Kikhost and Covid19

 Yes, I am in the group. The over 65 group, 1B. The group Illinois says is now eligible for the Covid19 vaccine, after the essential workers. I have been downtown to have Covid vaccine #1 and in 10 days I will go again for vaccine #2.  There doesn't seem to be enough of the supply, so many of my friends are sitting on their laptop hitting refresh over and over again searching for a venue where the vaccine is available. I feel lucky and I understand the frustration of those who have yet to find an available appointment. What I don't understand? I don't understand those that will not be vaccinated and worse yet the "anti-vaxers". Those that deny their children (and all those around them unable to be vaccinated for health reasons) the blessing of never knowing the many illness' that plagued and decimated our ancestors.

Sweden, Indexed Death Records,  Håcksvik,  Ålvsborg, March 1884

March 27 Axel, son of Anderson, Linus, farmer and wife
                Karlsdotter, Johanna Lena, of the farm Skåremo              1yr  9mo 5 days old     Kikhost 
March 28 Johan Bernhard, son of Andersson Linus, farmer and wife
                Karlsdotter, Johanna Lena, of the farm Skåremo                     7mo 22 days old    Kikhost           

This is my grandmothers maternal Aunt, Lena Johanna Karlsdotter. Axel and Johan Bernhard were her baby boys who died a day apart of "Kikhost". "Kikhost" is Pertussis (Whooping Cough), a disease seldom seen today thanks to childhood immunizations. If a vaccine had been available in her day, would her babies have been worth saving?

   Don't even ask what I think of the selfish fools who won't wear masks.

   Don't even,

Three Karlsdotter Sisters

This photo was lovingly saved and scrapbooked by my great aunt, Ruth Abrahamson Soderstrom. Ruth's daughter Esther Soderstrom Liljegren then had the photo and now Esther's daughter is in possession and kindly emailed me a copy. On the photo the woman on the far right was identified as Anna Karolina Karlsdotter Abrahamson, Ruth's mother and my great grandmother.

Enlarging the photo on my computer and comparing the image to other Abrahamsson family photos I feel fairly certain that the woman on the left is Anna Karolina's youngest sister Anna Susanna. I may be going out on a limb here but I would venture a guess that the middle woman is their third and oldest sister, Lena Johanna. The sisters and their families were close. The middle "sister" had her arm across the back of the youngest sister. In addition would not Great Aunt Ruth have saved a photo of her mother and beloved aunts as opposed to her mother with friends? Photographs also came at a dear price back then, a price best spent on family? What do you think?

The Three Karlsdotter Sisters:

Great Grand Aunt

Anna Susanna Karlsdotter Abrahamson

1861-1947

Great Grand Aunt

Lena Johanna Karlsdotter Anderson

1857-1917

Great Grandmother
Anna Karolina Karlsdotter Abrahamson
1859-1925

Thank you cousin Sally, 

UPDATE!!!  An American Abrahamson cousin, seeing this photo, contacted a Swedish Abrahamson cousin who has confirmed that this photo is indeed of the three Karlsdotter sisters, Anna Susanna, Lena Johanna and Anna Karolina. Thank you!

Grandma's Abrahamsson cousins

Lena Johanna Karlsdotter was born  on the farm Skäremo in Håcksvik, Älvsborg, Sweden to my second great grandparents Karl Andersson (1819-1895) and Sara-Brita Larsdotter (1821-1906). She was their first child and the older sister of my great grandmother Anna Karolina Karlsdotter. She married Linus Andersson in 1881 and 11 months later gave birth to her first child, the first of eleven!

Håcksvik, Älvsborg, Sweden, the farm Skaremo

Lena Johanna Karlsdotter b. 15 Jan 1857  d. 06 May 1917
Linus Andersson b. 21 Feb 1853 d. aft 1920
   they married 15 July 1881 in Håcksvik

   their children:
     Axel b. 1882 d. 1884
     Johan Bernhard b. 1883 d. 1884
     Karl Axel b. 1886 d. ?
     Johan Bernhard b. 1887 d. 1935 in America
     Alma b.1888 d.1890 (twin to Lara)
     Lara b. 1888 (twin to Alma) ?
     Ernst Robert b. 1890 d. 1890
     Ernst Robert b. 1892 d. 1949 in America
     Frans Gottard b. 1894 d.? in America
     Lars Gunnar b.1895 d. 1973 in America
     Sven Albin b. 1897 d. 1971 in America


Lena Johanna and her husband Linus lost 4 of their children when they were no more than infants and toddlers. Her first two children died within a day of each other from whooping cough (Axel and Johan Bernhard). A twin girl was lost possibly to being born premature (Alma), her twin survived (Lara) but I have been unable to trace her since her birth. Another boy died at 2 months (Ernst Robert), the cause not documented.  Karl Axel married and moved to Borås. I know he died in Sweden but I do not know if he had any children.
Times were difficult in Sweden at that time and many young men probably did not see much of a future in Sweden and were lured to the promise of America. The remaining five of Lena Johannas boys left for America, never to return. Johan Bernhard left in 1906, followed by his brother Ernst Robert. The remaining three youngest brothers; Frans Gotthard, Lars Gunnar and Sven Albin departed from Gothenburg 14 May 1920.  None of the three ever married but remained bachelors living together in Chicago. Their father Lars? The last trace I have of him is that the three youngest mentioned him as their next of kin in Sweden.

By comparison, my great grandmother Anna Karolina Karlsdotter had 9 children, all healthy, all lived to adulthood. Those 9 children gave her 35 grandchildren and great grandchildren? I didn't even try to count us all.

But I fear that perhaps Lena Johanna died in 1917, after burying four babies of her own and without ever having the joy of a grandbaby on her lap.

How cruel and unfair life can sometimes be.

Grandma Lydia had five Abrahamsson cousins that lived not far from her in Chicago. I had never heard mention of any of them. It is possible she herself did not know?