Augusta's Friends Archives - Page 4 of 8

4. Laetitia (Letty) Backman (Norman) and the Royal Theatre

The Royal Theatre (Gustavianska Operahuset)

The theatre was a magical place. It was a world like no other. Letty loved the times she was allowed to come with her father to the theatre. Later in life, when she reflected on her happy childhood, there was one memory that stood out. It would have been in 1839 because she remembered that she was almost 12 years old.

Her father, the director of the Royal Theatre, had just returned home from a visit to the Royal Palace. He was in a great mood and had asked if she wanted to see a final rehearsal at the theatre the following day. The opera, Robert of Normandy, was to open in two days.

The next day, she and her father arrived at the Royal Theatre and her father introduced her to the women performers. She remembered the opera singers, Mathilda Gelhaar, Jenny Lind, and Mina Fundin, the actress Charlotta Almlöf, and the ballerinas, Sophie Daguin and Adolfina Fägerstedt. They were so friendly and lively. They were not stodgy like the women who would come to visit her mother. And oh, were they beautiful! The only disappointment, and surprise, was that they did not wear their costumes at the dress rehearsal. She had so much looked forward to seeing the women’s dresses.

Letty got to choose where to sit, and she picked the first row on one of the balconies. She could see her father walk around on stage in his slippers, talking to the actors. Then the curtains closed and in the dim light from the oil lamps in the large chandelier, she waited. She could see the orchestra getting ready and the conductor looking out over the musicians and their shiny instruments. Robert of Normandy was an opera in five acts by composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. He had named the opera, Robert le Diable, but in Stockholm, they had given it a different name.

As the conductor raised his baton, the music started and the main curtain was raised. The illuminated stage revealed a beautifully painted backdrop. And on stage was a group of men. One of them was supposed to be Robert, but it wasn’t obvious who it was as they were still in their regular clothes. She remembered the chills when they started singing. Oh, could they sing! Letty forgot her disappointment that they were not in costume because it didn’t matter. She was mesmerized. If she only had the talent, she would love to work at the theatre when she grew up.

Watching Robert of Normandy became one of her most cherished childhood memories. Maybe because it was the first opera she saw at the theatre, and maybe it was because she felt like she had been part of the theatre family.

Many years later, when she saw Jenny Lind, who had become an international sensation, she remembered Lind’s performance as Alice in Robert of Normandy. It had been one of Jenny Lind’s first major performances.

Laetitia (Letty) Charlotta Juliania Backman

Letty Backman was listed as number 4 of the girls who got confirmed in St Jacob’s church. That should have been no surprise as her father was a colonel, an adjutant to King Carl XIV Johan, and the Director of the Royal Theatre (the opera house in Stockholm).

Letty was born on 11 July 1827 to Alexis Backman (1794-1871) and Lovisa Christina Strömbäck (1797-1873). She had a 2-year younger brother, named Alexis after his father. In 1844, when Letty was attending confirmation classes, the family lived at Mäster Samuels Gränd No. 48. That was two houses away from where Augusta’s friend Lotten lived. Letty’s father’s last year as director of the theatre was in 1844. The same year, Alexis Backman became the Postal Inspector in the town of Gävle, and the family left Stockholm.

Two years later, on October 12, 1846, Letty married Carl Magnus Norman in Gävle. Carl Magnus was born in Falun but was a wholesale merchant in Gävle. Carl Magnus and his older brother August were both in the business of trade, but Carl Magnus seemed to have embraced more risky businesses. He was even described as a swindler. In 1849, he was forced to declare bankruptcy and many, included his brother who had lent him large amounts for his lofty businesses, were affected by the bankruptcy.

In 1857, Letty, Carl Magnus, and their one-year-old daughter Lilia (Lilli) moved to Stockholm. They were doing well and got an apartment at a prestigious address – the corner of Drottninggatan and Karduansmakaregränd, just a few blocks from the Royal Theatre. I can imagine Letty’s excitement about that move! She was back home, and she was still young, only 30 years old.

She would raise her children here, and someday, when they were old enough, she could take them to the theatre.

Little Lilia Blenda was born in 1856. Then came Carl Justus, born in 1859, followed by Alexis in 1867, and Anna Laeticia in 1869. By that time, they had moved to Nya Kungsholmsbrogatan 23, which was just kitty-corner to their old home.

In 1884, Carl Magnus died at the age of 68. He had been ill for some time and the cause of death was recorded as an organic heart defect. Letty died 9 years later, in 1893, and at the age of 65.

Augusta’s acquaintance, Erik Edholm, Theatre Director Alexis Backman, and Sophie Daguin. Drawing by Fritz von Dardel

Letty’s father, Alexis Backman, Postal Inspector in Gävle

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Sources:

Plays performed at the Royal Theatre during 1839-1840:

https://sv.wikisource.org/wiki/Svenska_teatern/Spel%C3%A5ret_1839-1840

About the actresses at the Royal Theatre:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathilda_Gelhaar

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmina_Fundin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfina_F%C3%A4gerstedt

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotta_Alml%C3%B6f

About Robert le Diable:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_le_diable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGOJ7QexcOA

An interesting and entertaining piece about the Royal Theatre (in Swedish):

https://tidningar.kb.se/2811213/1893-02-05/edition/147683/part/1/page/5/?q=diavolo&from=1893-01-01&to=1893-12-31&newspaper=STOCKHOLMS%20DAGBLAD

About theatre contracts and women’s theatrical costumes (in Swedish):

In the 1830s, women actresses were supposed to provide their own costumes for contemporary plays. Wearing the latest fashion was therefore important but costly for the underpaid actresses. Some actresses, like Sophie Daguin and Emilie Högqvist, became mistress to wealthy men, which helped with their expenses. The following thesis (in Swedish) deals with the topics of theatre contracts and the history of theatrical costume in Sweden:

https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1056001/FULLTEXT01.pdf

A memoir by a Swedish actress (in Swedish):

Henriette Wideberg: En skådespelerskas minnen.

http://runeberg.org/whminnen/

About Carl Magnus Norman and his businesses (in Swedish):

https://www.gavledraget.com/22000-gavleprofiler/22401-i-p-profiler/22410-ingvar-henricson/folk-och-rovare-i-gavle-ingvar-henricson/

Additional Sources (contemporary diaries):

Letty was a good friend of Marie-Louise Forsell, who kept a detailed diary which was published posthumously. Letty is often at Marie-Louise’s house and in the company of some of the other girls in the confirmation class.

Heijkenskjöld, Syster, ed. 1915. Sällskapslif och hemlif i Stockholm på 1840-talet: ur Marie-Louise Forsells dagboksanteckningar. Stockholm: Bonnier. (Translation of title: Social Life and Home Life in Stockholm in the 1840s: From Marie-Louise Forsell’s Diary Notes).

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Lotten Ulrich, who lived at the Royal Palace, describes in her diary how Alexis Backman invited her and her family to attend the rehearsal of Robert of Normandy. Much of what I imagine Letty would have experienced, if she indeed had been invited, is from Lotten Ulrich’s diary. Lotten and her family were also invited to see the premiere of the opera two days later.

In addition, Lotten describes how Alexis Backman lent them props for their own theatre productions at the palace. He seems to have been a very jovial person.

Östman, Margareta. 2015. Systrarna Ulrichs dagböcker – från Stockholms slott, Djurgården och landsorten 1830-1855. Stockholm: Carlssons. (Translation of title: The Ulrich Sisters’ Diaries – from Stockholm’s Palace, Djurgården, and the Countryside 1830-1855).

20. Virginia Sophie Augusta Carlsson (Daguin) – Parents Unknown?

Was Virginia nervous on that Sunday when Pastor Petterson opened the doors to the new class of 92 girls who would be studying with him? Did she arrive alone, or did she walk in with some friends? Was her secret known by the other girls who were gathering? She must have assumed that Pastor Petterson knew. But were there rumors? And if they knew, would she be treated like a celebrity, or would she be shunned?

