Colonial Swedish America along the Delaware River

Kim-Eric Williams will be talking about Nya Sverige, the colony established along the Delaware river in 1638. Dr. Williams taught Swedish at the University of Pennsylvania and is the historian and curator of the Historic Art Gallery at Lazaretto for the Swedish Colonial Society in Tinicum, just south of Philadelphia.

This presentation is scheduled for Saturday, July 20 at noon/12:00 PM after the Midsummer celebration.

Julie Boozer will be talking about the extension of Swedish immigrants from Sugar Grove and Jamestown south and the formation of new Swedish American communities in Scandia, Mt. Jewett, Kane and into surrounding counties. Dr. Boozer is the author of The Great Emigration form Scandinavia to America and is the long term coordinator of lecutures for our Scandinavian Folk Festival.

This presentation is scheduled for Saturday, July 20 at 1:00 PM

Scandinavian sailors established a foothold early in Erie. The city’s industrialization brought Scandinavian immigrants to the city and this led to Danish and Swedish churches and social organizations. Ms. Bellingham is the President of the Svea lodge in Erie (Vasa Order of America) that was established in 1914.

This presentation is scheduled for Saturday, July 20 at 2:00 PM

Renovo is a village midway between Ridgway and Williamsport that was developed by the Erie and Sunbury Railroad/Erie and Philadelphia/Pennsylvania Railroad as a service center for the railroad and became the home for a Swedish immigrant community of railroad workers. Ms. Anderson researched this community for a dissertation at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow).

This presentation is scheduled for Saturday, July 20 at 3:00 PM

Dr. Gerring will be talking about the peculiar life of Frans Hugo Harald Svahn. He was born in Stockholm in 1857, the son of a sea captain, and went to sea as a teenager. After a life on ships, he stayed put in America, married in Brooklyn, and then settled in Maple Springs. His origins, stories of his maritime career, and his life in Chautauqua County will be presented.

This presentation is scheduled for Saturday, July 20 at 4:00 PM.

This class will present resources available for genealogical research that are beyond the scope of FamilySearch or Ancestry. Mr. Jones will be discussing research in Swedish newspapers, Swedish-American newspapers, bouppteckning reports, military records, historical maps, etc. This class will focus on Swedish sources, but we will also discuss research in Danish and Norwegian archives. We will be talking about resources available at our local cultural institutions, including libraries, First Lutheran Church, and Fenton History Museum.

This class is scheduled for Sunday, July 21 at 1:00 PM.

Norm Carlson will present a history of the Fenton Guard, a national guard company of New York State formed in 1875 by Swedish immigrants in Jamestown. A pro-military and pro-Scandinavian movement developed after the Danish defeat by the Prussians in the short Second Schleswig War of 1864. This, combined with the importance of the Swedish American veterans of the American Civil War, led to the formation of the Fenton Guard. Fancy uniforms, social events, a marching band, a choral group and a marksmen team were central to the guard. Mr. Carlson wrote the chapter about the Fenton Guard in Saga From the Hills and will discuss recent research.

This presentation is scheduled for Sunday, July 21 at 12:00 PM.

This class will present resources available for genealogical research that are beyond the scope of FamilySearch or Ancestry. Mr. Jones will be discussing research in Swedish newspapers, Swedish-American newspapers, bouppteckning reports, military records, historical maps, etc. This class will focus on Swedish sources, but we will also discuss research in Danish and Norwegian archives. We will be talking about resources available at our local cultural institutions, including libraries, First Lutheran Church, and Fenton History Museum.

This class is scheduled for Sunday, July 21 at 2:00 PM.