SWEDISH FAMILY HISTORY

ANDERS AND EMMA KARLSSON

Anders Petter KARLSSON born 1855 at Äspö and christened at Misterhult, Kalmar, Sweden

He married 1884 at Misterhult

Emma Matilda SVENSDOTTER born 1862 and christened at Misterhult

Emma died 1932 followed by Anders in 1944. They were both buried at Misterhult.

At the time of his death he lived in a cottage named Björkhova on the farm Gässhult whch was at Figeholm.

They had eight children.

Karl Arvid, born 1884– went to the United States 1903.

Arvid

Hans Peter Robert born 1886– died as a baby

John Axel Elof born 1887- went to the United States 1906 and joined the military there.

Olga Viktoria Matilda born 1889– went to the United States in 1905. She did not marry. She always worked as a housekeeper for a family. When she was pensioned she moved to Orlando, Florida to her sister Edit and died in Florida in 1972.

Olga

Elsa Antoinetta born 1893 – helped her father on the farm with the cows and horses. She was very strong and took care of Anders when he got sick. She did not marry and died in 1971.She was the last of the family to live on Äspö.

Elsa

Edit Cecelia born 1895- went to the United States in 1912. She did not marry. She always worked as a nurse and spent some time nursing in Lebanaon. She went back to Sweden for a visit midsummer of 1956. It was a very cold summer – so cold that the potatoes froze in the garden. They had to have a fire to keep warm. She died in Florida in 1973.

Edit

Astrid Elisabet born 1899. She worked at a Sanitorium in Mållilla for TB patients. Unfortunately she caught the disease and died in Sweden.   

Astrid

Abel Einar born 1903 was the only one of Anders children known to marry and have a family.

Abel

ABEL AND MÄRTA ANDERSSON

Abel married Märta Beatrice Maria HAMMARBERG in 1932 at Misterhult.

They had three children

Gunnel Maria born 1935 and living in Osby, Sweden.

Gunnel

Goran born 1942 who died from smoking in bed in 1971

Goran

Anders his twin brother who lived a few hours.

The family moved from Misterhult to Bikullen about 1937.

My great grandfather Nils Johan CARLSSON

We have some conflicting information about Nils leaving Sweden.

Add caption

Gothenburg Passenger Lists have Nils Johan CARLSSON from Misterhult Kalmar, left 23 April 1869, age 22 from Gothenburg on the ship Plato, for Hull with a final destination of Chicago. If he continued on to America he could have been there by the end of May.

Another record:

Nils Johan KARLSSON born 7 Sep 1848 at Misterhult.

Cook on Amanda 29 July 1869 until 30 August 1869. From Oskarshamn to Oskarshamn.

Sailor on Luther 20 August 1869. Left boat at Malmo 31 Dec 1870.

He arrived New Zealand about 1873.

TRAVELLING NORTH

Mats and Bengt took me up north to visit Misterhult and Oskarshamn. We drove for over two hours with forests either side of the road. Occasionally the scenery was broken by a service station. These forests were mixed pine, birch and many other trees.Beautiful and so many trees. No wonder they have a lot of wooden floors.

The boys used to go to a campground - First Camp Gunnarsö -   not far from where their grandfather lived when they were young so we went to see what it looked like today. What a fabulous campground! So many activities provided. There was an area blocked off from the sea to swim in. Some of the tents were really not like camping at all. Inside one I could see a TV, microwave and fridge. Not camping as I know it!

That's the Baltic Sea out there

In Oskarshamn we visited the museum of wood carvings of Axel Peterson. There was a maritime museum alongside it. 

There were models of ships that sailed from Oskarshamn. Here is one of the time period Nils left home.

I did not find anything in the shops there so we walked through the old part of town. The paths were the old cobblestones. Not much fun if you wear stiletto heels.

I had not managed to buy any souvenirs yet so we detoured to Målerås on our way home. They had the most fabulous glass creations. Wish some of them were not so heavy and expensive. There was even one from The Hobbits.