When I decided to get to know the girls in Augusta’s confirmation class of 1844, I thought I should limit it to the top 20 girls based on Pastor Petterson’s perception of their social status. He had ranked the girls based on their family names and their fathers’ professions. But girl number 20 did not belong to the aristocracy or any of the well-known merchant families in Stockholm. She had a most common name, Carlsson, and her father was not listed. Why was she listed as number 20 out of the 92 girls?

Who was Virginia Sofia Augusta Carlsson?

I started with the church records of baptism in Klara parish in Stockholm, the parish the pastor had written above her name. I knew that Virginia Sofia Augusta Carlsson was born on March 9, 1827, so I looked for the baptisms in 1827. The records of baptisms were separated into two series of books – one for legitimate and one for illegitimate children. That is, one for children whose parents were married and one for children born out of wedlock. Virginia did not appear in the book for legitimate children but I found her in the book for illegitimate children. She was baptized the day after her birth, and her parents were listed as “not reported” (Swedish: oangivna). The age of the mother, however, was recorded as 25.

I then looked for her in the census records and found her in the census for 1870, when she was 43 years old. She was living with a former teacher at the Royal Theatre, Sophie Daguin.

Sophie Daguin! Reading about her was like finding the key to why Virginia Carlsson was listed among the top 20 girls in the confirmation class. And it blew wide open the case of Virginia’s missing parents.

Who was Sophie Daguin?

I will skip all the twists and turns in church records, census records, and newspapers, and get straight to the story of Sophie.

Sophie Marguérite Daguin was born in Paris in 1801. At the age of 8, she was getting ballet lessons. A few years later, she was accepted as a student at the Grand Opera in Paris.

Ballet at the Paris Opera. Edgar Degas, 1877.

In 1815, at the age of 14, she signed a contract with the Royal Theatre in Stockholm and traveled to Stockholm in the company of two young male dancers. She became a celebrated ballerina. She also choreographed ballets and became the Ballet Master at the theatre. When she retired from dancing in 1843, she continued to teach ballet and became the principal of the theatre’s ballet school.

Augusta’s acquaintance, Erik Edholm, Theatre Director Backman, and Sophie Daguin. Drawing by Fritz von Dardel

The social life and challenges of women performers

A performer – a ballerina or an actress – in the 1800s was disrespected in Society. Women were brought up to become wives and mothers. And they were defenseless against the men they worked for, or with, and their powerful and wealthy friends. One of those powerful men was the Crown Prince, Oscar, who later became King Oscar I.

One of Sophie’s close friends was a younger, equally celebrated, actress at the Royal Theatre, Emilie Högquist. She had three illegitimate children, the last two fathered by Crown Prince Oscar.

So it was no surprise to find that Sophie had five illegitimate children. There were rumors that Crown Prince Oscar had fathered the third child. These rumors were never substantiated, but it is of course possible as the child was born years before his affair with Emilie Högquist.

All of Sophie’s children were given the last name of Carlsson:

Edvard Isidor Joseph, b. 1823
Virginia Sophia Augusta, b. 1827
Julie Adelaide Carlsson b. 1831
Hildur Carolina, b. 1838
Carl Arthur, b. 1841

In 1832 Sophie was granted the right to be legally independent, that is, not to have a male guardian. She never married and never acknowledged in the census records that the persons living in her household with the last name Carlsson were her children. Having a child out of wedlock was a crime and the pastors who had baptized her children had been nice enough to omit both parents’ names. But, of course, the pastors and her friends would have known that those were her children. However, in 1851, there is an annotation in the margin of one of the church records that the children’s mother was Sophie Daguin.

Back to Virginia Carlsson

There is no information about Virginia’s childhood. Who raised her and her siblings? Her mother, maids, foster parents? In the census records for 1835, none of the children were listed as living with their mother. In 1845, three of the children, but not Virginia or Carl Arthur, were living with their mother. But Virginia was at least living in Stockholm in 1844 as she attended the confirmation class.

Virginia never married but supported herself as a foreign language teacher. I assume that she taught French as her mother was French. She died in 1899 at the age of 71 from chronic heart disease.

So why was she among the top 20 girls, according to Pastor Petterson? Did he know who her father was? Or was it because her mother was a celebrity? Or were there some royal connections?

We will never know.

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Sources:

https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/artikel/15768

Bernhardsson, P. I privat och offentligt. Undervisningen i moderna språk i Stockholm 1800–1880. Studier i utbildnings- och kultursociologi 9.256 pp. Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. ISBN 978-91-554-9666-1 (2016)

Nordin Hennek, I. Mod och försakelser. Livs- och yrkesbetingelser för Konglig Theaterns skådespelerskor 1813-1863. Gidlunds. Södertälje (1997)

Featured Image: Ballet Rehearsal, Edgar Degas, 1873.

18. Emma Olivia Wilhelmina Wiiger and an Unwanted Husband

Pastor Josef Nordlund looked across his desk at Emma Wiiger, the young mother who had come to see him. Emma was visibly upset and his role was to dissuade her from taking action against her husband. Why would a young woman like her, with three young children, even think about leaving her husband? Divorce! He had to convince her to, instead, be a better wife and mother.

“Listen,” he told Emma, “I would like to read something to you to make you understand that it is you, and only you, who can make your marriage work.”

Emma was quiet. She knew what was coming.

Pastor Nordlund picked up the bible on his desk and quickly found Peter 1:3.

“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives.

“What Peter teaches us,” he continued, “is that it is women’s calling to step back and avoid confrontations. God’s word and nature direct you to different means of victory. You will win by quietly rectify what has gone wrong, to faithfully guard against your own temperament, to interpret your husband’s actions in a positive light.” He quickly added, “Of course, if this is difficult to do, then forgive rather than condemn.”

Emma was still quiet. Nothing that Pastor Nordlund was saying would make her change her mind. What did he know about her and her husband’s relationship? Nothing!

Pastor Nordlund was not quite done. He also wanted to give her hope.

“It is God’s will that you should be submissive. Put your quiet hope to God. Will you promise me that?”

…..

Emma was walking home from her visit with Pastor Nordlund. He was a very nice and well-meaning pastor but probably didn’t know that all marriages were not as happy as his. And she knew that her decision would bring hardship. But she also knew she had to go through with the divorce. It would be best for everyone, including the children. And they were still so young, they would do fine.

Maria Magdalena church, where Pastor Nordlund had his office, was only a short walk from her home at Lilla Bastugatan 6. When she first met her husband, she was very impressed with his apartment and during the first years of their marriage, she thought about how fortunate she was to be living there.

Now, it was with heavy steps that she walked home. She had to tell her husband that she had visited Pastor Nordlund about getting a divorce. She had set her plan in motion.

Emma Olivia Wilhelmina Wiiger

For each girl who got confirmed in St Jacob Parish in May of 1844, there is an entry: her name, birth date, parish (if she lived in another parish than St Jacob), and the title of her father. The order that the pastor listed the girls was based on the girl’s father’s status in society. Emma was ranked as number 18. She belonged to Hedvig Eleonora Parish and her father was a “Prot. Secreterare”.

Who was Emma and what happened to her?

How do you search?

Census Records

I start with the digitized census records for 1835 and find the following. Emma Olivia Wilhelmina Wiiger was born in Stockholm on April 8, 1828. Her father, Ole Peder Wiiger (b. 1792) was Norwegian but worked in Stockholm as the Royal Secretary for Norwegian affairs. Her mother was Maria Fredrica Wilhelmina Nybohm (b. 1803).

