FILLING IN THE BLANKS: Researching the Story of How They Met

See How my Forty Year old Brick Wall was Broken and Locating Immigration Records for the earlier part of this story. It is amazing how much you can find to fill in pieces of the story. For this part I searched for early maps of Chicago at the Library of Congress. Searched for histories of the Immanuel Lutheran church in Chicago. Also searched Newspapers at Newspaper, etchings and contacted the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

CONNECTING THE DOTS

In August of 1852 Elizabeth Olson [previously Aslaûg Eilefsdotter] arrived in Chicago after a journey of 9-10 days from New York. She likely joined a small Norwegian congregation which later becomes the Immanuel Lutheran Church. The print above is from a few years after her arrival. It gives us the lay of the land and a window into the world to which she arrived. We are looking west along the Chicago RIver Area. To the north (right) is the area then called “The Sands,” where many Scandinavian immigrants lived. Literally a little shanty town of Norwegian immigrants in the sand. About 9 blocks west and 9 blocks north is where the Immanuel Church was located [top right half way back from Lake to canal]. You can see the railroads on the right where she would have arrived. In 1850 the population of Chicago was 28,269 of which 562 were Norwegian. Two years later, in 1852, the population had grown by more than 10,000 to 38,734. I do not know but suspect that Elizabeth worked as a servant or laundress after her arrival. Perhaps working for a Norwegian family. Did she already have a job awaiting her? Did she have friends or family already in Chicago? We probably will never know.

1852 CHICAGO

These were not easy times for immigrants. I was lucky to have located the record of the marriage of Elizabeth in 1855 at the Immanuel Lutheran Church, so this was my starting place. Digging deep into the foundations of the Immanuel Lutheran Church of Chicago I find valuable stories and context. What follows below in italics is adapted and condensed from The Story of The Immanuel Lutheran Church By C. O. Bengston 1928

The small congregation of German Lutherans organized a Lutheran Church in Chicago in 1848. They collected funds from St Louis to build a church on the corner of Superior St between Wells and LaSalle streets. The church was only partially built when a imposter parson took off with the money. Some of the Norwegian members had been distrustful of Gustaf Smith from the beginning and they sent for Norwegian, Paul Andersen, a then seminary student at Beloit College. The same year he was ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Frankean Synod.

In 1852 a small company of immigrants came to Chicago from Västergötland, Sweden. They continued on by boat intending to settle in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. No one came to greet them and after two days they returned to Chicago. Here they managed to find quarters with some Norwegian families, members of the Lutheran Church. Many of them soon fell ill with the cholera, and one expressing an eager desire to see a Norwegian, Lutheran pastor, Rev. Paul Andersen was sent for. Though it was late in the night, he came with spiritual comfort for the sick and the dying. As time went on he continued his ministrations, giving them all good counsel and assistance, in both spiritual and temporal things. As a result, the members of the little band became much attached to him most of them, joining his church. Rev. Andersen was already fully occupied in meeting the spiritual needs of the Norwegians. He felt that to them belonged the first claim on his time and strength. His influence on the Swedish people was, naturally, rather limited.

In October of 1852 Rev. Tuve N. Hasselquist comes from Sweden and agrees to help with the search for a Swedish clergymen.

1853 CHICAGO

True to his word Rev. Tuve N. Hasselquist returns in January of 1853. In a letter back to Sweden dated January 17th he wrote that he essentially preached to the Norwegians in the forenoon and the Swedes in the afternoon. At the time the number of parishoners was 80. Rev. Erland Carlsson from the Växjö diocese of Sweden, was selected to fill the void. He set sail for America in the company of 176 Swedish immigrants, on June 3, 1853. The total on board was 554 from many places including Sweden, Norway, Ireland, and England. Twenty-six died aboard ship. Were they perhaps bringing cholera with them? They reached New York on Saturday, August 13th. On Monday, August 22nd, Rev. Carlsson arrived in Chicago. From the time of organization until Rev. Carlsson arrived, the congregation held its services in the Norwegian Church, each Sunday. Rev. Carlsson preached his first sermon on August 28th, the Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. Before long the congregation purchased the unfinished structure on Superior Street.

During the first years Rev. Carlsson and the people endured many hardships. It is only to be expected that they looked upon themselves as strangers in a strange land. This sentiment served to draw them closer together, and where there was also spiritual fellowship, based on the mutual experience of grace, the attachment became dear, and tender. As Rev. Carlsson took hold, vigorously, on the multifarious duties crowding upon him, he was confident that God would supply him with both strength and wisdom for his labors. On the first page of the church records he has written these words: “Relying upon divine assistance I a determined to declare the truth openly and faithfully, whatever difficulties may be thrown in my way.” Is there, perhaps, an element of prophecy in the circumstance that he wrote these words in the English language?

By the time Rev. Carlsson took charge, the majority of the original eighty communicant members had drifted away. Thirty-six remained: eight married couples, and twenty single persons. All of them were in strained financial circumstances. They lived in shanties, or other crowded and inadequate rented quarters. As they could not house the pastor, he secured two rooms with a Norwegian family. For lodging, board, and laundry he paid ten dollars a month. For the year 1854 men worked for fifty cents a day, and women took in washing for ten to twenty-five cents a day, while flour cost seven dollars a barrel and rent, for five or six rooms, was twenty dollars a month.

Charles Gustavus Vanstrum [Carl Gustavus Wernstöm], my second great grandfather is recorded in censuses and newspaper articles as having immigrated in 1853. Just yesterday I found him in the Flyttningar [Moving list] for Bexeda aka Bäckseda, Jonkoping Sweden and sure enough it says he arrived in Bäckseda in 1852 and left in 1853 for America and he is listed as a Carpenter. [More on how I found this below under process.]

