In the last post on this topic, we looked at John Martinson’s estate inventory as prepared by his brother, Lars Martinson. In addition to the assets initially itemized by Lars, two other claims were submitted to the court. One by John’s daughter, Matilda, for a loan of money and another by John’s son-in-law Hugo Carlson […]
John Martinson probate records, Part 2
In our first look at John Martinson’s probate records, we saw the petition for probate that included a list of his heirs, the property that he owned, and the request made by his son Andrew that Lars Martinson, John’s brother, be appointed administrator of the estate. The petition was filed with the court on February […]
John Martinson probate records, Part 1
I had intended to go through all my Saunders County probate records in chronological order but discovered this morning that I had skipped over John Martinson. So let’s back up to 1901 and take a look. John Martinson was my great-great-grandfather on my dad’s maternal side. He was born in 1833 in Sweden with the […]
Colonel Hans Mattson and the fateful spruce tree
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be digging into some of the information I brought back from Sweden. First up is Colonel Hans Mattson. To review: my great-great-grandfather, John Martinson, came to America in 1869. He was from Skoglösa farm in Önnestad parish. One of his traveling companions wrote a diary (“The Aspengren Diary”) about […]
Norra Strö, Ales Stenar and Skivarp
We began our day with Sunday Mass at Norra Strö kyrka, where Dad’s great-grandmother Nilla Svensdotter was baptized in 1836. The inside of the church was much like Marbäck, with lots of folk-painting on the ceiling. Our presence at the service doubled the attendance! We wonder if this is typical of church-going in Sweden these […]
