Erik Jansson was born in Sweden in 1808. At age 22, he claimed to have experienced a religious vision that cured his rheumatism. He had another vision a decade later, and began preaching. He had no formal theological training and his teachings diverged from the Lutheran Church of Sweden, which led to confrontations with the authorities.
Jansson emphasized personal relationships God and taught that those of faith were without sin. In time he declared himself to be a prophet and “the vicar of Christ on earth,” and ultimately the “Wheat Flour Messiah.” He said he could exorcise demons and that he was on earth to restore the true Christian faith. He was arrested several times, most notably after he publicly burned the writings of Martin Luther in 1844, but he was always released after appealing to Sweden’s King Oscar I, who did not believe in jailing anyone over religious beliefs.
During one period of incarceration in 1845, a prison guard warned Jansson about a plot to kill him. Once out of hail, Jansson disguised himself as a woman and skied across the border into Norway. He sent a follower to the United States to find a suitable location for a “New Jerusalem.” Once the site had been found, Jansson and more than 1,000 followers sailed to New York. But due to shipwrecks and cholera, most died either during the voyage or during their first winter in America.
About 400 followers arrived with Jansson in Henry County, Illinois, in June 1846. Jansson named their community the “Bishop Hill Colony” after his Swedish birthplace, Biskopskulla. The early days were marked by immense hardship, but conditions gradually improved due to the hard work of the settlers. Housing was upgraded to brick dwellings, and by 1849, Bishop Hill boasted a flour mill, two sawmills, and a three-story frame church. The colony operated as a strict communal society where all possessions were shared. Mandatory celibacy, imposed by Jansson during the early lean years, was ended in 1848, and mass marriage ceremonies were held.
Jansson maintained tight control over the colony. Guards were posted to prevent defections, and members who left could not return to reclaim their possessions. One defector, John Root, who was married to Jansson’s cousin, attempted several times to kidnap his family and force them to leave with him, but they resisted.
Root filed legal claims against Jansson, and on May 13, 1850, Root shot and killed Jansson at the Henry County courthouse. Some followers expected Jansson’s resurrection after three days, but when this did not take place, most accepted the reality of the situation and resumed their regular lives within the colony. Root was convicted of manslaughter and released after one year in prison.
Jansson’s long-time follower Jonas Olson became the leader of the colony, but made no claims to prophecy or divine status. Six other trustees aided in governing the colony, which was officially charted by the state of Illinois in 1853. However, the national financial crisis of 1857 rocked the colony when it was discovered that Olson had secretly made bad investments that were suddenly worthless. Olson tried to expel his critics, but the membership voted to dissolve Bishop Hill in 1858.
Though only male members had been permitted to take part in the dissolution vote, Bishop Hill’s assets were evenly divided between all adult members, male and female, which was rare at the time. Some members moved to a nearby town and retained their belief in Jansson, while others joined Methodist or Seventh-Day Adventist churches. About 200 Janssonists remained at the Bishop Hill site.
The site is now the Bishop Hill State Historic Site, managed by the state of Illinois. Several of the colony’s buildings are maintained, including the Colony Church and the Colony Hotel. The site, which was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1984, also features a park with memorials and a museum housing paintings by colonist Olof Krans.
Key Sources:
Elmen, P. (1997). Wheat flour Messiah: Eric Jansson of Bishop Hill. SIU Press.
Lowe, D. G. (1969, October). A prairie dream recaptured. American Heritage.
McDonald, J. (1985). The Ballad of Bishop Hill. Sutherland Pub.
Soland, R. J. (2017). Utopian Communities of Illinois: Heaven on the prairie. Arcadia Publishing.
Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religious Movements 