The Hobbit in crystal

EXPLORING A LITTLE BIT OF SWEDEN

The small town of Osby was just a 20 minute walk from my lodgings. It only took me about ¾ hour to check all the shops out. A couple of supermarkets, a few clothing shops. A local travel business that organises United States travel has brought a little of the wild west to Osby.

Fort Swanson

A lot of houses have flower boxes outside and large window sills inside so there are plenty of flowers and plants.

Flower boxes

I think one of the houses adjoining this park would be a fabulous place to live with young children. What a huge backyard.

Park in Osby

I saw a lot of housing estates that had a similar style. Rows of connected houses with a shed at the front.

Sandra, Mats wife, drove up from Södra Sandby and Gunnel, Sandra and I went to Ikea at Ämmhult. This was the town where the first Ikea store was built in 1958. This store was very similar to the one in Tempe Sydney. The same size 35,000 sm. It had a couple of things the Sydney store didnt have – plants and electrical goods.

I loved the white televisions sets. I bought a couple of little things. What I liked most was a tad too large for my suitcase. The way they make beds in Scandinavia fascinates me. There is a thick pad on top of the mattresss that is covered with a sheeet. Then individual duvet covers are folded on top of that. The pillows are more like square cushions than our pillows.

The following day Sandra and I went shopping to Hässleholm. This town was larger than Osby and had a few more shops. I love the carving of this tree trunk by our car park.

We wandered around and forgot that our parking was for two hours. Got to the car more than four and a half hours later to find we had not received a ticket. Was interesting the number of stores I have been in to see Jason placemats from New Zealand.

More interesting was the fact that you had to pay to go to the toilet. About 87 NZ cents too! Too bad if you had a major problem.

CARLSON ANCESTRY

MISTERHULT

Misterhult church was originally Roman Catholic. King Gustaf III sacked them and created the State Church of Sweden about 1536. 

The original church was across the road from this one. That is where the original cemetery is too.The current church was built in 1799 and since renovated. 

Outside Misterhult church

This church is where several family members were christened, married and buried.

Inside Misterhult church

Beautiful hand woven carpet in Misterhult church

Misterhult baptismal font

It required walking, rowing a boat and walking a lot more to get to the church at Misterhult from Äspo.

This is where they would have rowed their boat from to get to church.

After a number of years, possibly 25-30, if nobody is caring for the grave,  the stones are removed and the plot used for new burials. The old stones are put down the back of the property and are very overgrown.

We found the stone for Anders Petter KARLSSON down the back among the moved stones. Björkhorva is the name of the cottage where he lived.

MISCELLANEOUS SWEDISH INFORMATION

FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Easy to know which side of the family these people come from.

RELATION             ENGLISH                    SWEDISH

Fathers father           Grandfather                 farfar

Fathers mother         Grandmother               farmor

Mothers father          Grandfather                 morfar

Mothers mother        Grandmother               mormor

Fathers sister            Aunty                           faster

Fathers brother         Uncle                           farbror

Mothers sister           Aunty                           moster

Mothers brother        Uncle                           morbror

CEMETERIES

Many graves have “family grave” (in Swedish) written on them. This means that any family members could be buried there and their names might not be on the stone.

The government taxes pay for you to be buried for 25 years. It is your family's responsibility to maintain the plot. If you cannot look after it then you can pay the church to. In front of each plot is a little garden so flowers can be planted. Nearby you will find watering cans so people can water the flowers they plant. That is much better than trying to plant flowers in pots.

VISIT TO SWEDEN

Had a wonderful visit with family in Sweden.

My 2^nd great grandparents were Carl Magnus NILLSON and Anna Stina PERSDOTTER.

They had two daughters who did not marry and three sons:

      Nils – my great grandfather, born 1848 came to New Zealand.

      Anders – grandfather of Gunnel, born 1855 stayed in Sweden.

      Carl – grandfather of Millie CARLSON etc, born 1857 went to the United States

Anders had eight children. Some of them went to the United States.

