Augusta's Journey

Cecilia’s Album: Mathilde Biel (Nordenfelt) and Elise Biel (Edman) – Two dear sisters

The start of summer vacation in 1844 was bittersweet for the girls in Edgren’s school. The school was closing, and decisions had to be made for the fall semester. The girls who had been boarding with the Edgren family, like our Augusta, had to look for new lodgings if they were to continue their schooling in Stockholm. Some girls would not come back in the fall, like Cecilia. Mademoiselle Frigel, one of the teachers, was offering girls a place to stay and she would also continue teaching the girls.

When Cecilia left Stockholm, several of her classmates wrote poems or made drawings for her memory album. Many poems were copied from other books. These are the poems Mathilde and Elise gave Cecilia.

Skall dig vänners minne fågna,
Deras trohet glädja dig;
Skall du åt dem stunden egna,
Skänk ett ögonblick åt mig!

Bland vänners antal tecknar sig,
Den i din framtid du visst glömde,
Om detta blad ej minnet gömde,
Af den som evigt älskar Dig.

I decided to not translate these poems. They simply convey a message of friendship.

Mathilde and Elise Biel

Mathilda (Mathilde) Carolina Sofia and Emilia Elisabeth (Elise) were sisters. Mathilde was born in 1830 and Elise in 1832. They also had an older brother, Fredrik August, born in 1829, and a younger brother, Carl Axel Hugo, born in 1833. Their father, Christian Friedrich Biel, was a German-born, wholesale merchant. Their mother was Augusta Mathilda Hasselström, born in Jacob parish in 1803. She was the daughter of krigsrådet Lars Adam Hasselström (A krigsråd was one of four civilian members of the Royal War Council. The other three members of the council were military leaders). The Biel family lived in a stately house at Skeppsbron 36.

Their house (Skeppsbron 36) is the one that is cut off on the right side of the large brick customs house (Ferdinand Tollin, 1841)

Christian Friedrich Biel and his business partner, Johan Albert Kantzow, owned one of the largest export and import firms in Stockholm, Kantzow & Biel. The company was a major exporter of iron to the US, and the first private Swedish firm to trade directly with China (link below). From their house, they had a great view of the ships arriving and departing Stockholm

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

In August of 1839, Christian Friedrich Biel suddenly died. The girls’ mother was now a widow at age 36. She had four young children to care for. She decided that the two girls, aged 8 and 10, should attend a boarding school and she chose Edgren’s school in Klara parish. Mathilde and Elise moved in with the Edgren family in 1840 and lived there through 1843. When Edgren’s school closed in 1844, Mathilde and Elise moved in with Mademoiselle Frigel, who continued teaching the girls from Edgren’s school. The two girls lived with Mademoiselle Frigel through 1847.

The rest of the family had in December 1840 moved to Kungsholmen, Garvargatan 8. In 1847, the girls’ mother died. She was only 44 years old. The cause of death was listed in church records as “wasting” (Swedish: tärande).

So what happened to Mathilde and Elise later in life?

Mathilde Biel

Mathilde, or Matilda, married nobleman Olof Nordenfelt in 1852. Olof was born in 1826 at Björneborg in the province of Värmland. When his father died, he inherited the estate and its ironworks. He became chamberlain at the royal court in 1860 and a member of parliament in 1867.

They had 9 children:

Olof 1853,
Cecilia 1854
Matilda 1855
Sofia 1857
Johan 1859
Hugo 1862
Hjalmar 1864
Carl 1866
Ingeborg 1872.

Mathilde died in 1888 at the age of 57.

Elise Biel

Emilia Elisabeth (Elise) Edman, born Biel. Photograph by Robert Roesler. Privately owned.

Elise, or Elisabet, married Victor Edman in 1850. Victor was born in 1813 in Stockholm and this was his second marriage. His first wife had died following the birth of their second son. In 1850, he was an adjutant to the crown prince. Between 1856 and 1870, the family lived at Svanå in the province of Västmanland. Victor was the majority shareholder and manager of the Svanå ironworks.

In 1870, the family moved to Stockholm. They bought a house in the same block as where Elise and her sister had lived with Mrs. Edgren! The house was just around the corner from Mrs. Edgren’s school. They also rented a small farm, Edeby on the island of Lovön.

In 1875, Elise and Victor celebrated their 25^th wedding anniversary and Victor surprised Elise with a gold bracelet consisting of seven linked medallions, each containing a photograph. The photographs were portraits of Victor, in the middle, and his six children – two from his first marriage and four from his marriage with Elise. In 2017, the bracelet was gifted to the Nordic Museum in Stockholm by Victor’s great-great-grandson and namesake.

Elise died in 1907 at the age of 75.

Sources:

Portraits are from www.ridarhuset.se

https://www.adelsvapen.com/genealogi/Nordenfeldt_nr_1662

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327177341_Swedish-Portuguese_trade_and_Swedish_consular_service_1700-1800

Cecilia’s Album: Josefine Stenbock (Uggla) – A 7-year-old in Edgren’s boarding school

In 1840, at the age of 7, Josefine Stenbock was sent to Stockholm to live with Pastor Johan Fredrik Edgren and his wife Lovisa Dethmar and to attend their school. She lived with the Edgren family for four years (1840-1843).

