Wicklund Family History

The Wicklund Family

From a Generation Full of Faith

          …to Faithful Generations, we and those yet unborn:

–  Psalms. 100.5

• See also Wicklund Genealogy
• See also Map showing Edburg and Wiklund home in Larv Parish, Skaraborg, Sweden

ORIGIN OF NAME: To avoid confusion over so many people with the same name, our immigrant ancestors adopted the name “Wicklund” or “Viklund” meaning “cove grove” to remind them of the many trees on their parent’s home, Vastergarden Farm #44.

1st Generation

Johannes Larsson (7/5/1821-1/2/1896), family patriarch, was born 7/5/1821 in rural Slatten in the Malmene Rote, a part of Larv Parish in the County of Skaraborg  in southern Sweden to Brita Pehrsdotter & Lars Olofsson, the local ‘manndeman’ (Justice-of-the-Peace/Jury-man). Johannes’ mother died when he was 20 months old; the five children were without a mother. Lars marries Maja Svensdottert; they had 9 more children. There are now 16 on a tiny parcel, which was 1/4 of the Slatten farm.

Now, Johannes’ father, as his grandfather, Olof Goransson (3/12/1753-1/4/1802) & great grandfather, Goran Olofsson (1725-6/23/1785) had been life-long farmers in Slatten; but Johnannes was a younger son, far down the inheritance ladder. As a result, when he grew up, he began casting about looking for his future. Clerical surveys show him moving about: In 1842, he is a farmhand in nearby Ostergarden; in 1844, Mellangarden; in 1845, Prestgarden; in 1846,  H. Osjo. In 1848 he moves to Jonagarden, marrying someone he’d met in Prestgarden & ‘engaged with’ ever since, Anna Casja Pehrsdotter (Anna’s younger sister, Maja Stina, married Johannes Edberg).

The ‘Wicklund’ children born at Jonagaren included the following:
1. Maja Stina,  (baby still-born shortly after marriage).
2. Svante Johannesson, who later inherits Farm #44.
3. August Johannesson, who finally sells out to Svante.
4. Johan (John) Johannesson Wicklund, a grandfather, who emigrated to E. Union, MN.
5. Henric Henry Johannesson Wicklund, emigrating to Foreston, MN (came to grandpa’s funeral)
6. Alfred Johanneson Wicklund who emigrated with grandpa & later wed Emma Holt.

When Sweden renounced wars, the family took sole possession of the Army croft, in a collection of farms called Vastergarden (Garden in the West). Militiamen had been Sweden’s part-time soldiers who in lieu of pay acted as on-call militiamen in farms called crofts. Title eventually passed to John & later his eldest son bought out the others to  stay in Sweden & greatly expand the tree-lined Farm #44. In 1960’s, relatives still farmed those lands. See maps.

The children born at Vastergarden were:
7. Sven Adolf, who dies as a baby.
8. Ida Mathilda Johansdötter Wicklund Tidbloom, who homesteaded in Ramsey,SD w/grandpa.
9. Alma Augusta Johansdötter Wicklund Olausson; emigrated 1892 to Milaca, Mille Lacs, MN
10. Hilda (Hilma) Alida Johansdötter; emigrated to Minneapolis, MN, 1891  (Mrs. John Larson).

Source notes: 1. A1:2:200 249205 Larv Parish rolls 1812-21 2. A1:3:217 1822-34

Family Farm

Grandpa Johan Johannesson Wicklund (1854-1929) homesteaded the green land (SE Sec8, T104N, R53W) in 1884 and received land patent issued 1/30/1892 ser#SDMTAA 093196 Document Nr.10695 having emigrated 2/20/1880 from Västergården, Larv, Skaraborgs län (Västergötland) Sweden to East Union, MN where he married Lotta Johannesdotter Edberg (1856-1929). He had settled next door his sister, Ida and brother-in-law CA Tidbloom.

