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