Charles Magnus Lindgren (November 28, 1819 - September 1, 1879) was a Swedish born, American shipping executive. He was a pioneer in the Great Lakes shipping industry.

Background

Charles Magnus Lindgren was born near Dragsmark in Uddevalla Municipality in the traditional Province of

Bohuslän Bohuslän (; da, Bohuslen; no, Båhuslen) is a Swedish province in Götaland, on the northernmost part of the country's west coast. It is bordered by Dalsland to the northeast, Västergötland to the southeast, the Skagerrak arm of the North Sea ...

, in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. He went to sea at the age of 14. In 1849, he went to the California gold fields where he engaged in the freight traffic.

Career

In 1852, Lindgren entered into a railway project together with the Bishop Hill Colony and settled in 1854 in Henry County, Illinois, a few miles from Galva. In 1856, Lindgren came to Chicago, bought a couple of freight vessels and contracted with a lumber company for shipping lumber from Michigan to Chicago. In 1860 he engaged in shipping. He gradually added vessel after vessel until in 1870 he owned half a dozen ships with a combined tonnage of 4,500. Several of these were among the largest in the Great Lake trade at that time. In 1871, he had three more large freighters built at Manitowoc, Wisconsin. One of these, the schooner '' Christina Nilsson'' was named after

Christina Nilsson Christina Nilsson, Countess de Casa Miranda, also called Christine Nilsson (20 August 1843 – 22 November 1921) was a Swedish dramatic coloratura soprano. Possessed of a pure and brilliant voice of first three then two and a half octaves tra ...

, a world-renowned Swedish diva who had visited America that year.

Personal life

In 1852, Lindgren returned to Sweden to marry Johanna Andersson. They subsequently returned to America arriving in Chicago. Lindgren was a philanthropic man who was particularly liberal toward the Swedish

Methodist Church Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related Christian denomination, denominations of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John W ...

. When the Swedish Methodist Theological Seminary in Chicago (now Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary) was founded, Lindgren contributed generously toward its erection and maintenance. Charles Lindgren was the father of

John R. Lindgren John R. Lindgren (February 20, 1855 – April 29, 1915) was an American banking executive. Biography John Richard Lindgren was born in Chicago, Illinois, the only son of Charles Magnus Lindgren, a Swedish-born ship captain and vessel-owner of C ...

, founder of the

Haugan & Lindgren Haugan & Lindgren was a bank headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The bank operated from December 8, 1879, until February 10, 1891, from quarters at No. 57 and No. 59 La Salle Street. The bank was a partnership of Helge Alexander Haugan, H. G. Haug ...

bank in Chicago.''The Swedish Element in Illinois: Survey of the Past Seven Decades'' (by Ernst Wilhelm Olson, Swedish-American Biographical Association. 1917)

References

Other sources

*Henschen, Henry S. ''A History of The State Bank of Chicago From 1879 to 1904'' (Chicago: The Lakeside Press. 1905) * Benson, Adolph B.; Naboth Hedin ''Swedes In America'' (New York: Haskel House Publishers. 1969)

External links

''Christina Nilsson'' Photo Gallery''Christina Nilsson'' Maritime Trails
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindgen, Charles Magnus 1819 births 1879 deaths People from Uddevalla Municipality Businesspeople from Evanston, Illinois Businesspeople from Chicago Swedish emigrants to the United States American businesspeople in shipping 19th-century American businesspeople