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A Tale of Three Brothers

 

This is the genealogy of three Lindgren brothers after their arrival in America.  Oral history indicates that the Patronym (father's surname) was originally Anderson (or Andersson - the extra s was later dropped).  Oral history also indicated that an Anderson man took his wife's name of Lindgren because there were too many 'Ander's Sons' in the area. 

However, recent information supplied by Donna Tyburec indicates that these brothers adopted the Lindgren surname upon arrival in America.  If this information is correct, then it was the surname of Andersson, which was adopted by the husband. 

(Their Possible Familyclick here)

The Three Brothers:

 Anders Alfred "Andrew" (Andersson) Lindgren, born 30 September 1840, died 08 February 1908

Nels F. Lindgren, born 12 May 1847, died 09 February 1916

Edward William Lindgren, born 25 February 1851, died 07 September 1933.

 

The Lindgren Surname

The name Lindgren is one of the more common names in Sweden.  The name translates literally as a "branch of the Linden tree".   Sometimes a lower status man would take the name of a higher status wife. This may be what happened with the Anders Nilsson/Maja Andersdotter marriage.

None of the known brothers had a wife with the surname Lindgren.  So, how they came to choose Lindgren as their surname, is still a mystery.

Why They Left Sweden

Factors leading to the migration to America included a population boom in Sweden and lack of jobs.  In the 1860's, several years of bad weather caused crops to fail. Famine stalked the land when imported wheat and potatoes proved too costly for poverty-stricken citizens to purchase.  Letters arriving from America painted pictures of hope, and the mass migration of the late 1800's began.

Oral history supplied by Bill & Donna Lindgren (Edward's line) suggests that the father of these brothers (Anders Nilsson?) was a member of the Royal Swedish Guard, and that the brothers chose to emigrate to America to avoid the Swedish Army's universal draft.

Coming To America

The three brothers arrived in America and joined friends and relatives who had set up a Swedish community in Knox County, Illinois. According to an interview with Hazel Shanahan, conducted by Mark Schmidt, the brothers worked in the coal mines there. 

 Anders came to America in 1865, Nels arrived in 1868, and Edward arrived in 1870.  It is probable that, like so many other Swedish families, this family pooled resources to pay passage for Anders, who then worked to help pay passage for his brothers. 

After living several years in Knox County, some of the more adventurous Swedes packed their belongings and headed off to homestead the new lands opening up in Dakota Territory. 

According to Hazel, Edward bought a parcel of land in what became Nebraska, and the three brothers divided it up into their respective parcels.  Edward is listed in US censuses in Saunders County, NE for 1880 through 1920.

Nels was living in Saunders County by March of 1876, when his son, Adolph was born.  Anders and his family were  settled in Mariposa Township, near Wahoo in Saunders County by April of 1878 when their daughter, Hulda, was born. 

Susanna Andersdotter Carlstrom, possible sister-in-law, arrived with her surviving children in 1886. She was living in Mariposa Twp., Saunders Co., NE, at the time of the 1900 US Census, as were her 4 adult children. 

At some point, Edward purchased land on what became the border between  Boyd County, Nebraska and Gregory County, South Dakota. He sold this farm on contract to his son, Arthur (Art). Upon Art's death, his sons operated the farm, and the family of one son, Darold, still own the place. 

In 1905, Charles followed his Uncle Ed northward, buying a farm located east of Fairfax, Gregory County, South Dakota.

Special thanks go to Donna (Abbey) Tyburec, whose information provided most of the foundation upon which I was able to connect the branches of this family tree,  and to Dwayne E. Lindgren for his oral history which helped to fill out the branches. Also, thank you Lorean Schoepf, for filling in many of the blanks on the Julius Lindgren line!  Additional thanks to Tommy Jacobsson for his research on the Swedish side of the family history.

There are still plenty of blank spaces to be filled, and contributions of information or corrections are always welcomed.

I'm especially lacking information on the descendants of Amanda L. Lindgren & her husband, John Theodore Olson.

 

Update History

(Click link above to view older History)

 

Updated Dec 2019 - multiple entries across the website to incorporate new information from the Nebraska marriages database on familysearch.org, and information provided by Tommy Jacobsson, Swedish genealogist.

Updated 22 Sep 2018 - multiple entries in multiple families to incorporate new information added to "Three Brothers" book and the FTM database.  Thank you to all the contributors who submitted additions and corrections these past several months.

Updated 16 Sep 2018 to include Cillian O'Keefe

Updated 13 Mar 2018 to include obituary for Norman Glen Olson.

Updated 9 Feb 2017, to include death information for Donald Emfrey Olson. Also updated information on Warren Rhea Olson family.

Disclaimer:  Information presented on this site is as accurate as I can make it.  However, it relies heavily on secondary source information.  Therefore, be careful when using this information as a research tool.  Always refer to original sources whenever possible.

If you find that there is an error in the data presented, or if you have information that can assist to fill in blanks in the data, please contact the webmaster.  All corrections and contributions of information are gladly accepted.

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Copyright © 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 by Rene B. Kantack. 

contact e-mail:  Renekan2003@gmail.com