I. Ture's Story (1887-1907)

Editor note: In 1970, at the age of 83, a brother of my Iowa grandfather wrote "his story" - his early life in Sweden, emigration to the US in the early 1900's, service in WWI and reverse emigration to Sweden in the 1920's. My great-uncle Ture died in 1984 at the age of 97. Over several posts, courtesy of Ture, you will get an inside view of a family saga of Swedish immigrants in the early 20th century. 

What you will be reading is a translation from Swedish.

Ture's Story - In His Own Words (1887-1907)

Forest Bed

It was the year 1887 and on the 29th of October, a boy was born and given the name Ture. He was the fourth child - all boys. My father’s name was Per Erik and my mother’s name was Augusta. Their home was a little cottage far into the woods. The name of the place was “Forest Bed”. It was so pretty in the summer. The house was small, one room and a little kitchen with an open fireplace. Then there was a little orchard around the house and a small acreage. We had a little cow house with room for two cows and a calf and a little hay for them. My father worked in the forest in winter and in a sawmill in the summer. Most of the time he was away at work and came home only on Sunday. My mother had to manage the home, our two cows and us children. It was not easy to make ends meet for food and a little clothing. Labor wages were not large at that time, around 1 kroner a day, but it went. We did not ever have to starve as many do at the present. Two years after my birth, the fifth boy was born and he was named Emil. First remembrance I have from that time was the 19th of July 1891, when I got a sister, she was named Marie. Father was home, it was a sunny and warm day. We went out a picked wild strawberries, they were so red and fine on the ditches. We picked many berries in the forest. They had milk and bread until it was a party. We had clover so we had plenty of honey in the fall. I remember one time I went and picked flowers near a beehive and many bees stung me, so I am still a little afraid of bees. A few hundred meters from our home there was a lake called Japen. It was a pretty lake with clear fine water. A path to the lake was well kept. We went there often and bathed and fished. There were good fish at that time. Sometimes with father with us we put out nets and poles, then we could get both pike and eel. We did not have many toys at that time so we had to make up our own fun. There was a little brook outside the forest, there we had a water wheel with a hammer that struck on an iron plate that could be heard at our house. We made a board to shoot at as a target.

In winter we made a toboggan or sled we called them. My older brothers had permission to go to school every other day. It was a right long way to go through the forest. When they became big enough that they could help a little, they could go to the neighbors and work with planting and in the fall with threshing. The pay was not big, but they were fed and a little pay sometimes. Then there as a little sister, she was named Herta. All children were more than welcome, but it became crowded in the little house. In summer we could lay and sleep in the attic, but in winter we had to crowd together in the room. It is an old saying that says, “when need is the greatest, help is the nearest” and so it was with us.

Rösjö

Our closest village was Rösjö where there were three tenant farmers. The owner was the man father worked for. In the spring of 1894 was a blessing. Father asked and was given permission to move. The farm was around 30 tillable acres. In the spring we moved. I remember it very well even if it is over 75 years ago. It was not much to begin with, only two cows and many children, the oldest 15 years. I think it became much concern for father and mother how they were going to raise us all. But people were helpful so father could buy a pair of oxen and some other cattle. A horse was purchased in time. The house was large and fine we children thought. The kitchen was roomy - two windows, two wall cupboards. We had a large table by one of the windows and a sofa by the other and best of all an iron stove with a reservoir for warm water, some chairs and a hanging lamp over the table. On Saturday we scrubbed the floor and if there was any rubbish, we scrubbed harder and it became really homelike in our kitchen. There was a large room which was both bedroom and parlor with an open fireplace, 3 windows and a place for three beds. There was a round table in the middle and and mother’s chest of drawers and father’s chiffonier. There was a buffet where they kept the fine coffee cups for safe keeping. Then there was a highly colored rug on the floor which mother had woven. There was a room upstairs for the oldest boys. There they could do as they wanted to do so it was not always so well in order. The barn was very warm. There was a place for fifteen farm creatures and a couple of pens for calves and sheep. Then there was a room for draft animals, there was place for 3 horses and a pair of oxen. Then there was a little shed, there we had a little thresh machine that was powered by a large cogwheel that drove around with two pair of horses, it was tiring work. We boys had to go around for a half hour and then we had a little rest, as they made order in the loft, and then we had to drive again.

We also had a little house which they called the Old People’s Home. There the old lived when they no longer could work in their garden. There was two small rooms and there was a washroom with a kettle to heat water. There they did there large washings or wash as it was called at the time. 

