Favorite Photo

 This week's prompt is "Favorite Photo." Our first favorite photo is the wedding photo of my great grandparents, George Henrickson and Malvina Anderson.

Tina said she really liked this one because of the whole vibe of it. The clothes, the style, the way they are posed. I also really like the clothes. George looks very dapper and Malvina has flowers on her corsage and in her hair as part of her veil. Time and money and planning went into this wedding. I'm sure Malvina's parents were very happy, as were George's family. I wonder if any of his relatives were there? After marrying they went to Wisconsin to live for a time before moving to Chicago and then back to Michigan. 

Another favorite photo of mine is this one of my great grandmother Emilie (Emily) Dobbratz Ashley.

This photo shows Emily sitting in a field with her four children. She has knitting/sewing in her hands. I really like it because it looks like a nice, pleasant summer afternoon, relaxing in a field. The children are all happy and smiling. Everyone looks at ease. I also like it because it's not a studio posed photo. It was taken out in the field at their house. 

Do you have a favorite photo?

Memorable

The last prompt of 2025 is "memorable." This Fall I came into contact with the wife of a descendant of Jonas Fahnstrom, brother of Ingrid Fahna. She is the family historian in her family and had a wealth of information on the Fahnstrom/Fahna family in America, and their life in Sweden. It was her research into her husband's family in Sweden that greatly helped me in researching our branch of the family. I am eternally grateful to her for putting that online as it helped me so much in my research. Out of all the information she sent me, 2 pieces really stood out. One was a picture, and one was a letter. 

The first is a picture of a young George Henrickson. I'm guessing he was in his early 20's when the picture was taken. He arrived at age 17 and was married at 25. You can see just how handsome he was. No wonder Malvina fell in love with him. I really like this picture because it's rare to get a picture of an ancestor so young in age. Most of the pictures I've seen of George are when he's older, and his health has started to fail. In this picture he's young and has his whole life ahead of him.

George Henrickson

The second memorable piece of information this year is a letter written from Malvina to her sister in-law, Amanda, George's younger sister. The letter is dated April 1938, and it's written near the beginning of George's illness. George suffered from Pernicious Anemia, the body's inability to absorb vitamin B12. It's an autoimmune disease that occurs primarily in people of northern European descent. This link explains the disease in more detail. Pernicious Anemia I'm not sure the doctors had an adequate way of treating it back then.

Allegan, April 22nd, 1938.
Dear Amanda.
You will probably be surprised to get a letter from me. I don’t know that I
have ever written to you but I want you to know that Goran is ill. He has been ill since the beginning of March but during these last few weeks he has been in bed and I fear the worse.
He has become so thin and it seems he gets weaker and weaker day by day so I have been thinking, maybe, if it’s possible for you, that you could come and see him.
He is himself having great courage and believes that he will recover and it is good because the doctor says that this is the best of medicine for him.
If you can come, write me a few lines in advance but say nothing more than I have written that he us I’ll and that you are coming to see him.
If you will be coming by railway it would be best to get off at Kalamazoo because there aren’t any passenger trains going to Allegan anymore.
I have two daughters living there.
They will meet you and give you the address to Eulalia. If you write to her they will meet you and bring you here.
Write  me in English.
Her address is Mrs Charles Marsh
1023 Eagleston Avenue.
Kalamazoo
Michigan.
Her telephone number is 8071
Maybe you have got a car and will get someone to drive you here.
That would be the least trouble.
I would like you to know, though, that he is ill
My two youngest boys are at home and are doing the work now.
Hope that all of you are well. Now I want to finish this time by many dear greetings to all of you. Kindly and in a hurry.
Malvina.
Excuse my bad writing. I haven’t written in Swedish for a long time. I have almost forgotten how but I hope that you will be able to read.

I know that George was not said to be a fan of his sister marrying their cousin. I wonder if that also means the families did not have much contact with each other. Malvina says that she thinks her letter will surprise Amanda as she's never written her before. Or maybe George is the one who wrote to his sister? You can also tell from the tone that Malvina is very concerned about George, enough to write to his sister herself. Her two youngest sons would have been Ray and Evald. 1938 is also the time Ray started seeing a young Viola Strand. 

