Emma Fredrika Bork / Burke and John Lindstrom

 By Georgia Lynn Lewis and Lennart Elg

Emma´s parents, Christina Elg & John Burke

Photos from Georgia Lewis

An earlier version of this text was published on my old Elg_family website which has been discontinued. I have updated a few places where new information has become available.
Christina Elg and Johan Bork/John Burke were possibly  the first Elg families who emigrated to the US, already in 1869. Georgia Lynn Lewis (1950-2018), great-granddaughter of their daughter Emma Fredrika Bork/Burke, wrote this story about the lives of Emma Fredrika and her husband John Lindstrom, in 2011.
 
Emma Fredrika Burke married John Larsson Lindstrom in Omaha, Nebraska, and Georgia Lewis was their great-granddaughter. The following information was compiled by Georgia, based on information from Martha Butts Lindstrom, Marion Lindstrom Lewis, Lida Lindstrom, George Lindstrom, "Wyoming Place Names", "History of Omaha", 1870 Nebraska Census, 1880 Wyoming Census, "Sons of the West" by Sarah Chaffin.
 

Emma Fredrika Burke
by Georgia Lewis

The Burke family lived two doors away from the Lindstroms in Omaha, Nebraska. Both families were Swedish. This might have been where Emma met her future husband. Emma was working as a nurse. She would go to peoples houses and do practical nursing. She could speak English without accent, but she always wrote in Swedish. She had a little shelf that she had brought with her from Sweden.
 
Emma had dark brown hair and beautiful light blue eyes. She was about five foot tall. She had a small frame but very large hands. Her hands were usually red and rough, which made them look even larger. She was always active, and evenm in old age she was always moving around.
 
Emma was born in Sweden. She emigrated with her parents Christina Elg and Johan Bork in April 1869. They were preceeded by son Gustaf Edvin who emigrated half a year earlier, to prepare for their arrival. Her father died in Nebraska only half a year after their arrival. Her mother was a widow for many years, and lived in Laramie, Wyoming. All we know of Emma´s childhood is that she would turn the grindstone for her father while he sharpened his tools.  At least two of her sisters lived in Laramie, Wyoming.
 
Emma was a good cook. One of her specialties was blood pudding. Whenver an animal was butchered, she would make her special pudding with the blood. Another special treat was pudding made with the first milking. This wasn´t exactly milk, just a thick white stuff. Her family liked it, but it didn´t appeal to outsiders. Emma always had a pot of coffee sitting on the back of the stove. The family would have a cup off and on all day.
 
Emma was always doing something and moving around. As soon a s a meal was finished, she´d jump up and start clearing the dishes. She liked to crochet, and was very good at it. She also taught her daughter-in-law, Martha, how. But she never knew how to knit, and didn´t care for embroidery.
 

John Lindstrom

John Lindstrom was born in 1843 in Grinstad, Ahus, Sweden. He was the son of Lars Bryngelsson and Maria Lisa Andersdotter. He was christened Johannes Larsson.
 
John came from an adventureous family. He had two brothers and three sisters that we know of. All of them were born in Sweden. John came to the United States, he worked for the railroad and homesteaded a ranch. His sister Bertha married a railroad man and lived in Wyoming. His brother August, came to the United States and was last heard of in Nebraska trading horses. His brother William, became a jeweler in Sydney, Australia. His sister Sophia married and lived in Oregon. His sister Carolina died as a missionary in China.
 
His Father died when John was young. Everyone in the family had to work hard, and John claimed that the hard work stunted his growth. His brothers were tall but he was about 5'5". He had blue eyes and sandy, light red hair. John spoke English well and could read and write. He was a quiet man. He didn't have close friends and kept mostly to himself.  Tradition says John went to this technical school as a young man.
 
John came to America with one of his sisters, probably Bertha. Perhaps his Mother came also. By 1870, his sister Sophia had married and was living with her husband in John's house in Omaha, Nebraska. John also had four single men living in his house, perhaps he ran a boarding house. In the census, he is listed as being a barkeeper. The Lindstroms had a swedish dowager trunk. There is some question how this came to America. When it was refinished in 1958, the name Sven was embossed on the lid. Perhaps this was one of John's boarders from Omaha.
 
