Source: https://www.kshs.org/p/the-swedish-immigrant-and-life-in-kansas/13165
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 20:21:03+00:00

Document:
The motives which brought the Swedes to Kansas were generally not unlike those of the Swedish immigration to other states, but the situation created by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and the events prior to and during the Civil War were factors in determining the time, and also quite likely, the extent of the Swedish immigration to Kansas. There were ardent champions and bitter opponents of Kansas among the Swedes as a place of settlement during the Civil War era. An early supporter of immigration to Kansas, who later changed his attitude, was the Rev. T. N. Hasselquist, an influential Lutheran clergyman and founder in 1855 of the principal, and at the time, the only Swedish newspaper published in America, Hemlandet, Det Gamla Och Det Nya, Galesburg, Ill. In Hemlandet, March 31, 1855, Hasselquist referred to Kansas as "an excellent country." On July 14, 1857, in a special feature, "Some Words to Recently Arrived Immigrants and Others Who Are Seeking Their Luck in America," he pointed out that the Eastern states offered few opportunities that land in Illinois and Iowa was already too costly for immigrants of modest means, and that the wise decision would be to go to some new territory like Kansas or Nebraska.
A pre-Civil War enthusiast for Scandinavian immigration to Kansas was Dr. C. H. Gran, a physician of Andover, IL who was heartily supported in the columns of Hemlandet by Hasselquist. Gran planned a Scandinavian colony in Kansas, which never became a reality, but he wrote enthusiastically about the prospects in Kansas. In Hemlandet, December 3 1857, Gran described at length the advantages of Kansas, based on an extensive trip to the area. The countryside was beautiful and productive, and, "when one gets up on a bluff and looks about these fruitful plains and woods, and sees these wonders of God's creation, the soul is filled with a stirring that words cannot describe." The description of Kansas included the Kansas, Big Blue, Smoky Hill, and Republican River valleys, which the physician had visited. Gran found the climate to be moderate, the soil fertile, and the rainfall adequate. Here indeed was the promise of a great future for the immigrant.
Other enthusiasts for Kansas wrote frequently to Hemlandet, which was read extensively by Swedes in this country and in the homeland. Henry L. Kiisel, who had been in the United States for eight years, addressed his countrymen through the pages of Hemlandet, December 15, 1857, as follows: "Countrymen in New York and in other eastern states! You who work hard every day for your small daily wage, now is the chance for you to get your own home where you can live independent of Americans, and you will escape working so hard and cease to be dependent upon your daily wages." Kiisel ended his plea by urging the Scandinavian immigrants "to hurry to Kansas." Letters continued to urge settlement in Kansas. On March 15, 1859, Hemlandet carried another enthusiastic account from Riley county, where John Johnson had settled in the area known as Mariadahl in 1855, from a correspondent who described the fertile soil, plentiful water, good supplies of wood and building stone, invigorating and healthful climate, plenty of good level land and trading posts within 30 miles.
My knowledge about Kansas is such that from the bottom of my heart I never want to think of it. What is home for us people from the North without a glorious summer, without snow, without woods and water? Are we accustomed to an endless prairie with its eternal monotony? No, we feel at home when we find ourselves surrounded by beautiful nature, by evergreen forests along a lake or river. Then we can call it New Sweden.
Kansas is the battle ground and the scene of conflict between two great political parties, and the end of the struggle is far off. For this reason at present Kansas can only with difficulty be settled and occupied by peaceable people, who must earn their bread by the sweat of their brows.
A combination of factors turned Swedish immigration away from Kansas until after the Civil War.  The failure of the Gran plan for a large colony and frequent discouraging reports from Swedes in Kansas, created an adverse situation. In Hemlandet, March 9, 1859, the editor reported that a letter "earnestly urging Swedes not to come to Kansas," had been read at a large meeting at Galesburg, Ill., on February 28. Newspaper reports and "Amerika brev," letters from the new country to friends and relatives in Sweden, created a negative attitude toward Kansas. Hemlandet, October 19, 1860, reprinted a long letter from the Chicago Tribune describing in most graphic language the terrible economic conditions as a result of the prolonged drought of that year. The newspaper also discussed the impact of the Civil War on Kansas, and on September 30, 1863, Hemlandet described the casualties among the Swedes in Lawrence as a result of Quantrill's raid. When the Civil War was concluded, a new situation prevailed in Kansas, and united with economic and religious factors in the homeland, the stage was set for a new era of Swedish immigration to this state.
