Early settlers to Kittson, Minnesota

Per Sjulsson b. 1854 grew up at the farm Sjules, one of Sjul Svensson and Märta’s sons (see Other Canadian Settlers). He was the second youngest son; however his younger brother died when he was 12. With five older brothers, he probably did not see a lot of opportunity in Överhogdal. He married Gunilla Olofsdotter b. 1860 from Ängersjö, Ytterhogdal in 1887, and they moved the following year with their young daughter Märta (b. 1887).

They sailed from Trondheim, Norway and their destination was stated as Kittson, Minnesota, and that is where they settled. They must have known someone here to have such a specific plan in mind. Per worked as a farm labourer for the first years they were in the country. Perhaps he went to a job he knew about beforehand.

Two more children were born in Kittson, Sivert in Dec 1888 and Betsey in 1894. Gunilla (Nellie) died a year later when Betsey was only one. She was adopted by a childless couple, Erik and Emma Norland, and named Ella. She lived nearby and obviously kept in touch with her father and siblings, since we have a picture of the three children together.

By 1912 Per owned his own land in the  township of McKinley. Märta married John Hallberg in 1909 and in 1911 the family moved to Provencher, Manitoba, Canada. They had two little daughters when Märta (Matty) died just like her mother,  when the youngest was one. John farmed with his brother and the girls stayed with him. He later remarried.                                                     

Sivert married in 1917 and had four children. He took over his father’s farm by 1920 and Per lived with Sivert’s family for the rest of his life. Per died in 1946 when he was 91. Ella Norland married Alfred Svenson who was a meat cutter in a grocery store and they had two children. They lived in Wisconsin.  Both Sivert and Ella lived long lives. Sivert died at 98 and Ella at 92.        

The Myrvold family

Anna Christina (Christine) Sjulsdotter (b. 1879) was a daughter of Olof Sjulsson and sister of Syvert Shulson (see Canadian settlers).  She emigrated with her Norwegian husband Martin Myrvold b. 1878 and their two young daughters in 1903. They travelled on the same boat as Olof Nylund and their destination was initially Winnipeg, then on to Kittson. Her stated contact in Kittson was her uncle Per Sjulson. In the 1910 census they lived in Kittson. Martin was working in a forestry job and they had three children. Christine had her fourth child in June 1912 and Martin died a year later, 35 years old. In 1920 Anna was a seamstress living in Baudette Village, Beltram, Minnesota.  In 1929 her son Alfred worked as a porter and she lived with him. In 1930 she lived with her married daughter Ruth and her family in Duluth, Minnesota. Christine died in Minnesota in1950.

The two daughters who were born in Överhogdal were Ruth and Marie. Ruth Ingeborg, born in1901 married Carl Westling and they had two children and lived in Duluth. Carl was a painter in 1940. Ruth lived to be almost 102 like her great grandfather Sjul Svensson. Marie Tekla was born in 1902. She emigrated to Canada in 1921 and married William Stagg in Winnipeg in 1926. In 1931 they lived in Winnipeg  where he was a clerk for the steam railway and they had one daughter. While voters records show they were in Winnipeg for years, they both died in Edmonton, William in 1971 and Marie died in 2001. She was 98.

Olof Gummelius Löfberg b. 1892

This young man with the interesting name was born in 1892, the son of forestry worker Jonas Löfberg and he grew up in Kyrkbyn, Överhogdal. He left in 1910 along with Matthias Olsson and Lars Wahlén from Rätan, with their planned destination being Superior, Wisconsin.  I did not find out where Matthias went, but Lars was working for his brother in law Oscar at his logging camp in 1920 (below). We can find Olof’s draft registration paperwork from 1918  and at that time he was living in Lake City, Minnesota. He was married with one child and his occupation was a mason and cement worker. He was described as tall with dark blue eyes and light brown hair.

