The History Of The

City Of Cumberland

"History Through the Years"

Chapter 6

-- Compiled by the Cumberland Women's Club and Published by the Cumberland Advocate
1874-1974

(used by permission of the Cumberland Advocate)

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Swedish History

This history has been secured by the following committee: Elling Lundstrom, Mr. and Mrs.
Gust H. Olson, Mrs. Carl Markgren, Mrs. Leah Hedlund, Werner Dahl and Alice Hedlund.

The information was gathered from early records and from stories told us by our parents and other early settlers.

Times were very hard in Sweden in the early 1880s and there seemed to be no future for young folks living there. They had heard much about America the land of opportunity so they decided to leave the homeland and come here to establish homes in the new land. Many of them came to the Midwest. Some of the settlers had friends in Sweden who had come to America earlier and had settled in Cumberland, Wisconsin. These friends urged them to come and settle in Cumberland too. The railroad had recently been built to Cumberland and that was another factor influencing them to come here. The Vermillion area just south of Vermillion Lake was settled by Swedish people in 1882. Many of them had known each other in the old country. Most of them came from the northern part of Sweden, not too far from the Baltic Sea. These emigrants were experts in hewing logs and in building so naturally their first homes were built of logs. They were a thrifty lot and thanks to them this neighborhood is one of the nicest in the area.

It is interesting to know that many of the people living in the Vermillion area are descendants of the early settlers and own or are living on the same farms that their ancestors cleared and built their homes on in the early 1880s. Among these descendants are the following families: Westins, Hedlunds, Forsells, Dahls, Lundstroms, Markgrens, Bergs and Nystroms,
Edkendsteds, C. Johnsons. Mr. Johnson was known as Blacksmith Johnson and took care of the needs of the community.

Railroad in 1879--In 1874 the first settlers to come to Cumberland were Gunder Dahlby, O.A. Titm and C.C. Clausen and their wives. They built a log cabin 16 x 16 on the east side of 2nd Street in North Cumberland. A saw mill was built in 1880. The railroad and mill brought a boom to Cumberland.

The population in Cumberland claimed to be 800 to 1,000 in 1880.

The Advocate was established in 1881.

Among the first doctors known to us were Dr. Pease, Dr. Hopkins and Dr. Babcock. In the early days there were a lot of contagious diseases-typhoid fever, scarlet fever, small pox, diphtheria, etc.. These men were tireless in caring for their patients. Many were the miles travelled by them to see and administer to the sick. They went out winter and summer mostly
using horses and buggies or cutters. Sometimes they walked; other times they went by skiis, sleds, etc., through stormy weather and fair. Many settlers learned to make their own medicines too, and the women of the neighborhood often helped nurse the sick.

In 1882 Johannes Ekenstedt brought his wife and 6 sons to America from Sweden. They landed in New York and lived a short time in Minnesota and then came to Barronett, this country. He secured 120 acres in Lakeland township Section 32.

The family arriving at Barronett could find no lodging place and accordingly took up their quarters for the first night in a boxcar, but they had hardly got comfortably or uncomfortably settled when an unsympathetic brakeman compelled them to vacate their quarters and they spent the rest of the night in a hay barn. The next day the only dwelling they could find was an old log house, the previous occupants of which had had typhoid fever, and into this they were obliged to move. As a result five of the family caught the fever and were attended by Dr. Hopkins, who in view of their circumstances saw little prospect of getting his pay. They then moved on to their homestead, which was 7 miles away, the route lying through the woods, through which they had to walk, carrying those who were still sick. They could only get to town by boat and trail. At first they had only a raft for that part of the journey which was made by water. When Mr. Ekenstedt built his house he conveyed his lumber on a two-wheeled cart, which he pushed before him. It took a number of trips and he made use of the railroad track as a highway until one day the section crew took his cart from him and broke it up. When Knapp Stout and Company built their dam near his farm backing up the water so that it covered his land, they gave him 120 acres in land in lieu of damages. Like other settlers he lost everything when the great fire swept through but undaunted by this disaster he set to work and established himself once more. After a useful life filled with hard work and triumph over difficulties he died in 1900. The original family have all passed on but many of their descendants still live around here.

The forest fire was on September 1, 1898. It burned Anton Erickson's buildings with all the hay and feed, except the house. Then it went to the saw mill in Cumberland and burned that too. Then in July, 1906, the lightning struck the second barn and burned that too.

Written by Mrs. Gust H. Olson

Mr. Erickson was her father.

********

Claus W. Carlson was born in Sweden September 29, 1880. He was educated in his native land and remained until 1898. He emigrated to the U.S. coming directly to Comstock, Wisconsin. For six years he worked for others doing farm work in summer and lumbering in winter. He is a stockholder and secretary of the Comstock Cooperative Store. March 29, 1903 he married Hulda E. Johnson who was born in Center City, Minnesota, February 4, 1885. To this union were 5 children, Marie, born May 16, 1904; Ella V., November 17, 1905; Lilly E., July 9, 1908; Clara V., May 8, 1912; Mildred E., September 12, 1914.

Claus was Sunday School superintendent for 25 years. He also served as secretary for the same length of time.

Charles Peterson was born in Sweden in 1867 and came to the U.S. in 1887. He came to avoid the army draft.

John Carlson and brother Frank Carlson came over from Sweden in 1891.

