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The Swedes in Grantsville, Utah 1860-1900
The Swedes in Grantsville, Utah, 1860-1900
BY D. MICHOL POLSON
FROM ITS EARLIEST BEGINNINGS THE HISTORY of the Swedish immigration to the United States has been one of a people leaving the harsh environment and economic conditions of their native land to arrive in America. For most Swedes America personified the immigrant's dream: available land, abundant work, and a very real opportunity to better oneself economically. The first Swedes arrived in America in 1638 and established a small colony called New Sweden near Wilmington, Delaware, which was later seized by the Dutch in 1654. Little immigration occurred from then on until the 1840s when the first trickle began of what would later become a great flood from Sweden. The modern immigration of Swedes to America commenced in 1841 with a settlement established at Pine Lake, Wisconsin. Other settlements, primarily in the northern Midwest, were established despite the fact that emigration from Sweden was officially discouraged until 1860 by laws that required emigrants to return after two or three years or face losing their citizenship or right to inheritance. These restrictions were enacted to prevent a labor shortage, and although they were not strictly enforced, their influence was certainly felt.
By the late 1860s the situation had dramatically changed, largely because Sweden experienced from 1867 to 1869 a series of disastrous crop failures coupled with spiraling overspeculation in agricultural lands. Thus, the prevailing economic situation persuaded many Swedes to emigrate. These crop failures, together with a rapidly increasing rural population (80 percent rural during 1800-50), low wages, high taxes, and expensive, scarce farm land made the relatively cheap land of the American Midwest and the abundant opportunities for employment seem very attractive to the restless portion of the Swedish population. During the 1850s an average of 1,690 Swedes immigrated annually to the U.S. By 1870 this figure had climbed to an average of 15,000. The 1880s showed an average of 37,000 arriving yearly, with the peak year of 1888 recording 45,000 Swedish immigrants entering the U.S. The ''American fever" affected Sweden so much that in many villages it was noted that there "was scarcely a young person left." By the 1890s and the following two decades the flow of emigration slowed, reflecting the improved economic conditions in Sweden.
Between 1851 and 1925, 1,139,000 Swedes emigrated, with the vast majority coming to the U.S. Most settled in states that actively encouraged Swedes to come, such as Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Kansas, and Nebraska. Included within this general migration of Swedes, though, was a group of Mormon converts who, though small in number, came to play an important role in the Intermountain West.
Beginning in the 1850s with only a handful, the number of Mormon converts in Sweden had grown by 1905 to a total of 16,695, 44 percent of whom immigrated to Utah. During the early years of immigration the actual number of Swedes in Utah was relatively small but often locally important. Later on, however, immigrant Swedes and their descendants steadily increased to the degree that by 1910 Utah, coming to within a fraction of the Dakotas and Wisconsin, emerged as the fifth largest state in percentage of the total population formed of Swedish stock.
Even though the experience of Scandinavians in Utah has been chronicled extensively by William Mulder in Homeward to Zion, very little analysis has been done of the Swedes as an individual group or their contribution to the Mormon experience. Their experience is worth investigating because, although Swedish Mormon converts who immigrated to the U.S. and subsequently to Utah came from the same national and ethnic background as the other Swedish immigrants in America, the uniqueness of the religious and social environment in the Utah settlements introduced profound changes in Swedish family and ethnic patterns. These changes, resulting from the influence and policies of the Mormon church, can be examined by focusing on Swedish family patterns in the small Utah settlement of Grantsville.
MORMON CONVERTS IN SWEDEN
In 1849, two years after the Mormons had established themselves in the Salt Lake Valley, a general conference was held in which missionaries were called to renew efforts to take the gospel to Europe and other parts of the world. Among those called to Scandinavia was a Swede, John Erik Forsgren, who had joined the church in Boston in the early 1840s. Traveling first to Denmark with several other missionaries, Forsgren subsequently entered southern Sweden in June 1850 and then traveled to his native city of Gavle, north of Stockholm. While staying at his father's house he baptized his brother Peter on July 26. Converting some twenty people in Gavle, Forsgren encountered opposition when "neighbors on whom he called warned him that Sweden imposed grave penalties for religious activities outside the Establishment. " A short time later he was arrested by the civil authorities and deported. Leaving the ship carrying him to New York in Copenhagen, he spent the remainder of his mission in Denmark.
