Swedish Emigrants Who Made it

in the United States (2)

Politicians

John Lind 1854 – 1930

American politician. Born on March 25, 1854, in Kånna parish, Ljungby, Småland province, Sweden, died on September 18, 1930, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. With his parents he emigrated from Sweden to the United States in 1867, when he was 13 years old. He served in the Spanish- American War in 1898. He studied law and graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School. He subsequently settled in New Ulm, Minnesota to pratice law. This community consisted primarily of German immigrants but Lind soon learned to speak German. He was also a politician and served as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives from 1887 to 1893 and 1903 to 1905, then as a Democrat. He also served as the 14th Governor of Minnesota between 1899 and 1901. The image to the right shows John Lind in 1899.

Magnus Johnson 1871 – 1936

American politician, Senator. Born on September 19, 1871, in Ed parish near Karlstad city, Värmland province, Sweden, died on September 13, 1936, in Litchfield, Minnesota. In Sweden he was as a glassblower apprentice. He and his family emigrated from Sweden to the United States in 1891 and they settled in La Crosse, Wisconsin. In 1893 they moved to Meeker County, Minnesota. Johnson worked as a sawmill hand and logger and became a farmer. He was a member of the Minnesota Farmer-Larbor Party and served in the Minnesota House of Representatives and the Minnesota Senate before he was elected to the United States Senate. He served in the Senate between 1923 and 1925. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives and served there between 1933 and 1935. Johnson was the first Swedish-born person to serve in the United States Senate. The image to the right shows Magnus Johnson.

Military Officers

Ernst Mattias Peter von Vegesack 1820 –

1903

Baron, Major General and member of the Swedish Riksdag (Parliament). Born on June 18, 1820, in Hemse parish in Gotland (island and a province), died on January 12, 1903, in Stockholm. In 1840 he became an Army officer in the Gotland Conscript Regiment (Gotland Nationalbeväring). In 1842 he held a position in the Dal Regiment, Dalarna province. When the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) broke out he went to the United States and served in the war between 1861 and 1 June 1863. He held a position as Captain of the 58th Ohio Infantry Regiment in the Union Army in 1861 and advanced to Major later the same year. Von Vegesack was later promoted Colonel of the 20th New York Infantry Regiment (United Turner Regiment). He received the ”Medal of Honor” for his contributions at the battle of Gaines Mill on June 27, 1862, and showed great bravery in the battle of Antietam in September 17 the same year. Ernst von Vegesack resigned from the Union Army on June 1, 1863 and returned to Sweden. In absentia, he was nominated for an honorary promotion to Brigadier General of Volunteers by President Andrew Johnson on February 22, 1866, to rank from March 13, 1865. On April 10, 1866 the U. S. Senate confirmed his appointment. Back in Sweden he became Regimental Commander of Västerbotten Regiment in 1864. He was Regimental Commander for Hälsinge Regiment between 1868 and 1874. In 1884 he was promoted to Major General. Between 1879 and 1887 he was a member of First Chamber of the Swedish Parliament representing Gotland. In 1865 he married Edla Amalia Sergel. The image to the right shows Ernst von Vegesack in the Union Army uniform.

