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.

It's Time to Let Maria Go

Those of us who have worked on our family history for any length of time have most certainly run into a few brick walls, a wall that we keep trying to find a way around, under, through, or over, to find the information we lack.

Perhaps it's an ancestor who just can't be found. It might be a birth, marriage, or death record. A military record. It might be an entire family that is uprooted and seems to have fallen off the ends of the earth. A good researcher is only as good as the information available. If a courthouse has burned with all of the records for a county, we try to find other records and newspaper articles and diaries and photographs that lead us to our answer. But in a very few cases, our work on an ancestor stops at the brick wall.

My great-great grandmother, Maria Helena Barquist Olofson, is one of those brick walls. Maria was born in Amot, Gavleborg, Sweden in 1842, and came to the United States with her parents and most of her siblings in 1857. After a short stay in Illinois, the family moved to Hardin Township in Webster County.

On July 21, 1865, Maria married Olof Olofson in Boone County. They settled in Hardin Township where Maria gave birth to my great-grandfather, William Edward (Eddie) Olofson in 1866. Church records show that they had a second child, Mathilda, born on July 31, 1869, who died in February 1870.

Because Maria appears in the 1870 census, we know that she didn't die in childbirth. We also can assume that she didn't die at the same time as Mathilda, February 1870, because the 1870 census was taken in July and Maria appears in that census.

But next comes the mystery. Maria isn't found in the 1880 census, we cannot find a death record or cemetery plot for her, she doesn't appear in any newspaper obituary at the time, she is not found in insane asylum records, and she is not living with her parents or siblings.

I have spent years, off and on, searching for Maria's death date and place of burial. Because Hardin Township is near the border of other counties, I've searched in Webster, Hamilton, and Boone county records. I've searched under name variations, searched under Maria Barquist as well as Maria Olofson.

With no additional directions to take, I turned to two expert DNA friends who belong to my genealogy group. I would put their skills up there with the likes of any of the DNA experts we see on television. They looked at the same records I had found, looked for additional records, and then used my DNA and the DNA of another Olofson relative that I have access to.

There are several possible clues to what happened to Maria:

• Maria does not appear in the 1880 census; that is the year when Olof marries Brita Rask. But before he marries Brita, Olof has a notation of "D" meaning divorced. That is a possibility, but there are no records or news articles to verify that.
• In William Edward Olofson's obituary in 1924, no mention is made of his birth mother, Maria. In 1870 when Mathilda dies, William would have been 4 years old, perhaps too young to understand he had a sister or what exactly happened. But we don't know exactly WHEN Maria disappeared--anytime between late 1870 and early 1880 is the range I have to work with. Her son Edward might have been 13 or 14 years when Maria dies or disappears.
• Olof Olofson also died in 1924; his obit also does not mention Maria Barquist, his first wife.
• In obituaries located for Maria's parents and siblings, there is no mention of Maria.
• Olof had been blind the last 40 years of his life, meaning that his blindness would have started in the early 1880's. Did this progressive disability cause friction or difficulties between Olof and Maria? Was it too difficult for Olof to farm and much of the burden fell to Maria?

These are just a few possibilities, but each has been researched with available records, and none have brought this brick wall to a positive close.

So, how could DNA work into solving this brick wall? One theory is that Maria either left on her own after losing her daughter and finding life with Olof to be too difficult; another is that the D" in the 1880 census was real and not a mistake, meaning a divorce and Maria's leaving. And finally, if Maria had been responsible for her daughter Mathilda's death OR if she believed she was responsible OR if others shunned her as being responsible, Maria might have left in disgrace. If any of these scenarios were true, then Maria may have had a second life, second marriage, second family. DNA would show descendants who are related to me but not at the same level as William Edward Olofson is. But sadly, after a thorough search, no DNA matches gave a breakthrough.

Brick walls are, for me, the most difficult and frustrating part of family research. Something happened to Maria, but what? When? Where? and where is she buried?

