52 Ancestors in 52 weeks #50: "Inlaws" - Sarona Kallman Alvine & Lydia Abrahamson Kallman

  prompt #50 Dec 10 - Dec 16 "Inlaws" Saron Alvine and Lydia Kallman

My grandmother Lydia and her sister-in-law, my great aunt Sarona. They hold on their laps their first born sons Stanley (Sarona) and Albin (Lydia). Were these inlaws close? Sarona and her family moved out to California in the 1930's while my grandmother Lydia's family remained in Chicago, so most likely they were not.

From Amy Johnson Crow, a genealogist, far more experienced then I. "The data that we've accumulated in our genealogy software and in our binders and folders doesn't do a whole lot of good just sitting there. We need to do something with it." Each week she sends out a prompt to share a bit about an ancestor, collateral relative, or family friend.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #38: "Adversity" - Magnitude 9.2: The 1964 Great Alaska Earthquake

Prompt #38 (Sep 17 - Sep 23): "Adversity"- Stanley Kallman Alvine

Last week I spoke of my Dad's cousin and his marine repair business in Alaska.

March 27,1964 the largest recorded earthquake in United States history struck Alaska. It was a 9.2 magnitude with powerful tremors that lasted for nearly 5 minutes.  Aftershocks continued for three weeks. Massive landslides, spreading and swelling destroyed buildings, water mains, sewers, gas and electrical systems. Two Tectonic plates, the Pacific Plate and the North American plate, just under Alaska,  rose over 27 feet. Massive tsunamis reached land just a few minutes after the earthquakes shaking and engulfed some areas that previously had been 170 feet above sea level. A day after, President Lyndon Johnson declared the entire state of Alaska a disaster area.

Stanley Kallman Alvine's  Marine Repair Company? Sucked out to sea.

Prosperity to adversity in one year? Stanley was not dissuaded of his love of Alaska. He rebuilt and raised his family there. Stanley died at Kodiak Island, Alaska, February 28, 1979.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks #37: "Prosperity" - Stanley Kallman Alvine

  Prompt #37 (Sep 10 - Sep 16): "Prosperity"- Stanley Kallman Alvine

My dad's cousin Stanley was born in Chicago but with his parents moved out to California where two of his aunts also settled. His aunt Olga and her husband Uno Markus had tried their luck panning for gold in Alaska and perhaps hearing from them of the beauty of Alaska (they never found gold) thought to take his young wife and go on his own adventure.

 He started a marine repair business and it must have been doing well as 1963 found him getting a fairly impressive government loan to expand his business.

Tues June 11, 1963

Prosperity appeared to be just around the corner for the Alvine family. Adversity however was soon to follow.

Grand Aunt Sarona Kallman

My grand aunt, Sarona Rebecka Källman, was my grandfather Richard's oldest sister , the oldest of all six Källman siblings. Her birth record, December 17, 1878, declares her to be "oäkta" or illegitimate. Her mother Clara Sofia is only listed but a note was added that she was baptised in her father Anderssons parish, January 2, 1879. Her parents married in May of 1879.

She arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in 1904 following her brothers, Patrik and Botvid who had emigrated in 1901. In 1907 she married Hugo Henry Alvine, a man she must have known back home in Sweden because it was he who was named on the ship manifest as her contact in America. 

When my grandfather Richard immigrated in 1906, it was Sarona who was named on the ship manifest as HIS contact in America.

Her first of two sons, Stanley Kallman Alvine, was born in Chicago in 1911.

My Grand Aunt
Sarona Rebekah Källman Alvine
b. 11 December 1878 Tjällmo, Östergötland, Sweden
d. 28 July 1956 Turlock, Stanilaus, California, USA

My father's cousin

Stanley Kallman Alvine

b. 19 September 1911 Chicago, Cook, Illinois, USA

d. 28 Feb 1979 Kodiak, Kodiak Island, Alaska, USA