Wednesday, May 18, 2011

SweAme Major Announcement

The Swedish Council of America (SCA) based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has selected Swedish America Heritage Online (SweAme) as a 2011 Grant recipient.

This grant and financial award will be utilized for the employment of SweAme website Registered Users who will assist with the effort to document the Swedish emigrants who were living in the United States in the year 1900. This project will involve researching the U.S. Federal Census records for 7280 emigrants in Minnesota and transcribing their genealogical data onto the SweAme website data base.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BECOMING PART OF THIS PROJECT, SEND AN EMAIL TO DBORG@CENTURYTEL.NET FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

The Swedish Council of America is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and supports around 300 affiliate Swedish American organizations. Their Mission Statement best describes their organizational purpose:

Swedish Council of America supports and fosters cooperative relationships between all groups and individuals who promote knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the Swedish heritage in American life and strengthens contemporary cultural and educational ties between North America and Sweden.

For more information on the SCA visit their website at (www.swedishcouncil.org).

Regards,
David Borg
Chairman
www.sweame.org

SweAme Board of Directors:

Doug Anderson, Lissa Bengtson, Larry Blomquist, David Borg, Elin Criswell, Jason Eckhardt, Pam Hicks

Friday, May 6, 2011

Stockholm on the Rio Grande book review by author Dr. David Vassberg

Dr. David E. Vassberg published the book Stockholm on the Rio Grande in 2003.  In the early 1900s a Swedish led land development group from Minnesota established the community of Stockholm, Texas, which was located in Hidalgo County in the valley of Texas on the Rio Grande River.  The dream was the building of a Texas Swedish Colony in the fertile crop land near the river and the border with Mexico.  The plan was good but the implementation was not totally successful.  Stockholm today is a ghost town where only a cemetery and state historic marker remain to help mark the spot.

There is a four (4) part video series of Dr. Vassberg providing a summary of his book and this historic event and process by Swedish immigrants and descendants.  He provided this presentation on March 28, 2011 at the Carl Widen VASA Lodge 743 monthy meeting held at the Gethsemane Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas.

You will enjoy viewing this video at our SweAme YouTube channel by going to
http://www.youtube.com/swedishamerica.

Return to the SweAme website for more information on the people who lived in Stockholm, Texas:  http://www.sweame.org/browsealbums.php?mediasearch=stockholm+colony


David Borg


Monday, May 2, 2011

Introducing the Swedish America YouTube Channel

Well, if you have a website, you must have a YouTube Channel.  The name of our channel is "swedishamerica".  You can find it at:  http://www.youtube.com/user/swedishamerica/

This video channel will be utilized for private instructional videos and videos related to the Swedish Emigration to America era.

The default video is REALLY neat.  It is a song (Vi sålde våra hemman) in Swedish which is about the personal feelings and hardships of leaving the homeland.  Here below are the complete Swedish lyrics followed by the English translation.  Enjoy.

(Note submitted by John Norton:  The song "Vi sålde våra hemman" was written about a large group from Bjurtjärn-Karlskoga that emigrated first to Moline, Illinois, then headed north to found a wonderful little town known as Stockholm, Wisconsin.)


Vi Sålde Våra Hemman

Vi Sålde Våra Hemman och gav oss sedan ut,
Som fägelen bortflyger, när sommaren tar slut.
Han kommer en gång åter när våren skrider fram,
Men vi få aldrig skåda vårt kära fosterland.
We sold our homesteads and started on our way
just like the birds will fly when autumn is here to stay.
One day they will return, come spring again that's when.
But we will never see our native country again.


Och när vi kommo till den Liverpoolska hamn
Begynte ångerns tårar så stritt att bryta fram.
Det blev en hjärtans sveda I bröstet på var och en.
Man talar blott om Sverige och om sitt förra hem.

At first we travelled through the English countryside
on tracks and on wagons as quickly as birds would fly.
It was a lovely sight to see the land at last
but all the glorious sights kept flashing by too fast.

And later when we came to Liverpuddlian bay
the tears of regret finally started to have their say.
The hearts then started burning in each and everyone
we only talked of Sweden that used to be our home.


Vi packades tillsammans uti ett osunt kvav.
Det var för osss att skåda liksom en öppen grav.
Och födan som vi fraktat ifrån vår svenska jord
Den blev oss nu förbjuden att taga med ombord.
We all were packed together in one unhealthy cave
it was as if we'd stepped into an open grave.
The food that we had brought from blessed Swedish land
was suddenly forbidden and taken from our hand.


Och när vi hade seglat en vecka eller två,
Ett mörker däcket höljde och bredde sig därpå.
Ej se varann vi kunde, knappt andas eller gå.
Det var en gruvlig plåga för stora och för små.
And when we had been sailing for just a week or two
a horrid kind of darkness was clouding our view.
We couldn't see each other and hardly breathe or walk
it was a gruesome anguish for all people aboard.


Nu blir en ömklig hunger, med sorg och grät och gny.
En jämmer som sig tränger till himlens höga sky.
Och döden gruvligt härjar bland mänskorna ombord.
Man ser de döda kastas I havets vilda flod.

The air was filled with hunger and drenched in wretched cries,
the howling and the noises would pierce right through the skies
and death became the ruler that forces us to our knees.
The dead were buried in the horrid fathom of the seas.