The L'Anse sentinel., 1914-04-18
IN FAR NORTHlAND
Important Events in Sweden,
Norway and Denmark.
BRIEFS FROM OLD COUNTRY
Interesting Items From the Three
Great Kingdoms Of the North Sc
lected for scandInavians and
Their Descendants.
BY MARTIN w. oDLAND.'
Sweden.

SWeuen.
The Minneapolis Journal has pub
lished an interesting article on Jacob
Falstrom the first Swede as well as
the first Scandinavian to set foot on
Minnesota soil-that is II the Kensing-
ton rhinestone is fraud and the story
it tells mere fabrication. The ar
ticle in question is in part as follows:
Jacob Falstrom was the first man
of Swedish birth In Minnesota. There
always has been historical disputes
about the first this and first that In
the history OF states and communities,
but no one has ever. attempted even to
question the assertion made sixty or
more years ago that Jacob Falstrom
was the first Swede in what now Is
this state. He was here before Mime
sofa was even territory, before Henry
n. Sibley. Norman w. Kittson. Martin
Mcleod, regarded as the founders OF
the state, before the foundations were
laid for Fort Smelling in 1920; IN fact,
1t Is likely that he was in Minnesota
as early as Lieutenant Zebulon Pike.
who, in 1905. made the treaty with the
Sioux that led to grant of land for a
military post at the confluence of the
Mississippi and st. Peters (Minne-
sota) rivers.
"Falstrom did not carve his name
very deep in the history Of the state,
but he crowded more adventure, more
trials, more varieties of life in his
career than any other who lived In
the state before or since. No French
voyageur keen for wealth and excite
ment surpassed Falstrom in restless
rowing, and none of the aborigines.
either the Ojibways or Dacotahs, were
more at home in the primeval wilder
ness
"Falstrom was not settler, that Is to
look for home, to locate and to farm,
as did the first Swedish colonists who
came to Washington county In 1850.
He was q waif, cut off from his own
people and his kin by series of mis-
adventures that with MANY would
have ended in death. For many years
he lived the life of a savage, because
there was none other for him to live.
Although employed both by the Hud-
son Bay company and the American
Fur company, he could claim no kin
ship with the British or American fac
tors. Neither was he kin of the
French traders. The Chippewas OF
Canada saved him from death by
starvation and exposure in the vast
wastes Of the far North and he be-
came one of them.
But when he could mingle with Eu-
ropeans on an equal footing he did so
at the first opportunity, and for 30
more years before his death in Wash
ington county in 1859 he titled the soil.
The land he held near Valley creek, a
few miles northward of Alton and
about an equal distance southwest OF
Lakeland, still is known as the Fal-
strom farm, although the Falstroms
have disappeared from that section.
often he has been referred to as
Reverend Falstrom, but the clerical
title is hardly merited, for he was
never ordained, and although of great
value to the early Methodist church.
he was simply an exhorter or lay
preacher.
For 80 years he never heard his
mother tongue. yet he had not forgot
ten 1t, and was able to address the
early Swedish settlers in the st. Croix
valley in their native language. John
Peterson, tailor who met Falstrom
in st. Paul in 1852, informed several
of his acquaintances that he was the
first Swede to greet .Falstrom in his
native tongue. o o.
TT was a tradition in the family
that Falstrom had carried Swedish
Bible in all his so years Of wander
ing IN the wilderness and that he read
1t diligently.
He died on his farm at Valley
Creek in 1859 and there ended his
saga. His widow survived until 1880
The family became separated and
scattered. Many of them now are
with their Chippewa kinsfolk at White
Earth"
Hugo Alfven, music director at the
university or UpSala, is Planning
singing tour Of the world for the o.
D.ists. They are to leave Sweden at
Christmas, 1916. and return in May
the next year. Hans Frenchel, the
aviator, is to be the manager. Mr..
Alfven has already established con-
nections with the Swedish ambassa-
doris abroad as well as number of
steamship companies. The promoter
does not think II will be difficult to
raise the necessary guaranty fund.
The special elections of riksdag
members opened the last week in
March in the Stockholm district, and
are now In progress throughout the
country. The various districts do not
vote simultaneously, as do the con-
gressional districts in America, and 1t
will take some time before we shall
learn the outcome. The preliminary
campaign was one of the bitterest In
the history OF Sweden. The regular
riksdag elections will be held next
September, so that II will not be long