A Swedish mountaineer
Jan 25, 2013 1:45:26 GMT -7
Post by char on Jan 25, 2013 1:45:26 GMT -7
Hi everyone,
I need some help finding more information on a Swede that was involved in the RMFT. I asked a similar question a few years back on another forum but it was a dead end. New info has recently come up and I need your help if possible.
The man I want to know more about goes by the camp name “Cross Eagle” or “the Old Swede”. He is mentioned by Ruxton and Sage as a Swede, and Stewart calls him a German. Until recently his real name has been a mystery. Follow this link for full quotes:
www.scandinavianmountainmen.se/index.php?pageid=23
The reason for bringing this up again is a successful search on Google Books. In a book titled The Swedish heritage in America: the Swedish element in America and American-Swedish relations in their historical perspective from 1975 I finally found what I’ve been looking for:
“A Swede, who acquired an Indian wife and became known as Cross Eagle, is said to have lived in Colorado in the 1830s and perhaps even earlier. According to local legends and reports he was a Swedish nobleman, Hjalmar Adlercreutz, whose German sounding family name actually means ”eagle cross”. -Allan Kastrup, pg. 467
Another search on Hjalmar Adlercreutz resulted in the finding of a Swedish 16 page booklet titled: Bäfverjägaren Hjalmar Adlercreuts or translated The beaver hunter Hjalmar Adlercreutz that was published in Stockholm 1872.
It soon turned out that the only known copy on Swedish soil was hidden in the basement of a Swedish library. A phone call later a scanned copy arrives to my inbox.
Link to the scan (in 19th century Swedish):
www.scandinavianmountainmen.se/index.php?action=viewarticle&aid=57
Full of hopes I at first felt disappointed as it turns out this document is basically just a Swedish translation of a chapter titled “Die Biberjäger” from a German book written by Hermann Kletke.
books.google.se/books?id=739QAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=sv#v=onepage&q&f=false
To make it even less unique Kletke in his turn has borrowed most of the text describing the clothing, equipment of the mountain trapper and the rendezvous from Ruxton’s Life in the Far West.
However it does contain some very interesting information on Hjalmar Adlercreutz which according to Kletke came from a personal interview with Kit Carson during a visit to St. Louis while Kit was waiting for Freemont (1845?). Here follows a shortened version:
In 1844 Hjalmar Adlercreutz was more than 50 years old and had spent 30 years in the western fur trade. In other words he was likely born in the late 1780’s or early 1790’s and headed west sometime close to 1814 (give or take a few years). Apparently Kit Carson signed him up (when and where unknown) but he couldn’t pronounce his name and therefor called him “the Old Swede”. During his first twenty years in the mountains Adlercreutz managed to trap beaver valued to a total amount of $ 15000, all of which found its way back to “the company” on account of drinking and gambling at rendezvous. His death is described by both Ruxton and Sage resulting in his scalped corps. In this fight scene Ruxton calles him “Cross-Eagle” and Kletke (more or less quoting Ruxton) calls him Adlercreutz.
From what I’ve found out Adlercreutz is in fact a noble family name dating back to 1700. Such families has a pretty well documented family tree. But nowhere in it can I find this Hjalmar.
Here’s my question: Based on the info above have any of you ever stumbled across the name Hjalmar Adlercreutz in your research?
My hope is to at least confirm his existence and hopefully his presence in the western fur trade.
Sebastian “Char” Scheler – another Swedish Mountaineer
I need some help finding more information on a Swede that was involved in the RMFT. I asked a similar question a few years back on another forum but it was a dead end. New info has recently come up and I need your help if possible.
The man I want to know more about goes by the camp name “Cross Eagle” or “the Old Swede”. He is mentioned by Ruxton and Sage as a Swede, and Stewart calls him a German. Until recently his real name has been a mystery. Follow this link for full quotes:
www.scandinavianmountainmen.se/index.php?pageid=23
The reason for bringing this up again is a successful search on Google Books. In a book titled The Swedish heritage in America: the Swedish element in America and American-Swedish relations in their historical perspective from 1975 I finally found what I’ve been looking for:
“A Swede, who acquired an Indian wife and became known as Cross Eagle, is said to have lived in Colorado in the 1830s and perhaps even earlier. According to local legends and reports he was a Swedish nobleman, Hjalmar Adlercreutz, whose German sounding family name actually means ”eagle cross”. -Allan Kastrup, pg. 467
Another search on Hjalmar Adlercreutz resulted in the finding of a Swedish 16 page booklet titled: Bäfverjägaren Hjalmar Adlercreuts or translated The beaver hunter Hjalmar Adlercreutz that was published in Stockholm 1872.
It soon turned out that the only known copy on Swedish soil was hidden in the basement of a Swedish library. A phone call later a scanned copy arrives to my inbox.
Link to the scan (in 19th century Swedish):
www.scandinavianmountainmen.se/index.php?action=viewarticle&aid=57
Full of hopes I at first felt disappointed as it turns out this document is basically just a Swedish translation of a chapter titled “Die Biberjäger” from a German book written by Hermann Kletke.
books.google.se/books?id=739QAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=sv#v=onepage&q&f=false
To make it even less unique Kletke in his turn has borrowed most of the text describing the clothing, equipment of the mountain trapper and the rendezvous from Ruxton’s Life in the Far West.
However it does contain some very interesting information on Hjalmar Adlercreutz which according to Kletke came from a personal interview with Kit Carson during a visit to St. Louis while Kit was waiting for Freemont (1845?). Here follows a shortened version:
In 1844 Hjalmar Adlercreutz was more than 50 years old and had spent 30 years in the western fur trade. In other words he was likely born in the late 1780’s or early 1790’s and headed west sometime close to 1814 (give or take a few years). Apparently Kit Carson signed him up (when and where unknown) but he couldn’t pronounce his name and therefor called him “the Old Swede”. During his first twenty years in the mountains Adlercreutz managed to trap beaver valued to a total amount of $ 15000, all of which found its way back to “the company” on account of drinking and gambling at rendezvous. His death is described by both Ruxton and Sage resulting in his scalped corps. In this fight scene Ruxton calles him “Cross-Eagle” and Kletke (more or less quoting Ruxton) calls him Adlercreutz.
From what I’ve found out Adlercreutz is in fact a noble family name dating back to 1700. Such families has a pretty well documented family tree. But nowhere in it can I find this Hjalmar.
Here’s my question: Based on the info above have any of you ever stumbled across the name Hjalmar Adlercreutz in your research?
My hope is to at least confirm his existence and hopefully his presence in the western fur trade.
Sebastian “Char” Scheler – another Swedish Mountaineer