Swedes in the USA

by Shane on March 26, 2009 · 2 comments

This is a great spot by fellow blogger Anna

The New York Times has an interesting interactive site which shows where different foreigners settled in the USA.

The NYT’s interactive map is worth playing around if you like history. I have to admit a dear friend did buy me Vilhem Moberg‘s famous work titled ‘The Emigrants’ but its something I have not got around to reading yet.

Wikipedia has a list of famous Swedish Americans including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.

Some fascinating Swedish American names include:

Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Buzz Aldrin (astronaut)
Mamie Eisenhower (wife of Ike)
Uma Thurman
Charles Lindbergh (aviation)

and you should check out how many former Governors of the state of Minesota are of Swedish descent.

Fascinating stuff

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{ 2 comments }

1 jamie_williams March 30, 2009 at 1:51 pm: Scarlet Johansson, Ryan Seacrest and the Gyllenhall siblings are all of Swedish descent who are currently big in America.
I read that in the 1900s lots of Swedes moved to America and at one point Chicago had more Swedes than anywhere else except Stockholm. I think there are over 4million in America now.
My friend James who lives in LA says the Americans are obsessed with there ancestory and always mention it to him when they find out hes English.. ‘Im 1/4 Irish or im 1% Scottish’
2 Marty September 15, 2009 at 6:47 pm: You’re missing out on Moberg, the books are truely amazing, no wonder they are the best selling books ever in Sweden. The problem is once you start reading them you are hooked!