The Gaylordsville Tanner and the the Uppsala Swimming Society

Last May I received an email:

Dear Erica-
I am working on a short history article about the Uppsala Swimming Society for an upcoming issue of SWIMMER magazine, the official publication of U.S. Masters Swimming. In researching the topic, I came across your book, A Ring and a Bundle of Letters. I was intrigued by a note on page 194 that indicated that Knut Hellsten wrote a history of the Uppsala Swimming Society and I wondered whether you had a copy of that document or could you point me to where I might be able to view this history? (I’m based in Waltham, MA if that helps!) 

Many thanks for any assistance you can provide!
Elaine

Well, of course there was a story and connection
and
surprise someone besides myself was interested.

Eric Helsten was born in Uppsala in 1822 and in Uppsala there was a swim society, Upsala Simaällskap, that was started in 1796 by the mathematician and astronomer, Jöns Svanberg. The goal was to teach swimming and water safety to the children in the local rivers until they built a swimming pool in 1841.  Eric grew up learning how to swim and 13-year-old Eric even won a wreath for his achievements in the annual competitions in 1835.

Eric must have been proud of this achievement, because when he came to the US in 1845, this laurel wreath traveled with him.  It was in his belongings after he died in 1903.  His granddaughter Marion Evans Dakin gave it to me years later, when I was on a swim team  throughout high school.

Eric was one of 13 children.  One of his younger brothers, Knut, was the "studious, intelligent" one of all the children.  Knut became a well-known and beloved educator in Uppsala.  Eric's father died leaving this large family for his wife to raise, the youngest was only a few months old when their father died.  So, it was a stretch for the family to keep sending Knut to school, and Eric was mailing money home from Gaylordsville, Connecticut to help the family in Uppsala.  Knut was the author of the history of the Uppsala Swimming Society for their 90th birthday celebration -- this booklet in Swedish is the information Elaine, my correspondent, hoped I had to share.

Elaine had a friend who read the booklet in Swedish and summarized it in English for her.
The Swedes weren't swimmers before seeing Russian prisoners who could swim, mostly "dog paddle."  The Swedish Swim society emphasized both front and back swimming, with and without clothes on, carrying someone, treading water, moving a stone under water, and more.  Much of this sounds like things I needed to learn for both my own safety in the water and maybe saving someone else-- however, I was only picking up something small on the pool bottom rather than moving a stone.

At the Society's 90th year celebration in 1886, there were honored guests, including Eric, who were given certificates.  Here is Eric's, but we have no evidence he actually made it to Uppsala for the celebration.

Four years after learning to swim in 1835, there was the pressing need to help support his family--his father died in 1839 leaving 13 children, the youngest was 7 months old.  Each of the older children worked in different jobs.  Eric as the oldest boy was apprenticed to be a tanner, just as his father and grandfather before him.  By 1844, Eric was a Journeyman tanner, traveling around the country for a year looking for work.  Then in 1845, he immigrated to Havilland Hollow, New York and went to work as a tanner.  He saved his pennies, and in 1849 he married and then, in 1852 he and his wife Mary Hearty moved to Gaylordsville, Connecticut where he had his own tannery.

Eric's tannery was on the Wimisink Brook, very near the Housatonic River.
Working hard over the years to maintain his businesses, Eric didn't forget what he learned in Sweden.  Sixty years later, Eric saved a man from drowning on 22 September 1895 and then wrote a pamphlet about how to do it.
I have not found a copy of the pamphlet.  I do have the copyright

and a letter about how to copyright and advertise and sell:

He did follow  D W Beach's advice and even got letterhead made:

And this brings us back to the Uppsala Swim Society and Elaine K. Howley's article.  She took the time to research the society and her article is in the September/October issue of SWIMMER magazine.

Right at the top of the article is Eric's ad that was run in newspapers across the country advertising the directions on how to save a man from drowning!

Isn't that part of what Eric learned in his swimming lessons back in 1835!

The link to this blog post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-gaylordsville-tanner-and-the.html
©Erica Dakin Voolich, 2016.

Honoring Some Fathers in the Family

In honor of father's day....

My father with his father:

Theodore Robert Dakin (Teddy) with Robert Edward Dakin (Rob)

[Ted: 11 November 1916, New Haven, CT - 20 November 1972, Berwyn, IL]

[Rob: 2 July 1888, Gaylordsville, CT - 15 December 1918, Danbury, CT]

Rob at age 30 died in 1918, when Teddy was 2.
Rob died in the Flu Pandemic the same week as his infant son Edward Evans Dakin and his mother-in-law Caroline Matilda Holstein Evans (Carrie) also died.  Carrie's husband (Charles H Evans) moved in with Rob's wife, Marion Evans Dakin to act as "baby tender" when she went to school at the U of Chicago for a term to get more training leading to her becoming the first Extension Nutritionist for the State of Connecticut three years later.

Charles Harold Evans with Teddy in Chicago.

[Charles: 23 May 1853, Sherman, CT - 18 February 1928, Savannah, GA]

Other fathers in the family:

Edward Dakin (Teddy's other Grandfather)

[3 October 1836, Hudson, NY - 6 July 1914, Gaylordsville, CT]

Charles Evans (Teddy's Great Grandfather)

[2 August 1820, Sherman, CT - 4 December 1903, Great Barrington, MA]

Eric Helsten (Teddy's Great Grandfather)

[27 February 1822, Uppsala, Sweden - 4 January 1903, Gaylordsville, CT]

Beers Radford (Teddy's Great Great Grandfather)

[13 April 1784 Waterbury, CT - 15 February 1876 Middlebury, CT]

Ted had many other generations of fathers, but these are the only photographs that were left to me for our viewing pleasure!


Happy Fathers' Day, 2016!

The link to this page is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2016/06/honoring-some-fathers-in-family.html
©2016, Erica Dakin Voolich

A Life Re-Routed thanks to the 1918 Pandemic

Marion Evans before her marriage, 1912 in Gaylordsville Connecticut

Marion Evans was born in Sherman Connecticut 11 February 1886, the 2nd daughter of Charles Harold Evans and Caroline Matilda Helsten.  Her father Charles and her uncle Edward had built houses next door to each other, at the foot of Evans Hill Rd. where their parents, Charles Evans and Hannah Elizabeth Radford lived on the top.  On the other side of that same hill in Gaylordsville, lived Marion's maternal grandparents, Eric Adolf Helstein and Mary Hearty.