Another interesting fact we learn from the letter is that Malvina knows how to write in Swedish! She learned not only how to fluently speak it, but also to write it. She does say it's pretty rusty and for Amanda to try and reply in English so she must not have felt good about trying to read it. The local Lutheran Church stopped Swedish language services in the early 1920's so that's probably when Malvina stopped using it more often. I also think it's interesting she referred to George by his Swedish name of Goran. Maybe she thought Amanda would be more comforted by that name than his American name? 

Unfortunately, we don't know if Amanda made the journey or not. Hopefully she was able to. 

What were your memorable family history moments from this year? Surprising stories or information? Surprising relatives or ancestors? Let me know down below. As always, feel free to share and repost with anyone you think might be interested.

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Animals!

This week's prompt is "Animals." Living and working on farms, our ancestors were with animals all the time. Here is a collection of my ancestors and relatives with animals over the years.

Bum

The first one, above, is Bum. Bum was owned by my grandpa Thompson. Bum liked to sit on the running board of my grandfather's car and ride into town, sitting on the running board.

Horace Ashley with cat

Next up is my great granduncle Horace Ashley with a farm cat. Horace was my great grandpa Ashley's older brother. He's pictured here with his wife Jesse and an unknown farm cat. Judging by the cat sitting on Horace's shoulders, I think the cat really liked Uncle Horace. He probably also liked the free milk from the cows. 

Boys on outhouse

This picture comes from the Strand family archives. I'm guessing that Carl Strand is one of the boys in this picture. Maybe with brother Howard? Cousin George? Or friends? Either way, an unknown cat made it into the picture.

Strandt siblings with horse

In this picture we have eldest Strandt child, Eva, with, I think, brothers Carl and Howard on a horse.

Carl Strand with horses. Around age 14.

Here is Carl Strand with plough horses when he was around 14 years old. Carl had his horses trained so well he could line them up, and have them walk down the row, ploughing, and wait for him at the end. He was good with horses. Better than his father, which led to conflicts between them.

Carl Strand horses, approx. 1917.

Another picture of Carl Strand's horses.

Ray and Evald Henrickson with horses.

I also have a picture of my grandpa Henrickson with his brother, Evald, and their team of plough horses. 

Ray Henrickson with cows

And last but not least, here is Ray Henrickson with some of his cows. This picture was taken in 2003. He had a great affection for cows.

And there you have it. Animals my ancestors and relatives have known throughout the years. Questions, comments, more information to add? Post them below in the comments or feel free to email me.

Ray Henrickson with horse. Rowdy?

I found this picture after I first published the blog, but I wanted to include it. It just shows how important horses were to farmers before tractors.

 

Off to Work: Mildred Strand

This week's prompt is "Off to work." Besides farming, the other profession that keeps repeating itself in our family is teaching. We have had a great many teachers over the years. Granted, women did not have many opportunities for other careers back in the day, but it is interesting how many women in our family have taught over the years. Carl Strand's mother, Mary Pulsipher, taught school before marrying William Strandt. Mary even taught school again in her later years. She attended Western Michigan College in the 1940's to add to her teaching credentials. Her daughter and Carl's older sister, Eva, also taught school. Eva's daughter, Ruth, grew up to be a schoolteacher in Florida.

June 1941

On the Henrickson side, George Henrickson's aunt, Sarah Lena Fahna, taught school in Sweden. She taught until she retired. 

Mildred Strand also came from a line of teachers. Her mother, Elnora Truman, taught in a one room school before marrying Charles Bellinger. 

After graduating from high school, Mildred earned a diploma from a Normal School and was allowed to teach. Normal schools were educational institutions dedicated to training teachers. Mildred attended one for one year and was then credentialed to teach school in the state of Michigan. 

It states that Mildred V. Bellingar has successfully completed the prescribed course of study and completed practice teaching at Allegan County Normal School. Dated June 12, 1919.

Mildred taught for one year before marrying Carl Strand on July 9, 1920. While Mildred gave up teaching to become a wife and mother, she never stopped learning. She read voraciously and loved to study and learn new things. Several of Mildred's grandchildren and great grandchildren work in education today. 

I haven't been able to locate where Mildred taught yet. I'm still working on that. Mildred's high school diploma has also been found. Here's a copy of that.

