Matrilineal Monday - My great great grandmother Carolina Boström

Last week I wrote about my great grandmother Agnes Hjelte, and today I will write about her mother Carolina Boström.

Carolina Boström

Carolina was born in April 1849 as the daughter of crofter Adolf Boström and his wife Maja Greta Persdotter. She was the fifth child of seven. The family lived in Risinge parish in Östergötland's county. When Carolina was 21 she gave birth to her first bastard child, a daughter by the name of Emelia Carolina who only lived to be sixteen. She was at the time employed as a maid at a farm not far from her parents' home.

In 1875 she gave birth to her second bastard daughter, Augusta Wilhelmina while whe was living with her parents. Two months after the girl is born the church records say that Carolina is betrothed to Karl Gustaf Andersson who worked as a farm hand on a farm in the same parish. The couple never live on the same farm as far as the church records tell but they stay betrothed without getting married for several years.

Carolina moves around and works as a farm maid in several places. The oldest daughter moves in with her grandparents where she lives when she dies. Carolina and the youngest girl move to the soldier's cottage Svärdstorp in Östra Eneby parish in 1883.  The solder who lived there was Johan Alfred Hjelte, born in 1860, and in November 1884 a bastard son is born, Carl Erik. Carolina is still betrothed but the church records show that she was given a letter releasing her from Karl Gustaf and in December 1885 Johan Alfred and Carolina get married. Agnes, my great grandmother, was born in June 1886 and her younger sister Hanna in June 1888. Karl Erik died in November 1885.

Carolina had a long life. She lived to be 83 years old. Her husband died in 1918 at an age of 58.

I have often wondered about the bad luck the women in my family have had with men but finding out about my great grandmother Agnes becoming a widow twice and her mother's bastards and being betrothed for ten years I can only make one assumption; it is in our genes. ;)

Karolina in front of the cottage where she lived and unkown relatives.

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Those Places Thursday - Kolmården Wildlife Park

Kolmården is the name of a large area, a forest, south of Stockholm, on the border between the provinces of Södermanland and Östergötland. Back in medieval times it was one of the forests that marked the border between Swedes and Geates. Due to the difficulty to travel through the forest the Baltic Sea was used for travels instead. Right on the border was a monestary and next to it an inn. The forest had a bad reputation, being a place for highwaymen and people staying away from the law so it was not a nice road to travel on. As time changed civilization came closer. An ironwork was founded, just north of where the monestary had been, in 1666 and this added to the traffic in the area. The railroad came and Riksväg 1 (highway one) was built through the forest, not far from the old road, and today it is one of the two big highways in Sweden.

The ruins of the churh where the monestary used to be.

For most Swedes the name Kolmården reminds them of the wildlife park that is named after the forest and also lies on the outskirts of it. It is a very popular place to visit and is known for its great dolphin show. The park was built in the early 1960's and is today one of the world's largest wildlife parks.

Link to Kolmården Wildlife Park in English:

http://www.kolmarden.com/sprak/english

Wedding Wednesday - A Gold Anneversy

Last Sunday I wrote about August and Elin Nilsson's obituaries, today I will write about their Gold Anniversary. 15 February 1952 August and Elin had been married for 50 years. They had during their years as married gone from a small farm to having a proper farm of their own. Out of nine children seven were still alive when they celebrated their anniversary and one of their sons had taken over the farm. Five sons and four daughters gave them several grandchildren.

 There are not many pictures of August and Elin apart from some newspaper clippings, unlike my grandmother's other uncles and aunts whom there are several photos of. August and Elin lived farther from the other siblings and their families and that could have affected their relationship.

Sunday's Obituary - August and Elin Nilsson

I have four cuttings from newpapers about my mormor's uncle August and his wife Elin. The oldest is when they celebrated their 50th weddin aniversery  and the other three are about their deaths.

August was born in 1875 and Elin in 1881, both in the province of Södermanland. They got marrid in 1902 in Elin's home parish, Björkvik, two month after their first son was born. They then moved to the parish of Östra Husby in the provnice of Östergötland where they stayed for the rest of their lives.

Elin died September 19th, 1966, and August passed just four days later. There had alread been an obituary in the news paper for Elin but when August died they added Elin's facts to August's obituary. They were married for 64 years and had nine children together. They were buried the same day.