Merry Christmas

O Come, Emanuel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugV6QGcafEE&feature=player_embedded

Johan August Persson

Johan August Persson

(Alexander’s Maternal Grandfather)

 Johan August Persson (14 Jan 1833-30 Dec 1902)

            Johan was born in Södra Lundby, Sweden on the family farm, Matsagården to Per Andersson and Magdelena Månsdotter. He was the oldest child of ten. 

  Church in Södra Lundby where Johan and his children would attend

Johan married Maja Kasja Andreasdotter when he was 21 years old and she was 19 years old, in 1854.  They had thirteen children together, 12 of which reached adult hood.  Johan’s brother, Johannes married Maja’s younger sister, Johanna.  Johannes and Johanna owned the adjoining farm called Nygården.  Another of Johan’s brother Sven also farmed at Matsagården.  They were a close knit family.

Maja Kasja Andreasdotter

Johannes Perrson and Johanna Andreasdotter

           

Johan was a successful and passionate farmer.  He farmed three separate farms, Matsagården, Slöngo and Gantågården. He raised oats, rye, turnips, clover and potatoes.  Even on his deathbed, he was concerned with his unthreshed oats.

Johan died on 30 Dec 1902, the day of his daughter Elizabeth’s wedding from heart disease.  Below is his farewell letter to his emigrant sons, Johan, Gustaf and Anton.  Emma, Alexander’s mother, had passed away six months before the letter was written.

Slongö, December 26, 1902

Dearly beloved sons, daughters-in-law and children!

I would like to write a few lines to you and thank you for all your

kindness and you, Johan, for the beautiful pictures. We look so youthful

that it is an ornament for us and for you who honored us with this fine

souvenir.

I want to tell you that Lisen´s (Elisabeth) wedding will take place on

Tuesday Dec. 29. Her husband to be is the freeholder Fredrik Johansson,

Frälsegården, Malmered, a tall,nice and skilful carpenter. He has bought

the farm with all the movables as well as two young first class mares

together with other cattle and a carriage the he himself has made. He is

the cousin of Erland from Harskog and his father was the brother of Sven

from Harskog. To the wedding we have only invited our children Petter,

Karl, Tilda and Mina - but Mina has a small child so she will not come

- and Sven from Tåstorp, Johan from Nygården and Joh. Jonsson from

Matsagården as host.

I also would like to mention that we had a good harvest this year with the

rye and the oats well harvested and the clover at Slongö not so well. Nice

rye and oats and a lot of potatoes and 100 barrels of turnips. At

Gantagården we got 70 piles of rye and 140 stacks of oats. We have

threshed the rye and we got 20 barrels, the oats remains mostly

unthreshed and we had more than 100 barrels of potatoes. Since spring, I

have spent most of my time almost alone at Gantagården and looked after

the cattle: one horse, three cows and 12 pigs. But now, one or two weeks

ago I came to Slongö because I am so weak. There is nothing I can do,

most of the time I am lying in bed. My heart problems increase, I feel

tired and dizzy so it is difficult for me to walk. My only care should now

be to come to a better home and to get my sins purged in the blood of

Jesus by grace and mercy only. Oh my dear children if you knew how

bad it is to postpone repentance until you have become old. Do not fail to

do the only thing that is necessary while there is yet time because we are

not promised a morrow (---). One after the other passes away without a

preceding illness. Among our relatives Johanna and Kajsa in Hälltorp,

Elin Johanna and her brother Anders Larsson on Backen and his wife

Lena Maja, Jonsson´s wife Johanna at Boestorp, Eriksson´s Greta at

Matsagården and many more. It is grave how suddenly many of us are

called unto Himself. Emma has now passed away, so John be so kind and

take care of the upbringing of the children as a guardian.  When funds are disbursed you have to withdraw them and keep them until the children themselves can take over them, if there is poor relief that can finance their upbringing. Emma had received 250 crowns and for the journey 250 crowns, together 500 crowns. I cannot say what you will get but I think it will be a bit over 2,000 crowns. I would like to take care of my house while I am alive, but

that too might be neglected.