Charles John Stolbrand 1821 – 1894

Brigadier General in the American Army. He participated in the American Civil War on the Union side. Born on May 13, 1821, in Össsjö parish, near Ängelholm city, Skåne province, Sweden, died on February 3, 1894, in Charleston, South Carolina. [Some information exits that General Stolbrand was born on May 11 and not May 13 which is his correct date of birth. The information that he was born on May 11 can be attributed to a memorial article in a Swedish newspaper, Nya Dagligt Allehanda, in 1894, relating Stolbrand’s death. This date is incorrect though. See his entry in the birth records below.] The image to the right shows Charles John Stolbrand. His name in Sweden was Carl Johan Ståhlbrand. He was an illegitimate child of Christina Meuller (Möller). Supposedly his father was the noble man Adolf Fredrik Tornérhjelm (1768–1852) at Össjö Manor. Carl Johan carried his mother's surname Meuller until he became a soldier in Sweden when he adopted the name Ståhlbrand. In 1839, at the age of 18, he enlisted in the Wendes Artillery Regiment where he was an artillery corporal (artillerikonstapel). He is supposed to have participated as a volunteer in the Danish-German War 1848 – 1850. In 1850 he resigned from the Swedish Army and emigrated with his wife Maria Sophia (1825 - 1892) and son Adolf (b. 1847) from Sweden to the United States where he settled in the Chicago area in 1852 where he became a prominent businessman. In the United States he used the name Charles John Storbrand (an alternative spelling of his surname is Stohlbrand). The name Carlos John Mueller also occurs. Stolbrand was one of the initiators when the "Sällskapet Svea" (Svea Order) was founded by the Swedes of Chicago in 1857 and was its chairman for many years. When the American Civil War began in 1861, he organized an artillery company of volunteers where Stolbrand was the company commander with the rank of Captain. He was promoted to Major in December 1861, and commenced a most distinguished career as an officer of artillery. He was appointed Major in command of artillery at the post of Jackson, Tennessee, in September 1862. He directed General Logan's Division Artillery during the Vicksburg, Chattanooga Campaigns and was Chief of Artillery of XV Corps in the Atlanta Campaign. Promoted Colonel in May 1864, he commanded a brigade of Artillery, comprising ten batteries with 1,000 men and 46 guns. In May 1864, he was captured by a Confederate patrol but escaped and rejoined his command in October. Stolbrand participated in a great number of battles and was known to be a tactical military leader. At the end of January 1865 General William T. Sherman asked Stolbrand to carry some dispatches to Washington, D.C. for delivery to President Lincoln. One of the dispatches was a recommendation for Stolbrand's promotion and Lincoln, upon reading it, made him a Brigadier General on the spot. During the last months of the war, he commanded a brigade of the Illinois Infantry in the XVII Corps. He was mustered out in January 1866, and settled in Columbia, South Carolina where he engaged in politics and became a plantation owner. He also served as superintendent of the state penitentiary. He was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, a military cemetery.

Above is an extract from Össjö birth records (Össjö CI:4 (1815-1856) Image 35 / page 29) and shows Carl Johan's birth entry for the cottage Hamburg in Gångved, Össjö parish. He was born on May 13, 1821, and was baptized on May 15. He was an illegitimate child of Christina Meuller, 23 years old. Hans Högman, 2014.

Frans Oscar Malmborg 1820 - 1880

Lieutenant Colonel in the Union Army. Born on February 29, 1820, in Rågåkra, Kräklingbo parish in Gotland (island and a province), Sweden, died on April 29, 1880, in Visby city, Gotland. He was a son of Captain Pehr Gustaf Malmborg (1777–1828) who participated in the battle of Svensksund in July 1790 during King Gustav III's Swedish-Russian War 1788 – 1790 and was decorated with a gold medal for bravery after the battle. Oscar Malmborg emigrated from Sweden to the United States in 1846 and participated in the Mexican- American War (1846 – 1848). The image to the right shows Oscar Malmborg. Between 1853 and 1861 he was employed as an immigration agent for the Illinois Central Railroad. He also made several journeys to Europe to promote emigration to the United States. In 1861 he was appointed Vice Consul for Sweden and Norway at Chicago by President Abraham Lincoln. The American Civil War (1861 – 1865) broke out the same year and he went back into active service in the Army and was appointed Lieutenant Colonel in the Union Army in the 55th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. During the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 he temporarily assumed command of the Second Brigade, Fifth Division after Colonel David Stuart was badly wounded. In an official report on April 10, 1862, Colonel Stuart wrote of Malmborg, "He instantly perceived the aim of every movement made by the enemy; he could advise me quickly and prudently how to use my men. He was intent, careful, brave, and immensely valuable to me." General Ulysses S. Grant took notice and complimented him. He remained in that position until September 1864 and in January 1865 he was promoted Colonel of the First Veteran Army Corps and was ordered to oversee the recruiting in Illinois, with headquarters in Chicago. He resigned from this position on May 31, 1865. Encouraged by General Sherman, Malmborg published his memoirs of the Civil War in Chicago in 1871. The title was Tjensteförteckning (Service records). Almost blind, Malmborg returned to Sweden in 1874 and settled in Visby in Gotland where he lived on his American pension. He died in Visby on April 29, 1880, 60 years old.

