by Fritiof Fryxell
The Story of John Fryxell was published in 1990 by the Augustana Historical Society. I obtained a copy of the manuscript from Professor Fryxell some time before it was published and distributed it to my family, adding my own brief introduction. The introduction and the first chapter of the manuscript are presented here. Interested readers are urged to buy the book.
by Scott Johnson
John Fryxell was born in 1854 in Vättlösa Parish in the lakes region of central Sweden. He left Sweden in 1876, along with his brother Gustaf, to seek his fortune in the New World. By 1878, John had settled in the Swedish community of Moline, Illinois, and there he was to stay for the rest of his life. Soon he was followed by Gustaf, and little brother Charley and older sister Johanna joined them in 1879.
John Johnson was born in 1863 in the same parish. In 1873, his family moved to a small tenant farm adjacent of the Fryxells. They were neighbors until 1880, when Magnus Svensson, father of the Fryxell children, passed away. Eventually, three of the four Johnson children also emigrated. Christina left in 1885 for Moline, and John followed in 1886. Anna emigrated in 1887, and settled with her husband in Rockford, Illinois. Baby sister Ida remained in Sweden her entire life.
In Moline, the two families remained close. Charley Fryxell married Christina Johnson in 1885, and for many years their family lived next door to John Johnson's family on Fifth Avenue.
We do not have a biography of John Johnson, and it would be presumptuous to interpret John Fryxell's story as our family's own. However, one can imagine that the lives of two men who grew up in extreme poverty on neighboring tenant farms might not be altogether different, either. Certainly, this biography gives a vivid picture of life in Vättlösa Parish in the 1880's, and provides a marvelous insight into why our family settled in Moline.
The manuscript was written by John Fryxell's son, Fritiof M. Fryxell, Professor of Geology at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. Descendants of both families will remain forever in Prof. Fryxell's debt for this document.
As far back as I have any knowledge, my ancestors all lived within a radius of fifteen English miles of my own home.
My father's people all lived on Lake Vänern near Forshem. The first of whom I know anything definite is my grandfather, Sven Anderson, who was born at Forshem in 1782. Though a farmer he had also practiced the shoemaker's trade, and in later years he burned and sold charcoal. He was married twice, but I do not recall the names of his wives. He had six children — all by his first wife. Father, Mangus Svenson, was the youngest of these. Grandfather was an unusually small man, but there was nothing wrong with his health as he was never really sick until the time of his death, when he was past 96. All through his long life Grandfather got along without doing much work! He had a farm but never did much to it, letting it go to weeds. Like the rest of the people in this district at the time he was very superstitious — superstitious beyond your comprehension.
Never would he undertake anything except under the right signs! I do not know if he could ever read; his sight was very poor when I knew him, and at that time there were no glasses for the old. He was an intelligent man, and if he had had any education he would have accomplished more than he did. Of his six children all but Father and Anna lived to be more than ninety, one over 98.
Grandmother died when Father was only twelve, so I know nothing about her.
Father, a torpare, was born at Tistelgården, Lugnås, October 12, 1820. As a torpare he was required to work four days a week on the Gullhammar estate in order to keep his holding of land. Father was a carpenter, and a pretty good one, doing house building, making sleds and baskets, and so on. As a basket maker he was an expert, turning out all sizes and styles of baskets for use on the farms. This he did during the long winter evenings. Father never had a day's schooling, but being unusually intelligent he picked up much valuable knowledge. In his work he was honest and reliable, though rather clumsy and slow. His health was poor, and he was often laid up. I think it was simply that he had to work too hard and stand too much exposure to all kinds of weather. Like grandfather he was superstitious until in later years when we boys got some of that out of him. (None of us boys were at all inclined this way. Perhaps we began to read and therefore think while still very young.) I remember that he believed in trolldom and at Easter he put crosses on all the doors and he took everything loose into the house, so that the Easter witches would not get them. He was religiously inclined but his religion was much mixed with superstition.
In stature Father was rather lightly built, with sloping shoulders. His hair was dark brown; his beard, fiery red. He shaved around his mouth and left his beard full. In temperament he was hot-headed and inclined to argue.
My grandfather on my mother's side was Johannes, who went by the name of "skräddarn i gatan." I am not sure of his name but I think it was Anderson. He was born in 1799 on a torp named Sockerbo, Lilla Bjurum, in Vättlösa socken. Here his father in turn had been a torpare. I saw grandfather only once or twice, and that before I was four years old, but I know a good deal about his character and reputation. He was remarkable in this, that by self study (for there were no schools available in his time) he had made himself really educated, and people came to him for help in many connections, such as for inventories and auctions, and so forth. He was the local "wise man." Confidence in him was general. In disposition he was likable, and people naturally turned to him when in difficulties. He died when between 50 and 60 of dysentery, which swept away thousands. He bought himself a good-sized farm, but the land was bouldery and therefore not valuable. On this farm he built a house which stands to this day.
My grandmother on my mother's side was named Anna. She was born in January 1799 at Timmersdala, twelve English miles north of where I was born. I remember her well — short, stout, and quarrelsome woman. I was six when, still quite young, she died of dropsy on March 14, 1861.
There were five children in the family of my maternal grandparents, four sons and one daughter, my mother. One son died in childhood; another, when twenty, of tuberculosis; the other two lived to be past 85. Uncle Charley died here in Moline, and Uncle Gustaf (Adolph Gustafson's father) died in Sweden. My mother and her two brothers all learned the tailor's trade from their father; besides that, they were, of course, farmers. Uncle Gustaf inherited Grandfather's ability and carried on the same sort of interests after Grandfather's death. However, he later became unfit and eventually blind from too much drinking. He also had Grandfather's library. It was meager enough but all one could get in those days. As boys we made good use of it. Uncle Charley was a kind, slow man — emphatically Christian. In Sweden he belonged to the State Church; in Moline he was a Methodist. For many years he worked for the Moline Street Department, and for four years was its superintendent.
Mother's name was Britta Maja. She was born September 21, 1821, in a place called Paradishagen (Plantershagen) in Vättlösa socken, and she lived to be 54 years old. She was a small wiry woman, light in build, but strong like me. Her complexion was dark, her hair black, her eyes small and deep-set. She worked for two, and had to — poverty-stricken, with children on every side. She was not slow! She was quick-tempered but generous at heart, and she sacrificed herself for her children.
Father and Mother became acquainted through having worked on adjoining farms. They were married in 1841, when Father was 21 and Mother 20.
When Grandfather died, his farm was divided into three parts, and the children drew lots for them. Uncle Charley got the south one, with the house on it; Uncle Gustaf got the center one; Mother got the one to the northeast which, though largest, was poorest. It included perhaps 12 acres. Father had to clear it of forest and stone, and out of the trees that he cut he built a house and barn. But the children also divided the debt on the old farm, and this eventually caused all three to lose their places. There were several periods of hard times. Perhaps the worst came when I was eight. Then crops failed all over Sweden, and wheat imported from Russia was sold at almost prohibitive prices.
When I was 12, my parents sold their place. It is now owned by the daughter of the man who bought it from Father. Her name is Ida Fröjd. She is married to a man named Svenson. Both are still living, and I visited them when I went to Sweden a few years ago. Father sold the farm for eight hundred crowns (about $150.00), which was almost giving it away; but if he had not sold it that day, it would have been taken by his creditors. This money enabled Father, after paying his debts, to start on a little torp at Gullhammar. But Father couldn't keep away from auctions, and such, and getting into unnecessary debt was a bad habit he carried through life.