John Burke and his family lived two doors away from the Lindstroms in Omaha. They were also Swedish. This is probably where John met his future wife, Emma Fredrika Burke. Emma was Swedish, but hadn't known John in Sweden.
 

Note by Lennart Elg:

In the 1880 US Census, Lars Elg, blacksmith, is listed as a boarder with the Gustaf Edvin Burke family. Even though the listed age is off by a few years, I feel confident that this is Gustaf´s cousin, Lars Erik/ Louis Elg, who emigrated to the U.S. in 1877, and later became a businessman and for a time mayor of Idaho Falls. (see https://elgfamily.blogspot.com/2007/05/man-of-wealth-and-influence.html )
I have independent information which puts Lars/Louis in Omaha, Nebraska around 1880.
 
In October 1870, John and Emma were married in Omaha, Nebraska. they lived there for a while. Their oldest daughter, Lida, was born in Omaha. John got work on the Union Pacific Railroad building the bridge at Blair, Nebraska. He worked with Lars Sutherland, his sister Bertha's husband. When he was eventually transferred to Sherman, Wyoming, he had to leave his wife and daughter in Nebraska. In Sherman he shared a shack with two men he worked with. The shack was log and the door was so low. Everyone had to stoop to enter.
 
Sherman was the highest point of the Union Pacific Railroad with an elevation of 8236 ft. General Dodge had named it for his old Civil War Commander. After the Ames monument was built, the railroad was straightened and didn't run through Sherman anymore. It didn't take long for the town to disappear.
 
Emma stayed in Nebraska, but got tired of being alone. She was a feisty little woman. One day she packed up, caught the train, and went to find John. When she and Lida walked into his shack, it was a mess. She was mad and started picking up things and throwing them around. His two co-workers quickly moved out. John and Emma lived in the newly cleaned shack for the next six months.
 

Photo by Georgia Lewis, abt 1990

The ranch at Tie Siding

 Emma and John had six children; Lida 1871, Hulda 1873, John Oscar 1874, Amanda 1876, John Oscar George 1877, Ed 1884 and Ethel 1887. John Oscar died after a long illness when he was just 18 months old. Ethel died when she was 17. she had female troubles and had never had a period. Her obiturary says she died in Fort Colins where she was being treated for consumption and that she was 18.
 
Hulda, John Oscar, Amanda, and George were born in Lookout, Wyoming. John had been transferred there as section boss. Lookout was about thirty miles from Laramie and was near Dale City. Dale City was a railroad town with about 45 cabins, a dancehall, court room, three hotels and a cemetery. When the bridge over Dale Creek was completed, the town disappeared.
 
A few years later, John homesteaded 160 acres a few miles from Tie Siding, Wyoming. Tie Siding was established in 1868. It was a center for supplying ties for the railroad. John and his family lived a few miles from the town, to the north. He stayed there until a few years before his death.
 
While they were in Tie Siding, John was mainly a rancher. From his house he could hear the train whistles. As an old section boss he liked to hear the trains. Their house was in a valley and the tracks made a large curve right below their pasture. If the coal cars were full, some times coal would fall off as the trains made the curve. John would send the children down to pick up coal that fell off the coal cars. They could usually get enough to keep them all winter. Tie Siding doesn't have much wood close by and this was a help with the winters fuel.

 Emma was the midwife for all the ranches around Tie Siding. She would stay with the family for a few weeks. She´d cook, bake bread and clean, as well as take care of the mother. She usually got paid not in cash but in food and trade items.
 
One winter, Emma decided they needed a new house. John was busy ranching and didn´t have time. When spring came, she and Manda built one. It turned out nice but small. The family lived in it for a few years but Emma was never quite satisfied. Eventually, they moved back to their old house, and George and his wife lived in the new house.

