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2657. PelleNilsson - 2/8/2005 10:22:37 AM Wonkers, there is something odd about the sequence of events in 1852-55 and Johanna Dorothea's movements from Ljusne to Söderhamn to Bergsvik and back to Ljusne. Also,the exact date given for Per's death puzzles me. If correct there must have been survivors or observers who saw the ship founder. Maybe it is rather the date when he was officially declared dead.
Regarding the church, the objective of all that record-keeping was control. Control of the state's resources in form of the tax base and the supply of men to the army and control to ensure that the pure Lutheran faith was not polluted.
2658. PelleNilsson - 2/8/2005 10:51:53 AM I forgot to say that yesterday I had the idea to check the emigrant data base for Johanna Dorothea's sons and I was lucky. Axel Leonard emigrated in 1879 to Bishop Hill, Illinois. That was a religious community founded in 1846 by the self-appointed prophet Sven Jansson to prepare for the second coming of Christ. You can read about it here and here. But when Axel Leonard arrived the religious fever had subsided, at least I think so. Or maybe he never arrived there. In the 1880 census he is in Moline, Rock Island, Illinois, occupation blacksmith.
What this means is that if luck holds I can trace Axel Leonard back to 1865 when I lost the family. But probably I won't be able to any more research this week. 2659. ronski - 2/8/2005 5:12:18 PM arky,
When attacked, deer make a sound not unlike a woman being murdered.
Of course, I suppose it could have been a panther doing the attacking. 2660. thoughtful - 2/8/2005 5:21:52 PM Pelle, I too have been enjoying the Sundgren saga, and amazed at the details available. Excellent job. 2661. thoughtful - 2/8/2005 5:22:50 PM My understanding is bobcats will also scream like a woman being murdered. After hearing it one night, my mother insisted the boys go up in the woods to look for a dead body...no body found, but they did find bobcat tracks. 2662. thoughtful - 2/8/2005 5:24:07 PM Yesterday we had a flock of cedar waxwings at the feeder and last week for a short while, a sharp-shinned hawk visited.
 2663. wonkers2 - 2/8/2005 5:35:59 PM Beautiful shot. We get mostly sparrows, a few doves and an occasional cardinal. And, of course, lots of fat squirrels. 2664. thoughtful - 2/8/2005 6:17:33 PM Sorry...that is a linked pic...I didn't manage to get a shot of the one who visited my tree...he was there only a few minutes. Just don't want to get undeserved credit. 2665. arkymalarky - 2/8/2005 9:02:40 PM Ronski and Thoughtful, it may have been a deer or bobcat, but I'd never heard that about them, though I have about panthers ever since we've lived here. We have an excess of deer and I've seen two bobcats (one dead on the road, but still...). They're very cool. We do have a few panthers/cougars, they say just not black ones. But I know too many credible people who claim to have seen them. 2666. thoughtful - 2/8/2005 11:56:48 PM Of course, then again, I never knew there were black squirrels until I saw one...we now have one in the neighborhood. our usual stock is gray.
 2667. arkymalarky - 2/9/2005 12:36:30 AM I've seen one or two. The weirdest squirrel I ever saw was a brown one with a white tail that used to live by the school. I haven't seen it in a while. 2668. PelleNilsson - 2/13/2005 7:00:25 PM Frozen raindrops on the kitchen window.
 2669. Ronski - 2/14/2005 12:59:59 AM I have a ground squirrel spending part of every day inside the mesh of a squirrel-proof feeder. Not a grey squirrel, which are considered tree squirrels. This particular feeder does foil the grey squirrels, who are too large to get through the screen.
This ground squirrel disappears into a hole I though was a chipmunk entrance. I had thought at first it was a red, or flying squirrel, but they are nocturnal, with much larger eyes. This critter is halfway between the size of the grey and the red squrrel, a warm brown with a distinctly white belly. Too cute to get upset about his eating the seeds. There are other feeders around for the birds. 2670. Ronski - 2/14/2005 1:01:48 AM And the second weekend in a row with a ski day without a cloud in the sky. Conditions were fast though, lots of hardpack and temperatures just below freezing all over the mountain. 2671. PelleNilsson - 2/15/2005 8:17:04 PM From the Archives – Draft Final Report
Time to sum up. The central person is
Johanna Dorothea Smedén, born 1820 in Stockholm, dead 1876 in Ljusne from "the water sickness", edema often caused by a heart malfunction..
