We really enjoyed the trip to New Sweden and "Maine's Swedish Colony" this past weekend! While we didn't discover much more about the Swensons, some local folks were very helpful and able to get us a little further.
We went through all of the photos on display in the New Sweden Historical Museum hoping to find one of our ancestors, but no such luck. Our next question was whether someone could help us pinpoint exactly where the Svensson farm had been. One of the museum volunteers suggested that we speak to Alman McDougal, a long-time resident who would know something about this since he lived a couple of lots away from the old Swenson lot (according to the map showing the original lots). First we knocked on the McDougals' door and were greeted by his wife Marilyn McDougal. Mrs. McDougal explained that her grandparents had emigrated there from Sweden, but that we really should speak to her husband, who knows a lot more about the local history. She gave us directions to Anderson's Garage, where Mr. McDougal was getting his car inspected. When we caught up with Mr. McDougal, we showed him the map of the original settlers' lots, and were confused when he claimed that he knew the Swensons personally. "But that's impossible," we were thinking - this was back in the late 1800s. We decided to let it go after talking with him for a few minutes (more on this later...).
The next day we met Sven Bondeson, a local resident whose family dates back to some of the original settlers (you can see him directing the decoration of the May pole in the photos and videos below - he's the taller man in the Swedish folk costume). He spent some time with us comparing property maps from 1870, 1922 and 1983, and helped us narrow down the location of the Swenson farm on Capitol Hill Road. Another man overhearing our conversation mentioned "John Swenson" as having lived in that vicinity. Suddenly, this "clicked" in my father's mind.. He remembered hearing about a family dispute when his grandmother had tried to talk John Swenson's widow out of her inheritance (she wasn't the sweetest lady), and that it involved a property "way up north." My father had never met him or heard much more about him, but this John Swenson was his great-uncle, Sven Johan "John" Swenson, born in 1890. Apparently, he was the last family member who lived on the old Swenson property in New Sweden. Now, we realized that Mr. McDougal's comment the day before about knowing a Swenson personally made sense - he must have been thinking of John! I did a search on FamilySearch.com later and found that John Swenson died in 1972.
Sven also suggested that we talk to Ralph Ostlund, whose house is right next door to the site of the Swensons' original farm lot. Mr. Ostlund has apparently lived in the same place for a very long time and would probably remember John or at least know where the Swenson house had stood. We were not able to track down Mr. Ostlund before we left town, but we will send him a letter to see if he can tell us anything. Comparing the landscape of the old Swenson property today (at least what we could see from the road) to some of the old property maps, it's clear that the original house is no longer standing, and a much newer house sits on the property now, set back from the road.
Based on genealogist Lynn Johnson's directions, we were easily able to find the un-marked burial plot where the first two generations of Swensons in New Sweden were laid to rest. I am guessing that they were unable to afford a headstone at the time, and I would love to see to this sometime in the future. Here is a link to Google Maps showing both the location of the grave site, and an approximation of where the Swenson farm was located: Map of the Svenssons/Swensons in New Sweden, Maine
The last goal we had in mind was to see if we could confirm the oral tradition that my great-great grandfather Adolf Swenson had installed the bell in the town church. We did confirm (with Lynn Johnson's research) that both Adolf and his parents were all charter members of the Gustaf Adolf Lutheran Church. This church was the venue for the traditional Swedish smorgasbord on Saturday, so we arrived early to see if we could discover anything there. We were referred to Arlene Ferguson who had done research on the church's history in the past. She was in charge of collecting tickets for the smorgasbord, but she took down our contact information and said she'd try to see if there is anything in the old church records about our ancestors. The woman who greeted us at the entrance of the church told me I could go upstairs and ring the church bell that our ancestor might have had a hand in installing, so of course I did!
Beyond all of the discussions about our family history, the Midsommar festival was the focal point of the day on Saturday. I have posted some photos and video clips of the festivities and historic sites we visited:
- Video clips on YouTube
Maine's Swedish Colony, the organization that put on this event, also has a Facebook page where they have posted a few links to videos, etc. about the event. One of the other interesting people we met was Paul Carlson - he was selling Swedish and Swedish-American antiques (many were connected to the New Sweden area). He had been a teacher for some time in the area (although he is originally from the Chicago area) and has a summer home there now. Later during the folk dance performances, I heard him confidently singing along with all of the Swedish songs. When I asked him about this, he said that he learned many of them as a teenager when he studied away in Sweden (he is of Swedish decent himself).
Just after the Midsommarstång (midsommar pole) was raised, someone introduced Henry Thomas to the crowd, explaining that Thomas is the grandson of New Sweden's founder William Widgery Thomas, Jr. I kept thinking I must have heard that wrong - how could the grandson of someone born in the 1830s be alive? But sure enough, I did some searching online, and he is indeed the grandson (children in the next generations were born late). I ran into Mr. Thomas later in the day and introduced myself - he said that he has three sons and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren all living in the Portland area (Thomas himself lives in Freeport).
We had a great time up there, and I look forward to going back again in the future. The next step in our family history quest is to try to discover more about John Swenson, the last relative to live on the Swenson farm, and also to get some help from my mother's relatives in Sweden to see if we can take the family line back beyond Sven Andersson of Träslöv in Sweden. I'd also like to try to track down what happened to Adolf Swenson's other children, and whether any of them remained in New Sweden. This could potentially put us in contact with someone who might have photographs or other information from the family. But I'm not holding my breath!
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