Ernst Skarstedt

Ernst Teofil Skarstedt (April 14, 1857 - March 13, 1929) was a Swedish-American author, journalist and editor of Swedish language books and newspapers. He is most noted as the author of a three volume trilogy covering the Swedish immigrant experience in the Pacific Northwest.[1][2][3]

Ernst Skarstedt.
Photo in the auto-biography published in 1914.

Background

Ernst Teofil Skarstedt was born in Solberga parish, municipality of Kungälv, in Västra Götaland County, located in the traditional province of Bohuslän, Sweden. He was the son of Carl Wilhelm Skarstedt (1815-1908) and Hedvig Elina Wieselgren (1839–1863). Skarstedt was born at the parsonage where his father served as a parish priest. His father later became a distinguished professor of theology at Lund University. His younger brother was Swedish journalist and politician, Carl Abraham Waldemar Skarstedt (1861-1931).[4] [5][6]

Career

Skarstedt graduated from Lund University in 1877. He emigrated to the United States in 1878. Skarstedt became the co-editor of Svenska amerikanaren in 1880 and Svenska tribunen in 1884, both published in Chicago. From 1891 he edited Vestkusten, published in San Francisco. Ernst Skarstedt was later hired as the editor of Nordstjernan in New York City. Later having moved to Portland, Oregon, Skarstedt made an attempt to publish a local Swedish language newspaper, Demokraten a newspaper aimed at educating Swedes about local politics.[7][8]

In 1890, Skarstedt published Oregon och Washington: Dessa staters historia, resurser och folkliv, a volume that combined history with a handbook for potential settlers. Washington och dess Svenska Befolkning was published in 1908. This provided a history of the area and descriptions of communities and industries. In 1911, he published the last volume in his trilogy Oregon och dess svenska befolkning containing biographies of prominent Swedish-Americans. [9]

Ernst Skarstedt died in Seattle, Washington during 1929.[10]

Selected works
  • Svensk-amerikanska poeter i ord och bild (1890)
  • Oregon och Washington (1890)
  • Våra pennfäktare (1897)
  • Under västliga skyar, poetry (1907)
  • Washington och dess svenska befolkning (1908)
  • California och dess Svenska Befolkning (1910)
  • Oregon och dess svenska befolkning (1911)
  • Vagabond och redaktör (1914)
  • Svensk-amerikanska folket i helg och söcken (1917)

References
  1. "An Immigration Research Project". Archived from the original on 2009-01-06. Retrieved 2009-12-20.
  2. "Ernst Skarstedt (1857-1929)". Portland State University and the Oregon Historical Society. 2015. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  3. Lindquist, Emory (1974) An Immigrant's American Odyssey: A Biography of Ernst Skarstedt (Rock Island, Illinois: Augustana Historical Society)
  4. Nordic Authors /Ernst Skarstedt Project Runeberg
  5. "Carl W Skarstedt". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
  6. "C A Waldemar Skarstedt". Svenskt biografiskt lexikon Band 32 (2003-2006), page 430. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  7. The story of San Francsico based Swedish newspaper Vestkusten Nordstjernan
  8. Ernst Skarstedt Portland State University and the Oregon Historical Society
  9. Oregon och dess svenska befolknin swedishrootsinoregon
  10. "Carl W Skarstedt". Svenskt författarlexikon. Retrieved October 1, 2020.

Other sources
  • Nordström, Lars (2008) Swedish Oregon (Portland, OR: Swedish Roots in Oregon Press) ISBN 978-1607021445
  • Rosqvist, Leif (2008) The Great History of Swedes in Oregon (Portland, OR: Swedish Roots in Oregon Press)
  • Barton, H. Arnold (1994) A Folk Divided: Homeland Swedes and Swedish Americans, 1840-1940 (Southern Illinois University Press) ISBN 9780809319435
  • Benson, Arnold B. (1938) Swedes in America, 1638-1938 with Naboth Hedin (New York: Haskell House Publishers)
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