Map of Anderson and Wicklund family farms, Ramsey Township, McCook County, South Dakota. Grandpa Johan Johannesson Wicklund (1854-1929) homesteaded the green land (SE Sec8, T104N, R53W) in 1884 and received land patent issued 1/30/1892 serial # SDMTAA 093196 Document Nr.10695. He had settled next door his sister, Ida and brother-in-law CA Tidbloom.

2nd Generation and Beyond

 John Johannesson “Wicklund” (Viklund means “cove grove”)
and Lottie Andersdotter “Edberg” of Ramsey, SD; E.Union, MN & Vastergarden, Sweden

John Wiklund was a young apprentice stone mason in Sweden when he became the first of his family to emigrate. His parents and 2 eldest brothers never left Sweden; but he departed 2/20/1880 after compulsory military service, coming with his brother, Alfred, the first of 6 children to come to East Union, MN. There he found cousin Lottie, a daughter of a pioneer 1864 emigrant, Johannes Andersson Edberg, He also found all the free land in MN was gone, so he went west to Dakota Territory.

From homestead record #10695 in Mitchell land office it states:  “Arrived U.S. 26 March 1880.  Filed intention to become citizen 11/7/1881 at Chaska, MN. Made application for homestead 5/31/1884 & settled there in Ramsey Oct. 1884; Broke 5-acres in 1889, 8-acres in 1885, 6-acres in 1886 for a total of 39-acres; made improvements of a 14×20 frame house with a 8×12 addition plus a sod & lumber barn & grawnery(sic) & two outhouses & 2 mills; planted 3-acres of trees & put 35-acre  in wire fence for a total of 39-acres broke. Value $800.00.  Became citizen 5/14/1890.”

From the Salem Lutheran Church history it’s recorded:

“…helped organize us in 1888; when Center Lutheran Church was built in 1891, Wicklund had charge of building the foundation.(still stands), and at 1st Board meeting, Jan. 1883, Wiklund made deacon of “Ostra Roten” (eastern region) and in church subscriptions 10/31/1890: Jan Wiklund Ped 500 (dollars)”

The grandparents emigrated from southern Sweden Vastergarden, Edum, Larv Parish, Skaraborg (Lottie as a 6-yr old in 1864). John was born on a Jonagarden farm to Johannes Larson of Edum Rote, Larv Parish but moved with his parents in 1859 to their Vastergarden farm. Ancestors had obtained the farm as a former Army-militiaman’s croft. The farm went to 2 eldest brothers (relatives still owned it a few decades ago); so, all other siblings emigrated to America. John & Alfred came first, arriving in MN 3/26/1880. They worked on farms near West Union Lutheran Church, Hancock township, Carver county, MN  T114N – R25W, Sec 1. They looked in vain for homesteads from 1881 to1884 around the south part of Lake Maria, Carver Cnty., near the towns of Gotha & the West Union settlement area founded in 1858.

Note: From the “Compendium of History and Biography of Carver and Hennepin Counties, Minnesota” [1915] by Holcombe & Bingham it is written: “West Union Evangelical Lutheran Church, in the NE corner of the township, was organized by Rev. P.Carlson; a frame church was built before the Civil War…”

Note: From the Carver County Historical Publication “In the Tracks of the Swedish Settlers in Carver County” by Susanna Thilquist, 1988 it is written:

“West. Union congregation was organized in Dec. 1858, about 6 months after East Union. Both Union settlements had expanded rapidly, especially to the west & south. Those  in the west wished to have a closer church; hence two churches resulted: East Union & West Union.”

In 1887 J J Wicklund married Lottie Edberg at East Union Lutheran Church, Dahlgren Twnshp, Carver Cnty, MN,  T115N – R24W, Sec 35. The newly weds walked west to Dakota Territory to homestead  Section 8 of Ramsey Township, McCook County, Dakota Territory where they lived until their deaths in 1929.  John’s brother- in- law (Tidbloom) homesteaded next door. My grandpa died in 1929 of sunstroke and she of a broken heart; they are buried at Center Church. Their eldest child is  Blanche Viklund Wicklund Anderson.

