Portraits of Young Gustaf - Sepia Saturday 696

Among various photos in an envelope marked "Before 1930" I recently found this childhood portrait of my grandfather Gustaf T. It's one I can't recall ever having seen before - it's not included in his photo albums.

I doubt I would even have recognised this boy as my grandfather if the photo had not been found together with other later photos of him (probably sorted at some point by my father).

Gustaf was born in 1904, and I'm not sure which year this was taken, but this is probably  the earliest photo of him that exists. I don't know the year but I'm guessing ~ 1909. The outfit he's wearing does not look like anything I've ever seen! - but it vaguely reminds me of illustrations of Little Lord Fountleroy (book by Frances Hodgson Burnett from1886...) 

This is where Gustaf grew up though - more like "the little house on the prairie"!

Until I found the portrait at the top, this one was the earliest I had - found in one of my grandmother Sally's albums. A childhood portrait of Gustaf (born 1904) together with my grandmother's brother Nils (born 1902). I'm guessing it may be from Gustaf starting school (1911). - At first, I only recognised Nils in this photo, and had no idea who the other boy was. It was only later that it dawned on me that it must be Gustaf, and that he and Nils had been friends since early childhood.

 

They're also both in this Sunday School photo from 1912. Gustaf (8 years old) is 4th from the left. Nils (10 years old) is 5th from the right (front row).

And this is from the village football (soccer) team, a few years later. Nils is (unmistakably) the tall one in the background (captain/coach?), and Gustaf the one with the "attitude" standing in front of him... 

I remember that it was comparing it to another photo of the two of them as grown up young men that convinced me who was Gustaf in the football photo!

This is another photo from the envelope, which I can't recall having seen in any album. 

I also found two portraits from his military service in 1925:

This I suppose may be the one that he sent to my grandmother Sally in a letter that year. (Referred to in one of her letters to him.)

And this one is glued onto a hard cardboard frame with the embossed text "Memory from my military service".

Linking to Sepia Saturday 696 - Portraits

Family Portraits - Sepia Saturday 694

This portrait of  my great grandfather Samuel, born 1835, is the only one of him that exists. The sign he is holding says "Lord, increase our faith". Back in childhood I always wondered why, and I can't recall anyone ever explaining. (Possibly they did not know either.) He was a farmer and a merchant; not a clergyman. However (thanks to research done by one of my dad's cousins), much later I learned that Samuel was involved in the founding of a local free church in 1884. Then he was 49 years old, which seems to fit with this photo.

Back then, he was still married to his first wife, Anna Sophia. She died in 1894. (There is no photo of her.) Together they had 9 children, born between 1866-84. Two died in childhood, and another (at age 31) in 1899, before my own grandmother was born.

In 1898, Samuel got remarried to my great grandmother, Selma (born 1861);  she also a widow, with a young daughter. There is no wedding photo or other portrait of Samuel and Selma together either.

This photo of Selma is probably from her first marriage - or even earlier. Her first husband was younger than her; but died when their daughter Hildur was only two years old.

Together, Samuel and Selma got two more children: my grandmother Sally (born 1900) and her brother Nils (born 1902). Samuel died in 1907 (72 years old) and then Selma was a widow again, now with three young children. She did not get married again, but remained living on the farm with her step-son Carl (single), who had taken over the running of the farm already around 1903/4.  

In the census of 1910, two separate households are listed for the farm: Selma and her children (probably at the time living in a separate cottage) counted as one family; and Carl, his brother Gustaf (recently returned from eight years in America) and their sister Ester (housekeeping for them) as another. Later on, it seems that Carl, his stepmother and her children all lived together in the farmhouse, though. 

Selma (born 1861) and her sister Ida (born 1865). Not sure which year, but my guess is c. 1917. 

Ida and her husband Gustav  in 1908
(the year actually printed on the photo!)

 

My grandmother Sally (born 1900) and her half-sister Hildur (born 1892 in Selma's first marriage). Same studio background as in the photo of Selma and Ida. Could be from the same occasion.

Hildur, Selma and Sally, around the same time as well. (Compare Hildur's bow tie here to the one Ida is wearing in the first portrait.)

