The Scandinavian Element in the United States. Babcock Kendric Charles

Not merely were Jansonists and dissenters moved to emigrate, but men of the Established Church as well; a Jansonist’s word in matters of faith, Scriptural interpretation, and religious practice was worse than worthless to staunch Lutherans, but there was no reason to doubt the accuracy of his statements regarding land, wages, prices, and opportunities in Illinois or Iowa. Even Lutheran clergymen began to lead little companies of their adherents to the “States,” and no one considered it a mortal sin or eternal danger to follow in the footsteps of worldly-wise heretics.137

      CHAPTER VI.

      The Danish Immigration

      The Danish immigration began much later than the Norwegian and Swedish, and its proportions were inconsiderable until after the Civil War. Not until 1869 did the annual influx of Danes reach 2,000. Tho the population of Denmark was and is somewhat greater than Norway’s, yet the Danish immigration has never in any one year equalled the Norwegian, and in but seven years has it been more than one-half. As against Norway’s total of nearly 600,000 from 1820 to 1905, Denmark’s is only about 225,000.138 In calculating the immigration, however, a large allowance must be made. Since the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein were acquired by Prussia in 1864 and 1866, their emigrants have of course been recorded as German. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, the movement from Denmark has lacked momentum; its proportions are relatively small; and the influence of the Danes in the United States is much less important than that of either of the other Scandinavian nationalities.

      1

      Whelpley, The Problem of the Immigrant, I.

      2

      J. R. Commons, “Racial Composition of the American People,” Chautauquan, XXXVIII, 35.

      3

      R. Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration.

      4

      G. Michaud, “What shall we be?”, Century, LXV, 685.

      5

      Argonautica Gustaviana, 3, 16.

      6

      Mattson, Souvenir of the 250th Anniversary of th

1

Whelpley, The Problem of the Immigrant, I.

2

J. R. Commons, “Racial Composition of the American People,” Chautauquan, XXXVIII, 35.

3

R. Mayo-Smith, Emigration and Immigration.

4

G. Michaud, “What shall we be?”, Century, LXV, 685.

5

Argonautica Gustaviana, 3, 16.

6

Mattson, Souvenir of the 250th Anniversary of the First Swedish Settlement in America (1888), 44.

7

This letter, printed as a broadside in England about 1683, was furnished me by Mr. George Parker Winship of the Carter Brown Library of Providence, Rhode Island.

8

Janney, Life of William Penn, 246-247.

9

Fædrelandet og Emigranten, May 12, 1870: “Skulle vi Norske lade de Danske fremture i at kalde os Skandinaver?”

10

“Skandinavien, mine Herrer, tör jeg spörge, hvor det Land ligger? Det findes ikke i min Geografi; ligger det maaske i Maanen?” Ole Bull, Fædrelandet og Emigranten, May 12, 1870.

11

The North, June 12, 1889.

12

N. S. Shaler, “European Peasants as Immigrants,” Atlantic, LXXI, 649.

13

N. P. Haugen comments on the good and bad features of this tendency in his Norway Day speech at the World’s Columbian Exposition. Skandinaven, May 24, 1893.

14

Borchner, Danish Life in Town and Country, 3-6; Bille, History of the Danes in America, 1, 7, 8.

15

Statesman’s Year-Book, 1914, 1141 ff.

16

In 1880, 20 % lived in towns; in 1890, 23.7 % lived in towns, and 76.3 % in the rural districts. Norway (English edition of the official volume prepared for the Paris Exhibition of 1900), 90.

17

Wm. Archer, “Norway Today,” Fortnightly Rev., XLIV, 415.

18

Statesman’s Year-Book, 1914, 1316. The increase of urban population was five times the increase of the kingdom.

19

Statesman’s Year-Book, 1914, 789 ff.

20

The New York Evening Post, Oct. 10, 1825.

21

The New York Daily Advertiser, Oct. 12, 1825.

22

Interview with Capt. O. C. Lange (who reached America in 1824) in Chicago, 1890; Norelius, Svenskarnes Historia, 1.

23

Niles’ Register, XXIX., 115. Several extended quotations from newspapers in New York, Boston, and Baltimore, for the month of October, 1825, relating to this company of the sloop “Restoration”, indicating the interest created by its coming, are printed in Anderson, Norwegian Immigration, 69-76.

24

Grellet, Memoirs, I, 321 ff.

25

Richardson, Rise and Progress of the Society of Friends in Norway, 37.

26

Ibid., 23.

27

R. B. Anderson, “En Liden Indledning” in the series of articles “Bidrag til vore Settlementers og Menigheders Historie,” Amerika, April 4, 1894. Bothne, Kort Udsigt over det Lutherske Kirkearbeide bladnt Normændene i Amerika, 822.

28

O. N. Nelson, “Bemerkning til Prof. Andersons Indledning”, Amerika, May 2, 1894.

29

Nelson, History of the Scandinavians, I, 134 B-C.

30

Langeland, Nordmændene i Amerika, 11.

31

C. A. Thingvold gives a list of the names of the “Sloop Folk,” save four, which he obtained

137

Norelius, Svenskarnes Historia, 34.

138

See the tables in Appendix.