The railroad companies took the lead in promoting immigration of various nationalities to Kansas, and appropriate recognition was given to Sweden. In 1874 the Santa Fe railroad printed a modest sized pamphlet in Swedish in promoting a Swedish settlement at Pawnee Rock, in the upper Arkansas valley. Swedish immigrants were urged to settle in an area which included 115,000 acres of railroad land which sold from $4.00 to $7.00 per acre with credit terms for 11 years.  A comprehensive attempt to enlist the interest of Swedish immigrants to Kansas was presented by the Kansas Pacific railroad in a 24-page pamphlet published in the Swedish language at Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1877. The pamphlet identifies C. W. Helstrom as immigration agent in Gothenburg. Helstrom later became a well known citizen in McPherson County. The names of 19 Swedes in Kansas, who would endorse the superior advantages of the state, are listed. The pamphlet affirmed that "it is undeniable beyond any doubt that Kansas is a paradise."
Several other factors, in which Swedes already in America took the initiative, brought their countrymen to Kansas. It has been pointed out that many Swedes came to the United States between 1867 and 1879 through the influence of friends and relatives already in this country.  A vital element in developing interest in America was the "Amerika brev" letters from immigrants to friends and relatives at home. One Swedish immigrant has described the accounts as "full of hope and great expectations for the future, and people came from far and near to read these letters. Copies were made and read to crowds of people upon public occasions in the surrounding country."
The transition from life in the old country to Kansas was marked by a variety of responses dependent upon the outlook and circumstances of the immigrant. There was, nevertheless, a common element expressed in the Swedish word, hemlängtan, which is difficult to translate meaningfully into English. hemlängtan includes the vital and fundamental meaning of "longing for home, expressed only partially in the English word "homesickness." Nature must have contributed mightily to this feeling as the immigrant contrasted the wide expanse of uninhabited prairie with the pine and spruce woods, the colorful small meadows, the birch-lined streams, and the winding roads of the homeland. One Smoky Valley immigrant, decades after leaving the homeland as a youth, unobtrusively carried out a personal ritual each Sunday morning, when, after the church service which had been conducted in the liturgical form of Sweden, he plucked a few pine needles from a tree on church property, rubbed them gently in his hands, and inhaled the fragrance of the residue, sharing thus silently in a sacrament of remembrance from former days.
The feeling of hemlängtan was magnified by a full realization that the immigrants were separated from familiar faces and places by the vast expanse of the Atlantic ocean and half of the space of the great American continent The likelihood of a return to Sweden was remote because of economic factors, but the possibility was kept alive in the temple of memory. There was at first a feeling of lostness, too, in the newness and strangeness of the language, customs, people and life in the new world.
I see the stars twinkling and the milky way shines here so dearly. It sits so low here, right in front of my window. I know that it sits right In front of mamma's front hall door. Oh, you small, clear stars, may you shine there on happy, joyous people, blink at them, and greet them from me and tell them that I love them and long for them always.
This pioneer Swedish woman recalled the festivities of Midsummer day, June 24, in the old country, when they wandered out in the fields and meadows, seeking a great variety of beautiful flowers, the serenading of the young men with the sound of the last chorus singing in her ears, "Summer is such a happy time for the young," and the great joy of the day. But Midsummer day was only another day on the calendar of Kansans. There were other times of remembrance, a wedding anniversary, with a rose in the hair to identify it, and tears mingled with the carpet rags as the pioneer woman thought of former days. One August day in 1875 a visitor came to Lindesfrid, a man selling a highly prized item, a sewing machine. This would be a splendid possession in a household of seven persons but the family funds would not produce the $70 required for purchase. But Mrs. Lindgren was resourceful. She recalled that packed away in the sea chest was her beautiful white silk shawl, a treasured possession from Sweden. The shawl was displayed, and to the great pleasure of the owner, the man liked it. Soon a bargain was concluded. The Swedish immigrant parted with her treasured white silk shawl and $25, and in return she now owned the sewing machine.
Prof. J. Neale Carman, of the University of Kansas, has rendered a great service to the knowledge of Kansas life and history in his excellent and comprehensive study of foreign-language units and linguistic developments in Kansas, published this year.  In an analysis of 44 Swedish settlements among the 59 identified by Professor Carman, the most critical years for the abandonment of the Swedish language in Kansas were the years 1914-1918, the period of World War I. Professor Carman appropriately defines the term "critical year" as "the year in which a community ceased to use the foreign language habitually in the majority of the homes where there were growing children."  In 14 settlements the critical year occurred before 1914, and in five of them as early as 1905. The World War I period was critical for 18 settlements, including the large Swedish area in McPherson and Saline counties. Twelve Swedish communities reached the critical year after 1918, with three related to 1925 and one as late as 1930.
Evidence suggests that the presence of a church with a Swedish background was not always a decisive factor in perpetuating the Swedish language. Isolation in a rural area and the number and date of arrival of Swedish-born residents tended to be decisive factors. The critical year 1918 for the Lindsborg Swedes, although dominant in that region, may be explained at least in part to the presence of Bethany College as an Americanization factor and the desire of this Swedish community, so well known in Kansas, to be recognized as an integral part of the American scene during the abnormal years of World War I.
The Swedish language was often used in church services beyond the time that it was generally spoken in the homes. Dr. Alfred Bergin has written that the first preaching in the English language in the Bethany Lutheran church, Lindsborg, occurred in 1885. The church report for 1895 indicates that there had been an effort made to preach in English the previous year, but, as it encroached upon the regular program of the church, the services were moved to [Bethany] College. There was no rite of confirmation in the English language prior to 1904.  Swedish was the language of the services of the large Bethany Lutheran church at Lindsborg until 1928, when the practice was initiated of having one morning service in Swedish and one in English. However, Messiah Lutheran church, in which the English service was used exclusively, was organized in Lindsborg in 1908 to serve the non-Swedish population and Swedes who favored the language of the land for church services. The principal service at the Bethany Lutheran church after 1928 was conducted in English. Beginning in 1941 English was used exclusively except for one Bible class. The minutes of congregational business were written in Swedish until 1934.  The pattern at Lindsborg was quite typical of other Swedish communities in the use of language in church services.
Available written materials indicate that the Swedes readily adopted English words for expressing meaning whenever this was convenient. The official records of the First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson county, 1868-1877, produce interesting evidence. Included among the English words and modifications of them in the midst of Swedish sentences were such words as farming, floring (flooring), motion, gaten (gate), lawyer, deedens (deed), platformen ( platform), trainen (train), and depoten (depot).  One scholar has pointed out interesting usage based upon a diary kept by a Kansas Swede, 1870-1885. This diary included such usage as ("tubb" for tub, "peel" for pail, "skingel" for shingle, "lomber" for lumber, "torkis" for turkey, and "fans" for fence.  Quaint and interesting results often occurred in the spoken word as English was mixed with Swedish. G. N. Malm, a Kansan, and a well-known name in literary and artistic circles among Swedish Americans, has caught the tone and spirit of this language in his classic volume on Swedish American life in the 1890's entitled, Charli Johnson.  This volume is a splendid source for this phase of linguistic study. In the hundreds of examples in the volume the following are cited: kroppen (crop), kutta (cut), hajrat (hired), kipat upp (continue), kaontrit (country), carload (carload), tjita (cheat), tometes plantes (tomato plants), enjoyat (enjoyed), palajt (polite), evriting (everything), exhastada (exhausted).
