Gothenburg Archives - Augusta's Journey

A side-trip to Nebraska

License plates celebrate the 150th anniversary of Nebraska becoming a state in 1867

I just got my new Nebraska license plates for my car. They celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Nebraska becoming a state in 1867. When Augusta set off on her European journey in 1847, Nebraska was not even a formal territory. So when did the large Swedish migration to the US start? Who were the first families to settle in the heartland?

I had hoped to find that the towns considered to be the Swedish capitals of Nebraska (Oakland and Stromsburg), or any of the towns or communities with the names of Gothenburg, Malmo, Wausa, Swedeburg, and Swedehome would have been settled by early Swedish immigrants. What it seemed like, is that most of the Swedes arrived from neighboring states and especially after the railroad across Nebraska was finished in 1867.

New Sweden Lutheran Church, Jefferson County, Iowa

According to Arnold Barton’s The Old Country and the New: Essays on Swedes and America, the first organized group of Swedish farmers to emigrate, and which founded a lasting Swedish settlement in the American Midwest, was led by Peter Cassel from Kisa parish in Östergötland. In 1845, his group settled in Jefferson County in southeastern Iowa and named their settlement New Sweden.

Peter Cassel praised life in Iowa in letters published by the Swedish press. This contributed to an increasing number of Swedes wanting to emigrate, and the start of the mass emigration.

The story of Peter Cassel and New Sweden is documented in an article in the Palimpsest in 1978.

Cultural Heritage Östergötland also describes the journey of Peter Cassel and his family and friends in 1845: “On an early May morning the small group breaks up from Kisa and travels with horse and wagon to Berg at the Göta Canal from where the journey continues with canal boat to Gothenburg.”

This is where it all comes together. Peter Cassel and his family lived in the same province (Östergötland) as Augusta. They left Kisa by horse and wagon and traveled the 40 miles to reach Berg. On the way, they would have passed Slaka church where Augusta was baptized and Lambohov – the beautiful estate of baron Sparre – which Augusta and her friends visited, dressed in black silk taffeta.

When they arrived at Berg, they boarded a steam boat for their journey on the Göta Canal to Gothenburg – the same journey Augusta wrote about in 1850, and Kerstin and I made in June.

Which brings me to another interesting discovery. Many of the Swedes who emigrated to America would sail from Gothenburg. In order to get to Gothenburg one would have to travel across the country, and before 1856, there were no railroads. So many emigrants started their journey to America on a small steam boat on the Göta Canal. And just like Kerstin and I did, one can still make this beautiful journey on one of Göta Canal Rederi AB’s boats and experience this first leg of the emigrant’s journey to America.

So what about Nebraska? It is most likely that some early settlers in Nebraska had roots in the province of Östergötland and that some had started their America journey on the Göta Canal. According to Ardith Melloh, “Young married couples and single men left New Sweden in south-eastern Iowa for the cheaper land and homesteads in western Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska.”

Further readings on the Cassel colony can be found at: http://www.anusha.com/cassel.htm

Göta Canal: Day 4 – Lake Vänern, Trollhättan, and Gothenburg

On the last day of our 4-day cruise, the sun rose around 4 am while we were crossing Lake Vänern. At that time we were fast asleep in our cabin. Augusta had quite a different experience as described in her diary:

July, 1850

“As there was no cabin available except for that of the mate, which only had space for one person, I had to spend my night on deck. As it was a divinely beautiful evening, I complied with a rather good countenance.

The fate also benefited me this time; I was to get company on deck. The clock was barely 11 when a bump that shook the whole vessel proclaimed that we had run aground in the middle of Vänern. All passengers who had already been in their cabins and hammocks for a while now became visible, one after another, dressed up in the most bizarre toilets. The ladies were complaining loudly and Mr. Cassel and I, who in addition to the captain had been the only ones on deck, were now surrounded by a host of groggy and scared people who, unabashed in their curious costumes, formed the most ridiculous groups.

After six hours of being stationary, we began to go forward.”

By the 4^th day of our cruise, we were already accustomed to bumps when Juno hit some sand at the bottom of the canal. But the night we spent on Lake Vänern was peaceful and I am sure our cabins were a lot more luxurious than those on Augusta’s steamboat.

“At noon, we arrived at Trollhättan. The weather was beautiful but the heat was suffocating. My company seemed absorbed by the deepest admiration of our Lord’s sovereignty as they took in the magnificent nature scene which meets the traveler’s eyes. I alone stood mute and numb (I sadly admit) in front of the imposing Toppö falls, which elicited countless exclamations of admiration from the other visitors. I had heard so much praise about Trollhättan that I, as usual, imagined something that in no way corresponded with reality. I saw nothing but an, indeed, quite respectable mass of water burst under my feet.

