Karl Aron Emil Brodin

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Karl Aron Emil Brodin (1875-1905).

Karl Aron Emil Brodin was born in Kristdala, Kalmar län, on Nov. 2, 1875. When he was 20 years old, in December of 1895, his son Frans Evald was born. At Frans Evald’s birth both of his parents are listed as ‘unknown’. Later his mother came forward, and Frans Evald was somehow also given Brodin as his last name.

Karl Aron Emil Brodin left Sweden for the United States on July 15, 1896. His son is 7 months old.

Emil Brodin died in Los Angeles, Calif. on June 29, 1905. He had contracted tuberculosis in Manila, Philippines, while fighting with the 22nd US infantry in the Philippine – American War. That was “an armed conflict between the First Philippine Republic and the United States that lasted from February 4, 1899, to July 2, 1902.” He had enlisted in the spring of 1898 and was discharged in Manila on Dec. 13, 1901.

Sawtelle Veterans Home in west Los Angeles, Calif. was established in 1887.

On Nov. 9, 1904 he was admitted to the Pacific Branch of the U.S. National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, in Sawtelle, Calif. ‘Chas Karlson (uncle), Victoria, Ill.’ was listed as his next of kin.

Los Angeles National Cemetery.

Emil was buried at Los Angeles National Cemetery, 950 S. Sepulveda Boulevard, Los Angeles. His grave is in section 11, row L, site 8.

Emil was my 4th cousin twice removed.

Race: White, not yet a citizen (White)

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Arvid Renström was born on June 22, 1897 in Kristdala, Kalmar län, Sweden. In 1942 he was a fireman living in Brooklyn, New York. Earlier he had been a seaman sailing between Sweden and North American ports.

On Nov. 12, 1942 Arvid enlisted in the US army. He enlisted as a private, and on the line for race someone defined him as “White, not yet a citizen (White)”.

He was 5′ 8″, and 157 pounds.

Arvid became a US citizen a year later, on Nov. 18, 1943. At that point he was living at 566 Baltic St. in Brooklyn.

Arvid must have moved back to Sweden sometime during the 1960s, because according to the US Social Security Death Index Arvid died in Europe in August of 1970. He was not living in Sweden in 1960.

The fact that the word ‘white’ appears twice on the line for race in his enlistment record is, for lack of a better word, interesting.

Arvid was my 5th cousin twice removed.

Larsons from Jönköping

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Photo by Alfred Stieglitz, 1907.

S/S Orlando left Göteborg on May 2, 1879 for Hull on the English east coast. On board were Carl Johan Larsson, wife Sara Stina, and children Emil, Bror, Christina, and Selma, from Hässleby parish in Jönköpings län. Their destination: Warren, Pennsylvania. Carl Johan was my 3rd great uncle on my mother’s maternal grandfather’s side. (My maternal grandmother’s grandfather’s brother.)

From Hull the passengers would take a train to Liverpool where they would board the ship for North America.

Carl, Sara, Emil, Christina, Selma, and “infant” arrived in New York on May 20 1879 on board the S/S Greece. According to the record above they left Liverpool on May 8. The family traveled in steerage.

Who gets to decide what is Really Swedish?

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Through interacting with Swedish-Americans, mostly online, I’ve learned that what is perceived as Swedish in the United States differ widely from what is perceived as Swedish by present-day Swedes. Descendants of Swedish immigrants to the US keep alive traditions that may have died out in Sweden long ago. Swedish immigrants also intermarried with other Scandinavians, and their descendants mix and match between the traditions sometimes unknowingly. One example: All Americans talk about lutefisk, not knowing that is the Norwegian word. (Swedish: lutfisk.) Lefse (a flatbread) is also assumed to be solidly Swedish even tho it’s mainly Norwegian.

Many Swedish American foods and practices remind me of my grandparents, all born at the end of the 1800s and the very early 1900s. Old fashioned cooking principles involved boiling the life out of both meat and vegetables and/or covering them in heavy flour bases sauces. My mother’s generation rebelled against much of this, and for good reason.

Customs or dishes common in Sweden today usually don’t make their way across the Atlantic. If they do, it’s in popularized or bastardized versions. Hygge (a Danish word referring to creating moments and spaces of laidback cosiness) and fika (the Swedish tradition of having coffee and conversation) are two examples.

All this means that the Swedishness of Swedish American culture feels old-fashioned and limited to a Swede of today. There are many possibilities for misunderstandings, contradictory interpretations, and arguments. Both sides feel strongly that their version is the correct one. I surprise myself by being quite invested in the discussions. My own Swedishness comes out more judgmental and argumentative than I’m really willing to admit.

CV Nilsson

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 My great grandfather, Carl Viktor Nilsson. Born Aug. 30, 1846 in Döderhult. Died Aug. 17, 1926 in Oskarshamn.

This is Carl Victor Nilsson, the father of my grandmother Herta. I don’t know much about Carl Victor, but I do know that he was a sea captain, and that he kicked his own son off the boat (more than once) for being drunk. It looks to me as if you wouldn’t want to have messed with Captain Nilsson, but according to a his great grandson, my cousin, he let the drunken son back on the ship pretty quickly.

Both of Carl Victor’s parents had deep roots in Kristdala north of Oskarshamn. Many of his relatives were related to each other in several ways, and as a result I have a disproportionally high number of DNA matches with Carl Victor’s line. Many of his emigrant relatives settled in the mid-west, in Kansas, Illinois, and Nebraska. But I also have mysterious matches on the Northeast coast of England, in the area of West Hartlepool, where Carl Victor apparently spent some time.