Charles and Edward had a busy house construction business in Sherman and Gaylordsville.  In 1888, they decided to move their families and their business north to Great Barrington, Massachusetts where there was a building boom going on.  Charles and Edward Evans opened the Barrington Building Co. which ended up building not only houses but also a high school their daughters attended and other large buildings around the community over the years.

Neither Charles, nor his wife Caroline had any college education.  They might have attended high school but I don't know.  It is clear that education was important to them: Caroline was involved with the Current Events Club and Charles with the Sons of the American Revolution in Great Barrington.  Charles' mother, Hannah Elizabeth Radford Evans, amazingly had one year of college back in 1844-1845.  Caroline's immigrant parents -- Eric Adolf Helsten and Mary Hearty-- came in the mid-1840s and did encourage at least one of their 4 children (Sarah) to have education beyond high school.

Both Marion (1904) and her older sister, Clarice (1902), graduated from Searles High School.  Clarice taught in local schools before going on and getting degrees and eventually teaching at Jersey City State Teachers College in New Jersey starting in 1937.

As young unmarried women in the early 1900s, they needed to have jobs.  One might live at home, but unless you had wealthy parents, you needed to support yourself.   Both Marion and Clarice were in school at the same time, each graduating in 1908 -- Marion from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York with a degree in Domestic Science; Clarice from Connecticut's State Normal Training School in Danbury with a teaching certificate-- each with a two-year degree.

Marion's first job out of college was teaching high school domestic science in Saginaw Michigan.  Then she came back east and took courses at Columbia Teachers College for 2 years.    Her skills caught the attention of the philanthropist Helen Gould (daughter of Jay Gould) who hired her teach nutritional cooking classes for women in Roxbury New York during the summer of 1912.  She worked for Helen Gould all year, helping with setting up a new organization's chapter, the Campfire Girls, in Irvington New York and typing a book of sermons for a minister there.  When not working, she would be back home in Gaylordsville Connecticut.  Her parents were now living in her Helsten-grandparents' former home just over the Housatonic River from Robert Edward Dakin who was back at his parents' home working on the Bulls Bridge Power Plant addition.

Wedding of Marion Evans and Robert Edward Dakin, 1913

Marion and Robert Married on 13 September 1913 in Gaylordsville.  Rob was and engineer working projects around the state.  So, they would set up house-keeping and when the job required that they move, they did.  So they had three children born in three different towns. Robert Edward Jr was born in Danbury on 15 May 1915, dying the next day.  Theodore Robert was born in New Haven on 11 November 1916.  Edward Evans was born in Derby on 28 January 1918.  In August 1918 the family had moved again, this time back to Danbury so Rob could work on the dam at Stevenson over the Housatonic River.

Marion's busy daily life with children and running the household was abruptly disrupted by the flu pandemic that was sweeping all over the world.  On Saturday 30 November, Rob got sick.  Marion had two young children -- a two year old and a 10 month old along with a sick husband.  She sends her older child to stay with Aunt Mary in Gaylordsville and her mother Carrie Helsten Evans comes down to help.  By Wednesday 4 December, her son Edward was sick, as was her mother Carrie.  On Tuesday 10 December, her mother Carrie dies, the next day, her son Edward Evans died and on Thursday there was a double funeral.  The next Monday, her husband Rob died.  So, in 5 days, Marion lost her mother, son and husband to the flu -- she was now a 32 year old widow with a two year old son -- her life had dramatically changed.

She initially moved back to her father's home to decide what to do; he had lost his wife, son-in-law and grandson with all those deaths but they had no time to grieve.  Marion needed to go back to work, she had a son to raise.  What to do next?   In 1918 there wasn't social security for a widow raising a child.  Luckily she already had some education to build upon.  Probably not true for many other families who were devastated by the Influenza Pandemic.

Marion decided to go to the University of Chicago for courses in nutrition during the 1919 spring  term with her father going along as "baby tender" -- so Marion, son Ted and her father Charles traveled from Connecticut to Chicago and moved in with her sister Clarice who was teaching industrial arts at the Laboratory School there.

Marion at Pratt Institute

After a quarter at U of C, Marion was hired at her alma mater, Pratt Institute, to teach home economics.  Off they all go to Brooklyn New York -- Marion taught at Pratt for two years before being hired by Connecticut Agricultural College (now U Connecticut) as Connecticut's first Extension Nutritionist in February 1921.  She retired from U Conn in July 1946.  Her son Ted grew up on the Storrs campus with students who would trade child care for room & board. 

In her job, she was writing extension bulletins on food preparation and also giving talks to local groups and large Expositions and State & County fairs all over the state of Connecticut.  

You already know she had taken many courses and many different schools.  She decided to take a leave of absence for a semester and enrolled as a student in the college where she was on the faculty and completed her bachelors degree in teacher training in home economics -- graduating from Connecticut Agricultural College on 9 June 1930.  

When her father Charles died in 1928 in Savannah Georgia on a train home from Florida to New York, one of the obituaries listed his three surviving children and Marion was listed as the wife of a professor at Connecticut Agricultural College!!  Her husband had died ten years earlier, SHE was on the faculty, he NEVER was!

Years after she died, in 1974, the university decided to honor the "pioneer women educators" with a plaque and garden outside Holcolm Hall.  Ion 22 October 1991, went to the dedication as did Wilma Keyes, the only survivor of the honorees.

"The women were faculty members of the  School of Home Economics who lived and taught in Holcomb Hall.  Built in  1922, Holcomb Hall replaced the first women's building, Grove Cottage,  which burned in 1919. 

Memorialized for their pioneering efforts to educate UConn women  are:  M. Estella Sprague, Marion Dakin, Gladys Hendrickson, Wilma Keyes,  Lillis Knappenberger, Marie Lundberg, Lisbeth Macdonald, Edith Mason,  Elizabeth Putnam, and Elsie Trabue.  All taught in what was then the  school of Home Economics and is now the School of Family Studies.  Keyes is the only one of the ten still living.  Her art and design courses led  to the establishment of the University's present department of Art in the School of Fine Arts. 

The Pioneer Women Educators Memorial is a gift of three UConn women... 

'These women were part of the progressive wave who were seeking to  carve out new opportunities and careers for educated women,... Home  Economics was one of the new areas and these pioneers  taught our generations of women to reach beyond the accepted roles of teacher, nurse and librarian.' 