I have learnt that the times are getting worse from what Friberg´s son has

written. He was here and visited his old home this summer and now he

regrets that he went back. He spent 3,000 crowns during the short period

he was here so now he cannot come home so soon. I want to ask you how

you are doing in Brooklyn (the above-mentioned was in Boston), what

income you have, where Gustaf and Anton are working and whether you,

Johan, have plenty of work as before. Here it is difficult to find workers

in summertime.

I now have to finish my letter with the wish that these lines will reach

you when you are healthy and well. Send my greetings to Dahlgren! We

got a letter from him about Emma´s death. Do not mention to him what

I have written about the funds that will accrue to the children until it is

necessary.

At home we are preparing for Lisen´s wedding but I cannot expect any

joy because I am so weak. If one of you had come home that would have

created joy to the full,

Signs your old father

Johan August Pehrsson

Of identical wording as the original certify

Södra Lundby Jan 18, 1903

Gabriel Thedéen

Viking Thedéen

Letter - Anton Johansson - October 1898

Anton Johansson was Emma Johansson Dahlgren's brother.  He emigrated from Sweden and worked for his brother, Johan A. Johansson in Brooklyn, New York. 

Anton Johansson

Anton and Annie Marie Johansson

Anton settled in New York and began his family with Annie Marie Johnson.  Together they had four children, Hilding, Esther, Florence and Agnes.  He and his brothers maintained close contact with their family in Sweden.
In 1898, he wrote a letter home congratulating his brother, Kalixtus on his recent marriage and asking for news from home:

Anton's letter dated October 1898.

Translation of the letter:

"...I will now tell you about our health.  Just now our little boy, Hilding is not well.  We had the doctor here yesterday.  He said that his stomach was in a very bad condition.  We are so afraid but we have to hope for the best.  Otherwise he is well." 

"We have been waiting for letters from home for a long time but in vain.  I do not know what I have done to my father.  He never writes to me.  He writes to Johan, but not to me.  I would very much like to have greetings from our dear parents once more in my life because if death were to strike one of us it would be hard on the rest of us.  We have ordered a picture of our little boy and we will send it as soon as we get it."

"I haven't got any more news for now.  More than a thousand greetings to all of you and please send regards to brother Petter and his family from us and ask him to write to me and to all my siblings who want to receive our greetings and do not forget our dear parents so that they do not forget us out here, asks your brother and sister-in-law and little Werrad (nickname for Hilding?).  Write soon!"

Anton Johnasson

Anton's little boy, Hilding,  died shortly after this letter was written on October 17, 1898.  

Hilding Johansson

Anton's wife, Annie Marie, died in 1904.  Anton died the following year in 1905.  

PIcture - Emma's Family

Picture of Swedish family:

Paula has been in correspondence with cousins on Emma's side in Sweden.  She has collected letters and pictures between Emma's family in Sweden and her brother Johan who immigrated to the United States and started a successful construction company.  This week's blog features a family group picture of the family in Sweden and a letter in Swedish with an English translation:

Family Group Picture of Emma’s family in Sweden:

Sitting in the first row is (from left to right): 1. Johannes, married to Tilda(Emma's sister) 2. Selma b.1875 (Emma's sister), 3. Hanna b.1877(Emma's sister), 4. Tilda b.1855(Emma's sister), 5. Mina b.1863 (Emma's sister), 6. Greta, from the preceding generation, married to Johan August´s brother Sven and 7. Un-identified. Second row: 1. Beda, a double cousin from Nygården 2. John b.1865 (Emma's brother), 3. Kalixtus b.1867(Emma's brother), 4. Matilda, Kalixtus wife, 5. Petter b.1859,(Emma's brother) 6. Hanna (Anna), Petter´s wife, 7. Anders Fredrik, married to Elisabeth(Emma's sister), 8. Unidentified young girl, 9. Elisabeth b.1871(Emma's sister), with a child, possibly Elsie, 10. Axel b.1879,(Emma's brother) 11. Unidentified lady, 12. Annie, Axel´s wife with a child and 13. Unidentified. In the back rows, there are cousins/double cousins of the 13 as well as siblings of the husbands/wives and some neighbors. We can identify four of the kids – John´s Edwin and Helen (close to the birch) and Kalixtus´s Ester (with apron) and Nils (sailor suit).

