"Trains" is the next prompt. Trains have played a very important part in the lives of our ancestors. Trains brought them where they wanted to go, and often provided means of employment. Trains also brought tragedy on occasion.
 |
Moheda train station
|
The above picture is of the Moheda train station in Moheda parish, Sweden. The post card is dated 1902. This is most likely the train station that Sven Goran Henrik Johansson, aka George Henrickson, left from in 1892 when he traveled to America. His sister would later leave from this station, and perhaps his mother in 1912. After arriving in America he would travel by train from New York City to first Indiana, and then later to Michigan. I remember hearing a story that George worked on the railroads in Indiana, earning money to go to Augustana College in Chicago.  |
Rotebro train station
|
The above train station is the Rotebro train station from Sweden. This is the train station that Carl Johan Anderson worked briefly at before marrying Ulrika Johannsdotter. There is a note in the Household census records about Carl working here. It's not known what his job was. Perhaps he sold tickets? It was probably more exciting, and less stressful than working on a farm. Later Carl would move closer to Stockholm and work at a railroad train station there, where Ulrika is also listed as working at. Later they would marry and after surviving a famine in Sweden they would come to America. They also settled first in Indiana, and then later came to Michigan. Family stories indicate that Carl and Ulrika came to Allegan, following the railroad. Carl may have worked on the railroad after arriving in America. He later purchased 80 acres with a house that still stays in the family today. The house and land stood across the road from the railroad tracks. Unfortunately for Carl and Ulrika, their second child and oldest daughter was killed when she wandered onto the tracks and was hit by an oncoming train.
On the Strand side, Carl and Mildred Strand used trains as transportation. When Mildred was a young girl, her older brother Ray spent a summer crisscrossing the American west in search of their Uncle Judson. Ray took trains from Allegan all the way to Washington, sending postcards home from the places he stopped at along the way. He told the family to follow along with the train schedules to know when and where he was arriving. He traveled all over with no car, just using trains.
When Mildred, herself, was older, she used the train to meet Carl where he was working, in Battle Creek, I believe. Mildred had never learned to drive a car and Carl had her take the train to meet him. There was an interurban line in Allegan that quickly transported people from Allegan to Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and Grand Rapids. It was cheap, fast, and electric.
Trains helped our ancestors travel to faraway places to start new lives and visit far flung family members. Trains also helped our farmer ancestors sell their grains and crops and bring in goods not readily available in Michigan.
Do you have any more stories about trains and how the impact they had on our family's life?
Postcards courtesy of FindaSwede. She has more information on where the postcards came from.
Also thanks to "Railroads Come and Go in Allegan County" by James J. Green. Allegan County Historical Society Publication. 1976.
I remember that 11sometimes the train engineer would throw pack of gum to us kids if we were standing at the end of the driveway, waving.
ReplyDeleteAlso, if the train came by after dark, mom would click the yard light off and on and the engineer would took the train horn hello. 😀
That's cool about the engineer throwing you guys gum. 😀 I know at the school I work at, when the train comes by everything has to stop because the kids all pay attention to the train, and nothing else. Sometimes, if the kids all start waving and yelling they will toot the horn. Trains are pretty cool.
DeleteWe loved the train when I was a kid that went by the Henrickson farm. It brought the outside world to us. The smoke was visable from our farm when it came thru chugging and puffing. It came from Kalamazoo thru Allegan and on up to Hudsonville. It turns out the engineer who threw the gum became my brother in law as he married my first husbands sister. She worked at the casket factory in Allegan where he would stop to pick up caskets and that was how they met. I was told that he went to the farm and told the kids that he would only throw gum if they stood in the driveway as he was so afraid they would run to the tracks or into the road.
ReplyDelete