Charles August Lundblad and wife Anna Sophia Moard Lundblad

Occasionally, I come across an ancestor who, while not closely related, offers a glimpse of life and death in early Iowa. Today, we have a look at a couple, Charles Lundblad, my first cousin, 3 x removed, and the nephew of our Catharina Lundblad Linn. Also, we see the short life of his wife, Anna Sophia Moard.

Charles August Lundblad is the son of Anders Lundblad who was written about in this blog just a couple of weeks ago. Charles was one of 4 children born in Sweden to Anders Lundblad and his wife Anna. In 1857, the family moved to Iowa, living near the Des Moines River north of Pilot Mound. The couple eventually had 12 children, 2 of whom died at a young age in Sweden.

Charles married Anna Sophia Moard on 23 February 1877 in Boone County, Iowa. Below you can see from the Dayton Centenniel Book, pages 91-92, what a full life Charles had. After the early death of his wife, Charles invited his sister Julia into his home to care for his 3 young children. Julia never married, remained close to Charles and his children, and is buried next to them in the Dayton Cemetery.

Charles was in the grain business for a time with our Gustus Linn and he served on the school board, town council for Dayton, and was even the Mayor of that great, small town.

Charles' wife Anna was born in Illinois on 6 September 1858. Her family moved to Dayton in 1868, and Charles and Anna married in 1877. Three children were born in this marriage: Daisy Evangeline, 1878; John Leonard, 1879; and Nellie Adelia, 1880. On 19 June 1883, at the age of 24, Anna died of TB. Below are two beautifully written obituaries that show the flowery language of the time:

In the Dayton Review, 20 July 1883, taken from the Pilot Mound correspondent to the Ogden Reporter about the death of Mrs. C. A. Lundblad, a fitting tribute to a worthy life:

It is with profound sorrow that we announce the death of Mrs. Annie Lundblad, a true wife and devoted mother. No higher eulogy can be pronounced upon any woman. How the little motherless children will miss her tender care. How those fragile little ones will miss her sweet presence at the evening hour when she sat by the bedside and listened to their innocent prayers, soothing their little spirits as they dropped off to sleep. Although they have a loving and devoted father to attend to their many wants, yet when a mother is called to the realms across the mystic river, the great central sun of the household goes down, and Mr. Lundblad has the true and deep sympathy of his many friends in his afflictions. Let us hope however in the language of the scripture "I go to prepare a place for you" that in the golden summer of another life, children, mother and father gather again in a sweet reunion where parting is unknown.

Dayton Weekly Review

June 22, 1883

DIED - Anna S., wife of C.A. Lundblad, Tuesday morning, June 19th, 1883, of consumption (tuberculosis).

Mrs. Lundblad was a daughter of Andrew Moard near Dayton and was born in Wataga, Ill., Sep. 6th, 1858. They moved to Moline a few years after, and came to this township about twelve years ago. She leaves a husband and three children, the youngest of which is 22 months old, and parents, brothers and many friends to sorrow over her grave.

An early death like hers seems peculiarly hard to bear by those who live. All who knew her loved her. All who loved her found her worthy of their love. She was happy with her friends here but she knew she must go to another world, and she knew she would meet friends there better than the best on this earth. Better, because they have passed from temptation and received their glorious reward. She awaited the coming of the silent messenger calmly and fearlessly, conversing up to the last moment. Truly it can be said "Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord."

The funeral services were conducted at the Lutheran church, Thursday, by Revs. Seashore and Swanson, and was largely attended.

These two obituaries for Anna were lovely, weren't they? Today, we rarely see such beautiful and uplifting words to describe a very sad situation. Charles August Lundblad never married again and was a widower for 49 years until his death in 1932. Charles died of nephritis of 2 years and influenza with anorexia nervosa being a contributing factor. 

More Nobility in the Family

If you are a descendant of  Catherine Lundblad Linn, you are of noble descent through the Bonde and Natt noble lines.

