52 Ancestors: Week 8—Hulda Charlotte Anderson-Carlson

This is week 8 of the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge” by Amy Crow from No Story Too Small.

Hulda Charlotte Anderson-Carlson was the second wife to Nils Malkom Nilsen, but the great-grandmother to my husband. They were married on 20 May 1893 in Youngstown, Ohio, just over a week after her arrival to America.[1]

Marriage Records of Nils Malkom Nilsen & Hulda C. Carlson in Youngstown, Ohio, 1893

Hulda was born 14 Aug 1868 in Rappestad, Östergötland, Sweden to Anders Peter Johansson and Anna Larsdotter. [2] She was the second oldest child of six. Her parents were married in 1865 in Rappestad but neither had been born in this community.  So the first part of her surname came from her father, Anders, making her an Andersdotter. When she was 14, her father died and she lived with the Carlson family and took on their name.

It is unclear how Nils Malkom met Hulda, but after the death of his first wife, he asked permission of the church where he served as Pastor, to take leave for a trip to Sweden.[3] He returned to the United States on the ship Aurania on 8 Nov 1892 without Hulda.[4] However, she arrived aboard the ship Umbria on 8 May 1893.[5]  She was listed on the passenger list as Hulda C. Carlson going to Ohio. Nils Malkom lived in Youngstown, Ohio.

Ship List for the SS Umbria, arriving in NYC 8 May 1893

Hulda and Nils Malkom had six children together: Nils Arthur Nathaniel Nilsen, Carl David Harry Nilsen, Joseph Andrew Walter Nilsen, Ernest Gedion Ferdinand Nilsen, Berger Malcolm Sylvania Nilsen, and Esther Hulda Victoria Nilsen.  The family traveled across the country while the Rev. Nils Malkom Nilsen served in Swedish Covenant churches in several communities: Cromwell, Connecticut; Harcourt, Iowa; Hilmar, San Pedro, and Escalon, California.

Hulda and Nils Malkom remained married for a little over 30 years before Hulda died on 15 Nov 1924.[6] 

Were they happy? Did she live as a proper minister's wife? Was she a good mother? These questions have not been completely answered. My mother-in-law was born nearly two years after Hulda's death, so she did not know her grandmother. She remembers little of her grandfather, Nils Malkom. There are stories that he spoke often of his first wife, even after marrying Hulda. That certainly would not sit well with me if my husband spoke often of his first wife (even if she had died) and it must not have spoken well to the oldest son, Arthur, for when his first wife died and he had remarried, he told the children not to speak of their mother in the company of the stepmother.  One extreme going into another....

Here's a nice photo of Hulda, shortly before her death.

Hulda Charlotte Andersdotter-Carlson Nilsen

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[1] Mahoning Co, Ohio Marriage Records, Mahoning County, Ohio Marriage Records, Nils Malkom Nilsen & Hulda C. Carlson, Vol 7, pg 563, FHL, Film 0906676.
[2] (Rappestad, Östergötland), Births. Digital images. (Genline.com. http://www.genline.com.), Hulda Charlotta Andersdotter, image 100005.32.27500.
[3] Simon, Bernice Hammar, ed. 1986. The Early History and Church Register Record and Ministerial Accounts of the Swedish Mission Church of Youngstown, Ohio, 1886-1930.   FHL 977.139/Y1 K2s, p.3-4.

[4] "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1957" National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, Record Group 36. Online images. (Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com), "New York Passenger Lists 1820-1957" (http://www.ancestry.com), manifest, \i SS Aurania\i0, 8 Nov 1892, N.M. Nilson, no. 234.
[5] New York Passenger Lists 1820-1957, image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Sep  2009); based on National Archives Microfilm Publication M237, 675 rolls; Records of the U.S. Customs Service, Record Group 36; National Archives, Washington, D.C.; Microfilm serial: M237); Hulda Carlson,  Microfilm roll: M237_514; Line: 29.


Copyright © 2014 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past