Influencer: Carl "Charlie" Freidrich Strandt

 This week's prompt is "Influencer." I wasn't sure how to interpret it until I learned that Carl Strand's Uncle Charlie Strandt used to visit the Strand farm in Allegan and bring Hershey chocolate bars with him to hand out to Carl and Mildred's children. It was a tasty treat and one that was well received. Carl Strand is also known for handing out Hershey chocolate bars to grandchildren. Could Carl have been influenced by his Uncle Charlie? Let's find out.

Carl "Charlie" Freidrich Strandt was born in January 1860/1 in Teschendorf parish of Mecklenburg, Prussia, in present day Germany. His parents were Carl Friedrich Theodor Strandt and Dorothea Auguste Sophie Schroeder. Dorothea was the first wife of Carl Friedrich Theodor. Unfortunately for both Carls, Dorothea died soon after. Records don't indicate when exactly she died, so no way to know if her death was connected to giving birth or if it was unrelated. Some records indicate the birth of Carl was in 1860, others 1861. Same with Dorothea's death. It was either 1860 or 1861. Either way Carl Friedrich Theodor remarried on December 6, 1861 to Wilhelmina Gley. 

Carl and Wilhelmina had 2 daughters, Carolina and Wilhelmina before immigrating to America with their children in October 1871. They were headed to Chicago to meet other Strandt relatives. This is from notes in the Strand family Bible. Charlie was around 10 years old. In 1876 Charlie's Half-brother, William Frederick Strandt was born in Chicago. The only Strandt child born in America.

The 1880 Federal census finds Charlie living with a family as a farm laborer in Naperville, Illinois. On January 7, 1888, at the age of 27, he married fellow German immigrant Margarethe Schirmer. The 1900 Federal census finds them renting a house on 8441 Sangamon St in Chicago, Illinois. This address is where they will spend the next several years. They have a son and daughter. Margaretha notes on the census she has given birth to 4 children, with only 2 surviving. Charlie is a shipping clerk at a wagon works factory.

In 1910 Charlie has the same job, same address. He now owns though, instead of renting. He also notes he is a naturalized citizen. An addition has been made to the family. Son George Strandt was born in 1901. 

1920 brings much of the same. Charlie owns his home, free and clear. Same job. On August 27, 1929 Margarethe passes away. In 1930 Charlie and son Arthur still live at the same address. They have a radio to listen to.

1940 finds Charlie living with his daughter, Freda and her family in Elmhurst, Illinois. The census notes he has an education through the 8th grade, which was quite common for the time. 

Charlie dies on August 4, 1945. He was 84 years old. 

I know from newspaper articles found, and family stories, that Charlie and Margarethe would travel and visit friends and relatives. There are several stories of the "Chicago relatives" coming to visit the Strand farm in Allegan. With son, George, being born in 1901, the same year as Carl, they must've found a lot to talk about.  

Charlie is remembered as being tall by those who knew him, and his grandson remembered him as also being a kind man. Carl Strand didn't seem to take too kindly to too many people but the fact that he allowed his uncle Charlie, and cousin George, to visit shows that Carl must've thought highly of them. Or at least, thought they might think the way he thought. Perhaps Carl saw Uncle Charlie passing out the Hershey bars and decided to take up the same habit. Either way, I think it's neat that both men had the same habit of passing out chocolate bars. 

Here is a picture of Uncle Charlie and his family. Charlie is standing up in the back, with the hat on. His wife Margarethe is standing next to him. Son Arthur is seated directly in front of Charlie, and sister Freda is next to Charlie, looking like Princess Leia. :) The other people are assumed to be other Strandt relatives. (the picture is colorized from Ancestry's service)

How Uncle Charlie fits in:

Carl Friedrich Theodor Strand (1834-1914)

His sons Carl F. Strandt "Uncle Charlie", and William Frederick Strand. Charlie and William were half-brothers. Same father, different mothers.

Charlie's son, George, was a 1st cousin to Carl Strand, son of William. 

It's also interesting to note that with Charlie Strandt I sometimes found the last name spelled Strand, with no "t". It seems that in Scandinavia the name is spelled with no final "t.". In Germany it was spelled with a final "t". The spelling of the name depended on the census taker or person taking the information down it seems. 

William Frederic Strandt

 The prompt for this week is "Spirit". I decided to remember the 'spirit' of my great, great grandfather William Frederic Strandt, who died on October 30, 1962 in Allegan, Michigan. He also liked the spirits of alcohol a little too much.

