ANDERSON FAMILY OF ULRIKA, OSTERGOTLAND, SWEDEN
Sophia Amanda Anderson, was born Amanda Sophia Anders' daughter on 11 March 1876 in Vestra-Hag, Parish, Ostergotland, Sweden. Here is a picture of her in after she immigrated to the United States.
Amamnda came to Iowa in 1892, as a young girl of 16.
Her brother, Gustave pictured below, preceded her to Iowa.
Her sister, Anna, came to the Iowa soon after and later married Elof Nordfeldt. They had two daughters, Anna and Helen. Anna died at age 7 in 1909. I have scores of pictures of this family. I am just putting one "on the web."
Her half-brother, Gottfried "Andy" Anderson also came to Iowa. Here he is in his WWI uniform.
This is a picture of her father, Anders (Andrew) and her two younger brothers, Andreas and Hymar who stayed in Sweden. This picture was taken in the summer of 1893. Andreas was 15, Hymar was 19 and Andrew was 47 to 49. Andreas drown the next year. Card from his funeral is at right.
Two pictures of Amanda. The second shows her with her mandolyn.
Her school records shows she lived at the farm Runnedalen.
This picture was taken in the mid-1990s. The pictures from her childhood indicate that her father lived in a smaller house on this larger farm. I suspect he was a tenent. When we visited in 1980, the then current owner showed us how the old oven and other items had been preserved. Since then the farm has been purchased by Hymar's descendants.
This is the church at Ulikra, From the old pictures we have it looks the same as it did when she left. I have not located the picture I took in 1980, until then this is a drawing from the front of a special service held at the church in 1997.
In 1980, we visited Hymar's daughter, Maria, her children and their families who still live in Sweden near this same area.
This is Maria and her daughter Marta. Marta turned 70 in May 2002, so this picture was taken about 1934-1935.
Who are Ruth and Agnes whose picture was found with other Anderson photos?
Many people left this area for the United States. Peter Cassel organized the departures. In Kisa, they have a day each year honoring him and welcoming back the descendants of those immigrants.
Here is map of the area of Sweden where Amanda was born.
Here is the poster from the Peter Cassel days.
Sophia Amanda left Iowa to work at the St. Louis World's Fair. Here she is in a picture of waitresses who worked at the fair. If you want to see the original print, it has been donated to the Missouri State Historical Society located on the campus of the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. The orginal is fairly large, but it is still difficult to pick out an individual unless you know where she is. Sorry, we did not have a key to the names of the people pictured. If you know the name(s) of anyone in the picture, please contact the Historical Society as they would like to identify as many individuals as possible. Thank you.
GO TO
jehodges@email.com
or snail mail
Joyce (Moore) Hodges
17952 168th ST South
Bonner Springs, KS 66012
Surname List: Surnames, dates and locations for major names I am working on or cousins I am trying to contact
Lippelmann Family: of St. Louis, Cincinnatti, OH, Springfield, MO
Hodges Family: Beginning with 3 children orphaned "enroute" to Arkansas in mid 1830s - Jesse, Emaline and Lafayette