M.002.03 Madison Square Garden, New York City (1925-68)
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| New Madison Square Garden, New York City |
Madison Square Garden (MSG III) was an indoor arena in New York City, the third bearing that name. Built in 1925 and closed in 1968, it was located on the west side of Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan. [Wikipedia]
To: Herr Gustaf Emanuelson, Storegården, Fristad, Sweden
From: Gerda (New York, Dec 6, 1930)
En god jul och gott nytt år!!! Hoppas ni alla mår bra. Kära hälsningar till Er alla. /syster Gerda
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope you are all well. Love to you all from sister Gerda.
On 6th December 1930, Gerda is posting Christmas greetings from New York. I'm feeling pretty certain that by now she is employed by Estelle and Folke Bernadotte, and will be spending her own Christmas this year at Hi-Esmaro, Estelle's parents' estate in Pleasantville, N.Y. The couple's first-born son, Gustaf, was born in Stockholm 30 January 1930, and now they'd probably want to introduce him to his grandparents. And while there, why not also let them meet their second grandchild right from start... According to the Wikipedia article about Estelle Bernadotte, their second son, Folke Jr, was born in Pleasantville on Feb 8, 1931. So I assume their stay in the US this time probably lasted several months.
Exactly when in the autumn of 1930 they left Sweden to travel to New York, I don't know. Which in this case means that I also don't know if Gerda was able to attend the wedding of my grandparents, Sally and Gustaf (T), which took place in Fristad, Sweden, on Sept 7, 1930.
In the spring of 1930, my grandfather bought a piece of land not very far from where both he and Sally grew up, and started building a house there.
This is one of my favourite old photos of my grandparents - proudly posing at the new well on the plot of land which was to become their home for the rest of their life together. (The house in the background is someone else's.) The well was built by Sally's brother-in-law-to-be, Olle - engaged to Sally's half-sister Hildur, and carpenter by trade. This I know because I have the bill for the job that he sent to my grandfather:
What the job would have cost today I dare not guess, but there has certainly been some serious inflation since 1930! (In today's money: 28 kr = $2,93 / £2,28 / €2,72. And that included both construction materials [9+12+1] and work [6]!)
The house they built (or had someone build for them) originally had two flats, one upstairs and one downstairs, each with one room + kitchen. Sally and Gustaf (and my dad, when he was born a year later) had the downstairs flat, and Hildur, Olle and Selma (mother of Hildur, Sally and Nils) the upstairs one. This sharing arrangement was only temporary, though (a few years?) - until Olle and Hildur built their own house (only around 100 m or so away).
This photo shows my grandparents' house under construction in the summer of 1930. I think my grandfather took the photo (as he's not in the picture). Standing: Olle, Sally, Selma, and Sally's younger brother Nils with his fiancée Carin. Sitting: Gustaf E (i.e. Gerda's brother to whom she wrote all the postcards; half-brother to Sally and Nils, and step-brother to Hildur), Hildur in the middle, and to the right, I think a brother of Carin's.
When my grandparents got married, Sally was 30 years old (and had lived her whole life so far on the family farm); and Gustaf (T) 26. He had grewn up in poorer circumstances in the same village, at a small tenant 'croft' (Sw: torp) rather than an independent farm. But by now he was working his way up as a journalist and photographer for a local newspaper. (I'll save "his story" for another time, though.)
Gustaf and Sally got married 7 September, 1930 (a Sunday)
Nils and Carin got married 30 November, 1930 (a Sunday)
(I don't have their wedding photo,
and can't recall ever having seen it.)
Olle and Hildur got married 30 December, 1930 (a Tuesday)
I suspect neither of these weddings was a very grand affair. There are no photos of wedding receptions in the albums. But as the professional wedding photos show, both Sally and Hildur wore white dresses and veils, and the grooms were elegantly dressed for the ceremony too.
I doubt anyone played a harp at these weddings.
There probably was a hymn or two
played on the church organ, though.
SVENSKA
Vykort (M.002.03): New Madison Square Garden, New York City (1925-68)
6 december 1930 skickar Gera detta kort som julhälsning till Gustaf från New York. Jag är ganska övertygad om att hon vid det här laget (troligen ända sedan hösten 1928) är anställd av Estelle och Folke Berndotte, och att hon det här året kommer att tillbringa julen på Hi-Esmaro, Estelles föräldrars egendom i Pleasantville, New York. Parets förstfödde son föddes in Stockholm 30 januari 1930, och nu tycker de antagligen att det är hög tid att presentera honom för morföräldrarn. Och varför inte också låta dem få möta nästa barnbarn redan från början... Enligt Wikipedia-artikeln om Estelle Bernadotte, så föddes deras andre son, Folke junior, i Pleasantville den 8 februari 1931. Så jag antar att deras vistelse i USA denna gång sträckte sig över flera månader.
Exakt när de lämnade Sverige hösten 1930 för att resa dit vet jag dock inte. Vilket i det här fallet också innebär att jag inte vet om Gerda hade möjlighet att närvara vid mina farföräldrars bröllop. Sally och Gustaf (T) gifte sig i Fristad i Sverige den 7 september 1930.
