• Home
•  | 
• Login/Register
•  | 
• Help

Life Recollections

Chapter 2, Part 1
The Move to Washington State

My parents had somehow got interested in a Swedish religious sect and joined a group who were going to Washington to form a colony. The leader was a very religious man who gathered all these people together and induced them to go to Washington where he had bought land, which was to be divided between each family. There was one whole train car full. Some came from Duluth, some from St. Paul as well as Minneapolis. Two families came directly from Sweden. Others came later from Chicago and places in the east. I remember the night we left. The berths were all made up and we thought they were going to stay that way. I remember Mother as she told her relations "good by." How she cried. For us kids it was great fun especially getting acquainted with our new Swedish friends who could speak no English. I remember we had a black porter who was always happy and teasing us kids. After many days of traveling we arrived in Granite Falls, Washington on April 9, 1910. It was a nice day and as we came nearer our destination, Mother fixed our curls and put clean clothes on us. We were met by a group of men who had gone on ahead, my brother Ernie being one of them. There was a one-horse buggy which they put Mother with Bert and another lady with her baby. The driver was our leader. Then there was the two-seated surrey with the fringe on top. There were five women with their little ones in it. Then came what they called the Boxwagon. They had put boards across it for seats. Dad was with the rest of us kids and somehow they got us all down to this big ranch on the Stillaquamish River. There was one two-story house. One little new house had been built. There was a bunkhouse for the men. And a big revival tent had been put up with a kitchen as a dining place. By evening it was raining and cold. I really don't know where the men all slept but they made beds on the floor for the women and children. It rained and it rained so there was much unhappiness.

Our furniture had been shipped by freight and when word came that it had arrived all wagons were sent into town with orders to bring beds and mattresses first. In the meantime one carpenter with the help of all the men had built a few more little houses. Each house was to be shared by two families and we were to eat at the cookhouse. Different women were appointed to do the cooking and kitchen work. The men were all to assist in clearing land, planting crops and in return when the land was all cleared each man was to get forty acres for his home.

This religious leader, whose name was Albert Dahlstrom, was the boss. He had had a wife and two daughters in Seattle. She, knowing him better than anyone, had divorced him and he was married to another woman and they had three little girls. Tragedy struck as it so often does in the early years, and infantile paralysis struck. This man's girl was the first to die with it. He somehow managed to get permission to have our own cemetery on a hill nearby. The day of the funeral was a sad day. He conducted the service on his own little girl. Six girls my age were pallbearers with a man at each one to help. We carried her to her grave. It was an experience I'll never forget. Later, another little girl that had come from Sweden died. No one else died of that disease but many more died, some of pneumonia, tuberculosis and one house burned down burning two little boys. All these were buried in the little cemetery which has long been forgotten. Our family was lucky and all survived. It then became known that this leader had wives everywhere. He didn't believe in the marriage vows. People became bitter and demanded their land and one by one families managed to build houses and move away. Some returned to their former homes from where they had come from. The people were allowed to tear down the little houses and divide the lumber. A big house was built for his wife and children but his wife had by this time decided to divorce him and take him to court. They tricked him and got him on the white slave act and he was convicted to McNeil Island for five years and $5,000 bail. A few of his old faithful, including my dad, managed to go his bail and he skipped bail and went to Sweden.

My dad was one that still believed in him and he told it in the story of his life, which was lost how he spent one whole night wrestling with his mind as to what he was to do. He decided he would rent the ranch with all equipment and let Mrs. Dahlstrom live in the new house. We lived in the old house. Somehow he managed to get a lease for five years and a bill of sale for all the stock and equipment. This must have been done before this man went to Sweden but not one of our family have any knowledge how it came about.
(continued)

You must be logged in to post a comment regarding this story.