The picture of the Bergman family is the same picture as that claimed by the Lars Erickson family (Early emigrants). The ages of the children fit better with the Erickson family, but the Bergman family on Ancestry has individual pictures of the parents which makes me think the picture is of some of their family! So, I am leaving the picture in both places, and hoping that someone can shed more light on this!

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The Tallin Family

Pehr Jonsson b. 1822, farmer at  ”Bjurs” (sub 8) sold his farm in 1868 to Hans Esbjörnsson and moved his family to America. Pehr grew up at the farm ”Nils” and bought the Bjurs farm about 1847. His parents joined his family at Bjurs in 1865, but moved back to the Nils farm where their oldest son farmed after Pehr and his family moved. Carin Eriksdotter b. 1827 grew up at the  Olsgården farm. Carin and Pehr had five living children when they decided to make the move to America. (They had lost infant twins a few years earlier). Their oldest and only daughter was Anna, and their sons were Jöns 15, Erik 11, Per 7 and Lars 3 yrs. Anna had married Sven Matsson the year before.  Sven was a tailor and they had an infant daughter.

Pehr, Carin (Carrie)and their four sons sailed on a boat called the Helvetia.  But, they weren’t the only ones to leave then. Anna and Sven with baby Karin, Sven’s brother Mats and his family and Sven’s half sister Ella all sailed on the same boat, from the ships manifest (The church records say these others left in 1869.  It was probably a quick decision to leave and they didn’t tell the priest!) (See the Skugg/Bäcken family)

The following information comes from descendants of Pehr Johnsson’s family who have shared  information and wonderful photos on Ancestry, in particular Pat Mason Johnson. The family settled initially in Iowa and rented a farm. Then tragedy struck. Pehr, with his dream to resettle in America did not get to live there for long. He died in either 1869 or 1870.

His wasn’t the only death. His daughter Anna and Sven settled in Montrose, Iowa. The 1870 census for Montrose showed Sven (called Swan) working as a labourer. Little Karin had died and they had an eight month old baby named John, born in Iowa. Before the year was out, this whole family had died. There was a lot of typhoid fever around this time and probably this or something similar ended their lives.

John Tallin b. 1852 ”became the head of the family at 16 years of age after his father died, possibly from influenza or Typhoid fever. He shouldered the responsibility of supporting the family of five. He trapped and snared wild turkeys, worked on the farm and corded wood in the winter. In 1870 he moved the family to Nebraska, settling in Burt county on rented land, which provided the family with a good life. By then his brother (Erik, now called Alex) was old enough to help with the work on the farm”. (from John Tallin biography, on Ancestry)

 In 1876 John married Ida S Nelson in Omaha, Nebraska. Ida was also the daughter of Swedish immigrants. Their marriage record is the first recorded use of the surname Tallin. (Tall is the Swedish word for pine tree) ”In Spring 1884 John and Ida moved 12 miles south of Arnold in Custer county, Nebraska, where they became the first settlers on the table land which now bears their name (Tallin Table) In 1885 Ida died, leaving John with two small daughters, and his mother came to his aid to care for them.

In 1892 John married again, to Minnie Nelson. In 1919 John was farming a half section of land, raising cattle and was favourably known in the community. The land where John buried Ida in 1885 was donated to the county and later became known as the Swedish Tallin cemetery. ”

At one time John ran the post office and a hardware store in Tallin, his brother Lewis was a jeweller as well as a farmer. There was also a blacksmith (probably brother Peter) a justice of the peace and a farm implement dealer there (from Custer county farmer’s directory, 1890). John died in 1919 at 66 years of age. Minnie lived until 1936.

John and Ida’s two daughters were Carrie and Mabel. Carrie was only four years old when her mother died. Her grandmother Carrie moved in to help raise the girls until her father remarried in 1892. The new stepmother was not kind to the girls, and was never liked by them. From one of the history documents, John moved his family to Canada around 1901 for a short time. Carrie worked as a maid in either a home or a hotel in Revelstoke. She did not return to Nebraska when the Tallin family moved back a couple years later. She moved to Seattle , where she worked in a Chinese laundry, and was very poor. An uncle (probably Lewis) was  working in the logging industry somewhere in the area, as did Robert Blackburn, whom she married in 1909. They had three children and she died in Whatcom county, Washington State in 1968. Her sister Mabel moved to Alberta where she married farmer Axel Nordlund and they lived near Meeting Creek, Alberta. They had five children. Mabel died in 1972.