John Carlson homesteaded a farm in the Sprange area, Town of Crystal Lake. He built a house and brought his family in 1896, his wife was Christina and his 3 children were Carl, Arvid, and Anna.

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Olson, natives of Sweden, who came to this country in 1880 and located in the Crystal Lake Township where he bought a farm. He worked in the woods winters to support the family and he also worked at the Sprague Sawmill. In the family were ten children; Otto, a banker at Comstock, now deceased-Julius M. farms at Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota, and
Gust H., who was manager of the Cooperative Store at Comstock. He is a veteran of World War I. Emil is on the home farm. Agnes was assistant cashier at the Bank of Comstock, now deceased. Mabel lives in Minneapolis. Ester lives in Holcombe, Wisconsin. Helga lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. Nels passed away out west, and Uno is farming on the 80 acres that Mr.
Olson bought first.

Anton Erickson came to America in 1882 and found work at the Sprague Sawmill in 1887. He bought 80 acres of wild land in Section 31, Cumberland Township. Mr. Erickson was married to Louise Larson who was born in Sweden in 1860 ad died in 1896. This union was blessed with 3 children. Jessie born February 29, 1888, the wife of Gust H. Olson; Arthur, born August
17, 1889, and James born July 2, 1891, both deceased. In 1897 Mr. Erickson was married to Johana Dramdahl. To this union was blessed with seven children-Walter born March 16, 1898; Mildred, born October 21, 1899 and Enoch, born September 1, 1901. All three are deceased. Edna J., born December 30, 1902 and John A., born April 1, 1906 and Anna O., born April 10,
1908 and Violet U. born November 13, 1911. She is now Mrs. Harley Work in East Helena, Montana. John operates the home farm.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bergstrom. They were married in Sweden and came to American in 1890 and purchased a farm of 80 acres in Crystal Lake Township. In this union were two children Arthur and Carl E. Both are deceased. Mrs. Bergstrom died in 1913. In 1915 Charles married Amanda Carlson. This union was blessed with 4 children: Elsie, Everet, Edwin and Eskil.

Evert has the home place which he farms.

The lumber camps retained the timber rights and cut down the large trees so the land that the settlers bought was cut-over land.

In the 1870s and early 1880s there was a sawmill on the west end of Vermillion Lake. It was called the Soulle Mill. The workers were French Canadians and had homes along the lake. At one time there was said to have been 26 homes in a group just west of the lake. There was a schoolhouse standing where the later Vermillion schoolhouses were built so the children must have gone there. The school masters home was just north of the school and traces of the basement could be seen until just a few years ago. The school must have been built in the 1870s but all of those early records have been lost. The mill was later moved to the Washburn-Ashland area and most of the workers left at the same time most likely to continue working for the same company. Some of the settlers worked in this mill. Others worked in other mills or at what ever jobs that they could find, all the while clearing and building up their own farms.

There was a shingle mill located at the south end of Vermillion Lake. It was called the Steece Mill. It burned down in 1885. There was also a boarding house there where travelers could eat on their way between Cumberland and Rice Lake. All travel at that time was by foot or wagons drawn by horses or oxen, so it seemed like a long way between the two towns.

In 1876 there was a Down's Camp located on the Vermillion River. It was a large camp with many workers. There were several dams on Vermillion River and many logs were sent on to Menomonie in those days.

Knapp Stout and Company kept their horses and oxen during the summer months on the place now owned by Walter Klopotek. It was known as their "horse farm."

It is said that one of the first town board meetings was held at Down's Camp. Other meetings were held in the homes of town board members and in schools. Schools number 2 and number 5 were often mentioned in early record books. Number 5 was the Vermillion Lake School.

Joseph Statton who was born in England and brought to Canada by his parents came to America and bought 80 acres from Knapp Stout and Company in Section 33, Town of Cumberland in 1879. He must have been one of the earliest settlers here.

Some of the familiar names before 1880 found in townships records were G.C. Hodgkin, J.C. Bonnett, Jim Collingwood, Ole Score, Joseph Statton, John Nystrom, O.A. Ritan, Andrew Stoll, C.S. Garrett, John Ekenstedt among many others. It is interesting to note that Grant Hodgkin who was so active in Cumberland's early civic affairs lived in the town of
Cumberland near the south end of Vermillion Lake, several years before moving to town. His work was in town and he rode back and forth on his bicycle each day.

B. Burke, the elderly man who many remember as riding in the first car holding the American flag in the parades on the Fourth of July and on Memorial Day was Mr. Hodgkin's father-in-law and a Civil War veteran. He made his home with the Hodgkins.

In looking up the biographies of early Cumberland settlers in the book The History of Barron County, 1922, it was interesting to find that most of them came to the Cumberland area in 1882. Cumberland claimed that its population to be 800 to 1,000 in 1880.

In 1882 and 1883 the following families immigrated from Sweden to American and directly to Cumberland. They settled in the Vermillion area, and many of their descendants live in or around Cumberland. The reasons for coming were, hard times in Sweden, they were promised work in the saw mills or cutting timber, then I think they had an adventurous spirit.

They were the John Westin family, John Hedlund family, Nels Johnson family, Nels Forsell family, Charles M. Dahl family, John Lundstrom family, Issac Markgren family, John Nyman family, Jonas Nystrom family, Albert Johnson family and Charley Johnson family.

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