erly verified. I undertook to do all
that work without the aid of consul, lawyer or clerk, collecting nearly
twenty thousand dollars, for old trunks, spinning-wheels, copper
kettles, etc. Having lost nothing myself, I of course received nothing,
and as the Company did not consider it their duty to pay me for my
trouble, one of the emigrants suggested that they should chip in to
compensate me for the valuable services I had rendered. Accordingly the
hat was passed, the collection realizing the magnificent sum of two
dollars and sixty cents, which was paid me for being their interpreter
during the long journey and for collecting that large sum of money
without litigation or delay. No lawyer, consul or agent would have been
satisfied with less than five hundred dollars, but I can truthfully say
that I never raised a word of complaint, but freely forgave the people
on account of their ignorance. Many of them I also served afterwards on
the way to Moline and Minnesota. In due time our party arrived in
Moline, where my parents bought a small piece of property with the money
brought from Sweden.

Minnesota was then a territory but little known; yet we had heard of its
beautiful lakes, forests, prairies and salubrious climate. Quite a
number of our company had decided to hunt up a place for a Swedish
settlement where land could be had cheap. It was finally agreed that a
few of us should go to Minnesota and select a suitable place. Being the
only one of the party who could speak English, I was naturally appointed
its leader. My father also went with us, and so did Mr. Willard and his
wife, the whole party taking deck passage on a Mississippi steamer, and
arriving at St. Paul in the month of August.

At that time St. Paul was an insignificant town of a few hundred
inhabitants. There we found Henry Russell, John Tidlund, and a few other
Swedish pioneers. Mr. Willard and I had very little money, and for the
few dollars which we did own we bought a little household furniture, and
some cooking utensils. We therefore at once sought employment for him,
while the rest of our party started off in search of a suitable location
for the proposed settlement.

We had been told that there were a number of our countrymen at Chisago
Lake and a few near Carver, but that all had settled on timber lands. We
also learned that near Red Wing, in Goodhue county, places could be
found with both timber and prairie, and an abundance of good water.
Havi