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Tack för hvar stund jag med dig delat,
Tack för hvar dag jag haft med dig
Om någon gång jag mot dig felat,
Glöm mina fel, men glöm ej mig.

(Thank you for every moment I shared with you,
Thank you for every day I had with you
If ever I have wronged you,
Forget my faults, but don’t forget me.)

(Similar versions of this poem can also be found in older texts.)

Josefine Stenbock

Josefine belonged to a very old, noble family in Sweden. Her full name was Baroness Josefina Albertina Charlotta Fredrika Lovisa Stenbock. She was born 7 May 1833 at Torsjö estate in Solberga parish in Skåne. Her father, Count Magnus Albert Carl Gustaf Arvid Stenbock, was a chamberlain at the royal court and had also been an adjutant to the crown prince. Her mother was Countess Jeannette Margareta Hamilton. Josefine had five brothers (three of which died young) and one sister.

In 1857, Josefine married Chamberlain, Count Jacob Fredric Theodor Uggla and settled at Sillsjö (Selesjö) manor (close to Rejmyre) in Skedevi parish in Östergötland.

The following year, their daughter, Margareta, was born. For some reason, she was born at Jacob Fredric’s childhood home, Stora Djulö in Stora Malm’s parish in Södermanland).

Then in 1859, Josefine gave birth to a son, Carl Otto Knut Theodor. The young family lived at Sillsjö for 5 years. In 1862, they moved to Näringsberg in Västerhaninge parish. Näringsberg was owned by Josefine’s parents.

Two years later, in 1864, at the age of 34, Jacob Fredric made a trip to France.

In Paris, he visited a photographer (Alophe) at 35, Boulevart des Capucines to have his picture taken. Interestingly, it was at this address that another famous photographer, Felix Nadar, also had a studio. In 1874, Nadar lent his studio to the newly formed group of impressionists for their first exhibition.

Count Jacob Fredric Theodor Uggla (1829-1864) at 35 Boulevart des Capucines in Paris . Source

The ultimate destiny for the trip was Dax in south-west France. Dax was famous for its hot springs and was the first established spa in France. Many visited hot springs to cure diseases. Was that the reason for his trip? Did he have tuberculosis? Jacob Fredric died while at Dax, only 34 years old.

Josefine also visited a photo studio – but in Stockholm. Unfortunately, there are no dates on the photos.

Countess Josefine Albertina Charlotta Fredrika Lovisa Uggla (born Stenbock) (1833-1881) Source

Josefine was now a widow at the age of 31 and with two young children, 5 and 6 years old. She would have to move in with some family members. In 1865, the little family moved to Klafreda (Klafreström, Klavreström) in Nottebäck parish. Josefine’s brother, Albert Magnus Olof Abraham Stenbock owned half of Klavreström’s iron mill. Josefine and her two children would live with her brother’s family in the beautiful old manor until 1869 when she moved to Copenhagen.

Josefine died in Copenhagen in 1881 at the age of 48.

Josefine’s daughter, Margareta Charlotta Johanna Fredrika did not marry and died in 1943.

Margareta Charlotta Johanna Fredrika Uggla (1858-1943) Source

Josefine’s son, Carl Otto Knut Theodor, emigrated to USA and changed his last name to Hamilton (after his maternal grandmother). He married, had 6 children, and died in 1933. According to genealogy sites, he became an artist (painter) and lived in Brooklyn, NY.

Cecilia’s Album: Augusta Rütterskjöld – A French Poem

Augusta Rütterskjöld was 16 years old when she sat down to copy the following lines on a card for Cecilia Koch’s memory album.

L’amitié vient du ciel habiter ici bas
Elle embellit la vie et survit au trèpas

(Friendship comes from the heavens and dwells below
it embellishes life and survives death)

The poem is actually the last stanza of a longer poem, “Même Sujet” by Desmahis, a famous French poet who lived in the 1700s. It might have been included in a French poetry book that the girls studied in school.

Augusta Rütterskjöld

Augusta Rütterskjöld was one of Cecilia’s (and our Augusta Söderholm’s) friends. They had been in the same confirmation class and they had just celebrated their first communion (Jacob Parish, May 1844). They all, most likely, also attended Edgren’s school. Augusta was 16 years old and lived in a large house at Regeringsgatan 66. She had lived in the house since she was born. Augusta was the youngest of the Rütterskjöld children. Her older siblings were Lovisa 21, Adelaide 19, Jaquette 18, and Ewert 17.

Her family was well connected in Stockholm but her father had left them after mismanaging his wife’s inheritance. It was Augusta’s mother and her relatives who cared for the children. The family history is documented in an earlier blog entry about Augusta (Augusta Mariana Rütterskjöld and her Absent Father).

Jaquette Rütterskjöld

I was wondering if any of Augusta’s sisters might also have given Cecilia a memory card. Were there any cards that had been signed simply by a first name or initials that might match any of her sisters’ names? There was one. It was a memory card by a friend who had also copied a short French poem and who had signed it using her initials, J…e. It was probably signed by Augusta’s sister Jaquette.