Her father died (in 1837 or 1838) when Emma was around 10 years old and her mother remarried a Danish bookkeeper named Johan Albrecht Fredrik Wullff (b. 1809).

Digitized Newspapers

The next step is to search in digitized newspapers. Here I find a wedding announcement. On December 29, 1846, Emil Adolf Theodor Kihlberg married Emma Olivia Wilhelmina Wiiger.

Google

So who was Theodor Kihlberg? He is easy to find because he became a postmaster and his bio was included in a book about Swedish postmasters. The interesting thing was that he took over the position from our great-great-grandmother Augusta’s daughter’s father-in-law, Johan Samuel Svinhufvud.

The bio stated that he married Emma Olivia Wiiger and, in 1856, married Emelie Maria Svenson in Gothenburg. It also stated that he had 1 child with Emma, Robert Theodor (b. 1848), and 7 children in his second marriage. To be sure, I check the church records, and there it is: the widower Emil Adolf Theodor Kihlberg had married Emelie Maria Svenson on May 2, 1856.

Church Records (Death Record)

So Emma had died? Between the birth of her son in 1848 and her husband’s marriage in 1856? There is no obituary in the papers and no record of an estate inventory (these are sometimes digitized). How could I find out when she died? I decide to spend a couple of hours reading all the death records for the parish I assume she had lived in (Maria Magdalena) for the years 1848-1856. That’s is tedious work! Visually scanning all the handwritten entries for a name.

When I get to the fall of 1853, I realize that there were several members of each family who had died. The column for the cause of death is shocking – at the top of the page is written “cholera” and then an abbreviation for “ditto” for the rest of the entries on the page. And this continues page after page. It was the cholera epidemic of 1853!

But Emma didn’t die of cholera and didn’t die at all during these years, at least not in this parish.

I just don’t want to give up. How else could I find what happened to her? If I knew her exact address, I could then go into the parish’s house examination records. This is where the pastor, after making a yearly visit to each and all his parishioners, would write down how well they could read and understand the bible as well as other notes about them (and if they had had or been vaccinated against smallpox).

Church Records (Household Examination Records)

To find her address, I need to have the census records for these years, but there are only digitized census records for 1835 when she was a child and 1845, the year before she got married.

What if she actually moved in with her husband when she got married? I decide to look at his census record for 1845. He lived in south Stockholm, close to Slussen, in a block called Lappskon Större #6. Now I can look up the address in the Maria Magdalena Parish’s House Examination Records for 1845.

And there he is!

I then check each additional year. I find Emma moving in. Then on February 6, 1848, they have a son, Robert Theodor. That matches the information I had found in the book about Swedish postmasters. But then there are more children. On April 1, 1849, they have a daughter, Alfhild Emma. And on September 22, 1851, another daughter, Hilda Louisa.

Then comes the bombshell! Emma didn’t die. Theodor was not a widower when he remarried. Emma and Theodor had divorced!

Divorce in the 1800s

Divorce was uncommon in the mid-1800s. The most common reasons in the early 1800s were infidelity and abandonment. Abandonment was characterized by one of the spouses leaving Sweden with the aim of not returning. In 1810, the law had changed to include as a reason for divorce “wastefulness, drunkenness, and a violent temper, and when such a strife in the mood and mindset of both spouses, which manifested itself in perpetual outbursts, finally turned into disgust and hatred.”

The First Argument. Oil Painting by Paul Seignac (1826-1904)

Divorce proceedings started with the couple meeting with the pastor in their parish. The pastor and the church council were to counsel the couple and convince them to not go through with the divorce. If this failed, the case would be heard in court. Once the divorce was approved, the couple would apply for proof of divorce, a so-called divorce deed.

Emma and Theodor’s Divorce

The details of Emma’s and Theodor’s divorce was noted in the parish household examination records under the columns of marriage and permits. It is hard to decipher the handwritten notes. In the column of marriage, it seems like the divorce was granted on the 4^th of May, 1852. There is also an earlier date listed as 14^th or 18^th of April, 1852.

Under the column of permits etc., the text is as follows:

For disagreement reported at the wife’s request and after previous fruitless warnings at the Stockholm City Consistory, 14 March 1851.

And there is one more column. There, the pastor has written:

The divorced wife to Storkyrkan 15 April 1853.

So Emma moved out a year after their divorce, on 15 April 1853, and would now live in the parish of Storkyrkoförsamlingen. Now I go to this parish and look at the record of new parishioners in 1853. And there she is. The church kept great records of the citizens of Sweden. Emma is listed with the comment “divorced wife”. This “title” will follow her for the rest of her life. Her sister also moves into this parish. Their mother, stepfather, and their siblings already lived in this parish and it is possible that Emma and her sister moved in with them.

One more person moved with Emma: her 1 ½-year-old daughter, Hilda.

Did Theodor get custody of the other two children, Robert and Alfhild? In the census records for 1855, they are listed as living with him. Six-year-old Alfhild dies on August 5, 1855. And soon after, Theodor moves to Gothenburg. Did he take Robert with him? Eight months later, he has remarried and in Gothenburg’s church records, he is listed as a widower. Is that what he reported or did the pastor decide that it sounded better than a divorced husband?

Emma, her Children, and her Mother

So what happened to Emma? She moved to Tavastgatan 11, a few blocks from where she had lived with her husband. She did not remarry. On June 4, 1863, she died from pneumonia at an age of 35.

Her son Robert did well. He studied theology at the university in Uppsala and became a pastor in Söderhamn. He married and had two children, Leif Teodor Kihlberg, Ph.D., and Liv Karin Maria Duplessis-Kergomard.

Hilda married Carl Otterström. They had one daughter, Emma Gustafva Otterström, born on January 27, 1879. Hilda died 24 days later, at an age of 28. The daughter, Emma Gustafva, married Anders Theodor Chrysander. She contracted typhoid while pregnant and both she and her prematurely born daughter Ingrid died on January 29, 1899. She was 20 years old.

And Emma’s mother, Wilhelmina, survived two husbands and some of her children and grandchildren. She was born in 1803 and died in 1890.

This genre painting is about going home or staying. It could depict Emma and her children after the divorce. The young mother in the green bonnet is moving out and taking the youngest daughter with her while the older daughter is staying. The maid is helping the little girl with her cape.

Home Thoughts. Oil painting by Emily Mary Osborn (1828-1925)

8. Christina Mathilda Georgina af Trolle (Lindqvist) and an Unplanned Pregnancy

It was early fall when Christina Mathilda Georgina af Trolle suspected that she was pregnant. She was 19 years old and unmarried. What would she do? To have a child out of wedlock was in 1848 actually a crime, although few mothers were prosecuted. But worse was the shame.

She had three choices. She could tell the baby’s father, bookkeeper Lars Johan Lindqvist, and if he agreed, they could get married as soon as possible. Or she could leave Stockholm and give birth somewhere else and give up the child. Both options meant that she had to tell her parents, and she didn’t know how she would be able to face them. Her father was an army officer and her family belonged to the aristocracy. That was the reason that Pastor Petterson had ranked her has girl number 8 of the 92 girls who got confirmed in St Jacob’s church in May of 1844. Having a child out of wedlock would definitely be a family scandal.

Or she could have an abortion. Then she wouldn’t have to tell anyone and nobody would ever know. But having an abortion scared her. It could go wrong, and she could die. And, abortions were illegal and punishable by death. But how would anyone find out? On the other hand, giving birth was also dangerous.

In the end, she decided to face her parents and Lars Johan. Getting married was her best option.

…

But maybe that was not the story at all. Maybe she was in love and excited about being pregnant. Without diaries or letters, one can only speculate. The outcome was in any way the same. Georgina would get married and have her baby.

