Elizabeth Marie Kallman - I wonder if she knew?

free clipart http://phillipmartin.info/

Sometimes the interesting things you learn about your ancestors as a snoopy genealogist are the very things your ancestors would not only NOT find "interesting" but did their best to keep secret! Possibly traveling halfway around the world to keep the secret! The family "secret" I am writing about now involves those long gone who cannot be hurt by the revelation. When I look at photos of ancestors living at the turn of the 20th century, they look so stern, starched and upright. It is sort of nice to know that their missteps meant that they were just as human as I.

My great uncle Håkon Patrik Källman was the oldest brother of my grandfather Richard and the first of the family to leave Sweden and head to America in 1901. Here in the U.S. he met another Swedish immigrant Margareta Maria Eriksson. They married and their first child, Arthur, was born here. The young family returned to Sweden in 1905 where their other children were born. I am guessing it was his health that prompted their return to Sweden. Patrik died of tuberculosis just a few days after his 28th birthday.

I am sure life was lonely and difficult for the young widow and her children. Her boys Arthur, Evald, and Evert emigrated to the U.S. when they were older mentioning my grandfather as their contact in the U.S. When they were settled in Chicago they sent for their mother and younger sister. Margareta arrived in the U.S. with 10 year old Elizabeth Marie in 1923. I heard my Dad mention Arthur, Evert and Evald. He never mentioned, as far as I know, Elizabeth. I only knew about her through U.S. census records and her marriage and death certificates stated her fathers name as Patrik Kallman so I knew she was part of the family. I had a difficult time finding Elizabeths Swedish parish birth record as she was born in a different town than the town in which the family lived. But I found it at last!

06 Oct 1913 Valborg Maria Elisabet öakta (illegitimate), father okand (unknown),
mother Maria Margareta Källman, telephone operator in Sya born 16 Jul 1880, widowed
1913 Sya,, Östergötland, Sweden parish birth records 

my father's cousin?

Elizabeth Marie Källman

b. 6 Oct 1912 Sya, Östergötland, Sweden

d. 29 Oct 1987 Thomaston, Litchfield, Connecticut, U.S.A.

Here's the rub. My Great Uncle Patrik died in 1908! I wonder if Elisabeth knew?
Well the secret is out now.

***click on document to enlarge for easier viewing***