Lotten’s letter to Augusta, Stockholm, 16 March 1846 “My own Augusta! Although you’ve had me wait for a letter for such an unbelievably long time, I have still written to you right away because there is nothing as pleasurable as getting a letter from one’s friends. I do not know what kind of fun those people have who do not correspond with anyone. It is […]
A while ago, I wrote about exploring Händelö, the first stop on Kerstin’s and my 4-day summer séjour. What other places did we visit? Day1. Löfstad Castle Our second stop, after Händelö, is Löfstad Castle. This castle, built in the 1600s, has been privately owned until it was bequeathed by the last owner, Emilie Piper (1857-1926), to the House of Nobility (Riddarhuset) and Östergötland’s Museum. […]
Lotten Westman’s letter to Augusta, Stockholm, 25? March 1846 (Wednesday) My own beloved Augusta! If I did not know you and that you would forgive me, I would hardly dare to write to you after such a long silence. Maybe I thought it was longer than you found it to be because I’ve been thinking about writing to you all the time and longing for […]
In my last blog, I wrote about Augusta’s friend Lotten and her family. I mentioned that her grandfather, the famous pharmacist, Carl Johan Fredrik (CJF) Plageman, had moved to northern Sweden with his second wife, Eva Sofia. On a wintry day in 1853, she died. Letters from CJF Plagemann to his daughter, Dorothea, who lived in Stockholm, describe all the details of the funeral and […]
Stockholm, 22 January 1846 My own, beloved Augusta! Thank you, thank you, my good friend for your last letter, even though I had to wait quite some time to get it. But I will not scold you, only thank you so much for your last letter. I should probably start by thanking you for your good wishes for the new year. … You know what? […]
When Augusta and her mother visited spas in the summer, they referred to their visits as summer séjours. So this year, Kerstin and I decided on a summer séjour where we would visit places with connections to Augusta. It would be a four-day trip, by car, dressed as in the 1840s. Day 1. Händelö On 26 June, we get in the car – happy that […]
In the fall of 1841, Augusta started school in Stockholm. It was a boarding school run by Mrs. Lovisa Edgren and her husband, Johan Fredrik Edgren. During the summer of 1844, the Edgrens moved and the school closed. Augusta still had one more year to study in Stockholm so what school did she attend in the fall of 1844? Augusta’s best friend Lotten kept in […]
In April 1846, Augusta’s friend Lotten writes to Augusta about a ball she and Erica Degermann (Lotten’s spelling) has been invited to. Erika was one of Augusta’s friends in Stockholm. The picture is slowly developing of the group of friends Augusta had during her teenage years in Stockholm. They were wealthy but not necessarily belonging to the noble class. Their parents invested in them so […]
Lotten Westman’s Letter to Augusta, Stockholm, 18 December 1845. “Lucky Augusta who gets letters from Mrs. Edgren! Greet her a thousand times from me. Tell her that I still worship her as warmly as when I said goodbye to her for the last time, and when I start talking about them, it is always an inexhaustible topic and at those times, I forget both time […]
“Loddby, 8 May 1847 My sweet, dear Lotten! …. It is a really beautiful evening, the bay is calm and clear like a mirror, a few stars shine in the clear blue sky, and I have put an Aeolian harp in the window. Have you ever heard one, Lotten? It is so indescribably melancholic when the wind seizes the strings and creates these sad, melodic […]