Awhile ago, I also wrote a blog entry about Jaquette and her aunt, Netta Dimander: Who was Mrs. Dimander?

The Poem

The poem from which Augusta copied the last lines can be found in the following book, published in 1835: The French Reader’s Guide; or, Miscellaneous Selections in Prose and Verse from the Best French Authors of the two last Centuries, and from the Most Distinguished Writers of the Present Day. It is available online.

Following Lotten Westman to Skånelaholm

This blog entry can be found at the following link

Cecilias’s Album: Adèle Rudenschöld – Princess Eugénie’s Maid of Honor

There is a card in Cecilia’s album that is signed Adèle. On the card is a small watercolor painting of peaches, grapes, and a blue butterfly.

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Adèle Rudenschöld

Of course, I don’t know if the girl who signed the card was in fact Adèle Rudenschöld. All I know is that Adèle Rudenschöld (Louise Rudenschöld’s little sister) attended Edgren’s school and was a friend of Cecilia and our Augusta.

Another girl in Edgren’s school, Ebba Almroth, writes about Edgren’s school in her autobiography and also writes that Miss Rudenschöld, who she met at the Royal Palace, was an old schoolfellow. That would indicate that Adèle Rudenschöld attended Edgren’s school.

“My father took great pleasure in the education of my sister and myself. We attended the school of Frau Edgren, a German lady, wife of an excellent Swedish clergyman.

My school days were very happy. The teachers in Frau Edgren’s school did all in their powers to instill the noble ambition into their pupils of a desire to excel in their studies.” Ebba Almroth’s autobiography

Later in life, Ebba visited Princess Eugénie of Sweden at the Royal Palace. When the princess died in 1889, Ebba wrote an obituary which was published in Sunday at Homes. In the obituary she writes about her surprise in meeting Adèle Rudenschöld in the palace:

“I was interested to find an old schoolfellow, Miss Rudenschöld, living with her in the palace as a maid-of-honor to Her Royal Highness.”

Adèle’s Childhood

Adèle was born at Tyresö castle on October 4, 1832. In 1838, when Adèle was 5 ½ years old, the family moved to Stockholm. Edgren’s school had opened in the fall of 1838. Might that have been a reason for the family to move from their castle in the country to an apartment in town? To make sure their 3 daughters, Louise, Emma, and Adèle got a good, Christian education? Who knows.

Princess Eugénie’s Maid of Honor

Princess Eugénie of Sweden was born to King Oscar I and Queen Josephine in 1830. She had three older brothers.

In 1866, at the age of 34, Adèle became Princess Eugénie’s maid of honor (Hovfröken) and moved into the Royal Palace. Princess Eugénie was two years older than Adèle. Neither was interested in marriage, and both were inspired by the revival movement within the Lutheran church. They also had common hobbies and interests.

Princess Eugénie spent considerable time at Fridhem, her villa built on the island of Gotland in 1861. There are a few photos of her and Adèle at Fridhem. Some pictures even include Adèle’s sister Emma and her father.

The park at Fridhem. Emma and Adéle Rudenschöld, Princess Eugénie, a student, and Count Rudenschöld (Emma and Adéle’s father), 1868

Animal Rights

Adèle and Princess Eugénie were both passionate about animal rights. In 1882, Princess Eugénie, Adèle, and 6 others met at the Royal Palace and created an organization to combat animal cruelty in science (The Nordic Association for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). Four days later, the association held its inaugural meeting at which Dr. Adolf L. Nordwall, bureau chief at the Department of Education, was chosen as the president of the organization. Adolf Nordwall was our Augusta’s husband (and our great-great-grandfather)!

When Adolf met Adèle on that day, did he know that Augusta and Adèle had been schoolmates? Likewise, did Adèle know that Adolf had been married to Augusta? Maybe not.

Adolf held the position of president of the organization until his death in 1892. In 1909, the organization changed its name to Djurens Rätt (The Association of Animal Rights). Today, it is the largest animal rights and animal welfare organization in Sweden.

Art

Adèle and Princess Eugénie were also interested in art. In the 1860s, Princess Eugénie took sculpting lessons from Professor Johan Peter Molin (1814-1873). He is famous for having designed the bronze fountain sculpture in Kungsträdgården (the oldest functioning fountain in Stockholm) and the statue of King Karl XII, also in Kungsträdgården.

The sculptures that Adèle and Princess Eugénie created were made in Parian ware and the motives they chose were very similar. They most likely made them under the tutelage of Professor Molin. Some were then manufactured commercially by Gustavsberg’s porcelain factory. Adèle made a sculpture of a dog and a boy:

Dog with Boy. Sculpture in Parian ware, designed by Adèle Rudenschöld, and manufactured by Gustavsberg’s porcelain factory, 1870-1925. (Nationalmuseum, Sweden)

Princess Eugénie also made a sculpture of a dog and a boy:

Can You Speak? (Kan du tala?). Sculpture in Parian ware, designed by Princess Eugénie, and manufactured by Gustavsberg’s porcelain factory 1882-1925.

