G.021.2 - Ladies With Bicycle, 1902

December 1902: Gustaf has moved to Port Allegany, PA, USA

To: Herr Gustaf Ekman

Address: Ben (?) K. Andersson, Port Allegany

Pennselvania Box 101, Nordtamerica
Sent from: Sörby, 17.12.1902

Arrived at: Port Allegany, PA, 29.12.1902

Grolanda

Käre broder!

Hoppas du mår godt. Jag väntar på bref.  Känner du igen någon här? Önskar dig en god och fridfull jul. Till nyår reser jag hem till Fristad. Kära hälsningar från din syster Ester.

Av Esters fråga att döma, gissar jag att en av kvinnorna på bilden kan vara hon själv.

Grolanda

Dear brother,

I hope you are well. I'm waiting for a letter. Do you recognize anyone here? I wish you a happy and peaceful Christmas. At New Year I'm going home to Fristad. Best wishes from your sister Ester.

From Ester's question, I assume that one of the ladies may be her. 

 Cropped and edited photo

Grolanda: Det har framgått av tidigare vykort i albumet att Ester bodde där 1902. (G.017.3)

Port Allegany: From the address on this and following postcards, I conclude that Gustaf emigrated to America in the autumn of 1902, and the first place where he settled for a while was Port Allegany, Pennsylvania. The first three cards he received there are addressed to hime care of a Ben K. Andersson, Box 101.  He soon got his own postbox, though (148). 

Originally known as Canoe Place, the town's name was changed to Port Allegany in 1838. - The town developed as a port on the Allegheny River and provided a place where travelers coming overland from the Susquehanna River could continue by boat. - This part of the state is rural and heavily forested. Before the arrival of the first European settlers, the area was densely forested with Eastern Hemlock*. Many of these sometimes massive trees were cut for lumber or sometimes only for their bark, which was used in tanning industry. /Wikipedia/ 

G.021.1 - Odensberg 1902

Parti af Odensberg
Foto. Kaleb Torin Mösseberg. Imp.

To: Herr Gust. Ekman, Storegd, Fristad
From: "Georg"
Postmark/date: 1902 

Götered d. 5 Sept. 02

Hjärtligt tack för vyn!
Många hälsningar
"Georg"

Hoppas du upplifvar gamla minnen fr. Obg [Odensberg].
- Åtminstone "Lucia-natten" var ju trefligt.
Skrif snart!

Odensberg = ort i Västergötland (nära Falköping),
där Gustaf tidvis bott hos brodern Oscar
Götene = ort i Västergötland, mellan Mariestad och Skara

In English

Many thanks for the view!
Best wishes,
Georg

I hope you revive old memories of Odensberg.
At least "Lucia Night" was nice!
Write soon!

Odensberg is where Gustaf's brother Oscar lived. From other cards in the collection, it seems that Gustaf was staying with Oscar (and his wife) periodically during 1901-02. At other times, he stayed at the farm Storegården in Fristad with his father and stepmother.

I don't know who the sender "Georg" is.

Lucia, St Lucy's day, is celebrated in Sweden on 13th December.
(Not sure if "Lucia night" refers to the evening of the 12th or the 13th.)

This is the last card from 1902 in the postcard album that is addressed to Gustaf at Storegården, Fristad. The cards following next are Christmas and New Year cards addressed to him in Port Allegany, Pennsylvania, North America.

Conclusion:
Gustaf emigrated to Pennsylvania in North America some time in the autumn of 1902.

G.020.3 - Merry Christmas

To:  Gustav Ekman, Storegården, Fristad
From: Gustav Nilsson
Postmark/date: ?
More likely to be December 1901 than 1902, as other Christmas cards from 1902 are addressed to Gustav at Port Allegany, Pennsylvania, North America. (Unless this is from a friend who did not know his new address, and the family at Storegården sent it on.)

En glad och treflig jul och godt nytt år.
Tillönskas af
Gustav Nilsson

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
Gustav Nilsson

G.020.2 Varnhems klosterkyrka c. 1901

Varnhem Abbey (Swedish: Varnhems kloster) in Varnhem, Västergötland, Sweden, was founded around 1150 by monks of the Cistercian Order. The stone church dates back even earlier (1040s at hte latest). [Wikipedia]

To: Herr Gustaf Ekman, Storeg., Fristad
From: M.B. 
Postmark/Date: [?]


Hälsningar jämte stort tack för v.k. no 2.
Resten emotses med "otålighet"! M.B.

Greetings and big thanks for [postcard] No 2.
Impatiently awaiting the rest! M.B.

G.020.1 - Happy Easter (1902)

Påskkort med dold överraskning

Easter Card with a hidden surprise

Turn down the flap on the card, and there is another picture, and a poem inside:

Like the lovely Easter lilies*
bursting into bloom
May you as well be blessed
with a glimpse of heavenly light

(Free translation by me, without attempting any rhymes.)

(Påsklilja = 'Easter lily' = the Swedish name for daffodil.)

To: Mr Gustaf Samuelsson*, Storegården, Fristad

Easter Greetings from: Emma (older sister)

Postmark: Floby 30.3 (1902?)

Avsändaren är Gustafs äldre syster Emma i Floby. Hon var gift med lanthandlaren Brynolf Wilander. Se inlägget Behind the Counter (mars 2013) som har ett foto från lanthandeln. Fotot är dock från lite längre fram i tiden och det är nog inte Emma bakom disken).

Efternamn 

Noterar att Emma har adresserat kortet till Gustaf Samuelsson. Jag minns inte om jag skrivit om efternamnen förut här på bloggen. Fadern hette ju Samuel Emanuelsson. Alla de övriga barnen tror jag ursprungligen hade efternamnet Emanuelsson. (Så var i alla fall  fallet med de två yngsta, från Samuels andra äktenskap: min farmor Sally och hennes lillebror Nils.) Men enligt vad jag hört berättas så råkade just Gustaf vid dopet bli inskriven i kyrkböckerna under efternamnet Samuelsson istället för Emanuelsson; något som sedan följde med honom upp genom åren. 

Efter deras mors död så tog de äldre ogifta syskonen (Ester, Oscar,  Gerda och Gustaf) i stället efternamnet Ekman. Inte minst för Gerda och Gustaf som båda emigrerade till Amerika underlättade det säkert också att ha ett kortare efternamn än Emanuelsson och Samuelsson.

About Swedish surnames

* Gustaf's surname was originally Samuelsson. His father's name was Samuel Emanuelsson. As far as I know, all the other siblings were called Emanuelsson, though. Back in the 1800s, there was a change of traditions concerning surnames - from a tradition of a child being given a surname based on his/her father's first name, to a tradition of the whole family having the same surname. I've been told that Gustaf's different surname was a mistake made when his name was officially registred into the books at his christening - the two surnames sounding rather similar.

As grown-ups, Gustaf and his siblings Ester, Oscar and Gerda all took the family surname Ekman. Not least for the emigrants Gerda and Gustaf, a shorter name must have been more convenient. Their brother Carl (who took over the farm after his father) kept the name Emanuelsson, though. My grandmother Sally and her brother Nils, children of Samuel's second wife Selma, also had the surname Emanuelsson.