Emma

Emma Charlotta Johansdotter Dahlgren

Alexander's mother

Emma was the second oldest child of a close knit family of twelve children.  Her parents were Johan August Persson and Maja Kasja Andreasdotter.

Johan August Persson

Maja Kasja Andreasdotter

She was born in the small parish of Södra Lundby on a farm called Matsagården.

The farm had been in the family possession for centuries and the descendants of Johan August Perrson still live on the farm today.  Johan had two brothers,  Johannes and Sven, who owned adjoining farms  and between the three brothers there were 31 children.

The farm in Sweden where Emma grew up.  Shown is her brother Klaxitus and his family.

Emma left home at the young age of 15 to work in one of the larger cities in the area.  She worked and supported herself for fifteen years.  She met and married her husband, Bruno, in  Lidköping when shw as 30 years old.  Bruno and Emma had their first child, Agnes Maria Emilia Dahlgren, in January 1887.

Archival picture (circa 1700) of the city in Sweden where Emma worked.

They immigrated a few months later with their infant daughter to the United States.  They left Sweden on the ship Romeo and sailed to England.  Once in England, they sailed to America and settled in Brooklyn.

The ship Romeo in Goteberg

Three of Emma's brothers would follow her lead and move to the United States.  They worked as carpenters and builders.  Emma had a hard life in America.  Money struggles were common as well as illness and death among her young family.  Emma passed away in 1902 from complications of childbirth.  she is laid to rest in Evergreen Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

Emma's grave at Evergreen Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York.

Petter and Matilda Dahlgren

Today’s story is about Alexander’s uncle, Petter Dahlgren.  This information on Petter’s life comes from a letter written to Paula by Britt Novak, his granddaughter who currently resides in Stockholm, Sweden.

Petter and his wife Matilda Josefsdotter met and were married in Falköping, Sweden.  Petter and Matilda had ten children, five boys and five girls, Anna, Matilda, Sten, Martin, Josef, Dagmar, Ellen, David, Vera and Paul.  They purchased a piece of land in the Stockholm area of Stenhamra, or “Stone Hammer”, named based on its location to a rock quarry.  “Stone Hammer” and the quarry are located on Färingsö Island in Lake Mälaren. The land in Stenhamra was located on a small stony forest hill. They named their property “Dalsro” which means “Valley Rose”.

Matilda (1855-1947) and Petter Dahlgren (1852-1934)

Through the years, they cultivated the land and grew fruit trees and berry bushes. The family raised some animals as well.  They had a cow, pigs and chickens.  Petter (and later his son David) were also beekeepers and sold any extra honey not consumed by their 10 children!  Matilda had a knitting machine and knit socks and other goods to help keep her family warm and to sell. Petter and Matilda shipped the produce and goods to Stockholm to earn some extra money and to help build a larger home.  Petter and Matilda were devout Christians and well respected throughout their community.

Gamal Huset - Old  House - Note the beehives in front.

The Stenhamara stone quarry, now partially submerged, 
was used to build cobble and curbstones shipped
to Stockholm.  Many died due to dangerous
working conditions.  

Petter and all of his sons worked in the local stone quarry as masons. Conditions at the quarry were deadly, and all but Petter’s son David died from tuberculosis. Petter and Matilda’s children were musical.  David played the violin and cello for a chamber orchestra, Ellen played the guitar and Vera the mandolin.  Anna, the oldest daughter, went to St. Petersburg to work and when she came home she taught the family how to hunt for wild mushrooms. Petter’s daughter Dagmar and her husband had a small farm.  After Petter and Matilda passed away, David, Vera and Ellen decide to keep the family home.  The extended family gathered there during the summers for family reunions for many years afterwards.

Petter and Matilda sitting in front of Nya Huset - New House.

