SWEDISH COMMUNITIES IN TEXAS

BRUSHY

(Severin)

Biographies Alf. L. Scott and T. J. Westerberg

The community with this name could be said to be situated right in the heart of the Swedish communities in Williamson County. It is located east of Georgetown, north of Palm Valley, borders Jonah to the north and Hutto to the east.

The name, Brushy, was not used for this area in the very beginning. Brushy was first applied to the area by the Brushy Creek, where the first Swedes in Texas settled in the early 50’s, the area which its now called Palm Valley. Brushy became the universal name for the area between Hutto and Round Rock from the Brushy Creek in the south to Georgetown in the north. Within this area, three different churches developed, the Lutheran, the Methodist, and the Free Church. They all call their congregations, “Brushy,” and a stranger not used to the situation could sometimes ask where the real Brushy community was located. Since the Methodist church sold their country-church and built a new one in the town, the Methodist community has been named Georgetown, and the Lutheran Church, located by the Brushy Creek in the original Brushy community, has taken the name, Palm Valley. The Free Church took the name, Brushy, as their official name and designates the Free Church work in the area under that title.

This is quite an attractive area. From the Mission House, or the Free Church, as far as the eye can see, there is a beautiful picture of white-painted Swedish farms in every direction. It reaches toward Georgetown in the west, Weir in the north, and Taylor in the east. The Swedes are in general fairly well off economically. Most of the Swedes who settled here, immigrated in the beginning of the 1880’ s. Among the first we can mention, John Lax 1881, Carl Anderson 1882, G.E. Johnson, C. E. Anderson, August Carlson, Carl Henry Johnson, and C. H. Gustafson 1883, Sven Peterson 1887, Andrew Engvall 1888, and Alfred Eklund 1889.

Extracted from: Swedes In Texas In Words and Pictures,

English Translation, 1838 - 1918