Alex Tallin (Erik) b. 1857 farmed in Custer County Nebraska on a half section of land next to his brother John. In 1890 he married Gertud Peterson in Elim county, Nebraska who was born in Sweden and they had four children. Gertude died in 1903 so Alex was left with a young family as well. Alex died just a few years later in 1910 and I am not sure how the children managed. Alma, the oldest daughter was 20, and she married a year later.  The youngest son Elmer was 11 when he was orphaned. His older brother Oscar died serving in France in 1918.

Peter Tallin b. 1860 married Martha Olson in 1886 in Kearney, Nebraska. Martha was also born in Sweden. They farmed in the same area as Peter’s brothers and had a daughter and two sons. He also operated a blacksmith business in Nebraska. In 1902 they headed for Canada and settled near Dorenlee, south of Camrose, Alberta where they farmed. Peter and Martha both died in 1934 a few months apart.  Their three children continued to live in the Central Alberta area.

Lewis Tallin (Lars) b. 1865 was just three years old when he emigrated with his family, and memories of his father would be limited. He worked alongside his brothers in Nebraska during his youth, and from the account above was a jeweller for a time. In 1898 he married Anna Eklund who was born in Jönköping, Sweden. They had one son born a year later, David. In 1900 he was farming in the same vicinity as his brothers and his mother was living with them. David was an infant.

I get the impression that Lewis did not stay in one place for too long. While I didn’t find further census records for them, there are a few other documents. In 1902 he took out a homestead in Dorenlee Alberta, and there is a note from 1905, asking for an extension of time to prove his homestead due to his wife being sick. Perhaps they moved back to the States due to her illness. The milder Washington climate might have been easier for her than the prairies. Several notes or comments suggest they lived in Washington state and he was likely the uncle referred to by his niece Carrie as working in the logging industry. In 1917 he applied for US citizenship. It said he resided in Custer, Washington and was a fireman. The same year his son was drafted and gave his address as Custer, Whatcom, Washington.

In 1918 Anna died, and after that Lewis returned to Canada. His son went to join him in Ryley (small town SE of Edmonton) Alberta in 1922, where Lewis died the same year. David seemed to move back and forth, it was noted he had a half section of land in Dorenlee where his cousins lived (perhaps the homestead his father started) He died in Vancouver BC in 1974 and it does not appear that he married.

What about Carin, or Carrie Tallin, the mother of these men? After her sons grew it seems she lived with whichever son was needing some help. She lived with John in 1885 when his wife died. She was living with Lewis and Anna in 1900 in Nebraska. She died in 1907 in Camrose, and was buried in Edberg. She was probably living with Peter and family, although Lewis may have been in that area at that time. She lived to be 80, surviving her husband Pehr by about 37 years. 

Lars Eriksson b. 1829 and Kerstin Jönsdotter b. 1834

Lars was Carrie’s brother; he, his wife and four children emigrated in 1869. Lars had been farming ”Olsgården” where he grew up and he was also ”kyrkovarden” which translates church caretaker, however the position was more than that. Since there was no priest living in Överhogdal he had responsibility for many church related duties. When they emigrated, his parents still lived at the farm, and Lars sister’s family moved there from a smaller farm and took over the farming. 

Lars (now Lewis Erickson)  and Kerstin (Christina) settled in Iowa; their names are on the same census in Montrose along with the Matson families in 1870.  There is a picture of the family taken around that time. I found records for Lewis, Christina and the two youngest children in 1880 and 1885 living in Cleveland, Iowa. Lewis worked as a labourer in 1870, a miner in 1880 and a watchmaker in 1885. There was a Lars Erickson, retired farmer living in Marion, Iowa in 1910 with his daughter Anna. Their ages are right, but if it is them, Emma changed her name to Anna and Lewis called himself Lars again (possible but there is room for doubt!)