My Grandparents
I never met my mother’s father or mother. They died in 1932 and 1943. My mother and aunt told me stories about them when I was growing up, such as how Johann Albert Edward Axelson turned a tornado away from the house. He was born in Fallköping, Sweden and was in such poverty by the age of four, the church took his family in, except for his father, who had left for the United States. He quit school at eleven years, probably to work in the matchstick factory in Jönköping. He left for the States in 1874, became a minister in the Swedish Covenant Church with college credits from the Chicago Theological Seminary at age of 43, preached in Fitchburg, MA, New York City, Omaha, NE and the frontier of western Iowa. He settled on a farm in Red Oak IA after the turn of the century, where his family survived on the food he could grow. He met his wife in western Iowa, they married in Storm Lake and had six children. Clara had seen two siblings die at the age of one. Her father was also a preacher, for the Swedish Free Mission Church, an immigrant in the 1850s. She was born in Stratford, IA and was probably considered an old maid when she married my grandfather at age 25. She played piano beautifully. It must have been interesting to give birth to and raise six children when ministers did not receive a salary - they had to trust God to provide. They also provided an education for the children, who became nurses, teachers, professors, carpenters and plasterers during the Depression. There was some alcoholism, and two members have died from overdoses. This is my mother’s side of the family.
On my father’s side, his parents were second generation Swedes. His father was born in Stanton, IA as was his mother. His father’s family were wealthy because they ran the local hardware store. He fell in love with my grandmother, who was poor. Her mother had died at her birth and her father had deserted her. She was raised in her grandmother’s boarding house. They married early, ages 17 and 20, and so did not receive the education all of his siblings (eight of them) received. He worked in Ohio for a while, then returned home to marry my grandmother and take over the family business. He lost the store during the Depression and struggled with alcohol all his life. My grandmother suffered from low self-esteem (she would eat supper in the kitchen after serving us), but made beautiful quilts. She was the first woman in Stanton, IA to cut her hair.
From these two families, my parents were born.
I never met my mother’s father or mother. They died in 1932 and 1943. My mother and aunt told me stories about them when I was growing up, such as how Johann Albert Edward Axelson turned a tornado away from the house. He was born in Fallköping, Sweden and was in such poverty by the age of four, the church took his family in, except for his father, who had left for the United States. He quit school at eleven years, probably to work in the matchstick factory in Jönköping. He left for the States in 1874, became a minister in the Swedish Covenant Church with college credits from the Chicago Theological Seminary at age of 43, preached in Fitchburg, MA, New York City, Omaha, NE and the frontier of western Iowa. He settled on a farm in Red Oak IA after the turn of the century, where his family survived on the food he could grow. He met his wife in western Iowa, they married in Storm Lake and had six children. Clara had seen two siblings die at the age of one. Her father was also a preacher, for the Swedish Free Mission Church, an immigrant in the 1850s. She was born in Stratford, IA and was probably considered an old maid when she married my grandfather at age 25. She played piano beautifully. It must have been interesting to give birth to and raise six children when ministers did not receive a salary - they had to trust God to provide. They also provided an education for the children, who became nurses, teachers, professors, carpenters and plasterers during the Depression. There was some alcoholism, and two members have died from overdoses. This is my mother’s side of the family.
On my father’s side, his parents were second generation Swedes. His father was born in Stanton, IA as was his mother. His father’s family were wealthy because they ran the local hardware store. He fell in love with my grandmother, who was poor. Her mother had died at her birth and her father had deserted her. She was raised in her grandmother’s boarding house. They married early, ages 17 and 20, and so did not receive the education all of his siblings (eight of them) received. He worked in Ohio for a while, then returned home to marry my grandmother and take over the family business. He lost the store during the Depression and struggled with alcohol all his life. My grandmother suffered from low self-esteem (she would eat supper in the kitchen after serving us), but made beautiful quilts. She was the first woman in Stanton, IA to cut her hair.
From these two families, my parents were born.