A new homeland

Dear folks,

Göran's son #2 - August Göranson, later calling himself John Goranson (the Goranson's)

What a joy when Kristina Salomonsdotter arrived to White Rock in South Dakota with the four kids being 7, 5, 3 and 1 years old to meet her husband August again after having been parted for a year. He now called himself John and had rented a place for his family at the Frank Johnson farm.

Edna Goranson tells us in her story that sorrow soon was to follow this happy event. Kristina's sister Anna, who came along to help with the kids was not happy in her new country. Her homesickness made her decide that she was going to return. To save the money she cooked for a bachelor, a cousin of August. Sadly Anna suddenly took sick. She died of pneumonia, probably in the year of 1889 and a return ticket was no longer needed.

My brother-in-law, that is my wife's brother Jonas Persson went to White Rock too, in 1892. He was 77 years old emigrating. Probably it is his photograph you can see on the picture to the right. His daughter Stina was married to Gust Magnusson and they had left for America earlier, between 1876 and 1889. They lived just across the road from Frank Johnson's place. Jonas had remarried and his second wife was called Brita-Stina Andreasdotter. Together they had a daughter called Ingrid Augusta who was later to be married to Gonnar Goranson, born in 1882, the oldest son of August.

Edna Goranson tells us that Stina and Gust Magnusson where the folks that her dad August came to when arriving from Sweden. She is now reminding me that I should take a break not to make her remarkable story too downloaded with names and facts no person except genealogists wants to know. I'm sure she is right with that intuition ;-)

At Frank Johnson's farm my granddaughter Miriam was born in 1889. I showed you her picture earlier. In 1891 she had a little brother always called Willie, but given the name Joshua Wilhelm Goranson. He was born 20th May and baptized in the church of White Rock 8th June 1891. This is what he look like on the family photo, sent home to Sweden some years later when all their kids were born. Can it have been a gift for my wife, their mother, when Oscar returned to Sweden in that year of grace in 1903?

With love from my heaven,

your great grandfather Goran.