Vreta Kloster, Östergötland, Sweden

Located about 12 kilometers northwest of Linköping, we visited Vreta kloster 6/22/01, and were lucky to find the church open and Professor Paul Reinicke, a parishioner there, to act as a guide and interpreter for us. He was so knowledgeable, having written a book on the parish history. He took us from one end to the other, explaining the rich history. There is evidence that people lived in this area from about 4000 BC. and some of that is displayed in the church museum.
The oldest part of the present day church, a three naved basilica with transept and side isles, dates back to mid 1000 AD. (tombstones from 1060) In 1125 a royal crypt was added to transept with an extension in the south as a burial place for members of one of Sweden's oldest royal families. A crown hangs over a burial chamber, indicated royalty was buried underneath. The octangular burial vaults of the Douglas family were built in 1663, and now contain five copper coffins, this family is the owner of the nearby Stjärnorp Castle.
The church tower was built in the 18th century to replace the middle age gabled structure and in 1914 the church was given a restoration followed by another in 1988. The front of the church was at one time for nuns and the regular parishioners sat in the second sanctuary. There were numbers on the pew doors and he said those numbers once were used by different farms in the area, each family having their place to sit. The pulpit in German and Italian style was presented to the church in 1658.
The actual cloister appears to have been founded in about 1110, considered to be Sweden's oldest known monastery. The Abby was reconsecrated in 1289 and its present character and appearance is preserved from this date.
A nunnery and Abby, was a place where travelers could find refuge, the old could be taken care of and it was sort of a hospital also. Monastery buildings were partly excavated in 1916-1926. The excavated portion of the Abbey and Nunnery is now a place where many people's ashes are laid to rest after cremation.
While trying to find connections of my ancestors to this parish, I find my 8th GGrandparents (on my Swanson side) Hemming Olofsson, Nämnderman in Gullbergs härad 1669-1671 (d. 1671), and his wife Elin (d. 1646) were both buried in Vreta Kloster. 7th GGrandparents Olof Hemmingsson was born about 1632 in Tyttorp, Vreta Kloster and married Maria Larsdotter, born about 1645 in Sågen, Vreta Kloster. They were married in 1664 in Vreta Kloster. Olof was a nämndeman, a lay judge for Gullbergs houndred.
Left: The door handle to the church. I wonder if any of my ancestors placed their hand on this handle as I did?
My 5 and 4th Great Grandparents (on my Johnson line) lived in this parish. 5th GGrandparents Anders Johnson (1707 - 1790), and Maria Persdotter (1701 - 1780) both died at Brink, Vreta Kloster. I have these notes on Maria, "...she was first married with the widower Hans Tyrsson. This marriage last for 15 years and she gave birth to 5 children, one son and four daughters. After 1 1/2 year of widowhood she married Anders Jonsson and give the birth to two girls of which one was still alive the year 1780. Her (Maria´s) health had always been good but with rising age only worse and worse and her last four years confined to bed. She never complained till her transformation occurred on Dec. 21, 1780 in an aged of 79 years." Sourse: WHF 68-412. My 4th GGrandparents Anders Bengtson, a farmer, (1738 - 1805), and his wife Maria Andersdotter, (1742 - 1831) lived in Brink, Vreta Kloster Parish.
My 4th GGrandparents Nils Månsson (1779-1811) and Anna Maja Larsdotter (1776-1848) were married in Vreta Kloster in 1801. Both of Nils parents died when he was 2 years old and he was raised by his Uncle Nils Nilsson in Pålstorp, Vreta Kloster. Nils and Anna both died in Solberg, Vreta Kloster. Although Nils died at the age of 31, he and Anna had four children. Their son Magnus Nilsson was born in 1804, at Segerstorp, Vreta Kloster. He married Maje Persdotter. My Grandmother Phoebe left handwritten notes about her GG Grandparents; "With much patience Magnus (1804-1871) raised his children, he was an upright man but suffered rheumatism, lived to old age. Maje (1805-1859) was very kind but grief overtook her after death of younger children and she died middle aged in an asylum." (note from Phoebe Swanson Johnson) Their daughter Greta was married to Adolph Swanson in Brohemmet, Ljung in 1860, and were my GG Grandparents who immigrated to the US in 1889.
Of course there are many cousin connections to Vreta Kloster as well in my records.
Above: A view from the church looking towards Lake Roxen and Linköping in the distance.
Left: This barn was across the road from the church. We found it interesting as it had a road going up into the second floor.