Adèle’s sculpture in Parian ware of a girl carrying a little boy, manufactured by Gustavsberg’s pordelain factory, recently sold at auction for 400 SEK (~$40)!:

Girl with a Boy on her Shoulder. Sculpture in Parian ware, designed by Adèle Rudenschöld, and manufactured by Gustavsberg’s porcelain factory 1960s.

Later Years

Princess Eugénie died in 1889 at the age of 59. Adèle, who had lived at the Royal Palace since 1866, now moved to an apartment on Artillerigatan 37 in Stockholm. In October of 1923, she moved in with her nephew, Ernst Stenhammar, and his family. She died two months later, on new years eve, at the high age of 91.

What happened to Emma?

I have already written about Adèle’s sister Louise. But what happened to the third sister, Emma? There is no card in Cecilia’s album that is signed by Emma.

Emma was born on August 4, 1830. She contracted tuberculosis (TB) and died in 1868 at the age of 38. The cause of death was TB which had also caused kidney disease.

Emma Augusta Ottilde Rudenschöld (1830-1868)

Cecilia’s Album: Louise Rudenschöld (Stenhammar) – A Childhood at Tyresö Castle

In Cecilia’s memory album, there is a beautiful drawing of a chapel by a lake. The drawing is signed, Louise Rudenschöld.

I assume that Louise copied a print, maybe of a chapel in the Dolomites (based on the architecture of the chapel and the mountains in the background).

IMG-7944

Louise Rudenschöld

Eva Christina Lovisa (Louise) Rudenschöld was born on October 4, 1828, at Hinderstorp, a large estate south of Lidköping. Her parents were Count Thure Gabriel Rudenschöld and Countess Augusta Charlotta Lovisa Stackelberg. Louise had two younger sisters, Emma Augusta Ottilde, born 1830 (also at Hinderstorp), and Adèle Marina, born 1832 at Tyresö castle.

Louise’s maternal grandparents, Count Carl Adolf Ludvig Stackelberg and Eva Sofia Adelsvärd owned Hinderstorp where the family lived. They then bought a magnificent castle, Tyresö, southeast of Stockholm. Now, the extended family moved to Tyresö, where they attended their first church service in Tyresö parish in May of 1832.

Louise was 3 ½ years old. Her early childhood memories would have been from Tyresö: running through the huge rooms of the castle, maybe being scared of the portraits on the walls, walking under fragrant linden trees in the expansive park, and maybe playing with a little dog.

In May of 1838, the family moved to Stockholm. Why did they give up their opulent lifestyle (yes, the number of servants in the household, listed in the church records, is mind-blowing, as are their titles or tasks) for an apartment in Stockholm? Maybe it was because of Louise’s father’s position as a chamberlain. Maybe they missed social life. Louise was now 10 years old.

The year Louise gave Cecilia the memory card, the family lived in Jacob’s parish at Malmskildnadsgatan 32. That’s where the shopping center Gallerian is located today.

Going to School

Did Louise and her sisters attend Edgren’s school? I know that Louise’s sister Adèle did (she will get her own story told in a separate blog entry). One would assume that all three sisters attended Edgren’s school and were friends with Cecilia and our Augusta.

Marriage

Louise married architect Per Ulrik Stenhammar (b.1829) in 1858. He designed Ersta Chapel in Stockholm and some other churches. He was also a composer of both sacred and secular music and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The couple had (at least) 5 children. Two have their own Wikipedia pages – Ernst and Wilhelm.

Ernst Wilhelm Emanuel (1859-1927)
Anna Cecilia Augusta (1860-1909)
Christina Lovisa Gabriella (1862-1934)
Johan Samuel (1867-1872)
Carl Wilhelm Eugen (1871-1927)

Wilhelm Stenhammar

The youngest child in the family was Wilhelm. He was musical prodigy.

“Dinner with Countess M. Leijohufvud, together with Lieutenant Adolf von Koch, his Baroness, Mrs. L. Stenhammar, and others. In the afternoon music, among others by the young, 7-year-old Vilhelm Stenhammar, who improvised and played so extraordinarily well that those who had not heard him before, must be amazed at what they rightly called him “a prodigy”. Yes, in truth it may be said here – what may become of this child?” (Diary entry on 2 April 1878 by Pastor B. Wadström).

Wilhelm grew up to be a famous composer and pianist. He composed the music for a national anthem – a song called Sverige (Sweden), that is played on Swedish Radio at midnight every New Year’s Eve.

Religion

Louise was raised in a deeply religious family. Her father was one of the founding members of The Swedish Evangelical Mission Society (Evangeliska Fosterlands-Stiftelsen). Pastor Wadström, who wrote the diary entry above, was a spiritual mentor to Louise’s grandfather. In his book From Memories and the Diary – Notes from the years 1848-1898 (Swedish: Ur Minnet och Dagboken – Anteckningar från åren 1849-1898), Wadström also included writings in his memory book by his friends. Lousie, her parents, her sisters, and her husband, all contributed to Pastor Wadström’s memory book and Louise even made a drawing.

Artistic Talent

Louise, her sister Adèle, their father, and their paternal grandfather were all hobby artists. Louise specialized in portraits and made drawings and watercolor paintings. Adèle was a sculpturist. Their father made landscape drawings and oil paintings while their grandfather made landscape drawings.

