The Mormor Stories: Martin's Story

I have shared my grandmother's story of her mother's passage across the Atlantic and North America, and now here is the story of her father's journey.  Humboldt County, California, with its booming redwood logging industry, was a destination for Swedish immigrants 100 years ago, and so speaking only Swedish was not as big a barrier as it would be today.

I should warn you: this story rabbit trails quite a bit, but it exemplifies Mormor's favorite phrase, "but I digress."  The story is more jumbled than Mormor's other tales, which could be because it was not one of the many spoken-word stories that she knew by heart and told frequently, or that she wrote the story down in the twilight of her life, when it was a struggle for her to accomplish everyday tasks.  Mormor hid most of her struggles from everyone, but I digress.

(Martin Holmgren)

My father, Martin Holmgren, was raised in southern Sweden in the foster home of Bengst and Charlotta Holmgren.  [His real last name was Nilsson, and his real mother's first name was Sylvia (Jacobsson).]  How this came about I am not sure.  The Holmgrens had older children who either could not or would not help financially when Bengst became ill.

Therefore Dad worked at various jobs such as peat digging, brickyard work, and in the beet sugar mill as soon as he was out of school.  Later he learned to make shoes and had quite a few customers when he was called into the army.  (To digress a moment, he was the best shot in his company and expected that all his children-to-be would do as well.)  During that six month period he lost his clientele, so began to think of some other way to earn money.

Laurie jumping in here a moment: I had always been told that my great-grandfather Martin was a draft dodger from the Swedish army.  Huh.

At this time his friend and second cousin, Alfred Anderson, had been offered a job in his uncle's mill in Carlotta [Humboldt County, California].  Alfred asked Martin to go to California with him, and it was so arranged.

(Alfred Anderson)

Their money ran very low in Nebraska as they hadn't counted on the U.S. being so big.  Therefore they got jobs there and began to learn English.  Dad [Martin] worked on a railroad, and later for a farmer who gave my father English lessons, mostly from a newspaper to which he had subscribed.  I'm proud that he did well enough that he could apply for his first citizen papers in six months.

I neglected to mention that Dad and Alfred crossed the Atlantic in December 1899 in a very bad storm.  The sailors got sick; Dad did not, so he earned some money doing the crew's jobs.  Otherwise, he might not have had the money to get as far west as Nebraska.

One day when he was working in a field Martin saw in the distance a black funnel-shaped cloud.  He'd been told to hurry to shelter if that happened, so he ran the horses toward the barn.  They insisted on stopping at the water trough as per routine, so Martin got hit with quite a few large hailstones on the way to their stalls.  Then Dad joined the rest of the family in the cyclone cellar.  After a bit he was about to open the trap door to see what was happening outside, but was stopped when all the rest screamed, "Don't open the door yet!"  Later he found out that there had been very little damage nearby -- just a neighbor's poor cow had been carried a short distance and her leg broken when she was let down with a bump.

[The cow story filled my imagination from a very young age, and to this day when I think of tornados, I worry about the cows.]

I don't know where Alfred worked but do know they arrived by ship in Eureka together.  There they had a choice -- either eat, or use their last bit of money for two train tickets to Alfred's uncle's place at Carlotta.  They chose the latter, and luckily got there just in time for the evening meal.  Both went to work in Mr. Larson's mill the next morning.

Dad found that hauling the bolts to the mill paid quite well so, as soon as he saved enough money, he bought a team and began hauling.  Later, Swedish friends began teaching my father how to fall the huge redwood trees, and told him that was where the money was.  Soon Dad became a faller and found a partner.

Meantime, my mother was working at a beer garden near her home in Sweden, for she was saving money to join my father.  You see, they were engaged before Dad left for America, and both were saving for Mom's passage to Eureka, where they were planning to be married.

