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.

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.

Sara Lena Fahna

 This week I found the Death Inventory list for Sara Lena Fahna. She was the older sister of Ingrid Kristina Fahna, mother of George Henrickson. Using the services again of Annika Hostmad from Find a Swede I was able to get the document translated. Annika also found the listing of Sara's death record and was able to translate that as well. I found them both to be quite interesting and they definitely add to the story of the Henrickson/Fahna family in Sweden. 

Sara Lena was born October 1, 1838. She was the 4th born child to Sven Andersson Fahna and Kajsa Jonasdotter. The records indicate that Kajsa was crippled in one hand. On March 23, 1862 Sara became approved to work as a teacher in Sweden. What did it take to become a teacher in Sweden in the 1800's, this excerpt from an article I found online about the Swedish education act of 1842 tells us.

In addition to having a personality characterized by piety and moral conduct, teachers were required to have a complete mastery of reading and writing skills, and full knowledge of catechism, biblical history, natural history (naturlära), geography, and arithmetic. The teachers were also expected to be familiar with the methods of monitorial education and teaching gymnastics and psalm songs.47 A week at the Stockholm Teachers’ College in 1848 (comprising 38 hours of class) consequently included 14 h of prayer and Bible studies, catechism, and Bible history. Five hours were spent on the Swedish language, four hours on singing instruction, three hours on geography and history, and two hours on arithmetic.48

Basic schools in every parish

And how were teachers paid? Part of their salary contained 8 barrels of grain, half of which would be rye. They also received decent housing, necessary fuel, summer grazing for a cow, and a plot of land upon which to live, if possible. It was common for teachers to have second jobs and sources of income. Basic schools in every parish 

Sara Lena stayed at various farms in her early teaching days, and then was able to settle down into her own cottage later. Records indicate she maintained good discipline in the classroom and did not hesitate to use the ruler on students who disobeyed. 

After Ingrid's children immigrated to America, and her husband Johan passed away, Ingrid moved in with Sara Lena to help take care of her. Sara Lena had dealt with illness most of her life, like her older sister Anna. Sara Lena passed away on August 1, 1912. The death record tells us she was a former Elementary school teacher from Faborg. Cause of death is listed as Rheumatic pain for many years. She had no physician attend her. 

The death inventory record tells us that Sara Lena left the following heirs: Sister Kristina, who lived there; Brother Jonas Fanstrom who lived in Illinois; and her deceased brother Anders Lindblad's 3 children living in Indiana. 

It also tells us that her assets at the time of her death were:

1 Drawer

1 Bed

1 Sofa

Planted Trees

These assets were less than the liability incurred by the estate. The burial cost and the bill for maintenance and care of the cottage were more than the assets. 

There is a note that Ingrid signed off on this as being a true telling of the estate with nothing being hidden or omitted. It was noted "Fana with hand on pen". This was done when someone had trouble writing, they would hold the pen, but someone else would put their hand over and actually move the pen.

The estate of Sara Lena was settled on November 4, 1912. Ingrid sailed to America in December 1912. She must've stayed long enough to get her sister's estate dealt with and then sailed to America to join the rest of her family. With the crippled hand of the mother Kajsa, the life long illness of Anna, the long lasting rheumatic pain of Sara, the fact that Ingrid needed someone to help her move a pen, I'm wondering if there is a connection here? It could be genetic, or perhaps just what happens when people don't have access to healthy foods and medical care? Life was difficult for our Swedish ancestors and healthy food, comfortable living conditions, and plenty of rest and relaxation were not the norm. 

My 3 main sources of information for this came from

Find a Swede

The school act of 1842

Fahnstrom family records

Joined Together

 This week's theme is "Joined Together." I thought I'd write about how the Fahna family joined together in America from Sweden.

Sven Andersson Fahna and his wife Kajsa Johansdotter had 6 children. There were 4 daughters and 2 sons. The oldest daughter died in 1857. They lived in Kronoberg, a county in the province of Smaland, Sweden. Smaland as a whole was not known for being very prosperous in the 1800's. It was largely wooded and the soil was poor for growing crops. There was a lot of poverty in the area and many people left. The first of Sven and Kajsa's children to leave was their youngest son Anders Lindblad.  Anders had decided to change his last name to "Lindblad." Changing last names was very common in Sweden. "Lind" means "tree" and "blad" means "leaf". So, perhaps he wanted a last name that described where he lived? Either way, Anders and his wife and 3 surviving children set off for America May 14, 1869. Anders was 33, his wife Britta was 32. Sons Sven, 9, George, 7, and Carl, 4 also came along. Upon arriving in America they made their way to La Porte, Indiana. Anders is listed on the 1880 and 1900 census records as a farmer. He and his wife had a daughter after arriving in America. The family did well. So well, it was time to start bringing other family members over.

The next member of the family to travel to America was Sven Fahnstrom. Sven was the oldest son of Jonas Fahnstrom. Like his brother Anders, Jonas had slightly changed his last name from Fahna to Fahnstrom. "Fahna" means "flag" in Swedish. Sven, the elder, had been in the Swedish army and added "Fahna" to his last name when he joined. The men in this family have a habit of changing their last names. Sven Fahnstrom came to America in April 30, 1880. He was 20 years old. He settled in Galva, Illinois. He worked as a blacksmith at a factory.

Next to come was Sven's brother Anders Fahnstrom. He traveled to America on May 25, 1883. He lived in America for a few years and then went back to Sweden where he was married in 1886. His son was born in 1887. Then, in 1888 he and his wife and son came back to America. He worked as a tailor and ran his own shop. 

The next brother to come was Karl Fahnstrom. He traveled to America July 28, 1883. He married a woman in Brooklyn, New York and stayed in New York for the rest of his life. Karl was 19 when he came to America.

After Karl, next younger brother Ben Fahnstrom came to America. He came when he was 18 years old and he traveled March 8, 1888. Ben married and worked as a blacksmith too. He lived in Galva, Illinois. 

Next family member to come to America was Sven Goran Henrik Johansson, also known as George Henrickson. Nephew of Anders Lindblad and cousin to the Fahnstrom brothers. He came to America Nov. 29, 1892. He was only 17 years old. His ticket was paid for so either his uncle or one of his cousins must've paid for his ticket. We know he stayed with relatives in Indiana first before briefly setting out to Nebraska, then to Illinois where he attended college and finally settled down in Michigan. 

With a brother, a nephew, and 4 of their oldest sons already living in America, on May 27, 1893 it was time for Jonas Fahnstrom and his wife Ingrid and their 3 remaining children to travel to America. Jonas was 60, Ingrid was 54, daughter Wilhelmina was 20, son Goran was 11 and youngest son Emil was 9. They settled in Galva, Illinois. 

Next to travel to America was George Henrickson's sister, Amanda Johansson. She came in either 1892 or 1900. In 1892 she was 15 years old so I think that record is false. In 1900 she was 23 years old and that seems more mature to be traveling to America by yourself. Especially as a female. She lived with her uncle Jonas Fahnstrom and married her first cousin Goran. She stayed in Galva, Illinois.

Finally, the last member of the family to come to America was George and Amanda's mother, Ingrid Fahna. Ingrid was sister to both Anders and Jonas. Ingrid had stayed in Sweden and looked after their sister Sarah Lena Fahna. Sarah passed away on August 1, 1912. On Nov. 12, 1912 Ingrid sailed for America to join the rest of her family. Her children and her brothers and their families. 

It took from May 1869 until November 1912 for the entire Fahna family to join together again, but they did it. I can't imagine how happy they must've been to finally all be together again.