Valstorp School

In 1895 I begin to go to school. Valstorp School, they called it and the teacher’s name was Olsson, a good and fine man. We went every other day, small school, two classes a day and a large school, four classes next day. I was little and shy, did not want to be away from home but it went real well for me anyway. My brothers had taught me a little before I began school. We started at nine o’clock in the morning and finished around four. We had over a half mile to go and most of it was forest. We were many together so it went right well. In fall when days became shorter, it was dark when we came home in the evening. I well remember that it was the last of November we had exams, that was the worst. Preacher was along and some of our parents were with us. A few days before I had to write a paper. They that did best read their paper first. I remember that mine came long at the bottom and then we were asked several questions by the teacher. I was good at numbers so I got to go up front and to the board and worked a problem. When I had finished my six years in school, I could continue in the winter; that I thought was interesting. There were many children here in the neighborhood. 

My father started a Sunday School. I think it was the last of 1880's. So when were were older, we got to go. I believe children have a great need of Sunday School. What a man learns as a child, he will not forget. I went and read for the preacher Nystrom, a very good and God-fearing man. I was confirmed the 15th of June 1901 in Hällestad church.

The Family

The family bulged with two more children. Hanna was born in 1895 and David in 1901, so we became 9 children, 6 boys and 3 girls. Oscar, my oldest brother, was 21 years old.

I shall now write a little about my dear mother, she was out of this world. We were 13 in the household one time, think what food it took for all of us. Coffee and sugar was all we bought, all other was produced at home. The spinning wheel was going all year. It wove all we needed for clothes. I was 17 years old when I bought my first clothes. It cost 30 kroner. We wove all linens for sheets and hand towels. They bought thread for warp and yarn to weave, they they sewed afterwards. We had a little ground with flax every summer and all the fine rugs the wove. I remember mother was very neat and wanted to have it as fine as possible. How she could manage with all, I do not understand. She was glad and good to us children, sometimes were were not so helpful.

There was a man who lived in a little place called Tallabo. They called him tailor Adel. He went around the country and sewed clothes. He was with us sometimes. I remember so well when he came. He had a heavy press iron in one hand and a case with other things in the other. He was a very good and kind man. We boys thought it was so great when he was with us as we got new clothes. In the evening he talked of history - most was about ghosts so it was a little spooky when we went upstairs in the dark to sleep. He knew about clocks. We had an old clock he oiled and nursed so it ran well until the next time he came and sewed for us. Sometimes we butchered and old cow, he got some of it for pay. There was a shoemaker, his name was Johannes Shoemaker. He had a son named Gustav that came with him to help. It took many days before we all had our own pair of shoes. I remember when I got my first boots. I thought I was a real man. There was an old man that we called Augusti Brinka. He was both a carpenter and blacksmith. He was with us and repaired old wagons and sleds. I was with him sometimes when he blacksmithed. At that time they hired a blacksmith that sharpened their plowshares and did a little blacksmith themselves. We could start to help with the work at our place as soon as we were able, days when we were home from school. Sometimes we had a contract, it was to do just as much in one day. If it was not the time in the summer to pick berries, we went to the lake and met swimmers, it was fun we had. I became a good swimmer, we taught ourselves, we made reed rafts to float on to begin with.

Grandparents

I shall now write a little about my father and mother’s parents. Grandpa lived in a little cottage not far from us. It was only two rooms. It was one room for them, the other for visitors. My father was an only child. They were born sometime around 1820. Grandfather had been a building carpenter or woodsman, as they were called. He became sick in his old age so he had to walk with two canes, but anyway, he went to the forest and chopped wood. Grandmother was a little spry and busy lady. She could spin wool and flax, knit stockings and mittens. Sometimes when there weren’t any teachers, she had to teach children to read round the neighborhood. Grandfather would carve ladles and wooden skis in winter when he couldn’t be outside.

Grandfather died first [1895] and Grandma lived with us until she died [1901]. Mother’s mother I do not remember, but Grandpa lived in a cottage near us and we went and visited him. 

I remember one Sunday when father and I and my brother Emil went there. Grandpa was reading Sunday’s sermon aloud, in a large book, but he kept on preaching until he was through before he greeted us. The old were loyal to their church worship. At home in our neighborhood were held meetings. We had to bring in several boards to sit on, for many people came. There were representatives from other neighborhoods that would preach. The first I remember, his name was Hurtig, and then there was Norman and Lundkvist, he played guitar, and then there was the large Johnson I. Hult. The stayed overnight and then I had to take then to the next place where they preached.

The summer when I was 19 years old, I worked on a farm in the summer. Wages were 1 kroner 50 ore per day. My older brother Oscar got married in 1904 to the daughter of one of the farmers, her name was Hilda.  They had two sons, Sven and Hilding. 

To be continued ...