Olof Olofson - How did no one know THIS?

Olof Olofson was my second great grandfather, the grandfather to Maude Edith Olofson Linn. Today's post is about his life, but first, when you look at the picture below, does anything stand out to you? The answer will be at the end of this post.

Olof Olofson. 

Olof Olofson was born in Farila Parish in Gavleborg County on October 5, 1837, the second of 6 children born to Olof Olsson and Kirstin Larsdotter. In 1850, Olof and Kirstin brought their 6 children to the United States, which was rather early for Swedish immigration. They settled in Manitowac County, Wisconsin, having lost their infant daughter along the way. Olof Olsson died in Wisconsin, and the family story is that Kirstin walked with her 5 surviving children to Iowa where she settled near Stratford and raised her family.

In 1865 Olof married Maria Barquist. Their son William Edward Olofson was born in 1866, and three years later, their daughter Mathilda was born. Sadly, Mathilda died in February 1870. The story becomes blurry about Maria at this point, but by 1880, we know that Olof had remarried to Brita Rask. In one record, Olof is listed as a widower; in another census he is listed as divorced. To this date, no one has been able to learn what happened to Maria Barquist Olofson.

Olof and Brita had 7 children together in addition to Olof's William Edward Olofson and Brita's Anna Sophia Charlotta. They lived very modestly in Hardin Township, on 30 improved acres and 40 unimproved woodland or forest acres and 19 unimproved "old fields" not growing wood, according to the 1880 U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedule (Agriculture). The value of the farm was $1600; value of livestock $450.

According to the regular US Federal Census data, Olof did not own his own farm until the 1920 census, just 4 years before he died. Until then, they were renters and also had boarders living with them. Imagine all of those people in a small, modest farm house!

The children were

• William Edward Olofson, 1866-1924, married to Olivia Rask;
• Anna Sophia Charlotta Olofson (Lottie), 1879-1931, married to Oscar Emil Larson;
• Hannah Margurite Olofson, 1881-1965, married to William Leon Brundien;
• Alice Olofson, 1883-1963, married to Henry V. Larson;
• Gilbert Olofson, 1886-1976, married to Iva Pearl Woolsey;
• Charles Olofson, 1889-1911, died working in Chicago;
• Delbert Olofson, 1891-1920, married to Golda Mae Snyder;
• Bada Olofson, 1893-1971, married to Clement Lincoln Johnson;
• Leon Olofson, 1896-1967, no information on a marriage.

One of the interesting features of this family, unusual at the time, is that, several of the children had moved far away from Iowa. Alice died in Tacoma, Washington; Delbert in Truman, Minnesota; Bada in Long Beach, California; and Leon in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada.

And so, back to the question I asked at the beginning of this post. Here's another photo for you to examine:

Olof is in the lower left.

Is there anything you might be noticing now? No, it's not the beard, although it's pretty fantastic! I have to admit that I didn't notice something about Olof for all of the years I've had these photos. If you have a guess, take a look at this obituary for Olof that I just found a couple of weeks ago.

Notice halfway down where the article mentions his being blind for 40 YEARS!

Webster City Journal, July 24, 1924, page 5

This is the first time I've heard or read of his being blind. And Olof was blind for nearly half his life!! How did he farm? Did any of my readers know this? Please comment on the blog if you have any insight.

I love genealogy research. I find out something new every time I look at a new record, read a news article, exchange information with other descendants, read about the history of the time. I hope you're enjoying these posts as much as I enjoy writing them.