Pictures--Mostly Olofsons

Today, I was looking through my Olofson records and came across several photos that I thought would be of interest. There are people I recognize or that my mom helped me label, but you may recognize some faces and can fill me and others in.

This first picture is taken outside Olof and Brita Olofson's farm house from around 1902. I wonder if Maria Barquist had also lived there??? From left to right are Henry Gilbert, Carl Henry, Delbert August, Bada Maylinda, and Leon. Behind them are Olof and Brita. Doesn't that house look small? Even for just the 5 youngest of their children along with the parents?

This next picture is a wide view of William Edward Olofson's farm. Many of us have seen a photo of the front of the house, but this view gives us a sense of a much larger house than the one William's father had lived in--with fewer children!

These adorable girls are two of Olof and Brita's children. Bada was born in 1893; her sister Alice was born in 1883. It looks as if this photo may have been taken around 1896.

Bada appears again in the next picture with four of her brothers. Back row: Charles, Gilbert, and Delbert Olofson; front row: Bada and Leon Olofson. Don't all of their little Olofson faces look similar?

This next photo shows the front of William and Olivia Olofson's home, a photo many of us have seen. On the front porch are Maude and Lilly. Also standing on the porch is mother Olivia. I don't recognize the others. Do you?

Below are two photos of the school that Peter, Frank, and Maude all attended. In the top photo, near the right side is Maude, but I don't recognize others.

And finally, two entrees for the Olof Olofson family in the Stratford Evangelical Lutheran church records:

I hope you've enjoyed this look at the homes, schools, and church records for the Olofson ancestors. I'm always looking for additional family photos, so please go to the attic or back of that closet and see what treasures you may find to share.

The Land They Bought

Many immigrants came to the United States for the opportunity to own land. In Sweden, with the exception of just a couple of my ancestors, none of the Linns, Olofsons, Barquists, Anderssons, Rasks, and others were able to own a piece of land. While there are other reasons for migration (religious freedom, escape military service, and more), being able to own land was a very important reason for our ancestors to leave their family, friends, and homes.

Here is just a brief look at some of our ancestors' early land purchases:

Peter and Sophia Linn: Arrived in Iowa in 1851.

Through the Bureau of Land Management, they purchased 40 + 20 acres of land in Boone County on June 5, 1866. Township 85 North; Range 27 West, Section 3. Link here: Description of Land

Gustus and Catharine Lundblad Linn: Arrived in Iowa in 1853. By 1855, Gus and Catharine were buying and selling land.

One early transfer of land  on 24 May 1855 when Gus (grantor) to Peter Runyan (grantee), a man who had been born in 1787 in New Jersey and had made his way to Iowa and Boone County where he died in 1871. 

Also in 1855, Gus was on the purchasing side of land on 14 August 1855 from Andrew Kaulson; and on 4 September 1855, Gus sold land to Charles Munson. 

John and Marget Barquist: Arrived in Iowa in 1858.

Through the Military Scrip Warrant Act of 1855, the Barquists were able to purchase land along the Des Moines River that had been gifted to a Civil War soldier as payment and appreciation for his service. The 160-acre Barquist land in Webster County was bought on June 1, 1866. Township 86 North,  Range 27 West, Section 23. Link here: Description of Land. As you may recall, this is the land that was forcibly taken from John and Marget with the lawsuits going to the US Supreme Court for a final decision.

 John Linn: Arrived in Iowa in 1849. 

I'm not quite certain when John and Brita OR John and Sarah bought their first land, but on 3 May 1856, John and Sarah sold land to the School District of Hardin Township in Webster County for $10 to be used  to build a school. It was in Township 86, Section 26, Range 27 and contained 80 square rods which computes to half an acre.

 

The above plat map for Dayton and Hardin Townships was from 1909, much later than the sale of land in 1856. The owners of land clearly are not the same as they would have been in 1856. But we can see the Des Moines River and, to the right, sections 27 and then 26. It is in Section 26, around the name Berglund, that the school would have been built.

An accounting for the school shows that John Linn continued to support the school by giving money to a teacher fund, being paid $1.30 for a bucket and a tin cup for the school (1860), being paid $2.00 for work and lumber furnished for the school house (1860). This information was all found in a very brittle book on the accounting of the Hardin school. 

In 1859, I also show John Linn owning 80 acres in Section 27 of Hardin Township. For a time, he co-owned it with a man named Frederick Carlson, no relation that I can determine.

