Late in the fall of 1886, Carolina Margareta Brandt, my great-grandaunt, left Sweden on the long journey to America. With Carolina age 39 traveled her niece, Milda Kristina age 14, and her nephew Carl Henning age 12. These two also were Carolina’s step-children, because Carolina had married August Johnson the widower of her sister Cristina Carlotta who had died 6 days after Carl’s birth. The youngest in the group was Carolina’s and August’s son Gustaf Albert, age 9. Another woman and her children from the village went with them.
The group traveled from their village near Lake Vanern in central Sweden to Gothenburg’s harbor. They sailed on the Diana from Gothenburg to Frederickshavn in Denmark, then took another ship to Bremen, Germany where they boarded a German steam/clipper ship the SS Hermann built 1865.
They landed in Baltimore on November 11, 1886 and traveled by train to Minneapolis where my great-grandfather August Johnson was waiting for them. He was sitting on the porch of a boarding house, when his wife and his three children came trundling along the walk, looking, according to the family story, like gypsies.
The iron-bound wooden trunk you see in the photographs also went to the New World, via Liverpool and then to Baltimore. I am sure the family traveled with smaller bags, too.
What do you think Carolina packed in that trunk? Was my grandmother Milda Kristina allowed to put something in it? What would you take from home across an ocean to a new land? The trunk, a cherished family heirloom, now sits in the home of one of Milda’s great-granddaughters.
Last June, I stood on the bow of the canal boat M/S Juno built 1874 as it sailed out of Gothenburg harbor on its way to the Gota Canal system of rivers, canals, and lakes, and ultimately into the North Sea and the docks of Stockholm. I thought about those brave women in my family who sailed from that same harbor across the Atlantic Ocean, and that wooden trunk containing pieces of their lives. I felt a circle had been closed. And I was grateful for the traits of tenacity, resiliency, and courage I have inherited.
Thank you for sharing another fascinating chapter of your family’s history. Trying to envision what was in that trunk..bible? Photos? Family heirlooms..jewelry? China? Silver? Books?
Your family must be so grateful for the time and effort you have put into this family story legacy.
Hope you are well and enjoying your pool in this heatwave.
Carole
Hello Carole, thanks for reading and commenting. I wonder if my mother ever asked those questions of her mother Milda Kristina and would have known the answers. I didn’t even know about the existence of the trunk until a year ago…though I probably saw it at my cousin’s home.,,,was very happy to celebrate Martha’s birthday recently, connected with some of our old writing group but most of them were arriving as I was leaving. Yes, my pool is lovely!
I love that you have this information about your family’s coming to America. Taking that journey had so much more meaning for you because you already knew so much about your predecessors. So glad you were able to go on that voyage ‘with’ them–and that you continue to be the vibrant, active woman you are. An inspiration to all of us!
Thanks for reading and commenting, dear Willow! Researching both lines of my family tree has been very rewarding. Thanks for the kind words!
Hi Kristin! I loved the post you provided with some family history. That was delightful.
Hope you are doing well.
Hello Elaine–how nice to hear from you. Thanks for reading and commenting. No major problems, but I keep acquiring new people for my Health Team, as my lead doctor keeps adding them on; I think may have enough for baseball now. Miss seeing you!