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Week 12: Loss – John E. Lundquist

This is my fourth year working on this year-long 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 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.

The first person in my husband’s Lundquist line to immigrate to the United States felt many losses. John E. Lundquist, born Johannes Eliasson on 8 December 1824 in Grolanda, Skaraborgs, Sweden to parents Elias Pehrsson and Kjerstin Ericsdotter.[1]

Sometime before his marriage to Eva Charlotta Johansdotter on 12 December 1845 in Fivlered, he took the surname Lundquist.[2] When the rest of the family emigrated, they took the name as well.

John’s first loss was his wife, Lottie’s death in 1854 in Bureau County, Illinois.[3] He and Lottie came to the U.S. with their three children, Josefina, Gustaf, and Emily on 12 July 1852.[4] After Lotta’s death, there is no knowledge of what became of the two older children. Probably they were taken in by other families.

He married his second wife, Annastine Peterson on 4 June 1856 in Des Moines, Iowa.[5] She was likely married before and the older children (John and Charlotte, both born in Sweden) in their 1860 census records were likely hers.[6] Together they had Jennie, George E, and Claus Martin.

John served with Company C of the 4th Iowa Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War and was wounded. He suffered damage to his optic nerve and paralyzed in the right upper limb. He was discharged 2 November 1862.[7]

He still managed to farm in Jefferson County, but later moved to Moline, Illinois. There, his second wife, died on 28 January 1892.[8]

He married a third time to Anna Nelson on 15 April 1892.[9] She had worked for him some before she married him.[10] But she outlived him. John E. Lundquist died 2 July 1909 in Cambridge, Illinois at the age of 84 years old. In his life, he lost two wives, his oldest children to adoptions, and his eyesight.

You can read more about him here and here.



[1] Grolanda Parish, Skaraborg län, Västergötland, Sweden, Husförhör (household examination), 1822 - 1831 (AI:3), Elias Pehrsson, p 22; digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Jul 2011).

[2] Fivlered Parish, Skarborgs län, Vastergotland, Sweden, Vigsel (marriages) 1831-1861 (C:4), 1845, Johannes Eliason Lundquist to Eva Charlotta Johansdotter, digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 25 Oct 2011).

[3] Testimony of Annie Lundquist, 19 Apr 1908, Civil War Pension File #116368, John E. Lundquist.

[4] "Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1820-1957," manifest, Swea, 12 Jul 1852, # 14, Johannes Eliason, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 Dec 2011).

[5] Des Moines Co, Iowa, marriage records, vol. 4, "1853-1862," p. 106, John E. Lundquist to Arnestine Peterson, 1856; FHL film 0956350 i2.

[6] 1860 U.S. census, Jefferson Co, Iowa, pop. sched., Lockridge, p. 127, dwelling 885, family 817, John Lonquest, digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 10 Oct 2011); NARA M653, roll 328.

[7] Certificate of Disability for Discharge, John E. Lundquist, Civil War Pension File #116368.

[8] First Lutheran Church, Moline, Illinois, member book 6, p. 48, Anna Stina Lundquist.

[9] Certificate of Marriage, clerk of the District Court, Scott Co, Iowa, John E. Lundquist to Anna Nielson, 15 Apr 1892; John E. Lundquist, Civil War Pension File #116368.

[10] Anna Lundquist deposition, John E. Lundquist, Civil War Pension File #116368.


Copyright © 2021 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

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