Margaret Bonga Fahlstrom | |
|---|---|
 Margaret with Jacob Fahlstrom | |
| Born | c.1797 Fond du Lac (Duluth), Lake Superior |
| Died | February 6, 1880 Afton, Washington County, Minnesota |
| Nationality | Ojibwe, French African ancestry |
| Other names | Marguerite Bonga Margaret Bungo Margaret Falstrom Margaret Folstrom |
| Spouse | Jacob Fahlstrom (m.1823) |
| Relatives | Pierre Bonga (father) George Bonga (brother) Stephen Bonga (brother) |
Margaret Bonga Fahlstrom (c. 1797 – February 6, 1880) was a mixed-race woman of African and Ojibwe descent who came from a fur trading family in the Great Lakes region. In 1823, she married Jacob Fahlstrom, the first Swedish settler in Minnesota, and lived with him on a small farm at Coldwater Spring near Fort Snelling. Margaret was one of the few free Black women living in the area around the time that enslaved women such as Harriet Robinson Scott were struggling to find a path to freedom.[1] In 1838, the Fahlstroms became the first converts to the Methodist faith in Minnesota, and moved to a farm in Washington County in 1840. Jacob became well known as the Methodist lay preacher "Father Jacob". His success as a traveling Christian missionary was often attributed to his fluency in the Ojibwe language, as well as his marriage. Margaret and her daughters were also known for their involvement in early church meetings in Minnesota, and their hospitality toward Methodist circuit riders.[2]
In his 1888 book Fifty Years in the Northwest, historian W.H.C. Folsom described Margaret as "a woman of fine mind...very few of any age or race can be found her equal."[3] During 35 years of marriage, the Fahlstroms had nine children. They eventually settled in Afton, Minnesota, where Margaret is buried next to her husband.
- ^ VanderVelde, Lee (2009). Mrs. Dred Scott. Oxford University Press. pp. 43, 60, 115, 119, 150, 356, 399. ISBN 978-0199754083.
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