52 Ancestors #9: Hulda Josefina Almquist, From Sweden to Minnesota

     Hulda Josefina Almquist was my grandfather Peterson's mother. She was born on 20 Aug 1857 in Brunn, Alvsborg, Sweden. Nils Johan Almquist was her father and Anna Charlotta Johansdotter was her mother. Nils was a farmer and her mother was a midwife (family data said she was a Doctor, I found she was a midwife). She was born on a farm called Hallen and later they moved to one named Remma.

     In 1864 when Hulda was 7, her father decided he wanted to go to America. But Anna Charlotta did not agree. Nils bought the tickets, took the children (Hulda, her two older brothers and her younger sister) and went to Goteborg to board the ship.  Anna Charlotta sent the police after him to prevent him from taking the children. The police found him before the ship left and told him that he could go but the children had to stay. So Hulda must've found herself about to board a ship to America with her father and then returned to her mother by the police. As soon as they were old enough her two older brothers left for America to join their father. In 1881, when she was 24, Hulda also left for America. I found her Swedish Emigration Record on Ancestry, "Hulda Josefin Almqvist, female, born about 1854, from Ulricehamm (big city next to Brunn), destination New York, record date: 8 Sep 1881, port of departure: Malmo". I haven't found her on a US Passenger Arrival list yet,though. She probably took a train from New York to Dassel, Minnesota where her father lived.  There she met a neighbor, Adolph Peterson, and married him on 22 Jan 1885. She was 27 years old. They had a farm in Dassel and here their children were born, two girls and three sons, among them, Alvin Walter Leonard Peterson, my grandfather.

    Between 1900 and 1905 they moved to Dunn County, Wisconsin, living in Tiffany and Dunning. They had a dairy farm and Adolph was also the post master. As their children married and moved away this became too much.  Their oldest daughter, Amelia and her husband, Oscar Olson, took over the farm and Hulda and Adolph moved to Minneapolis. Hulda died there on 29 April 1928.

     The break up of her parents' marriage must've been a shock to her but her own marriage was a happy one.  All of her children married and raised families so she must've been a good example to them.