57. January 25, 1919

In this letter, Jona Victor  writes about his wife's poor health, his garden, and, of course, his business.  He also mentions Prohibition.  Roselyn


Cleburne, Ks, January 25, 1919
     Dear Brother Albert with Family,  God's Peace!
     I have not heard anything from you, nor have I written to you for a long time, so I thought I would do that now.  The last letter I got I remember that your daughter was at home and was engaged.  I think I have written a letter after that, but do not know if you received it.  Now that the war is finished, perhaps the letters will be more sure to arrive.
     We are at the farm, which is half leased out.  We get feed for two horses, half of the milk, wood delivered and half of everything they sell.
     I am well for my age, but my wife is not well.  She has been in bad health for some years.  She had cancer in the lower part of the backbone, so we were at a hospital.  She was operated on two times.  The rectum was removed, so evacuation is over the groin on the stomach.   They also removed the lower part of her backbone.  The wounds are still not healed.
     When she came home, she did all the work in the house for eleven months, but after that she fainted and was dizzy and her nerves were bad.  She can not read, but she is up most of the day.  She goes to church, but I have to help her to the carriage and to the chair in church.  
     Hans and Lovisa's oldest daughter, Hulda, cooks and takes care of the house.  She is not married.  She will soon be 60 years old.  It is a marvel that my wife is still alive.  It is because of God's help.
     Everything else is good.  I do a little work every day.  We have 175 hens, and also have bees and many things to repair.  When spring comes, I plant the vegetable garden with cabbages, onions, beans, peas, beetroots, carrots, tomatoes and other sorts.
     We had a bad grain harvest, but the wheat and the feedstuff were good.  Everything is unusually expensive, cattle and swine, and also grain and wheat, but it works well for the farmers.
     None of our children lives at home at the farm.  They are busy with business.  When it is good weather in the summer, they come with a car and visit us.  Everybody here has a car, even farmhands.
     Dear Brother, send us a letter so we can hear how you are.  Is Anton at home, or what does he do?  Ask him to write.  Is sister Fia still alive?  Where do Oskar and Gottfrid live?  Selma Johansson, who lives near us here in America, visited Anders Peter's son in Fruhammar.  Where do they live?  Send regards to her from us.
     I suppose that farms are expensive, when everything else is so expensive.
     While I was writing this letter, the paper and money for our cattle and swine came from Kansas City, so I will tell you the price.  We sold 21 bullocks, 17 cows and 74 swine.  We received $7,220.50.  This is not much in relation to the prices of cattle for you, but much of the beef and pork will be sent to Europe, where the price will be higher.  We have 30 swine left.  Last year we had 53 calves.
     Now I will finish.  I hope you can read the letter.  Perhaps this will be my last letter.  May God help us so we come through all obstacles and are happily saved home with God.
     Kindest regards to all.   J.V. Swenson
     After I had finished the letter, I received a newspaper and saw that the whole United States will have a sobriety law next year.  When that day comes, no pubs will be allowed to serve alcohol.  It is a good example for other countries.


     

56. Undated (Between 1918 and 1922)

This undated latter from Jonas Victor Swenson is after the end of World War I--1918, and before June 7, 1922--the date of his wife Anna Greta's death.  We learn a little of Anna Greta's life and things she does.  Would her church have made quilts at their "sewing meeting" as Swedish church women did for many years?   Roselyn


Cleburne,  Christmas Time.


Dear Brother Albert and Family.  God's Peace!
     I will try to write once again.  I have written a letter to you and Anders Petter in Hamra, but I have not received an answer.  Whether you have them, I do not know.
     We are living on the farm and Hulda Olson (his niece) is here.  She cooks and cleans the house.
     We have renters.  Until now, I have been able to harness the horses and got to town and also to church.
     We are well, for our age.  Mama will never be well, but she is well in the head.  She knows everything.

Fredrik Jonsson and Anna Sofia (Fia)Svensdotter
sister of Jonas Victor Swenson

     This year we have had a big harvest of everything.  The prices have gone down as fast as they  went higher before the war.