His wife was Helen Bechel and they married in Wabasha, Minnesota in 1916. In 1920 they lived in Minneapolis and he worked in a machine shop. They had three daughters. In 1930 they now had four daughters but his occupation had changed. He now worked in construction. In 1940 and 1950 he was noted to be a plasterer.  He died in 1966 in Otsego, Minnesota.

Oscar Hendrickson and family

This family did not live in Överhogdal for long, but their sons were born there. Oscar was born in  1876 and his brother Hilmer in 1878, in Östmark, which (if I have the right one) is west of Stockholm. They lived in Rätan however for many years. Oscar married Anna Maria Wahlén (b. 1879) in Rätan just before they relocated to the Bäcken farm in Överhogdal. He was a labourer and they rented their home. They had two sons both born in Överhogdal; Karl Hilding  in 1899 and Oskar Valdemar in 1901. The brothers and Oscar’s family emigrated together in 1903 and sailed from Trondheim; their stated destination was Osage, Kansas where they may have lived for a time. By 1910 they had settled in Aitkin, Minnesota where Oscar did odd jobs. They had another son, three year old John. In 1920 they were still in Aitkin and Oscar owned a lumber company.  There was another son, ten year old Lloyd. Hilmer and two of Anna’s brothers worked for Oscar. He employed five in all, all born in Sweden.

In 1930 Lloyd still lived at home; the older sons had moved on. Oscar still ran the lumber company. The WW2 draft identified him as a logger, living in Aitkin.  He died in 1943. Anna died in 1951 in Aitkin.

Hilmer worked as a farmhand near Aitkin in 1918 on his draft papers. He married Tilda Marianna Anderson in 1920 in Fergus Falls, Minn. I am unsure of where they went after this time. It looks like he claimed social security payments in 1946.

Oscar’s son Karl married around 1918 to a Finnish girl and they lived in Aitkin and had three children. He worked for the railroad. He died in 1962 in Ramsey, Minn. His brother Oscar was a miner and worked for the Cayuna ore company in Ironton Minn. His wife was Norma Belle Hunt and  they had seven children in 1940.

Karl Karlsson Grip b. 1875 was one of Anna Maria’s brothers. He was married to Ingrid Olsdotter and had two children when he emigrated from Överhogdal in 1910. He stayed for a year or two then returned  to Överhogdal in 1912 and they had another child. He worked as a labourer.

Harald Emanuel Blomqvist, twice an emigrant

Harald was born in 1881 and was the oldest son of Jonas Blomqvist and Ella Jonsdotter. They lived at her home farm #3 Westmon when Harald was growing up. He had 2 brothers and a sister. His mother died in 1897. Around 1880 his father started a store which his son Erik eventually operated. In 1907 father Jonas and his young daughter moved to Rätan where they also operated a store.

Harald emigrated for the first time in 1904, sailing on a boat from Göteborg called the Calypso.  By 1905 he was in San Francisco. In the 1910 census he was living in a boarding house working as a driver. He met Allie (Alma Violet) Anderson and they married in San Jose in Jan 1918. He was working as a laundry driver in San Francisco when he registered for the draft in 1918. He was described as tall, of medium build, blue eyes, brown hair.  In 1920 he was a clerk in the laundry and their first son Jan was under two. Their daughter Verna was born in January 1921.

In 1920 Harold became an American, but he also left in December for Sweden. His father died in 1917 and perhaps he had things to do that brought him home.  Perhaps running his father’s store seemed better than working in a laundry. He lived in Rätan for several years and Allie wasn’t there initially. Early in 1923 Allie and the children joined him. They had another son  Kaj, later that year, born in Östersund. In 1924 they moved to Överhogdal where he ran the store. 

In 1930 it looks like he sold the business (at least someone else was now a storekeeper) and the family returned to San Francisco.  In the 1940 census he was an insurance salesman in San Francisco. Harold died in 1946. Allie died in 1958. Son Jan  Blomquist married Muriel Nelson and they had at least two children. He died in 1987 in California. Verna married Bob Osegueda and lived in Virginia when she died in 1979. Kaj died in California in 2002.