"Martha Fowlkes, Dean of UConn's School of Family Studies, comments:  'Our School is proud and grateful beneficiary of the contributions of the  women educators in whose honor the garden is dedicated.  Through their  accomplishments in the field of Home Economics, these women represent  both the University's history of women's educational achievement and its  attention to the importance and dignity of families and the lives of  women, both inside and outside the home..."  

There was irony of the picture of Marion at the top of this page.  She is sitting in the wagon, the mode of transportation around Sherman and Gaylordsville.  Soon after the picture, she married and her husband was an engineer who needed to travel around the state.  So, by the time he died, he was driving a car.  After he died and she took the job as the first Extention Nutritionist in Connecticut, in 1921 she was driving around the state to make presentations.   By the time she died, she & Ted had not only taken a boat to England to visit her sister in 1929, and then before she died she had traveled by plane to Sweden and then Japan.  To top it all off, she even watched the landing of man on the moon in 1969. Could she have even imagined the changes in transportation in her lifetime when sitting in that family wagon.

More details on the life of Marion Evans Dakin (11 February 1886-4 July 1974) are included in my article that was published in TIARA Newsletter, 2 September 2015, vol. 32, no 3.   TIARA (The Irish Ancestral Research Association) had a focus issue on Researching the Lives of Women.

The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2016/04/a-life-re-routed-thanks-to-1918-pandemic.html
©Erica Dakin  Voolich 2016

Johanna Carolina Hellsten, the Rest of the Story

If you've been reading the saga about Johanna Carolina Hellsten and Uno Kempff, you'll notice there are some time gaps that we do not know all the details. This post will fill in all of the details that we know about Johanna, after many posts on Uno Kempff and his shenanigans with the law.

What do we know about Johanna, the oldest daughter born to Carl (Kalle) Hellsten and Johanna Sparr on 25 February 1851 in Nikolai Parish, Örebro, Sweden?

What did she do with her life?

She was 16 when her family fell on hard times in Sweden.  She wrote to her uncle in America, describing her talent for handwork in her father's brewery and general store (which had gone bankrupt), appealing for funds to travel and help once she arrived.  Eric Adolf Helsten had immigrated to USA in 1845, his mother died in 1863. His brother Manne (Theodor Emanual) Hellsten had managed their mother's estate and there was a small amount of money due to Eric. Eric agreed to have his niece Johanna borrow those funds.  Eric knowing the "reduced circumstances" of his brother Carl's family, he has his brother Manne send the funds to their sister Lovis who lives nearby to Johanna's family and who will give the money to Johanna when she is ready to travel.


She was a young woman of 17 when she immigrated to Gaylordsville, Connecticut arriving in New York City on 22 April 1868.  Her uncle had alerted Castle Island of her upcoming arrival and they notifiied him of her arrival.  Eric finds a job for her working for the Bostwick family in Gaylordsville.  She agrees to a two year commitment to work as a domestic servant for them.

Bostwick family in 1870 US Census, New Milford (Gaylordsville),
Connecticut.  Johanna is listed as a domestic servant.

She was just 21 when she ran away from Gaylordsville to New York City  -- nary a goodbye or thank you to her helpful uncle.
The Bostwick family tells Eric how they liked her so much the first year, and Maria Bostwick's mother (probably the Eunice Sanford, age 71, above) liked  her so much that she gave her a tip at the end of her service in her final pay.

Her own family was very worried that Johanna connected with Uno Kempff, someone who was from the same town in Sweden, but who had a criminal past.  He had been writing her asking her to help him find work -- much to her family's dismay.
She ran off to New York City in 1871, and we have no record of her meeting up with Uno in 1871, but we have no proof that she didn't.  The next time we find Johanna is in 1874, coming back to NYC on a ship from Hull, England with Uno, pretending or actually being his wife.
Since Uno was married to another woman back in Sweden and living with yet another woman and possibly fathering that other woman's child, one wonders about the relationship between Uno and Johanna in 1874.  The family had heard a rumor in 1871, that Johanna had not only run off to NYC but had also married Uno.

I have not found Johanna Carolina Hellsten (Johanna, Hannah, Caroline, Carolina) in New York City in 1871, however, I did find her multiple times from 1875-1877 -- advertising her services as a dressmaker.
The first one was in the New York Herald on 31 August 1875:

In August 1875, she is a "Dressmaker" who can do all kinds of family sewing by the day at a reasonable price, in a couple of weeks (14 Sept.) she is a "Competent Dressmaker," who is available by the day or week at a moderate price, with references.  Sounds like she had some practice that first couple of weeks.  By 5 December, she is not only competent she can "make old dresses over equal to new."

By 24 September 1876, she is not only a competent had seamstress, she now advertises her ability to operated any machine.  She has also moved to 88 Clinton Street, from 27 Bond, of last year.

Then, the final listing I find for her as a dressmaker, is 24 April 1877, she is now at
111 WEST 11TH ST. -- FIRST-CLASS DRESSMAKER 
to go out by the day, or will take work home; best ref-
erence.                                                  Miss HELSTEN.


So, maybe she went home to Sweden after she ran away to New York City for some reason and was never mentioned in any of the many family letters to Eric Helsten (that I had translated and put in the book, A Ring and a Bundle of Letters), came back to New York with Uno Kempff, and then stayed and worked as a dressmaker.

In each of these ads, she is Miss J. C. Helsten, or Miss Helsten, not "Mrs. anyone."
Was traveling as Uno's wife, a convenience to get from Europe to New York and not appear to anyone as a single woman, or maybe not?
Who knows, I don't.

So, did Johanna stay in NYC and live happily ever after?
We have one final clue about Johanna ....
The 1910 Census for Brooklyn, New York, 60 Gates Avenue, in a three-family building, lives
Caroline J Hellsten,

She is now called Caroline J Hellsten, 58, single, never had any children.
Go to the next page of the census and you'll find she had Albert F Faberstedt, 45, also from Sweden living there as a boarder.  He is listed as married for 20 years, naturalized having came to the USA in 1887.   Albert is working as a painter.

She came in 1892, but is not naturalized.  She is working as a cook, was employed on
15 April 1910, but was out of work for 24 weeks in 1909.  She rents her home.

Notice, she is not naturalized.  No surprise.
From 1855 to 1922, a woman took the citizenship of her husband, so in order to become a US citizen, Johanna would have had to have married someone who was a citizen (birthright or naturalized).

[I wrote a blog post about how a woman could lose her US citizenship.  Marian L Smith’s wrote two fascinating articles tracing women’s naturalization from 1802 through 1940. These are in Prologue Magazine. Read the first and click through to the second one.]

Neither Malin Klangeryd nor I have found anything more about Johanna Carolina Hellsten. No marriages, no deaths. No other census listing, no passages to and from Europe (should be something if "came in 1892").

I'll write again, if we find anything.


©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/06/johanna-carolina-hellsten-rest-of-story.html

Wait! There’s More about Uno Kempff!

Johanna Carolina Hellsten leaves for North America to join her uncle Eric Helsten in April 1868.  She might not know anything of her friend Uno Kempff’s history when she departs, they’ve only lived in the same town for a few months, however, in her family’s previous home they were just 3.5 Km apart so maybe they had already met.   Once in Gaylordsville, Connecticut, Johanna clearly knows Uno Kempff, as he is corresponding with her in 1869, asking her to find him a job if and when he comes to America from Sweden.

Malin Klangeryd found not only all of the data for Kempff in “Uno Kempff … Family Scandal or Family Friend?”  and our traveler Johanna Carolina Hellsten, but also this revealing Household examination [a record of the Lutheran priest’s visitation with each family in the parish over the years]:

Household examination for 1866-1870 says: 

“By Gefle [Gävle] RR (The Supreme Administrative Court) sentenced for forgery and fraud. Submitted certificate from 10 January 1866 from Långholmen [jail] April 10, 1866. Knut Unio Kempff was by Örebro Hall right 9 January 1868 sentenced for first-degree theft to three months' hard labor and was earlier by Gefle Supreme Administrative Court sentenced to tarnish forever [he lost his honour which meant a reduction in his civil rights]. Appealed by Örebro Supreme Administrative Court”

Wait!  

This is yet another incident — the newspaper coverage was written about an earlier event in 1861!

Kempff was in trouble a 2nd time, just months before he and Johanna’s family were living in the same town.

Maybe Uno Kempff is planning to skip town soon when he starts writing Johanna (1868 - 1869), because shortly after contacting her in Gaylordsville, he is in trouble a third time! Sounds like quite the “con artist” at work, as this 23 September 1869 article describes how he conned those who trusted him.  

Jönköpingsbladet 1869-09-23 [Jönköping's Journal]

http://magasin.kb.se:8080/searchinterface/page.jsp?issue_id=kb:110163&sequence_number=3&recordNumber=&totalRecordNumber=

"Sundry. 

A nice-nice company. Several years ago, lived in Gevle an merchant named Knut Uno Kempff. for fraud in the trade, he was sentenced to hard labor on Långholmen [a prison]. 

While he was serving his sentence, he bought the property Almbro 1 mil from Örebro, and moved after the penalty period had expired there with a miller Sjöberg, a man named Em Paijtsaz and with a other released prisoners. On Almbro he established himself as a miller, but deceived even now his customers. Shortly thereafter, there was a major theft in Örebro, which was followed by that he and his companions, who were missing following the theft, again was sentenced to hard labor. During all this, Kempff had a meeting at Almbro, but sneaked away to Stockholm, where he narrowly escaped arrest. There he devoted himself to House business, resulting in yet a bankruptcy and yet a sentence at Långholmen. After the penalty he escaped to America with a ill-known woman, who he had worked for as a "bookkeeper" for some time. The earlier mentioned miller Sjöberg, who had been involved in the burglary theft in Örebro and also had received a sentence on Långholmen, was freed on July 28 this year [1869], and has again been taken into custody, as defenseless, reappearing in Örebro, after having being arrested for drunkenness, followed by a visitation at his house where there was found a letter from Kempff, whom imposes Sjöberg to take the life of his "good men", treasurer Ekmark and his son and juryman Lars Jonsson at Ökna. Sjöberg had also visited Kempff, but never met him at home. Sjöberg is now volunteering deserted to Carls and borg  [prison] and there recruited to emergency work. Before his departure to America, Kempff managed to deceive a gentleman in a House business of 3000 crowns, a down payment as security, why he left some completely useless promissory notes with 16,350 crowns, issued by the aforementioned prison companions. Mr Em-Paijtsaz is still at Långholmen, and Mr Kempff is well in America continuing his path toward the rope"

This might very well be the newspaper article that was shared with Johanna Hellsten by Mrs. Eriksson and upset her uncle Eric so much about Kempff having "escaped from Sweden!"

So, do we know what ever happened to Johanna?  Did she meet up with Uno Kempff as her family feared?  Did she marry him as was rumored?

©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich

The link to this blog post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/06/wait-theres-more-about-uno-kempff.html

Uno Kempff … Family Scandal or Family Friend?

Back to the family scandal!

Johanna left Gaylordsville without repaying her Uncle Eric for her passage, as promised!

Johanna lied about where she was going and what she would be doing!

Johanna has gone to New York City possibly to be with Uno Kempff.

Her uncle tried to discourage her, but she left her life as a domestic servant as soon as her agreed upon two years ended.  Without even a goodbye, she was gone … gone to New York City.

Johanna's Uncle Eric Helsten

who paid her way to USA and

found her work and was upset

with her sudden departure from

Gaylodsville for New York City.

So, who was Uno Kempff that the family was so concerned with?

With the great Swedish research skills of Malin Klangeryd, we know a little something about Kempff and his misdeeds.  There are some gaps, but here is what we know about him.

His full name was Knut Uno Kempff. He was born 8 September 1826 in Örebro. 

He was married 27 October 1854 to Johanna Lovisa Juberg (sometimes called Sophia Lovisa) (born 10 March 1827 in Saint Lars parish, Linköping county). They had three children who each died at a young age:

1. Anders Gustaf Uno (born 9 June 1855 in Nyköping – died 31 March of croup in Almbro, Gällersta)

2. Knut Frithiof (born 13 December 1856 in Vaksala – died 17 April 1863 of scarlet fever in Almbro, Gällersta)

3. Unus Alfred Louis (born 12 January 1861 in Gällersta parish – died 4 April 1863 of scarlet fever on Almbro, Gällersta).

Uno Kempff and his wife Sofia (Johanna) Lovisa Juberg are twenty-five years older than our Johanna Caroline Hellsten — they are old enough to be her parents!

How did they meet? Did they know each other in Sweden?

Malin has constructed a timeline of what she knows about Uno Kempff’s whereabouts from various official records:

•   1826 born in Örebro

•   1854-1855, living lat first city block farm nr 66-68 in Nyköping’s west parish. Uno works as a merchant. 

•   1854 Uno married Johanna/Sofia Lovisa Juberg

•   1855, son born in Nyköping

•   1856, son born in Vaksala

•   1860: living in Vaksala parish

•   1861, son born in Gällersta

•   1860-21 May1869: living in Almbro (Gällersta parish, Örebro County)

•   21 May 1869 – in Stockholm

•   17 April 1874-: departure from Göteborg to Hull, England on the ship Orlando. Destination New York

•   1880 -1882: living Västergötland 5 i Maria Magdalena parish in Stockholm, working as shop assistant. Living alone  

•   12 August 1882: Departure to America through Hull, England

There is a gap here in the above timeline from 1869 to 1874 when Uno Kempff leaves for New York City.  The family was worried that he was already in New York City. 

Uno Kempff leaves for NYC twice, once in 1874 and then in 1882.  When did he return?   What was he doing in NYC and Sweden that might concern Johanna C Hellsten’s family.

… and Johanna Hellsten's timeline while growing up with her parents:

•   1851, born in Nikolai parish, Örebro

•   1856 – 15 June 1863: living at plot no. 100 (Örebro, North Nikolai parish)

•   15 June 1863 – 15 November 1867: living at Norra Bro 6 (Gällersta parish)

•   15 November 1867 – 27 March 1868: living at Almbro (Gällersta parish)

•   22 April 1868, Johanna arrives in New York.

Johanna officially moves 3.5 Km with her family to Almbro (Gällersta parish, Örebro County) on 15 November 1867,  the day after she returned her travel document allowing her to go to North America.  She first got her travel paperwork a week before and had the travel money from Uncle Eric already there being held by aunt Lovis.  

Already living in Almbro when the Hellsten family arrived, was Uno Kempff and his wife.  It was close enough that the families might have known each other already. Her family ran a general store before her father went bankrupt, maybe Kempff's family had been customers.

Was her abrupt delay of travel because she had met Kempff when her family planned their move?  Was Kempff going to be the spring traveling companion she would have that her father Carl mentioned in his letter of February 1868?  I’m not sure we’ll ever know the answer to that question. 

Malin Klangeryd found this 1861 local newspaper coverage:

Tidning för Wenersborgs stad och län 1861-01-21 [Newspaper för Wenersborgs city and county]

http://magasin.kb.se:8080/searchinterface/page.jsp?id=kb:212466&recordNumber=10&totalRecordNumber=11 

"Severe sentence. Norrlands-Posten [Norrlands newspaper] from Gefle [Gävle] says: grain traider Uno Kempff, which prosecution by the court last year, for deceit and fraud in trade, aroused great attention, and whom by the Municipal Court was sentenced to compensate claimants and witnesses, and to one and a half years in prison, has recently got his sentence by the Court of Appeal; the verdict is not less than four months in prison - a true warning for those who feel tempted to walk in Kempff's footsteps”

We should add this to the Uno Kempff timeline above, 

• 1861,  a stay in prison at hard labor and also financial restitution for his deceit and fraud in trade as a grain trader.

When Carl and his wife Johanna Sparr moved to Almbro, did they know the history of Kempff from the early 1860s?  Or, did they just become friends with someone who was a friendly neighbor or colleague?

Kempff has served time for forgery and fraud!  

Our Johanna Hellsten would NOT have been in the same town as Kempff was when he got caught using deceit and fraud with his grain clients.  Besides, she would have been a young child at that time.  Her parents might not even have known what Kempff's 1861 history of what was probably a friendly neighbor or businessman.  

But there’s even more to tell about our charming Kempff.

©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich

The link to this blog is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/05/uno-kempff-family-scandal-or-family.html

Living up to Expectations … or Not!

Imagine a young woman in Sweden in 1867.  Her parents say they can’t keep all four kids because of reduced circumstances.  It was not unusual for her younger siblings to be living with various Hellsten aunts and uncles from time to time when life got tough.
Her father ran a store and a brewery before he went bankrupt. As the oldest child, clearly she worked in the family businesses when she says she was “used to brewing, commerce, and rough work.”
She is 17, the oldest, and decides to take charge of her life. She writes her “rich” uncle in “employer America” where “no one finds fault with one’s honest work” to loan her the money to go there where, as her father says, “hard work and frugality is a way to blessing.”
She is an adult in her mind, independent.
"America here I come!”

Johanna goes to Gaylordsville, where her uncle lives.  A rural town, about 85 miles from New York City.

Fast forward 2 years.
Johanna isn’t satisfied with the life of a domestic servant.
Uncle Eric tries to advise her, but she “just won’t listen.”
Just like a 20-year-old today who thinks she knows everything and won’t listen to her parents, she is not listening to the advice of her uncle who probably feels obligated to act like a parent for his young niece.

Our first hint of a problem was a draft of a letter that Eric wrote to his sister Lovis back in Sweden.
Eric didn’t leave drafts of his letters along with the letters that he saved from his siblings and mother that I used to put together my book, A Ring and a Bundle of Letters.  It would have been wonderful to have his letters with his news and responses to his mother and siblings, but only this one survived.

Gaylordsville  8 Jan 1871

Dear Sister Lovis,

I'm taking this moment to write to you to let you know that I am well and that all of mine have the health, and that we all wish you a good new  year.

Nothing has changed with us here except that Johanna has left the place where she has been for two  years.  But where she is now I do not know.  When her time was up the 13th of Dec. she went to New York unexpectedly to me.  She told Mrs Bostwick that I had found her a position in a factory in Danbury (a town 16 Engl. miles from here) which was a lie, and from others I heard later that she had told them different places that she was moving to.  The 8th of Dec. she told me, when I saw her the last time, that there were several good positions where they would like to have her and that she would stay with the Bostwicks 2 or 3 weeks after her time was up.
I know that she went to New York because a shopkeeper in New Milford went to New York the same day and he had seen her in the steam wagon when he disembarked there.  

The reason why she left her position in this manner I do not know.  I went to the Bostwicks later, after I heard that she was not longer there.  Mrs Bostwick told me that she liked Hanna very much the first year, but the second  year she did not like her as well, as she had made so many acquaintances with the other girls there.  