It says that Mildred Bellingar has completed the scientific course of study and is declared a graduate of the High School. Dated May 30, 1918.

Many thanks to Mildred's son, Fred, who recently found these diplomas. They are the only records at the moment of Mildred graduating high school and Normal school. I'm very thankful they were saved and shared.

Questions, comments, more info to add? Leave them down below in the comments or email me. 

Play Time: The Henrickson sisters

 This week's prompt is "play time." There are so many ways to go with this prompt but while researching Henrickson ancestors I discovered some play time the Henrickson sisters had back in August 1928.

On August 11, 1928 Grace Henrickson married Harold Wall. Harold was an apprentice plumber and Grace worked as a clerk. Witnesses were Mr. Ralph Quarry and Miss Ingrid Henrickson. Ralph Quarry had married Grace's sister, Pearl, in January 1927. The wedding took place at the Swedish Lutheran Church with the reception at the Henrickson farm.

The next article I found tells us exactly where Grace and her new husband went, and with whom.

Mr. and Mrs. Hjalmar Anderson, of course, is Selma and Hjalmar Anderson. Selma was the oldest child and daughter of George and Malvina Henrickson. Grace and her new husband honeymooned with Selma and her husband at Pine Lake. I looked up Pine Lake and there are several Pine Lakes around the country. Most likely she went to Pine Lake, Michigan in southeastern Michigan. Selma and Hjalmar had a 1-year-old daughter at the time. It's not known if she came too, or if she was cared for by someone else. 

This entry sheet from the Swedish Lutheran Church shows that the Henrickson sisters took turns being witnesses for each other at their weddings. 

I just thought it was nice that the sisters seemed so close to each other. I've found other instances in the newspaper of the sisters visiting each other at their houses or going with Malvina to visit each other. 

Do you have anything to add? Questions, comments? I do not have any pictures of Grace, aside from the group family shots and I'm not sure which one she is. If you do have a known picture of Grace, and Harold, I would love to see it. 

All newspaper articles are from the August 18, 1928 edition of the Allegan Gazette.

Earliest Ancestor: Anders Svensson Lindblad

 This week's prompt is "Earliest Ancestor." Our earliest Swedish ancestor is Anders "Andrew" Svensson Lindblad. 

Anders was born April 29, 1836 in Slatthog, Kronoberg, Sweden. He was the third child and second son of Sven Andersson Fahna and Kajsa Catharina Jonasdotter. He was older brother to Ingrid Svensdotter Fahna, and uncle to George Henrickson.

Anders married Britta Amandsdotter on May 14, 1859. Anders and his new wife moved in with his parents and lived with them for the first few years. Anders joined the Swedish Army, like his father had, and soon had his own soldier's cottage to move into. Upon joining the Army he took a soldiers last name, He chose "Lindblad." "Lind" means "lime tree" and "blad" means "leaf." So, "Lindblad" has a connection to nature and trees. 

Anders and Britta had 4 sons between 1860 and 1867. Their youngest son, Aron, was born in 1867 and passed away in 1868. Cause of death was a stroke of some kind. Sweden was undergoing a famine between the years 1867-1869. 1867 had been unusually cold, and 1868 was a drought year. People and animals were starving all over Sweden. Undoubtedly the famine played a part in Anders and Britta's decision to leave for America.

On May 14, 1869 Anders, Britta, and their 3 remaining sons left for New York. Apparently, they had originally intended to go to Denver, Colorado, but ended up in LaPorte, Indiana. After arriving in LaPorte, Anders, who now went by "Andrew" took up farming. Andrew and Britta had a daughter who was born and died on the same day, February 10, 1873. The next year, July 31, 1874, Stina Marie would be born. Their second daughter, and youngest child. Andrew and Britta would suffer one more death of a child. Carl, their youngest son, would die in 1876. Reportedly Carl drowned in a lake. He was only 12 years old.

Andew and Britta joined the Bethany Lutheran Church, and sometime before 1880 Britta's mother, Mary, came from Sweden to live with the family. 

