Chilberg (alternate spellings include Killberg and Kylburg) is a Swedish-American family that came from Knäred,

Halland Halland () is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden (''landskap''), on the western coast of Götaland, southern Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Småland, Scania and the sea of Kattegat. Until 1645 and the Second Treaty of Brömsebro ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, to America in 1846 with the boat ''Superb'', starting their journey in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

to arrive in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. This family were early American pioneers moving west, from

, to Bergholm in

Wapello, Iowa Wapello is a city in and the county seat of Louisa County, Iowa, United States. The population was 2,084 at the time of the 2020 census. Wapello is part of the Muscatine Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Wapello was platted in the late ...

, with a short period in

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

to finally settle in the

Skagit Valley The Skagit Valley lies in the northwestern corner of the state of Washington, United States. Its defining feature is the Skagit River, which snakes through local communities which include the seat of Skagit County, Mount Vernon, as well as Sed ...

at Pleasant Ridge,

La Conner La Conner is a town in Skagit County, Washington, United States with a population of 965 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Mount Vernon– Anacortes, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town hosts several events as part of ...

Skagit County Skagit County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 129,523. The county seat and largest city is Mount Vernon. The county was formed in 1883 from Whatcom County and is named for the Skagit Ind ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. John Edward Chilberg later moved to Seattle as a child in the early 1870s.

Prominent members

The oldest known family member was Karl Killberg, a parish clerk living 1695 in

Hishult Hishult is a locality and a parish situated in Laholm Municipality, Halland County, Sweden with 332 inhabitants in 2010. The area has been a centre of iron extraction and formed a county, including parts of northern Skåne while it was Danish Dan ...

. One account of the family's migration to the US states that the family settled in Seattle and owned a grocer and a knitting house, the very first Scandinavian businesses in Seattle. The success of the grocer, which was called Childberg Brothers, led to other business ventures. The most prominent members of the American branch of the family include John Edward Chilberg, the president of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909-1910. John Edward was the grandson of Carl Johan Chilberg, who had come to the United States in the 1840s. He got into shipping and became the secretary of the Puget Sound & Central American Steamship Co. in 1898 and president of the Seattle Shipyards Co. in 1906. His uncle, Andrew Chilberg, served as the president of the Scandinavian American Bank of Seattle and in 1879 he became the vice-consul of Sweden and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. John Edward Chilberg II, the grandson of John Edward Chilberg, was a very active American production designer and

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

. From the branches still living in Sweden, there was Johan Peter Killberg, who started the Killberg Book Stores in Ängelholm and Helsingborg.

References

{{Reflist American families Swedish families American families of Swedish ancestry