The idea of holding a family reunion of the descendants of
Olof Andersson and Eva Anderssdotter
at the ancestral farm in Sweden was first
proposed at the 2016 family reunion in British Columbia.
After nearly a year of planning,
it came true in June 2018.
This is the story of that gathering.
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Location of Fjällbacka in Sweden
We chose to stay in the resort town of Fjällbacka because we knew that
it was only about 30 kilometers from the location of our ancestor’s farm.
Brad had been there decades ago and knew it was good place to use as a home base,
with hotels and restaurants.
It is a picturesque village on the rocky shore of the Skagerrak strait.
The actress Ingrid Bergman spent her summers here and, when she
died, had her ashes scattered near the island her cottage was on.
The village is featured in a series of murder mysteries by
Camilla Läckberg.
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The following cousins attended from America:
- Eunice Helgeson, great-granddaughter of Olof and Eva’s son
Andrew Holm (Anders Olofsson), who emigrated to Minnesota in 1879.
- Cynthia Sabinske, great-granddaughter of Olof and Eva’s son
Otto Holm (Otto Olofsson), who emigrated to Minnesota in 1882.
- Mike Holm with his wife, Jeannie. Mike is a great-grandson of Otto Holm.
- Brad Holway, grandson of Alida Carlson. Alida was the daughter of
Olof and Eva’s son Fredrick, who had remained in Sweden.
She emigrated to New York in 1932.
- Dan Holway, Brad’s son.
- Al Holm with his wife Gail. Al is a grandson of Victor Holm, who was the son of
Olof and Eva’s son Fredrick.
Victor emigrated to Canada in 1909 and then to the U.S. in 1917.
The following Scandinavian cousins also attended.
- Gerd Sønsterud and her husband Knud Lorensen from Drøbak, Norway.
Gerd is a great-granddaughter of
Olof and Eva’s daughter Anna Maja, who married Ivar Olof Löngstrom.
- Linda Tollefsrød, Gerd’s daughter, with her husband Odd and sons Henri and Håkon.
- Monica Myrland, Gerd’s daughter, with her husband Tommie and sons Axel and Philip.
- Lars-Olof Holmberg, his son Marcus Holmberg, and Marcus’s partner Ulrika
from Vartofta, Sweden.
Lars-Olof is a great-grandson of Olof and Eva’s son Carl Johan Olofsson Holmberg.
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One of the challenges we faced in planning our reunion was that
initially none of us really knew precisely where the farm was located.
In her book
The Descendants
of Olof and Eva Andersson, Helen Holm Hobert
had written,
“Olof Andersson was a farmer who owned land at Heljebo near Lake Bullaren, the
largest lake in Bohus Län”.
In his memoir, Victor
Holm had written that farm Helgebo was in Mo Parish on the east side
of Lake Bullaren at the foot of Kynne Mountain.
The farm’s name did not show up in a Google map search.
However, from the description, a Swedish cousin of Al was able to locate
it with a Swedish online map program. We also found the farm -
named Häljebo - in topographical maps of the area.
Its location is circled in the map image on the right.
To help future generations to find Häljebo, we note that
its latitude and longitude is
58º 39' 31.16" North, 11º 34' 34.64" East.
Laila Falk put us in contact with the current owner of the
farm, a German, to make sure that we had permission to visit.
She also arranged for the previous Swedish owner of the farm,
Rolf Olausson, to give us a tour.
In his later days, Fredrick Olofsson moved to another farm, named either
Hällekårret or Hällejäret and that is where
Brad’s grandmother grew up, but we were not able to locate
it on our maps.
Another challenge the Americans faced was getting in touch with
Swedish relatives. This side of the family had lost contact.
Once again Laila Falk was able to provide the necessary information.
Eunice corresponded with our newly found relatives and
some of them were able to join the reunion.
Laila Falk also arranged for us to get see the interior of Mo Kyrka, the
church that our ancestors attended, and to attend a church service
at Naverstads Kyrka, where Victor Holm was baptised.
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Häljebo farm location near Lake Bullaren
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Thursday, June 14, was our day of travel and of checking in at Villa Evalotta,
our hotel. Brad and Dan came from a journey up Norway’s coast with the
Hurtigruten Cruise Line so they flew south to Oslo and drove down from there.
Cynthia, Eunice, Mike, and Jeannie flew to Oslo from Minnesota with a
transfer in Reykjavik.
Gail and Al flew to Göteborg from exploring
her family’s locations in Scotland.
