Missionary Österblom

Near the church on Vormsi is a memorial to the Swedish missionary Lars Johan Österblom, who arrived in Estonia with Thure Emmanuel Thorén in 19.

Born in Sweden in 1837, Österblom arrived in Estonia with Thure Emmanuel Thorén in 1873. Initially, the Swedish Evangelical Mission had plans to send bibles to Estonia. Local church officials assured them that almost every Swedish household already has a bible, but that there is a lack of a devout travelling preacher because local residents are poorly educated, prone to drinking and rather poor.

Thorén and Österblom travelled to parish priest Girgensohn in Noarootsi via Haapsalu. There it was decided that Thorén would stay in Noarootsi, while Österblom would head to Vormsi. Österblom worked on the island for 13 years.

Österblom himself described the situation on Vormsi at the time as one of great misery. With 2000 inhabitants, the island had 13 taverns and no schools. People lived in filthy shacks with no chimneys, which led to widespread eye diseases. Life among the locals was plagued by stealing, lying, drinking and smoking, as well as hatred towards the vodka-loving priest of Vormsi, Alexander Nordgren, and general lack of piety.

Having won the sympathy of the local manor lord Ott Friedrich von Stackelberg, Österblom founded the first school for peasants the very year he arrived. He founded a total of three schools. With Stackelberg’s permission, the missionary also began to hold prayer services. It took three years for the great wave of awakening to engulf Vormsi. The interest in Österblom’s sermons grew so much that people could no longer fit indoors and meetings had to be held in the woods. In places where the awakening was particularly intense, people would squirm and crawl on the floor, endlessly crying, ‘Get back o’ wicked one! I welcome thee, Holy Spirit!’

Along with the awakening, life on Vormsi also started to change. Chimneys were built on the houses and instead of smoke dwellings, houses with large windows were built. Österblom taught the women of Vormsi to wash the floors and pay attention to hygiene. 

There were also changes in people’s customs. During the religious awakening, old folk customs and practices disappeared and were contested by punishments and shaming. The men carried their traditional musical instruments, the talharpas, into a large pile and set it on fire, because they considered them the instruments of the devil. Folk songs and dances began to be seen as sinful.  Brides gave up wearing bridal chaplets and folk costumes were made more “decent”. 

By the end of the 1870s and early 1880s, the entire island was caught up in the Vormsi religious awakening. Drinking and smoking almost disappeared (pipes were publicly buried), as did stealing, swearing and other sins. Instead of 13 taverns, 13 prayer houses were built.

In the 1870s, however, the missionary’s activities came under criticism. On the one hand, his activities frustrated the Lutheran Church, as people preferred prayer services over going to church, and on the other, Österblom was opposed by the Russian Orthodox Church. And it was the latter that succeeded in having Österblom sent back to Sweden in 1887 without the right of return.

Österblom died in Sweden in 1932. In 1936, the people of Vormsi erected a stone monument to his memory.

The Estonian Swedes, or Coastal Swedes as they have been called over time, have lived on the Estonian coast and islands since the 13th century. In the context of Haapsalu, Swedes are first mentioned in the second town privileges issued for Haapsalu in 1294. It says that rural Swedes have the right to inherit property from any relatives they may have living in the city, and vice versa. Estonians had no such right.

It is not known where Swedes used to live in the town or what kind of work they did in the Middle Ages. We come to know more about the Swedes and their settlement in Haapsalu  later on. It is known that at the end of the 18th century, when rittmaster von Knorring repudiated the peasants of Vööla and Väike-Hara after repeated quarrels, four or five of the peasants who had to leave their posts ended up moving to Pikkholm in Haapsalu, which is located along what is now known as Sadama Street. The first settlers were three fishermen, brothers by the name of Johann, Matz and Peter Christianson and another fisherman called Christian Hindrichson. They were soon followed by Matz the mason. The newcomers built themselves houses and a windmill.  In the early part of the next century they were joined by Swedes from Kärdla.

Russwurm writes that the Swedes who settled on the islets took to cultivating the barren land, which yielded next to nothing despite their zealous efforts, and managed to somehow make an honest living from fishing and payment as day labourers. Some also Germanised, achieving prosperity and better education.

In the middle of the 19th century, when Russwurm wrote his ‘Eibofolke’, a few Swedes, most of whom had become Estonians or Germans, lived in other parts of Haapsalu as well, such as Kastinina (presently the area around Suur-Liiva and Väike-Liiva Streets), Loemäe (between Õhtu kallas, Lahe and Kalda Streets), Kopli (presently the area around Kopli and Potissepa Streets) and by the cemetery.

At that time (mid-19th century) Russwurm estimated the number of Swedes in Haapsalu to be four to five families, plus another 80 or so people with Swedish ancestry, some of whom had become Estonians.  

Holmidepealne was also important for Estonian Swedes later on, when a boat left from Vana-Sadama harbour in Holmidepealne to take mail to Vormsi and Noarootsi. So it was fairly common to see Swedes from Noarootsi or Vormsi arrive at Vana-Sadama pier and make their way to the market along Sadama Street, and then  head back to the harbour along the same road to return home.