While these are just a few of the early purchases of Iowa land by our ancestors, many were busy buying and selling land during their first few years in the state. Through assessor's books, BLM online information, news articles and plat maps, I have put this brief look together. I hope it gives you an appreciation of our ancestors' desire to own land and become part of their communities.

 

The Carlsson Cabin Update

On March 15 of this year, I posted the following about the Carlsson Cabin:

"One additional piece about this family, a story that has been passed down with photographs as truth is that Anna Maja Abrahamsdotter’s father, Abraham Carlsson (my 3^rd great grandfather) built the Carlson cabin in 1850 near Dayton. I would question the accuracy of this for two reasons:

1.     Anna’s parents, Abraham Carlsson and Anna-Brita Johannesdotter never left Sweden. Abraham died there in 1849 and Anna-Brita in 1880.

2.    Even if the cabin were named for Anna Maja’s parents but thought to have been built by Anna’s husband Carl, that couldn’t have happened around 1850. Carl and Anna Maja and their 5 children didn’t emigrate from Sweden until 1884, well after the 1850 date that has been posted.

I wouldn’t doubt that someone from our family lived in that cabin, maybe even a Carlson or the Andersons, but it was likely built by someone else in 1850 who was not in our direct line. Or, someone has the incorrect date and the cabin was built sometime after 1884 when the Anderssons arrived. One person has speculated on Ancestry that Carl Andersson ADDED to the Carlsson cabin. That supposition holds some water as the Anderssons were a family of 7 and might have needed additional room. 

Again, one of the things I love about genealogy research is exploring and learning, but always being open to new information. If I’m incorrect about the cabin, I hope that someone will leave a comment or email me. It certainly would be nice to lay claim to the Carlson Cabin."

Today, I have an update on WHO might have lived in that cabin. It certainly wasn't Abraham Carlsson and his family, nor was it the Anderssons! 

The cabin pictured above lies near the Des Moines River north and east of Pilot Mound in Boone County. Recently, I came across the following narrative about another family who sometimes USED their given name of Carlsson, but also their father's military surname in Sweden of Lundblad.

In 1857 Anders Carlsson Lundblad, his wife Anna Catarina Johansdotter, and their four children, Alfred, Charlie, Charlotte and Mary Louise left for America. They crossed in a sailboat and it took them eight weeks. They went to Burlington, Iowa, and were met by Gus Linn, Andrew's brother-in-law, with an ox team. He took them to Boone, Iowa, where they settled in a log cabin on the banks of the Des Moines River about three miles east of Pilot Mound, Iowa. Augusta and Julia were born there. 

When they first came to America they used their name Lundblad, but it seemed too difficult for people to pronounce so they changed their name to the patronymic Carlson. But in time they found there were so many Carlsons that they changed back to Lundblad. In the family plot in the Linn Cemetery, about two miles north of where they first settled, there are four infants buried, two by the name of Carlson and two by the name of Lundblad.

In 1863 the Lundblads bought a farm up on the prairie two miles north of Pilot Mound, Iowa, and they lived there the rest of their lives. Their home was completely built of black walnut lumber, made from trees felled on their own river land.

The above 1860 US Federal Census is for Carson's Point, Boone County, Iowa, located in Section 9 in the map below. This was the post office spot for the people in this part of Pilot Mound Township. The  Des Moines River encompasses parts of Section 4, 10, 15, 22, etc. on the west side of the river. 

Notice that Gustus Lynn and his wife Catharina Lundblad Linn are listed on the same page; and below Andrew Lundblad's name is Peter Lynn, Gus' brother. Note the very incorrect spelling of the Lundblad name. It's written as "Lumbaugh". No wonder Anders/Andrew Lundblad changed his surname for a time to Carlsson!

Pilot Mound Township, Boone County.

Directly north of Pilot Mound on the above map is the farm Andrew Lundblad and his family lived on from 1863 until he and his wife died. This map is from 1896.

So, what do you think? Anders Carlsson Lundblad and his family living in that cabin on the river in Boone County? Using the name Carlsson during that time and later changing it back to Lundblad when they moved to a different farm? Using wood from their river cabin land to build their new farm house?

It all seems plausible to me. The timing seems right. The name Carlsson makes sense. And the story about the river cabin being in our family works. 

I'd enjoy reading your comments on this new-found information about the Carlsson cabin. Or should we say "Lundblad" cabin????

*Carlson = Carlsson

*Anders = Andrew