My watercolor of a mother and child (inspired by a sculpture by Bessie Potter Vonnoh, called *The Young Mother*, 1896)

Christina Mathilda Georgina af Trolle

Christina Mathilda Georgina was born in Stockholm on January 21, 1829. Her father was Carl Georg af Trolle, born in 1791, and a captain in Svea Artillery Regiment. He retired the year before Georgina was born. Her mother was Eva Christina Magdelo, born in 1810. Georgina had 9 siblings, but 4 died at an early age. In 1844, when Georgina was confirmed, the family consisted of 2 older half-brothers, a 9-year-old brother, and 2 sisters, 5 and 1 years old. In 1846, her father bought Lännersta, a farm in Boo parish on an island east of Stockholm. The family moved from the city out to the country.

So how did Georgina’s life turn out? Sometimes, the easiest way is to start from the end. That is, to search for an obituary in the digitized newspapers. The obituary would list the grieving family members and where the family lived. With this information, the next step would be to dive into the church records.

The church records would include wedding dates and birth dates of children. In Georgina’s case, her first child was born 5 months after her wedding. So what happened and who did she marry?

Lars Johan Lindqvist – the husband

Lars Johan Lindqvist was born on January 9, 1816, in Fägre parish close to Göta Canal and Lake Viken. His father was a bricklayer. On June 1, 1837, at the age of 22, he married the 26-year-old Margareta Björkqvist in Nyköping. He now had the title of materials manager (Swedish: materialsförvaltare). On June 4, 1839, they had a son, Ernst Johan Lindqvist. And in 1846, Margareta died and Lars Johan and his son moved to Gustavsberg, a small community in Värmdö parish outside Stockholm.

In 1825, the owners of Gustavsberg had started a porcelain factory which is still in operation. Lars Johan now had the title of bookkeeper at Gustavsberg. In the church records, he was listed as a widower and living with his 7-year old son.

Gustavsberg 1846. Lithography by J. F. Meyer

Georgina and Lars Johan

How did Georgina, belonging to the upper class – affluent and aristocratic – meet Lars Johan, the son of a bricklayer? He was also a widower with a young son and was 13 years older than Georgina.

Georgina and Lars Johan both lived in the countryside east of Stockholm, in neighboring parishes but by no means close to each other. Without any saved diaries or letters, we would never know how they met or the circumstances that lead to them getting married, except for the fact that Georgina had gotten pregnant.

All we know is that on November 19, 1848, they married in Boo church. And 5 months later, on April 20, 1849, Agnes Johanna Georgina Lindqvist was born. Two years later, on May 7, 1851, their second daughter, Lovisa Anna Maria, was born in Värmdö parish.

In 1852, the small family moved to Örebro where Lars Johan had been hired as an accountant (Swedish: kamrer) for the newly formed Royal Swedish Company for the Railroad Örebro-Hult. The Örebro-Hult Railroad was to be Sweden’s first railroad where trains were pulled by locomotives.

Timetable for the Köping-Hult Railroad in 1857

The family grew. Georgina gave birth to Jenny Mathilda Augusta on March 26, 1853, and Emma Christina Laurentia in 1854. Little Emma died in May of 1856 at 1 year of age.

Two years later, in May of 1858, Georgina’s obituary appeared in the paper. It stated that she had died at an age of 29 after a long, consuming illness. Although the church records did not state the cause of death, one can assume that she died from tuberculosis like so many other young women. The obituary also listed the family members as her husband, 3 daughters, a stepson, parents, and siblings.

What happened to children?

All three daughters stayed in Örebro and married.

Agnes Johanna Georgina married her 14-year-older neighbor, Oscar Alfort in 1872. They had no children. Agnes died in 1919.

Lovisa Anna Maria (Louise) married the postmaster Fredrik Oskar Klemens Lindh in 1882. He had a daughter, Helfrid, born in 1879.

Jenny Mathilda Augusta married Johan Otto Mauritz Serrander in 1874. They had 8 children. Jenny died in 1940. At the link above, and then scrolling to the top, there is a large family photo of Jenny and Johan getting married. They are the couple sitting in the middle of the photograph.

The featured image is The Young Mother by Charles West Cope (1811-1890) painted in 1846.

15. Johanna Maria Wennberg (Sievers) visits Skeppsbron 30

It is a beautiful fall day and I am walking along Skeppsbron, a street with stately old houses that line the waterfront of the Old Town in Stockholm. For hundreds of years, these houses have belonged to rich merchants and traders.

The Old Town of Stockholm with the row of houses along Skeppsbron (Watercolor by Carl Fredrik August Cantzler, 1843)

Skeppsbron should really be seen from the waters, but this day, I was wondering what the view would have been from one of these houses in 1845. And particularly one, Skeppsbron No. 30.

I also wanted to step into the world of 18-year-old Johanna Wennberg as she was walking along Skeppsbron. I know how it feels to walk in a Victorian dress with layers of starched petticoats that rustle when you walk, and with a fashionable shawl to protect you from the wind. The bonnet would protect your hair and signal your class in society. So it is easy to imagine Johanna as she would be walking to visit her husband at his office in the impressive house at Skeppsbron 30!

The Customs House at Skeppsbron 38 (Ferdinand Tollin, 1841). Skeppsbron 30 would be a few houses to the right.

The house at Skeppsholmen 30 is still standing, although the façade and the roof of this house have changed since 1845. So with the more modern look, you have to try harder to imagine that this was where a young German wholesale merchant, Ferdinand Sievers, was building wealth for his growing family.

What would he have seen when he looked out the windows? The bay would be full of sailing ships with cargo to be unloaded. And some of that cargo would be his!

The view from Skeppsbron (Johan Fredrik Julin, 1840-1849)

Johanna Maria Wennberg

Johanna Maria Wennberg was listed as number 15 of the girls who got confirmed in St Jacob’s church in May of 1844. Johanna was born on January 2, 1827. She was the first child of Johan Anders Wennberg and Maria Elisabeth Sjölander.

Johanna’s father was a wholesale merchant but came from a long line of bakers. Johanna’s grandfather, Anders Wennberg, was a master baker and owned the house at the corner of Regeringsgatan and Jakobsbergsgatan in Stockholm. The house was next to the home of the Preumayr family whose daughter, Sophia Augusta, I wrote about in a previous blog post. When Anders Wennberg died in 1827, his four sons and their stepmother inherited the house. One of the sons carried on with the family bakery, one became a brewer, and two became wholesale merchants.

In the mid-1800s, many wholesale merchants lived in the southern part of Stockholm, Södermalm. It was close enough to the Old Town and the famous Skeppsbron with its trading houses. Johanna’s family was no exception. She grew up with lots of brothers and sisters in a house at Södermalmstorg No. 8.

View of Stockholm. Johanna and her family lived in one of the houses in the left corner, at Södermalmstorg No. 8. The bridges and walkways in the foreground are what is now Slussen (Watercolor by Carl Fredrik August Cantzler, 1843)

According to the 1844 census records for the Wennberg family, there were also 3 other wholesale merchants living in the house, and one of those was Ferdinand Sievers.

Did Johanna fall in love with Ferdinand Sievers, the young wholesale merchant from Lübeck, or did her father think that Ferdinand would be a good son-in-law, a very suitable young man with a bright future?

All we know is that Johanna and Ferdinand got married in Maria Magdalena Church on August 2, 1845. She was 18 and he was 27.

Married Life and Business

Life was good. Ferdinand and Johanna moved to Wollmar Yxkullsgatan 22, still at Södermalm and not too far from where Johanna had grown up. And Ferdinand had an office at Skeppsbron 30, where he could keep an eye on the tall ships arriving with his cargo, like bales of coffee that came from Rio de Janeiro and Java, and barrels of sugar from Pernambuco – products that were in high demand. He would advertise these products in the paper:

Sievers, Skeppsbron No. 30
For Sale:

Batavia Arrack
Java Coffee
Port wine
White Pernambuco sugar in small boxes and barrels
Wooden boards and spires
Chloride of Lime
Campeche wood
Hemp from Riga and Petersburg
Hides from Rio Grande and Bahia
Sailcloth made by William Gibsons in Gothenburg.

