Swedes in the South: Swedes and their slaves in Charleston South Carolina

Most of the first Swedish emigrants who immigrated  to USA  before the American Civil War 1861-1865 settled in the Northern  States. A small number, however had settled in  the Southern  states which in 1861 broke away  from  the Union and founded the Confederate states of America . According to the US Federal  Census of 1850, around  680 Swedish-born  lived in the South by 1860 (accordint tho the census)they were around1200.

 One of the Souths oldest and most significant cities was and is Charleston in South Carolina.
The state of South Carolina, like most of the southern states at this time, was dominated by  an agrarian economy with large-scale plantation farming with slaves as labor as opposed to the more industrialized  non slavery based economy of the North.

1862 Johnson Map of North Carolina and South Carolina - Geographicus - NCSC Johnson-1862

Charlston was a thriving port city founded 1670 by English colonists . The city was first called Charles Town after the English King Charles II. Charles Town soon became the political, social and economic heart of central South Carolina both before the Independence of the United States in 1783 (when the city changed its name to Charleston) and during the Antebellum period  before the American Civil War in 1861.
South Carolina's agrarian  plantation economy was dominated by the export of, Rice, Indigo , sugar cane and cotton and the high trading activity made the city one of the busiest ports along the Eastern coast of the United States.
Another and perhaps even more significant part of the economy was the Transatlantic slave trade. It is estimated that between 1700 and 1775 40% of all slaves brought to the American colonies came via the port of Charleston.
No Swedes are surely known in Charleston at this time. A roughsmith Andrew Bankson who wrote his will in 1760 might have been of Swedish or Scandinavian origin.

Coltons map  fof  1855 over  Charleston south Carolina and  Savannah Georgia.

Charleston's economy and commerce flourished during the 18th century especially  after US independence in 1783. The population grew steadily

Year Resident number

1800 about 19000

1830 about 30200

1850 ca 43000

1860 about 40500.

 Half of the population was made up of white second half of slaves and free blacks.

It is from the first decades of the 19th century that we have the first safe bids for Swedes to settle in Charleston. From 1796 to 1843, 29 Swedish subjects applied for US citizenship in the Federal district court in Charleston.

 During the years 1831 to 1849, 105 Swedish ships entered the harbor in Charlston. Their cargo consisted of   iron, tar and various wood products . Charleston's main export products, Indigo, cotton and rice where in great demand in Sweden.

Of the 29 Swedes who applied for citizenship  16 were seamen among the others, there were both merchants, business owners and clerks.
The 1850 census indicates that 24 Swedes lived in Charlston their occupation varied as apparently in the table



Occupation Number


Seaman 9

clerk 4

cigar makers 1

merchant 1

business owner 1

fisherman 1

workers 1

wagon painter 1

druggist 1

tailors 1

mechanic 1

In the following  blog posts we will get to know some of them.

Charleston fron West  by Henry Joseph jackson 1823-1848
Gibbes Museum oby Art [Public domain]