland
6
Varmland
7
Västergötland
8
Arrival in Rockford

• 30 Swedes in 1852 from parish of Södra Ving, near
  Gothenburg, Småland, island of Öland
• Cholera epidemic encourages bypassing of Chicago
• End of railway line at Rockford
• Kohagen
• Cheap whiskey- 25/gal

9
Swedish Population Growth
10
Ethnic Churches

• Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Church
• 1875- Swedish Mission Covenant
• 1880-Temple Baptist
• 1890s- Evangelical Free Church
• Other Lutheran Churches

11
Furniture Cooperatives

• Forest City Company in the early 1870s
• Andrew Johnson
• 15 people
• Union Furniture Company
• John Erlander

12
P.A. Peterson

• By death at age 80, has been president of 40
  Rockford companies and owned 5
• Ate lunch w/his employees
• At death, donated large amt of to Swedish
  hospital and the temperance movement

13
John Nelson

• Knitting machine for seamless hosiery
• Sock monkey

14
David and Oscar Sundstrand

• 10 key adding machine
• 1910-Sundstrand Tool Company
• 1925- 800 employees
• Oscar had 150 patents at the time of his death

15
Social Activism

• Numerous temperance societies from 1890-1922
• Rockford was a dry city from 1908-1920 (except
  1910-1912) Prohibition
• Socialists
• After the panic of 1893, workers formed
  cooperatives to fight against large scale
  entrepreneurs, low wages, and poor working
  conditions

16
Social Clubs

• Many for women and children (secular Sunday
  school)
• Theatre
• Folkets Haus
• Dances
• Music entertainment and singing societies (mostly
  male)

17
Provincial Societies

• Unheard of in Sweden!
• Mostly Post WWI (Roots?)
• Småland Society
• Ölandsforëningen
• Västergötland
• Östergötland
• Varmland

18
Socialism

• In WWI, Rockford socialists became nationally
  known for their stand against militarism and 137
  Rockford men refused to sign up for military
  service (draft)
• Remember that Camp Grant was here at the same
  time!

19
Socialist Mayors

• Herman Hallstrom
• 1921-1933
• Backed by the Socialist Party and Good Templars
• C. Henry Bloom
• 1933-1953
• Orthodox socialist
• Re-elected 8 times
• Born in Rockford to Swedish parents

20
Sources for images

• http//hem.passagen.se/tyom/smaland.gif
• http//www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/s/se-smala.gif
  
• http//www.swedenhomerentals.se/Landskap/M19.jpg
• http//www.allstates-flag.com/fotw/images/s/se-vgt
  .gif
• http//www.eurotourism.com/SE/img/varmland.gif
• http//www.sna.se/webbatlas/lan/bilder/varmland.gi
  f
• http//www.sockmonkeylady.com/homepagephoto.jpg