My Grandpa George Lindstrom grew up on the Tie Siding Ranch. He spoke and wrote Swedish, and English. His mother would write to him in Swedish, which drove my Grandmother Martha Ann Butts crazy, since she couldn't read the letters. (A few years ago we had some of the letters translated, and my Grandmother was right, her Mother in law did not like her and was bad mouthing the way she kept house, raised the kids, cooked, et al). My Grandpa and my Grandmother joined the Mormon church, which discourages drinking coffee or tea. My Grandpa always went to church, but could not get away from his coffee. He made his own pot first thing in the morning, and had it at lunch and supper.
 
When they were children, Amanda and George often played together. One day when they were chasing each other around a galvanized tub, Amanda fell and hit her head and was badly hurt. After that, whenever company came, Amanda would be sent to a back room where no one could see her. She learned to read and write, but was always treated differently. In school she was a little slow to learn. The teacher would punish her for a wrong answer by tapping her head with the sharp end of a pencil. One time she tapped so hard and long she made a cut in Amanda´s scalp. The next day, Emma went to school and took care of the teacher. The Lindstrom children never got tapped on the head after Emma told the teacher off. When John died, Lida looked after Emma and Amanda for a while, but eventually Amanda was put in a rest home.
 
John had milk cows and would ship milk to Cheyenne by train. One Year he used some milk money to get Emma an anniversary present. He bought 6 sterling silver spoons and had them engraved for her.
 
Every spring and fall, John would go into Laramie for supplies. He'd drive a team and wagon and take one of his boys. When he'd get to town, the supplies were loaded, then he'd send them home with his boy. He'd stay in town and go on a binge. After a couple of weeks, or when his money ran out, he'd ride the train home. He couldn't remember or wouldn't say where he'd been or what he'd done.
 
At different times, both his sons went into town with him, but his drinking affected them differently. Ed, the youngest loved to drink and had a problem with alcohol. George, was just the opposite, he never drank and wouldn't have it in his house. After one trip to town with his Father, George took the wagon bed off the springs and left it on top of a hill. John couldn't climb up to get it, so he couldn't go to town when he wanted.
 
John could be a strict father. One time Lida and Hulda were digging potatoes. They were complaining and saying their fingers were going to start bleeding. He gave them both a beating so "they would have something to complain about".
 
When Lida and Hulda came of age, the decision was made that they should go into Laramie to find work. One day, John hooked up the team, drove them into town and let them off on a corner. Their Mother had a sister who lived there and they stayed with her until they found jobs. Their Grandmother Burke lived in Laramie too. Lida graduated from the University of Wyoming, and had a teachers certificate. She paid her way, by doing housework for people. Hulda married and had a baby. Three years later she was pregnant again and deceided to have an abortion. Infection set in and she died when she was 22.
 
One fall, John butchered a steer with some help from Emma, Manda and Martha, his daughter in law. He took the meat to town and sold it. With the money he went on a spree. He was a mean drunk and this time he got in a fight and had his jaw broken. He had to wear a rag around his head for a long while to keep the jaw in place. Later he asked his daughter Lida for some money to get it fixed. She paid the bill, but the jaw could never be properly repaired. For the rest of his life, he could only eat soft food.
 
John was a practical man. He worked hard and expected everyone to do the same. He didn't pay George wages for working on the ranch but gave him some cattle of his own. George went to the agricultural college at Ft. Collins, Colorado. He paid his way by working in a green house.
 
John didn't get along very well with his son Ed. When the boy was 13, he left home because his Dad was always on him for being lazy. Ed never did ranchwork on the ranch. He went to Laramie and his sister Lida got him a job in her husbands butcher shop. Ed didn't stay long in town, he went back to the ranch for awhile before going to Ft. Collins to stay with George. When George returned to the ranch, Ed came too.
 
Before he married Emma, John had a son in Sweden. Axel came to Wyoming from Sweden when he was a young man. He was a hard worker and did more than his share. His Father treated him well, but Emma was not happy to have him around. She had not known about him until he knocked on their door one day. Axel got a job in Laramie as a salesman. He had some money when he came, that he loaned to his Dad. John borrowed quite often from Axel and never quite managed to pay back the loans.