(Alis "Elise" Karlsson)

When she arrived she wanted to work a while in order to have a dowry, so she had jobs at the Swedish Western Hotel and at the Russ's Fern Cottage.  However, it was difficult for Dad to see her because of transportation problems, so he persuaded her to come to Carlotta, where she worked for the Larsen family.  There Mom discovered the dangers inherent in falling trees the size of redwoods, and refused to marry Dad until he quit his falling job, which he did, and they were married in Eureka on October 12, 1904.  Then they rented a small place on Monument Road above Rio Dell, and Dad did hauling to augment their income.  (I was born there the next year with Mrs. Rickter officiating since the doctor didn't get there in time.)

My father found the most work in Fortuna, so we moved there, and he rented several places until we moved to Camp Grant in the fall of 1912.  Dad leased the ranch at first, but finally bought it.  He sold it to Jim Patmore in 1950 (I think) but reserved the right to live in the cabin we had built there.  Dad and Mother lived there until her death in 1953, at which time my father moved to a cabin on Art's place at Miranda.  He spent the winters with us in Monterey until a massive stroke made rest home care necessary.  Dad died in 1965 and is buried beside Mom at Sunrise Cemetery on Newburg Road in Fortuna.

[My great-grandfather Martin died about two weeks after I was born, so I never got to meet him.  "Momone," my great-grandmother Elise, had been gone a dozen years by then.  I have been to their graves several times.]

Comments

[C Bury]

Hi, just wanted to note that I think my Great-Grandmother is mentioned in the story:

"they rented a small place on Monument Road above Rio Dell, and Dad did hauling to augment their income. (I was born there the next year with Mrs. Rickter officiating since the doctor didn't get there in time.)"

My Great Grandmother was Mathilda (Matilda) JÖNSSON YOUNGBERG RICKTER at lived at Rio Dell with my Great Grandfather Gustaf (Gust) LARSSON RICKTER. Bother were born in Kristianstad län, Sweden. More info on Gust life in Humboldt County at that time can be found can be found here http://www.biofiles.us/ca-files/Humb.1045-1094.htm

[Kathi D]

I love your Mormor, and now I know one of the reasons why: "I digress" is my most-used phrase, as well.

Or as we always used to say about my mom, she (and I) have the "can of cling peaches" stories. It's an old "All in the Family" reference about Edith and the way she stretches out a story.

[Big Hair Envy]

The cow is DEAD? Wow. Didn't see that one coming...

Bummer.

[Kyddryn]

I am beginning to crave these tales - the fuel the imagination, don't they? There's still adventure to be had in our times, but it's of a different sort, somehow less interesting to me than what folks weathered a hundred years ago.

Shade and Sweetwater,
K

[foolery]

CBW and Miss Envy, I have bad news for you. That cow has been dead for over a century. I'm sure it was shot, because you can't fix cow legs, but either way? Dead.

Tammy, welcome!

KD, why is it that names were so fluid in the old days? And here I cling to my maiden name because it feels like a flannel shirt to me -- all comfy and home. Can't imagine adopting a completely new last name just because someone died, or when moving to another country, but it happened in more cases than not back then, I think.

Cow punk, I don't know if you know how close Eureka is to where all of these stories took place, but it is/was the "big" town in Humboldt County. My parents were both born in Eureka in 1934; who knows? Maybe the families have some connection?

And there used to be Engebrettsens in Chico, too.

Cheers, everybody, and thanks for reading!

-- Laurie

[cow punk]

Thanks for sharing this...My mom was born in Eureka, CA..My grandmother is of Norwegian/Swedish decent, both her parents came directly from Norway and changed their name from Englebrettsen to Odegaaurd upon arrival. I have no idea why. My last name is Anderson...the Irish side of the family...lol.

[Big Hair Envy]

I wish I had stories like that about my family. I know there were some characters, but I'd like to have the kind of detail that you have here. Very cool!

I'm with CBW. What happened to the cow?

[KD @ A Bit Squirrelly]

My husband's family's last name was originally Anderson, but was changed after the passing of his great great grandfather.

Great stories!

[Tammy]

It is awesome that you have these stories so that you can share them and pass them down.

What a treasure!!

[Chesapeake Bay Woman]

What a wonderful story.

I need to know what happened to that cow. Do they shoot cows with broken legs or is it possible to mend the leg? I will be worried about that all day long.