Oil Paintings of Tyresö Castle by Louise’s father, Thure Gabriel Rudenschöld 1867. (Source: Uppsala Auktionskammare)

According to Uppsala University Library, the following drawings were made by Louise’s grandfather (who had the same name as her father, Thure Gabriel). These drawings of Tyresö were supposedly made in 1820-1830. Could they actually be drawings by Louise’s father? Nevertheless, they are beautiful drawings.

Source: https://www.alvin-portal.org/alvin/imageViewer.jsf?dsId=ATTACHMENT-0002&pid=alvin-record%3A369789&dswid=7816

Louise lived a long life and died in Stockholm in 1902. Her diary from 1884-1899 and some correspondence with her family members can be found in Wilhelm Stenhammar’s Archive.

Cecilia’s Album: Adèlaide Peijron (Sparre) – A Poem about Friendship

Today’s card in Cecilia Koch’s memory album is from Adèlaide Peijron. I wrote about Adèlaide in 2018 when I was searching for the girls who, like Augusta, lived with the Edgren family in Stockholm. Soon after writing the blog post, I received an exciting email from Adèlaide’s great-great-granddaughter (and our new friend), Kathinka Lindhe. At that time, she was working on a book about Adèlaide’s son. More about that down below.

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Tomt och ödsligt blir Ditt lif
Om ej någon vän du äger
Wänskapen Ditt hjerta gif
Den allt annat öfverväger
Den är fast som klippans stål
Och ur denna verld dess mål

My translation (I am no expert on translating poetry and this time I took some liberties to improve on a simple literal translation)

Empty and desolate your life will be,
if not a friend you have.

A heartfelt friendship, do bestow,
a gift that beats all else.

Friendship – solid as a rock,
aim for it in life.

Who was Adèlaide?

Adèle’s full name was Adèlaide Virginia Peijron and she was born on 13 June 1831 in Stockholm. She was almost 13 years old when she wrote the loving poem to Cecilia.

Adèlaide’s mother was Adèlaide Elisabet Schön (1808-1837) and her father was the officer Edouard August Peyron (1796-1858) who had been introduced into the House of Nobility in 1837 with the new name, Peijron. In 1844, when Adèlaide wrote the poem to Cecilia, her father was a chamberlain (kabinettskammarherre) to King Oscar I.

Adèlaide’s mother died when Adèlaide was only 6 years old. It is understandable that the father could not take care of his young daughter. In 1840, at the age of 9, Adèlaide was therefore boarding with the Edgren family. She lived with the Edgrens until they left Stockholm in May of 1844. She then moved in with Mademoiselle Andriette Frigell who continued the school.

“My own Augusta!

Thank you, thank you, for your latest and, for so long, an anticipated letter which was dearly received.

… Yesterday, I was visiting Mademoiselle Frigel and she always asks about you and she sent you her warmest regards. Adèle Peyron also sent you lots of greetings. Erica Degermann and I are invited to Mademoiselle Frigell on a graduation ball on Tuesday…” (Lotten Westman’s letter to Augusta, 16 April 1846)

In September 1846, Adèlaide’s father married Anna Maria Bagge (1810-1858) and Adèlaide now had a stepmother. This upcoming wedding was already news in Mademoiselle Frigell’s school in the spring of 1846:

“Speaking of Mademoiselle F., Adèle Peyron’s father will remarry, with Mrs. Bagge, born Groen. So Adèle gets a stepmother. She went with her on May 1^st but Adèle did not look happy at all, said Erica Degerman who saw her. Poor Adèle, I do not think it should be fun to have a new mother when you are that old.” (Lotten Westman’s letter to Augusta, 6 May 1846)

In 1853, Adèle married chamberlain Gabriel Gerhard Sigge Sparre af Rossvik and they had 2 sons and 2 daughters. One of the sons was Sixten Sparre.

Sixten Sparre

Sixten Sparre was married and had two children when he became infatuated with a beautiful circus performer, Elvira Madigan. He left his family and convinced Elvira to leave the circus and join him. They traveled to Denmark but had no means to support themselves. Their “honeymoon” ended in tragedy. Their bodies were found in a forest, Elvira presumably shot by Sixten who then shot himself. Their short story was the perfect fodder for the press – a romantic love story of a lieutenant and a beautiful circus artist who in desperation jointly committed suicide. Did they?

For the surviving family, it was something else – the tragedy, the shame, the history that should be forgotten and not mentioned. Kathinka Lindhe writes about this in her book Vacker var han, utav börd: Sixten Sparre, mannen som mördade Elvira Madigan (Transl. He was beautiful, of noble birth: Sixten Sparre, the man who murdered Elvira Madigan), published in 2020. It is a fascinating narrative about Sixten Sparre. She also writes about Adèle’s life after her son’s murder/suicide.

Adèle had had her own marital problems. Her husband had squandered all the wealth she had brought into the marriage. He had been forced to declare bankruptcy, and when he died in 1897, there was no inheritance for Adèle to live on. She had to manage on a pension but fortunately, she later received a substantial inheritance from a relative. She died in Stockholm in 1909, at the age of 78.

