Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Grandma's Little Black Book

My great grandmother, Esther (Stenman) Jonsson had a little black address book in her possession when she passed away. I remember receiving a few things of hers. Some I chose, (like her little glass blue bird of happiness) and some were just passed to me, and some kind of just ended up at our house. This little black "address" book was one. It's worn and falling apart, but her writing is still clear.

Now, I use the term "address" book loosely, as there are probably about as many un-named recipes jotted down in here are there are actual addresses. That fact in itself is kind of a testament to who she was. A mighty, mighty fine baker. :) 
I believe it's a recipe for some kind of koffebrod, along with someone's address on North Clark St. in Chicago.(Which I will take a moment to mention was kind of the Swedish hang out back in the day)



So, I wanted to do a little something different. I wanted to look up a few of these folks in her little black book and see what I can find about them, and maybe how they are linked together. 

Some will be easy. Like this one. That's Aunt Helen and Uncle Torkel. Next! ;)
But the others on the pages may not be so easy. So I will go one by one and see what comes up. 

Before all of that though, I will post the pages she had, and tag names and maybe families will come across them in search engines. By sharing this information, I hope to find people that are related to these people to exchange some photos with that may help to identify some unknown Swedes in photos I have. Wouldn't that be lovely!

I will write the information as I see it in the captions below the photos. If there is anything I am unsure about, I will mark it with an *
If you, dear reader, see something different than I do, please leave a comment referencing the error. 
The more eyes the merrier!

To me, this looks like Edith Björkman @ 15 Stove St. *Jamestown* And below, Uno Broman 562 Ohio, Gary (Possibly Gary, Indiana?)



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On the Left: Carl T. Carlson. Under Phone # she had Newcastle 1636. On Right: Algot Carlson, Morkl? Ädelfors (can't read the small print below those two words. In Vetlanda, Småland. Followed by the name Edith Björkman.   Below: Svea Carlson of 3554 LeClare (I did look for the address and there is one in Muskegon, Mi. I know she had cousins in Michigan) Last: David Chidlow of Villa Park, IL. This man is obviously a neighbor to them.  

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First, an obvious address with no name. Next, It looks like N.B. Foster  Esther, Inad gårdgatare 3, Stockholm, Sweden
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Let's start up top with John R. Hanson, 26 Ostergade, Copenhagen, Denmark ( I believe a Hanson Scientific Corp. first employed my ggrandfather Helge, and I wonder if this has any relation to that) Below: Nils Harde, Maskin Shop(d)* , Jönköping (in Sweden, obviously.) rek. rulle swan*  Below, by the address I can tell is their next door neighbor, Clim* Hoffmann, 628 Oakland Ave, Villa Park
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Östen Ostrom, 3822 N. Panama, Chicago (I know we do have Ostrom family that emigrated also.)
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Nels Ostrom, Pepperridge Road, Stamford, Conn
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C. Persson, 14833 Skeiler, Midlothian, IL - 4575 B.I.
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Looks like a repeat of Svea? Same address....
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Arvid Wallsten, 1658 W. Olive St.

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I don't really know what all this is about, BUT.... it was in there....

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We already know the top address is her sister Helen (Formerly Hulda) and Torkel Svenonius. Below them, it looks like Johan Sonnson*, 6471 North West Highway, with the telephone number below. Last on the page is Helge Fellberg, 1519 W. Carmen
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If any of these names and addresses look familiar to you, please feel free to contact me. I have a number of photos of Esther and Helge with their Swedish friends here in Chicago, that I cannot identify. I'd be happy to look them over with you and see if we can match any faces! If nothing else, it would be interesting to know who my great grandparents were friends with. 

Regards!
Dani