Sample Student final exam answers 2019 (2019 final exam assignment) Part 3: Model Research Reports

LITR 4340     American Immigrant Literature (Model Assignments)

Lauren Kruse

Scandinavian Immigration of the 19^th Century: Kruseing Down to Texas

Like many Americans, I come from a family of immigrants; being first-generation English-American on my Mother’s side and a fourth-generation Swedish-American on my Father’s.  Growing up I learned much about the English culture and lifestyle and heard many stories regarding my Mother’s decision to travel to the States and her eventual settling in Texas.  However, being more distant from my family’s journey from Sweden, I have heard only the stories that have been passed down through several generations.  Stories of a cold Winter in Helena Montana, the journey to a Scandinavian settlement along the Gulf Coast of Texas (modern-day Pasadena), bountiful strawberry fields and the desire to establish an independent school district have all trickled down—yet the story of why my ancestors chose to leave Sweden and journey to America was never discussed.  In the following paragraphs I explore some of the major themes in the emigration of the Scandinavian peoples from their homeland to the United States; focusing on religious reasons, as well as economic, political and even American encouragement to travel to the United States.

          I began my initial research by solidifying my understanding of which nationalities constituted the Scandinavian peoples and found that it is a grouping of five different nationalities; Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Icelandic (Library of Congress).   While the Scandinavian peoples had journeyed to the Americas throughout history, it wasn’t until the nineteenth century that the United States saw a considerable influx of Scandinavian emigration.  According to the Oregon History Project, from 1820-1920 the Scandinavian population in the United States grew to over 2.1 million, with roughly 125,000 being documented in the pre-Civil War years.  The greatest increase in Scandinavian numbers, however, was from 1865, through the start of the First World War.  Of the 2.1 million Scandinavian peoples in the United States, greater than half of that total were documented as Swedish and roughly one-third were Norwegian (Binus and Donnely).  The numbers of those from Denmark, Finland and Iceland while fewer overall, were also less reliable as many came listed under various nationalities; as in the case of the Finnish peoples, the sovereignty of Finland was in flux over much of the country’s history and many of their people entered the United States documented as Swedish or Russian  (Library of Congress).  

There were various factors leading the various Scandinavian nationalities to journey to America, but a common thread was that of the search for religious freedom. During 1825, a time of intense religious strife for Norway, a group of six families traveled to America in a small vessel.  Many were shocked upon their arrival that the sloop had carried them all the way from Norway and they became known as the “Sloopers.” In the 1830s and 40s small groups of Swedish farmers also traveled to America in search of religious freedom.  The Danes, however, were the first mass influx of a new religion.  During 1850, a group of American missionaries traveled to Copenhagen, promoting the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Of the several thousand converts to Mormonism, nearly half traveled to America.  Over 20,000 Danish Mormons would travel to the United States by the end of the nineteenth Century. Icelandic converts to Mormonism would follow their Danish counterparts soon after  (Library of Congress).  While many immigrated to America for religious reasons, others made the journey for more economic and political reasons.

By the year 1850, Sweden’s population had doubled in one hundred years and the nation found itself in the middle of a population crisis and famine.  At that time the famine was so widespread that twenty-two in every thousand Swedes died as a result.  As Sweden’s emigration laws eased in the 1860s a mass exodus ensued.  From 1861-81 roughly 150,000 Swedish peoples came to America; 100,000 of which came in a five-year period (1868-73).  Also impacted heavily by famine, Icelanders traveled to America during the 1870s and since they were fewer in number many attached to the Swedish or Norwegian communities.  During the mid-nineteenth Century, Finland saw many of its peoples fleeing the anti-Finnish laws of its Russian government  (Library of Congress).  Many of the Finnish peoples fled to America to avoid the Finnish conscription laws, forcing enlistment in the Russian military  (Binus and Donnely).  In addition to the political and economic strife of the Scandinavian homelands, many also faced the growing tide of “American Fever,” which soon swept through their nations. 

Sweden, Norway and Finland each saw representatives and recruiters from American steamship lines, railroad companies and those advertising fresh farmland just waiting to be developed and ripe for the taking.  Successful emigrants from Norway would come home to tour the country, telling of their success in America, and encouraging others to come and help settle this wonderful land.  One Norwegian, Andreus Ueland, wrote of his experience after hearing the stories of some of the Norwegian emigrants, and how once infected with the “American Fever” he experienced, “…only brooding on how to get away to America. It was like a desperate case of homesickness reversed,”  (Library of Congress). 

As I continued to research Swedish emigration to America, I began to dig into my family history.  In the pages of Oscar Kruse as an Educator, written by Kate Smith Bishop, I read of the history of how my ancestors immigrated to America. My great-great-grandfather, Oscar Kruse, left Sweden for America, arriving in Boston, in May, 1888  (Bishop).  Born in 1866, Oscar had experienced Sweden’s period of famine and his homeland’s time of mass exodus.  “In those days, European papers and magazines were filled with stories, portraying the wonderful opportunities in America,” and so Oscar Kruse decided to journey to America. Upon his arrival to America, Oscar traveled from Boston to Chicago, later traveling to Montana where he began working in the copper mines.  Moving to Helena Montana, Oscar left his work as a miner to open and run a clothing store.  Having married a Swedish woman, Johanna Peterson, Oscar and his new bride lived happily among their many friends, who were also Swedish emigrants. 

As the couple began to raise their first child, Karl, Oscar began to think about his family’s future in a mining community: “An undesirable community in which to raise a family,” (The Promise of Pasadena: One Family's Endeavor).  In November of 1896, Oscar and Johanna, along with their young son, left Montana and headed for Texas.  Having heard stories of the bountiful crops to be grown in the “fabulous farmlands of Harris County,” and after much correspondence with C. A. Elmen, a Swedish real-estate man from Houston, Oscar moved his family to Houston. Upon arrival, he immediately asked if there were a Swedish hotel in the city  (The Promise of Pasadena: One Family's Endeavor).  Given the Swedes’ close ties to agriculture and farming, Elmen encouraged Oscar to pursue farming, knowing that, “if one Swede made a success in the farming business, other Swedes would settle in the community,” (Bishop).  After many unsuccessful attempts, Oscar would in fact go on to establish a successful dairy farm, known as the Florentine Settlement (named after the Kruse’s first child to be born in Texas), along with bountiful strawberry crops.  As the small community began to grow, Oscar, along with others in the community, began to develop the educational infrastructure of the city of Pasadena.  Following the Swedish tendency to highly value literacy and education, Oscar would go on to help establish the Pasadena Independent School District, in 1989.  He would go on to serve as the school board’s Secretary until his death in 1930.

I found it fascinating to explore the history behind the Scandinavian emigration to America, as well as discover the correlating themes in my own family history.  While the facts and figures of a people’s immigration to America might seem rather boring and bland at first glance, it is when we can find a way to personally connect to these events that history comes to life.  To read of the propaganda that American companies promoted in other countries, with the hopes of attracting new families who might develop the land, while mildly interesting, became more so as I discovered that their efforts had a lasting impact on my own life.  Similarly, as I had read of the immigrant narrative, it was brought to life as I recognized similar shifts in the story of Oscar Kruse, who like many immigrants hoped for a prosperous future.  Though Oscar immersed himself in the American Dream, he also surrounded himself with fellow Swedish immigrants, and held onto his Lutheran faith and passion for education, thereby keeping hold of a piece of his homeland.