Swedish Immigration
Extensive Swedish migration to the present-day state of Minnesota has taken place throughout the middle of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Several factors have encouraged emigration of Swedes from their homeland and to choose Minnesota as their new home.
Why did they leave?
The reasons why people left Sweden for homes elsewhere are called
"push" factors. These factors are varied and often work in
conjunction with the "pull" factors (reasons to migrate to particular
area) of a certain part of the world, such as Minnesota.
One reason people left Sweden was due to a lack of available land. By the mid-1800s, the population of Sweden was on the rise due to improvements in modern medicine and a more stable food supply. This increase in population led to a strain on the amount of land available, especially for farming, forcing many Swedes to leave their homeland and to search for land in other countries.
Religious persecution was another factor that pushed Swedes to leave their homeland. The government of Sweden was connected to the State Lutheran Church, and, until 1858, people who practiced another religion faced being fined, put in jail, or exiled from the country. Even though these practices stopped in 1858, many Swedes continued to be intolerant of their fellow countrymen and -women who practiced a religion other than that of the state. Because of this, many Swedes left Sweden between 1840 and 1860.
Some people chose to leave Sweden because of the mandatory military service required by the government. Young men in 1860, for example, were required to train in the Swedish military for 30 days out of the year. The Swedish conscription laws of 1885, 1887, and 1892 became increasingly strict and demanding. Some young men decided to leave the country rather than to face this conscription.
Other reasons include a lack of social mobility in Sweden due to its social system, as well as a political system which was unfriendly to certain groups, such as Socialists, until after the First World War. Other people may have had their own personal reasons for leaving Sweden. Such reasons may have included problems with one's family or with the law, debt, or a tarnished reputation.
Because of an increasing population and the lack of land, religious persecution, required military training, the lack of social mobility, political reasons, as well as one's own personal reasons, many Swedish migrants sought out new lives in the United States. Several waves of migration into Minnesota brought these Scandinavian settlers, who brought with them their cultural celebrations, language, and cuisine.
Why Minnesota?
Minnesota was an attractive location for settlement by Swedish migrants. There are several "pull" factors which enticed Swedes to come to Minnesota. One of the most attractive benefits of the area was the availability of employment and the higher wages offered to workers. Minnesota Territory, and later the state of Minnesota (statehood was granted in 1858), offered rich and affordable farm land which was made available for settlement in the middle 1850s and through the Homestead Act of 1862. Many Swedish migrants were able to purchase land of their own and establish family farms.
Other employment opportunities include the timber industry, which
offered work for farmers and others in need of work during the winter months.
Much of the area west of St. Croix River was heavily wooded and offered
plentiful resources for the timber industry. Iron mining, especially toward the
end of the 1800s, also offered employment to those individuals who did not wish
to farm or who found that land was becoming scarce during this period. During
the 1860s, railroad development in Minnesota provided not only transportation
of Swedish immigrants and agricultural goods, but employment for Swedes as
well.
Another factor which brought Swedish migrants to the region was the geographic similarity of the Chisago Lake and Red Wing areas. These areas, with their rivers, lakes, and forests, reminded many new settlers of the Swedish provinces of Småland, Halsingland, or Dalarna.
Some Swedish migrants were also enticed to come to Minnesota by the promoters of the area. Solicitors such as Hans Mattson, an early immigrant to Minnesota and founder of the Vasa settlement, promoted the area to potential immigrants and managed to persuade many to move there. Also, "America letters" were often sent to Sweden to the friends and relatives of earlier Swedish migrants. These letters often praised the resources of Minnesota, the climate, and the geographic similarity to Scandinavia. The Swedish author Fredrika Bremer wrote an America letter during her visit to the United States, saying "This Minnesota is a glorious country, and just the country for Northern immigrants --- just the country for a new Scandinavia," (Furer, 113).
Where in Minnesota?
Perhaps the largest concentration of Swedes in Minnesota can be
found in the St. Croix and Rum River valleys. The counties of Washington,
Isanti, and Chisago are included in this region. Other areas of Swedish
settlement include Goodhue County, near Red Wing; Carver County, on the western
side of the Minnesota River; Nicollet County, especially in the city of St.
Peter, and the areas in and around Lafayette and Bernadotte Townships; and the
Counties of Meeker, Kandyohi, and Wright (which served as later destinations
for Swedish immigrants to the state).
Swedish Culture
Links
University of Minnesota Swedish Ancestry Map
Introduction: Sweden, Basic Facts
The American Swedish Institute
The American Scandinavian Foundation
"Banner Load" photo courtesy of American Memory.
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Furer, Howard B. The Scandinavians in America, 986-1970: A Chronology and Fact Book. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, Inc, 1972.
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Wellington, David A. "A History of Swedish Emigration and Settlement in Marshall Township in Mower County, Minnesota, 1863-1937." M.A. Thesis at Mankato State University. November 1994.