Hans Mattson 1832 – 1892/93

Colonel and Swedish-American politician. Born on December 23, 1832, in Önnestad parish near the city of Kristianstad, Skåne province, Sweden, died on March 5, 1893, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His parents were Mattis Hansson and Elna Larsdotter. In 1849 he became a volunteer in the Wendes Artillery Regiment in Kristianstad, Skåne. He emigrated from Sweden to the United States in 1851 and arrived in Boston on June 29, 1851. Mattson settled in Vasa Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota. He was one of the first settlers in Vasa Township, a name they switched to in 1855 instead of the first name: Mattson’s Settlement. In 1857 he began law studies to become a lawyer. Mattson served with distinction as a colonel in the American Civil War (1861-1865) on the Union side between 1863 and 1865 and in 1869 he became Minnesota's Secretary of State, a post he held 1870 to 1872 and 1887 to 1891. The image to the right shows Hans Mattson. When the Civil War broke out in 1861 Mattson (who was military trained in Sweden) set up a company of volunteers, mostly Scandinavians. Mattson was appointed Captain for the company. In 1863 he was promoted Colonel of the Third Minnesota Regiment and served in the war until it ended in 1865. Between 1867 and 1969 Mattson was the secretary of the Minnesota Immigration Board and twice Minnesota's Secretary of State, 1870-1872 and 1887-1891. Between 1867 and 1868 Mattson returned to Sweden as a representative of the Minnesota Immigration Board to recruit settlers, a successful undertaking. He returned again several times in the 1870's as emigrant agent for the Northern Pacific Railroad. These visits are described in his memoirs Reminiscences, which were published in both English and Swedish in 1891. Mattson was the first Swede elected to office in Minnesota. He took his family to Sweden in the spring of 1871. He remained in Sweden for five years as a booster. From 1881-1883, Mattson served as U.S. Consul General in India. Mattson lived most of his later life in Minneapolis. Mattson also founded several Swedish newspapers in Chicago and Minneapolis, for example Minnesota Stats Tidning.

John Adolphus Bernard Dahlgren 1809 – 1870

American naval officer, Rear Admiral. Born on November 3, 1809, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of Swedish ancestry, died on July 12, 1870, in Washington DC. He was a son of the Swede Bernhard Ulrik Dahlgren, merchant and Swedish Consul in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. John's paternal grandfather John Adolf Dahlgren lived in Norrköping city, Östergötland province, Sweden. The image to the right shows John Dahlgren. John Dahlgren's father died when John was 15 years old and he had to support himself from these early years on. John grew up in Philadelphia and became a midshipman in the U.S. Navy in 1826. He was promoted to the coastal survey in 1834. In 1837 he was promoted to Lieutenant and in 1855 to Commander. By 1847, he was an ordnance officer, and at the Washington Navy Yard began to improve and systematize the procurement and supply system for weapons. While there, Dahlgren established the U.S. Navy's Ordnance Department. Over those years Dahlgren became Chief of Ordnance and received worldwide recognition as a man of great inventive intelligence in the fields of weaponry and ammunition. Dahlgren became famous for his invention of two new guns, smoothbores which took nine and eleven inch shells. These type of guns, popularly called "The Dahlgren guns," contributed decisively to the firepower that gave naval supremacy to the Union in the Civil War. For these achievements, Dahlgren became known as the "father of American naval ordnance." Promoted to Commander in 1855, Captain in July 1862, and Rear Admiral in February 1863, he became Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard in 1861 and Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance in 1862. The Civil War brought Dahlgren's naval career into prominence. In 1863 Dahlgren took command of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. This position took him away from Washington and into the field of action. In 1864, he helped William Tecumseh Sherman secure Savannah, Georgia. After the war, Dahlgren spent some years as commander of the South Pacific Squadron, and later returned to his old positions as Chief of Ordnance and Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard. He died in July 1870. John Dahlgren married Mary Bunker in 1839, and they had seven children before her death in 1855. In 1865, Dahlgren married his second wife, Sarah Madeleine Vinton, daughter of a Congressman. They had three children. John Dahlgren's biography, "Memoir of John A. Dahlgren, Rear Admiral United States Navy" was written by his widow Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren and was published in Boston in 1882. She died on May 28, 1889 and was buried on South Mountain, Maryland. Several naval ships has been named for John Dahlgren. A city in Illinois is also named for Dahlgren. John Dahlgren's son, Union Army Colonel Ulric Dahlgren (1842 - 1864). In 1864 he was in command of an unsuccessful raid on the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, and was killed in the raid. The major consequence of the failed raid was the Dahlgren Affair after incriminating documents were discovered on Dahlgren's corpse. Papers found on the body of Dahlgren shortly after his death contained orders for an assassination plot against Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The image to the right shows Ulric Dahlgren, here as a captain. John Dahlgren's eldest son, Charles Bunker Dahlgren, was an engineer and captain in the navy. John Dahlgren's younger brother Charles Gustavus Ulrich Dahlgren (1811–1888) was, unlike his brother John, on the Confederate side in the American Civil War and was a Confederate brigadier general. He commanded the 3rd Brigade, Army of Mississippi, before a dispute with the President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, cost him his career. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Charles Dahlgren raised two regiments of state-sponsored volunteer infantry (the 3rd and 7th Mississippi Infantry) by his own means. Charles Dahlgren died in Brooklyn, New York, and is buried in City Cemetery, Natchez, Mississippi. Another of John's brothers, William Dahlgren, spent part of the Civil War in England for the Union side spying on Confederate purchasing agents.

