Adversity - The Swedish Famine of 1867/1868

 The prompt for this week is "Adversity." Now, most of us are familiar with the Irish famine of 1845-1852 that led to the deaths of one million Irish citizens and was responsible for the large number of Irish immigrants in the mid 1800's. There was another famine in Europe that also had a direct impact on immigration to America. 

The 1860's were not very kind to Sweden. Swedish farmers had numerous crop failures and it was a difficult time trying to harvest crops and grow enough food to feed family and farm animals. Times were hard. In 1867 times were going to get harder. Due to the weather patterns the winter of 1866-1867 was colder and lasted longer than normal. Spring came so late that farmers had to wait to sow seeds. The summer was very short lived and then Fall came. It became difficult to feed animals, and people. The price of food increased, making it tougher. The early arrival of ice and snow also made travel and communications throughout the land harder. All parts of Sweden were affected, but the northern parts of Sweden suffered the most. In southern Sweden, where Carl and Ulrika Andersson lived, the large farms were able to export their crops, but the smaller farmers, like Carl, had a harder time. In 1868, instead of cold and rainy weather, a drought occurred. No rain meant crops still couldn't be grown or harvested so the famine continued for another year. Little to no food for people or animals. 

Fundraisers were held in America to help the Swedish famine victims and money was sent to Sweden. The Swedish government also sent money to the affected areas to help. However, local authorities would put their own restrictions on who was able to receive the money. People would have to agree to work, or supply labor, to receive the funds. Exceptions were made for people who physically couldn't work or the very old, but many people were turned away for aid if they couldn't say they could work for the funds. In turn, much of the relief money stayed with local authorities or went to wealthy and large farmers who could guarantee work for the funds. Famine victims were often told to eat bark bread. Bark bread is bread made from the inner bark of trees, and lichen. It's mixed with flour and gives the bread a greyish green appearance. The bread doesn't rise much and eating too much of it can cause vomiting and nausea, especially in children. The Swedish press criticized the distribution of the relief funds. Some felt that the lack of aid extended the suffering of the poor. 

Swedish famine victim eating bark bread.

Newspaper cartoon criticizing aid. Aid given to County Governor, then wealthy officials, wealthy farmers, then the poor getting what's left over.

 Carl and Ulrika moved out of Hjalmserd Parish in 1870. Carl was listed as a lodging pauper. That year 105 people left the parish. Annika from "Find a Swede" notes that between 1861 and 1870, 11,514 people left Jonkoping County. The Swedish famine, and the Swedish response to it, was the beginning of the great Swedish migration to America. 

Sources:

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Find a Swede