As a young man, Eric Jansson (1808-1850) believed he was cured of rheumatism after he saw a vision. He became a wheat-flour salesman and a charismatic lay preacher. He conducted lay meetings and publicly burned the religious works of Martin Luther. The Swedish government outlawed lay meetings, which threatened the authority of the Lutheran State Church. After he was arrested and released several times, Jansson disguised himself and escaped to Norway on skis. He eventually sailed to America under an assumed name.
Jansson sent his advance man, Olof Olsson, to the U.S. Olsson met the Hedström brothers and reported back to Jansson. In 1846 Jansson bought 60 acres of land in Henry County, Illinois, and called it Bishop Hill, named for his birthplace. The Janssonists raised crops and livestock and wove carpets. Their glowing letters to friends and relatives in Sweden boosted emigration. Soon about 1,200 followers joined the utopian colony.
The colonists made their own bricks and put up buildings. Under a communal system, expenses were low and productivity high. However, a cholera epidemic killed 200 of the followers, including his own wife, and many left Bishop Hill. Only 400 of the original 1,200 were left. When the food supply ran low, Jansson made the colonists fast, while demanding the same hard labor as before.
The end of Bishop Hill came with the arrival of Johan Root, a Swedish army veteran. Jansson allowed Root to marry his cousin Charlotta, provided that if Root left, she would stay in the colony. Root tried to kidnap her but she refused to leave. Finally, Root tracked down Jansson at the country courthouse and shot him dead. The colonists elected a board of trustees led by (advance man) Jonas Olsson. The colony prospered until the recession of 1857 and eventually the colonists divided up the communal property among themselves.
Today Bishop Hill is a tourist destination. Visitors can eat Swedish foods, buy Swedish goods, participate in seasonal activities, see the hand-made brick buildings, and talk to reenactors dressed as the original colonists. Visitors can view portraits and farming scenes painted by the Swedish folk artist Olof Krans.
As far as we know, none of the Lindgrens and Johnsons have ancestors among the Janssonists.