The 1900 Federal U.S. Census tells us how the family was doing after being in the States for 30 years. Andrew and son, George, had both obtained papers to become citizens but hadn't been naturalized yet. Interestingly, Britta had no papers. Why? As a married woman, she would obtain citizenship when her husband did. When he became naturalized, she would automatically become naturalized too. Andrew owned his farm, but it did have a mortgage. He could read, write, and speak English. Britta could read and speak English but was unable to write in English. Son George lived with his parents and helped his father work the farm. Daughter Stina lived at home and worked as a Servant. She would later move out when she married. 

While Andrew and Britta came to America in 1869, it would be until 1880 when the next family member of Andrew's came to America. That would be his nephew, Sven Fahnstrom, his brother Jonas's son. Starting in the 1880's the sons of Jonas Fahnstrom started coming to America. Our grandfather, George Henrickson, would come in 1892. Jonas and his wife and three youngest children came in 1893 and sister, Ingrid came in 1912. Some might call it chain migration, but our Henrickson family started in America with Anders "Andrew" and Britta Svensson Lindblad. Their pioneering spirit helped bring other relatives to America, including George Henrickson. His ticket to America was paid for by someone in America. The most likely candidate being his Uncle Anders. 

Andrew died June 27,1907, at home in LaPorte. He was 71. Britta passed away on April 12, 1923. She was 85 years old. The 1920 census says that Britta could now read and write English. It also lists her as a naturalized citizen. She also owns the farm, with no mortgage. Her son George lives with her and works the farm.

Oldest son Sven, who went by "Swan" in America, married and had 10 children. Youngest child Stina married and had 2 children of her own. 

Questions, comments, more information? Let me know in the comments down below or email me. Feel free to share and post with others who may be interested.

Travel

 This week's prompt is "Travel." I thought I would write about what it was like to travel to America during the 1800's. 

Prior to around 1860, our ancestors would have sailed to America on a ship with sails. It would have taken around 4-6 weeks to arrive. They would have been in steerage, which meant they were crammed in with everyone else and had little to no privacy. Cholera and Typhoid were common, not to mention sea sickness. Food and hygiene were bad. It was not a pleasant experience at all. This changed somewhat with the introduction of steam powered ships. Steamships could make the journey across the Atlantic in 2-3 weeks. The living conditions were also a bit better. The first ancestors to come to America on a steamship were Carl and Ulrika Anderson.

Carl and Ulrika left Goteborg, Sweden on a Friday afternoon and arrived in Hull, England on a Sunday afternoon. This was traditionally how sailings went. Leave on a Friday and arrive on Sunday. The journey took around 40-50 hours. They would have needed to be in Goteborg a week before sailing to meet with the ticket agent from the company and go through all the paperwork. They would have needed paperwork from their parish saying where they were leaving from, and where they were heading to.  Hull was the major port for arrivals of emigrants traveling to America from northern Europe. After arriving in Hull Carl and Ulrika would have stayed onboard their ship until the train was ready to take them to Liverpool. The train usually left on Monday morning around 11 am and arrived in Liverpool around 3 pm. There were no bathroom facilities onboard the train. At least not for 3rd class passengers. In Liverpool they would stay until they could board the ship taking them to America. I'm not sure how long they would have stayed in Liverpool. 

Traveling 3rd class, or "Steerage", was not easy. Passengers would be provided with a place to sleep and food. Passengers had to provide their own mattress and bedding. Also, their own plate, mug, knife, fork, spoon, and water can. They were also advised to make sure they had a good selection of clothes as clothes were more expensive in America. All of these items could be found in Liverpool for sale. Gunpowder was prohibited. Weapons needed to be left with the captain and crew for safe keeping. Valuables were also supposed to be left with the captain or ship's purser.

Food was served by the crew. It probably sounds better than it actually was. Passengers would be served tea and coffee, bread and gruel, soup, beef, pork, fish and potatoes. They were allowed 10-20 cubic feet for luggage. 

Passengers were also separated by families, single men, single women. The single men and women would be separated with families in-between them. 

After arriving in New York, 1st and 2nd class passengers were allowed to leave the ship. They were seen as more trustworthy. Steerage passengers had to remain on ship until it was time for inspection. They would be given a 6 second once over by a doctor, asked a few questions, and as long as they weren't sick or proclaimed themself an anarchist, they were allowed entry. Anyone could buy a ticket and sail to America to start over. 