Other advertisements listed fresh lemons, coal, an assortment of chemicals, and lumber products.

Johanna was also busy, and the children kept coming. First, it was Johan Ferdinand, who was born on January 9, 1847. A year and a half later there was another son, Axel Theodor, born on October 7, 1848. And finally, they got a daughter, Maria Louise Mathilda, on February 1, 1850.

Then tragedy struck. A note in the newspaper announced that Ferdinand had died after a short illness. He died on April 22, 1851, only 34 years old.

Life as a widow

When Ferdinand died, his children were 4, 2 ½, and 1 year old. And, Johanna was 6 months pregnant. On July 26^th, 1851, she gave birth to a daughter, Johanna Augusta Elisabeth.

So what happened to her family and the business?

The business continued under the name Ferd. Sievers & Komp. At some time, the family moved to another address, Stora Badhusgatan 8, close to her childhood home. But the business address was still the same.

Johanna didn’t remarry. Her children grew up and all but her youngest daughter married. I could not find that the sons had any children.

Johanna’s Daughter, Mathilda Bagge

The oldest daughter, Mathilda, married Jacob Bagge, who was the director for banknote printing at Sweden’s Central Bank. Her life mirrored her mother’s. Mathilda and Jacob lived with their 6 young children at Skeppsbron 40, close to where her father Ferdinand had had his business. And, just like her father had died young, Jacob Bagge died suddenly in 1892, at 44 years of age, from a heart attack.

Johanna’s Daughter, Johanna Augusta Elisabeth

Johanna’s youngest daughter never married but instead took care of her mother. They lived together at Blasieholmen 44. Johanna died on December 13, 1902, at 75 years of age from a stroke. The obituary listed children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

I wonder if I someday will run into any of her descendants.

14. Sophia Augusta Preumayr and her Famous Father, Franz

It was a beautiful day, finally. The last week of June had been unusually cold and windy and the relentless rain had flooded some streets. The women in the household, Sophia Augusta and her sister Mathilda, their mother, and their two old maids – Margaretha and Marie – had been forced to stay indoors for several days because of all this rain.

Sophia Augusta had felt sorry for her father and all the soldiers who were camped out at Ladugårdsgärde. She couldn’t imagine how it would be to sleep in a tent and then have to be out marching in weather like this. How could you even practice warfare in rain?

Her father could at least come home at night. He had the most admirable position. He was in charge of the music corps. And when he came home in the evening and told the girls about his day, about the close to six hundred singers from all the various regiments that he had to conduct, they had so many questions. How could you get them all lined up or did they stay in some formation? Or did soldiers from each regiment stay together so that it was visually pleasing as each regiment had a different uniform? What about the musicians? What instruments did they play?

He simply promised them that next Sunday, the day that the Royal Family would visit the camp, they could come along as well. The day would be a celebration of King Carl XIV Johan’s 25-year’s rein. The Royal Family would be seated in a specially built dais and there would be a sermon and then a review of the troops.

And now, it was finally Sunday, the day Sophia Augusta had waited for, and there was not a cloud in the sky and just a light breeze. Getting to Ladugårdsgärde had taken some time as all carriages in Stockholm seemed to be heading in the same direction. Sophia Augusta’s father had told them where they would have the best view, and once they got there, they had even found some large rocks to sit on under the shade of a few large trees. Sophia Augusta looked through her binoculars – trying to find her father among the hundreds of singers and almost as many musicians with their shiny brass instruments. They were all positioned at the base of Drottningberget – The Queen’s Hill.

The rest of the expansive field was filled with soldiers from various regiments. She knew some of them by their uniforms. And then there was the cavalry with their beautiful horses! And there were flags and standards and she recognized the standard of the Svea Life Guards with its yellow lions and blue shields. And curiously, she could see a large group of girls from Dalarna – they stood out by their traditional clothing – mingling with the soldiers from the Dalarna Regiment.

Review of the troops at Ladugårdgärde (Drawing in Illustrerad Tidning, nr 26 the 7th of July 1855)

The program started at a quarter to 2, with the chaplain of the Life Regiment Dragoons, the cavalry in Stockholm, and two assisting chaplains leading the service. Sophia Augusta couldn’t make out what they were saying but when the hundreds of singers joined in the chorales and hymns, everyone joined in too. It was so beautiful! She didn’t want the service to end, and when it did, after more than one hour, she was still hoping that there would be some more music. But the chaplain raised his voice and exclaimed “God save the King and the country”, and she knew that that was it.

But then, maybe it was planned, but it felt like a spontaneous reaction by all who had come out to see the king and the royal family on this glorious day, they all took up the national anthem – God Save the King! Sophia Augusta saw the king stand up and then make his way down to view the troops. She just wished he would have been mounted on his horse – that would have been a sight! But, nevertheless, what a beautiful day it had been. And how proud she was of her father, having perfectly directed all the singers and musicians!

King Carl XIV Johan (painting by Fredric Westin, 1838)

Sophia Augusta Preumayr

Sophia Augusta Preumayr was listed as number 14 of the girls who got confirmed in St Jacob’s church. The ranking was based on the pastor’s perception of the girl’s social status, based on her last name and her father’s profession. And Sophia Augusta had a very famous father.

Sophia Augusta Preumayr was born at home, Jacobsbergsgränd 14, in Jacob parish in Stockholm on December 1, 1827. Interestingly, a famous Swedish poet, Johan Tobias Sergel, was born in the same house in 1740. The house was demolished in 1943.

Sophia Augusta’s father, Franz Carl Preumayr, was born in 1782 in Ehrenbreitstein, Germany.

Franz Carl Preumayr in his youth. (Music and Theatre Library, Stockholm)

He and his two brothers, Conrad and Carl, were all extremely talented musicians who came to Sweden in 1802 to join the Royal Orchestra. Franz was considered to be the best bassoonist ever in Sweden. He was also a talented virtuoso. Later, he became director of the military corps of music, an esteemed choir leader, and a composer. His brother Conrad was just as talented but died at age 44. His brother, Carl, was foremost a violoncellist but took over the position of playing the bassoon after Conrad’s death. He was also employed as a singer at the Royal Opera.

Franz married Sophia Crusell, the daughter of Sweden’s most famous clarinet player and composer, Bernhard Crusell. They had three children, Anna Mathilda, (b. 1822), Carl Bernhard Edvard, (b. 1825), and Sophia Augusta (b. 1827).

Franz Preumayr’s European Concert Tour, his Travel Journal, and his Meeting with Franz Liszt

In October of 1829, Franz took off on a 1-year concert tour around Europe. He left his wife and his 3 young children in Stockholm. In his travel journal, he wrote the following on the day he left Sweden (Malmö, October 19, 1829):

“In a moment I shall be separated from Sweden, a country where I have all that in my life I hold dear, and I confess that it costs me indescribably much to leave it. Farewell, my dear Sweden! Farewell wife, children, parents, kin, and friends! May I soon get to see you all again!!!!!!!” (Translation, Agrell, 2015)

Franz Carl Preumayer’s Travel Journal 1829-1830 (Agrell, 2015)

But as we know, Franz had a successful concert tour and returned home the following October. His travel journal is very interesting. He describes how he was at a private soiree and heard the 19-year-old Franz Liszt play the piano. He was utterly annoyed:

“…then a young man played, with the appearance of a real fanatic or a runaway and crazy student. Probably, what he was playing on the piano, accompanied by a violin and a bass, was his own composition consisting of an introduction, a theme with variations, and a menuette. His theatricals and his playing was the most affected I have ever experienced. He worked with his body so that the sweat ran from his forehead, he stared like a maniac with his eyes turned to the ceiling. Now and then he glanced at the ladies, probably to see if such high sensitivity and expression had been communicated.

