"We literally stumbled on Alfred Chilady's part in the early Silverhill colony when Neysa Utter found some long-stored Swedish poetry in her mother-in-law's things that had been stashed away years ago," Zion Lutheran Church's Pastor Dave tells it. "We worked with Donald Johansson, a resident of Robertsdale fluent in Swedish, to translate the longer poem." (That poetry was shared with readers of the Robertsdale Independent several weeks ago.) Research showed that Alfred had been the poet laureate of Silverhill back in the early 1900s. He literally generated poems for any occasions.

     What is now Robertsdale and Silverhill comprised the community of Silverhill at that time. "When the poem found by Mrs. Utter was finally translated, we figured the Alfred Chilady story was pretty much complete. But now, Alfred's grandson, Lawrence Chilady has provided information that reveals even more insight into the time of the Swedish immigration to 'the Swedish Colony of Silverhill.'"

     "The name 'Gustafson' was very common in Sweden. So, my grandfather apparently took the new name 'Chilady' when he came to this country. His brother Gustaf did the same, only spelling the name 'Chilade.' I don't know why they chose that name," Lawrence Chilady says. "I've got a family tree that shows how the Sven Gustafson (1812-1896) family grew." The Gustafson sir name basically disappeared with the emigration from Sweden. It was not uncommon for emigres to take new names when they came to the United States for a new life. A new life "required" a new name.

     Alfred was apparently gifted on a number of levels. "We were aware of his poetry gifts, but the violin artifact Lawrence shared with us revealed the man was able to craft instruments of wood, and we understand that he was accomplished on the violin. We don't know if he was 'classical,' e.g., a 'violinist,' or a 'fiddler'", Pastor Dave says. The violin workmanship does reveal a man skilled in close handwork. In the family archives, there is further indication of Alfred Chilady's connection with church activities. Although the picture is quite faded, there Alfred stands with his Sunday School class. The two poems originally discovered by Neysa Utter had a church connection, one a funeral, the other God's beneficence.

     Family traits are sometimes easy to follow. It is interesting that the Chilady grandson Lawrence is both a poet and artist. (People interested in his artwork can contact him at 947-5610.) Perhaps some of Alfred's skills are still with us in his remaining family.

     The story really begins a century and a half ago. Alfred Chilady was born on June 18, 1855, in Norra Höke, Kila, Sweden. He would join 20 percent of the Swedish population who emigrated from the homeland for economic reasons, many settling on the northern plains of the United States.

     One small group, settling in Chicago, Illinois, began a purely Swedish Colony in central Baldwin County in an area that was already known as Silverhill. Alfred had been head groundskeeper for Lincoln Park in Chicago before coming to Silverhill. Alfred's mother (or possibly his wife) had been lady-in-waiting to the queen of Sweden before Alfred's journey to America.

     He would be part of a large group of Swedes who had a life-changing experience in the Great Awakening of Northern Europe at the time, an experience that would birth Silverhill First Baptist, Silverhill Covenant, and Zion Lutheran Churches a half century after his birth. And it is a church history, which revealed who Alfred Chilady was. He would be nameless and lost to local history except for one fact. We get a clue from "A CHURCH HISTORY OF FIRST BAPTIST, SILVERHILL: 1899 - 1949", which states that "in 1905 a pump organ was purchased ... [and] a special dedication service was held for the occasion with Mr. Chilady in charge. Mr. Chilady was an inspiration to the community, writing a poem for every special occasion." It later notes that he became Sunday School Superintendent in 1906. That information places Alfred Chilady in Silverhill, Alabama, by 1906 and he was writing poetry.

     Now, skip ahead a whole century. Zion Lutheran Church's Neysa Utter of Silverhill was going through some old boxes of artifacts from husband Ralph Utter's mother, Agnes Johnson Utter. “Those boxes have been in storage forever,” she noted. These boxes have history in them, because Agnes was a daughter of civic booster Oscar Johnson, a Silverhill founder in 1896 and later, Mayor of Silverhill.

    The boxes contained two poems along with other artifacts that had been saved for almost a century. One poem is directly linked to October 18, 1918. Nancy Ewing who keeps the records of Silverhill Cemetery, did some digging and discovered the poem was a Swedish eulogy prepared for the funeral of Ralph Wicklund whose wife was a member of Zion Lutheran Church. Apparently, Chilady was well known and was called upon by the Silverhill Swedish community to compose verse for many occasions.

     But Neysa had discovered another poem besides the eulogy, undated, and “long” in Chilady’s handwriting, a script that was probably dated in its time, and now long out of date and hard to decipher. We suspected that Alfred Chilady was the author based on the name and handwriting on the associated eulogy. The title of the second piece was "For och Nu," probably translating something like "Then and Now" in English. But when was then and now, because there was no date! And what did it say? We did contact Lawrence Chilady, Alfred's great grandson who still lives near the homestead that he noted had been purchased by Alfred in 1904. He reported that Alfred passed away in the 1930s. So, this second poem apparently dated to between 1904 and 1930 or so.

     These artifacts were introduced to the Silverhill community by Zion Lutheran Church’s Museum for Silverhill’s Heritage Day in 2006. Donald Johansson was reading the INDEPENDENT and came across the mystery of this poem and what it had to say about the times in Silverhill (and Robertsdale, which was considered part of Silverhill a century ago).

     Fluent in Swedish, Johansson stated, “I have tried to interpret all the writing in the poem before translating it. Most of it I was able to understand, but there are a few passages that I couldn't figure out. So I sent the files to some people I know in Sweden that are into genealogy, and much better at interpreting old handwritings. In fact, this is the person who is actually related to the author of the poem.”

     Johansson waited for a reply. He noted earlier this year that, “I am still waiting on hearing back from them. Basically, from what I understand, it sounds like a poem that might have been written to be published in some sort of Swedish magazine that they received in the colony from back home in Sweden. He tells some about the life in the colony, and also goes on to 'brag' some on how they had taught the 'Southerners' one or two things about life and farming.”

     Johansson, not completely sure of some of the script, was hoping for help from the Old Country to verify what it was saying. He noted that “there are really only a few lines I am unsure of, and I hope to have a complete English translation of the poem to you soon.”

     Months pass. And then comes an e-mail, which tells the final chapter in the story of this second poem. “Sorry for being so very slow in getting back to you on this,” he said. “The people I sent this to in Sweden were not able to interpret any more of the handwriting than I had already been able to. So while there are a few words missing, I have gone ahead and translated everything I was able to read.” The handwriting was indeed hard to decipher.

     More than a half-year’s work on recovering history of Silverhill in this poem results in an English translation. Donald Johansson notes that “I translated the meaning literally, so of course it loses most of the rhymes and the meter in the English version. It sounds like this was written for some sort of publication, telling people about Silverhill. At places it is a bit boastful in tone and a little condescending towards the locals who lived here before the Swedes arrived.”

"For och Nu" by Alfred Chilady (Circa 1918?)

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