Margareta Vannsberg

SPANY p 109 #63 Emigrationen från Söderala till Bishop Hill och Norra Amerika åren 1845-1855, by Ulla Eriksson and Lars-Ove Johansson, 1993. 49-45 SPAUS #1588 She had left the colony by 1850 and was living with her children in Knox Co.. Her second husband remained in the colony.

From "The History of the Swedes In Illinois", p, 230, "During the first winter, Mrs, Margareta Hebbe instructed the elders in reading and writing, the school sessions being held in the tabernacle. After Mrs. Hebbe left the Colony, Peter Hellström succeeded her."

The following information was provided by Lars-Ove Johansson, Västerås, Sweden. Margareta (Wansberg) Hebbe was born Jan. 29, 1808 in Vansäter, Söderala (just outside the town of Söderhamn, approximately 165 mile north of Stockholm), Sweden. She was the daughter of Nils Wansberg (seaman) and Greta Olsdotter and sister of Nils Hellbom (who also went to America and Bishop Hill). Margareta married the saddlemaker Carl Gustav Hebbe (born July 27, 1803) from Färentuna (located on the island of Ekerö, just west of Stockholm). They married Aug. 11, 1832 in Westertorp, Färentuna. They lived at this place until 1836. In the same year they moved to Söderhamn and in 1838 they moved to Ina, Söderala, just outside of the town. They had bought a farm in Ina and started to farm. In 1845 the farm was later sold to a man ( Carl Gustav Blombergsson) who started a printshop at the farm.

In the beginning of 1843, and man by the name of Eric Jansson visited Ina, Söderala. That visit was the start of a religious movement and Söderala became the hotbed of an unorthodox religion. The movement got the name 'Erikjansismen' and the people belonging to the movement were called 'Erikjansare'. Margareta Hebbe became a follower to Eric Jansson and his religious movement. One of her brothers by the name of Nils Hellbom was also a follower to Erik Jansson. One can assume that Margareta Hebbe came in very close contact to Eric Jansson's movement as Ina, Söderala was the central meeting point. The brother Nils Hellbom was a kind of bodyguard to Erik Jansson according ot old documents. In 1845 it became more clear to the 'Erikjansarna' that they could not stay longer in Sweden because of their religious 'fight' with the Swedish state church. They decided to emigrate to North America and it became to be the first Swedish mass emigration to North America.

The 'Erikjansarna' with Eric Jansson as the leader moved to Bishop Hill in Illinois, where they settled and built the Bishop Hill Colony.

Carl Gustav Hebbe was not a member of Eric Jansson's movement and disliked Eric Jansson's ideas and he tried to persuade his wife, Margareta Hebbe, not to leave for North America. He sold the farm and moved back to Färentuna away form Ina, Söderala but that didn't help. Margareta and the four children left Sweden from Stockholm on the ship 'Agder' bound for New York. They arrived there Sept. 28, 1846. They all survived the journey and are listed as passengers arriving to the port of New York.

In a letter written by Clara Agrelius, daughter of Helen Margareta Hebbe, it states that "... grandfather broken hearted because she took the children and left him to follow Jansson... Mother said she always remembers him as standing on the pier with tears streaming down his face and waving to them as long as they could see him."

Carl Gustav Hebbe stayed in Färentuna and died of smallpox Feb. 27, 1858. He is burried at the Färentuna church graveyard.

Margareta Hebbe and her four children moved to Bishop Hill in 1846. She became the first teacher in Bishop Hill. During the first year of the colony she instructed illiterate older people to read and write. She moved from Bishop Hill to Galesburg wheere she lived with her two sons in Township 11N, 1E, Knox County, Illinois, in 1850. The daughter Sophia Hebbe was dead and the daughter Helen Margareta married Charles Agrelius July 31, 1853 in Galesburg. Charles Agrelius was the son of the clergyman Carl Peter Agrelius, who arrived to the U.S.A. and Boston in Oct. 28, 1848. In the US Census of Knox County, 1850, Charles Agrelius is listed as an apprentice under the entry for the family of Benhan Harnessmaker, also his sister Agnes is listed here. In 1850 Margareta Hebbe married Jöns Klintberg in Know County, Ill. They returned to Bishop Hill and got a son named Jonas born Apr. 16, 1854. He died in 1858 as recorded in the Bishop Hill Ledger page 78 of 1858.

Margareta Hebbe and her two sons Carl Christian Wilhelm and Johan Gustaf livied in Bishop Hill until 1858. In the Bishop Hill Ledger page 78 of 1858, they are marked as 'left'. Jöns Klintberg remained in Bishop Hill until his death.

According to the daughter Helen Margareta Hebbe's obituary it states that after the marriage to Charles Agrelius they "... afterwards moved to Wisconsin where she lived until 1878 when she came to Reading, Kansas..." They got 8 children all born in Wisconsin between 1854 until 1872. In Cambridge 1854-1859, in Mt. Vernon 1862, in Spring Green 1867-1872.

Maybe Margareta Hebbe moved with her sons to Wisconsin after 1858 to live with her daughter's family.

She moved to Reading, Kansas in 1873 and later to her son J.A. Hebbe. She rests in Pleasant View Cemetary, Blue Mound, Kansas.

According to Margareta Hebbe's obituary from "The Blue Mound Sun" Dec 14, 1894 and died Dec 7, 1894 of dropsy at the home of her son J.A. Hebbe.

The following notes are copied from: Svenskarne i Illinois, by Johnson, Eric and Peterson, C.F., Chicago 1880. As translated by John Norton, Moline, IL., USA

p. 31, Sven i Illinois, p. 17 of the translation Next to religion, they thought about schooling. When the weather didn't permit outdoor work, school was held in the church tent for the older members, of which many were unable to read and write, with Mrs. Hebbe at first, and later Mr. Hellström as teachers.