For now, no records are available with an answer, or even a lead. At this point, I have to move on to other ancestors who are willing to be found. But I'll be back. I'll take another look someday. 

And for now, YOU might have the clue to solving this mystery. Do you have any letters or a diary that mention Maria? a photograph with Maria in it? An old document or church record with Olof and Maria. Any relative who has kept every piece of paper they have ever received that just MIGHT have a clue? If so, I'm here, waiting, not so patiently anymore, hoping to know where my great-great grandmother is buried and what happened to her so long ago.

The Mystery of Maria Barquist Olofson

Maria Barquist Olofson is my 2nd great grandmother, born on 28 September 1842. She was the third of 6 children born in Sweden to John Barquist, Sr., and his wife Marget Pehrsdotter. But when did Maria die, and where is she buried? 

Let's take a look at what we know about Maria:

When Maria was just 15 years old, the entire family came to the United States, settling first near the Jansonite settlement of Swedes in Illinois. But soon they moved to Hardin Township in Webster County. There, Maria met and married Olof Olofson in 1865.

Maria and Olof had a son, William Edward Olofson, born in 1866. The family was not well off when compared to others in the area, including the Barquists. For example, in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedule (Agriculture), Olof Olofson is shown in Hardin Township, Webster County. He has 30 improved acres and 40 unimproved woodland or forest acres and 19 unimproved "old fields" not growing wood.

Olof's father-in-law, John Barquist, Sr., however, is listed as having 60 tillable acres, 100 total acres. it also lists the value of his property, crops, and animals. [Note: You may recall the post from last year about John Barquist being one of the settlers who had his property taken from him in a dispute that went all the way to the Supreme Court for a final decision.]

Whether the Olofsons had wealth or land, they had a real community of Swedes including Olof's mother and siblings and their families, as well as Maria's parents and siblings and their families. They were church-going people, belonging to the Stratford Lutheran Church.

On 31 July 1869, Olof and Maria had a second child, a daughter named Matilda. We see her in the Stratford Lutheran Church records with her parents and brother "Eddie". But Matilda's life was short. We see an entry in that same church record for February 1870, stating that Matilda had died.

The 1870 US Federal Census was taken in August and shows Olof, Maria, and their son Eddie. Daughter Matilda is gone, but I have no death record and no burial location for her. That isn't unusual for the time as Iowa was still a relatively new state without standardized rules for vital records.

But adding to the mystery is what then happened to Maria? In the 1880 US Federal Census, this is what we see:

Olof, age 43; W. E. (Eddie), age 14; and Olof's mother Christine Olofson, age 76. No Maria. And did you also notice the letter "D" in Olof's record? That is a column for marital status: Married (M), Single (S), or Divorced (D).

Now, was that accurate information? Census information is only as good as those GIVING the information and those WRITING it down. If Olof and Maria were indeed divorced, there is no record. But clearly something happened between the 1870 census where we DO see Maria and the 1880 census where she is gone. 

I've looked in many, many places. With her parents, her siblings, in the insane asylum, married to someone else, and in death and burial records. But I've not found her. I've had others look, asked for help from local genealogy societies, worked with others researching the Barquist family, and still not found her. Nor have I found daughter Matilda.

I put this brick wall away, but periodically I look again, hoping there are new records, new information, additional ideas for finding Maria, for finding Matilda's burial plot. My tree is so beautiful with branches going up and out into a fullness that makes me so proud. And yet, I have one branch that has a hole in it. 

Recently, I came across an article about the Methodist Church cemetery in Hardin Township. The following transcript is about John Linn, but I think you might see the relevance to our Maria Barquist Olofson brick wall:

"John Linn born in Sweden in 1826 and settled in Hardin Township in 1850. Mrs. Edna Anderson of Stratford is a granddaughter. She is 87 and very, very alert. She told this story: They had a daughter 2 years old [Julia Linn], a second daughter [Mary] was born and the mother died. Mr. Linn hewed out a large walnut log and buried her in this. Later when the cemetery was moved from the Methodist Church site, she was moved also to the South Marion Cemetery along with other graves."