For my part, I felt really bad about these endless follies and, with pleasure, I observed that even the audience, every single one, with visible impatience were waiting for it to end. Depressed and deeply annoyed at the fool, who I think is called Litz, if I am not mistaken, I had a hard time focusing on the following, twittering Italian Quartet.”

What happened to the children Preumayr?

Anna Mathilda

Anna Mathilda was fortunate to have a collection of musical notes dedicated to her. In 1836, when she was 14, the 22-year-old German flautist, Carl Ludwig Heinrich Winkler, who had just joined the Royal Orchestra in Stockholm, published the following musical notes:

Francaises, Waltzes, and Anglaises danced in Stockholm in 1836, composed or arranged for Pianoforte and dedicated to
demoiselle Anna Mathilda Preumayr by C. Winckler.
32 skilling.

Maybe he was an admirer or maybe she was also a great musician and he wanted to show his appreciation. But even if she was good at playing the pianoforte, there would be no concert tour through Europe for her. She did what most girls did at this time. On December 18, 1845, she married the secretary of the Royal War Council, Lars Johan Rhodin. Two years later, on September 30, 1847, they had a daughter, Anna Sofia.

Carl Bernhard Edvard

Carl Bernhard Edvard also did not have a musical career. He married Johanna Gustava Elisabeth Fogelström and became a director of the Swedish Telegraph.

Sophia Augusta

And Sophia Augusta? What happened to her? Unfortunately, not even 2 months after becoming an aunt to little Anna Sofia, she suddenly took ill with stomach ache and fever. On the 21^st of November 1847, she died from gastric fever, a catch-all name for diseases such as salmonella infections and typhoid. Her funeral was in St Jacob’s church where, 3 years earlier, she had been confirmed with the other girls. The funeral took place on the day that would have been her 20^th birthday.

Post scriptum

Sophia Augusta is one of those girls whose life was cut short and didn’t leave many traces – only birth, confirmation, and death records and an obituary in the paper. It is of course possible that there are descendants of her siblings who might have collections of letters, diaries, or portraits of her. I just imagine that she did have an exciting life with both her maternal grandfather and her father being famous musicians. I also imagine that everyone in the family played instruments and sang.

And I imagined that she went to Ladugårdsgärde for the celebration of King Carl XIV Johan’s 25-year’s rein.

Besides several newspaper articles describing this event, Lotten Ulrich and her sister Edla walked to Ladugårdsgärde the day before the event. Lotten writes in her diary that she was sitting by her window in their summer house at Gröndal on Djurgården and could hear the army bands rehearsing. She and her sister decided to walk over to Ladugårdsgärde to get a good view. They sat down on some rocks under two spruce trees and could follow everything with their binoculars. She wrote in her diary:

“It was a rehearsal before the service that was to be held in solemn forms the next day in the presence of the whole Royal Family. Five hundred singers with the best voices from all the regiments, led by the distinguished Mr. Preumayr, would sing hymns and the National Anthem.” (Östman, 2015)

Sources:

Enquist, I and H. Veslemöy. Preumayrs Resedagbok. Dokumenterat 49 (2017) p. 13-16.

Preumayr, F. C. Reisejournal 1829–30, 4 vols., Rare Collections, MS 329 (Stockholm: Music and Theatre Library of Sweden, 1829–30).

Agrell, D. C. Repertoire for a Swedish bassoon virtuoso: approaching early nineteenth-century

works composed for Frans Preumayr with an original Grenser and Wiesner bassoon. 2015. Dissertation, Leiden University.

Östman, M. Systrarna Ulrichs Dagböcker. 2015.

Numerous articles in digitized Swedish newspapers describing the event at Ladugårdsgärde on 2 July 1843.

13. Augusta Sjöstedt and her sister Ophalia

In May of 1844, Pastor Petterson listed Augusta Sjöstedt as number 13 of the girls who got confirmed in St Jacob’s church. The ranking was based on his perception of the girl’s social status, based on her last name and her father’s profession. Augusta Sjöstedt did not belong to the nobility but her father, Jacob Sjöstedt, was a wealthy brewer.

The first time I heard of Augusta Sjöstedt was in a letter from Lotten Westman to “our” Augusta (Augusta Söderholm). Lotten was making sure that her friend did not miss out on any gossip from Stockholm.

“Do you know, I find Augusta Sjöstedt just as boring now as when she sat in school with open mouth and read German verses, do you remember that? And how her legs were always in my way? But it was a fun time!“ (Lotten’s letter to Augusta, Stockholm, May 6, 1846)

The school she was reminiscing about was Mrs. Edgren’s school close to St Clara church in Stockholm. Our Augusta, Lotten Westman, and Augusta Sjöstedt were classmates. In 1844, the school closed and many of the students transferred to Mlle. Frigel’s school.

A month later, Lotten wrote another letter.

“My dear, there are so many engagements here. At Mlle. Frigel’s school today, Ebba Almroth stated that Mlles. Schwan and Sjöstedt (the oldest) were engaged, but with whom she didn’t want to say. It may well be true, but you know how girls gossip about engagements in Mlle. Frigel’s school.”(Lotten’s letter to Augusta, Stockholm, May 6, 1846)

The next time I found Augusta Sjöstedt’s name was in the Order of the Innocence’s register of debutants in December of 1844. To become inducted into the Order of the Innocence meant that one could now attend the most exclusive of balls, The Innocence Ball – or simply, The Innocence. In the register, our Augusta signed as number 4718 and then Ophalia and Augusta Sjöstedt signed as numbers 4719 and 4720. Maybe they walked in together?

Augusta Amalia Jakobina Sjöstedt

So who was Augusta Sjöstedt? I easily find her – Augusta Amalia Jakobina Sjöstedt, born July 16, 1829. Her parents were Jacob Sjöstedt (b. 1785) and Sofia Ulrika Richnau (b. 1800).

Jacob Sjöstedt was a wealthy brewer in Stockholm. Augusta Sjöstedt was the baby in the family. She had 3 older sisters and 3 older brothers. The family was well off. That was important because, in order for the girls to marry well, there had to be some investments in their education and their social life.

Fortunately, the two eldest daughters, Lowisa Carolina and Sofia Maria Ottiliana had already married by the time Augusta and her older sister Ophalia were making their debut in society. Now the family only had to focus on these two daughters. Well, there was also another girl living in the household. The family hosted a girl from a small town. Her story is chronicled in a previous blog post as her daughter became a famous writer who won the Nobel Prize in literature.

Attending a private school and going to balls were part of the girls’ upbringing. To be seen and to socialize was important. Ophalia must have been ecstatic when, at the New Year’s Ball in 1850, one of the royal princes (later to become King Oscar II) asked her to dance the first waltz. The write-up, in Swedish of course, of the entire event can be found here.

But besides education and being seen in public, it was also important to be able to sing and play the piano. Most of the girls, including our Augusta and her friend Lotten, took singing lessons. And Augusta Sjöstedt played the piano

And then, if you could afford it, you could commission an oil painting of your daughter. Imagine your friends and acquaintances coming over to see the portrait! Of course, your daughter would be wearing her finest dress, maybe a shawl thrown over the chair, and why not, seated by her piano forte.

Augusta Sjöstedt, oil painting by Lars Hansen (1846-1848)

I don’t remember how I was searching, in what database and with what search words, but up popped the portrait of Augusta Sjöstedt! So lovely, in a beautiful pink silk dress. The portrait was bequeathed to the Nordic Museum in Stockholm in 1938 by her daughter.

But what about Ophalia. Wouldn’t she also have had a portrait? All I could find was a small image of her that looks like it was cropped from a larger painting.