Oskar,
Brother of Jonas Victor Swenson

 I wonder how things are with you, whether everybody is still alive.  Is your son, who was feeble-minded, still alive, and brother Oskar and Sister Fia?  How are the times?  I saw in a newspaper that nearly half of Hamra was sold to someone in Alhult.  I do not remember the sum.  The banks in Sweden write a lot about money.  They promise 6 percent interest, which adds to the sum every sixth month and the rate is "5SKr and 16 ore" per dollar. I do not know how it is for those who come from Sweden and have gone back there--and said that life is good for the people now.  (Irene says--"I do not understand what Victor means").  Is the railway line finished that would go to Hallefors?  
     I will stop here because the lines begin to go together.  If you get this letter please send us a letter.  It is nice to hear from you.  We wish you a Glad and Happy Christmas and a Good New Year.  God help us that we may be vigilant and praying and hold our belief until the end.  If you do that you will find salvation.
     I have been resting during the night and it is a new day, so I thought that I would write a little more.  Mama is resting until dinner, then she eats at the dining table.  She has been to town and church.  She has been to the sewing meeting twice, and has also visited our neighbor depending on the fine weather in the autumn, as it always is in Kansas at that time.
     Let us know where your son, Anton, is.  It would be nice to hear from him.  If Anders petter and Selma are in Hamra, send regards to them and ask them to write a letter.
     Kindest regards to all of you and our relatives.
     May God be with us all.
                    J.V.Swenson
   

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.
      

55. December 26, 1916

In this letter the day after Christmas, Jonas Victor is saying it was too cold to go to church in "early morning"  for the Julotta service.  He is glad that the family in Sweden are getting along much better than they had been.  He thinks Germany could win World War I.  America entered the war shortly after and helped win the war over Germany.  The car is causing problems for the horses. Roselyn


Cleburne, December 26, 1916
Dear Brother Albert with Family,
     We have received your letter.  Thanks so much.  You cannot believe how nice it was to hear from you and about the big changes for you.  I think, Brother, that you have a good life, because you have people working for you and get to work both with wood and land.  You are able to earn money.
    The prices have increased here as well, but not as much as there in Sweden.  A good horse sells from $150 to $200.  The swine and cattle are expensive but not as much as there.  Last spring I sold 33 fat oxen.  I received $140 each, but they were both big and fat.  We have 2 English miles to the station and some could hardly go there.  It was after very cold weather.  Wheat is twice as expensive as usual, but the working people are also expensive.  It is because everything they buy is expensive.
     We have the farm leased out.  Two people took over the farm last spring, but we live in the same house.  They give us half of everything and they also feed two horses.  We get half of the milk and we have 100 hens, which we feed.  We have the wood (for fuel) that we need.
     Our children want us to move to town, but we feel happy here as long as we can take care of ourselves.  You cannot have young horses there, because more than half the people have a car.  We meet them and they pass us.  We are about to reach 80 years, as the Bible says.
     You write that Oskar and Gottfied live in Dunkullen and have good times.  Perhaps they earn money working for other farms.  People here would not want to live a life like that.
     Does Oscar have any part in Fundsboda?  Are sister Fia in Aggebo and Karl Magnus in Tuna Parish still alive? We remember that Stina in Hamra lived in Hornsved in Ingatorp.  Does she live there and is she being helped by her son?  Thanks for the photo and what we learned about her.  Is she in full possession of all senses?  Now we have asked too much.
     We have survived Christmas.  It was so cold and dark.  We were not to early church service (Julotta).  The Sunday School had festivities in the evening, but we are too old to be out both in early morning and in the evening.  I have another question.  Are there preachers who come to your district and preach?     
     The terrible war does not seem to end, and the German people have the advantage.  We have Germans as neighbors.  The Germans are a strong people.  They who are here, are good.
     Brother, when I read your letter, I think we should write more often.  In spiritual things, it seems there is more on the established church.  You build large fine churches--also large fine houses.  The farms have cars.  The people who cannot afford cars, follow the others a long distance and go back the same day.
     It would be nice to know how the cultivation on the bog in Spakarp is.  Can you cultivate so you can have 16 or 20 cattle there?
     When you get this letter I think that your daughter will already be married.  We wish them a happy marriage.
     Our kindest regards to all of you--and also to Anders Petter and Selma in Hamra.
     Respectfully,
      J.V. Swenson

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