Everett Johnson, 1921-2011

Everett passed away on Wednesday, August 24, 2011, two months after celebrating his 90th birthday in a large circle of family and friends. Everett is survived by his wife of 64 years, Margaret, a daughter, Joyce, and a son, David, with families, a sister, Carol, and three grandchildren.

Everett was a grandson of my great-grandfather's cousin Jacob Elg Johnson, who emigrated to the US in 1880.

Link to Everett´s obituary

At the age of six, Everett moved with his family to the family ranch, now known as the "Mountain View Ranch", west of Laramie, and lived for the rest of his life there.

Margaret Johnson´s history of life on the ranch

A 1961 article about life on the Johnson ranch

Swedish naming practices

A very good article about Swedish naming practices:

http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/Naming%20practice_eng.htm

Alex Elge/Johnson - yet another twist..

I have now found the departure records for the Montana Elges in 1887. These records confirm some of my hunches, and adds yet another twist to the mystery of Alex´identity.

They did indeed emigrate from Oslo - or Kristiania, as the city was known at the time. Alexander, Maria, Edvard, Otto, Beata and Ernfrid Elge all depart Kristiania on March 4, 1887, on board the Elster Line´s ship "Rollo", with Helena, Montana, stated as their final destination. Rollo was a feeder ship which took them to Hull in England. Here they would board a train across England to Liverpool, where they boarded the Britannic for their Atlantic crossing.



Now come the interesting parts. They all use the Americanized spelling "Elge" already when boarding the ship in Kristiania. Alexander Elge is a US citizen, unmarried, and his age is listed as 36 years, which means he was born around 1850, not 1861 as listed in the 1900 Helena census.

A birth year of 1850 matches my prime suspect, that Alexander was in fact Per August Elg. It also gives him time to establish the ranch in Wyoming around 1877. Perhaps it was not "Alexander Johnson" who died, as stated in Margaret´s history of the ranch, but his wife Sophia? After which Alexander decides to make a fresh start with his younger siblings in Montana?

Alex Elge/Johnson - the mystery deepens..

In a previous blogpost (November 2009) I mentioned the mysterious Alexander Elge/Johnson, who is nowhere to be found in Swedish records. In the 1900 US Census for Helena, Montana, Alex Johnson, born Aug 1861 in Sweden is a boarder in the family of Nels & Marie Nelson. Marie is Maria Sofia Elg, who married Nels Nelson in Helena, Montana, in 1889. The family´s address is 1050 Bedford Street.

The birth date matches the age in the 1887 passenger manifest, which makes him too young to be Per August Elg, and also too young to have settled the Johnson ranch in Laramie.

This was a lucky find as I was searching for Maria Sofia. Unfortunately, there are too many Alex Johnsons in the census database to go through them all to see if he can be found under this name in other censuses.

Since my previous post I have double-checked all possible Swedish records:
There are no departure records for any of the 1887 Montana emigrants. No doubt they slipped away through Norway, without notifying the authorities. Swedish parish records for the Johan Elg family show no Alexander - or any son born in 1861 - and there are no gaps in the record.

Furthermore, there is no Alexander or Sophia at all in Swedish emigration records from their part of the country in 1877-79 (when Alexander and Sophia first emigrated according to Margaret Johnson´s history of the Laramie ranch), and no possible Elg from any part of Sweden during the same years.

Yet, Alexander Elge, born abt 1860, travels with Frans Otto, Edward and Maria Sophia according to the 1887 US Arrival records, and in 1900 Alex Johnson, b 1861, is living with Maria Sophia´s family..

Victor Elge - logger 1879-1941

My grandfather´s second cousin Viktor Elg was born in 1879 in Gustavsström, a small iron mill village between Liljendal and Gravendal. Victor´s father Lars Fredrik Elg worked there as a blacksmith.

In 1891, Victor´s family moves to Hagge, Norrbärke, another small iron mill. At the time, my great-grandfather was a blacksmith at the same mill, so for the next two years, Victor´s father and my ggf may have been working side by side.