She and others were moved to the South Marion Cemetery! Could Maria and Matilda also be among those moved from the Methodist Church cemetery to the South Marion Cemetery?

I've checked the records. First, there is no mention of John Linn's first wife Brita being buried there. And there is no record of Matilda or Maria being there either. I've emailed the local genealogy society and haven't heard back. Still, I'm hopeful that we will learn where Brita, John's wife is, and more important, where Maria Barquist Olofon and Matilda Olofson are buried.

40 years of searching. Do you have any thoughts? I'm willing to look anywhere. None of these female ancestors should be lost.

Maria Barquist Olofson

OLOFSON PHOTOS

 I have so many photos of the Olofson family. From my great-great grandfather Olof and his second wife and family to William Olofson, his wife Olivia, and their children, and more. Today, I'll pick a few that I'm not sure I've shared before. I hope there are some new ones in here for you to enjoy.

Olof Olofson married Brita Rask in 1880 and together they raised William who was the son of Olof, Anna Sophia Charlotta who was the daughter of Brita, and the 7 children they had together. Below is a picture of this handsome group:

Taken around 1904, they are (back row) Charlie, Lottie (Anna Sophia Charlotta), William Edward, Hannah, Gilbert; (front row) Bada, Olof, Delbert, Brita, Leon, Alice.

Great-great grandfather Olof Olofson was one of 6 children, 5 of whom survived to adulthood. The following picture shows Anna, Greta, and Kerstin in the back with Olof, who was blind by this time, and Lars.

William Edward Olofson and Olivia Rask, my great-grandparents, were married on October 17, 1889, and below is their wedding photo:

Next are two of my favorite photos of William and Olivia. Both show them in a buggy pulled by horses. One in the summertime dressed to impress. The other was in the winter, dressed for the very cold Iowa winters.

Olof Olofson with his dog and his cane:

Next is a photo of Olivia Rask Olofson and her son Vernie, my great uncle.

And finally, pictures of my grandmother Maude Edith Olofson Linn and her sister Lilly Sophy Olofson Lundgren.

I hope you've enjoyed these few picture of our Olofson ancestors. I love seeing their clothes and the glimpses into their lives before any of us were here.

Next week I'll post photos of other relatives: Lundgrens, Barquists, Rasks, and others.

 

Age Differences

 

It’s not unusual to be attracted to and marry someone who is several years older OR several years younger than we are. It is true today and was true hundreds of years ago when our ancestors were alive and making their arrangements to marry.

In Sweden, all couples, starting in the late 1600’s, needed to meet with the local priest, go through the banns (3 weeks of announcing their intention to marry in the church), and arrange for the traditional gift giving. During these meetings, the priest often entered his “notes” about the couple including who was vouching for each person.

A widow or widower could not remarry until the assessment and divisions of their previous “estate” were legally resolved. But that was normally done within about 3 months of someone’s death.

The gift giving sometimes included the man’s commitment to a morgongåva, a gift that was similar to a dowry and compensation for the bride's commitment to the marriage and household improvement. The wife would receive the morgongåva after the death of her husband. It was a way to help the widow continue for some time until she could find another man to marry or a stable household with a relative. This practice ended sometime around the early 1800's. 

As you might guess, a widower was more able and likely to marry again and to marry a much younger woman, both for the stability it brought to her life, but also her ability to give birth to additional children. An older widow, unless economically stable, might have more difficulty remarrying. It's why I see many of our widowed female ancestors living in the poor house or living with one of their children, but not remarried.

Let's look at a few of these May-September marriages in our family line.

Olaus Fredricsson is my 3rd great grandfather, father to Gus and John Linn. Olaus' family had been well off, and Olaus, his wife Catharina Johansdotter, and their 8 children, lived very comfortably at Dodringshult in Ingatorp Parish, Jonkoping County.