Other missionaries followed in Forsgren's footsteps. Although many were deported, those who managed to stay were able, together with the local membership, to continue attracting converts. Proselyting was successful mainly among the common classes of people, as testified by the large number of farmers, laborers, tradesmen, and mechanics who converted to Mormonism. The popular opinion in Sweden, however, was that those who joined the Mormon church came from the very dregs of society. In a report written in 1860 the governor of Vasternorrland Province stated:
Despite popular opinion, to prepare and save for the journey to Utah and thus fulfill the Mormon doctrine of the "gathering" became the great preoccupation and concern of the Swedish converts. Their desire to emigrate was often intensified because of the persecution they experienced in their homeland. As a result, from 1850 to 1905, between 8,000 and 9,000 total converts eventually left Sweden bound for Utah. The paradox, as Mulder observed, was that at a time when their fellow countrymen were moving to the richer and more expansive acres of the Midwest, Swedish Mormons settled in the "rainless valleys of far-off Utah."
EMIGRATION TO UTAH
In 1850 the Mormon church established the Perpetual Emigration Fund to give loans to those who could not raise enough or any money for the trip to Utah. A promissory note signed at the journey's beginning testified to the signer's willingness to pay back the loan later in America. Repayments by borrowers would perpetuate the fund for other emigrating converts. By 1900 one hundred emigration groups had been sent from Scandinavia at a cost of two million dollars.
For the Swedish converts travel arrangements were prepared in advance. Unlike non-Mormon immigrants, the Mormons were aided by members of the church throughout the trip. Entering usually the ports of Boston or New York, the immigrants traveled by railroad to Utah or, before the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, to Iowa where they joined wagon trains to the Salt Lake Valley. After the 1890s organized or church-sponsored emigration came to a close and the converts journeyed as they could.
Upon arriving in Utah the converts were often assigned or advised to go to certain areas. Because of church-directed relocation, Swedish converts found themselves in a situation different from most of their midwestern countrymen in that no exclusively Swedish colonies formed in Utah. Thus the Swedes and other Scandinavians, according to Mulder, "found themselves mingling with Americans and other Europeans in a unifying religious brotherhood." This mingling had significant impact on the durability of the Swedish converts' first- and second-generation family and cultural patterns.
GRANTSVILLE AND SWEDISH FAMILY PATTERNS
By 1900 the Swedes were so well dispersed throughout Utah that only a few communities had a fairly large percentage of Swedish Mormons. One such community was Grantsville in western Tooele Valley.
Grantsville was first settled by two brothers-in-law, James Mc-Bride and Harrison Severien Oclobe, in 1850. Calling the settlement Willow Creek, they began to homestead the land. By October 1852 eight families lived there, mainly farmers. Later the name was changed to Grantsville in honor of Maj. George C. Grant, who had helped defend the Willow Creek settlement from Indians.
The arrival and settlement of Swedish families in Grantsville was gradual at first. The 1860 U.S. Census listed only two Swedish families. Even though many Swedish families settled in Grantsville from the late 1860s through the 1880s the Swedes were always a minority among their more numerous American and English neighbors. Their minority representation, together with the passage of time and interaction with their fellow church members, changed the Swedes' family patterns and ethnic distinctions.
To show these changing family patterns, and for the purpose of identification in this article, the structure of the Swedish population in Grantsville will be henceforth classified as first, second, and third generation. The first generation population consisted of two groups in Grantsville. The distinguishing characteristic of the first group was that they were Swedes who had been born in Sweden, had emigrated as adolescents or adults, and were identified in the 1900 census as heads of households (single male, female, or husband-wife). In contrast to the first group, the second group were Swedish persons who had also been born in Sweden and had emigrated as adolescents or adults but whose households were not perhaps as distinctly Swedish due to marriage with non-Swedes. The second generation consisted also of two groups: persons who were born in Sweden and had come to America with their parents and persons born in America after their parents' arrival. Some of the second generation were born to parents who had emigrated as unmarried persons but who had subsequently met and married in America. The major characteristic they possessed was that they could be identified in the census as the first generation's children. Perhaps the most significant generalization regarding the second generation was that the majority were raised or were being raised in America, primarily Utah. The third generation was a more diverse group. Due to intermarriage between the ethnic and cultural groups in Grantsville it became increasingly difficult to identify the offspring of the second generation as Swedish or at least possessing a Swedish heritage. Therefore all persons who were designated as third generation had at least one parent classified as second generation.
TABLE 1: THE SWEDES IN GRANTSVILLE, UTAH, 1860-1900*
The Swedish percentage of Grantsville's population increased rapidly (see Table 1). In 1860 Swedes comprised 2.4 percent of the total population. By 1870 this had increased to 16.5 percent and in 1880 to 29.4 percent. The increase in the number of first- and second-generation Swedes from 11 in 1860 to 125 in 1870 and 297 in 1880 seems to reflect the general growth pattern of the Mormon church in Sweden. This population increase slowed during the latter 1880s when organized emigration from Sweden was discontinued by the Mormon church. The slowdown seems again to be reflected in the 1900 census because the Swedish population (first, second, and third generations) decreased slightly to 27.0 percent of the total Grantsville population. The Swedish percentage of the population would have been even lower if the third generation had not been counted. The decline in population occurred probably for the most part because by 1900 many of the first generation had died and also because of the decreased emigration from Sweden after the late 1880s which failed to replenish the decreasing Swedish portion of the total population. In 1870 the first generation had accounted for 55.2 percent of the Swedish population in Grantsville; by 1900 they were only 27.5 percent (see Table 2). The second generation grew from 44.8 percent of the Swedish population in 1870 to 53.8 percent in 1880 and stayed fairly consistent at 55.5 percent in 1900. This stability from 1880 to 1900 indicates that the number of second generation who were born or settled in Grantsville was probably nearly the same as those who left.
TABLE 2: SWEDISH GENERATIONAL DIVISIONS IN GRANTSVILLE, UTAH, 1870-1900*
The decline in the percentage of the first-generation members and the stability of the second-generation population certainly altered cultural patterns. As the first generation aged and died, the cultural and ethnic links with Sweden weakened. First-generation Swedish converts had come to Utah to be united in a religious brotherhood with the rest of the Mormons. No matter how much they associated with others, however, their being born and raised in Sweden not only set them apart from their American and English counterparts but certainly also must have reminded the second and third generations of their Swedish heritage. As the first generation died the personal contact with the old country, which the first generation represented, diminished. Furthermore, since the second generation had been raised with children of American and English parentage they were increasingly likely to select a spouse from these other ethnic groups. Eric Englund in Swedes in America, 1638-1938, supported this assumption by noting that "with the passage of years after the arrival of particular immigrants, their distinctly Swedish attributes became increasingly difficult to differentiate, because of the rapid fusion of their influence into American life and institutions."
This was certainly true in Grantsville. The Swedes' acceptance into the community first became noticeable in the early 1870s with the establishment of the School of Prophets. The function of this organization was to provide an opportunity to instruct the leading male church members in church doctrine as well as to resolve personal and community problems. In time the School of the Prophets became "the custodian of righteousness within the community. " Only the most trustworthy and dedicated men in Grantsville were allowed to belong. The diary of Joshua R. Clark shows that from August 1871 to February 1873, 22 of the 101 men admitted to the School of Prophets were Swedish.20
The 1880s was the period in which the Swedish population, primarily the first generation, continued to assimilate and gain prominence in the community. The first Swedish mayor, Anders Johnson, was elected in 1883 and reelected in 1885. The personal history of a first-generation Swede, Charles John Stromberg, indicates that he served three terms on the Grantsville City Council, four years as the Tooele County assessor, and six years as the Tooele County road supervisor. As the years passed and the first generation declined, second- and third-generation Swedes filled high church and civic posts.
