Gustaf Fredrik was the firstborn of the 10 children- in Sötåsa Södergård– (the Southern farm). Nov 2, 1835. He moved away from the farm 1859 to Vireda – a close by parish- he was then 24 years old. He had a hearing impairment already in his youth.
From Olstorp, Vireda he left – 33 years old- for the US, as the first one, together with two of his sisters: Hedda Lovisa and Augusta Charlotta, 30/5 1868. This was a year after some very hard years of crop failure in Sweden due to draught, when many Swedes left. It is also the same year Christina and her family moves into Sötåsa Farm on a leasing contract of the farmland.
When he arrived to the US he changed his name to Eklund. It was very common that people changed their last name as they came to the US. His two sisters Hedda Lovisa and Augusta Charlotta settled in Moline, Illinois- part of the Quad cities which attracted many Swedes during this time, having growing industries.
He seems to have been a very handy man as his father. He worked in Hastings, Michigan and Minneapolis as a carpenter. He settled in Springvale, Isanti county Minnesota1868 ? (there is some discrepancy between the papers below about the sawmill and the orbituary of Gustaf) and started immediately constructing and build a dam over 2 years and also a saw mill. He did this together with, at first Christofer Johnson, and later Erik Ossel. It was called the Swedish Mill in the Local Newspaper. 1894 it was washed away and never rebuilt. Gustaf Fredrik worked at Mills Co. until 1902. After this he had his own farm. He and his wife stayed in Springfield all their lives. See text below :
He married Johanna Pettersdotter – Malcum. They applied for a marriage licence Dec 19, 1877. They were married May 10,1878 in Springvale by a Justice of the Peace E. Olson.(This would have been a judge). Witnesses- Olof Anderson and Anna Olson
Johanna (13/31845 – 6/1 1821) was 10 years younger than Gustaf and they were 44 and 34 years respectively when they married. Johanna also came from Sweden 1868 as Gustaf Fredrik did.
Only their first child survived:to grown-up age: Augusta born 1879 – in the picture. John August was born 1881 and became only 3 years as well as Carl Viktor born 1882. Hulda born 1883 died only one year old. These three children all died between Nov.1884 and Sept 1885.The picture of the mill is from this same year. We may only imagine what a loss for the parents to loose two 3-year-olds and one 1-year-old this year! Gustaf Fredriks younger sister Emma Sofia, who came to the US and settled in Minnesota suffered a similar horrible loss 1886 – the year after she arrived when 3 of her young children died in fevers. Gustaf Fredrik and Emma Sofia kept in touch for the rest of their lives and would visit each other.
Note that the 2 boys got their names from Gustaf Fredriks younger siblings Carl Viktor and Johan August.
Augusta became 35 years old and died as Gustaf Fredriks was 79 years old. She gave them 5 grandchildren: Beatrice, Jennie Wilhelmina, Uriel Gustaf, Joel Oliver and Clemens Walter.
In 1894 – 59 years old- he was the chairman of the church Wyanett Mission church. Gustaf Fredrik was a very devout man and was an active member in the Church. This also comes through in the letter below.
In 1900 he is still registered owning his own farmland without mortgage. He could read, write and speak English. Johanna is also registered reading and speaking English but not writing. They are surrounded by neighbors of Swedish origin who also came to the US in the second half of the 1800s. Most of them were farmers, a lumberman, a woman with the occupation ‘knitter’…
He kept in touch with his younger siblings: His 19 years younger (!) brother Carl Viktor came 10 years later to the same region and settled at a farm in Grandy, Isanti county – 12 miles away.
1910, as he is 75 years old he wrote a letter from Springvale, where he and Johanna now had lived for at least 30 years, to his 17 year younger sister Emma Sofia, who also lived in Minnesota. This is the year after his younger brother Johan August had died in Sweden.
Gustaf_F._Eklund’s_letter_1910-0307 to his sister Emma, with translation (Opens in Microsoft Word)
‘We have 4 cows, a horse and some young cattle and 50 hens. It is work enough in the winters. Such (a) harsh (winter) as we now have had and much snow. But now it is beginning to thaw out. So we have 1-1/2 acres of open land for corn and potatoes and a little bit of vegetables. In the summer it is much work with the haymaking. Then I have had (a) farmhand 2-3 weeks because we have a lot of hay to harvest and I have hired one farmhand every year. Augusta has been at home during this time and helped with the food preparation…’
He also tells how he almost lost all his hearing but that it doesn’t matter because one can use pencils to communicate. Also he says that it may have been good that he has had this hearing problem, because otherwise he might have ‘ended up in university which would have been ‘dangerous’. He expresses thankfulness to life and God
Gustaf never went back to Sweden.
Gustaf became 85 years old and survived Johanna by 1 month and 1 week 1921 and his daughter Augusta by 6 years. He is buried in Oak Knoll Cemetary, Mn. where his wife and all their childen are buried too.
| Death Date: | 14 Feb 1921 |
|---|---|
| Burial Place: | Wyanett, Isanti County, Minnesota, USA |