A family portrait for those in America?

The Abrahamsson family poses for a portrait. These are the siblings who remained in Sweden. The year is at least 1915 perhaps a bit later as Ruth was the last to leave for America and she left in 1914. Also Tyra, in the front left, was born in 1901 and she appears to be at least in her teens.

Perhaps this was a photo taken to send to family in America?

The Young Abrahamson Family

 My great grandparents, Albin and Anna, pose with their first two children, Hilma and Anna. 

My Great Grandparents:
Robert Albin Abrahamson
1860-1923

Anna Karolina Karlsdotter Abrahamson
1859-1925

My Great Aunts:

Hilma Abrahamson Persson
1881-1953

Anna Abrahamson Jacobson
1885-1965

In future years Albin and Anna would be blessed with seven more children. My grandmother, Lydia, would be their fourth,

Husband Albin is gone

 

Sometime after her husband's death in 1923 great grandma Anna (directly in middle) sits for a photo outside her home with her children that remained in Sweden.
top:       L to R Ester, Gustaf, Anders Jonason (Märta's husband), Sven Johanson (Tyra's husband), Tyra
middle:  L to R Hanna (Gustaf's wife), Märta, Anna, Hilma
bottom:  L to R 2 unidentified children, Gustaf and Hanna's 4 children

Sunday's Story - Hilma Abrahamsson

This Sunday's story is about Hilma. She was my grandmother Lydia's oldest sister, the oldest child of Robert Albin and Anna Abrahamsson. I must confess she always seemed to me rather like the plain sister who did not have much going on, married late in life, no children and blended into the woodwork of the family. Then I received cousin Ingemar's package of stories and photos of the Abrahamsson family and I totally changed my mind!

HIlma was born 23 Aug 1881 in Östra Frölunda.Being the oldest of nine and a girl I would guess she had a large responsibility to help with the younger children. But she did indeed have a life of her own.

Hilma (left) Hanna (center)

"Hilma was a very skilled hostess. She had been to a domestic-economy school in Katrineholm in the beginning of the century and enjoyed hosting large gatherings. With her cooking skills, sometimes the peo­ple ate more than the resources allowed, though. The food may have been gone but not Hilmas gift for entertaining. When the pots were empty, Hilma used to ele­gantly save the situa­tion by bringing the out the family pho­tography al­bum. When Hanna, the wife of her brother Gustaf, died in 1926, it was Hilma who took care of their children."* Hanna had also attended the school in Katrineholm and most likely was a good friend of Hilma's also. 

"A little later she came to care of a man who had been injured from an accident. But care developed to love and it is said that it was Hilma who took the initia­tive for marri­age. After their wedding, Hilma and Karl lived for a while in Lilla Ängasjö. Then they moved to Gebo in Ullasjö, where they stayed till old days."*

Hilma Abrahamsson married Karl Alfred Persson 23 Aug 1927 at the family home Stommen, Östra Frölunda

Hilma and Karl, Lillängasjö 1927

 

In the orchard, Karl and Hilma Persson

 A woman with something of an education and career in early 20th century Sweden? Her husband Karl was 31 when they married, Hilma was 46. We call that a cougar today but it was said it was a love match. Hilma and Karl also had a foster son. She was obviously a competent and confident woman. Here's to you Hilma! 

My Grand Aunt

Hilma Abrahamson Persson

b: 23 Aug 1881 Östra Frölunda, Älvsborg, Sweden

d:  7 Sep 1953 Gebo, Ullasjö, Västra Götaland, Sweden

 *taken in part and paraphrased from "A Family History - Albin and Anna Abrahamsson" 

by Ingemar Majholm (with his permission)

(clicking on photos will enlarge them for easier viewing)

Lydia, on her tiptoes, peeks over the crowd

This photo of the children of Robert Albin and Anna Karolina Abrahamsson again seems to confirm that, financially anyway, life was not too shabby for their family. None of my other three Scandinavian grandparents have any professional portraits of them as children. Lydia's future husband Rikard never posed for a picture until he came to America. Professional photographs were expensive. That's why we have those creepy post mortem photos from the Victorian era. That was the only remembrance of a child who died. I have been studying the pic, particularly my grandmother. There she is second from right, peeking out between her oldest and her youngest sister. Maybe on her tippy toes? I became hooked on the BBC show "Downton Abbey". The English countryside, the costumes...beautiful. It is a real insight into the lives of Western European women during the Victorian era. The era that Lydia was born into. There was really no other future for women but that of wife and mother. Not that Robert Albin didn't love all his children but, how valued was a female child in this society and in this time? Let alone one of seven daughters? Maybe Lydia is standing on her toes to be noticed. "Hey I'm back here, the short one with the choppy haircut and the buck teeth, look at me too, I'm here too." A ticket to America was a ticket to the unknown for sure but a ticket to something different or maybe a chance to be someone different.  

Just a thought,
-Ranae

                            

                                        **clicking on photos or documents will enlarge them for easier viewing*