It's been several months since I posted Johanna's
personal history which was written by her daughter, Hannah. If it's been a
while since you've read it, I would suggest going back and reading it (here)
before you continue on.
"When Johanna was about 6 years of age, her mother died
and her father married a widow. . ."
I not only fact-checked this with familysearch.org,
I also went back and looked at the actual Swedish church records. Johanna's
mother died just 20 days shy of Johanna's 9th birthday. It was 15 months later
when her father, Johannes, married Britta Andersdotter and brought Maja Stina
into the family. Johanna was 10 yrs. old, not 6, when her father remarried.
Maja Stina was about 5 years younger than Johanna.
It's interesting to note, also, that although Maja
Stina's last name was listed as Larsdotter, I can find no record of her mother,
Britta, as ever having been married prior to marrying Johanna's father.
Further, Britta gave birth to a son, Anders, 2 months before she married
Johannes, leading me to think she had recently lost her first husband. However,
the birth record clearly lists Johannes Härling (spelled the way it's
pronounced - Herling) as the father. So, to clarify the timeline, Johanna's
mother dies, 4 months later her father gets Britta pregnant, 9 months later
Britta gives birth, and 2 months after that Johannes and Britta are wed. We
really don't know exactly when Britta, Maja Stina, and the new baby actually
moved in.
That would also make Johanna at least 10 years old
(and Maja Stina at least 5 years old) when the haunted house incident occurred.
They were more than likely older than that.
"Johanna's outstanding features were courage and perseverance. She was of a deeply religious nature."
I love knowing that about her. Since I have the benefit of knowing
her future, those characteristics were important assets in facing the
challenges which were placed in her path. Her relationship with God proved to
get her and her children through some really tough times.
"When Johanna was fourteen years of age she went to
live with her sister . . ."
I
spent the better part of the day yesterday working on this one. I only got part
of the information I was looking for. Johanna was 16 when she left her father's
home in Herrljunga where she was born and raised. (Her father, by the way, was
a career military man.) She went to Alingsås, about 35 miles away. She lived
there for 3 years and then, when she was 19,
returned to Herrljunga. Even though she returned to her hometown, she
did not return to the family home. A "Johanna Johannesdotter" moved
from Herrljunga when my Johanna would have been 21, but, since the priest did
not list birth dates, I can't say for certain it was her. I know all that from
finding her on the Swedish "moving in and out" records (inflyttnings
och utflyttningslängder); however, the parish priests failed to list her in the
household records - or if they did, I was unable to find her. Because of that,
I have no way of knowing if she lived with her sister the first time she left
Herrljunga at the age of 16, if her sister lived in Herrljunga and Johanna
returned and lived with her there, or if she went to live with with her at the
age of 19. It could also be any combination of those options. Someday, I'll do
some more digging. Wherever she was living when she was 23 would have been her
last residence in Sweden before coming to "Amerika", and that place
of residence I have no idea.
". . . she had to row in a row boat across the lake, which was
two miles across . . ."
Currently, there are no lakes near Herrljunga.
There are, however, many lakes near Alingsås. There is also a lake near
Kvinnestad, 18 miles from Herrljunga, where, if I'm reading the priest's
abbreviated chicken scratch correctly, she may have ended up. Obviously, I'm
going to need more time to figure this all out.
"This lady kept a cafe at a railroad junction and she
begged Johanna to come and work there . . ."
That had to feel good! What an enormous boost to
her self-esteem and level of confidence!
"Johanna was broken hearted at leaving her sweetheart, and
there was no way to send him word, She
felt it was her duty to go and help her sister."
Yeah. This is pretty heartbreaking when I really
allow myself to think about it. She was young, independent, and in love. Her
employer valued her and her beau loved her. She rushed off to the aid of her
sister fully believing she would be back to the life she left behind. But it
was not to be. "Duty" demanded something quite different - something
that would change the course of her life in ways she never could have imagined.
"She was baptized, not knowing anything about Mormonism . . ."
The more stories and accounts I read, the more I understand
that this was not uncommon. We are led to believe that most everyone who joined
the church in foreign lands and immigrated to Utah were fully converted to the
gospel. Actually, missionaries used all sorts of tactics to entice converts.
Some people truly were converted and came primarily for religious reasons. Many
were promised cheap land and endless opportunity - a huge enticement for poor,
poverty-stricken migrant farmers who made up a large portion of early Mormon
immigrants. Often, the favorable climate and clean air of the Salt Lake Valley
was used to bring those with various health concerns into the fold. Sometimes,
a husband was converted to the promise of his personal eternal kingdom and
glory while the wife was duty-bound to follow obediently behind him. Others,
I'm sure, were looking for opportunity and adventure.