Hannah had received a letter from a Mr. Kemf in the first year that she was with the Bostwicks.  The first letter that he wrote to her came to me in an envelope.  I mailed it to Hannah, and he wanted Hannah to find him a job where she was.  But I told Hannah to write to him and tell him that there was no position for him, which she did.    Later I heard that he had written to her and she to him.  And then I was allowed to read a letter from you to Hannah about him, and at the same time a piece that was cut from a newspaper that had been sent to  Mrs. Ericson (I think that was the name) that she had company with her from Sweden,  she sent the clippings to Hannah -- I read this at the Bostwicks about his deeds, and more.  I admonished her in their presence not to write to Kemf any more, I said that if she wanted to have anything written to him, then I would like to write for her to let him know that we know everything about him.  Later Mr. Bostwick told me that they had told Hannah to send him the piece from the newspaper about his deeds and his portrait which she had, she said that she had some so, and she told me that she had done so, which pleased me.  If she later had a letter from him, or he from her, I do not know.   

Last February Hannah had earned almost 300 dollars since she came to America, but she had not saved any money, she liked pretty clothes, more expensive than she needed.  I talked to her about that several times.  About 2 months before she left she bought a large trunk, which cost about 7 dollars, which she has filled with her clothes.  I do hope she won't lose it when she came to New York and also doesn't lose herself, this has worried me right  much since there are all sorts of people in such a city.  She had paid me 40 dollars the 9th of July 1870, that is all that she has paid me.  --- when Mr. Bostwick had paid her 17 dollars that remained of her yearly pay, Mrs Bostwick's mother gave her 5 dollars as a present.  I expect that this is all she had.  It was not much to go to New York with.  But there is nothing to hinder her to do well if she wants to, it depends only on her, whether she does well or badly.  

There was a girl who lived on the next farm that she was acquainted with, who moved back to New York, maybe Hanna had agreed with her to meet her in New York and she did not want me to know about it.  She  probably knew I would not like it.  I hope that she will write to me, if she does not write I will not know what to think.  

If you should receive a letter from her so write to me so that I can write to her.  Let me know what Mrs. Ericson's address is if  you can find out, maybe she will go there when she has some money.  I thought it best to write to you to let you know how it is, maybe we will find her out.  Maybe it is better not to let her know I wrote you about her, but you can do as you like about that.

I remain your brother Eric

Almost 7 months later, Lovis replies to Eric’s concerns about Johanna, 29 July 1871:

Pålsboda .. Svennevad 29 July 1871

Dear Brother Eric,

Thank you for your letter, I should have answered it a long time ago.  It was sad to hear that Hannah could behave in such a bad manner especially towards you who has been so good to her.  We informed her parents as soon as I got your letter.  As I didn’t know Mrs. Ericksson or her relatives, I heard later from Kalle that he had answered you as he had promised me and left Mrs. Ericksson’s and Mr Kempfs’ address.  

I learned from a paper that Kempfs was made president in a society that he started to help Swedes who arrive in the US.  Could that be something good he’s doing since I have heard that Hanna is supposed to be married to Kempfs.  He brought Miss Bor with him when he escaped from Sweden. ...

Mr Uno Kempff
Nort America
Care of Kapten Jåsen
New York
No 2 Borsling grem [maybe Bowling Green]
Box 4,542.

Mr Erik Eriksson
Lansing.
Allamaka County
Box 19 jöwa
Nort America

Johanna, age 20, has been rebelling this past year.
Her practical-minded uncle, didn’t want her spending money on fancy clothes; but she did so anyway.
She borrowed money for her passage from her uncle, but she didn’t repay him most of it.
Johanna has run off to New York City without even saying goodbye to the family and lying about where she was going!

She’s been corresponding with a man, Uno Kempff, that she might have married once she got to New York!
A Swedish family friend, Mrs Eriksson in New York City tried to warn Johanna about Uno Kempff.
Uncle Eric tried to discourage her, practically forbid, this relationship after learning about this Swede — described in Swedish paper for his misdeeds.
Kempff “escaped from Sweden”


What did Kempff do that resulted in his need to escape?

Unfortunately the newspaper clippings didn’t get saved with all the letters!
Remember, they were shown and given to Johanna to convince her of Kempff’s misdeeds!

∞∞∞∞∞

For  years, this is where the story ended, for me.  I couldn’t find any information about Kempff.  Then last November I received an email from a distant Swedish cousin, Malin Klangeryd, who is also descended from Eric Helsten’s parents, Eric Hellsten (1786-1839) and Lovisa Charlotta Robert (1795-1863).  She was also researching this Hellsten family.  Ironically, she is descended from Eric’s sister Erica.

Malin Klangeryd lives in Sweden and knows how to search the archives.  She has found our mystery man, Uno Kempff.

©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this page is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/05/living-up-to-expectations-or-not.html

Off to America, thank you dear uncle….

Johanna Carolina Hellsten was planning on traveling to USA and applied for a departure certificate from Sweden on 7 November 1867, right after her Uncle Manne Helsten said he would send the funds from her Uncle Eric to her Aunt Lovis when she was ready to travel. She then decided to delay her departure and returned her travel papers a week later, on 14 November.

By early November, the days are getting shorter as winter is approaching in Sweden and maybe Johanna thought that traveling in the spring might be a better idea.

Meanwhile, Uncle Eric is still awaiting Hannah’s (Johanna) arrival - he writes on 23 December 1867 to Carl and Hannah, it takes this letter at least a month to arrive in Sweden.  Then Carl writes back 3 weeks later saying that Hannah has delayed her trip.   Eric is patiently waiting in America for his niece, wondering where she is, maybe even concerned since he hasn't heard after getting the travel funds to her.  By the time Eric would find out her changed travel plans, it is probably close to March — about the time for her to actually come!

Örebro 
14 Feb. 1868

My dear brother Eric

I received your letter dated 23 Dec 3 weeks ago in which I find you are awaiting Hannah’s arrival.  We received the money from Uppsala last fall.  But since it was so late in the year they were sent back to Upsala again and the trip was started in the spring.  Wherefore she has decided to leave the coming April from Götteborg because she will then have travel company.  So God willing she will be in New York in 12 or 14 days.  If the trip will be somewhat postponed I will write you about it.

My dear brother, we will probably not see each other in this time [on earth] but how do you stand with God as well as your wife and children?  Please write to me about it.  Don’t forget to because it would be nice to know if we will meet up there in heaven.  Then we will see God and the lamb in the full glory.   It will be a blessed switch to be with an eternal glorious transfigured body there be allowed to see God face to face together with his holy angels and the blessed inhabitants of heaven.  That eternally be allowed to thank, praise and say his name that brought us here with his blood.  It will be blessed and glorified and precious there where the Lord God himself is.