Eating at Hell's Kitchen

When we were in Minneapolis, a couple weekends ago for the NAEA convention we went to a restaurant called Hell's Kitchen. We were told it was rated the number one place for breakfast in the cities. Well, we found time to go there for supper instead, and still found the food great.
I had a sandwich that was described as their most popular sandwich on the menu, a walleye BLT. Sounds a little out of the norm, but it was delicious and I recommend it if you get a chance to eat there!
While waiting for our table there was time to explore and check out the decor. The red and black walls, cow skulls hanging on the wall, chandeliers with silverware and knives, black birds perched on trees and branches all gave the place atmosphere. Although not scary at all it was fun to check it out.
The bathroom was another adventure with eerieness. The photos on the wall looked old and normal until you walked past them, the images changed to ghostly scenes that changed before your eyes.
A person had to laugh as you saw them change, and while we were in there taking photos, I'm sure those wanting to use the facilities thought we were a little scary too, being in the bathroom with cameras.

Travel Delay

Well, got up early this am and my friend Kem came in to pick me up a little before 5:30 am. We got some snow last night and it's still snowing this am. (not a whole lot but on top of what we had, it's enough) Saw a few cars in the ditch as we inched along down to Waterloo, it was tough to see where the road lane was, good thing it was a 4 lane highway. As soon as we walked into the airport they brought the news that my flight was just canceled. I'm rebooked for a flight tonight but won't get into Phoenix until midnight, so I may see Santa while in flight. (hopefully I'll be in the air)

The lutfisk will have to wait until tomorrow... Winter travel is the pits.

Hopefully you make it to your holiday festivities.

My Grandpa Joe Johnson with his Franklin car in our driveway back home on the farm. At least I'm not doing winter traveling in an open car like this, side curtains or not!

4 Days and Counting

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder
My first Christmas, 1958

Only four days until I'm to fly out of Waterloo to Phoenix for Christmas with my family. We've got a blizzard warning for later tonight and tomorrow as more snow comes along with winds. Snow is also forecasted for Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'm crossing my fingers that my flight takes off early Wednesday morning. It brings back to mind Christmas 2006, when my flight was canceled out of Waterloo and good friends drove me through the thick fog to Des Moines to catch another flight to Phoenix via Detroit. The problem is, if a flight gets canceled, who knows when your next opportunity to get a flight will come.

Christmas Morning 1963, Debbie and I with our Barbie and Ken dolls. Mine was actually a Midge, Barbie's best friend. My Ken had blond hair and Deb's had brown. No chances of getting our dolls mixed up. Good thinking Mom.

Yesterday we got 9.7 inches of snow here in Denver, which led to school being canceled again. I busied myself with tasks around the house and an errand or two after the snow stopped and the driveway and street was cleared.
I watched a squirrel diving into the snow. It would stand on a drift in my backyard and suddenly dive down into the snow until it would totally disappear, tail and all, most likely in search of treasures down at ground level. Too bad I didn't have a video camera. Was it hard at work or just having fun? Can the two be done at the same time? I think that answer is YES.

Takes Your Breath Away

Kids, some of the things they do just leave you speechless. We can watch a sleeping baby for hours and feel the love and wonder of God's miracle or see a toddler perform on cue and think we need to catch a photo of that, to prove to them it happened once. Probably for that reason, Mom took this photo of the Johnson kids in the tub in 1958.
You have to admit, we're kind of cute in there.

There's nothing better than coming home. This is a view of my parents home from the top of the driveway. The house is on top of a hill so you don't get the full effect of being home until you reach this point in the driveway.

Uppsala, Sweden. Our group of four stopped in Uppsala in 2001, to visit with my Swedish brothers from my student exchange days in 1975. We stopped at Uppsala and connected with them and their families for an evening. They took us sightseeing before having a family reunion outside of the city. This view as the sun sets takes me back to that day.

In Stockholm we decided to ride the subway back to our hotel after a long day of sightseeing. It was only about 4 blocks to our hotel but we decided we were tired and would explore the underground railway which had a station stop underneath our hotel. Little did we realize, was that we traveled down level after level until our laughter wouldn't stop with the steep escalators going down, down, down to meet our train. We figured we went down as far as we could have walked to our hotel! They were the longest, steepest excalators I've ever seen, one after another.

Paco Rosic's spray can art interpretation of the Sistine Chapel in Waterloo, IA. Yes, this ceiling was painted with spray cans of paint! It's even more amazing to see in person.




Maybe it's the farm girl in me that has led me to appreciate nature. It's a simple lizard climbing a brick wall. I wonder if it knew I was there taking it's photo or if it even cared.

The Sioux River Falls in Sioux Falls. The power and magic of waterfalls, I'm fascinated by waterfalls. I love watching the water fly over the rocks and have searched out waterfalls wherever I travel. Luckily this one is close to "home".