It should also be noted that it was nearly impossible to
immigrate to the US without a sponsor and a place to go. Future immigrants were
completely dependent on former friends and relatives to guarantee them housing
and support upon arriving at their final US destination - immigration laws
demanded it. Because the church was able to guarantee sponsorship and support
every step of the way, along with the popular Perpetual Immigration Fund (which
ultimately gave high-interest loans to people who could not acquire necessary
funding any other way) it created a simple, secure opportunity for the peasants
and working-class to seek a better way of life. What enticed Johanna's sister,
Christina, and her husband to join the church we'll never know for sure, but,
given their urgency to immigrate, I believe one or more of the factors listed
above had to have played at least a part in their decision.
Also, I find myself compelled to ask this question: As a
single, unattached female, if Johanna knew about Mormon polygamy prior to
leaving Sweden - and really understood its practice and implications - would
she have still agreed to go?
"So the little boy died on the way to Nebraska. . . . The little girl died on the plains and was also wrapped
up in a sheet and buried on the way."
So, so sad. But dare I state the obvious? Johanna could have
stayed in Sweden with her job and her boyfriend and the outcome more than
likely would have been exactly the same. (Of course, I don't really know where
that would leave me...)
"Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete County being the destination of
Johanna's sister. . ."
Sanpete County was primarily settled by Swedish and Danish
immigrants. (In fact, my husband's Danish immigrants settled in Manti, Ephraim,
and Centerfield in Sanpete County, though we can find no documentation that his
people ever personally knew or interacted with my people.)
". . . they went on and stopped at American Fork over night in the yard of a man by the name of Dan (?) Harrington. . . . Johanna was invited
to remain and work in the Harrington family, which she
did. "
So, yeah. Without children to help care for, it could appear
that Johanna became more of a burden to her sister than an asset. Or possibly,
knowing they would virtually be "camping" for a while before they
could get a log structure built and a residence established, and, realizing
everything Johanna had sacrificed at their request, Christina and her husband
may have been willing to let Johanna stay in American Fork if it meant her
being able to live in a warm, comfortable home.
I couldn't find a "Dan" Harrington on familysearch
who fit the story. I did find, however, Leonard E. Harrington, a native New
Yorker and Mormon bishop, who lived in American Fork from 1850 until his death
in 1883. More than likely, Leonard is the guy.
And this is probably the house Johanna lived in with his family:
When Johanna would have arrived in American Fork, Bishop
Harrington would have had 4 wives and 11 children (according to
familysearch.org). He would go on to marry another woman - 5 wives in all - and
father of 16 or 17 children. I can't be sure exactly how many children he had as
two of the children listed by different mothers on familysearch have exactly
the same name and birth date. Obviously one is a duplicate, but there must be
some confusion as to who the mother was.
Oh wait, a newspaper article attached to him on familysearch
indicates that he only had 3 wives and 18 children. His two additional wives
must have been sealed to him as "eternal wives" only - after the
women had died. I don't see any reference to any other houses, so they must
have all lived together in the residence pictured above. Leonard Harrington was
not only a bishop, he was, at times, Justice of the Peace, a member of the
House of Representatives for the Utah Territory, Mayor of American Fork,
Postmaster, a Trustee of the Brigham Young Academy and Timpanogas University, a
State Legislator, and President of the American Fork Mercantile Institution.
From familysearch, it looks like one of Leonard's living
wives was a native New Yorker and the other two were English-born, so, for
Johanna, only being able to speak Swedish would have been a real challenge.
But, no doubt, it would have been in the Harrington home where Johanna would
have learned the English language. (A little more commentary on the whole
language thing later.)
So, let's review: Johanna was living her life in a beautiful
area of southern Sweden surrounded by lakes and trees and flowers. It was a
good life! Her employer advocated for her - begged for her - and her boyfriend
loved her. She was very abruptly and unexpectedly taken out of her life, fully
expecting to return, but, instead, felt duty-bound to be baptized into a
high-demand religion which she knew absolutely nothing about to travel to a
foreign country where she did not have the money nor means to return home
should she ever desire to do so. The children she was recruited to help care
for died along the way and were denied proper burials. Her sister - her only
relative in this primitive, undeveloped US territory - left her with total
strangers who lived an extremely unorthodox lifestyle - who spoke a completely
different language - and moved on. As a young 23 yr. old woman who had never
been more than 35 miles from the Swedish home in which she was born, can you
even imagine the culture shock Johanna was experiencing?
How did she ever survive? Here is where we learn that
Johanna was, indeed, in possession of much courage and perseverance as her
daughter, Hannah, indicated. One would have to be an extraordinary individual
to survive such an ordeal.