The eldest Bonde I have found is Gustaf Carl Bonde, born in Finland and died in Germany. His wife, Anna Christina Natt was born in Sweden in 1630 and died in Sweden in 1692. When you think about our Swedish ancestors, you probably don't consider that some may have been from Finland, Germany, or other countries, but depending on the time we are considering, Sweden was a military powerhouse, holding control over many countries. In addition, some Swedish nobility or military leaders were put in charge of various captured areas. Thus, we see an occasional ancestor having been born, died, or resided in another country and even marrying and having children who would show as German or Finnish.

The name Bonde actually means "farmer" in Swedish. But the Bonde name is #20 on the list of Swedish Noble families. 

Natt och Dag translates to "night and day" and the Natt noble family is #23 on the list, another old noble family in Sweden.

Swedish Noble Families

Gustaf Bonde was a member of the Spanga Kyrka (church) in Stockholm. It is part of the Spanga-Kista Parish in the Diocese of Stockholm. The oldest section of the church is from the late 12th century, but it has been added to and reconstructed over the centuries.

Baron Gustaf Bonde was the owner of the nearby Hasselby Palace and was a large donor to the Spanga Kyrka. After his death, a chancel tomb designed by the architect Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, was added onto the church in which Bonde and his descendants are buried. 

Gustaf Bonde was a Friherre och riksskattmastare (Baron and the National Treasurer). 

The first shield above is for the House of Bonde. The second shield at the bottom is from the Family Natt och Dag (night and day). I've never seen such plain family shields or emblems, have you?  The yellow and blue separate the night from the day; the peacock feathers are the one bright, interesting part of the Bonde shield. The two photos are of Gustaf Bonde and the Hassleby Palace in Stockholm. 

The Bonde and Natt families above, Gustaf Bonde and Anna Christina Natt, are the STEP second grandparents of my fourth great grandfather, Anders Amundsson. This is all on the Linn side.

I'm not sure I'd go back to Stockholm and knock on the door of Hassleby Palace and tell the occupants that I'm a Bonde, entitled to some royal advantages. But I do think it's fun to think about the very wealthy and well-connected ancestors we have as part of our total ancestry. 

How Did I Get to be Finnish?

Have you taken a DNA test yet? I've tested through two companies: Family Tree Maker for my female ancestors through my mother, and Ancestry for a look at both sides of my gene pool. As you might guess, I'm 45 percent Swedish from both Northern Sweden (my Swedish grandmother's side) and Southern Sweden (my Swedish grandfather's side). A like amount is from my mother's side: Czech, Germanic, and Eastern European. But I do have 5 percent of my genes from Finland and it is attributed to my Swedish ancestors. So how did that happen?

Both of my brothers tested, and they both have 8 percent Finnish ancestry. One of my Swedish first cousins, once removed tested, and his results show 9 percent Finnish. I was fortunate to have one of my paternal uncles test a few years back, and he tests at 20 percent Finnish.

As I always mention when writing about DNA, I am not an expert in DNA research. I'm barely a novice who has attended a few workshops to gain a basic understanding of my DNA to use in my own research.

First, is there a way to understand how far back my lineage might go to gain 5 percent from a Finnish ancestor? There are actually many combinations that could account for that 5 percent.

As you can see above, my brothers and I don't share the same percentage of Finnish ancestry. Likewise, we don't share the same percentage from each of our parents. One of us is more Swedish than the other two. DNA is passed down randomly. So, while one parent may have 10 percent Italian for example, none of that 10 percent might have been passed down randomly to the child.

When I look at my mom's DNA, she has NO Finnish ancestry. Thus, it's a certainty that my Finnish DNA, as well as my brothers' Finnish DNA, came from our paternal line. My Swedish uncle (my father's brother) has 20 percent Finnish DNA, just a bit more than twice what both of my brothers have at 8 percent. Because that uncle is one generation closer to the Finn ancestry, his 20 percent makes sense. And, because my first cousin, once removed has 9 percent Finnish DNA and is related to my paternal grandmother, it seems clear that the Finnish DNA comes through Maude Edith Olofson Linn whose ancestors are from the north-central portion of Sweden.

The Finnish DNA is not from the Linns; it is from the Olofsons. 

Next, can we narrow this down a bit more. 

Until 1809, Finland was a part of the Swedish empire, under Swedish rule. 

