In 1620, the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, bringing one of the first groups of settles.  In 1638, in an effort to establish itself as a world power, the Swedish Mercantile Company founded a colony in what is now the state of Delaware.  This colony was not successful and was given to the Dutch in 1655.  After this, Swedish immigration to the United States was very limited for the next two hundred years.

Between 1845 and 1854, 15,000 Swedes came to America.  The majority of these emigrants left Sweden because of religious repression.  Often entire families, all of their relatives, and many of their neighbors would sell everything they owned and move thousands of miles to start a new community.  The Bishop Hill colony is an example of this type of settlement.  In 1846, Eric Jansson and 1500 of his followers, called the Jassonists, settled in Henry County, Illinois.  This would seem to indicate that during this time 1 in every 10 Swedes were leaving because of religious persecution.

These early settlers were from all walks of life:  farmers, bakers, blacksmiths, teachers, and other skilled craftsmen.  As these peoples communicated with friends in Sweden about the opportunity and prosperity the number of emigrants began to slowly grow.

At home in Sweden, times were peaceful and the population began to grow until in the 1850's there were about 3.5 million people.  Agriculture was providing food, the small pox vaccine was developed and the death rate dropped greatly.  As a result, the population almost doubled in the next 50 years to 5.1 million in 1900.

This growth lead to disaster for the hard-working Swedes.  Farm land was already taken and unemployment rose.  Late in the 1860's, a severe famine occurred when there was a massive potato crop failure that brought death to 22 of every 1000 Swedes.

These conditions led 1.2 million new arrivals to the United States.  This represented about one fourth of the total population of Sweden.  This large emigration from Sweden ranked it as the third or fourth largest percent of a country arriving in the United States.

Up to the 1890's most of the immigrants settled in the midwest due to the farming communities.  Men would buy land or work as farm hands until they could buy land.  Women would work for families as housekeepers, maids, or caring for children.  These settlers usually did not come in family groups, rather they came alone or with a sibling.

At the turn of the century, they began to go to large cities and became workers in factories and homes.  Swedes usually lived in the same area of a community and socialized with others from their homeland.  They generally learned English quickly and soon became citizen.  They were known as good works and were sought after by employers.  They usually married within their community as shown in one community.  Of 244 marriages of Swedish men, all but eight (8) were from the neighboring country of Norway.

Click here to see Otto Anderkfoss's passport from Sweden to North America.

Click here to see a marriage certificate.

In the early 1930's, the immigration slowed to a trickle because of the depression and the beginning of World War II.  Because of these early Swedish immigrants to the United States, travellers today can still visit communities that celebrate this heritage.  Among these are:  Lindsborg, KS; Kingsburg, CA; New Sweden, MA; Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MN, and many others.