Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1880-07-24
Ie.-m. 4 woodland on, coward Carbon. Thi,

'.is'' ~. ~ ,bree onarters of q mile. saved
hard hill and long pole bridge ana was III
once nut in repair and used exclusively. ne
resent IN mike follows this rou suDs'a"
tally. from
IA Swal,., a,i The teamster brought ~1rd
tb,t n Sxe.ie was at Caribou on MS way
rb.. next day Anders Westergren came III
.,n,l i,ipri the colony He was a seaman
and had read an account of the coi"ny j"
Ranger. and Immediately decided 10 JON US
IA SUNDAY. July 81. Nils OLSON the owea-
;sh pastor. held public religious services III 'iie
Swedish language not.
Tuesdav, August =. the Immigrants
4 Joint letter to Sweden, declaring thar inc
STATE of Maine had kept faith with them in
.vnrv narticular; that the land was fertile,
the climate pleasant, the people friendly ana
advising their countrymeu emigratlng 10
America to come to New Sweden in Name.
The letter was published in all the leading
Journals in Sweden.
ON Friday. August -. the first child was
horn in New Sweden, to korno. wife of Mis-
Person. The voungster is alive TODAY. lie
r,ioices in the name OF William Widgery
Thomas Person. and is happy in the contem-
plation of the constitutional fact that he Is ell
ip;ble TO the Office of President OF the United
States.
On Friday. August 10. Andrew Matmqvist
arrived from Sweden ria Quebec and Port
land He was farmer and student. twenty
two wears of age and the first immigrant d.
rect to as from the old country.
SATURDAY. afternoon. August Il. joins Iers-
sons was united in marriage to liannah iers-
iotteu by your historian. who luckily nap
pened to be justice for the State. All the
nf
silver.
Thus within one month from the arrival of
the colony. it experienced the three great
avapts in the life of man-birth marriage,
death.
That fall large patches of land were cleared
and sixteen acres were sowed with winter
wheat. The pablic building called the capt.
roll was erected This building stands on
State land and is the property of the State OF
Maine The hall on the second floor has
been used for ten wears AS church. school
house and general rallying place for the colo
nv In the spring, when the Immigrants
fIocked in. it served too as castle Garden,
where the families were lodged until they
could erect shelter of their own.
The State extended helping hand to the
infant COLONY and guarded it with fostering
care But the State only helped those who
helped themselves. The passage of the col
0nv of 1880 cost over 81 900, every dollar of
which was paid by the immigrants themselves.
They also carried into New Sweden over
So. 900 in cash, and six tons of baggage. From
1870 until now, the State has never paid a
dollar, directly or indirectly, for the passage
of any Swede to Maine.
Before the LIST of January. 1871, a colony of
ia Swedes-5S men, 20 women and 36 chill
dren-had settled on the wild lands of Maine.
Seven miles of road had been cut through the
forest: $50 acres of woods had been filled /;
100 acres were ready for cultivation; 20acres
were sowed with winter wheat and rye: 26
dwelling houses and one public hall had been
built.
Early in December, 1870, circular was
printed in Old Sweden. describing the voyage
If the first colonists, their cordial reception.
the attractions of their new home and the adj
vantages offered to settlers by the State. Capt.
G. w. Schroeder was appointed State agent
at Gothenburg. Advertisements were inserted
in the principal Swedish newspapers. Two
columns of an emigrant's paper called Amer
ika were bought tor six months, and filed
every week with new matter about the Maine
colony. A special agent was employed to
travel in the northern provinces of Sweden.
Carl Johan Elk. one of our first colonSts. was
sent home with maps, plans and specimens of
Aroostook products. A circular was printed
in Swedish at Portland and distributed by
pilots on board incoming steamers miles
away from the land.
All these measures bore fruit abundantly
With the opening of navigation Immigrants
began to arrive at New Sweden; first in lit
tie squads then in companies of % 30, 40 {:
finally the last of May. came n company of
100, followed within five days by 260 more In
June arrived an important addition to the
colony, the Rev. Andrew Wren. whose min
stratons have continued to this day.
The stream of immigration thus flowing
into the capitol disappeared in small rills
throughout the forest. The surveyors were at
work again. Roads were opened in all d.
rections from the capitol. and lots were laid
off to face them. As fast as the lots were ac-
cessible. they were taken.
In the spring of 1871, 165 acres of land
were cleared and put into crop, including the
l25 acres on which the trees were felled the
year before. The crops grew rapidly. Win
ter rye was cut in the middle of August:
wheat, barley and oats early in September.
Crops were raised by so families, which thus
became selt-supporting. and received no fur
Their supplies from the State. Three thousand
bushels of grain were threshed out. of which
1900 were wheat, 1000 barley, and the rest
cHleHy rye anu oats. rive thousand DuShelS
of potatoes were secured, besides several
hundred bushels of other roots.
In November. 1871, a free public school of
which Pastor Wren was teacher, was opened
i'll the capitol The chief study of the Il
scholars the English language. Pastor
Wren also opened an evening English
school for adults.
In January. 1872, weekly newspaper, the
North Star, was started at Carbon. Every
issue of this paper contained one column
printed in the Swedish language. This col
umn was edited by Mr.. f. Winbcrg, one of
our immigrants.
Although temporary settlements were male
on the New England coast by Scandinayians
five hundred years before Columbus discov-
cred the West Indies, this was the first New
England newspaper in which Scandinavian
language was used.
In the matter of government, New Sweden
presented an anomaly. 1t was an unorgan-
lied township. upon which there was not res
ident single American citizen. through
whom the first step toward legal organize
ton could be taken. For two years the
commissioner found time to settle disputes
between the colonists and arrange all matters
of general concern.
As the colony increased, the work became