William Frederic Strandt was born on February 15, 1876 in Chicago, Illinois to Carl Friedrich Theodor Strandt and Wilhelmine Marie Friederike Gley. Carl and Wilhelmine had come to Illinois with their 3 children in November 1871 from northern Germany. They were joining Strandt family members who already lived in the area. Meanwhile, Wilhelmine had a sister who lived a bit further away in Allegan, Michigan.

The 1880 Federal census finds William living with Carl and "Amena" in Downer's Grove, Illinois. Carl's profession is Farmer. William is the only child still living at home. Older brother Carl is working as a laborer on another farm, while older sister Caroline has moved out. She would be 16 so I'm guessing she probably was living with another family as a servant. She marries and starts a family in 1884. Younger sister Wilhelmine Johanna has disappeared completely. I have not been able to find any record of her death, or marriage, or anything related to her after the family comes to Chicago. If anyone knows anything about her, please let me know. 

The next big event in William's life is marrying a young Mary "Matie" Elizabeth Pulsipher in Allegan, Michigan on June 8, 1898. William is 22 years old and Mary is 21. I often wondered how William came to Allegan when he lived in and around Chicago. While researching his mother's family I discovered he had an aunt and uncle who came to Allegan, before his parents came to America. My guess is that on a trip to visit his aunt and uncle he must've come across and met Mary. After marrying Mary, William put down roots in Allegan. Almost a year later, their first child was born, Eva Wilhelmina Strandt. She was born on April 20, 1899 in Allegan. She's named after both of her grandmothers. 

William and Mary Strandt, Baby Eva 1899.

On March 10, 1901 their son Carl Albert Strand is born. Carl is also named after both of his grandfathers. The 1900 Federal census finds William and Mary and baby Eva living with William's parents, Carl and Wilhelmine in Watson Township. Both Carl and William are listed as Farmers. 

Mary Strandt in the middle. William Strandt on the far right with a young Carl Strand. 1903. Possibly Carl and Wilhelmine Strandt. Others unknown. 

In 1904 daughter Ruth Bessie is born in Otsego, Michigan and son Howard is born in 1909 in Hinsdale, Illinois. Sometime between Ruth's birth and Howard's birth, William decided to move the family back to Illinois, where he thought he might have better luck in earning money. It was not to be though, and the family moved back to Michigan. The 1910 Federal census finds the family living with William's father Carl in Trowbridge Township. Both William and Carl are listed as Farmers. 

It is sometime around here where Mary's uncle, Charles Richard Brownell, who was very successful in the lumber business in Louisiana, deeded a farm to William and Mary. From what I've been able to find out, William didn't seem to have much luck in farming. He wasn't very good at it, or at training horses. Younger son, Carl, was good at farming, and training horses. Carl had one pair of horses trained so well he could drop the reins and the horses would continue down the row and wait for Carl at the other end. Carl was also very good at farming. He liked to farm "the German" way and had disdain for his neighbors who farmed "the American" way. These disagreements led to many arguments between William and Carl. The one thing William did seem to be good at, was drinking. By all accounts, William drank. A lot. William would get drunk and become belligerent. Arguing and yelling. One time he became so drunk he chased Carl around the outside of the house with an ax, threating to kill him. Daughter Eva would often fear for her mother's safety. Not trusting what William might do. Finally, Mary had had enough and filed for divorce from William January 13, 1917, citing Cruelty. William contested it but a divorce was granted on July 31, 1917. It was Absolute. 

Carl was happy about the divorce and began to farm the farm his way. Unfortunately for Carl, William and Mary reconciled and almost a year to the day, on July 15, 1918, William and Mary remarried and William moved back home. Upon moving back home, the arguments between William and Carl started back up again. The final straw came when William sold Carl's favorite work horses that he had trained so well. Carl was still upset about it, years later talking about the incident. Carl then moved out.

The 1920 census finds William, Mary, Eva, Ruth and Howard all living in Watson Township at the Strandt farm. In 1926 William, Mary and Howard are living with son Carl and his family in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Both men are working as drivers. Carl started his own trucking company and allowed his parents and younger siblings to move in with them so Ruth, and then Howard could attend high school. After Howard graduated from high school, William and Mary moved back to the farm.