Lottie Edberg Wicklund was born 12/19/1855  on that same Vastergarden Edum, Larv, Skaraborg, Sweden. She died on 3/15/1929 on their farm in Ramsey Township farm, McCook County, SD. Although their homestead was about the best land around & they planted a grove of trees Lottie was homesick for MN, her parents and siblings who she  never saw again after departing East Union, MN which was more like the landscape in Sweden which she had left at  6 yrs of age way back in July 1862— Her family took name Edberg on Naturalization (father); most of the other descendants still live there now at E. Union, MN.  (e.g.: artist Lana Beck Edberg  of Belle Plaine, farmer Richard Olson of E. Union, et. al.)

Alfred J. Wicklund, farm-hand, miller & country store co-owner.

One of 3 brothers & 3 sisters to emigrate to Union, MN. Their parents & 2 older brothers stayed in Sweden. John & Alfred left 1st on 2/20/1880; a sister, Mathilda, left for Nord Amerika 9/10/1880. When the family farm was left to two eldest bothers, the younger siblings emigrated.

Why? Sweden had renounced wars & as a peace dividend the population grew; a vaccine against the dreaded killer smallpox became a requirement & a new crop, the potato made the people healthier. Finally, a 100% literacy rate meant the populace read glowing/exaggerated reports on the successes of earlier emigrants in a flood of letters from America. All this meant too many kids to inherit ever-smaller farms. Our Wicklund ancestors were part of a family of 12; their grandpa’s family was 16 & he had 70 heirs.

If the Wicklunds remained in Sweden, all their many children would further subdivide already small farms & try to survive the periodic droughts & floods of the area. In Sweden, only 5% of the land is arable & unlike other parts of Europe, industrialization lagged. In America, Lincoln adopted a plank from the Free-land Party to get elected & The Homestead Act resulted giving each emigrant 160 acres. With English ships docking in nearby Goteburg & emigration encouraged by government, this became a viable alternative, especially with prepaid tickets being sold to relatives already in USA.

Alfred, on coming to Minnesota, became a farmhand for the brother of his future father-in-law, John Holt. Holt had given the land for the parsonage & like Lottie Edberg Wicklund’s father sent his kids there to St. Ansgar’s Academy (later, Gustavus Adolphus College) (the original building stands on the land of 2nd cousin Richard Olson-Edberg awaiting restoration). Edbergs & Holts were prominent deacons in building the new church at East Union. Alfred became a member in 11/27/1881& married Emma Holt on 10/21/1888. On 3/1/1894, they moved to nearby Jordon, MN where he became a miller at the grist mill owned by St. Ansgar’s on the 1864 homestead of Lottie Edberg Wicklund’s father. One of Alfred & Emma’s children, named Lillian, has a grandson Tom  who says:

“I was born in Lakefield, not far from where great grandfather Alfred ran a general store. Alfred got some capital & in 1901 he & his wife’s brother, Adolph Holt, bought a store at tiny Bingham Lake, MN which flourished with the dynamic success of agriculture early in the 1900s; they were quite prosperous. Alfred & Emma had two sons and two daughters; the youngest was my grandmother, Lillian. The family placed a high value on education. All 4 children graduated from college; one, Harry, took over the store after Alfred died of complications from appendicitis in 1919. With cars more common & with the Depression, the store became unsuccessful & in 1950 was sold by Harry’s son incapacitated by stroke.”

Tom has stories of the store & grandmother Lillian as his grandparents were close to Harry Wicklund’s. John Wicklund’s obituary lists brother Alfred from MN at the Montrose, SD, funeral. Their sister, Ida (Mrs. Chas. Tidbloom) had the homestead next to John & Lottie. John, Ida & their spouses/descendants graves are well-maintained at Center Church near Salem, SD.

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