Carl and Wilhemina Strandt sailed to America in late 1871. They sailed from Hamburg. By the time they arrived in Hull, Hull had built a large waiting room at the train station for the emigrants waiting for the Liverpool train. The waiting room had bathroom facilities, a place to wash up, and a chance to meet with the ticket agents. It was also shelter from the weather. Their passage to America would have been similar to Carl and Ulrika's passage. Crowded conditions in steerage, basic food, and they would have needed to pack their own bedding and cutlery. 

When Sven G. H. Johansson "George Henrickson" came to America in 1892, things had improved somewhat. He traveled on the Thingvalla line. His ticket had been bought in America by one of his uncles. The ships in this line were owned and operated by Scandinavians. The crew were all Scandinavian. They promised a quick, low-cost journey to America. The below is taken from the site A Thingvalla Line promotional pamphlet 1887

Is divided into different departments for families, for unmarried males and for unmarried females. Order and cleanliness is provided by crew specially employed for the task. The food is fresh and rich, made of first class food supplies. It is handed out in such rich portions, so it should not be necessary for the passengers to bring any additional food supplies for the voyage to New York The food is served to the passengers by stewards, thus on other steamship lines the passengers usually have to pick up their food at the galley, which of course will be unpleasant in bad weather.

The meals consist of:
Breakfast: Coffee with sugar, bread or biscuits with butter
Dinner: Beef and soup with potatoes and bread. Fish, clipfish with souse and fruit soup, Lobescauce? and Rice soup, varying through the week days.
Evening: Tea with sugar, bread and butter

Everyone gets as much to eat as desired. To the male passengers who desires, it is served every morning one dram of liquor. There are also rich supplies of water. There are bakeries on the ships, where fresh bread is baked every day. The between deck (steerage) is high, light and spacey, and is heated in the cold part of the year. Mothers of infants will receive milk or vrilfood free of charge.

George would have arrived at Ellis Island, where once again as a passenger in steerage, he would have had to wait to pass customs and inspection before being admitted into the country. It normally took around 5 hours.

A couple of final things about Thingvalla lines, they gave out tokens for luggage. When you arrived at your final destination, you exchanged your token for your luggage. Much like a luggage tag on checked suitcases today. Also, they were the only line that promised a direct route to America from Scandinavia. George sailed from Malmo, Sweden to Lubeck, Germany. Then, took the train to Copenhagen and sailed direct to America from Denmark, completely bypassing England.

Ingrid Fahna, George's mother, came to America in 1912. She was able to sail on the Lusitania. She sailed 3rd class, but by that time things had improved immeasurably for 3rd class passengers. She didn't have to supply anything and had much better sleeping and eating conditions. Her ship also sailed the fastest. She crossed the Atlantic in 10 days, whereas others took an average of 2 weeks.

Researching these companies, they reminded me of airlines today. Steerage is now Economy. 2nd Class is Business, and First Class is still First Class. Thingvalla would be the low-cost Spirit or Frontier airlines of today. They all promised to get you to America. The only difference is how much you were willing to pay. 

Another thing, many of these companies crammed as many passengers as they could onto their ships. There were complaints about the food, conditions and safety of many of these ships bringing emigrants to America. While researching I found an undercover report that the American government did on a ship. They sent a woman investigator undercover in the late 1800's to see what the conditions were like. She found poor food, poor sanitary conditions, instances of sexual harassment and emigrants being treated more like cattle than human beings. The governments of the United States, England, and others would put regulations and restrictions on the companies. As the undercover report showed though, they weren't always followed. 

These are the websites I used to write this blog.

Journey In Steerage from Northern Europe - 1871 | GG Archives

Emigrant_Imigrant.pub

A Thingvalla Line promotional pamphlet 1887

Migration from Northern Europe to America via the Port of Hull, 1848-1914

Questions, comments, additional information? Let me know down below or email me. Please feel free to share and post with others who may be interested.

Image of Hekla steamship that George Henrickson sailed on to America from Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Artistic: Henrickson and Strands

This week's prompt is "Artistic." That immediately made me think of something Mildred Strand wrote in a letter to my mother back in February 1981. She mentioned how proud she was of the drawing talent of her grandchildren, especially Ilene, Marvin, Esther and Venon.

On the Henrickson side, there is more artistic talent. Music seems to run in the family. In this article from the local paper, it mentions the local Swedish community celebrating Midsummer in June. The entertainment included songs sung by one George Henrickson, among others. George, and his wife, Malvina, were both organists at the local church. This ability to play was passed on to my grandfather, Raymond Henrickson. My mom recalled being somewhere once and suddenly seeing her dad go over to the piano and start to play a tune. She never even knew he could play!

Artistic talent also exists on the Strand(t) side of the family too. Carl Strand's 1st cousin, George Strandt, who lived in Chicago, became an organist and played around the country. It was exciting when the Show Business cousin would come visit the country relatives in Allegan.  

George was not the only Strandt with musical talent. His oldest son became quite well-known playing jazz organ. 

There are more examples of musical talent on this branch of the Strandt family too. They seemed to get all the musical genes. :)

These are the examples of artistic talent that came immediately to mind. If you have more examples, please share them below. While I, sadly, do not have any artistic talent, I can appreciate it in others. :)

 

March Notables

 March has been a month filled with lots of activities. Lets get down to birthdays, anniversaries, and deaths in the month of March.

Birthdays:

March 2:

 1840, Joseph Bellegraph, my 3x great grandfather on my paternal side, born in Pomerania, Poland.

1873, Elnora Truman, my maternal 2x great grandmother. Born in Michigan.

March 10:

1883. Selma Anderson, my maternal great grandaunt. Born in Michigan.

1901. Carl Strand, my maternal great grandfather. Born in Michigan.

1921. Victor Henrickson, my maternal granduncle. Born in Michigan.

 Ilene Henrickson, my mother. Born in Michigan.

March 14:

 Paul Henrickson, my maternal uncle. Born in Michigan.

March 19:

1913. Catherine Ashley, my paternal grandaunt. Born in Michigan.

March 22:

1916. Carl Thompson, my paternal granduncle. Born in Michigan.

March 23:

1856. Eva Brownell, my maternal 3x great grandmother. Born in Michigan.

March 24:

1912. L. F. Thompson, my paternal grandfather. Born in Michigan.

March 27:

1834. Carl F. T. Strandt, my maternal 3x great grandfather. Born in Mecklinberg, Prussia, Germany.

1873. Charles Bellinger, my maternal 2x great grandfather. Born in Michigan.

March 28:

1862. Joannes "John" Knach Conors, my paternal 3x great grandfather. Born in Pomerania. Poland.

March 31:

1916. Esther M. Henrickson, my maternal grandaunt. Born in Michigan.

Anniversaries:

March 26, 1874. Albert Pulsipher and Eva Brownell.

Deaths:

March 9:

1965, Sidney Henrickson. Maternal granduncle.

March 12:

1989, Eulalia Henrickson. Maternal grandaunt.

March 21:

1951, Evald Henrickson. Maternal granduncle.

March 10 definitely stands out with 4 birthdays on it. Out of the 31 days of March, there are birthdays, anniversaries and deaths on 14 of them. 

Did I miss anyone? Let me know.

Carl Strand, upper left. Born on March 10, 1901.

Migration

 The prompt for this week is "Migration." Our ancestors all migrated here from somewhere else. I thought I'd take a look at some of them this week.

Prior to 1875, when the Supreme Court ruled that it was the responsibility of the Federal Government to make and enforce immigration laws, there was no overriding immigration policy. Some states had their own laws regarding immigrants but the United States as a whole had no policy. Anyone, from anywhere, arriving on a boat could immigrate to America.

On August 22, 1833, William Mabbs,Jr and his parents, William and Hannah Mabbs arrived in New York City on the ship "Amity." They had departed London, England and sailed in steerage to America. William and Hannah came with their 7 children ranging in age from 12 to 1 year old. We don't know why they decided to sail to America. William had a business selling soap in London and was a Methodist. He may have felt he could be more prosperous in America, or perhaps he felt he could practice his faith more openly. Either way, he decided to make the journey across the sea, leaving his parents and siblings in England.

After getting off the ship they lived in New York City for a time until William lost his money in a bank failure. He then brought his family to Michigan to start anew as a farmer. William Mabbs, Jr, was the grandfather to Elnora Truman Bellinger.

On May 13,1870, Carl Johan Anderson and his wife, Ulrika, left Sweden to immigrate to America. We know that Carl had been a farmer in Sweden and Sweden had had 2 bad famines in 1868 and 1869. The area where Carl and Ulrika lived had a very large number of people leaving in 1869 and 1870. The famine almost definitely played a part in their decision to leave Sweden for America. Especially since they were newly married and trying to start a family. They sailed on the ship "Orlando" from Goteborg, Sweden to Hull, England. From Hull they took a train to Liverpool where they would sail on a ship to New York City. The manifest lists New York as their final destination. I'm not sure how long they stayed in New York, but they quickly came to LaPorte, Indiana and then onto Allegan, Michigan. Looking at the manifest most of the other immigrants are going to the Midwest. Some of the destinations listed are Chicago, Kalamazoo, and Cleveland.

On October 27, 1871, Carl Friedrich Theodor Standt and his wife, Wilhelmine, along with their three children, departed from Hamburg, Germany on the ship "Hansa" to sail to Hull, England. From Hull they would also continue by train to Liverpool where they would sail to America. They arrived in New York City on the ship "Minnesota" on November 17, 1871. From New York they made their way to Chicago, where apparently other family members were already living. Their youngest child, William, would be born in Chicago in 1876. According to the Strand family Bible, there were already Strandt family members living in Chicago. That would be one reason for immigration. Also, the Franco-Prussian War had just been fought from July 19, 1870 to May 10, 1871. Prussian Prime Minister Otto Von Bismark successfully unified all the German states into the German Empire on January 18, 1871. Needless to say, all the wars fought between Germany and other countries took a toll on the people. I'm sure that also played a part in the Strandt family decision to come to America. Wilhelmine had a sister who lived in Allegan, Michigan. William traveled to Allegan and at some point met and married Mary Pulsipher, where they started their family. 

On November 29, 1892, Sven Goren Henrich Johansson left from Malmo, Sweden and sailed to Copenhagen, Denmark on the ship "Kopenhamn". From Copenhagen he sailed directly to America on the ship "Hekla" arriving on December 19, 1892. He was 17 years old. From the manifest we know that his ticket was paid for by someone else. We know he already had several family members living in the United States. He had aunts and uncles and cousins. It is most likely that one of his uncles paid for his ticket to America. What is slightly unusual for Sven, who later changed his name to George Henrickson, is that he left from Malmo and sailed to Copenhagen, instead of leaving from Goteborg and sailing to Hull, train to Liverpool, and then ship to America. I learned that it was cheaper to go from Malmo to Copenhagen and then sail to America. George also lived in southern Sweden so Malmo may have been easier to travel to then Goteborg on the west coast. 

Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892, so George would have passed through here. He would have seen the Statue of Liberty as he sailed into New York harbor and then waited for a ferry boat to take him to Ellis Island to be processed. He would have been asked identifying questions, given a physical, and then released to be on his way. We know he probably went to extended family first in Indiana and Illinois. He eventually made his way to Allegan, Michigan where he married Malvina Anderson, daughter of Carl and Ulrika Anderson. 

On December 11, 1912, our last ancestor came to America. Ingrid Fahna, the mother of George Henrickson, left Goteborg, Sweden and sailed to Grimsby, England on the ship "Salmo." She took a train to Liverpool where she sailed on the "Lusitania". She arrived at Ellis Island on December 21, 1912. She passed her physical and had $25 with her. She stood 5'2" and had gray hair and blue eyes. She listed a cousin as a contact in the "old country" and George Fahnstrom as her contact in America. George was listed as her brother-in-law but was really her son-in-law. While Ingrid sailed third class on the Lusitania her experience was far better than anyone else's. She had her own bedroom and was able to eat at a table and walk around on a nice ship. Much better than steerage in the 1800's. 

That's just a brief history of our immigrant family. As a reminder, NO NAMES were changed at Ellis Island. The inspectors checked the passengers' names against the manifest from the departing country. If any names were changed, they were changed by the immigrants themselves. Sven Goren Henrick Johansson decided to change his name to George Henrickson when he became a naturalized citizen. It was his choice to change it.

 

 

 

Challenge

 This week the prompt is "challenge" so I am keeping up with my own challenge of recording the births, deaths, and marriages of each month. February is the shortest month and as a result I didn't find that many results for February.

Births in February include:

Marvin Henrickson, born on Feb. 11, 1944.

2x great grandfather William Strandt, born on Feb. 15, 1876. (Chicago, Illinois)

Gary Thompson, born on Feb. 20, 1949.

3x Great grandmother Wilhelmina Gley Strandt was born on Feb. 21, 1841, Prussia (Germany)

Paternal 2x great grandmother Mary Bellegraph born on Feb. 26, 1869 in Pomerania (Poland)

Marriages

Despite being the month of Valentine's Day, February only contains two marriages.

Great grandparents George Henrickson and Malvina Anderson were wed on February 21, 1900.

Paternal 2x great grandparents Mary Bellegraph and Joannes "John" Knach Conors were wed on February 7, 1888 in Indiana.

Deaths

Great granduncle Frank Anderson (older brother of Malvina Henrickson) died on February 5, 1939.

Paternal 3x Great grandmother Abigail Eldred died on Feb. 9, 1847.

Marvin Henrickson and 2x Great grandmother Elnora Truman Bellinger both died on Feb. 28. 2005, and 1953 respectively.

That's for this month. Not a lot happening in February. March will be completely different. Just the number of birthdays to keep up with. April, too! :)

Feel free to add additional birthdays, deaths, and marriages in the comments below. I try not to go back too many generations, or, go too much into extended family.

Mary Bellegraph and John Knach Conors Wedding day 1888.

George Henrickson and Malvina Anderson Wedding Day 1900.

Unless noted, births, deaths, and marriages occurred in Michigan. If they occurred in another state, or in "the Old Country" I tried to note it, if available. 

In the Beginning

 Happy New Year! 

The first prompt of 2025 is "In the beginning." I decided to do something I've wanted to do for a while, compile a list of all the birthdays, deaths, and anniversaries on a monthly basis. January is the first month so it's a good place to start. 

Let's start off on a happy note with some of the birthdays I've found in January.

My paternal Great aunt Fern Thompson was born on January 1, 1927.

January 3rd has 2 birthdays, Sidney Henrickson in 1902 and my Dad in 1941.

Frank Ashley, a paternal Great Uncle was born on January 4, 1915.

Paternal 3x Great Grandmother Abigail Eldred was born on January 9, 1804.

Paternal Great Grandmother Emilia Dobbratz Ashley was born on January 15, 1888.

Great Grandfather George Henrickson was born January 19, 1875.

2x Great Grandmother Mary Pulispher Strandt was born January 20, 1877.

January 23 was the birthday of paternal 2x Great Grandfather Andrew Thompson in 1859 and paternal Grand uncle Orville Ashley in 1919

Toni Thompson was born January 28,1945.

Next up we celebrate the marriages that occurred in January.

Paternal 2x Great Grandparents Orville Ashley and Kate Eldred were united in marriage on January 1, 1863.

2x Great Grandparents Ingrid Fahna and Johan Jonasson were also united in marriage in January, on the 10th, in 1874.

Our In Memoriam segment is sadly, the largest. 

January 1 was the day Grand Aunt Esther M. Henrickson and Grand Uncle Lynn Bellinger passed away. In 1995 and 1981.

3x Great Grandfather Madison Truman passed away on January 2, 1884.

3x Great Grandfather Sven Fahna passed away on January 3, 1881 and Victor Henrickson passed away on the same date in 1923.

Howard C. Strand passed away on January 8, 2017.

Paternal 3x Great Grandfather Riley Thompson passed away on January 9, 1908.

Grand Aunt Helen Bellinger passed away on January 10, 1980.

3x Great Grandfather Carl F. T. Strand passed away on January 18, 1914.

Paternal 2x Great Grandmother Mary Bellegraph Conors passed away on January 21, 1941.

Grandfather Lawrence F. Thompson, Sr, passed away on January 19, 2006.

3x Great Grandmother Loretta Foster Bellinger passed away on January 30, 1912.

This list is by no means inclusive. If you know of any other birthdays, anniversaries or deaths in January, please list them below in the comments or email me. 

Colonel Howard C. Strand. Passed away on January 8, 2017.