Painting of a waterfall in Trollhättan

I had imagined something I had once or twice read in travel descriptions: a fall, cascading from somewhere high above my head, in which I could see the sun’s rays refract into all the colors of the rainbow. In other words, I had imagined something that did not exist and, as a matter of fact, was highly unreasonable. I might as well have stood on the iron bridge in Norrköping, taking in the same view, although in miniature.”

Remnants of the Trollhättan locks built in 1800

Having read Augusta’s descriptions, I was curious about what we would see. The waterfall that didn’t impress Augusta is only “turned on” during Trollhättan’s yearly water festival. But what impressed us were the old locks from 1800 that are now converted into a park. They resembled a gorge, with small waterfalls and rhododendron bushes clinging to the cliff sides. The system of locks that Augusta used, and which was built in 1844, was also included in the park – lined with walkways and meadows.

Juno had to use the newest set of locks – state of the art system and designed for commercial traffic. The locks were very deep and the walls looked like canvases of modern art created by scraped-off paint from the hulls of boats passing through the locks. At the bottom of one of the locks, and confined within the tall stone walls, our captain treated us to a soulful trumpet solo of a Swedish folk song – very moving!

Close-up images of the walls inside the new locks

“At night we arrived in the beautiful, stately Gothenburg.”

That is all that Augusta wrote about Gothenburg. To approach the city by boat was to us a great experience as Gothenburg has the largest and busiest port in Sweden. By 4 pm, we had reached our final destination.

What a memorable journey this had been! We wholeheartedly agreed with Augusta that the journey on Göta Canal is “…one of the most beautiful and pleasant trips one can make.

Augusta’s voyage on the Göta Canal – “one of the most beautiful and pleasant trips one can make”

In July 1850, Augusta made a memorable voyage on the Göta Canal. The reasons for Augusta’s voyage was to wave goodbye to her brother August, who was to sail from Gothenburg to Cape Town on the brig Mimer.

And of course, Augusta provides a colorful eyewitness account of her voyage.

On the outbound trip to Gothenburg, onboard the steamer Götheborg, she spends a lot of time with a Mr Cassel (possibly Knut Cassel):

“A couple of loud and gesticulating Frenchmen were entertaining a young, blond, unremarkable man in straw hat.”

“The next day, I became acquainted with all passengers and were then told that the young man in the straw hat was named Cassel and was from the Capital. Furthermore, I came to realize that he was not so unagreeable as I had first thought.”

“The conversable Mr Cassel, who to me appeared to be a big nobody, although with a sharp mind and an incomparable talent to constantly keep his mouth moving, kept me entertained during the voyage.”

On the return trip, onboard the steamer Thomas Tellford, it is the captain who gets most of Augusta’s attention:

“Our captain’s name was Krüger, a very polite and charming young man who fulfilled all the duties of a host on his steamer. He entertained me quite agreeable during the trip, which is also one of the most beautiful and pleasant trips one can make. Before we parted in Söderköping, we agreed to dance the first waltz together at the Innocence Ball in January; let us see if that happens or not.”

But no, Augusta did not waltz with Captain Krüger in January. She didn’t travel to Stockholm until March of that year.

And who was the charming young Captain who got Augusta to describe the Göta Canal voyage as one of the most beautiful and pleasant trip one can make?

Carl Henrik Kreuger was born 1822. He passed the marine officer examination in 1838 (only 16 years old) and sailed with foreign merchant fleets and the British fleet before becoming a lieutenant in 1846. As a young marine officer, he worked on Swedish ships during the summers: postal ships on the Baltic Sea and canal steamers on the Göta Canal. And that is how Augusta met him in the summer of 1850. He later had a stellar military career and retired in 1885 as a rear admiral.

What Augusta most likely did not find out was that Carl Henrik’s father had an interesting life story as well. Johan Henrik Kreuger was an admiral, author, and inventor. In 1822, the same year that Carl Henrik was born, Johan Henrik was asked by the Swedish government to restore Sweden’s relations with Morocco. Sweden owed Morocco 20,000 piasters for protection against pirates along the Moroccan coast. To resolve the conflict with Sultan Mulay Suleiman, Johan Henrik sailed with a squadron to Morocco. His negotiations with the Sultan were very successful; he returned to Sweden with a personal letter from the Sultan stating that the debt was forgiven.

Advertisement in the newspaper *Tidningen för Wenersborgs Stad och Län*, 17 juli 1850 (KB)

Top image: Gotha Canal Inauguration 1832 By Zg097qji (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons