new find!

The condition of this photo is wonderful!! I had hoped to find this, but never expected to find it so soon.

Sven Johansson & his daughter Alma ca 1892.
Grandma's notes say this photo was taken when Alma was 18, upon arrival
with her father in the United States. It was not Sven's first voyage.

I found this photo by simply searching under "Alma Wendell" on ancestry.com, along with her vital info. I had been searching under her original Swedish surname, Svensdotter. It looks like all of the kids adopted "Wendell" or "Wendel" when they came across, after Carl's (or Sven's?) favorite author, Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Wendell Family Story, Chicago

The story, as I know it...

In the 1890's, my ancestors somehow wound up in Chicago. The eldest immigrant, my great great grandfather Sven, had come over first in 1887. He worked the coal mines of Pennsylvania, saved money & prepared for his wife and 6 children to come across the Atlantic. How and why they migrated from Pennsylvania to Chicago is unknown. Previous posts discuss life in Sweden and the voyages across, as well as the loss of Sven's wife Carolina to TB before she left Sweden. She was to be the last one across.

The story picks up again in 189- , with Sven's children in Chicago.

Alma, eldest, is a talented cook (I faintly know of a story about her working as cook for a Pennsylvania mayor... it's a good story & I need to find it!). Alma was working and living on her own by the age of 14 in Sweden. Jennie is a teenager and an accomplished seamstress. She was on her own by age 15 in Sweden.Tekla and Anna I don't know about at all.

Not sure when these photos were taken, but I do know where they were taken!

All of the photos were taken at Schmidt Photography at 925 W. North Avenue, Chicago.

A Love Story: Carl & Alice

Sven's sons Carl (my great grandfather) and his brother Janne ran a delicatessen in Chicago. At some point, Carl went to Kansas, near Osage City, to change gears and do farm work. Maybe he didn't care for the air and noise of the industrial era and missed the farm life back in Sweden. While in Kansas, Carl stayed at a boarding house that was run by Mame Davis (of the original 11 Davis kids who drove a covered wagon with their household in it from Missouri to Kansas... to meet up with their parents who took a train), on her farm. The place was hopping, and Mame needed help. Mame wrote to her younger sister Alice, who was still at home, and she came to help serve all the farm hands at meal time. Maybe Carl gave Alice a wink here- maybe she brought him some really tasty apple pie- who knows! But we do know that they fell in love during this time in Kansas!

The two love birds decided to go back to Chicago, and lived above the delicatessen for a time. Alice recalled standing on her balcony and watching mixed race couples walking down the street together hand in hand- something she had never seen before. She was amazed at the progressiveness of the city.Their first daughter Ruth was born in Chicago. A year later, they were back in Kansas, where Ruth died from the infuenza. Carl worked in the Kansas coal mines and they had three more children, my grandmother among them.

Sven's Later Years

Meanwhile, over the years back in Chicago, Sven remarried, to a woman named Laga Bunska (?).

On October 12, 1907, great great grandpa Sven died in Chicago, after a week in the hospital due to chronic bronchitis from coal mining. His "place of usual residence" was listed as 5840 W Chicago Avenue. He was buried at Mount Olive Cemetary in Chicago on October 15, 1907.

Chicago Details

• Chicago Delicatessen owned by Janne Wendell? (Carl Wendell worked here too)
• 5840 W Chicago Avenue address listed as Sven's "usual place of residence"
• Schmidt Photography, 925 W. North Avenue, where family photos were taken
• Sven is buried at Mount Olive Cemetary in Chicago
• Ruth Wendell was born in Chicago to Carl & Alice
• 5517 W Chicago Avenue home address for Carl & Alice in the 1910 census (3/17/11)
• --this, according to grandma, is above the delicatessen where Carl worked (3/17/11)
• --indeed, Carl lists himself as grocery clerk in the 1910 census (3/17/11)
• John Wendell (Janne Svensson Wendell, Sven's other son) owns the store Carl works at, according to grandma (3/17/11)
• --1910 census is blurry. Looks like 5157 W Chicago Ave as residence for John Wendell. (3/17/11)
• --John lists himself as a grocery dealer in the 1910 census. (3/17/11)
• ** I would love to find photos & information about this store!** (3/17/11)
• **A 1917 draft card for John Wendell lists the name of the business & the address, but it is not legible. In 1920 he lists himself as a wholesale grocery salesman, living at 7529 Evans, Chicago. (3/17/11)




Reid Murdoch Building,
my great grand uncle John Wendell
worked out this place as a grocery salesman in 1917.
Prior to that, he was a store owner, details tbd!
photo credit:
060415http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reid_Murdoch_Building_060415.jpg


• On looking with a crooked eye, I made out Reid-Murdoch Co...  so John Wendell later worked out of this office building, which I've seen so many times along the Chicago River! It now houses Encyclopedia Britannica. (3/17/11)

Wendell Family Story, Pennsylvania

Sven mined for the Erikkson brothers here in the 1880's-1890's.... not much else is known yet....

Wendell Family Story, Voyages to America

Here I'd like to focus in on the voyages my ancestors took between Sweden and the United States, pulling from research done by my family, information I find on ancestry.com, and information I find at the Swedish American Museum. During this 5 year span, it is believed Sven was mining coal in Pennsylvania, making a good enough wage to sail first class on at least one voyage.

1887: Sven first sailed to Amerika in 1887, leaving his wife and 6 children in Sweden. Alma, already 14 and "grown up", was making her own living and living on her own in Sweden.

1892: In 1892, Sven returned to Sweden. He and his eldest daughter Alma then sailed back to America. It is believed that they were readying things in America so that the rest of the family could come over. Sven was an avid reader, and loved Oliver Wendell Holmes. So much so, that he took on the Wendell surname. His granddaughter would later name her first son Wendell, and her cousins did the same with their sons.

1892-1895: Between 1892 and 1895, Sven returned and brought back the rest of the children. I am not sure how many voyages he made altogether, but it seems there were at least 3 such voyages. Jennie, at 15, was by that time "grown up" and living on her own in Sweden. She was a talented seamstress, and brought her talent to America. 

Carolina, mother, was to come over last. Somewhere along the way, she transitioned from milkmaid to nurse. In 1895 she contracted TB while caring for an individual. She died in Sweden, having never left Sweden. It is unknown where she is buried. One of my grandmother's cousins wrote that her headstone may have been removed after years of neglect (see the letter under "documents and letters").

The Wendell Family Story, 19th century Sweden

Here's the story as I know it today, gleaned from what my grandmother has told me as well as what I can gather from letters and documents and research already done. I would like to find wedding photos of Sven and Caroline, along with any other photos from their time in Sweden.

Sven Johan Johansson was born in Sweden on October 30, 1845. He was a farm hand and (at 27 years old) on December 27, 1872, he married Carolina Josefina Carlsdotter (at about 17 years old) at Bohl farm. Carolina was born in 1855, and was probably a milk maid, working the same farm as Sven. Sven and Carolina continued farming on various plots of land, and they had children along the way: four daughters and two sons, my great grandfather Carl Ludvig Svensson Wendell among them, in 1879.

Here's the wonderfully detailed story as told by Charlotte Lindgren, a friend my grandmother made when she went to Sweden about ten years ago (see the original letter under "documents and letters").

this building was recently built on a farm where my ancestors
once lived and where my great grandfather was born

When Sven & Caroline were married in 1872, they lived in a cottage at the large farm Bohl in Alfshog. Sven was a farm-hand and Carolina was probaby one of the many girls who hand-milked the cows. Their daughters Alma and Jenny were born here. About 1875 the family moved to the neighbour parish Vessige and Sven leased the farm Sylagard, where their two sons Janne and Carl were born. The place where you (Carl's daughter) picked the white wood anemones. 1880 they moved to another farm in Vessige called Lundsgard. Here they stayed for four years and 1884 the family moved to Dagsas and leased a farm called Wassgarde owned by C.G. Torbiornsson.

In Dagsas Sven cultivated Wassgarde in three years. Here were Anna and Tekla born. But in 1887 October 10, Sven went to North Amerika and left the family behind. The ages of the children at that time: Alma 14 and had already moved to Tvaaker to earn her own living, Jenny 13, Janne 10, Carl 8, Anna 3, Tekla 1 year old. In Oct 1889 the turn had come to Jenny to move. She was 15 years old, just confirmed at the Swedish Lutheran Church and had to earn her own living. She moved to Tvaaker as Alma did two years before. Maybe they worked at the same farm? I haven't found out. In 1891, Jenny stays in Gothenburg, but comes home to help the family.

In 1892, Sven returned to Sweden. He and his eldest daughter Alma then sailed back to America. It is believed that they were readying things so that the rest of the family could come over. Sven was an avid reader, and loved Oliver Wendell Holmes. So much so, that he took on the Wendell surname. His granddaughter would later name her first son Wendell, and her cousins did the same with their sons.

Between 1892 and 1895, Sven returned and brought back the rest of the children. I am not sure how many voyages he made altogether, but it seems there were at least 3 such voyages. Carolina was to come over last. Somewhere along the way, she transitioned from milkmaid to nurse. In 1895 she contracted TB while caring for an individual. She died in Sweden, having never left Sweden. It is unknown where she is buried. One of my grandmother's cousins wrote that her headstone may have been removed after years of neglect (see the letter under "documents and letters").

Photos

The following photos will be a tremendous help in doing research on the Wendell branch of my family tree. They are all we have so far! It would be very nice to have high quality scans of these first photos someday. First I have to figure out where they are from.