Cecilia’s Album: Axelina Fries (Fock) – A lock of her hair

Axeline Fries was 14 years old in May of 1844. When she sat down to write a card for Cecilia Koch’s memory album, she had already decided on her favorite poem. She knew it by heart.

Måtte nya blommor smycka,
Hvarje dag du möter än.
Intet saknas i din lycka,
Helgad utaf vänskapen.

(Literally translated as:
May new flowers adorn,
every day that greets you
Nothing lacking in your happiness
sanctified by friendship)

She made sure that her letters were perfectly lined up on the card and she underlined friendship (vänskapen).

But she wanted to give Cecilia something more and something personal.

A lock of her hair.

She gathered a few strands of her long, straight, brown hair and then, with her embroidery scissors, made the cut. She twisted the lock into two circles, like a pretzel, and tied it with a strand of red embroidery floss.

Two years later, her friend Cecilia died of measles and Axelina’s message would not bring any personal memories to those who read it. Now, 178 years later, I feel like I am finding a message in a bottle.

Who was Axelina? What did she look like? Did she marry? Did flowers adorn every day that greeted her?

Axelina Maria Magdalena Fries

Axelina was born in Malmö on September 5, 1829. Her father was Bengt Fredrik Fries (b. 1799), a professor of zoology who in 1831 became the curator of the Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. His wife, Axelina’s mother, was Anna Christina Lundberg (b. 1804).

Anna Christina Lundberg (Professor Bengt Fredrik Fries’ wife). Drawing by Maria Röhl, 1846.

Axelina had two younger sisters, Josefina Helena Gustafva (b. 1831) and Ida Maria Elisabet (b. 1834).

Axelina’s father died suddenly in 1839. In 1842, the family moved to Clara parish and to the house at the corner of Stora Vattugränd and Clara Östra Kyrkogata. It was the same house where Charlotta Lindström’s family lived (Charlotta, who also wrote a card for Cecilia’s album). The situations of the two families, Fries and Lindström, were similar. The fathers in both families were professors who had 3 young daughters when they suddenly died in their 30s.

Josefina and Axelina Fries in 1846. Drawings by Maria Röhl.

Axelina marries Baron Alfred Henrik Edvard Fock

“You probably already know that Axeline Fries is engaged to a Baron Fock, but they will not marry yet. He is awfully much smaller than her, it does not look very nice. When she takes his arm, he disappears right under her red coat.” (Lotten Westman’s letter to Augusta, March 6, 1848)

It was well known that Baron Alfred Henrik Edvard Fock was unusually short in stature. A friend of Alfred Fock, Fritz von Dardel, referred to him as “little Fock”.

“I had been asked to speak, but I instead persuaded little Fock to do it and he succeeded much better than I should have done.” (Fritz von Dardel describing a visit by industrialists and artists to thank Crown Prince Oscar for his support).

Alfred Fock. Drawing by Fritz von Dardel

Alfred Fock was born in 1818 in Bjurbäck, close to Jönköping. When Axelina met him, he was a lieutenant and a teacher of physics in Stockholm. He would later leave the military and become a professor of physics at the Technology Institute in Stockholm; nowadays the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. He also became a member of parliament.

Axelina and Alfred got married on February 24, 1849. They had five children:

Anna Magdalena ”Malin” (1849-1933), did not marry
Axel Fredrik (1852-1878), did not marry
Carl Alexander (1854-1938), married Huldina Beamish
Gertrud Maria (1856-1856), died in infancy
Ida Lovisa Josefina (1864-1914), married John Edvard Magnus Sager

In the winter of 1858-59, Axelina and her two sisters visited Maria Röhl again. These are the artist’s quick sketches. She focused on the faces at these sessions.

Axelina, Josefina, and Ida Fries. Sketches by Maria Röhl.

A new home at Hantverkargatan 18, Kungsholmen

In 1851, the family moved to Hantverkargatan 18 (block Fikonträdet). They lived there until the end of the year 1856.

The address seems familiar, and in the house examination records, I recognize the names of Augusta’s childhood friends from Krusenhof in Kvillinge parish: the Hjort family. This is the house Augusta visited on her trips to Stockholm in the 1850s. And this is where she lived when she was ill with tuberculosis and was treated by Dr. Pehr Henrik Malmsten, a famous doctor in Stockholm. Augusta must have run into Axelina when she visited the Hjorts and when she stayed with them.

Augusta describes her visit to the Hjorts in her diary, March 12, 1851.

“The day after our arrival, we waded through quarter-deep dirt to our friends on Kungsholmen, where we were warmly received, had a pleasant evening and reminisced about our winter evenings at Krusenhof.

Aunt and Nanna have a small sunny and nice home, in the middle of a garden that extends all the way down to the lake shore. In the summer, this little place must be a real paradise where you have flowers and light, fresh air and Lake Mälaren’s blue surface and verdant islets to rest your eyes on, as well as the most magnificent views of Riddarholmen and Söder and, over all, the steamships that from different directions rush to their common goal – Riddarholmsbron.”

Axelina’s Grandchildren

Axelina died on October 9, 1888, in Stockholm. That should probably be the end of this blog entry – one about a young, happy girl who wrote a lovely poem to her friend and gave her a lock of her hair.

But there are at least two of her grandchildren who should be mentioned. Axelina’s son, Carl Alexander, and his wife Huldina had 5 daughters: Fanny, Elsa, Mary, Carin, and Lilly.

My Memory of Axelina’s Granddaughter Mary

I actually have a memory of Axelina’s granddaughter.

I am around 5 years old and we are celebrating midsummer at Rockelstad Castle in Helgesta parish. I only remember two things: my parents dancing in a crowded place, and the old countess, who lived in the castle, giving me a large, shiny coin, maybe a 2-crown or 5-crown coin as a prize in a game organized for the kids. I curtsy politely as expected of me. It feels like a fairy tale, getting a shiny coin from an old countess who lives in a real castle.

Countess Mary von Rosen was Axelina’s granddaughter. She was born in 1886 and married Count Eric von Rosen (b.1879) in 1905. He was a pilot, an ethnographer, and the owner of Rockelstad Castle.

When I was a child, our family spent the summers at Ådö in Helgesta parish not far from Rockelstad Castle. There were lots of stories about Eric von Rosen, of his travels, parties, hunting trophies, etc. That is all I knew.

When I searched for Axelina’s granddaughters, I learned that Eric von Rosen died in 1948 and his wife in 1967. I guess she wasn’t as old as I thought she was when I was little.

Axelina’s Infamous Granddaughter Carin

Mary’s younger sister Carin married nazi-leader Hermann Göring in 1922. He was working as a commercial pilot in Stockholm after World War I and knew Eric von Rosen (also a pilot). Carin was visiting her sister Mary when she met Göring at Rockelstad. The couple moved to Germany in 1922 and became high-profile members of the nazi party. Carin died before World War II in 1931, at the age of 42, from a heart attack. Hermann Göring’s war crimes are well documented.

Notes:

Axelina’s sisters Josefina and Ida never married.
The poem Axelina copied is an anonymous poem. It was published in a book in 1857.
All drawings by Maria Röhl are available at regina.kb.se

Cecilia’s Album: Charlotte Lindström – A true friend?

One of Cecilia Koch’s friends gave her a card with a cryptic message. Charlotte Lindström had drawn a picture of a blue flower – a Forget-Me-Not – and included the text: pas une véritable amie (not a true friend). It doesn’t make sense to me. Or did she copy the phrase and mistook par for pas? The phrase, par une véritable amie (by a true friend), would make a lot more sense.

We will never know. But if you have any ideas, please let me know.

And we will never know for certain who Charlotte Lindström was. But I have a very good candidate. Lindström is a fairly common name in Sweden and Charlotte (Charlotta) was a very popular name in the mid-1800s. However, social class was also important at the time. Someone who gave Cecilia a card for her memory album would have belonged to the same class – the ones who paid for their daughters to attend private schools.

I scanned church records in Stockholm for candidates and found one that met my criteria. When I realized that she and her family lived in the house next to the family Edgren, whose school Augusta and Cecilia attended, I was pretty certain this was the right girl. And if I am mistaken, this blog will simply be one about an interesting family in Stockholm.

Gustafva Magdalena Sophia Charlotta Lindström

Charlotta Lindström was born in Uppsala on February 5, 1831. When Charlotta was a baby, they moved to Stockholm where her two younger sisters were born: Sophia Jacobina (June 7, 1832) and Hedvig Ottilia (August 5, 1833). Sophia later changed her middle name, Jacobina, to Jacquette. Their father, Jacob Niklas Lindström was a young professor of medicine and physician at the royal court (Swedish: kunglig livmedicus). Their mother was a countess, Magdalena Eleonora Charlotte Wrangel.

It was a young successful family. The godparents listed at the girls’ baptisms all belonged to the aristocracy, which bode well for the girls’ futures.

The Cholera Epidemic of 1834

But being a medical doctor in the 1800s had its risks. And when the cholera epidemic hit Stockholm in 1834, nobody knew what caused cholera and doctors had limited means of treating patients.

On August 25, 1834, Stockholm officially declared a cholera outbreak. It would last until October 12. During these 49 days, the official number of cholera cases was 7,895 and 3,277 died. Charlotta’s father was one of those who succumbed to the disease. He died on September 29, 1834, at the age of 33.

The parents of two other friends of Augusta and Cecilia also died from cholera that fall, Therese Gustafva Aspegrén and Hilda Theophila Lagerheim

1835-1856

The girls grew up not having known their father. They moved several times within Stockholm and in 1844, they were neighbors with the Edgren family, in a block named Svalan. It is possible that they also attended Edgren’s school. And if they didn’t, they certainly knew the girls who were boarding with the Edgren family, like Augusta.

For a well-connected family, life still went on with balls and visits. Anna-Lisa Geijer, the wife of Erik Gustaf Geijer (professor and chancellor of Uppsala University), mentions Charlotta’s mother in a letter to Malla Silfverstolpe (writer and literary salon hostess). In a letter dated February 1, 1847, she complained about a boring ball she had attended. She was, however, delighted to have run into Charlotte Wrangel (Charlotta’s mother) who, “as always, was well and tastefully dressed”. On her head, Charlotte wore a creation of “black lace and purple flowers that suited her a lot.”

