Anna was Eric Janson’s second wife and his wife at the time of his murder in 1850. Anna Sofia was born on June 16,1815 near Göteborg in Sweden.The Daughter of Johan Bengtsson and wife Brita. Anna’s mother died when she was very young and her father became bankrupt and she was adopted by a wealthy family. Before the age of 17 she married a Swedish seaman who went to sea and didn’t come back.
At age 17 she moved to New York City with the family and became a student at a boarding school operated by a Mr. Pollock. There she studied English and eventually became an assistant teacher. Not long after she married Mr. Pollock. Anna Pollock and her husband attended Methodist worship services held by Rev. Olof Hedström. Rev. Hedström held services in a ship. It was there that Anna first met Eric Janson.
When Janson and his party first arrived they were invited to stay on Hedström’s ship. Janson would give sermons aboard the ship and soon after listening to Janson, Anna became one of his admirers. When Janson left New York to continue to his journey to Henry County , Anna followed them, her husband followed reluctantly. After arriving her husband tried to talk her into going back to New York but she refused. Mr. Pollock died shortly after arriving.
Not long after Mr. Pollock’s death Anna married Gabriel Larson,whose father had funded the trip from Sweden to Bishop Hill. But he died in 1849 when the colony was gripped with cholera. During that epidemic Janson lost his wife Maria Kristina and also two of his children.
Two weeks after Janson’s wife’s death he announced after his Sunday sermon that he was to determine the choice of the new “spiritual mother” After the service those women should come to him. It’s not known who showed up but Anna was chosen.A week later they were married. The words “handsome and gifted” were used to descrine Anna and she was said to be invaluable to Janson and knew the Colony from every aspect. They were married only eight months when Janson was murdered.
The men who were Jansen’s lieutenants did not want a woman to succeed Janson so at her husband’s funeral she came forward and laid her hand on Andrew Berglund’s shoulder stating he would be her husband’s successor. She taught school at Bishop Hill for a few years after her husband’s death then moved to Kentucky . After a time she moved back to Henry County to Galva where she operated a boarding house. She had a difficult time and was very poor. She eventually entered the county poor house where she remained until her death in 1888. She is buried beside her husband at the Bishop Hill Cemetery
Submitted by Wini Caudell .
From: Swedes in Illinois -1908
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Illinois Ancestors