The Swede in the tree

February 3, 1931 - I'm 19 years old today!  Gosh I'm getting to be real old!  Mrs. Smith gave me a pretty dance hankie and I got a card from Loretta H. and Aunt Mildred.  Mom called me up at noon and the whole family congratulated me.  R.K. came and we went to the dance at the pavilion.  Philip Baxter's played.  I was surprised when I saw who was with Ralph.  It was Chris Rushman. He came back with Chris B. Sunday.  Martha was along, too.  Norman L. was there.  He asked me if I had come with anybody in particular.  I said yes.  Then he said he wouldn't say anymore. Ha! Ha!
February 4, 1931 - Sleepy today.  Aunt Mildred went to Winnebago.  I went home with Martha.  A farewell dance for Art and Emelia tonite at Uncle Hans'.  I had a keen time.  C.R. wanted to take me home.  I wish I could have gone home with him, but I'd already promised Ralph.  The Welsh kids were there in full force and acted real nice.  Got home at 10 minutes to 4.  I was surprised when I saw how late it was.  But it was worth it.
February 5, 1931 - Had to get up earlier this morning to get Mrs. Smith some breakfast.  And am I sleepy!!  Built a rip, roaring good fire this afternoon.  The house was warm enough.  I took a bath after supper and went to bed about 9:30.

Yes, yes . . . 19 years is real old, future Grandma!!  I do remember feeling a bit odd when I turned 20; like something was expected of me since the first number in my age wasn't a '1' anymore.  So, I can empathize somewhat with Grandma's sentiment here.

I will leave Grandma happily contemplating her age and which young man she really wants to go out with and turn back to recent genealogy happenings.  Below is a summary of what our newly-found Swedish cousin, George E., knows about the family tree, plus some comments of my own.  Some things we knew, some we didn't:

Ola was born on Dec.11, 1852 in Lunnom, Östra Broby parrish, Skåne, Sweden to Maja Olasdotter - no father is listed and the notation "öakta" (out of wedlock) appears on the birth record.   In 1859 Maja and Ola moved to Westraby in Emmislöv parrish, next to Östra Broby.

 

Maja was born Dec.31, 1827 in Björstorp, Örkened parrish, Skåne, Sweden.  Her parents were Ola Johansson (born Feb. 15,1775) and Christina Andersdotter (born 1788).

 

George notes that illegitimate births were quite common in 19th century Sweden, but that they did carry some social stigma.  He believes the stigma was more in the towns and cities than the rural setting that most on our ancestors came from.  He has another great grandfather who was born "öakta" but his parents were married within a year of his birth. George thinks the frequency of this situation says as much about the dire poverty and harsh class structure in old Sweden as it does about the "moral character" of the men and women involved.

 

After moving to Westraby in 1859 Maja and Ola were on their own until 1864 when Maja married Ola Olafsson Brogren (born May 11, 1805) and moved into his house with her son, young Ola. Brogren's former wife and daughter (ages 61 and 26 respectively) had both died the same year. Maja was age 36 and little Ola was 12. Four years later the Parrish Pastor recorded the "the boy Ola Svensson" received permission to leave Westraby for Schlesvig-Holstein in Prussia. Perhaps Ola took the name Svensson (maybe his mother told him that was his biological father's name) but later would also use Brogren, the last name of his stepfather. We have heard the story about Ola claiming to be Brogren when that name was called to be sure he got a spot on the boat to come to America. I don’t know how that got started, but I wonder if it may have been started by Ola himself if he felt there was a stigma to not having parents that were married to one another.

 

George has mad research skills but he is still trying to uncover our most recent common ancestor who connects us. I forwarded to him the translations of the three letters we have from Maja’s friend to Ola in the 1890's. There are names of people and places in there and hopefully George can seize on those and find some clues. He can read (and speak!) Swedish, so the old records that are out there are not a problem for him.

Here is some information from George about where Ola was from: Ola's birthplace was in the far south of Sweden in the province of Skåne (pronounced Sko-nuh). Until 1676, Skåne was a province of Denmark and to this day is the richest agricultural land in all of Sweden. Even modern Swedes say that people from Skåne have their own language that can't be understood by other Swedes or Danes. Ola was born in the northwest corner of rural Skåne about 45 miles away from the big city of Malmö and its suburb of Lund where George’s great grandfather was born. Times were hard all over in Sweden, but the collapse of rye prices hit Skåne especially hard. It was a wise move for Ola to leave when he did, as job prospects in Prussia were much better. The town of Fehmarn is on an island of the same name just south of the Danish island of Falster. The area would have seemed familiar to Ola as it too is rich farm land. In fact, Fehmarn, along with the whole province of Schlesvig-Holstein had been part of Denmark until 1864 when Otto von Bismark and his Prussians stole it from the Danes after a short war.

 

Oh, and there's a Swedish festival in Kansas every two years that some of us should go to, I think.  We should be embracing our Swedish side, too.

 

That's Ola on the left in the photo; I've forgotten who is on the right or if we even know who that is.