It is interesting to note that all of Alexander’s paternal uncles became stonemasons and worked throughout Sweden. Alexander himself also worked as a stonemason during the Great Depression.  Alexander was forced to sell his shop at the beginning of the depression and worked for another tailor to make ends meet. As the depression continued there was not enough work for the both of them, so Alexander worked for the WPA.  His primary responsibility in the WPA involved cutting stones used for curbs.  The engineering instinct in him came out and he was deeply involved in designing tools to cut stone. He took great pride in each new tool he created and would bring them home to show everyone in family his daily handiwork.

Elsie Axelina and Anna Aurora Dahlgren

Bruno and Emma’s two daughters and son, Elsie, Anna and Alexander, survived to adulthood.   Elsie and Anna’s stories are the topics for this week’s blog:

____________________________________________________________________

When I was a young girl my Aunt Elsie, William Dahlgren’s sister, would visit and tell family stories.  The story of her father’s sisters Anna and Elsie – her namesake – always touched me deeply.  She told of her father's parents, Bruno and Emma Dahlgren, losing most of their children through sickness and the remaining children taken to live in a New York orphanage.   I imagined all kinds of scenarios about the two girls, my great-aunts, and wondered what had happened to them.  This is what we know today:

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.  Looking for a better situation for his daughters, Bruno took Elsie and her sister back to New York and placed them in the Kallman Orphanage for Swedish Children. 

New York City Fed Census 1905 listing Elsie and Anna Dahlgren as residents at Kallman's Orphanage.

1905 Census Link:  
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11816-158183-79?cc=1463113

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 from 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.

Kallman's Swedish Children's Orphanage circa 1910.

Kallman's Orphanage History Link:

http://www.kallmanhome.org/Some%20History.htm

Shortly after being placed in the orphanage, Anna was adopted.  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 their two sons, Francis and Robert include young Elsie in her twenties.

Hilda Dahlgren and her two sons Francis and Robert, Elsie Dahlgren, Alexander Dahlgren

Elsie passed away from tuberculosis at the Stonywold Sanitorium for Single Women near New York City.   Her sister, Anna Aurora Dahlgren Jansen, took her body back to Brooklyn for burial.  According to my father's autobiography,  Alexander remained very close to Elsie.    "The  death of Elsie hit Alexander the hardest as he had helped her to go through secretarial school;   and had high hopes for her.” (1)  Elsie's place of burial in New York City is unknown at this time.
  

Stonywold Sanitorium

Stonywold Sanatorium History Link:
http://localwiki.net/hsl/Stony_Wold_Sanatorium

Brief obituary for Elsie Dahlgren posted by her sister, Anna A. Janson.

Alexander later named his third daughter after his sister, Elsie.  As a child my father would tell me about his dad and the terrible fear that came over him whenever the children became sick.  I specifically remember a story about his sister Elsie that is recounted in his 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 who 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)

1. William Dahlgren’s Personal History, William Dahlgren, pg:8.
2. William Dahlgren’s Personal History, William Dahlgren, pg:38.

by, Lisa Dahlgren

ANNA AURORA DAHLGREN JANSON ALHOUSE

Anna was born in Southington, Connecticut on the 21 Dec 1896 to Bruno and Emma (Johnson) Dahlgren.  She was just six years old when she lost her mother and 8 years old when she lost her younger sister, Ethel.  After the loss of her sister, Bruno, her father, felt he could no longer care for his children and put Anna and her older sister Elsie in the Kallman Scandinavian Orphanage in Brooklyn, New York in 1904.

Anna was adopted a year later by a well to do Swedish couple, Charles and Hilda Janson.  The Jansons worked as furriers and had a shop on 261 5^th Avenue in Manhattan where they also lived. Anna was well loved and taken care of by the Jansons.   Anna missed her sister, Elsie.  Even in her older years Anna would get upset when speaking about Elsie and that she was not adopted with her.  Elsie and Anna kept in touch throughout their lives.