Well, it all paid off. Both Ophalia and Augusta Sjöstedt married in 1850. And both married officers of noble families.

Ophalia married Georg Julius von Axelson on the 13^th of February. She and her husband had 4 daughters and 1 son.

Augusta married Adam Henrik Carlheim Gyllensköld on the 26^th of September 1850 and moved to his home, Vederslöv, close to Växsjö.

Vederslöv Manor, Augusta Sjöstedt’s new home.

Over the next 13 years, they had 6 daughters: Alma, Berta, Valborg, Ingeborg, Cecilia, and Sigrid. The youngest, Sigrid, born in 1863, became a famous pianist. She studied at the music conservatory in Stockholm, then in Dresden, followed by Vienna. In 1889, she started a music institute in Stockholm.

Sigrid Carlheim-Gyllensköld, pastell painting by E. Olán, 1887.

Previous blog posts about Mrs. Edgren’s and Mlle. Frigel’s schools and about Augusta Sjöstedt.

http://www.augustastrip.com/2019/04/14/augustas-friends-emma-and-ebba-almroth-who-assisted-florence-nightingale-during-the-crimean-war/

http://www.augustastrip.com/2018/08/22/mademoiselle-frigel-and-her-girls/

http://www.augustastrip.com/2018/06/11/mrs-edgren-and-her-school-for-girls/

http://www.augustastrip.com/2018/06/19/journey-leads-selma-lagerlof/

3. The Beautiful Oscara Wahlström and the Elms of Kungsträdgården

Oscara was sitting at her dressing table. She appreciated the large windows in her bedroom. It was so much easier to powder one’s face in a bright, sunny room. She applied the pearl powder to her cheeks and forehead and then dabbed a little pink rouge on her cheeks – just a little. Carolina, her maid, would help her with the hair. Her long, thick, dark hair would be parted in the middle and then loosely braided and gathered in the back. She might curl it a little at the temples to add some extra volume.

While she was waiting for Carolina, she looked out the window. Through the trees in Kungsträdgården, she could see the Opera House and St Jacob’s Church. She was so happy that she and her husband had been able to get an apartment in Davidson’s House. The palatial-looking house, considered to be one of Stockholm’s most beautiful modern buildings, was 5 stories tall. William Davidson, the owner of the famous restaurant Hasselbacken, had invested some of his fortunes in building this grand house.

Davidson’s House at Lilla Trädgårdsgatan 2b (The house was demolished in 1902 and today, it is the location of Handelsbanken at Kungsträdgårdsgatan 2).

Kungsträdgården, probably about 1859-1860 (The large house on the right is Davidson’s House which was finished in 1859. As there is no grove of elm trees in the park, the photo must have been taken before they were planted around 1860.) Photo from Stockholm City Museum.

Adding to that, to have Kungsträdgården right in front of your door – well, one couldn’t ask for a better location. On some days, there were even open-air midday concerts right outside your window. And then there was the little grove of elm trees. They had just been planted and provided a shaded nook where one could sit with friends and read a book or work on some embroidery.

Midday concert at Carl XIII’s Square in Kungsträdgården. Drawing by Gustave Janet, 1866.

But today, Oscara was getting ready for something even more exciting. Today, she was going to sit for Stockholm’s most prominent portrait painter, Amalia Lindegren. It was exhilarating. At 36, Oscara thought of how much she had already accomplished. She had married extremely well and she loved her husband, she had a beautiful apartment at the most desirable address in Stockholm and, now, she was to have her portrait done! What else could one ask for?

Oscara Fredrica Leopoldina Wahlström

Oscara Fredrica Leopoldina Wahlström was one of the girls in Augusta’s confirmation class. She was ranked as #3 in the class, according to the pastor’s perception of the girls’ importance – based on family name and father’s profession.

Oscara was born 9 December 1828 to Helena Fredrica Dorothea (Fredrique) von der Feer and Pehr Wahlström, a justice of the supreme administrative court (Swedish: regeringsråd). She had a half-sister who was 11 years older, Maria Christina Elisabeth (Mimmi).

In 1845, the Wahlström family lived at Regeringsgatan 14. That was also a fashionable address. Regeringsgatan was the first street in Stockholm to get sidewalks along the entire street.

On 1 June 1850, Oscara married merchant (Swedish: grosshandlare) Joseph Michaeli (1825-1902) and in 1864, Oscara and Joseph commissioned Amalia Lindegren (1814-1891) to paint a portrait of Oscara.

Those are the few records of Oscara’s life: her birth, communion, wedding, and then finally her death. Her obituary stated that she died at an age of 66 years, 5 months, and 12 days, and was mourned by her husband, relatives, friends, and her lifelong housekeeper. She had no children, and she was buried in Solna.

Two years later, her husband, Joseph, married Anna Sofia Westman. When Joseph died in 1902, his obituary mentioned that he was survived by his wife and a daughter. The last sentence of his obituary read:

“His wife in the first marriage was Oscara Wahlström, known for her beauty in the Stockholm Society.”

The Elms of Kungsträdgården

What happened to that little grove of elm trees that had been planted in 1860? The lovely shaded nook, perfect for a conversation with friends on a sunny afternoon.

Over the next 100 years, they grew very tall and wide. In 1971, when I was 16 years old, they were stately old elm trees that provided shade over a little tea house in the park.

The little tea house in the middle of the elm trees.

But in the spring of 1971, the politicians of Stockholm had voted to cut down the 13 large elm trees. They had decided that it was the ideal place for the entrance to a new subway station. When the citizens of Stockholm realized what was about to happen to the stately trees, the word spread quickly (even in the time of no internet or cellphones). On the night when the tree cutters arrived, the demonstrators were already there and protected the trees. The next day, my friends and I joined the ever-growing number of demonstrators. It was all very peaceful but exhilarating at the same time. The demonstrations were successful and the elms were saved. The entrance to the new subway station was built outside the park and is one of the most beautiful subways stations in Stockholm.

The elm trees are still standing. And Oscara’s portrait is well taken care of at the Swedish National Gallery.

Oscara Fredrica Leopoldina Wahlström. Oil painting by Amalia Lindegren, 1864.

6. Sofia Antoinette Eugenia (Eugénie) Björkman

St Jacob’s Church in the center of Stockholm is a landmark. Built in the 1600s, it has a beautiful red color and a green roof. Today it is famous for its music. I have walked by the church many times, too busy to take the time to sit down and listen to one of its free organ or choir concerts. But on a sunny day in the spring of 2019, I am following in Augusta’s footsteps which leads me to St Jacob’s Church. Almost to the day, 175 years earlier, on 12 May 1844, Augusta received her first communion in this church. She was one of the 166 teenagers (74 boys and 92 girls) who had gone through the bible studies and had passed their oral exam.

I sit in the pews trying to imagine what it would have been like to see all 16- or 17-year-olds and their families fill the church. In 1844, Abraham Zacharias Petterson was the pastor – a prominent preacher who was in high demand for memorial speeches and sermons. And the organist was Gustaf Mankell who later became a professor and member of the Royal Music Academy. But I don’t think he can top the organist playing today. His final organ piece is Bach’s Tocccata and Fugue in D Minor. It is mind-blowing.

For each parish in Sweden, there is a library of church records – births, baptisms, confirmations, etc. The best place to find Augusta’s friends in Stockholm is to look at the records of confirmations and first communions. Some parishes list them alphabetically but in St Jacob’s parish, Pastor Petterson has listed them first by gender and then by his perception of their importance – based on their family names and their fathers’ professions. Augusta is listed as number 10 out of the 92 girls. I decide to find out more about the first 20 girls on the list.

During the coming weeks, I will share what I have found. Today’s girl is #6 Sofia Antoinette Eugenia Björkman.

