Born the year before his father was discharged from the
Military he grew up in a family noted for their emphasis on education. He probably spent the same amount of time in
school as his older brother (see his Certificate), Johan. In Canada, his children attended as far as
they could in the local schools and he served on the School Board for ======. Confirmed at 14 in the Lutheran Church he
attended the church in Canada. ,
At age 27 he went from Gräsmark in Värmland north to
Jämtland, a province to work as a
labourer in 1893. There met and married Brita Gabrielsdotter in 1894 and they
had 4 children, the youngest son dying before they immigrated to Canada in 1902. A small ship from Trondheim, Norway took them to
Hull, England to travel by train to Liverpool where they took a larger ship to
Canada, arriving in Montreal 6 June 1902 destination Wetaskiwin. He was marked as a farm owner, albeit of a
very small piece of land so why immigrate and why Wetaskiwin?
He filed for a Homestead
and lived there until December 1905 when Brita died and he let the
Homestead lapse as he went to work. The
1906 Canadian Census showed the 2 older children using the name Holm (his
grandfather’s surname and living with Erick Simonsen’s family and marked as
cousins. The youngest, Christine
Hedin was 8 and living with August
Rostburg and family and listed as a servant.
Where was Gustaf? I understand
that he worked for the railroad so was this why he was not with them nor on the
Census.
Two trips back to Sweden, one in 1908 and the second in
1910. Did he go to find a good Swedish wife?
Probably as he travelled back on Feb 8 1911 with Emma Eleonora Ulrika
Nyqvist and married her in Calgary on February 23rd before
travelling on to Wetaskiwin.
18 Feb 1911 he returned from Sweden so he had made a 2nd
trip there. Why? When? Was it to find another wife as he returned
with Emma Nyqvist and they married in Calgary on the 23 of Feb before they
arrived in Wetaskiwin. They were in the
1911 Census in Wetaskiwin
