52 Ancestors: Week 32--A Small Woman—Mathilda Lovisa Erickson-Holm Lundquist

This is my third year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

Mathilda Lovisa Eriksson was a small woman.

Born 21 December 1871 in Tidersrum, Östergötland län (county), Sweden, to parents Karl Johan Ericksson and Stina Maja Samuelsdotter, she came to America in spring of 1888 with her sister, Karolina, who was a year older.[1] Their travels included the trip to Hull, England by the ship Marsdin, a train across England to Liverpool, and then the ship Republic to New York.[2]

Their jobs in America were supposedly as au pairs and they assumed the name Holm. There are no records of their lives before marriage. Mathilda was called Lovisa. She married Per Alfred Lundquist in Red Oak, Montgomery County, Iowa on 15 March 1892.[3]

Per Alfred and Lovisa had three children: John Edward, Agnes Hilma Carolina, and David William.[4] In 1915, the family sold their farm in Stanton, Iowa, and moved to Hilmar in Merced County, California, where another Swedish colony had been started.

In a biography in the History of Merced County, a few paragraphs were written about Per Alfred:

. . . we have P. A. Lundquist, owner of a forty-acre well-improved ranch in the Fairview precinct of the Hilmar Colony. On a five-acre addition, which he later acquired, he has built a comfortable home which will serve him and his wife during their declining years. . . They brought with them considerable means and have wisely invested it and have improved their property. They are active members of the Swedish Mission Church and are among the best people of the Hilmar Colony. In politics they are Republicans.[5]

This first house was large and had four palm trees in front. It was later owned by their son, John, and one day burned beyond repair, and he built a newer house on the property. Per Alfred and Louisa built another, more modern house, down the road (August Avenue) from the first. Because of Lovisa’s small stature, the counters and sink were set lower than standard. Lovisa’s granddaughter remembered, “it was the first in the area with inside plumbing, and the entire west kitchen wall had floor to ceiling cupboards.”[6] This property had a large sycamore tree that another granddaughter remembered, “climbing and reading books while sitting in the crooks of the branches.”[7]

Lundquist house on August Ave, Hilmar -
See the big Sycamore Tree?

How wonderful to have your kitchen build to fit the lady of the house, the one who spends most of their time there. It is a shame the house no longer stands. The tree is still present as well as an outbuilding, but is now owned by a local business.

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[1] “Sweden, Church Records, 1451-1943,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2225/) > Östergötland > Tidersrum > Födde (Births) > 1871 > no. 47, Mathilda Lovisa; Swedish Church Records Archive. Johanneshov, Sweden: Genline AB.

[2] For the trip to Hull, see “Gothenburg, Sweden, Passenger Lists, 1869-1951,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1910/), 1888 > April > Marsdin > p. 6, line 4726, Carolina Erickson & Mathilda; citing  Göteborgs Poliskammare, EIX 1-143, 1869–1950, Landsarkivet i Göteborg, Göteborg, Sweden. For the trip from Liverpool, see “New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7488/), Date > 1888 > May > 07 > Republic > image 4 > no. 71, Mathilda Erickson; citing Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1897,  , RG 36, National Archives, Washington, DC.

[3] Montgomery Co, Iowa, Clerk of the District Court, Marriage Records, vol 4, p. 100, P. Alford Lundquist & Matilda Lovisa Holm, FHL 1481224.

[4] For John’s birth, see Montgomery County Register of Births, Bk 2, p. 40, no. 33, John Edward Lundquist, FHL film 1481705. For Agnes’ birth, see ibid, Bk 2, p. 62, no. 131, Agnes Lundquist. For David’s birth, see Certificate of Birth, District Court, Montgomery Co, Iowa, David W. Lundquist, 1898, copy issued in 1983; copy in author’s files.

[5] John Outcalt, History of Merced County California: With A Biographical Review of The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified with Its Growth and Development from the Early Days to the Present, (Los Angeles: Historic Record Co., 1925), p 670.

[6] Interview with Bernice (Nilsen) Hopkins, 26 July 1997, notes in author’s files. Bernice is a granddaughter of Lovisa.

[7] One of many memories of Thelma (Nilsen) Gorrell told to the author over the years.

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