In a recent post, G.052.01, a postcard that Gerda sent to her brother Gustaf in August 1911 proves that by then, they were both back in Sweden. It also seems that at the time, Gerda was travelling in southern Sweden in the company of her friend Frida, visiting family and friends. Since the name Frida is mentioned on cards that Gerda wrote from Chicago to Gustaf in Galeton (and Frida herself wrote him one too), I'm thinking that she was a friend to both of them from Sweden. Maybe they even emigrated and returned together? That's only a guess, though.
I have a few studio portraits of Gerda which are not glued into her album. In the two below, from Chicago (where she lived from autumn/winter 1902 until spring/summer 1911) she is photographed together with the same girl, on two different occasions. (Gerda is the taller of the two.) Both these portraits were taken by Hansen, 1691 N. Clark St., Chicago. Neither photo has any note of the year.
Because of Frida being mentioned on postcards as a friend that Gerda obviously spent some of her spare time with, I'm thinking that the girl in these studio portraits may be her. Anyway - she will be to me, until I find something to contradict it!
WHat lovely portraits of the two girls/young women. And I wonder if they were living on their own. I tend to doubt that, but wonder who they were staying with. My guess would be a relative. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteBarbara, Gerda worked as a maid in Chicago, and no doubt lived with her employers. With her last employment I know that for sure, as it shows in the 1910 US Population Census. I assume it was the same with her earlier employments. I have an album of Christmas/Easter cards she received during the years in Chicago, and that shows (roughly) when she changed addresses. I assume Frida probably worked as a maid as well, not for the same employers, but they were both in Chicago, and obviously kept in touch. There are sometimes comments on Gerda's postcards to Gustaf along the lines of "greetings from Frida, I spoke to her yesterday" etc.) Gerda's only relative in America was her brother Gustaf, and he lived in Galeton, Pennsylvania, working at a sawmill/lumberyard. I found him too in the census of 1910. He lived with a family who ran a kind of boarding house, with several sawmill workers registred as living with them.
DeleteReading about your family research often seems like reading a who-done-it mystery. In this case it's a good example of not only how immigration was not always a one-way trip, but it involved friends as well as relations. I can understand how people would feel compelled to search for a new life in another country, and how they would use the resources of those who had immigrated before them. But obviously not ever immigrant was successful or liked the new world, so it's not really surprising that people chose to return to their native land. I wonder what reasons did they have for going back? Was it the foreign culture or language? The lack of work or good money? Or just plain homesickness for what they left behind? The news is filled with disturbing stories of how today's immigrants attempt very difficult and dangerous journeys to more prosperous or safer countries. I suspect they are following the same reasoning and enduring the same challenges that our ancestors did in past centuries. Will they want to return home someday?
ReplyDeleteValid questions, Mike. I think what made Gustaf and Gerda emigrate in their early 20s (1902) was lack of job opportunities in Sweden then, and hope of better prospects and more freedom in America. But by 1911, it seems the American lumber industry was no longer flourishing in the same way, and at the same time, circumstances had changed back home in Sweden, and Gustaf's help would be welcome at the family farm there. As for Gerda, she may have felt less keen on staying on "alone" if her brother went back; she may also have wanted to meet family and friendss back home again after nine years away; or perhaps she just felt up for a change and new adventures. (Whether she planned it or not, her future would come to include a lot more travelling abroad, as lady's maid and travel companion to wealthy ladies.)
DeleteNice portraits of two lovely young women who sound like they may have been 'free spirits' of the times?
ReplyDeleteLaN, I agree :) I don't know much about Frida, but Gerda did come to live quite an adventurous life. She got to see quite a lot of the world as she continued to work in service for various wealthy employers as lady's maid / travel companion.
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