More from Oscar's family up to 1903

Good evening,
Göran's son #1 Oscar with family (The Oscarson's)


Time has come to tell you about Amanda. Know there are some of you out there especially interested. Her first name was Amanda Cecilia Göransdotter, i e the daughter of Göran which is me! She and her sisters kept the name Goranson but their two brothers used the name Oscarson. So the heading above is a little misleading, but as the girls name changed when they married the descendants from Oscar on the male side are called the Oscarsons!


The year of 1878, the month of October as the time for Amanda's birth we can all agree upon. But the priest writing the 11th October as her date of birth might have had a drink or two too much because descendants of Amanda are sure she celebrated her birthday on the 14th October, nothing else. Drinking priest was not that unusual and for that matter, it could be a tiny slip up which must be excused down on earth as it is in heaven. Amanda was born in Näs, just outside the town of Ljungby, as her father and mother lived there since they were newly wed in 1871. At her baptizm 26th October 1878 her aunt Kristina, mum's sister and her husband Johannes Svensson were present. The name of the priest was L. Fries who also served when Amanda's sisters were baptized. When Amanda was about a year old they moved back to Hovdinge North Farm where her father Oscar was born, about 4 kilometres away.


When Amanda was 11 her family left for the country across the ocean, America. They first stayed in Chesterton, Indiana from 1889 and then in 1991 to White Rock in South Dakota. In 1902, when Amanda was 24 years old she looked like the picture at the top. Is there a wedding photo somewhere? The 31st May 1902 she married Mr Axel Dahlstrom, born in 1875 in Gräsmark in the province of Värmland in Sweden. Added as a reply to the question just put is here a contribution from Amanda's grandson:

My son Oscar travelled back to his former home in Hovdinge at Christmas 1903. He had then become a grandfather of a little girl given the name Amy. In 1903, 20th April, this little girl was born to the newly married couple Amanda and Axel Dahlstrom. During that following summer of 1903 they immigrated to Canada, to Macoun Saskatchewan from Souris in North Dakota to begin a three year process to obtain free land (Quarter Section = 160 acres). This is information given to my secretary from my beloved great grandson in Kanata, Ontario, Canada:

To get title the homesteader was required to live on the quarter section for 6 months of each year. Build living quarters and a barn for livestock. Break 15 acres of prairie land each of the three years and crop same. At the end of three years and showing proof that the homesteader had met all homestead conditions and upon payment of ten dollars title to the designated quarter vested in his/her name.

According to this little daughter of Amanda it was routine for them to return to White Rock, South Dakota each fall to stay with her grandparents (Oscar & Carolina) until the following spring. Amanda would have likely seen her father off on his return trip to Ljungby that Christmas of 1903.

With love, Göran.