Dodringshult Farm in Ingatorp Parish

At some point, Dodringshult was for sale. Some of the description includes: Forest property in Northern Småland. The property is located about 20 km from Eksjö and about 10 km North of Bruzaholm. The area has about 572 hectars of which 533 are productive forest land.  Well-developed forest road network. Good hunting opportunities.

When Olaus died at the age of 44, Catharina was forced to move from her beautiful home down a dirt road to a small shack called Vastra Lund. She had her youngest 3 with her, while the older children had gone out working as drangs or pigans on other farms. How would Catharina live and provide for her children long term? We don’t know if she was bequeathed a morgongåva. We do know that she would have received half of the net proceeds from Olaus’ estate. But how long that would last is unknown. One way to assure she had food on the table and a roof over her head was to remarry.  Catherina was almost 45 years old when she married Johannes Jonsson who was 28 years old. He moved to Vastra Lund after his marriage to Catharina. While this is confusing, it does lend support to their probably not knowing each other well, or at all, when they married.

Anders Fogelqvist is my 4^th great grandfather on the Linn side. He was born in Uppsala county in 1744 and married Anna Marie Lundeberger in 1775. His bride was born in 1730, making their age difference 14 years. This couple had no children, and when Anna Marie died in 1790, Anders married my 4^th great grandmother, Lisa Lagerstrom, who was 21 years his junior. He liked being with women both much older AND much younger! But Anders himself was a great catch. He was a master hatmaker who also worked for the king’s artillery.

When my second great-grandfather, Olof Olofson, remarried, his new wife, Brita Rask, was 20 years younger. Olof was born in 1837; Brita in 1857. In an earlier post, we saw how this couple probably did not know each other before their marriage in Iowa in 1880.

The few options available in these very small, rural parishes, the need for stability, additional children, comfort, and yes, love, found our ancestors remarrying soon after the loss of a spouse. And, in many cases, these remarriages were between two people who might be separated by many years. Selfishly, I’m so glad they did remarry as I’m a descendent, in many cases, of a second marriage.

 

A Mail Order Bride?

Most of us have options when we are looking for a serious partner. Dating apps, church, school, a bar, a blind date, a person we see at the local Starbucks. But, many of our ancestors came from the smallest of parishes in Sweden, rural areas where options to find a mate were slim. Thus, we often see marriages between people who lived on the same farm, a huge age gap in the couple, or marriages that were arranged or designed to provide stability and shelter. And, there were many births out of wedlock in our family tree.

Brita Margrite Rask was born in Bollnas Parish in Gavleborg County and is the step grandmother to our Maude Edith Olofson Linn. She was born on December 24, 1857, the second of five children born to Olof Rask and his wife Sophia Margrite Kjellander. Olof and Sophia didn’t marry until 1861, when they already had 3 children.

I wouldn’t call Olof Rask a particularly good catch. He was poor, moved a great deal as a laborer, and in one clerical survey is noted as being “defenseless, but basically honest”.

Bringing 5 children into a rather unstable environment must have been difficult for everyone.

•   Eldest daughter Anna Stina, who worked as a servant/pigan, died at the age of 22 of an unknown illness.
•   Second daughter Brita Margrite, who also worked at various farms as a pigan, became pregnant out of wedlock and gave birth to a daughter, Anna Charlotta, when she was just 22 years of age. She and her daughter immigrated to the United States in July 1880.
•   Third daughter Olivia was also a servant girl who followed her sister to the United States in 1881.
•   Fourth child Johanna Marie died at the age of 2 of an unknown illness.
•   The baby of the family was Karl Olof Rask. Karl came to the United States in 1884, lived in Iowa for a short time, married and moved to Yankton, South Dakota, and eventually to North Dakota, where he died in 1930.

We see that the three surviving Rask children all immigrated to the United States. But why? In Karl’s case, he was able to be an independent farmer, owning his own farm by 1910. He married another Swedish immigrant, and raised 8 children. Compared to what his life would have been like in Sweden, the son of two poor parents and no option to be a landowner, he certainly carved out a much better life for himself.