Here in our Sweden the wind of the holy ghost has blown in all the counties so that many sinners have listened to the call and fled to the Lord Jesus.  But among our relatives has it unfortunately not been received. Only sister Marie has some inclination but she has not at all come to peace.  My wife and children and all the others seem to be dead in transgressions and sins.  Now you have heard dear brother how we have it in this most important matter; therefore please pray to the dear God for us if  you know Him the Christ reconciled Father -- because it is written in the Bible word in many places in John 16:24 it says “ask ye shall receive and  your joy shall be full.”

Greetings to your wife and children from us all.

You devoted brother Carl

Not sure who her traveling company was, but Caroline Hellsten is listed on a passenger list arriving in New York City on 22 April 1868.

Notice her father Carl wrote of a 12 or 14 day trip.  The transatlantic sailing trips when Eric came in 1845 and his wife Mary in 1848, took about 43 days.  The addition of steam ships definitely made the trip much faster, and most likely, safer.

Spring 1868, Eric was waiting for her Hannah.    He contacted the immigration folks alerting them of her pending arrival.

Office of the Commissioners of Emigration.
Castle Garden, New York, April 22nd, 1868
    5 oclock P.M.

E.A.Helsten Esq
  Sir
  In answer to your letter 
I respectfully inform you that your
niece Johanna C. Helsten arrived this
Evening pm Steamer Minnesota from
Liverpool we shall detain her here 
until you come or send for her

  Respectfuly ce
   Bernard Casserly
   Gen. Agent & superintendent
    Per T.m.d

You might recall that Hannah had written her uncle:

I, as a big, strong, healthy seventeen  year old girl, used to brewing, commerce, and rough work and who longs for work in an unknown country where no one finds fault with one’s honest work or despises the virtuous for his poverty.
This in addition to the fact that many of my acquaintances have already left for, the employer America, which is why I, too, this fall intend to go there, if some noble person would help me with travel money and good advice at the arrival.

Since I have heard that Uncle is rich and happy in the country to which many long to go, I now set my hopes and prayers to Uncle for a kind answer to:

Could my dear Uncle please be so kind as to via a postal order to Upsala or a letter give, or, if need be, loan me 200 Kr for travel money?

Could my Uncle have use for, or know somebody, me as hired help for anything?

Could Uncle extend a helping and protecting hand to me at my arrival and until I have a position?

Does Uncle believe that a poor, but swift and untiring, girl can in an honest way earn a meager living through the work of her hands? 
…


Well, dear uncle has provided passage to America as requested.

Dear uncle has “extended a protecting hand” upon her arrival.

Does dear uncle find a job for her?

Lovis writes to Eric, 19 December 1868:
Thousands of thank yous for your dear letter that we received on May 19 and all goodness you proved Hannah in many different ways.  I would be a joy if Hannah always remembered this and is thankful towards you.  The gold ring was lost was sad they have not found it[.]  ... My man with me joins in hearty greetings to you yours and Hannah

Sounds like Eric provided not only for transportation all the way to Gaylordsville, Connecticut from Örebro, Sweden but also helped her find a job nearby.

Hannah goes to work for the Bostwick family in New Milford. Gaylordsville is part of New Milford, so it could be a couple miles away or next door.
In the 1870 US Census for New Milford, “Johanna Helston" age 20 is listed as a domestic servant.

This might not have been the kind of work that she was used to at home when she described herself as “used to brewing, commerce, and rough work.”
She probably has plenty of opportunity to "earn a meager living thru the work of her hands" working as a domestic servant.  She has agreed to work for the Bostwicks for two years.

So, did Johanna live happily ever after in America as she dreamed?
Stay tuned!

©2015, Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/05/off-to-america-thank-you-dear-uncle.html

Dear Uncle!

Eric Adolf Helsten immigrated to the United States in 1845.  He married Mary Hearty, an Irish immigrant, in 1849.  They worked hard and raised a family in Gaylordsville Connecticut.  None of his dozen siblings followed him, however, he kept in touch with letters that were shared back home between his mother and siblings.  One can only imagine how life in the the USA must have looked from afar to the children of a brother who was not doing very well back in Sweden.

Eric’s niece Johanna Carolina Hellsten decides to write to her uncle, appealing for funds to travel:

Sweden, Mosås and Södrabro
24 May 1867

Good Day, beloved Uncle!

Please be so good as to pardon me that I, as the daughter of Uncle’s Brother Carl, with this our taking the liberty to write these lines, which my father does not have time to do, to divulge my heartfelt wish and to beg for an affectionate and happy answer to the questions below, that for me are extremely important and have bearing on my future.

As my dear Father this last year has ceased his work as a brewer and country shop owner and now lives in reduced circumstances and therefore can not afford to keep all four of us children at  home, I, as a big, strong, healthy seventeen  year old girl, used to brewing, commerce, and rough work and who longs for work in an unknown country where no one finds fault with one’s honest work or despises the virtuous for his poverty.
This in addition to the fact that many of my acquaintances have already left for, the employer America, which is why I, too, this fall intend to go there, if some noble person would help me with travel money and good advice at the arrival.

Since I have heard that Uncle is rich and happy in the country to which many long to go, I now set my hopes and prayers to Uncle for a kind answer to:

Could my dear Uncle please be so kind as to via a postal order to Upsala or a letter give, or, if need be, loan me 200 Kr for travel money?

Could my Uncle have use for, or know somebody, me as hired help for anything?

Could Uncle extend a helping and protecting hand to me at my arrival and until I have a position?

 Does Uncle believe that a poor, but swift and untiring, girl can in an honest way earn a meager living through the work of her hands?

Please be so kind and make me  happy with a longed for answer mailed to my or my father’s address “Sweden Mosås and Södrabo”, which will decide my future fate, because if I receipt travel money and good advice, I plan to leave this fall.

My parents are, thank the Lord, in good health despite all their trouble and ask to send their heartfelt greetings in this letter, and also with loving thoughts for my future give me permission to leave.

In sincere hopes of Uncle’s loving kindness to me, with much respect, the grateful niece now persists.

