Sunday, June 27:
In the morning we drove down to a beach on Lake Vättern . The beach is within walking distance of Haga, and Margareta made good use of it as a child.
Beach on Lake Vättern
Road to Skogshemmet
Then we drove a few miles through a
beautiful nature
preserve and eventually arrived at Skogshemmet, the past home of other
Great Great Grandparents of mine, Sven Andersson and Maja Stina
Jonsdotter. My Great Grandfather August Svensson (Swanson) grew up
here. Skogshemmet (meaning House in the Woods), has not been
maintained like Haga has, and was not habitable. There were
signs someone was slowly trying to make it livable again. It’s standing
by itself at the end of a dirt road in the woods. Skogshemmet was a
"croft holding", a small farm worked by Sven as a tenant farmer.
Skogshemmet
Margareta & Pat
at Skogshemmet
August married Albertina in 1880 and they emigrated to America shortly after, without establishing a place of their own in Sweden. August’s older brother Johan also emigrated to America.
Several people told us that there were four million
people in Sweden in the late 1800’s, and one million of those four
million emigrated to America due to the hard times in Sweden. Many
people in Sweden have relatives in the United States, which gives them
a strong
connection with the US. Almost everyone in Sweden speaks English.
Many of their movies and songs come from the States.
From Skogshemmet, we went to the nearby Brandstorp Church, built in 1694-1698. This was another very beautiful old church, but Margareta told us that the Habo Church, yet to come, was the most impressive of them all. In the Brandstorp Church cemetery we found the grave of August Swanson’s sister Josefina and her husband C. G. Kloth.
Bobbie in Brandstorp Church
grave of Josefina,
sister of August Swanson
After lunch in Brandstorp we drove to
Habo. We saw
the house Norra Ekeryd in a city park in Habo. Norra Ekeryd had been
the home of my Great Great Great Great Grandparents Carl Werre and
Anna-Catharina Gabrielsdotter. Their daughter Anna-Britta Werre
grew up
in Norra Ekeryd and was the mother of Sven Magnus Blomqvist. Norra
Ekeryd had been moved to this city historical park in Habo,
Hembygdsgård, as a prime example of an early home in the region.
Norra Ekeryd
From here we went to the Habo Church, which was
indeed the most impressive of the churches we saw. It has been called
"The Wooden Cathedral" because of its architecture and artwork. It was
built in 1723, with an altar from the 1400’s and a baptismal font from
the 1200’s. A group from Stockholm wanted take the church apart and
move it to a Stockholm historical park / museum as a prime example of
rural Swedish churches of the time. The parish would not part with it,
however.
We then went to the Church of Gustaf
Adolph, where
Sven Magnus and Johanna are buried. They share a grave with Margareta’s
parents Erhard and Ingrid Blomqvist. Erhard was the grandson of Sven
Magnus and Johanna. The church dates from the 1100’s, but this church
was built after an earlier one burnt down in 1623, and the church was
moved to its present location in 1780. Inside it was plainer, without
the beautiful artwork of the other churches we had seen.
Church of Gustaf
Adolph Ch. of Gustaf Adolph grave
site Ch. of Gustaf Adolph headstone
We went back to Haga for a wonderful
dinner made by
Margareta and a walk in the woods later.