HOME JOHNSON FAMILY GENEALOGY LINKS LANGUAGE & CULTURE PHOTOS WERNER HISTORY
We
are looking for our
Johnson or Jonsson family
and as you may have guessed it's not an easy task. There sure are a lot of
Johnson families in the world. Ours are definitely from
Sweden though, which
narrows it down to, oh, about 4 or 5 million thanks to
Swedish naming patterns... sigh.
Our Grandmother Hulda Kristina Magdalena Johnson (Werner) lived in Illinois for many years yet rarely spoke to us in English. We English-speaking grandchildren learned a whopping 4 or 5 words in Swedish, most notably the words to ask for candy or other sweets (see Linnaeus on Lakrits). This caused us no end of problems when we became curious enough to question Hulda about her life. Anything we asked her in English was answered in Swedish. Every single time.
Family legend states that Hulda originally came from Skönvik. Actually SHE told us that after we'd peppered her for an hour or so with questions about her ancestry. Later we were told that there is actually a town called Skön - with a mill called Skönvik - in Västernorrlands Län.
The Birth of Hulda Kristina
How Did She Get to North America?
Hulda's Family This Side of The Pond
The photo (top left) is Hulda's cousin Britta in traditional wedding garb. For more on Swedish wedding crowns visit http://www.sunflower.org/~esping/wedding.html
For a feast of Swedish culture see the Usenet newsgroup soc.culture.nordic. Aside from their use of the term "spaghetti publishers", it's all good.
Through the goodness of Great Aunt Gerta Johnson and her daughter Blanche we have some family photos. If you are a Johnson or an Anderson, we wish you would take a gander at them. Maybe you know who some of these people are.
My brother Laurence