The activities of the Alliance were bitterly opposed in some Swedish communities. The climax of conflict came in the Smoky valley when on August 12, 1891, seven members of the Bethany Lutheran church, Lindsborg, were excommunicated for their membership in the Alliance.  The organization nevertheless sponsored an Alliance picnic at Lindsborg on August 15 which attracted between 500 and 600 people according to the Populist press. A correspondent of the Topeka Capital, however, reported that the "attendance was very slim and a great disappointment to the leaders."
politically the decision has no significance whatever, as our church as such has not taken any part in politics, nor does it intend to. . . But as to all secret organizations the founders. . . had taken the stand that such organizations are unchristian, unrepublican in their tendency, and therefore antagonistic to the best interests of the state, church, and family, however innocent and benevolent their exterior appearance may be.
The Lindsborg pastor further informed his readers that the position should not be changed although some of the "sons . . . make fools of themselves by supporting without previous examination a secret political organization called the Alliance."
The debate about the excommunication of the Alliance members of the church was not confined to the 1890's. There are some who felt that the action was taken not because of the "anti-republicanism" cited in Swensson's letter, but because of the anti-Republican party position of the Alliance. However, the farmers' movement was not crushed at Lindsborg, because on June 17, 1892, the Lindsborg News reported that a stock company had been organized there with a capital stock of $5,000 for the purpose of publishing a Populist newspaper in the Swedish language in the city. These plans never materialized. The pattern of loyalty to the Republican party was fully re-established at the turn of the century, and received support from many quarters. In October, 1906, for instance, a pastor of the Swedish Lutheran church in Marshall county published a three-column article in the semi-official Kansas Conference organ, Lindsborg Posten, entitled "Some Words to Swedes in Kansas." In this article the pastor pleaded, "Countrymen, let us be Republicans and here in Kansas vote for Governor Hoch."
The Swedish Baptist and Swedish Methodist churches in Kansas merged with their American counterparts in the 1920's. The Lutheran churches with Swedish antecedents have merged this year (1962) with three other Lutheran groups. The Mission Covenant church alone maintains its historic identity with the period of Swedish immigration.
The support of the college was broadened significantly for the future when the Kansas conference of the Swedish Lutheran churches assumed responsibility for the institution in 1884.
Bethany College furnished the setting for the origin and growth of the great oratorio tradition at Lindsborg. The Swedish immigrants and their children, under the inspiring leadership of Dr. and Mrs. Carl Swensson, established the distinctive "Messiah" tradition which has an outstanding record of a achievement since 1882.  Dr. Birger Sandzén joined the faculty of Bethany College in 1894, coming directly from Sweden. He became Kansas' most outstanding artist. His paintings, watercolors, and prints have attracted national and international acclaim.  The faculty of Bethany College was greatly enriched in the early decades by Swedish immigrants of distinguished learning and culture, who shared in building a fine educational tradition.
The Kansas Swedes, like all immigrants, were confronted with the conflict produced by old allegiances and the challenge of accommodation to the reality that America was their new home. Inevitably there were transitional phases in this adjustment. It was only natural that the immigrants cherished the observance of festive days, like Midsummer day and Christmas, in the manner of the old country. One pioneer Swedish mother wrote to Sweden about the Christmas observance near Manhattan in 1870, the year of arrival in Kansas. A few Swedish friends in the vicinity came on Christmas Eve for the traditional Christmas coffee and Swedish delicacies. The beautiful cedar Christmas tree, with the Swedish flag at the top, and aglow with 24 candles, was decorated with apples, nuts, raisins, and candy. Familiar Christmas carols were sung in the mother tongue to the accompaniment of an harmonica.  The non-Swedish editor of the Lindsborg Localist described the traditional Jul Otta service in Bethany Lutheran church in 1881. He awakened at 4 a. m. in response to the ringing of the church bell, calling the residents to the festive worship service. Christmas morning that year was "clear, starlight, and pleasant. The city was iIIuminated, nearly every house had tapers in the windows, and the farm houses out on the prairie, as far as the eye could reach, glimmered and twinkled with lights." The church had candles in every window. The choir sang the famous Swedish Christmas anthem, "Hosianna," and the congregation sang enthusiastically, "Var Helsad Skona Morgon-Stund" ("All Hail to Thee, Oh Blessed Morn"). The liturgy was the familiar one of the distant church in Värmland or Småland.
Swedish communities observed regularly Gustavus Adolphus day in commemoration of the great King of Sweden and hero of Protestantism, who died on the field of battle at Lutzen on November 16, 1632.  On those occasions the immigrants and their children sang enthusiastically the Swedish national anthem, "Du Gamla, Du Fria" ("You Old, Free Nation") and "Hell Dig, Du Hoga Nord" (Hail Thee, Thou Great Northland").
The nature of this dualism involving American and Swedish elements can be readily illustrated from the printed sources in the Lindsborg Localist. On July 5, 1879, the Localist described the great Fourth of July celebration in the Lindsborg community. This splendid event had been initiated with a parade a half-mile long and the multiple events of the day were concluded when "the Captain of the players called Opartners for cotillion', and all went merry as a marriage bell, till the wee small hours chased the full moon away." The same article, however, contained the following statement: "Meanwhile the Sweeds [sic] celebrated the American Holiday, in a grand pic-nic on the banks of the boisterous Smokey, thus showing that they are not sweeds [sic], but Americans, loyal patriotic Americans. . . ." Apparently there was a rift in the community that year between Swedes and non-Swedes. On the basis of the pietism of the Swedish immigrants in the Smoky Valley and their attitude towards dancing, the key was undoubtedly the phrase quoted above, "the Captain of the players called 'partners for cotillion', and all went merry as a marriage bell, till the wee hours chased the full moon away."
Several interesting aspects of the distinction between the American and Swedish elements are recorded in the early life of the Lindsborg community.  In 1880, following the developments during the Fourth of July celebration the previous year as described above, it was decided that the various elements in the community should join in one great celebration. Arrangements should be announced in the Lindsborg Localist and in the Swedish weekly, Svenska Herolden, published in Salina. Allen Wilbur was listed as the "English Secretary" and John A. Rodell, the "Swedish Secretary." When the Augustana Swedish Lutheran synod met in Lindsborg in July, 1881, the Localist carried this announcement: "There will be English preaching in the Lutheran Bethany Church next Sabbath p. m. by some visiting clergymen. Americans are cordially invited to attend." Later, the editor observed that the services were "greatly appreciated by the Americans present." In September, 1881, memorial services were held at the Bethany Lutheran church for President Garfield. "Mrs. Rev. Swensson" is listed as leading "the Swedish choir" and Mrs. A. Wilbur, "the American choir." The editor of the Localist urged Pastor Carl Swensson in August, 1882, to preach in English on Sunday afternoons. He was certain that this arrangement "would secure the attendance of many of the Americans."
Professor Carman's summary of the census for 1895 shows that there were 15,352 children in Kansas whose parents were both Swedish or only one was Swedish. It shows further that 11,664 or 75.9% were children of parents who were both born in Sweden and 3,688, or 24.1% had only one parent born in Sweden or a ratio of about three to one. The range was from 92.7% to 7.3% in Rawlins County, but it was reversed, 48.1% to 51.9% in Jewell County.  This study shows that the greater the concentration of Swedes the lesser the number of mixed marriages for the obvious reason that the range of opportunities for marriage outside the Swedish settlement were restricted. In 1900 there were 2,930 native Americans in Kansas whose fathers were born in Sweden and 1,422 whose mothers were born in that country. The other spouse was generally an American. Since there were 15,755 native-born Americans in Kansas with full or partial Swedish parentage, it can be concluded that 11,403 or 72.4% of the children came from homes where both parents were born in Sweden.  The evidence in clear that in the early period, parents urged their children to marry men or women of Swedish nationality. Expressions such as the following: "She married an American," to distinguish marriage to a non-Swede, have been common until recent times and may still be heard.