In April, 1893, Viktor´s family moves to Yttre Forssa, Stora Tuna parish. These were the final years of the traditional small, wood-fired iron mills. Strora Tuna was the location for one of Sweden´s largest new Bessemer steel mills. Several of my grandfather´s brothers also moved here.

In 1903, Viktor emigrates to McKeesport, Pennsylvania, part of the large steelmaking complex around Pittsburgh, and changes his name to Victor Elge. He decides to move on, and at some point we find him in Helena, Montana, where he is employed by the Western Clay Manufacturing Co. This is mentioned in his obituary but no dates are mentioned and I have found no census records. Victor´s older brother August Elge was living in Helena, Montana, since 1888, along with several uncles and their families, involved in gold mining.

Victor moves again, and in a couple of records I find him listed in logging camps around Seattle. Most interesting is the 1930 census, which lists his occupation as logger, but his current address as the Skagit County Jail, Mount Vernon, Skagit County, Washington.

I have no idea what incident sent Victor to jail, but a few years later, the 1935 Seattle City Directory puts him at 925 Railroad Ave S hse 22 C.

In the 1939 City Directory, Victor´s address is listed as “nr e end Lincoln av bridge, Tacoma”.

In the 1940 US census Victor Elge, logger,  is listed in Ward 4 Township 20 North, Range 3 East,  street block 179, of Tacoma, Washington. The same address lists 100 unrelated residents, so possibly a boardinghouse or log camp?

Victor Elge dies in a car accident in Tacoma, Pierce County, at the age of 63 on September 28, 1941. He was fatally injured when he was struck by a car as he was crossing a street in Tacoma. Victor is buried at the Trinity Lutheran Church, Tacoma. His passing is noted in an obituary in the Oct 10, 1941 issue of the Helena Independent. The obituary mentions that brother August Elge will travel to Tacoma for the funeral.

In 1957, brother August Elge, age 87, visits Sweden, accompanied by his  daughter Ms. Frances Caroline Elge. SAS passenger records show that they returned on flight 911, Stockholm - New York, June 28, 1957.

The blacksmith profession in Swedish ironmaking

In order to work as a blacksmith, you had to qualify as a member of the Blacksmith Guild (Hammarsmedämbetet). The guild was a combination of union and quality assurance and had its own courts, with jurisdiction over matters concerning the ironmaking industry (Bergstingsrätten).

As an aspiring blacksmith, you started out as apprentice (smeddräng), working f for different master blacksmiths, to learn different aspects of the trade. Apprentices usually stayed for a year or two, and then moved on to another master (Note 1).
After serving your apprenticeship and passing the Guild´s examination, you could become an assistant blacksmith (mästersven). You were now qualified to practice the trade, and worked in the employ of a master blacksmith.

The final step on the career ladder was to become a master blacksmith (“mästare” or “mästersmed”). This required passing another examination and having the necessary capital (Note 2). As a master blacksmith, you were an independent contractor, hiring your own assistants and apprentices – who also lived in your household. Running such a large household also needed a lot of helpers, and a number of young women would be employed as maids, learning to run a household before they married (Note 3).

“Bergstingsrätten” would appoint a senior and respected master blacksmith to become alderman (ålderman) for a district. The alderman served as an assistant judge on the court, but also inspected all the mills of his district, to make sure they were up to standard.
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Note 1: As an apprentice you were a member of the master´s household, and listed here in parish records. From these, I have found many family connections, where a young man worked as an apprentice for an older brother, uncle etc.

Note 2: If a master blacksmith died, one of his assistants would often acquire these resources by marrying the widow, at the same time providing for the family.

Note 3: With so many young men and women under one roof, accident did happen, and births out of wedlock or shotgun marriages were not unusual. Giving birth out of wedlock was technically a crime until the 1850´s. However, enforcing the law resulted in infants “disappearing”, and in the late 18th century mothers were given immunity.