Another studio portrait of Sally and Hildur
 - a few years later, I think.

Sally's half sisters on her father's side, Ester (born 1876) and Gerda (born 1881). Must be from before Gerda emigrated to America - 1902 or earlier.

Ester, a bit later in life (year unknown)

▲Gerda with a friend, from Chicago (1902-1910)▼
LEFT: Gerda to the right - RIGHT: Gerda to the left

Gerda returned to Sweden in 1910/11, but soon went abroad again.

Gerda in Lyon, France, 1913 (or 15?)

Hildur, Gerda and Sally. My guess is that this was taken on Gerda's return from France in 1919 - after the end of WWII.

Gustaf, born 1878, also emigrated to America in 1902, and returned in 1910. The portrait above is from Port Allegany, probably 1903. The photo below is one I just recently found and realised that it must be Gustaf to the right. It's printed on American postcard paper (but not written on) so I'm guessing that it must be from his later years in America. I don't know who the other two men are.

Once back in Sweden, Gustaf did not go abroad again. He helped out on the family farm for a while; then moved away to work elsewhere in Sweden (also with farm work); then returned again to help out at the family farm - and took over when his older brother Carl died in 1928. But I think the farm was sold after Sally, Nils and Hildur all got married and moved away - to do with distribution of inheritance.

Carl, Selma, Hildur and Sally 

Hildur, Selma and Sally, probably summer 1930

Nils, Sally and Selma

("when big hats were the fashion")

Linking to Sepia Saturday 694 - Portraits

G.013.1 Flicka med stränginstrument

Woman with Cittern

Jag undrar lite över instrumentet – det ser ut att vara en mycket enkel form av stränginstrument/luta, utan klanglåda?

I don’t know the name of the instrument the girl in the photo is holding but it seems to be a very simple form of cittern. To me it seems like it has no soundbox.(?)

Postmark: VAP… 19…
To: Herr Gust. Ekman, Storeg, Fristad
From: E. Larson

Kommer Gustav ej hit i detta vakra väder som här är i Varberg nu, det är så vakert så det är som det vore långt fram på sommarn. Många hjärtliga helsningar från E(?) Larson, volontär. Skriv snart. Tack för brev o kort.

Enligt Militärhistorisk Ordlista från garnisonsmuseet.se:  Volontär: Militär personal som tjänstgör utan lön, men som kan uppbära visa förmåner.

Wikipedia: I och med indelningsverkets upphörande genom ett kungligt brev den 27 september 1901 fick Västgöta-Dals infanteriregemente 1902 lämna sina rotar och flytta till Halland, varvid namnet ändrades till Hallands regemente (I 16).

Jag vet inte vem Gustafs vän volontären E Larson var, men kanske kan ändringar i militärväsendet vid denna tid förklara varför han tjänstgjorde i Varberg och inte i Västergötland.

In English

Would you not like to come for a visit in the beautiful weather we’re having here at Varberg now, it feels like much further on in summer. Best wishes from E. Larson, volonteer. Write soon. Thanks for your letter and card.   

Between 1640 and the early 1900s an allotment system  was used in Sweden for keeping a trained army at all times. In 1901-02 this was replaced by a conscription system. In connection with this it seems some regiments were also moved around, which may perhaps explain why Gustaf’s friend was serving in Varberg instead of closer to home.

G.011-3 Sweet Smile (ca 1902)

2283/84

Kortet har inte varit frankerat så har antagligen skickats i kuvert. Jag tror det är det första kortet i samlingen som har “modern” baksida med plats för text utöver adressen. Jag gillar accentueringen av bara några detaljer i färg mot det svartvita.

Meddelandet är skrivet på vers:

Så söt hon är! är hon ej kär?
men var hon fins? jag nu ej mins;
du bäst det sjelv kanhenda vet?

In English

This anonymous card never had a stamp on it so was probably sent in an envelope. I think it is the first postcard in Gustaf’s collection designed for a message beside the address on the back. I like the accentuation of just a few details with colour in this portrait of an anonymous girl.

The message is rhymed home-made poetry written by someone with a rather poor sense of spelling (I think, even if rules of Swedish spelling have changed a bit since 1902). I’ve attempted a rhymed translation but gave up on trying to imitate the spelling mistakes as well!