But again, here are my burning questions of the day: What
did she really think about polygamy? What did she know before she left Sweden?
Did she have any idea it was a Mormon thing before arriving
at the Harrington home? Had it even been discussed with her at all? Did her
sister even know? Without any real grasp of the language and the culture, was
she erroneously led to believe, at least initially, that polygamy was part of
perfectly acceptable American culture? If so, when did that all change? And how
long did she struggle with the concept of plural marriage, if at all, before
finally giving in? So many questions . . .
UPDATE: A little more digging in familysearch and the
Swedish records and I was able to piece together a few more pieces of the
puzzle. Per the Swedish "moving in" records, Johanna did go to
Alingsås when she was 16 yrs. old - in October 1856. Also in 1856, I found her
moving in with her sister, Christina, in Hemsjö.
The map tells us that Alingsås is about 30 miles from
Herrljunga and it's on the way to Hemsjö which is only about 9 miles further
down the road. The "moving in" record listed many, many young single
adults checking in with the priest in Alingsås on the same day as Johanna. I'm
thinking maybe she traveled with a group of friends or acquaintances going as
far as Alingsås and got caught up in the line of people checking in with the
priest who were staying there even though she was only spending one night on
her way to her sister's house in Hemsjö. Since it was her first time away from
home on her own, that's perfectly understandable.
Per the household index (below) Christina and her husband,
Pehr, moved to Hemsjö from Lundby in 1855. Johanna (crossed out at the bottom
of the record) joined them from Herrljunga in 1856 and returned to Herrljunga
in 1859.
 |
| Household Index, Hemsjö, 1849-1860 |
What this tells me is that the store owned by
Christina in which Johanna worked and helped out was in Hemsjö. I re-read what
Hannah wrote, that Johanna "had to row in a row boat across the lake,
which was two miles across, to get supplies for the store. She was always a lover of beauty and so she loved
this part of her work very much because the lake was so beautiful. Flowers and shrubs all around it and on the
other side was a forest with beautiful trees, flowers, grass and all kinds of
fruit and berries she could pick."
I had to find a few modern-day photos to better imagine where Johanna
lived and worked. And, by the way, Hemsjö is completely surrounded by lakes.
It was probably in 1859 when Johanna left Hemsjö to work for
the lady who had the cafe in the train station. I can't say for sure the cafe
was in Herrlunga as the record (above) is Johanna's dead end - that's the last
Swedish record I can find with her name on it. I've searched all the Herrljunga
records at least twice and can't find anything that confirms she moved back
there. That doesn't mean she didn't - that just means she either didn't notify
the priest in Herrljunga that she was back or he never wrote it down. There's
also a good chance she went somewhere else and the priest in Hemsjö was
mistaken.
I do know Christina and family stayed in Hemsjö up until the
time they left for Utah because of this:
 |
| Household Index, Hemsjö, 1861-1877 |
You can see that the priest who kept the record identified
them as "Mormoner" and they left for "Norra Amerika" 10
April 1863.
So, a couple of things. Hannah's history of Johanna implied
that Christina and family joined the church and left for Utah very soon after
they were baptized. Familysearch shows Pehr's baptism date to be 1 January
1862, 16 months before they left Sweden. I don't think their membership in the
Mormon church was a last minute surprise to Johanna as there was more than
enough time to spread the word. Johanna, however, was baptized 11 April 1863, 7
days after Pehr, Christina, and family left Hemsjö. Johanna's baptism was
definitely last minute. I'm not sure where they would have met up with
missionaries who would accompany the group of immigrants to Zion - probably
Goteborg - but that's more than likely when and where Johanna's baptism
happened.
I was under the impression Pehr and Christina only had 2
children and lost both of them during the land-travel portion of their trip.
But it's very clear from the Swedish records as well as the ship's passenger list
(below) - and familysearch - that they
had an older daughter, "Anna" Christina, who made it to Utah with
them. Daughter, Johanna Maria, and son, Johan Alfred, were the children who
died en route. They also had another daughter, Augusta, who had died as an
infant prior to ever leaving Sweden.
It's also important to understand that they came with a huge
group of Mormon immigrants - around 700 people (see voyage accounts here) - and
the vast majority of them were Scandinavian. I don't know how long they were in
Salt Lake City before being assigned a place to settle. But since Swedes and
Danes were being sent to Sanpete County, it was probably a large group of
Saints who converged on Bishop Harrington's house in American Fork to spend the
night in the yard. That makes the fact that Bishop Harrington singled out
Johanna and offered her employment in his home quite compelling. Available,
single women in their early 20's were hard to come by as Mormon men were
routinely taking teenage girls as plural wives. With only 3 living wives at the
time, maybe the good, faithful bishop had sights on her himself.
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