07/26/2026
History of East Sweden Community
Transcribed from the Brady Standard Bicentennial Edition.
As told to George Engdahl over 50 years ago by the late Dan Hurd and my mother, who became an orphan at the age of 9 years old and made her home with Dan Hurd and family from 1883 till 1891.
During the years of 1871-72, a young man 17 years of age by the name of Dan Hurd came up from Palm Valley near Round Rock, Texas, accompanied by an older brother, Lee Hurd and an uncle, one Will Larson.
The purpose of coming to this area was to herd cattle for the Southwestern Cattle Company who ranged their cattle along the old military road that ran between the San Saba River and the old Fort Colorado on the Jim Ned Creek in Coleman County.
During this time Dan Hurd discovered the fine rich land between Onion Creek and Brady Creek in McCulloch County, or known as Onion Creek Valley. In this area there were a few rocky ridges lined with large live oak trees and wide flats covered with mesquite and buffalo grass with a few large mesquite trees. These was very little brush of any kind.
A few buffalo ranged in the area and of course prairie dogs that nature put there to keep the brush killed out for they fed mostly on the bark and roots of brush, especially during winter months. In the early days the Indians had the habit of burning off the grass. These fires did not damage the large live oaks and mesquite trees but helped keep the brush killed out.
During the days that Dan herded cattle in this particular area, he made up his mind that when the time came and he had gotten to his feet, he would surely come back here to make this his home. Seventeen years later his dreams came true.
During these 17 years Dan and Lee Hurd had married and started their families at Palm Valley near Round Rock, Texas.
In 1885 Dan Hurd, Lee Hurd and C. A. (Leedy) Johnson came here and bought land, one-half section each. Dan Hurd built a one-room shack on his land and hired an old bachelor named Wesburg to break and put part of the land in cultivation. Leedy Johnson built a two-room house on his land and got a family by the name of Engdahl to break and cultivate his land. Ox teams were used to break land with at this time. The next year in 1886, in the fall, Dan Hurd and Leedy Johnson and their families came up to see the crops. The Hurds and Johnson were brothers-in-law. The crops were the finest they had ever seen on new land and consisted of cotton, corn and cane.
That same year Lee Hurd moved his family up here and lived a while in the two-room house on Leedy Johnsonâs land and worked that land, although he had land of his own, running sheep on it, in the meantime putting improvements on his own land.
In 1887 Dan Hurd came back up here and built the first part of his large house which was three rooms and rented it to a family by the name of Nix. That same year, Charley Johanson and John Samuelson came and bought land; and Johnson built two houses for rent on his land.
In the fall of 1887, Mr. Turn and Franz Johnson came up here bringing their cattle and horses. Mr. Turn and Mr. Johnson and their families moved into these rent houses on Charley Johansonâs land and worked his land. In the meantime they also bought land and made improvements and soon thereafter moved into their own homes. All these first homes were built with lumber hauled from Lampasas.
Then in 1888, Dan Hurd moved his family and at this time, Charley Johanson, Leedy Johnson, John Samuelson, and Mr. Thornbloom all moved their families up here.
Mr. Thornbloom was a stone mason and built all the cellars, cisterns and foundations for these first families. Later Mr. Thornbloom moved to Brady and helped build the Brady courthouse. Soon after all these families settled here, a church and school house was built. All the first seven families and others that soon followed were Swedish, so the settlement came to known as Sweden. In 1906 the community name was changed from Sweden to East Sweden; the reason for this was that a land promoter by the name of Severin settled a large number of Swedish families from Travis and Williamson counties on land west of Brady and this settlement became known as West Sweden.
The early settlers were all farmers; their main crop was cotton; just enough feed was planted to feed their livestock, which was corn, millet and cane. Maize at this time, was not known. The first maize planted in McCulloch County was in 1903.
The rainfall for this area is around 26 inches but every few years we have a dry year with as little rain as 8 or 9 inches and other years as much as 40-odd inches. The climate is very healthful, probably the best in North America.
This part of McCulloch County is devoted to growing oats, wheat, cotton, maize and corn and raising cattle, sheep, goats and hogs. A few wild turkey, deer, and quail are on the rangeland. The land is well watered with streams, ponds and wells; depth of wells range from 30 to 500 feet and irrigation water can be found at 2,000 feet.
The very first Swedes to acquire land in East Sweden were two brothers from Williamson County. Their names were A. M. and August Engdahl. They acquired one section of land, covering where the East Sweden church house was later built. They never settled on this land and probably never saw it. This section was bought for $16.00 during the middle 70s.
The first six Swedes to come to Texas were S. M. Swenson, Sventy Palm, Gustav Palm, Anders Palm, uncles of S. M. Swenson, Carl Hurd and Dan Hurd, cousins of S. M. Swenson. Carl Hurd, father of Dan Hurd, was one of the first six Swedes to arrive in Texas in the early 1850âs, and was a first cousin of S. M. Swenson, the first Swede to come to Texas.
Sons and grandsons of the first three families to arrive in East Sweden in 1886-1888 are:
Walter Hurd and son, Bobbye Hurd, son and grandson of Dan Hurd; Frank V. Hurd, son of Dan Hurd. Irvine Hurd, son of Dan Hurd; Mable Cates, granddaughter of Dan Hurd; Frank W. Hurd and son, George Hurd, son and grandsons of Carl Hurd; Paul Johnson, son of Leedy Johnson.
Sons of the Engdahl families that are still living in the East Sweden community are:
George Engdahl, and Paul Engdahl, sons of Katie Engdahl who arrived in 1888.
Sons of Carl Engdahl who arrived in 1890 are: Walter Engdahl, Bill Engdahl and Ray Engdahl.
The description undoes the school photo reads:
EAST SWEDENâPosing for a class picture in 1905 are these East Sweden school children. Miss Rachel McCalister was the teacher.
Front row, left to right, are: Irvine Hurd, Arthur Nelin, Paul Johnson, Bert Burk, Lum Burk, Emil Nelin.
Second Row: Raleigh (Spot) Ake, Earl Smith, Paul Haddow, Walter Hurd, Willie Hurd, Rhoda Prickett, Lella Anderson, Emma Prickett, Esther Turn, George Black, Lizzie Black, Nina Hurd, Liza Sutton.
Third row: Charles (Carl) A. Johnson, Hiram Price, John Ake, Myrtle Hurd, Agnes Turn, Frances Smith, Maud Burk, Josie Sutton, Beulah Hurd, Pearl Johnson, Cecy Black, Gertrude Roberts, Claude Burk.
Back row: Henry Johanson with bicycle, Carl Nelin, Frank W. Hurd, Frank V. Hurd, Robert Haddow, John J. Anderson, Miss Rachel McCalister, John Roberts, Freeman J. Hurd, Bessie Roberts, Victoria Johnson, Lillie Hendryx, Myrtle Smith.