In addition to the decreasing number of first generation Swedes, the number of second-generation Swedes born in Sweden but raised in America must have influenced changing Swedish marital and family patterns. In 1870 only 38.6 percent of the second generation were born in Sweden, while 61.4 percent were born in America. This pattern of American birth continued in 1880 with 81.6 percent of the second generation born in America. These figures seem to indicate that most of the first generation had emigrated and subsequently met and married in Utah or had married in Sweden and had the majority of their children in Utah. Being born in Utah or immigrating there at a young age probably helped the second generation feel more American than Swedish. As evidence of this, 42 percent of the second generation who were of school age in 1900 attended school and thus were certainly affected by their American teachers and subjects. By associating freely with other children of American and English parentage in the school system as well as in free-time settings, together with the pervading religious idea of the "gathering," which emphasized that no nationalistic distinctions should exist within the Mormon culture, those of Swedish ancestry found no real encouragement in the rural setting of Grantsville to continue to follow Swedish customs and traditions or to marry others of Swedish heritage.
In 1885 the leading Swedish member of the community, Anders Johnson, was elected a trustee of the Grantsville School Board and reelected in 1888 for another three-year term. Through representation on the school board the Swedish element of the Grantsville population clearly signaled their willingness to participate in the school system, thereby endorsing a major agent of cultural change. Jennie Erikson, a second-generation Swede, recalled at the 1950 dedication of the Grantsville School-Church House the pressure of this change and how sensitive she felt about learning English at school due to her fear of ridicule. In Grantsville, English was clearly the language of instruction in school as well as in church for the Swedish converts and their children.
Perhaps no more observable factor exists to reveal a person's national identity than his or her native language, since through it traditions, customs, and other links with one's native country as well as with the other generations are preserved. Before the Swedish convert even emigrated, and especially afterwards, he or she was encouraged within the church to learn English as rapidly as possible. As a result, in 1900, 86.7 percent of the first-generation Grantsville Swedes still alive were recorded in the census as English-speaking. Virtually 100 percent of the second and third generation, 72 percent of the total Swedish population in Grantsville, spoke English. Swedish Mormons, in sharp contrast to the Midwest Swedes, discontinued using Swedish as their primary language. Mulder emphasizes this contrast when he claims:
Thus Swedish was preserved for several generations in many areas, especially the rural Midwest, because the Swedish language was used in church sermons, schools, newspapers, and various Swedish-American organizations. In Utah, however, there were no Swedish-American schools and few Scandinavian newspapers to circulate the Scandinavian languages. Those of Swedish descent were encouraged by the Mormon church to learn English and assimilate. In the Midwest, the Lutheran Swedes (the great majority) used their church to maintain their Swedish heritage.
That second-generation Swedes in Utah learned English only too well is reflected in a letter written in 1884 by Mad Anderson, president of the Minnesota Conference (today called a mission). He complained that missionary work among the Minnesota Scandinavians was slow because of the "downright shame that young missionaries of Scandinavian descent often were unable to speak the language of their parents and thus were handicapped in Minnesota. "
TABLE 3: GENERATIONAL COMBINATIONS IN SWEDISH MARRIAGES IN GRANTSVILLE, UTAH, 1870-1900*
Changes also took place within the cultural and family patterns of Swedes living in Utah. Nowhere is there more evidence of change due to the unique social and religious environment in Grantsville than in the Swedish generational marriage patterns. In 1870, of the 29 Swedish married couples, 93 percent were both first generation (see Table 3). By 1880, of the 58 couples, 81 percent were both first generation. By 1900 only 42.6 percent of the 61 Swedish couples were both first generation Swedes. This decrease is almost certainly due to death ending first-generation marriages. As fast as first-generation marriages where both spouses were Swedish declined, mixed, interethnic marriages increased. First-generation husbands married to a non-Swede went from 3.4 percent of the marriages in 1870 to 12.1 percent in 1880 and 14.7 percent in 1900. First-generation Swedish women increased from 3.4 percent in 1870 to 6.9 percent in 1880 and then dropped to 3.7 percent in 1900. The increase from 1870 to 1880 for the first-generation husbands occurred probably as Swedish men married non-Swedes after their first spouses died; or perhaps after they arrived as single emigrants they married non-Swedes. However, the latter explanation is less likely for, as Mulder emphasizes, "all prevalent notions to the contrary, these converts by and large embraced Mormonism in families. " The decrease from 1880 to 1900 for first-generation Swedish women was most likely due to the effects of widowhood.