Justice western style
by Lennart Elg

Augusta Sofia marries a Charles Connors. Apparently the marriage is not happy, and Augusta Sofia leaves Connors for another man, with dramatic consequenses, as told in this article from the Sept. 1 1892 issue of the Laramie Boomerang. 

Apparently, Mr Cowper was not seriously affected by this treatment, as the couple stayed on in Laramie, and the family is still there.

 

Emma in 1929

Photo from Georgia Lewis

 Final years
by Georgia Lewis

About 1912, John visited Ogden, Utah. His sons Axel and George both lived there. While he was visiting George he was afraid he would roll off the couch where he was sleeping. Before going to bed he would put two chairs with their backs to the couch, so he wouldn't roll off.
 
Eventually, John couldn't keep up with the work on his ranch. He, Emma and Amanda moved to Ogden in 1912. George and Axel were close and helped them get settled. They lived in a little house on 2nd Street. The next winter, he went to the train station to meet his grandson, Osden. They missed each other and Osden took a cab to the house. John waited for him and walked around for several hours. Finally he took the bus and then walked home. He got pneumonia and died two days later at the age of 68. He died in January 1913.
 
George took the body back to Laramie for burial. They went by train which would have made John happy. Hulda's husband had bought a burial plot in Laramie when she died. He let her sister Ethel be buried there and gave the rest of the space to the Lindstroms.
 

Emma, 1929

Photo from Georgia Lewis

When John died, he left his ranch and two houses in Laramie. All were sold. The children, including Axel signed everything over to Emma. She and Amanda stayed in Ogden for awhile then went to Washington to be with Lida. When the money was gone, Emma came to visit George. They talked of having a little house in the back of his yard for her, but nothing ever came of it. While she was visiting in Ogden, she would sit behind the door in a rocker. She´d peek through it as the children came home from school. If someone was fixing a sandwich or eating, she´d click her tongue and say "Poor George", since his kids were eating him out of house and home.
 
After about three months, Emma returned to Washington and stayed with Lida (George´s wife threatened to leave him if her mother-in-law didn´t go). When she was older, Emjma broke her hip. It healed and she could get around with a crutch. When she broke it again in 1935, it seemed to break her spirit. She died ten days later, on November 2, 1935. Lida had her body cremated. A few nights later, the urn was buried in John´s grave in the Laramie Cemetery.

Postscript by Lennart Elg

Patrick Cowper

Photo by Ritva Elg

On a visit to Laramie in 2011 we were able to see the remains of the Lindstrom ranch, with the help of Patrick Cowper (1930-2013). Patrick was a great grandson of Christina Elg and John Burke, and owned a ranch southeast of Laramie. We would never have been able to find the place on our own: The excursion involved miles of dirt road across ranch land with numerous gates and ”No Trespassing” signs. But of course Patrick knew all the owners.
At the time, we were in Laramie to celebrate the 90th birthday of another Elg relation, Everett Johnson. When I told Everett about our excursion, it turned out he at met Patrick on several occasions when ranch owners gathered, but he had no idea they were third cousins..

The ranch at Tie Siding, in 2011

Photo by Lennart Elg

And in the summer of 2025, we had the pleasure of showing Patrick's daughter Donna and her family their Swedish roots on an excursion to Gravendal, Sweden, where Christina Elg was born and grew up. Some of the old mill buildings are still standing, including the blacksmith shop where Christina's father Lars Elg worked.

Gravendal, August 2025

Photo by Ritva Elg

Emma´s grandfather, Lars Elg (1789-1853)

at his blacksmith shop in Gravendal

The Elges of Montana

I have written a longer document about an extended family of Elges who emigrated to  Helena, Montana, in 1887, mostly to work in the gold mines there.

You can downpoad it as a PDF :

The Elges of Montana  

Lennart, 12 Feb. 2025