We stayed in Evalotta’s Villagården building and had all but one of the rooms.
It had a large dining and living room, a kitchen we could use, and WiFi.
There was even a large-screen TV in the living area where we watched some World Cup
matches.
Sightseeing
We could have enjoyed ourselves here even if we had not had an ancestral connection
to the area.
The region is very pretty, both Fjällbacka and the other coastal villages and
the inland landscape.
There is a
world heritage location at Tanum with
petroglyphs created somewhere between 1800 to 500 BCE
by the bronze-age inhabitants of the area.
We saw many petroglyphs, which had been colored red by the museum folks to
make them more visible. I wonder if our ancestors ever saw them.
While riding on a rural road, Al even saw a moose in a deep, wooded gully
alongside the road.
There were other activities, such as fishing, taking a cruise among
the islands, or
spending time in Göteborg, that we could have enjoyed,
but did not have time for.
Churches and Churchyards
Of course, we visited the churches and churchyards that are associated with our ancestors.
On Friday, we went looking in the churchyards at Kville, Mo, and Naverstad for
gravestones of our relatives. In Sweden, there are no municipal or private cemeteries.
Everyone has to be buried in the churchyard. We knew that Fredrick Olofsson had
been buried at Kville, but could not find his gravestone. Later we learned that
if a grave is not kept up, the stone will be removed.
Mo Kyrka was the home church for Olof Andersson’s family. It is on the
west side of Lake Bullaren, so the family probably took a boat across the
lake on Sundays. The stone for Fredrick’s older sister,
Anna Maria Långström, was still
in place at Mo Kyrka and someone was even planting fresh flowers for it.
On Saturday, we took Monica and her family to see her ancestors grave.
Al’s grandfather, Victor Emanuel Holm, was baptised at Naverstads
Kyrka in the middle of January 1879. We don’t know why this was not
done at Mo Kyrka. Maybe the weather was too stormy to cross the lake.
Sunday was our day to see the inside of Mo Kyrka and to attend
a 2PM service at Naverstads Kyrka. The visit to Mo Kyrka went very well thanks to
Brita.
When we got to Naverstads Kyrka, we found a handful of parishioners filing out.
The time of the service had been changed without our knowing. However, the pastor
and organist stayed late to lead us in three Swedish hymns.
Mike and Cynthia at Kville Kyrka, where Fredrick Olofsson was buried
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Eunice, Brad, Mike, Cynthia, Dan, and Al at Mo Kyrka,
the home church of Olof Andersson’s family
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Monica and her family at the grave of her great-great-grandmother,
Anna Maria Långström, in the churchyard at Mo Kyrka
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Inside Mo Kyrka: Dan, Brad, Gail, Al, Laila Falk, Brita Ivarsson,
Mike, Jeannie, Eunice, and Cynthia
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Naverstads Kyrka with its separate 1669 bell tower
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Ceiling art, organ pipes, and paintings of Jesus and his Disciples in Naverstads
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The Gathering of Cousins
Gerd, her daughter Linda, and their families arrived Friday afternoon. We got
together with them that evening, and spent until midnight getting acquainted.
On Saturday, Monica and her family, and Lars-Olof and his group joined us.
We had lunch and got to know one another. Later we took our
newly found cousins to see Häljebo and the Mo Kyrka.
Gathered for our Saturday lunch
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Knud and Brad comparing mustaches
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Linda, Gerd, Knud, and Per
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Markus, Ulrika, and Lars-Olof
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“Official” photo of our reunion, on the steps of the Villagården building
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The Ancestral Farm
We visited the Häljebo farm three times, once on each of the full days
we were in Sweden.
On Friday, we visited it to be sure we knew where it was.
On Saturday, we took our
Swedish and Norwegian cousins to see it.
On a chilly Sunday, Rolf gave us a tour and showed us where the
vanished farmhouse had been.
Rolf told us that, in his time, the farm had mostly been used for grazing.
Panorama of Häljebo’s field
Our gathering ended on Monday, June 18. Mike, Jeannie, Cynthia, and Eunice headed
back to Oslo and a visit to the Viking ship museum there.
Brad and Dan remained in Fjällbacka for another day while
they met with relatives of his Schevenius grandfather in nearby Humburgsund.
Gail and Al moved inland to Dingle and remained in Sweden for another week,
meeting relatives of his Sörqvist grandmother and seeing more sights in Bohuslän.
Responsible: Albert Holm
Created: 10 July 2018; Updated: 17 April 2019