Isn’t she sweet and a dear?
But is she anywhere near?
I can’t remember but maybe
you know that better than me.

Sepia Saturday: Sisters

I found the blog Sepia Saturday, “Using old images as prompt for new reflections” and thought I might perhaps join in their weekly meme from time to time.

The prompt this week was a portrait of two little girls. My contribution will be the portrait below, of  my grandmother Sally’s elder half-sisters Ester (born 1876, left) and Gerda (born 1881, right).

The portrait is not dated but as Gerda emigrated to the United States in 1902, it must be from before that.

The photographer was Hilda Kuylenstjerna. A bit of research on the internet informs me that she was born 1855 in Ulricehamn. Kuylenstjerna was her maiden surname and in 1890 she was still single. The portrait studio in Borås was established in 1886.

 

Some New Old News:

A few weeks ago I got a nice surprise as I received an email from a distant relative I did not know about before, who had happened to find this blog, and recognized the people in it! He’s the grandson of the eldest of my grandmother’s half-sisters; and he was able to provide a few more facts for me:

Ester was matron at an agricultural school.

Gerda, between her stay in the United States, and before she became housekeeper for Folke and Estelle Bernadotte in Stockholm, worked as travel-companion for various rich British ladies travelling on the continent and within the British Commonwealth.

Emma, as I already knew, was married to the owner of a country store. What I did not know was that he also opened a branch store in another village, and his wife’s brother Oscar became the shopkeeper there.

- - -

In Swedish / På svenska:

Porträttet av min farmors halvsystrar Ester (född 1876) och Gerda (född 1881) är odaterat, men måste vara taget innan Gerda for till Amerika, dvs senaste 1902, eller tidigare. Anteckningen på baksidan är min pappas. Min egen slutsats efter jämförelse med andra porträtt (bl.a. det signerade av Ester nedan) är att det är Ester t.v., Gerda t.h.

Fotograf var Hilda Kuylenstjerna, Borås. Det finns åtskilliga porträtt av denna kvinnliga fotograf på nätet men de flesta odaterade. En sida från Västergötlands museum säger att ateljén etablerades 1886. Från andra källor framgår att hennes fullständiga namn var Hilda Georgina Christina Kuylenstjerna, född 1855 in Ulricehamn. Hon var dotter till handlanden i Ulricehamn Anders Carl Adolf Kuylenstierna, född i Stockholm 1824. År 1890 var hon ensamstående.

A later portrait of Ester, by another photographer.

Detta är ett senare porträtt av Ester, taget av fotograf Oscar Rylander i Jönköping – Kungl Hoffotograf.

…

Ny information

För några veckor sedan fick jag ett intressant mail från en släkting som jag tidigare inte haft några uppgifter om, men som råkat hitta den här bloggen på nätet – en sonson till den äldsta systern, Emma. Han kunde fylla i några av mina luckor beträffande Gerda och Ester, och även brodern Oscar.

Ester arbetade som husmor på en lantbruksskola.

Vad gäller Gerda, så har jag ju varit osäker på vad hon sysslande med mellan sin första period i USA (ca 1902-1913) och fram tills hon började arbeta för Folke och Estelle Bernadotte. Jag visste från vykorten att hon reste en hel del även under första världskriget och 1920-talet, men inte vem hon då arbetade för. Jag har fortfarande inga namn på arbetsgivare; men tydligen arbetade hon som “sällskapsdam åt rika engelska ladies som reste runt i Samväldet o USA. Hon skötte kläder o packande, biljetter mm.” Mycket intressant att få veta, det förklarar vykorten från kontinenten även under krigsåren. Jag vet nu också att Gerdas ställning i det Bernadotteska hushållet tydligen var som husföreståndarinna i deras hem på Dragongården i Stockholm.

Deras äldre syster Emma var gift med Brynolf som var lanthandlare i Floby – det visste jag sedan tidigare. Det jag nu också fått veta är att Oscar kom att bli föreståndare för en filial till denna lanthandel i Odensberg (ca 1904).

Säkerligen kommer jag att återkomma till dessa uppgifter framöver i samband med fortsatt publicering av vykort och foton.