98. April, 1927 Part 3.

Jonas Victor Swenson again remembers his childhood country, and misses his wife five years after her death.  Roselyn


Clay Center, Kansas
April, 1927 Part 3


     How are you?  Have they done anything with the moving of houses in Hamra?  Is there any business with the wood?  Have they been able to sell? 
     I did not know how to reward you for what I learned in your letters, so I thought I would send the newspaper.  Perhaps you have received it.  Let me know.
     When I am sitting alone, my thoughts go to Sweden where my childhood was. I know that I have it better here, than what I would have had it there.  I remember my native country and appreciate it.  For forty years, I cultivated my farm here, and as long as I did that, I did not think so much about my native country.
     It has been five years, June 7, since my wife died.  I think the time has gone relatively quickly, but many days have been long, and many times my eyes have been filled with tears.
     During this time, everybody has taken good care of me, but what I miss is "my great companion".  The day is coming soon when I will be at my wife's side.  My God's will happen!
     Now I finish my long letter.  My wish is that you all are well.  The reunion will come.       
    Now, I just think how valuable it is that we can have contact with letters, though my writing is bad.
     When you can, do send me a letter, so I get to know how you are and what is happening in Hamra.


        J.V. Svenson
        My address is as usual,
        J.V. Svenson
        Randolph, Kansas, America








     

About Spakarp in 1914

 My cousins, Rune and Irene Elofsson,  who translated all the letters, gave me these pictures.  They appear in a Farm Museum in Sweden.  Roselyn    

Spakarp in 1914

     These are pictures of the house at Spakarp in 1914.  All Swedish farms had names.  The cone shapes in the front yard are not decorative umbrellas. They are bee "skipes" or hives.  The ladder shows that the family was doing some roof repair at that time.  Family members may be seen in the top picture.  Since the pictures are in black and white, we don't know the color of the house.

     The 2006 picture of the house retains the stone posts in the front yard.  Many years ago, a road passed between the house and barn and turned to the left.  Signs of that road remain today and lead to the old school about 1/4 mile away. 
     The bottom picture shows Jonas Victor's nephew Anton Gustafsson hauling hay to the barn in 1939.
      

54. About Spakarp

Spakarp was the name of the farm where the Swen Jonsson family lived after they bought it in 1850. I think it was built in the late 1600's and had  been Royal property, as much of                                     Sweden was at one time.  

        It is a large two family home with a wall completely separating the entry halls and stairways between them. There are two huge fireplaces that heated the kitchens (also used for cooking), living rooms, and  bedrooms on the first floor and the large upstairs rooms that now can sleep up to 12,  I believe, with bunks around the room.  I assume the family used both sides of the house.

Fireplace in old kitchen

 The family that owns it now, spent several years remodeling and restoring the buildings surrounding the house.  They have modernized one half of the house, with a bathroom and a modern kitchen, and left the other half as it was long ago, with many old antique farm tools and other things.  It is a beautiful place with a long driveway up from the road.  It is surrounded by a forest, pasture, cattle and even an old school on the property.  

Playing an old game in the yard at Spakarp

     Daughter Susan and I spent two nights there, along with cousin Per, Asa and their two daughters Emma and Amanda.  It was fun to be there.  At dusk, as we watched the young family playing an old game in the yard, I could imagine the days when my Grandmother Matilda had visited her grandparents at Spakarp, before they moved to America.  I could almost see her playing in the yard.    
     If you want to read and know more about Spakarp today, click on the link below.  It is a web site from the family who own Spakarp.  It is used for family gatherings. And also can be rented by the week during the summer months.  Some families come back each summer for a vacation.                   
     You can see pictures and more information on this link.  The language is in English but can be read in Swedish,  as well.  It is so nice that this old Swenson family  home can be seen by others. 
Roselyn

http://spakarp.se/SpakarpENG/index.htm