A ship’s passenger list has not been located for him or Carl Ericson listed right after him. [They may have entered through Quebec where no such records exist for this year]. It looks like these two young carpenters went first from Snöstorp to Bäckseda before immigrating to America. We can surmise that they joined this mixed community of Norwegians and Swedes North of the Chicago River upon their arrival in 1853. They were likely employed as a carpenters and perhaps even in the finishing of Immanuel Lutheran Church. My Carl was said to have been an excellent cabinet maker so he may have built the pews or altar. We do not know. He was listed on the 1860 census as a carpenter and that he could read and write. Unlike some of the immigrants he was a skilled craftsman. Perhaps Charles was among the many passengers arriving in July as noted in the Chicago Tribune.

1854 CHICAGO

The year 1854 has been called the “terrible cholera year.” It has been estimated that about two thirds of the immigrants who arrived that year perished in the plague. “Many literally walked about and died. A servant girl would look out through the window and see a hearse driving by, not knowing that the coffin contained the remains of her father or other. Members of families were buried before the husband or father returned from work in the evening. The sufferings of those who remained or survived can only be imagined. Innumerable families were scattered. Immigrants were told to go elsewhere to avoid getting ill.

Rev. Carlsson was tireless in his efforts to alleviate the misery both within and without the membership of the church. He allowed himself scarcely any rest, but spent the time from early morning until late evening among the sick and dying. About one tenth of the membership of Immanuel Church died . The mortality rate of the children was even greater. Immigration essentially ceased in 1854.

In Chicago in 1854 1,424, died of cholera both young and old, often within hours of their first symptoms. Another 210 died that year from “diarrhea” and 242 more from “dysentery,” which may actually have been cholera.

HOW DID THEY MEET

I have often wondered how my second great grandparents met and courted for she was Norwegian and he was Swedish. The previous information on the Immanuel Lutheran church certain gave ample opportunity for the two to interact. Whether they met at worship or perhaps when they were both aiding those suffering from cholera or perhaps he contracted cholera and she nursed him back to health or vica versa. Or maybe he was working on the church building and she was keeping the workers supplied with food and drink. We have only our imaginations to fill in the blanks. Although they spoke different languages and came from different countries they shared the immigrant experience, the Lutheran faith and they endured the hardship of the cholera epidemic.

They were brought together into a small enclave with German roots, and Norwegian and Swedish parishioners. The Norwegian, Rev Paul Anderson, is credited with holding services in English. Did this allow both Swedish and Norwegian parishioners to communicate with each other while learning the language of their adopted country? This listing from the day of their marriage shows the Rev Paul Anderson as the pastor so it is certainly he who married them. Rev Anderson was born the 24th of August 1821 at Nordland, Vang, Valdres, Norway about 108 miles as the crow flies from Vinje, Telemark, where Elizabeth was born. Both are small villages on the shores of a fjord. So they would have had much in common.

Although Elizabeth was a full two years older than Charles there must have been something that sparked their interest in each other. They married Saturday, May 19, 1855 listed as Carl Gust. Wernström and Elisabeth Olsson both of Chicago.

To this union was born the following year a son April 7, 1856 Carl Wilhelm Wernström. He was baptised on April 17th.

And here we have the family In the Immanuel Lutheran Church for Chicago and it lists the arrival of Carl G Wernström from Brexeda, Jönköping [Sweden] in 1853. And leaving for Red Wing [Minnesota] in 1856

Note Snickaren means Carpenter—so Carpenter Carl G Wernström born Fossberga [Fässeberg] came to US in 1853, left for Red Wing in 1856. Next will trace their movement from Chicago to Red Wing Minnesota.

Addendum: I checked all the records for the first ten years of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chicago. The majority of parishioners are Swedish. I could locate only 3 additional records of a Norwegian marrying a Swede:

• 1856 Mar 21 Lena Knudsdotter of Stavanger Norway to Johan Jacob Nettherstrom of Malmo Sweden
• 1856 Dec 3 Niels Olsen Strand of Eidsvald, Norway to Anne Borthune ? Hansdotter of Lyngdal, Sweden
• 1861 Jan 28 Knud Knutsson of Holden Prison?, Norway and Stina Nilsdotter of Värö socken, Halland, Sweden

So altogether of the four mixed marriages there were two each of Norwegian men and Norwegian women marrying Swedish spouses. Carl Gustaf and Elizabeth being the first in 1855.

PROCESS

The way I came by this last piece was not through any search engine for Carl Wernström [or variants]. All such searches now and over the years have been relatively fruitless. So I think it may be helpful to others to find out how I got here. Instead of searching for Carl I decided to search Ancestry for the minister of the church and chose Erland Carlsson being an unusual first name is easier to find. The tenth resource was the Membership Record for Immanuel Lutheran Church from the Lutheran Archives. It took only a few pages to find. the above entry.

Then I looked for any other entries for Bexada and I found a Carl Johan Erickson also from Bexada also coming in the same year and also a carpenter! It took me awhile to figure out Bexada is now Bäckseda. Then I searched for Carl Johan Erickson in Bäckseda and found not only Carl Erickson but my Carl G. Vernström. Both the same age both came to Bäckseda from Snöstorp where I knew my Carl had lived. Matching birth dates sealed the deal.

RESEARCH SUGGESTIONS

• Early maps from Library of Congress or other Archives
• Histories of the Church denomination of your ancestor
• Newspapers including foreign language newspapers
• Etchings, drawings or photos from Google search, archives or ebay
• Archives of religious or secular organizations to which your ancestors may have belonged
• Look for others from the same place when you have difficulty finding your ancestor

Kelly Wheaton ©2023 – All Rights Reserved