William's lack of farming skills really showed during the Great Depression. Unable to pay bills and in danger of having the farm foreclosed on by the bank, William and Mary asked Carl and his family to move in and take over running the farm. William and Mary agreed to move out. Carl agreed. Carl took out loans, bought supplies, and got to work. He was able to turn things around and get the family farm stable again. However, William and Mary decided to stay, and not move out as they had agreed to. This led to more arguments between William and Carl and led to an eventual lawsuit filed by Carl against his parents, to get them to move out. The case went to the Michigan State Supreme Court. Carl eventually won, and William and Mary moved out. The case left such a bad taste in Carl's mouth, that he never spoke to William and Mary again. He also forbid family members to speak to them. Something which, his family did not respect. I've heard many stories of Carl's children, and wife Mildred, sneaking over to visit William and Mary and not letting Carl know. 

The 1940 Federal census finds William and Mary living next door to Mary's younger sister, Florence and her husband. William's occupation is Laborer, and the home is rented.  William also says he only went to 7th grade in school. Mary had worked as a teacher off and on over the course of her life. Her income as a teacher helped support her and William.

The 1950 Federal census finds William and Mary living just down the road from granddaughter Viola and her family. Viola would sneak down and visit William and Mary and not say anything to her father, Carl about it. William's occupation is listed as a Farmer once again. 

William's wife, Mary, passed away in November 1961, and William passed away October 30, 1962. I haven't been able to find a cause of death yet, but he was 86. After Carl cut off contact with William and Mary, and forbid others from seeing them, I don't know how William was as he got older. If he mellowed and drank less, or if he continued to drink. I'd like to know more about William. Did he drink because he was unsuccessful in earning a living and supporting his family, or, was he unsuccessful because he drank? Which came first? The drinking or the economic failure? Maybe it was a combination of both? 

William and Mary in later years.

A hymnbook belonging to William Strandt.

Another picture of William. 
 

Sven Andersson Fahna - So Many Descendants

 This week's prompt is "So many descendants." I chose to write about the descendants of Sven Andersson Fahna and his wife Kajsa Catharina Jonasdotter. They are my 3x great grandparents. 

Sven and Kajsa were married June 28, 1829. Sven was 18 years old and Kajsa was 27. Sven had been in the Swedish Army. Kajsa was the daughter of a blacksmith and was slightly crippled in one hand. 6 children were born to them over the years. They had 4 girls and 2 boys. Of the 4 girls, the only one who had children was daughter, Ingrid. Ingrid married and had 3 children. One child died at the age of 2. The other children, a boy and a girl, immigrated to America where they married and had children of their own. Son Sven Goran changed his name to George Henrickson and had a total of 12 children. Daughter Amanda married and had a total of 6 children.

Sven and Kajsa's 2 sons, Jonas and Anders, both married and had children. Eldest son Jonas married and had 9 children of his own. All children immigrated to America. 6 of Jonas's children had children of their own. His son Gustaf, known as Fred, had 12 children of his own. Fred's  brothers and sisters had between 1 and 5 children each. Younger son Anders had 5 children of his own. Of his 5 children, they either immigrated to America, died in Sweden, or were born in America. I can only find records of children for Anders' oldest son, and his youngest daughter. His oldest son Sven Johan had 10 children of his own. Youngest daughter Stina had 2 children. 

Sven and Kajsa had 6 children.

They had 17 grandchildren born. 

They had 59 great grandchildren born.

They had 80 great, great grandchildren born.

All of Sven and Kajsa's descendants live today in America. Is this a complete list of all descendants? No. These are only the ones I've been able to find and document. I also didn't venture into counting 3x great grandchildren, my generation, as I didn't think I'd be able to count that high. :) 

Picture of Anders Lindblad, son of Sven and Kajsa, with 3 of his children.

Ingrid Fahna, daughter of Sven and Kajsa. Mother of George Henrickson and daughter Amanda Fahnstrom.

Jonas Fahnstrom, son of Sven and Kajsa, with his wife and 3 youngest children.

Fred Fahnstrom. Son of Jonas Fahnstrom

George Henrickson and wife with 11 surviving children. Son of Ingrid Fahna.

The children and granchildren of Sven and Kajsa originally settled in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. From there they have spread out across America and probably the world.  

Are you a descendant of Sven and Kajsa Fahna? Comment and let me know down below. I think it's incredible that so many people can trace their lineage back to these 2 people in a small village in Sweden.