What is particularly interesting is the second generation's marriage patterns (see Table 3). In 1870 and 1880 there were no secondgeneration marriages indicated in the census; however, by 1900, 32.9 percent of the total Swedish marriages were second-generation marriages with non-Swedes. Only 1.6 percent of the second-generation marriages involved two second-generation Swedes marrying each other. Another 4.9 percent involved first-generation men marrying second-generation women. Overall, by 1900, 50.4 percent of the total Swedish marriages had one non-Swedish spouse, compared to 6.8 percent in 1870 and 19.0 percent in 1880.
TABLE 4: NATIONALITY HOUSEHOLD PATTERNS IN GRANTSVILLE, UTAH, 1860-1900*
TABLE 5: NATIONALITY HOUSEHOLD PATTERNS IN CANNON FALLS, MINNESOTA, 1870-1900*
The diary of Hilda Anderson Erikson, a second-generation Swede who lived to be the last surviving Utah pioneer, provides a detailed record of the social interactions of young people in the Grantsville community. At the age of twenty-one in 1880 she began to record many of her daily activities, including social activities with first- and secondgeneration Swedes, such as going to the Swedish dance on December 30, 1880, with Adolph Johnson, a second-generation Swede. It seems clear from her entries that many, if not most, of the young people in the community associated freely with each other despite their ethnic origins. Towards the end of her diary, Hilda Erikson recorded the marriages of several of her friends. One marriage is of particular interest. One of her very best friends, Lucy Clark, whose parents were English emigrants, married Alfred Eliason, a second-generation Swede. This wedding early in 1882 foreshadowed the mixed ethnic marriages that would come to represent how well indeed the Swedes had assimilated into the Grantsville community.
In many upper Midwest communities, especially rural ones, ageold Swedish customs and celebrations are still preserved and honored several generations after the original emigrants brought these traditions from Sweden. In fact, it is not at all unusual to find Swedish descendants belonging to the third- and fourth-generations who have mastered the rudiments of the Swedish language. One would be hardpressed to find a similar example existing today in Grantsville or Utah.
In the Midwest the Lutheran church, as noted earlier, used its influence to preserve links with Sweden. This influence, together with the resistance to rapid change prevalent in rural areas, provided the means for preserving a common heritage among the Swedish immigrants' descendants for generations. In Grantsville, the effect was opposite. The rural atmosphere was dominated by the Mormon church. Since religion was the unifying element and purpose of immigration to Utah, the Grantsville Swedes certainly must have felt the pressure to blend into the overall Mormon culture. The many convert nationalities in the church made assimilation necessary to assure a harmonious unity in the Utah settlements. This need to assimilate and the daily mingling among English and American neighbors with the familiarity present in small town settings facilitated change for the Grantsville Swedes. That they did change and that they did assimilate is evident. Although the documentation is sometimes scanty, the declining first generation's presence, the second generation's ability to speak English, the fact that nearly half of those of school age attended school and thus were socialized in an American-Mormon atmosphere, and finally the tendency not to marry fellow Swedes nevertheless combine to form an overall pattern of the familial and marital changes that took place among the Grantsville Swedes. These changes, perhaps regrettable in a cultural sense, were required to attain the religious unity needed to achieve the temporal and spiritual goals of the Mormon church in Utah.
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