The only child of his who had children was Abel who stayed in Sweden.

Abel's sons are Goran who died from smoking in bed in 1971 and his twin Anders who died soon after birth.

His daughter is Gunnel who I visited. She is married to Sten ANDERSSON and they have two sons Mats and Bengt.

Sten, Lyn and Gunnel in Osby

Mats, Lyn and Bengt in Osby

The naming pattern has changed in the last few generations.

My 2^nd great grand parents

Carl NILSSON and Anna PERSDOTTER – patronymics

Their children

Anders Petter CARLSSON and Lisa Carin CARLSDOTTER – patronymics

Anders children

Both sons and daughter named ANDERSSON

Anders grandchildren

All named ANDERSSON

Today the wife keeps her maiden name and the children could have either father or mothers name.

FOOD IN SWEDEN

Gunnel really went out of her way to make sure I had a good taste of Swedish food.

Every day at 5pm after work Bengt goes to his parents home for dinner. This week that has meant me too! So spoiled. Bengt kept commenting about seeing a spoon in the table setting – that meant dessert! Obviously not a normal daily occurrence. 

Tuesday we had pork fillets in a mushroom gravy, potatoes and salad with kiwifruit in it. Strawberries and ice cream for dessert. 

Pork Fillets in mushroom gravy

I went to the local supermarket to get something for breakfasts. The familiar names were not cereals I wanted.  Managed to choose a muesli that tasted good. Looked for the cheapest container that looked like milk and figured that was probably the one most people used.

Wednesday was baked salmon with potatoes, peas and salad. Dessert was strawberry and nectarine crumble with cream. Thursday was meatloaf, carrots, potatoes, asparagus and dessert strawberries and ice cream.

Friday we traveled north and stopped for lunch at a roadside seafood diner where you could also buy fresh fish. I had a baked potato with salmon. Yummy. This place had a variety of breads, water and coffee you could help yourself to. Flat bread is very popular.

We stopped in the middle of the afternoon on the island of Äspo. Evidently it was time for more food. Gunnel's cousin Kerstin (pronounced Chairsteen) had brought some drinks and cookies for us. I think it is a family trait  to keep everyone well fed. 

On Äspo

In the evening  Kerstin had made a cheese pie and salad for our dinner.

The next day was a buffet breakfast at our hotel. So many choices of breads, cereals, hot food and cold meats and cheeses.

We looked at a museum and wandered around the old cobbled streets of Oskarshamn until it was time for food again. We went to a cafe run by all the local churches. All the dining furniture seemed to be antiques. I ordered a hot chocolate and wondered why it had a skewer sticking out of it. Discovered it had a piece of chocolate on the end. Was yummy!

Real hot chocolate

We arrived back in Osby in time for our Smörgåstårta dinner. Wow! What a treat! A bread sandwich cake. Several layers of bread with creamy fillings such as tuna, cream cheese, mashed eggs. Covered with mayo, sliced eggs, shrimps, ham, caviar, cucumber, strawberries, lemon, lime, gooseberries, etc. First time I have eaten caviar. It was okay too.

Sunday afternoon Bengt came for me at 2pm so I could go to Gunnel for more food!. She had the idea that because I did not drink coffee I would not eat cookies! Now she knew I did eat cookies – her cousin must have told her how much I enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies Kerstin had made. So we had to have afternoon tea. When Gunnel was a child this would happen frequently with the neighbors. They would all meet for coffee and there would be 7 types of cookies available. Also some paper bags so people could take food home with them. She said she should have had more cookies on the table. So glad she didn't as I had to taste each one. There were bread buns, chocolate toffee biscuits, shortbread with almond mix on top, orange cake and then jam roll with cream and strawberry on top. She made all these except the jam roll. 

Three hours later we headed to Älmhult for an Asian dinner. I had a Thai red curry, Bengt fried rice and Gunnel and Sten had a mixed Chinese entree.  My last meal in Sweden. Diet to start now!