Then tragedy struck again. Charlotta’s mother died from cancer in 1856, at the age of 53. The three girls, who were now 25, 23, and 22 years old, were put under guardianship by the court. The two male guardians were unrelated to the girls: Royal Cabinet Chamberlain Johan Gabriel Eketrä (b. 1808) and Chamberlain Carl Gustaf Leijonhielm (b.1820). They would manage the girls’ finances and their inheritance.

Later years

Of course, the girls could not live by themselves. Someone would have to take them in. Alternatively, a well-educated girl from a respectable family could always take a position as a governess in a family or become a lady’s companion.

According to church records in 1856, the 3 girls moved in with an elderly widower and nobleman, Major Carl Jonas Lagerberg, on his estate Hamrum in Korsberga parish far from Stockholm. How did they know him? Sadly, their time there was short. Major Lagerberg died the following spring and the girls had to move again.

I follow the girls’ moves in and out of parishes across Sweden. In 1857, Sophia moves in with the family Hamilton at Boo castle close to Örebro. And Hedvig moves to Karlskrona. Charlotta seems to end up in Linköping.

Only Hedvig marries – a navy officer (later, Admiral) named Jacob Lagercrantz. They move back to Stockholm and raise 5 children. Charlotta lives with them at the turn of the century. I wish I knew how her life turned out. She died from a stroke on June 26, 1812, in Linköping.

And by the way, Charlotta and my great-grandmother, Anna Hermanna Lindström (b. 1849) were cousins. Their fathers were half-brothers.

Rosalie Roos’ Bathing Costume

Sara and Kerstin enjoying saltwater bathing at Gustafsberg (photo: Nathalie Kereki Bohlin)

A couple of years ago, Kerstin and I made 1840s bathing costumes. At that time, I remembered a description of bathing costumes in an autobiography by a Swedish young woman. She had visited Charleston, South Carolina in 1854 and described them in a letter to her brother.

The other day, I found the book again: Travels in America 1851-1855 by Rosalie Roos (translated and edited by Carl L. Anderson).

Rosalie Roos was born in 1823, so she was 4 years older than Augusta. In 1851, she left Sweden for a teaching position at Limestone Springs Female High School, a boarding school in South Carolina.* She stayed at the school until the beginning of 1853 when she became the governess to two of her students on the Peronneau family plantation, Dungannon.

In the summer of 1854, the family vacationed in Charleston which she described in a letter to her brother Axel:

“I have another nice day to tell you about which was spent on Sullivan’s Island, just about the only summer resort which the city people have nearby. At 5 o’clock, good Mrs. Peronneau came to awaken me, and at 7 we were aboard the little steamboat which was to take us to the island.”

“The Company included Mrs. de Saussure with a couple of children, Clelia, Mary, and I. At the dock on Sullivan’s Island, we were met by old Mr. de Saussure, a little, portly, and prosperous-looking, exceedingly pleasant, and genial old fellow, in whose carriage we went to his residence and were welcomed there by his wife and two daughters. After breakfast, we sat on the piazza and I delighted in seeing and hearing the saltwater waves break against the fine sand of the shore just a few steps away from the house. Later we were invited to go out on ‘the beach,’ which at flood tide lies under water. Traveling across the white, fine-grained sand bar was especially pleasant, and we got down from the carriage to gather shells and seaweed which the waves had thrown up on the shore. Back at the house, we were invited to go bathing, which we accepted with pleasure.”

“One of the daughters let me borrow a bathing dress consisting of wide unmentionables and a jacket of red flannel, and a kind of coat of the same material to throw over my shoulders when descending into the water. Clelia and Mary received old bathing costumes of lesser elegance, and I assure you it was a droll sight to see us wandering off in this strange attire with old sunbonnets on our heads. In these bathing costumes, the women can quite freely enjoy bathing in the sea without being concerned about onlookers; they are excellent for this purpose, although I should not feel myself inclined to be dressed in this manner or to go bathing with gentlemen, although this is said to be quite usual.”

“It was glorious out in the water; it was thoroughly warm so that I did not feel one shiver when the first wave washed over me, and it was with difficulty that we could bring ourselves to leave the salty element after we had been in almost one hour. Later it tasted marvelous to eat watermelons, apples, pineapples, bananas, fresh figs, raisins, and almonds, along with lemonade – doesn’t it make your mouth water?”

Some American illustrations of bathing costumes in the 1800s:

Bathing at Long Branch, – “Oh, Ain’t it Cold!” Drawing by Winslow Homer. 1871

*“Originally named the Limestone Springs Female High School, the new institution attracted the daughters of the most influential families of South Carolina, who sought the finest liberal arts education available at that time. On November 6, 1845, a total of 67 young women began their classes at Limestone.” (https://www.limestone.edu/history-of-limestone)

Source: Roos, Rosalie. Travels in America 1851-1855 (Based on Resa till Amerika 1851-1855, Ed. Sigrid Laurell), transl. and ed. Carl L. Andersson. 1982. Southern Illinois Univ. Press.

Featured Image. Saltwater Bathing. 1857. Illustration by Augustus Hoppin (1828-1896).