During the 1600's, in the areas where Maude Edith Olofson Linn's ancestors were from, iron ore had been discovered in the forested areas. While the Swedes were capable of mining the ore, they did not have the ability to refine it. Thus, the Finns were invited to come to the forest areas in the 1600s. These areas were now used to make charcoal for the iron blast furnaces and iron works and to refine the ore for military use.

Can we find any Finns in Maude's line who might have been iron workers? The answer is YES. My 7th great grandfather, Bertil Monsieur, was born in Finland in 1644 and died in Hanebo Parish, Gavleborg County, on 8 April 1739.

But how much DNA could I possibly have inherited from a 7th great-grandfather? Pretty much nothing. Less than 1 percent. Of course, other factors play a roll. DNA inheritance is random. What if I inherited 3 percent or even 4 percent from Bertil Monsieur? What if his son, my 6th great grandfather, inherited a larger amount, up to 50 percent Finn from his father, or if he married a full-blooded Finn, passing on 50 percent or MORE between the two of them to their children? What if other ancestors of Maude's had small amounts of Finnish DNA that randomly mixed and found their way to my generation?

And, what if there was general mixing of DNA during that time between Swedes and Finns, proximate neighbors where genetic differences are very small, even before Sweden captured Finland and ruled?

In general, 4-5 generations back is where we can stop counting DNA as a good indicator of our heritage. But it's not a hard rule. Randomness. That's what makes each of us different from our siblings, our cousins, other relatives. While I've been told that I look like Maude, my paternal grandmother, I actually have a bit more of my mom's DNA in me. Maybe the Bohemian/German DNA is more about my height, my nose, my cow ankles or the random curls in my hair, but my Swedish DNA is more about my facial features and blue eyes. 

I would never tell anyone that I am part Finn. The amount is so small, the randomness makes it impossible to narrow down completely, and all people from Nordic countries do share some of the same genes. I would tell people the story about Bertil Monsieur and other people from Finland being invited to help with the iron ore refinement and that he is my 7th great-grandfather because I know that to be 100% true. But whether Bertil was 100% Finn, or was simply born there and was really some other ethnicity, is something I will never know with certainty.

Another reason I just love genealogy!!!

So Many Questions

I love being a genealogy detective, a family ancestor searcher. Sometimes I tell people that I sit at my computer "finding more dead people," but the truth is that I love the stories of their lives. And while I enjoy learning about our ancestors' lives, they continue to intrigue me with the facts, the stories, the problems that are left out.

Catherine Lundblad Linn, my second great grandmother, was born in 1823 in Sweden and died in 1912 in Iowa. She was the youngest of 3 children born to the soldier Carl Johan Lundblad and his wife Maria Andersdotter. Catherine and her husband Gus and oldest son Johan came to the United States in 1852, settling in Iowa near Gus' older brother John Linn.

Catherine's older brother Anders Carlsson Lundblad (1819-1908) was married in Sweden to Anna Catarina Johansdotter and they had 6 children in Sweden before they left for the United States in 1857. In Iowa they had 6 more children for a total of 12.

The oldest of the 3 children was Maria Carlsson Lundblad, born in 1816 and died in 1900. Wherever I find Maria, at whatever age she is, Maria was unmarried and working as a laborer on various farms. In the last clerical survey where I find her alive, Maria is living in the poor house, noted as the Fattighus below. Maria is the 5th entry below.

Maria, Anders, and Catherine's mother had died in 1838; their father in 1841. The 3 children were all adults and should have been capable of making their way. 

Maria had a long life, living until age 83 when she passed in the poor house. Her brother Anders and sister Catherine were both 88 when they died in Iowa.

Does any of this raise a question? For me, it does. Catherine and Gus came to the United States in 1852. Anders and his family came in 1857. Why didn't either of them take sister Maria with them?

Perhaps she didn't want to leave Sweden. Perhaps there were physical or mental issues that made taking her very difficult. Perhaps Catherine and Anders had lost contact with her as Maria moved from farm to farm for work. 

Below is Maria's death record for 1 May 1900. She died of old age in the poor house.

This is just another mystery in the family.