Sofia Antoinette Eugenia Björkman

Sofia Antoinette Eugenia went by the name Eugénie. She was born on 8 January 1828 in Sala. Her parents were Axel Ulrik Björkman and Maria Antoinetta Norlin.

Axel Ulrik’s father, Bengt Magnus Björkman, was an industrialist and one of Stockholm’s wealthiest in the early 1800s. He owned several large estates around Stockholm: Nacka, Farsta, Görväln, Skälby, Jakobsberg, and Bromsten. Today, they are all names of Stockholm suburbs.

Eugénie had three younger sisters and two younger brothers. They lived in Stockholm at Regeringsgatan 36. That is where the iconic department store, NK, is located today. But wait, wasn’t there where Augusta’s other friend, Augusta Holmqvist lived? After searching in several different archives, I realize that Björkmans owned the house while the family Holmqvist rented a large apartment in the house. And their next-door neighbors? It was the Salomon family who Augusta also was acquainted with.

The view from Holmqvist's apartment, the corner of Hamngatan and Regeringsgatan — The view from Björkman’s house at the corner of Hamngatan and Regeringsgatan

So while they were living in Stockholm, they also lived at Görväln at times, maybe during the warmer months. The beautiful manor house with its view of Lake Mälaren must have been a lovely place to spend the summers. One of Eugénie’s siblings, Axel Fredrik, was actually born at Görväln on the 13 October 1833. He inherited the manor house when his father died in 1855 and raised his family there.

Görväln – the manor house owned by Sofia’s father and then brother (by Fredrik Wilhelm Alexander Nay, 1822-1883)

Eugénie married Ludvig Teodor Almqvist in 1851. He was a politician, a member of the Supreme Court, and a Minister of Justice. Eugénie and Ludvig had one daughter and four sons. Their daughter, Lina, was born 17 August 1852 at Görväln. She would later marry Erik Gustaf Boström who was the Swedish Prime Minister between 1891 and 1900 and then again between 1902 and 1905.

In 1856, Ludvig Teodor bought Älgö, a farm on the island Selaön close to Strängnäs. This is where they lived even though Eugénie had in 1855 inherited a country house, Kallhäll, which she and her husband owned for 19 years.

So, when Eugénie was listed as Number 6 by Pastor Petterson, he knew that she was one of the wealthiest girls in Stockholm. Who were the top 5 girls, and why?

Read more about the family Björkman (in Swedish): http://runeberg.org/millionar/5/0151.html

Marie-Louise Forsell writes about Mamsell Eugénie Björkman in her diary.

Titus Vincentius Röslein and Lotten Ulrich’s fencing lessons

Last summer, I wrote about Augusta’s first love.

In the summer of 1845, Augusta turned 18. She had just finished her schooling in Stockholm and maybe her mother Anna thought it was time for her to meet a suitable young man. Why not at the most fashionable seaside resort on the Swedish west coast, Gustafsberg?

Well, did Augusta meet someone at Gustafsberg? Yes, she did fall in love but with someone not to her mother’s liking. At least, that is what comes across in the correspondence between Augusta and her best friend Lotten Westman. Who was he? Augusta and Lotten never mention him by name.

A couple of weeks ago, I found an 1845 newspaper announcement listing the guests who had arrived at Gustafsberg’s Spa at the same time as Augusta. I have been searching for some of those guests – maybe finding Augusta’s first love. Last week’s blog entry was about the family Salomon who arrived with two daughters and a son. Unfortunately, the son turned out to be only 14 years old.

This week, I decided to look up a Secretary T. Röslein from Stockholm.

Titus Vincentius Röslein

This time, I started my search for T. Röslein in the contemporary diary of Marie-Louise Forsell. And of course, Marie-Lousie knew him. His full name was Titus Vincentius. What a name!

Marie-Louise first mentioned meeting him and his sister Pellan at a dance hosted by Chamberlain Carl Henning Lützow d’Unker on 4 November 1845. Then, a month later, she invited the d’Unkers and four gentlemen to her home to celebrate Mrs. d’Unker’s birthday. But in addition to the guests, “the rather nice Titus Röslein came by himself.”

So now I knew that he was a rather nice guy and had a sister, Pellan. It was time to search the archives.

What I found in the archives

Titus was the only son of krigsrådet (royal military counsel) Carl Henric Röslein (4 March 1774 – 27 October 1840) and his wife Maria Charlotta Ericsson (8 Nov 1788 – 28 April 1877). Carl Henric was wealthy and had spent more than 20 years in England, Germany, and France in business and trade before, in 1814, he was hired by the Swedish crown prince, Carl Johan Bernadotte, in the prince’s private office.

The Röslein family lived close to the royal palace in Stockholm but spent the summers 1820-1829 at the bucolic Djurgården, at a house named Ludvigsro. In 1852, Ludvigsro was bought by Wilhelm Davidson, who renamed it Hasselbacken and opened a restaurant there. Kerstin has previously written about Davidson.

The siblings with the coolest names

But Titus was not the only child. There were 3 children born to Carl Henric and Maria Charlotta. And they were all given fantastic names:

Titus Vincentius (4 Jan 1824 – 19 April 1855)
Leontina Ebba Charlotta (? April 1825 – 22 May 1826)
Peregrina Maria Petronella (“Pellan”) (16 May 1828 – 15 June 1859)

Sadly, all children died early in life. Titus and Pellan both died at age 31 from tuberculosis while the cause of death was not specified in the church record for Leontina – only that she was 11 months old. They all belonged to Klara parish.

There are no digitized portraits of the children and the only thing we know of Titus was that he was nice and that he was a secretary at the central bank (Rikets Ständers Bank). Oh, and he was inducted into the Order of the Innocence in January of 1847. Augusta had already been a member since 1844. Being a member allowed one to attend the most prestigious balls in Stockholm. So at least, by the age of 23, Titus became a member.

Titus Rösling’s signature on the ledger for the new members of the Order of the Innocence in January 1847 (last row).

Could Titus have been Augusta’s first love?

Pros:

In the summer of 1845, Titus was 21 years old and Augusta was 18
He was from a very wealthy family in Stockholm
He belonged to the social elite in Stockholm
He was nice

Possible Cons (in the eyes of Augusta’s family): Who knows? Maybe Titus’ father had been too controversial which could have affected the family name? A lot was written about him after his death in 1840, and there is a rather interesting biography of him in the national archives (in Swedish).

Carl Henric Röslein, miniature by J A Gillberg

Titus’ Father

Despite all the controversies about Titus’ father, there is a rather sweet entry about him in another contemporary diary. Augusta’s acquaintance, Lotten Ulrich – whose father was the king’s private secretary and therefore also worked with Titus’ father – wrote the following in her diary in March of 1831:

“Alb. Åmansson said that when she visited us a couple of years ago, I was dressed to fence, that is, in a riding coat and green bombazine pants, holding the foil and in the en garde position, because I was going to have a fencing lesson, which I had every day with krigsrådet Röslein. Oh, how fun these lessons were! He always made me laugh out loud, even though the positions and the lunge etc. were so grueling that I could hardly move after the lessons.”

Lotten Ulrich’s Fencing Attire

I have searched for paintings or illustration of girls fencing in the 1820s but found little and then only from the late 1800s. Those pictures show women fencing in skirts. Maybe Lotten Ulrich was just lucky that Carl Henric Röslein was interested in teaching her fencing. How common was that in the 1820s?

And then, how did they decide on the appropriate attire for a girl? What did a “riding coat” look like?

A riding coat, or a bonjour, was simply a short jacket suitable for riding (see picture below).

And the bombazine pants?

They were probably knee-breeches, like those men wore when fencing, but made of bombazine fabric.

And since I didn’t find any pictures, I made an illustration of how I think Lotten Ulrich might have looked during her lesson.

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