The Perilous Journey of the Johan Jonasson Family

We sometimes hear stories of the difficult journey of our immigrant ancestors. They faced many perils and obstacles. Previous to the beginning of air travel all of our ancestors came to the United States via ship.  The exception being those who were already here, the native Americans. Whether it was on a wooden 17the century ship like the Mayflower or a steel ship of the 20th century like the Queen Mary, most of our ancestors crossed the Atlantic Ocean to get here.  Some had a quick journey in modern times of less than a week.  And for some unfortunate passengers, it took many weeks or months on a voyage filled with danger and death.

Such is the extraordinary journey of the sailing ship Sagadahoc of Bath, Maine.  In June of 1853 it would load 221 immigrant passengers in Gothenburg, Sweden bound for Boston, Massachusetts.  Eight of these passengers were Johan Jonasson, his wife Johanna Andersdotter and their six sons; Carl, Fredrick, Adolph, Anders, Jonas and Gustaf.  They had lived in Gränna, Jönköping län, Sweden, where all of them had been born.1  Their ultimate destination was Lafayette, Indiana, where some Swedes had already settled.

The Jonasson family listed in their last household exam at Reaby, Gränna, Sweden.

It would take a little over 13 weeks for the ship to make the journey.  While at sea there was an outbreak of cholera on the ship and slightly over 1/4 of the passengers would die.  The Sagadahoc would encounter the packet-ship Havre off of the Newfoundland Banks and ask for assistance.  The Havre provided what assistance it could then proceeded on to Boston.  On it’s arrival it reported the encounter of Sagadahoc and it’s dire circumstances.2  Word of this was published in many newspapers in the United States. Afterwards it was reported in British newspapers and as far away as New Zealand the next year.  When the ship arrived in Boston on October 24,1853 it was quarantined as there was still active cases of cholera aboard. 

Passenger list of the Sagadahoc showing some of the deaths.

Tragically almost whole families were wiped out.3  Parents arrived without their children.  Some children were orphans at the end of the trip across the Atlantic.  Fortunately no one in the Johan Jonasson family perished during the voyage.  But the ships passenger list is a tale of tragedy.  We do not know from where all of the families came but some places must have been hit hard. 

The passengers were so grateful for the assistance they received from Mr. F. P. [sic] Williston of Boston they took up a collection. A silver table set was purchased and presented by a Dr. Moriarity as a token of their esteem.4  Peter F. Williston was a Swedish immigrant himself, who’s taylor shop was close to the docks.  As one of the few Swedish speakers in Boston, he would benevolently help fellow Swedes who arrived in port that needed his aid.  And the passengers of the ship Sagadahoc were certainly in need of some help.5

After the Jonasson family was released from quarantine, most likely at the hospital on Deer Island , they made their way west.  Their further journey involved several segments using different types of transportation.  In the obituary of John Johnson, the Americanized version of Johan Jonasson, the journey is outlined.  They travelled from Boston to Buffalo, New York on a train.  They boarded a steam ship at Buffalo and went to Toledo, Ohio on Lake Erie.  From Toledo they would travel on the fairly new canal via boat to Lafayette, Indiana.6  

They lived for a few years at Lafayette and then moved to a farm outside of Attica, Indiana in Warren County.  A daughter would be born to them while they lived there.  She and two sons would die in Warren County before they moved to Ford County, Illinois.  His son Frederick would serve in the Civil War.  His wife, Johanna, died in 1866. Two other sons would die in Ford County.  He lived on his farm east of Paxton at the end of his life when he passed away on January 31st, 1896.  He was buried in Glen Cemetery along side his wife and children.7 

The family endured hardship and danger to get to the United States.  After they settled in the Midwest tragedy would catch up to them.  Five children would die leaving only the two oldest sons, Carl (Charles) and Fredrick. Charles would move west in the 1870’s and settle in Kansas.  He married and had a family.  But like his own parents, only a few of his children would survive him.

Fredrick Johnson

Frederick married Sophia August Wistrand on December 22, 1869 and they had five children.  Only the two oldest, Carl J. and Emma Johnson would survive them.  Emma died in 1945 and never married. Carl farmed east of Paxton on the farm he inherited until he died in 1955.  He never married.  About 1945 Tom Tavenner came to the farm to help out while he went to school.  Tom remembered Carl and his housekeeper Augusta “Gustie” Olson well and visited them after he got out of the US Navy.  Gustie came from Sweden to Paxton in 1910 where she had an uncle living.  She worked for the Johnson family for decades and moved to Paxton after Carl died. She worked at the Paxton Hospital until she retired.  Gustie passed away in 1972.

The farm was bought by Vernon Swanson from Carl Johnson’s estate in 1957.  He soon sold the house to Winifred Lewis who lived there with his wife until his death in 1966. The house was bought by Dan Kupferschmid in the same year and the family has lived there since. For the most part, the house has been owned by two families in it’s long history.

This 1884 map shows the Johnson farm east of Paxton highlighted in red.8

With our modern methods of transportation we can’t fully appreciate how hard and perilous it was for our ancestors to come to this country.  Some paid a dear price for their dreams.  And even when they got here not all lived long enough to enjoy the American promise.

¹Gränna kyrkoarkiv, Husförhörslängder, SE/VALA/00106/A I/24 (1851-1854), bildid: C0021615_00099, sida 384

²The New York Times, Wed, Oct 19, 1853, Page 1

³"Massachusetts, Suffolk, Boston Passenger Lists, 1820-1891", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KCHN-7TW : Wed Apr 09 20:05:38 UTC 2025), Entry for Johan Jonasson, 1853.

⁴Boston Evening Transcript, Mon, Nov 28, 1853, Page 2

⁵https://www.historicnewengland.org/explore/collections-access/gusn/198448

⁶The Paxton Record, Paxton, Illinois, Thu, Feb 6, 1896, Page 5 

⁷https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/169217049/john-johnson

⁸ Patton Township, Ford County, Illinois. Published by J. H. Beers & Co. in 1884