Every five years, the Bishop Hill Old Settlers' Association puts on a parade and chicken dinner to commemorate the founding of the colony by Swedish immigrants in 1846.
For the 180th anniversary celebration on Sept. 12 this year, there was a special family reunion taking place amid the festivities.
More than 30 descendants of Eric Jansson — the Swedish religious leader who emigrated to western Illinois with his followers and founded Bishop Hill — watched the parade from the Steeple Building, then walked a few blocks to Jansson’s home to take family photos.
Among them was Tanya Edgil of Alabama — a great-great-great-great granddaughter of Jansson.
Edgil said it was the largest gathering of Jansson descendants in Bishop Hill since 1996, with relatives coming this year from Oregon, California, New Mexico, Alabama, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Arizona, Iowa, and Illinois.
When Edgil sets foot in Bishop Hill, she thinks of the immigrants’ journey across the Atlantic and of the primitive dugouts they built and lived in the first couple of years.
“I think about the perseverance that they had to get here. They had a lot of resilience,” Edgil said. “Eric, I don’t know if you know his story, but in Sweden, he was arrested many times. They wanted to practice their religion freely. In Sweden, it was required at the time to attend the state church. So I just think about how Eric was able to get these people together and to say, let’s go to America for a better life.”
Edgil said she grew up knowing her family was connected to Jansson and the history of Bishop Hill, but she didn’t fully explore her Swedish roots until 2018. That year, she appeared on the Swedish television show Allt för Sverige, which puts Swedish-Americans in touch with their Swedish roots.
“When I was on the show, they told me he [Jansson] was one of the ones that helped start the immigration movement from Sweden into America,” Edgil said. “That’s an amazing family heritage to carry.”
Edgil’s experience in Sweden also led her to connect with others who descend from Jansson. Now the descendants all stay in touch via social media.
At the 180th anniversary celebration, they — and descendants of the other colonists—wore blue and yellow buttons reading “Bishop Hill Descendant, Svensk Koloni.”
Ted Myhre Jr., another Jansson descendant, wore a yellow and blue plaid shirt to match his button — and the Swedish flag. He credited Edgil for getting the word out to Jansson descendants to attend this year’s celebration.
“When your family has a history somewhere, it feels like an anchor, like you know you can always go back there and reminisce or have some nostalgia about the place and say, my family was a big part of this,” Myhre said. “It’s a big source of pride and confidence.”
Joella Krause is president of the Bishop Hill Old Settlers’ Association, which was founded in 1896 to commemorate the immigrants who founded Bishop Hill. Krause is also a colony descendant and was wearing the Svensk Koloni button.
She said getting more than 30 descendants of Eric Jansson to visit Bishop Hill started with a request she put on social media. That evolved into one descendant — Thomas Gould, Edgil’s grandfather and great-great grandson of Jansson — serving as a grand marshal of the parade, and also to the others descendants coming to visit Bishop Hill.
For Krause, the gathering of Jansson descendants was an emotional experience.
“I’ve been working on this for a year and a half. To know that my people came here with a purpose and the fact there are Eric Jansson descendants here, I feel like we’re kindred spirits,” Krause said. “That we’re connected and we’re connecting back to our roots. I’m just delighted that so many of them came today. This is unprecedented for Bishop Hill.”
Also as part of the 180th anniversary celebration, the Old Settlers’ Association honored a total of 27 people as grand marshals of the parade — a parade full of Farmall tractors and as many Swedish flags as American ones.
Krause said those honorees, all over 90 years old, have either lived in or near Bishop Hill and have contributed to the history and livelihood of the village in some way.
“Between the 30 descendants and the 27 honorees, this is truly a remarkable day,” Krause said.
Outside the chicken dinner in the Colony School, colony descendants posed for a group photo.
Janet Kenyon—maiden name Troline—was also wearing a Svensk Koloni button. She said her family is deeply rooted in Bishop Hill.
“My great-great grandfather came from Sweden and he was head of the brickyard here and helped to create these beautiful buildings,” Kenyon said. “In 1867, he purchased our family farm and on May 30, 2027, our farm will be 160 years old.”
Kenyon said Bishop Hill is a gem, and it has been maintained by the efforts of volunteers for decades and by families who keep the history alive.
“The stories need to be remembered, and it’s a wonderful story. They came for freedoms. Most immigrants come for freedoms,” Kenyon said. “I just hope people will come to Bishop Hill and see all of the wonderful little opportunities it has to offer.”
For Tanya Edgil, the Eric Jansson descendant who’s traveled to Sweden to learn more about her roots, the most wonderful place in Bishop Hill on the prairie of western Illinois is the Colony Church.
“It’s special to me because my relationship with God is important to me,” Edgil said. “To know that was the first building built in the colony here and that they attended twice a week during the week and on Sundays, that is my favorite building in town.”
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