Bengt & Eivor
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AUGUST and Johanna (Annie)
On February 19, 1861 the first child was born and received the names August Wilhelm. Then the family lived in Jemnshög in Rolsmo, Linneryd parish.
August got married in the U.S. around 1894 to a girl from the neighboring parish Ljuder in Sweden, named Johanna, known as Annie Johansdotter, born January 24, 1866 in Vide, Ljuder parish. August died in Matlock in the United States in 1931 and Annie in the same place July 24, 1948.
On April 8, 1891 August got the permission and moved to North America.
According to David Johnson (grandson of August) August and Annie left together with the ship Ariosto from Gothenburg to Hull in England, April 17, 1891. After taking them self to Liverpool they went to New York. They are listed next to each other on the passenger list. In New York they came in through Castle Gardens (not Ellis Island, which took effect only 1 or 2 years later). According to David they then went together to Stillwater, Minnesota. Then August went alone to Tacoma in Washington, where he lived in a timber hut and worked as a lumberman. August and Annie were not yet married. Annie stayed in Stillwater. August and Annie settled later in Washington State in the Shelton area, near where August earlier had worked as a lumberman.
To the same area moved also Frank and Lydia Helin. August knew Frank Helin as the two came from the same village in Sweden, namely Heddamåla in Linneryd parish. Frank Helin had also moved to America and there married August's sister Lydia, who also moved to America (see below under the Heddamåla-child Lydia).
On the site where they settled there are evergreen trees, but the site is located a few miles south of the Olympic Mountains, which has snow during winter.
David Johnson wrote on December 18, 1993 as follows:
“In Skokomish Valley they had a team of horses and cut their own Christmas trees each year. If the ground was covered with snow, they had a sleigh pulled by horses instead of using the cart. Evergreen trees are common in the area, mixed with other types of trees that lose their leaves in winter. Sometimes there was snow on the ground on Christmas, but not always. (Sometimes it was bare ground and wet with cold rain). They used candles in the Christmas tree when the children were small. They opened their Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, December 24, in the evening. When the children were small, this was done while the two families, Lydia Helin's and August Johnson´s were together. They all sang carols together, and August led the two families in a reading from the Bible about the Gospel for Christmas Day before they opened the Christmas gifts. He emphasized the biblical meaning of Christmas.
When all the children were married and had their own families, each family celebrated Christmas with their children on Christmas Eve in their own homes. On Christmas Day they got together all the families around the Christmas table. This dinner was in Esther's home in Olympia for several years, because that was where Grandma Annie lived. This included usually Arvid, Arthur, Sigurd and their families, along with Esther and her family. Emily and her family were in Chicago and could not come. Esther had some Swedish dishes at her Christmas table on Christmas Day, such as Cream (a pudding). They talked about “lutfisk” stockfish, but did not have it.
On the property, which was August's estates, were some fruit trees and other types of trees that were there when the place was owned by August. The fruit trees are being suffocated by moss now. All the buildings he built has been replaced by new, built in recent years.”
Bengt Johansson wrote after a visit to Washington in October 2005 when he and his wife Eivor visited the descendants of August the following: When August came to Shelton, he got a piece of land, 1.6 * 1.6 miles (a Homestead), which was standard in Matlock. Here August at first built a simple house. The land was close to the farm of Frank and Lydia Helin. You did not own the land until you were able to prove that you could use it. In 1913 August sold that place and bought land in the Skokomish Valley (at the far end of the valley), where the soil was better for agriculture than in Matlock. Shortly after he sold the property in Matlock, the first building burned down.
Information from Wesley Johnson (grandson of August) in May 2006: After August's death in 1931 his son Arthur continued to operate the farm on a limited scale until he married in 1938. Then the farm was rented out and shortly thereafter burned also that house down at that farm. Around 1951 August's farm was sold.
Link: Photograph album for August and Annie.
August and Annie had the children:
* Arvid, born 1895 in Shelton, WA, USA, died in 1981
* Ellen, born 1898 in Shelton, WA, USA, died in the autumn 1925
* Esther, born 1900 in Shelton, WA, USA, died in1970
* Arthur, born 1903 in Shelton, WA, USA, died in 1991
* Sigurd, born September 2, 1905 in Shelton, WA, USA, died March 19, 2001
* Emily, born September 25, 1907 in Shelton, WA USA, died April 17, 2005
In the submenus Written letters and Scanned letters we have placed letters that we have translated from the original letters. That goes for both the parents and for each child.
The grandson to Sigurd, named David Johnson, has written i summery called:
Historical info about August Johnson and Lydia Helin
He has also put together a number of Photos:
Pictures from David Johnson
You can find those documents via the following links: