CAPT. ROBERT EMANUEL JEANSON

In July of 1870, Capt. R. E. Jeanson arrived in Algona.  Jeanson was a native of Sweden who had previously served as a captain of an ocean steamer.  He now represented the American Emigrant Company.  This company had acquired large land holdings across the Dakotas, southern Minnesota and northern Iowa as well as other areas in the U.S.  As an agent of the Company, Capt. Jeanson came to inspect the holdings in northern Kossuth County.  At the time that part of the county was very sparsely populated and consisted largely of prairie grass and sloughs.  He found the land to be of high quality. 

Colonization of northern Kossuth County

To encourage permanent settlement, the American Emigrant Company utilized the colonization method.  After appointing J. E. Stacy as the local agent, Capt. Jeanson returned to New York City where he recruited Swedish immigrants to purchase land from the Emigrant Company.  An ad (originally published in Swedish) extolled the virtues of the region.  It read as follows:

A Settler’s Home, Estate, Eagle Lake, Swea, Iowa.

Capt. R. E. Jeanson’s home.

LAND FOR A LOW PRICE THAT IS PROFITABLE, WHICH IS IN THE STATE OF IOWA.

THE SETTLEMENT SWEA:  Located in Kossuth County, Iowa, is one of our best Swedish settlements in America, having three schools, a smithy, and a post office.  The school houses are to spacious and conveniently located that they also are used for assembly halls for spiritual and public meetings.  The Lutheran pastors are up-building.  The settlers belong to a respectable class of Scandinavian emigrants and are popular with their American neighbors.

THE LAND’S QUALITY:  The land is hilly and the soil is a rich hard mull from 2 to 6 feet deep on a clay bottom, and completely free of stones and stumps.  As proof of the soil’s richness, it can be said that from the county fair exhibits a common beet weighed a Swedish “lispund,” and potatoes there “skalpund” each.  Animals are the most profitable for farm use in this place, they require the least work and take little or no risk.    

  The settlers at Swea have told me that one cow keeps him for the year with butter and milk.  Animals are sold to the buyers themselves who are in the settlement several times during the year, therefore the owners are set free of the trouble of traveling around to sell them.  The soil and climate are as well especially profitable for the growing of oats, corn, also root vegetables of all kinds, as well as grapes, apples, pears, plums, etc.  ‘VILKOR.’  The American Emigrant Company in Hartford, Conn., for whom the undersigned is an agent, owns around 60,000 acres of land in this province in and around the settlement of Swea.  The price varies at present between 8 and 10 dollars per acre.  This property sells in 40, 80 and 160 acres.  We require at least one fourth of the total purchase price in cash on possession, and the remainder can be paid in small regular payments suited to the buyers ability to pay. 

  With a capital of 700 dollars or 3000 kronor an owner can be set up completely with a house, animals and tools, so that the settler can accomplish independence to anticipate beginning work in an economical and sensible way.  If land is bought from me, and I am asked for advice, I will give a special report on everything that is necessary that a beginner should buy and the price there-on.

TRAVELING THERE:  Persons living in Sweden do best to get their tickets direct to Bankroft, Iowa.  Traveling from New York costs $22.50 on the railway.  Any families thinking of going there, and I am informed in time, I will personally assist with the choosing of their future home.  A railway goes near the settlement.  For inquiries and for gaining a wide range of information to the best capability.  One advice I do give however, “Go and see Swea first for the landscape out does anywhere else.  The state of Iowa, beyond doubt, is the best state in this large Republic, and I am always ready to give all the information wanted to such who want to make a home in the West.  However, I urge everyone to first see Iowa and this beautiful land before they decide on any other state.”  R. E. Jeanson”

Settlers Begin to Arrive

The first family arrived in 1871.  The following year a company house was built to house up to 40 people while they built their own homes.  It was located 4 miles west and 2 miles north of the present location of Swea City.  The lumber for the company house was hauled by Peter and Victor Eckholm across the prairie.  Because there were no landmarks along the way, the Eckholms planted willow saplings at intervals along the route to serve themselves and other travelers.  The company house continued to serve schools and churches for many years as a meeting place.

Capt. Jeanson made regular trips between Castle Garden in New York City where he met Swedish families upon their arrival in America and Swea township where he assisted them with location and purchase of farm land.  The American Emigrant Company sent hundreds of settlers to northern Kossuth in 1872.  Some of those who arrived that year include A. G. Anderson, Carl Anderson, Soloman Anderson, C. Adolfson and John Martin.

The immigrants first years on the prairie were not easy.  The northern Kossuth area was very remote from other established communities in the county.  A round trip to Algona took five days and the language barrier made life quite difficult.  They also struggled for fuel.  The nearest timber was seven miles away.  Like many early settlers, they turned to the prairie grass.  In place of firewood, the dried grass was twisted into tight strands.  This often became the chore for the children.

Captain Jeanson and his family

Capt. Jeanson was married in New York in 1878 to Hilda Gustave Rosenberg.  The following year he purchased his farm in Eagle Township.  Here he created his own Swedish estate along the shores of Eagle Lake.  Called “Engendomen,” it consisted of a manor house and landscaped grounds.  The house stood on a hill on the south end of the little lake.  Three stories high, it contained 21 luxuriously decorated rooms which included mirrored doors and fireplaces.  There was a large music room with several musical instruments.  Verandas almost surrounded the first floor and the exterior of the house was decorated with the gingerbread work so popular at the time.  An observatory tower rose from the flat roof.  The tower contained a powerful telescope that Capt. Jeanson’s had shipped from Sweden which he used to study the stars and survey his domain. 

The grounds contained a large orchard which contained many rare fruit trees, a boathouse on the lakeshore which housed a sailboat, and stables where the saddle and driving horses and carriages were located.  Well kept gravel paths led from the house to each location.

Of course many servants were needed to maintain a country estate of this size.  Most of the positions were filled by young Swedes who worked to repay the cost of their fare to America.  A cook, maids, governesses as well as a coachman and yard and field workers made up the army of workers.  It is told that the Captain was a tough taskmaster who noticed any lack of attention to detail by the servants.

Captain Jeanson and his wife became the parents of four children, Hilda Robertina, Anna Cathrina, Robert Emanuel, and Ross Hilbert.  Among the governesses who both cared for and educated the children were Miss Clara Zahlten, Miss Kate Smith, Miss Heckart and Miss Altwegg, all of Algona.   

Capt. Jeanson belonged to the Swedish Baptist church as did many of the citizens who settled near Swea.  He often preached to the congregation when a pastor was not available.  Services were first held in the company house and then in the schoolhouse or church.  The church stood near the old company house and was later sold to the township for a community hall and was moved to the center of the township, about 4 miles west of Swea City.

The Jeansons move on

For many years, Capt Jeanson worked to attract a railroad connecting his colony with Des Moines and continuing into Minnesota.  It became apparent by the late 1880s that this project would not materialize.  When their two older daughters left home in 1894 to attend the Baptist College in Des Moines, Mrs. Jeanson could not endure the loneliness and had long missed society life.  She and the Captain and their two younger sons decided to move permanently to Des Moines.

The Jeansons later moved to Los Angeles, California in 1907 and Captain Jeanson died on Memorial Day in 1920.  His wife passed in December of 1933 and both are buried in Floral Hill Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Eagle Lake was drained in 1911 as part of the big Mud Creek project.  Eventually numerous wings of the mansion were removed and moved off to make houses on area farms. 

Honest and a man of faith, Captain Jeanson used his influence to improve the lives of the settlers and increase their prosperity.  He was well respected and loved by those he helped to settle northern Kossuth County.

Until next time,

Jean, a/k/a KC History Buff

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