Brohemmet, Ljung, Östergötland, Sweden

Built in the 1700's, the old home in Sweden is still standing, but a new house was built behind it. The new house is also named Brohemmet.


The Swedish-English translation of Brohemmet is Bridge Home. The river Motala Ström seperates Brohemmet from the Ljung parish church. So I imagine it was the home nearest the bridge to cross the river.
Above: the Ljung Castle and bridge across the river in the distance, taken from the driveway to Brohemmet.
When our ancestors lived in Brohemmet the owners of Ljung, were until 1862, the von Fersen family (they went bankrupt) and then the von Mecklenburg family bought the estate. They sold Ljung in 1906. Then the Lindström family bought it and sold it again in the 1920's to the Möller family. The brother of the owner of Ljung's estate is the one who has built and lives in the new Brohemmet, just behind the old house, his name is Mats Nordenhed. We were so welcomed to this house because by chance I had met Inger Nyberg on a genealogy message board on-line and she is on the board of a group of women restoring and giving tours of the Ljung Castle. She is good friends with Anna Karin who lives in a house next to the Ljung Castle on the grounds. Her family is the owners of the estate. Days after touring Brohemmet, she and Inger gave us a private tour of the Ljung castle, that will have to be another posting someday.
I had seen the house from the road back in 1975 when I was an exchange student traveling with my host family, but being a shy 17 year old had never approached the then owners.
How can I explain walking through the doors of this house with my Mom, Aunt and Cousin 26 years later? A large lump formed in my throat almost immediately. The home was much larger than we expected and even large by old Swedish standards.
We all snapped photos and Robin took a few videos shots although there was some trouble with the camera. These photos are all Robins, mine are still not scanned, taken in my pre-digital days.
There were two rooms on each floor, one small and the other large. The smallest room was in front of us and the larger room to the right. The small room on the ground floor was used as a kitchen. All had their own huge fireplace.







The chimneys all met in the center of the house to radiate heat and warm the house from the center.
A curving staircase with tightly spaced steps connected in the front hallway on both floors. The current owner was using the house as an artist studio so there were paintings, easels and furnishings in the house to add to the comfort and atmosphere we experienced.

My GGG Grandfather Sven Svensson was a torpare (tenant farmer who farmed some land owned by the Ljung Estate in return for working for the estate family for a number of days by contract) at Brohemmet and died there October 8, 1860.
Sven and his wife Katerina Larsdotter had seven children born at Brohemmet, three dying under the age of one. Their oldest Sven Johan died at age 22. Their three remaining sons were Karl August, Adolph Frederik and Alfred. Karl and Adolph immigrated to the U.S. Karl and his family in 1869 and Adolph and his entire family came to the US in 3 different trips between 1887-1889. Alfred stayed in Sweden and was the master gardener at the Stjärnorp Castle. We met some of his descendants on our trip there in 2001.

There were two outbuildings still standing from the time of our ancestors. One a storage building where they most likely kept their food supplies and the other a small building to put the animals is now converted to a garden shed. The current owners are Helene and Mats (newlyweds for one month when we were visiting) had refreshments set up on the lawn and we enjoyed sitting there taking in the atmosphere and talking about the history of Brohemmet and Ljung parish. Mats had lived there since around 1994 in the new Brohemmet just north of the old house.
Brohemmet is now available for rent by the week or day! So relatives please check out the link and plan to stay there on your next trip! When searching on line I even found a link to a site from Sweden that prints Brohemmet T-shirts and caps!

Piedras Blancas Rookery

Northern Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris)
Protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, they are expanding their range outward from remote islands and are now colonizing selected mainland beaches such as The Piedras Blancas rookery on Highway 1, seven miles north of San Simeon on the California Central Coast.






Home to about 15,000 animals, the area is open for viewing every day of the year.






Hunted nearly to extinction for their oil-rich blubber, elephant seals have made a remarkable comeback.
Elephant seals come ashore and form colonies for only a few months of each year to give birth, breed and molt. The rest of the year the colonies disperse and individuals spend most of their time in pursuit of food, a quest which involves swimming thousands of miles and diving to great depths.













Elephant seals move by pulling with their foreflippers and heaving their bodies forward. Flipping sand onto it’s back is a common habitual behavior which helps to keep the animal cool and protected from direct sunlight. There is a tremendous difference in size and appearance between males and females.


I took these photos on a cool afternoon in June of 2006.
We enjoyed watching the seals interact and move across the sand and were amazed at the speed they could move.







There were a few young males sparring with each other in the waves of the beach while we were there but my camera’s telephoto lens wouldn’t capture them at that distance. There was a constant moan, bark or “chatter” from some of them, one can only wonder what they were talking about.