Dr. EMORY KEMPTON LINDQUIST, Rhodes scholar and former president of Bethany College, is inter-departmental professor at the University of Wichita. He is author of Smoky Valley People: A History of Lindsborg, Kansas (1933), and numerous magazine articles.
This article is an expansion, plus footnotes, of his presidential address before the annual meeting of the State Historical Society in Topeka on October 16, 1962.
1. The "Compendium of the Kansas Census of 1865" was published for the first time in J. Neale Carman, Foreign-Language Units of Kansas: v. 1. Historical Atlas and Statistics, (Lawrence, 1962), pp. 5-8. The statistics for 1890 and 1900 are from the federal census. -- Sixteenth Census of the U.S.: 1940, Population, v. 2, Characteristics of the Population, pt.3, p. 31. The federal census for 1860 showed 122 Swedes in Kansas and 4,954 in 1870. The decade of greatest gain was from 1870 to 1880 when the number increased from 4,954 to 1l,207.~Ibid.
2. For a discussion of the proposed Gran colony in Kansas, see Emory Lindquist, "The Swedes in Kansas Before the Civil War," Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. 19 (August, 1951), pp. 258-265, and "A Proposed Scandinavian Colony in Kansas Prior to the Civil War," The Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly. Chicago, v. 9 (April, 1958), pp. 48-60.
3. Accounts of the early Swedish settlements in Kansas are found In A. Schön, "De förste svenskarne I Kansas," Präriebloman, 1912 (Rock Island, Ill., 1911), pp. 171-173: T. W. Anderson, "Swedish Pioneers in Kansas." Year-Book of the Swedish Historical Society of America, St. Paul. Minn., v. 10 (1924-1925), pp. 7-18. A compilation of letters From Hemlandet is edited and translated by George M. Stephenson in Year-Book of the Swedish Historical Society of America, v. 8 (1922-1923), pp. 56-152. This source has been used in this study.
4. Laws of the State of Kansas, 1864, ch. 75, sec. 1, pp. 143, 144.
5. Report of the Office State Bureau of Immigration, Topeka, March 7, 1868 (Leavenworth, 1868), pp. 5-8. The condition in Sweden has been described as follows: An economic crisis gripped Sweden from 1864 and 1865 and was followed by three distressing years of crop failures." -- Florence Edith Janson, The Background of Swedish Immigration (Chicago, 1931), p. 222. (Chicago, 1991). p. 222.
6. D. W. Wilder., The Annals of Kansas (Topeka, 1886), pp. 495-496.
7. John P. Swenson to Gov. S. J. Crawford, February 6, 1865.
8. John P. Swenson to Gov. James M. Harvey, January 29, 1869.
9. Kansas Historical Collections, v. 16 (1923-1925), p. 682.
10. Janson, op.cit., pp. 233-240.
11. Available only in an English translation.
12. Kansas och Colorado. En Kort beskrivning öfver landet dess Boskapsskötsel och Akerbruk, längs Kansas-Pacific Jornbanan (Köpenhamm, 1877), 24 pages.
13. Janson, op. cit., p. 271.
14. C. J. A. Ericson, "Memories of a Swedish Immigrant," Annals of Iowa, v. 8 (April, 1907), p. 2.
15. Alfred Bergin, "The Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas," Kansas Historical Collections, v. 11 (1909-1910), pp. 22-30; Emory Lindquist, "A Land Company and a Community: The Background Factors in the Founding of Lindsborg, Kansas," The Swedish Pioneer Historical Quarterly, v. 9 (October, 1958), pp. 111-123.
16. I. O. Savage, History of Republic County (1883), p. 68; New Scandinavia's Ninety-Three Years, 1868-1961 (Scandia, 1961), pp. 3-5.
17. Framåt was used exclusively in 1887 and 1888 for promoting this project. A long description of opportunities for Swedes in western Kansas by the Rev. Olof Olsson, "En Titt Till Kansas," is found in Framåt, October 29, 1887.
