ELSIE
AXELINA DAHLGREN
Bruno and
Emma’s second daughter was born 21 February 1895 in Southington, Hartford,
Connecticut. Sometime between 1895
and 1900 the family moved back to Brooklyn, New York and in 1902 Emma died
giving birth to their eighth child.
Bruno decided Pennsylvania would be a healthier climate for his
remaining children and moved to Bradford, Pennsylvania. (There is a large Swedish community
that gathered close to Bradford in the adjacent town, Jamestown, New York,
during this time.)
Shortly
after arriving in Bradford, Ethel, the youngest daughter died from meningitis
and was buried in Oakhill Cemetery, Bradford, Pennsylvania.
Oakhill Cemetery,
Bradford, PA.
Looking for
a better situation for his daughters, Bruno took Elsie and her sister,
Anna, back to New York and placed
them in the Kallman Orphanage for Swedish Children.
Kallman Orphanage
for Swedish Children
Circa - 1900
New York City, New
York, US Census – 1905
Kallman’s Orphanage
– Elsie Dahlgren #30 and Anna Aurora Dahlgren #37
The Kallman
Orphanage was opened during a time when the streets of New York were overrun with orphaned
children. Philanthropic groups galvanized people across the U.S. to take in
children using the now famous Orphan
Trains. In New York City, Gustaf Kallman,
a young man from Sweden, saw the same horrific situation among the children in
the Swedish immigrants. He felt divinely called to help the children of the
Swedish population who were not only without parents, but could not speak
English.
Shortly
after being placed in the orphanage, Anna was adopted by the Janson
family. Elsie was left behind,
living out her young life at Kallman’s
separated from her father, brother and sister. We know very little about her life from this point. She probably worked in New York and
then returned to live near her brother and father in Bradford. This picture of Alexander with his
first wife, Hilda, and his two sons, Francis and Robert include young Elsie in
her twenties.
L to R: Francis Dahlgren, Hilda Dahlgren,
Robert Dahlgren, Elsie Dahlgren (standing), Alexander Dahlgren
According to
my father’s personal history his father, Alexander, remained very close to
Elsie. “..he helped her to go through secretarial school and had high hopes for
her.” (1)
Elsie never
married and she lived and worked in New York as a secretary. Sometime, in her late twenties, Elsie
contracted tuberculosis. She moved
to Stony Wold Sanatorium in June 1923.
Stony Wold was a beautiful retreat in the Adirondack Mountains of New
York for single working women and
children of limited means to come and receive medical attention.
Stony Wold
Sanatorium
Sadly, she
died at Stony Wold on 29 December 1923 from pulmonary tuberculosis. Her sister, Anna, loved Elsie
very much and always regretted that her sister had not been adopted as she
had. Anna remained close to Elsie
and after her death Anna had Elsie
buried in New York City.
Elsie Axelina
Dahlgren’s death certificate which shows her sister, Anna A. (Dahlgren)
Janson’s name at the bottom.
Elsie Axelina
Dahlgren’s obituary listing her sister Anna and brother Alexander. The obituary was copied to Jamestown,
NY where her father, also deceased, had lived prior to his death.
Alexander
Dahlgren, her brother and my grandfather, named his third daughter after his
sister, Elsie. As a child my
father, William Dahlgren, would tell me about his dad and the terrible fear
that came over him whenever the children became sick. I specifically remember a story that is recounted in my
father’s personal history:
“
It was the winter of ’34 that was the back breaker…as again illness struck
everyone in the family in one form or another. The more seriously effected was Elsie (Alexander's daughter and namesake for his sister who died) as she developed
diphtheria…and would miss most of the (school year). As usual illness in the family would hit Dad very hard and
in the case of Elsie he was most upset as he had seen so many of his family die
from (similar diseases). When
Elsie survived he was so relieved that he made her a fur coat and adopted her
as his pet.” (2)
- William Dahlgren’s Personal
History, William
Dahlgren, pg: 8.
- William Dahlgren’s Personal
History, William Dahlgren, pg: 38.
