The Swensons And Engstroms In America Analysis

The Swensons and Engstroms in America

Although no definitive explanation exists for William’s father, Charley Swenson, remaining in Sweden instead of emigrating with his parents and siblings, prospects of a sustainable livelihood accorded him by the inheritance of his father’s property suggests a plausible reason. Conversely, the rocky land of northern Gotland, hardly suitable for agriculture, provided an inhospitable environment for any farmer wishing to flourish.1 Nevertheless, perhaps with encouraging letters from his parents extolling the virtues of the rich fertile soil in Minnesota, Charley embarked on a course to join his next of kin. If letters from his parents brought promise of a prosperous future, they undoubtedly also disclosed grief, bringing news of the deaths of his sisters Zela Johanna and Anna Helena, both prior to 1875.2
In one account, Charley worked as a fisherman on the Baltic Sea and earned the funds required to procure his 1881 passage across the Atlantic.3 In a seconded version, while a sailor in the Swedish Royal Navy, he abandoned his ship in England and clandestinely boarded a sailing vessel bound for New York as a stowaway.4 Once at sea and discovered, the captain conscripted the intruder for duty on the ship and employed him for long shifts in the rigging. Later in his life, Charley attributed his arthritic hands to gripping lines in the frigid dampness of the crossing.5 The details of the stowaway crossing confer credence to that version, relegating the alternate explanation as an attempt to conceal Charley’s