Olivia Rask followed Brita from Sweden to Iowa in 1881 and eventually married my great grandfather, William Edward Olofson. This makes Olivia our great-grandmother but also our step-great-great aunt. Confusing?

Brita’s immigration is interesting. She was living with her parents and raising a daughter in Sweden. How would she have learned about Olof Olofson in Iowa? How could she have met him to know if he would make a suitable life partner? While I have no definitive answer, it is my belief that this was an arranged marriage or a mail order situation for Olof and Brita.

Olof had been widowed sometime between 1871 and 1880, when Maria Barquist Olofson died. He was raising his son William Edward Olofson with the help of his mother Christine, as shown in the 1880 census taken in June of 1880.

Brita and her daughter sailed from Sweden to the United States sometime after July 5, 1880, when we see that they are moving out of Bollnas Parish. The ocean part of the trip would have taken approximately 3 weeks. That puts their arrival on the Eastern shore of the United States around the first part of August 1880. From there, Brita and Anna Charlotta would have taken a train, perhaps a boat and other transportation to Iowa and eventually to Hardin Township in Webster County. Maybe that would have added another month to their trip.

Brita and Olof Olofson married in Boone County on September 9, 1880. It would certainly appear that this couple did not know each other before marrying; or, if they did, it was for a very few days. Looks like an arranged marriage, a mail-order bride, or something practical, if not romantic.

When Brita and Olof married, Olof was going blind. As we saw from a post on July 1, 2018, Olof spent the last 40 years of his life blind. He died in 1924, so he would have been blind around 1884, just 4 years after Brita and Olof married.

Brita Rask Olofson is my step-second great grandmother and also my second great aunt, Maude Edith Olofson’s step grandmother and also her aunt.

Take a look back at the March 11 and March 18 blog posts and also the July 1 post, all from my 2018 year of 52 ancestors in 52 weeks, for more on the Rask family. And then weigh in. An arranged marriage? Or ….

Two photos of Brita Rask Olofson; lower photo is of Olof and Brita Olofson. Olof is blind in this photograph. Love his beard and wish we had that cane and his very cool hat!

Olofson Photos

I'm going to probably add a few extra posts as we wind down the year. Today, photos of my great-great grandfather, great-grandfather, grandmother, and uncle. And now we can all tell that Olof was blind, but I hadn't noticed in other photos of him.

Four generations: Olof Olofson, Maude Olofson Linn, William Edward Olofson, Stanley Linn

Olof Olofson and his son William Edward Olofson

Multiples

We seem to be a family with very few multiple births. The only modern day multiples I know of are the twins born to my cousin Joel and his wife in 2002. But we certainly aren't known for our multiple births. Yet, there is ONE that I can report on in this post.

Kerstin Larsdotter is my 3rd great grandmother on the Olofson side. She was born to Lars Larsson and his wife Greta Ericksdotter in Farila Parish in Gavleborg County. Kerstin was one of 5 children born to this couple, and she is a twin.

• Son Lars, born July 27, 1800
• Son Eric, born April 23, 1802
• Daughters Kerstin and Marta (or Martha), born May 4, 1804
• Daughter Brita, born March 2, 1807

Marta and Kerstin, twins, born May 4, christened May 5, to farmer Lars Larsson and his wife Greta Ericsdotter in Fone (the farm in Farila Parish). The mother was 36 years old; the last column contains names of witnesses

So, maybe there's nothing too remarkable about one set of twins. But let's take a closer look at Kerstin and Marta.

Every year in Sweden, the priest would conduct a clerical survey of each household in the parish. His goal was to check on the knowledge of the Bible that each family member had, vaccinations, determine any births, marriages or deaths that occurred in the past year, and who might have moved in or out of the parish. The records are incredibly useful to a family historian and very detailed.