John Ernest Dahlquist 1896 – 1975

Four-star General in the United States Army. Born on March 12, 1896, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, died on July 30, 1975. John Dahlquist's parents emigrated from Dalsland province, Sweden to the United States. Dahlquist participated in the United States Army in Europe during World War I. He received a direct commission in 1917. When the United States entered World War II, Dahlquist was assigned as Assistant Chief of Staff, European Theater of Operations in 1942, and later that year became Assistant Division Commander of the 76th Infantry Division. In 1943 he became the first commander of the 70th Infantry Division, and next year he took command of the 36th Infantry Division. After the war, Dahlquist returned to the United States and took command of the 1st Infantry Division in 1949. In 1954 he was promoted to four- star General. He died on June 30, 1975, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Dahlquist was married to Ruth D. Dahlquist, who coincidentally was born 17 days after him, and died 17 days after him. She was buried next to him in Arlington. They had a son, Donald John (1923 – 2006). The image to the right shows John Dahlquist. Public domain image.

Roger W. Hanson 1827 – 1863

General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Born on August 27, 1827, in Clark County, Kentucky, died on January 4, 1863. His father was the Swede Samuel Hanson, a well-known attorney and judge who had moved to Kentucky from Virginia. His mother was Matilda Calloway, a daughter of a general. In 1846, at the age of 18, Hanson became a lieutenant in a volunteer company during the American-Mexican War, 1846 - 1848. He was cited for bravery at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. After the war he studied law in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1853 Hanson married Virginia Peters. In 1854 Hanson established a profitable law practice in Lexington. Entering politics, Hanson was elected to the Kentucky state legislature as a representative from his home district. The image to the right shows Roger Hanson. With the outbreak of the Civil War (1861 - 1865), Kentucky declared itself neutral and stayed in the Union. Hanson was appointed colonel of a Confederate regiment which he had raised in Lexington, Kentucky but because of Kentucky's neutrality he enlisted in Tennessee. When the Union sent troops into Lexington and raised the Union flag over the city, Hanson and his 2nd Kentucky Infantry Regiment were "orphaned", since they could not return home unless Lexington fell to the Confederates. Hanson was promoted to Brigadier General in December 1862, commanding his old regiment as well as the 4th, 6th and 19th Kentucky Infantry regiments, plus the 41st Alabama Regiment and Cobb's Battery, in Breckinridge's division, Hardee's corps. In his first battle as a general, Hanson was severely wounded on January 2, 1863, during a charge at Murfreesboro (Stones River) when he was struck above the knee by the fuse of a spent artillery shell and died two days later at the age of 35. Hanson was buried at Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Kentucky.

Others

Roger Tory Peterson 1908 – 1996

American naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator. Born on August 28, 1908, in Jamestown, New York, died on July 28, 1996, in Old Lyme, Connecticut. He was a son of a Swedish immigrant named Charles Peterson (Carl Gustaf Petersson), coming to America as an infant. Roger's mother was Henrietta Badar, a German immigrant, growing up in Rochester, New York. Charles Peterson was born on October 16, 1868, in Karlstad (Karlstads landsförsamling), Värmland province, Sweden. The parents of Charles were Nils Peter Petersson and Anna Sofia Petersson Folkert and the family arrived in the United States in September 1871. Charles was then three years old. Also along on the journey was Charles's older sister Alma Sofia. After Charles and Henrietta married they moved to Jamestown, NY, where Charles took employment in a local furniture factory. Roger Troy Peterson's first work on birds was an article, "Notes from field and study", in the magazine Bird-lore where he recorded anecdotally two sight records from 1925, a Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) and a Titmouse (Baeolophus). In 1934 he published his seminal "A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America", the first modern field guide. It sold out its first printing of 2‚000 copies in one week, and subsequently went through 6 editions. Peterson was a co-writer of Wild America with James Fisher, and edited or wrote many of the volumes in the Peterson Field Guide series, on topics ranging from rocks and minerals to beetles to reptiles. He developed the Peterson Identification System, and is known for the clarity of both his illustrations of field guides and his delineation of relevant field marks. The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown, New York is named in his honor He died in 1996 at his home in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

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