Anna met and fell in love with William Alhouse, the son of German immigrants, Mathais and Anna (Gerkin) Alhouse.  The Jansons did not approve of William at first because he had been previously married and had a young daughter, Arlene, who his parents were helping to raise.  Anna married William anyway.  They eloped and were married in Manhattan, NY on 8 May 1924.  Anna and William first settled down in Jamaica, Queens, NY where their first son William George Alhouse, Jr was born on 10 Jun 1925. 

Anna Aurora  and  William Alhouse

Anna’s adopted father, Charles Janson, passed away on 23 Nov 1927 at which time her adopted mother moved in with Anna and her family.  Anna would take care of Hilda until Hilda’s death.  Bill Alhouse, Jr said he remembered Hilda and Anna speaking in Swedish together especially when they did not want him to understand their conversation.  Bill learned Swedish from hearing his mother and grandmother converse, but he never let them know he understood a word they spoke! Anna and William had their second son in 16 Apr 1935 in New York.  Hilda passed away about 1937.   The family later moved to Stamford, Connecticut.

William Alhouse, Sr. worked as an importer/exporter of chocolate for the Nestles company. He traveled out of country with his work to Belize, Bermuda, Bahamas, and Puerto Rico.  William passed away on 8 May 1962.  Sometime after her husband’s death, Anna moved to California to live close to her oldest son, Bill.   Anna had the opportunity to travel to Sweden once, and she was delighted to have the chance to walk along the streets of Stockholm and to be in the land of her family. There are not many pictures of Anna because she was almost always the person behind the camera taking pictures of everyone else.

Anna passed away in Los Altos, California on 17 Nov 1985. 

by, Paula Dahlgren

Bruno and Emma Dahlgren - Part II

Bruno and Emma - Southington, Connecticut

Bruno and Emma returned to Brooklyn sometime between 1896 and 1898.  There they had one other little girl, Ethel, born in 1898.  Bruno worked as a tailor for a while and then tried working as an agent.  (United State agents met new immigrants at the dock and helped them find housing and jobs.)  In 1902, tragedy struck again when Emma died in premature childbirth. Bruno was left a widower with four children.  In 1903, he left for Bradford, Pennsylvania and lived on Bank Street in the Swedish settlement, working as a tailor in Bradford.  Aunt Mary once said that he moved to Bradford for the good air, hoping it would be better for the children.  But, even the good air couldn’t protect the family from more loss.  The baby of the family, seven year old, Ethel passed away from meningitis in February 1904. She was buried at Oakhill Cemetery in Bradford.

An advertisement for Bruno's shop in Connecticut

After the loss of Ethel, Bruno seemed to have lost heart.  He returned to Brooklyn in the summer of 1904 and placed his two remaining daughters in the Kallman Scandinavian Orphanage in Brooklyn, leaving Alexander to work for himself in the city at age 16.   The Kallman Orphanage was a Christian home run by a Swedish emigrant who felt called to help other Swedish emigrants who fell on hard times in the new country. Anna, was adopted by a well to do Swedish couple who ran a furrier shop on 5^th Avenue in Manhattan.  Anna lived a very happy life and married William Alhouse, an executive for Nestles Chocolate Company.  Elsie was never adopted and spent the rest of her childhood at Kallman’s.

Kallman's Swedish Children's Orphanage where Anna and Elsie lived after Bruno left Bradford, Pennsylvania

Alexander eventually moved to Jamestown, New York  to join his father.  While in Jamestown, Bruno met a widow by the name of Christine Berquist and they married in 1909.  Bruno’s life stabilized in Jamestown.  He and Christine rented a home and let out a couple of the rooms. Bruno’s daughter, Elsie came to live with them after spending her youth at the Kallman Orphange.  Bruno continued to work as a tailor and opened up a shop. He lived in the same place until his death in 1920.  While living in Jamestown, Bruno was involved in several benevolent societies such as Odd Fellows and the Swedish Hundreds Club.  Bruno is buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Jamestown, New York.

Bruno's gravesite in Lake View Cemetery,
Jamestown, New York

Bruno and Cristine's home in Jamestown, New York

       Next  Week:       Anna and Elsie Dahlgren