Married for the first time 1844 to Lars Petter Sundgren, sea captain, born 1822 in Söderhamn dead at sea some time between 28 sep 1852 and 22 Feb 1854 (see Note 1). Lars Petter's parents were Lars Sundgren, also a sea captain, born 1795 in Söderhamn, dead 1841 in Ljusne, and Brita-Stina Brändström, born 1797, place of birth unreadable, date of death unknown (not researched).
Married for the second time 1855 to the tailor Erik Eriksson, born 1831 in Ljusne and dead there in 1862 from consumption.
Children in reverse order of age.
With Erik Eriksson:
Matilda, born 1856.Served as maid after the death of here mother. Married the labourer Per Norman in Ljusne in 1881. Two children by 1885.
Maria Erika, born 1855 After the death of her mother in 1876 she is listed as "Not in the parish (Stockholm?)".Evidently she moved out without caring about the paperwork (see Note 2). In 1884 she is delisted in Ljusne with a note that she lives in what is now the Old Town in Stockholm.
Two more children dead in infancy.
With Lars Petter Sundgren:
Axel Leonard, born 1853, served as handyman and, perhaps, as a blacksmith apprentice (the note is indecipherable) in Söderhamn until 1979 when he emigrated. Then stated destination was Bishopshill but the US 1880 census has him in Moline, Iowa, occupation blacksmith.
Johanna, born 1850, from 1870 maid servant in various household in Ljusne among them the midwife Sofia Fröberg, perhaps an early feminist: she (the midwife) had three illegitimate children Sometime in the late 1870s Johanna had established herself as a seamstress because she is listed as such in the book that begins 1881. She left Sweden from Göteborg (Gothenburg) on 24 Jun 1881 with stated destination Moline. The reason I didn't find her at first is a transcription error. She is listed in the emigrant database as Johanna Lundgren. This can happen. The 'L' and 'S' are very similar in 19th century handwriting. But there can be no doubt. The parish, the age, the date compared to the parish records fit and the destination makes sense since her younger brother was there.
Kristina, born 1845, married 1863 to the tailor Karl Olsson. Five children.
I couldn't find any suitable (in terms of age) John Malm in the emigrant records. The problem here is that there are many Swedish names which start with Malm-; Malmgren, Malmlöv, Malmstedt, Malmsten to name some that come to mind. Our John can have decided to drop the last part.
My wife just came home and we are going to have a bit to eat. I will draft and post the notes later tonight.
2672. PelleNilsson - 2/15/2005 10:11:54 PM Note 1
I'm puzzled by Johanna Dorotheas illegitimate child because it falls outside the expected behaviour of a middle-class widow. Now consider the timeline.
(1) 28 Sep 1852 Lars Petter (Per) writes from Newcastle where he waits for favourable winds.
(2) 22 Feb 1854 Per is noted as dead at sea.
(3) Oct 1854 Erik Eriksson and Johanna Dorothea conceives their daughter Maria Erika born 22 Jun 1855. At that time they are described as betrothed..
(4) 2 Dec 1855. They marry.
Then assume that Per was known to be missing, presumed dead, at a much earlier date than October 1854 but that there was a mandatory legal delay between "presumed dead" and "declared dead". A sea-faring community like Söderhamn/Ljusne must reasonably have developed a sub-set of the normal social code to handle situations like this. So maybe the child was not at all seen as scandalous.
Note 2
Someone who moved into a parish would have to present himself or herself at the vicarage and turn over the migration certificate obtained at the parish of origin. But Stockholm was growing very rapidly at the time and the church could not keep up with its control function. It would have been easy to take up residence in Stockholm without papers.
2673. SnowOwl - 2/15/2005 10:17:53 PM Pelle, this is really fascinating stuff. Thanks for all your hard work. 2674. SnowOwl - 2/15/2005 10:19:37 PM It appears that Sweden is going to be home (at least temporarily) to another of my children. My youngest daughter is heading that way later this year to do a bit of nannying for her big brother and family when his wife returns to work. 2675. thoughtful - 2/15/2005 11:04:36 PM good job, pelle. I'm amazed at your patience for exploring all this stuff and amazed at the detailed records kept over the years. Very neat. 2676. wonkers2 - 2/16/2005 12:32:20 AM Thanks again, Pelle! I'm glad you haven't found any really bad skeletons in my family closet! At least no inventors of TNT, or Swedish match kings or the like. :-)
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