18. For the pattern of Swedish settlements, see Carman, op. cit., in the county sections.
19. Ida Nibeius Lindgren, Brev Från Nybyggarhemmet I Kansas, 1870-1881 (Göteborg, 1960), April 12, 1871, p. 38; February 9, 1871, p. 35; October 9, 1871, p. 44; June 24, 1877, p. 49; August 28, 1875, pp. 66, 67. These letters constitute an excellent source of information about the daily life and aspirations of a cultured Swedish immigrant.
21. Alfred Bergin, Lindsborg. Bidrag Till Svenskarnas och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia I Smoky Hill Dalen (Rock Island, Ill., 1909), pp. 31, 32.
22. Ida Nibeius Lindgren, Vår Resa Till Amerika, 1870. Dagboks -- antechningar (Stockholm, 1958), p. 40.
23. Olof Olsson, Samlade Skrifter (Rock Island, Ill.), v. 3, p. 186.
24. G. A. Peterson, "Svenskheten i Lindsborg," in Bergin, Lindsborg after Femtio År, pp. 146-149. The influence of children in the Americanization of Swedish immigrants is discussed in Oscar Algot Benson, "Problems in the Accommodation of the Swede to American Culture" (an unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1933), pp. 118, 119.
26. Ibid., p. 2. Professor Carman states: "Because of its character of estimate, the date fixed in the Atlas for the critical year of any community may be in error by as much as two, three, or even five years; five may be regarded as the maximum error."
27. Ibid., pp. 101, 102, 211, 241-243.
28. Alfred Bergin, The Story of Lindsborg (Lindsborg, 1929), p. 15.
29. Emory Lindquist, Smoky Valley People (Rock Island, Ill. 1953), p. 182.
30. "Records and Minutes of the First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson County, Kansas."
31. C. Terence Pihlblad, "The Kansas Swedes, " The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, Austin, Tex., v. 13 (June 1932), p. 42.
32. G. N. Malm, Charli Johnson. Svensk-Amerikan (Chicago, 1910).
33. J. Oscar Backlund, A Century of the Swedish American Press (Chicago, 1952), pp. 69, 70.
34. A fairly complete list of Swedish papers published in Kansas is found in William E. Connelly, History of Kansas Newspapers (Topeka, 1916), pp. 232, 233.
35. O. Fritiof Ander, "Swedish-American Newspapers and the Republican Party, " Augustana Historical Society Publications, Rock Island, Ill., v. 2 (1932), p. 77.
36. C. A. Swensson to D. W. Wilder, January 16, 1881.
37. Walter Nugent, "Populism and Nativism in Kansas 1888-1904" (an unpublished dissertation for the Ph. D. degree, University of Chicago, 1961), Pp. 206-209.
38. The census for 1893, preceding the election of 1896, shows the following: Union township, total population, 608; Swedish stock, 560; Morrill (R), 121, Leedy, (P), 28. New Gottland township, total population, 607; Swedish stock 540, Morrill (R), 67, Leedy (P), 81. The statistics on population and Swedish stock are found in Carman, op. cit., p.190. The statistics on the election are found in the records of the secretary of state of Kansas.
39. Topeka Capital, April 29, 1894.
40. Lindsborg News, March 13, 1896.
41. Ibid., October 9, 1896.
42. Peoples' Advocate, McPherson, June 12, July 31, 1891.
43. "Record of Ministerial Acts, 1891," Bethany Lutheran church, Lindsborg, p. 240.
44. Peoples' Advocate, August 21, 1891; Topeka Capital, August 16, 1891.
45. The Rev. A. S. Segerhammar in Lindsborg Posten, October 17, 1906.
46. Official Congressional Directory, 87th Cong., 2d Sess. (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1962), p. 53.
47. Oscar N. Olson, The Augustana Lutheran Church (Rock Island, Ill. 1950). pp. 16-26. An interesting description of the career of Lina Sandell-Berg by J. E. Liljedahl is found in the Lindsborg News-Record, July 12, 1962.
48. The Kansas phase of Olof Olsson's career is described in E. W. Olson, Olof Olsson. The Man, His Work, and His Thought (Rock Island, Ill., 1941), pp. 46-140.
