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.