Johanna Carolina Hellsten

Such a heartfelt appeal.  It turns out it came along with a letter from her father, Carl Robert Hellsten (Karl, Calle).  He confirms their desperate situation and appeals for both of them to come to the USA.

Örebro and Yellersta 
26 May 1867


Brother Eric

It is many years since we last exchanged letters and many things have happened since then.  You know from my last letter that I was thinking of going to America.  Now this trip has again come to my mind and even my oldest daughter Johanna wishes to do the same trip.  Wherefore she here encloses her letter to you.  

It is our wish since we hear many tempting letters from America from the ones how have gone there.  I do know that everybody is not lucky in America but that hard work and frugality is a way to blessing.  But here in Sweden it is a dishonor to work because vanity has taken over.  I have now been on my own for eighteen years and during this time made myself know to be frugal, sober and to work hard but this is not enough here.  Under this time of 18 years, I have  had a general store and during the last 10 years also had a brewery but in spite of all this I had to declare bankruptcy last fall and during this last winter have started to do cork cutting.  But loss in circumstances are such her that it is not worth it for the poor to try since [if] he has [declared] bankruptcy [and] if he manages to work, everything up again he loses whatever he inherits or earns without mercy. What then do you have for all the work you do?  

In the enticing letters I have read from America they testify to the one who wants to work there does not need to starve.  I think I know that all who go to America do not have luck there but it is even so an advantage that you do not have to be ashamed over earning a living in an honest manner.  If my information about America is not complete, I ask  you to inform me about this but judging from the information I have received, America has big preferences for Swedes.  Why should one then bind oneself then to this meager country?  

Some of my neighbors have now gone to America and others plan to but we don’t have the money to go.  Please give us a complete information as possible and if you consider it reasonable for us to try to work in America and then help us both with the money that  you have here in Sweden to lend us as travel money to America.  Our brother Theodor Emanuel in Upsala has them.  We want to work off the money when we come to you.  This is the only security I can give you if you would be kind enough to help me us.

Write an answer soon and  help us if you find you would like to do so.  Let me also know if brewing beer is profitable in America and also if cork cutting is profitable.  If the trip there happens, I would prefer to work in a brewery or, if that’s not possible, in another kind of factory.  I assume that  you  have some Swedish acquaintances in New York that you could be kind enough to address us to when we arrive.

Now dear brother I have written about all that concerns the trip to America.  We can have much to write about but it is much better to be able to have a real conversation about it.  I will also mention that all of us siblings are alive and as far as I know everyone is in good health.  

Lovis is married to a shop owner 20 Km from here whose name is A Nelzon.  Mari is close to Stockholm, Lina is in Upland and not far from Upsala Erica and Wennström are well.  Tilda is in Stockholm.  Ottiljana is in Upsala with our maternal aunt.   Now as before, Edla is a manager (director) at the Upsala Hospital.  Manne is a watchmaker in Upsala.  Frans is a goldsmith in Upsala Oskar is a watchmaker in Stockholm.  Knut is a teacher in the big school in Upsala.  Everyone has it well except for me and Oskar.  Oskar declared bankruptcy the same time I did and now I don’t know how he has it.

I hereby end this letter for this time with a kind greeting for yours from us.

Your brother, Carl

Carl Hellsten, Johanna's father

Such heartfelt appeals to Eric, uncle and brother in the USA who must have wealth and success from his hard work, doesn’t everyone?

Does Eric send the requested funds as his niece suggested and bring over his niece and brother?
Or, does Eric let then use the funds that their brother Manne is holding for Eric in Uppsala?

Erica does write in pencil on the bottom of Carl’s letter “From L there are two steamers leaving or more every week.”  He checks out the costs and availabilities for travel.  Travel is much better in 1867 than when he and his wife came in steerage in the equivalent of the “coffin ships” — no steamers for their earlier, much longer, trips.  The travel across the Atlantic Ocean has improved in the last couple of decades.

The letter beloe from his brother Manne (Theodor Emanual Hellsten) indicates Eric’s decision and the means of funding the trip, instead of just sending the suggested 200 Kr each to cover the trips.

Upsala 29 October 1867


Best Brother Eric!

From our heart I wish your daughter and son-in-law happiness and blessings.  We’d also like to thank  you for the pictures that you sent us.  As you promised in a letter to our brother Carl that he or his oldest daughter Hanna could borrow your inheritance from our parents to pay for the trip to America and Hanna decided to go, I have now sent the money to Lovis, she is married and living in the neighborhood of Örebro as you probably know with a request to her that she give the money to Hanna when she is ready to travel.  The reason why the sum of money isn’t bigger can be explained by the following statements.  While our mother was alive, she lent Calle 700 crowns which including interest 6% counted up to the day of dividing up the estate 3 November 1864 adds up to 77 crowns 37 öre which sum he has not been able to pay back.  When you subtract from this sum his inheritance he still owed each and everyone of his siblings 36 crowns, 45 öre.  About a year ago he had to go bankrupt without any assets.  At the time of the partition of the inheritance, we siblings did decide to send you at some time a gold ring that belonged to mother and she used and also a teaspoon since we wanted you to have a tangible memory from our parents’ home.  These things I will send to Lovis at the same time as the money and ask her to give them to Hanna to bring to you after a safe trip.  I now have to end these lines with many loving greetings from all of us to you and yours.

Your brother Manne

My wife sends many greetings to you and promises to write at another time.

So Eric will fund one of his two family members to travel at this time.
His mother Lovisa Charlotta Robert Hellsten died in 1863.  There was a small estate which brother Manne was the executor.  Eric’s share has been held in Uppsala and managed by Manne. BUT, the funds are not as large as Eric expected because there was a debt: brother Calle had borrowed 700 Kr from their dear departed mother and never repaid her and now that debt is shared equally among the other 12 siblings.

Manne has forwarded the travel funds to their sister Lovis in Örebro who lives near Calle and Johanna and Lovis will give the money to Hannah (Johanna) when she is ready to travel.  He did not forward the funds directly to his bankrupt brother.

Eric’s sister Otillia writes him on 29 October 1867:
Hanna who has the courage to travel to America[,] yes god[,] let her happily and well arrive there

This letter from Manne was written to Eric at the end of October 1867.
So, did Johanna immediately leave for the USA in the fall of 1867?

Maybe waiting till spring might make for a more pleasant transatlantic crossing.
Stay tuned.


©2015 Erica Dakin Voolich
The link to this post is http://genea-adventures.blogspot.com/2015/05/dear-uncle.html