On this page I will tell you a little about the Swedish emigration to America. Under the years of 1851-1930 over 1,2 million people emigrated from Sweden to America. Most of them never returned to Sweden again.

Under the greater part of the 19:th century, the emigration to America became more and more extensive when bad times in Sweden coincidence with good times in America. It was a good opportunity at a small cost acquire land in America, not at least after the "Homestead Act" ( the right to land 80 acres if it was close to communication and 160 acres if it was further away from communicatacion ). Years of crop failure increased rapidly the growth of the emigration. the last year of crop failure in Sweden was in 1868. the hole summer was an continuance drought. The grass dried out , the harvest became inadequate. A year of famine ment almost starvation and economical disaster. And the only solution to survive could be that you had to sell your house and go to America. The Swedish people searched in first hand for regions where the nature and climate was similar to Sweden. And the land was very cheap, it could even be for free. The first emigrants traveled by sailing ships straight from Sweden to America.

 

It could take a couple of month to get there. The journey was often a big stress for the inexperienced emigrants, who were not used to travel. The seasickness struck them unmerciful, and bad food didn't make it better. The long journey was often a big risk. The ships were in bad shape and the passengers were to many, packed together in very crowded rooms. The risk for spreading diseases was very high. Many felt that the big journey over the Atlantic Ocean was so unpleasant that they were in fear of doing it again in the other direction. So they chosed to stay in America for good instead.

 

when the Swedish settler had taken his claimed plot in possession, he immediately started to build. The first house was a little primitive, timbered cottage. The Scandinavians controlled the so called "Knotting method" that became very admired. At the beginning there was contradiction between the Indians and the settlers. The Indians were protecting their land against the intruders. They fought very strong but were pushed away westward. Many Swedish people settled down in Indian areas. Some of them even took part in the Indian wars, or was exposed to Indian attacks. When the house was finished their savings was often gone. Now they had to look for work, so they could earn some money to afford to buy a cow and planting seeds. But there were many other difficulties the settlers had to deal with. For example snowstorms, grasshoppers etc, etc...