Våren 1930 köpte Gustaf en tomt i utkanten av Fristad (bara några km ifrån där både han och Sally växte upp) och började bygga ett hus där.
Foto: Bilden tagen vid brunnen på den ännu obebyggda tomten är en av mina favoriter i familje-albumen. (Huset i bakgrunden är inte deras.) Brunnen byggdes av Sallys blivande svåger, Olle – förlovad med hennes syster Hildur, och snickare till yrket. Detta vet jag för att jag har räkningen som Olle skickade till min farfar för arbetet. [bild]
Vad arbetet skulle ha kostat idag vågar jag inte gissa, men priserna har otvivelaktigt gått upp sedan 1930. 28 kronor då täckte både material och arbetskostnader! [bild]
Huset de byggde (eller lät bygga) hade ursprungligen två lägenheter, en på övervåningen och en på nedervåningen – vardera om ett rum och kök. Sally och Gustaf (och min far, när han föddes ett år senare) bodde på nedre botten, medan Hildur och Olle och Selma (Hildurs och Sallys mor) delade på övervåningen. Detta arrangemang var dock bara tillfälligt (några år?), tills Olle och Hildur byggt ett eget hus bara ca 100 meter längre bort.
Gruppfoto: Mina farföräldrars hus under uppförande sommaren 1930. Jag tror min farfar tog fotot (han inte är med på bilden). Stående: Olle, Sally, Selma, och Sallys yngre bror Nils med fästmö Carin. Sittande: Gustaf E (dvs Gerdas bror som hon skickade alla vykorten till; halvbror till Sally och Nils, och styvbror till Hildur), Hildur i mitten, och mannen till höger tror jag är bror till Carin.
När mina farföräldrar gifte sig var Sally 30 år gammal (och hade tills nu bott hela sitt liv på Storegården), och Gustaf (T) 26. Han växte upp i fattigare omständigheter i samma by, inte på en bondgård utan på ett litet torp. Vid det här laget hade han dock påbörjat en yrkesbana som journalist och fotograf på en lokal tidning (i Borås). (Det finns mycket mer att berätta om hans bakgrund, men det får jag spara till senare tillfälle.)
Bröllop 1 (foto): Gustaf and Sally, 7 September 1930 (en söndag)
Bröllop 2: Nils och Carin, 30 November 1930 (en söndag)
(Jag har inget bröllopsfoto på dem – och tror aldrig jag sett något.)
Bröllop 3 (foto): Olle and Hildur, 30 December 1930 (en tisdag)
Troligen hölls alla tre bröllopen i en begränsad krets av familj och vänner. Det finns inga foton i albumen som ser ut att vara från en större bröllopsfest. Men som de professionella bröllopsfotona visar så bar både Sally och Hildur vita bröllopsklänningar med slöja, och brudgummarna var också högstidsklädda.
Great to go from farmers to Madison Square Gardens, in reverse here. I love the shot of your grandparents and their well. It's also good to see the brides and grooms who were probably not dressing up that often, except for church. Beautiful family, all!
ReplyDeleteThanks Barbara. For myself, I'm finding it interesting just now to try and piece the family history together in chronological order. :)
DeleteA wonderful story to share. It seems 1930 was a big year for change in your family. Your grandparent's photo at their new well is a real treasure for sure, as it shows more real life than a formal wedding portrait. I laughed at the receipt because I have similar invoices saved by different generations in my family. Recently I found a promissory note for $10 hidden away between pages of an old book that dated to the 1870s. It made me wonder if it was ever paid since with interest it would be very valuable today.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike. As my grandfather was a keen photographer, there are more family photos from around this time onward. Alas, they were less good at putting together photos in chronological order with notes of who, where, when and why, though...
DeleteSome very handsome & lovely people in your family pictures! And I laughed at the receipt for the well. Even I have fun telling my kids & grandkids in the 1960s I could go to the store with a dollar and come home with a lb of hamburger, a loaf of bread, and a quart of milk & still have change left over. They are hard put to believe me. Even I have trouble believing it myself now-a-days, but it was true! Gas for my car was only 37 cents a gallon!!!
ReplyDeleteLaN, it struck me in connection with this post that I think I have some accountbooks kept by my grandfather as well, and that I might find some clues to dates and events in those.
DeleteA wonderful collection of family photos to go with the story.
ReplyDeleteThanks Katny. Yes there are some gems in among others that tell me nothing. One does learn a bit along the way, though, and I recognize more people now than I did when I first inherited the albums!
DeleteI love learning the family backstory after reading so many of Gerda's post cards. The wedding photos are lovely -- and three weddings all in 1930! Likewise the photo of your grandparents and the well -- it looks just like the one at the farm where I spent my early childhood in upstate New York. And of course the Madison Square Garden post card. Such a stately building compared to the Garden of today.
ReplyDeleteThanks Molly. It's a challenge when blogging about family history, how often (or not!) to summarize backstory, as on the one hand there are some readers who follow regularly, but on the other hand may also be some who only drop in occasionally, or for the first time...
ReplyDelete