In several clerical surveys for Farila Parish, Marta Larsdotter is shown as having epilepsy. In the early 1800s, there would have been no treatment for epilepsy, and the physical toll it would have taken on Marta would have been tremendous. Marta died at the age of 24 on June 18, 1828. The cause of death was listed as convulsions.

The farmer Lars Larsson's daughter, Martha of Fone (the farm) died of convulsions on June 18, buried on June 22. She was 24 years, 1 month, and 14 days old.

Marta was the second child in this family of 5 children to die. In 1827, older brother Lars died of a "nerve fever" (perhaps rheumatic fever). Lars' and Marta's deaths left just 3 siblings in this family, one being the surviving twin Kerstin.

We know that Marta had epilepsy that was recorded by the parish priest in each yearly survey, but twin Kerstin also suffered from a life-long problem. My 3rd great grandmother was listed as being "hard of hearing" in several clerical surveys while she was growing up.

In case you don't know how Kerstin fits into our family, she married Olof Olsson in 1834. They had 6 children before immigrating to the United States in 1850, settling in Wisconsin. They lost their youngest child during their immigration. The family of Olof, Kerstin, and 5 children lived in Wisconsin where Olof died, family stories indicate from a logging accident. No one researching this family has found a location or date of his death. Another family story has Kerstin (now known as Christine Olofson) walking with  her surviving children to Iowa where she settled in the Stratford area. 

Christine Olofson's son Olof Olofson was my second great-grandfather, his son William Edward Olofson was my great grandfather, and Maude Edith Olofson was my grandmother.

I've not seen a mention in any record in the United States that Christine Olofson (Kerstin Larsdotter) had difficulty hearing, but I have no reason to doubt what the priest wrote in every yearly survey in Sweden.

And so, to my knowledge (and with apologies if I've left out a multiple birth in our family), we have just the two: Joel's and Lars', 198 years apart. I feel safe in saying that our Swedes aren't known for multiples!

Brita Rask Olofson

A few weeks ago, I posted about Brita Rask Olofson, my step great-great grandmother, and her sister, Olivia Rask Olofson, my great-grandmother. But while looking through news articles recently, I came across the following that I found a bit humorous. But then, I guess that's how people were described then:

The Stratford Courier, October 8, 1914, page 4

How do you like that description of step great-great grandmother Brita as a "very large woman"? I decided to look in local newspapers of the time under those three words and, amazingly, many women were described that way, and especially in terms of falling or hurting themselves or breaking a chair.

Here's a picture of Brita. What do you think?

And here's one more photo, this one of Olof Olofson, who we know was blind for 40 years, and wife Brita Rask Olofson.

Olof Olofson...blind.   Brita Rask Olofson...a very large woman.

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.

Father's Day

Today I honor the Swedish dads, those men who paved the way for those of us who follow them through their strength and leadership, their bravery and hard work.

To my grandfather: Peter Edward Linn (1892-1980); and his brother, Frank Frederick Linn (1895-1986);

To my great-grandfathers: Andrew Frederick Linn (1861-1939) and William Edward Olofson (1866-1924);

To my great-great grandfathers: Gustus Magnus Olausson Linn (1829-1897), Carl Magnus Andersson (1828-1896), Olof Olofson (1837-1924), and Olof Rask (1824-1888).

And so many, many other men that I research and write about, I thank you on Father's Day. Their lives, no matter how insignificant or humble they may have seemed, are appreciated today. Just four generations back, our family was toiling in Sweden. Our ancestors were poor. They had no opportunity to own land, to provide for themselves or their families.

We have no royalty or wealth in our family history. But the opportunities these men and their families gave us to seek our own paths, to find our own happiness, is immeasurable. I feel a connection to these men, and that's why I document their lives and pause today to thank them.



NOTE: Did you notice on the dates above that William Edward Olofson and his father Olof Olofson died in the same year? William died on February 12, 1924 (age 57); his father died on July 16, 1924 (age 86).

Peter Edward Linn

And to all of my family members who are fathers, happy Father's Day to you!