49. Alfred Bergin, "The Swedish Settlements in Central Kansas," Kansas Historical Collections, v. 1 (1909-1910), pp. 19, 24-30.
50. Kansas-Konferensens Referat, 1897, "Statistics, 1896." pp. 2, 3. Other volumes of the Referat furnish full information about the Swedish Lutherans in Kansas.
51. Strodda Drag Ur Missions-Vännernas Verksamhet i Kansas (Topeka, 1917) describes the activities of the Evangelical Mission Covenant church of Kansas in detail.
52. P. Lovene, History of the Swedish Baptist Churches of Kansas and Missouri, 1869-1927.
53. Svenska-Metodismen i Amerika (Chicago, 1895), pp. 455-463.
54. Kansas-Konferensens Protokoll, 1884, pp. 35, 36. A detailed description of the founding and early years of Bethany College is found in Carl Swensson, "Huru Bethany College Bief Till," Präriebloman, 1903 (Rock Island, Ill., 1902), pp. 76-86. Material on the life of Carl Swensson is found in Ernest Skarstedt, "Laroverkspresidenten Carl Swensson," Präriebloman, 1905 (Rock Island, Ill. 1904), pp. 77-93; J. E. Floreen, "Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson," Korsbaneret, 1905 (Rock Island, Ill., 1904), pp. 175-193; Lindquist, Smoky Valley People, pp. 126-146.
55. The literature describing the Lindsborg "Messiah" is extensive. For a bibliography, see, Lindquist, Smoky Valley People, pp. 260-262.
56. Extensive printed material is available on Birger Sandzén: see William Allen White's introduction to the volume, In the Mountains (McPherson, 1925); Charles Matthews, "Artist, Gentleman, and Scholar," Kansas Magazine, Manhattan, 1938, pp. 3-7; Charles Pelham Greenough, Ill, The Graphic Word of Birger Sandzén (Manhattan, 1952); Margaret Sandzén Greenough, "From Sweden to Kansas," American Artist, Stamford, Conn., v. 25 (January, 1961), pp. 26-31, 72, 73.
57. Lindgren, Fran Nybyggarhemmet i Kansas, pp. 58, 59.
58. Lindsborg Localist, December 29, 1881.
59. Lindquist, Smoky Valley People, p. 184.
60. Lindsborg Localist, July 5, 1879; May 20, 1880; July 7, July 14, September 9, 1881; August 10, 1882.
61. Lindquist, Smoky Valley People, p. 182.
62. Helsning Från Pastors-Embetet I Lindsborg, 1896, Bethany Lutheran church, Lindsborg. This material consists of a questionnaire filled in by members.
63. Carman, op. cit., pp. 13-25.
64. Twelfth Census of the U. S.: 1900, v. 1, pt. 1, pp. 815, 823, 831.
65. Lindquist, Smoky Valley People, p. 184.
66. Ibid., pp. 220, 221.
67. The relationship of Bethany College to Swedish life and culture is carefully documented and discussed from Dr. Swensson's point of view in Emmet Eklund, "A Study of Bethany College and Its Educational Objectives as Interpreted by Its Founder, Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson, From 1881 to 1904" (an unpublished M. A. thesis, University of Chicago, 1958), pp. 38-48.
68. Skolwännen, October 31, 1887, quoted in George M. Stephenson, The Religious Aspects of the Swedish Immigration (Minneapolis, 1932), p. 401. A summary view of the Americanization of the Swedish immigrant is found in Oscar Algot Benson, "Problems in the Accommodation of the Swede to American Culture" (an unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Pittsburgh University, 1933), pp. 111-135.
69. Framåt, September 3, 1887.
70. Statistics are not complete relative to Swedish immigrants to Kansas who returned to the homeland. Such entries as the one in the church records at Rada, Värmland, in 1869, contain a more meaningful story than the following words suggest: "Jan Eriksson, veterinarian, immigrated to Kansas in the Spring with his wife and one child but returned here in the Autumn."

References: v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v. 
 v.