| PART I Descendants of Jan Persson Based on research by Keena Robbins Kartak NOTE: IT's been brought to our attention that in our report below, many of the names of towns and counties in Sweden are incorrectly written . Apparently we have put cities in the wrong geographical locations, in effect, something akin to writing "Seattle, Arizona", or Chicago, Alabama." There are other errors people from Sweden will notice immediately, and we beg their pardon for any trouble this causes them. We do, however, stand by the genealogy itself.... even if we often failed to write the names of daughters correctly. As time permits, this report will be edited and --hopefully-- will be presented correctly. jmk Generation No. 1 1. JAN1 PERSSON was born Abt. 1724 in Sjalevad, Vstrna, Sweden. He married SARA JOHANSDOTTER December 23, 1750 in Sjalevad, Vstrna, Sweden. She was born Abt. 1728 in Sjalevad,. Child of JAN PERSSON and SARA JOHANSDOTTER is: 2. i. PEHR2 JOHANSSON, b. August 29, 1762, Sjalevad, Vstrna, Sweden. Generation No. 2 2. PEHR2 JOHANSSON (JAN1 PERSSON) was born August 29, 1762 in Sjalevad, Vstrna, Sweden. He married MAGDALENA JOHANNSON June 23, 1805, daughter of JON JONSSON and BRITA STINA. She was born December 25, 1772 in Sjalevad, Vstrna, Sweden. Child of PEHR JOHANSSON and MAGDALENA JOHANNSDOTTER is: 3. i. PEHR3 PEHRSSON, b. February 25, 1809, Sjalevad, Vstrna, Sweden. Generation No. 3 3. PEHR3 PEHRSSON (PEHR2 JOHANSSON, JAN1 PERSSON) was born February 25, 1809 in Sjalevad, Vstrna, Sweden. He married CATHARINA CHRISTINA ANDERSDOTTER June 24, 1840, daughter of ANDERS OLSSON and SIGURD OLSSON. She was born January 11, 1821 in Bjorna, Vstrna, Sweden. Child of PEHR PEHRSSON and CATHARINA ANDERSDOTTER is: 4. i. PETER4 SJOLUND, b. October 10, 1842, Bjornsjo, Sweden; d. February 16, 1915, Park Rapids, Minnesota. Generation No. 4 4. PETER4 SJOLUND (PEHR3 PEHRSSON, PEHR2 JOHANSSON, JAN1 PERSSON)1 was born October 10, 1842 in Bjornsjo, Sweden, and died February 16, 1915 in Park Rapids, Minnesota. He married MARIA Chell HELL STRAND, daughter of ERIC GULIKSSON . She was born July 20, 1850 in Asele, Sweden, and died March 22, 1913 in Park Rapids, Minnesota. Children of PETER SJOLUND and MARIA HELSTRAND are: i. MATILDA MARIA5 PETERSON, b. February 17, 1871; d. February 17, 1945; m. HENRY ONGREN, 1890; b. Abt. 1865. ii. KRISTINA CAROLINA PETERSON, b. July 25, 1872; d. September 20, 1943; m. JOHN ONGREN, 1898; b. Abt. 1870. iii. MINA CHARLOTA PETERSON, b. May 26, 1875; d. July 09, 1931; m. ERIC JACOBSON, September 05, 1900; b. Abt. 1875. 5 iv. PETER (PEHR) ANTON (SJOLUND) PETERSON, b. November 01, 1879, Bjorsjo, Sweden; m EMILY JOHNSSON June 14, 1901; d. May 12, 1965, Pontiac, MI. v. ERIC WILEAM PETERSON, b. April 06, 1883, Bjorna, Vstrna, Sweden; d. July 14, 1937; m. ANNA KEPLIE, September 16, 1913; b. Abt. 1888 Generation No. 5 5. PETER (PEHR) ANTON (SJOLUND)5 PETERSON (PETER4 SJOLUND, PEHR3 PEHRSSON, PEHR2 JOHANSSON, JAN1 PERSSON) was born November 01, 1879 in Bjorsjo, Sweden, and died May 12, 1965 in Pontiac, MI. He married EMILY CECILE JOHNSSON June 14, 1901 in Sweden, daughter of JONAS JOHNSSON and KRISTINA DALBERG. She was born September 16, 1883 in Fredrika, Sweden, and died December 20, 1961 in Pontiac, MI. More About PETER (PEHR) ANTON (SJOLUND) PETERSON: Burial: May 15, 1965, Glen-Eden Cemetery, Livonia, Wayne, Michigan Christening: November 07, 1879, Bjorsjo, Sweden Immigration to US: 1903. Name change: Immigration officer changed name from Pehr Sjolund to Peterson. Naturalization: January 12, 1909, Original document is in the care of Jerry (Peterson) Kartak. One son of Peter and Emily reported that Peter sent his sisters to the U.S. in about 1885, but he himself was unable to get out of the Swedish army until after 1901. Ruth Peterson Purkis and Carl Peterson reported that Peter and Emily brought a nephew with them --a babe in arms-- passing him off as their own son, although he was the illegitimate child of "a sister." No verification of which sister it could have been. Both Peter and Emily's parents also immigrated sometime after Peter sent for them to cure his wife of homesickness and depression. Military service: Before 1902, Peter served in Swedish army as a translator in the Swedish army. He spoke 7 or 8 languages, including some English, and held the rank of captain. Pete's younger brother, Eric, emigrated to the USA and settled in Park Rapids, Minn. where he went into logging. ( At that time, northern Minnesota was all old growth douglas fir. It was a part of the "Great North Woods" which extends all the way to the permafrost of the north.) Eric had written Pehr extolling the opportunities to be had in Minnesota at that time. Grandpa & grandma were very young with a 2 year old baby boy (my father, Gustin Sjolund), at the time they chose to emigrate from Sweden. They took along a nephew whose mother was already in Minnesota and claimed both children as their own when entering the country. They went direct from Ellis Island to Park Rapids and were reunited with Eric. Grandpa wasn't allowed to keep his own name at immigration. They gave him the name of Peter Peterson. (The bureaucrats seem to have favored names such as Swenson, Johnson, Iverson, etc.) My father was born Gustin Sjolund, and in essence, if we were to reclaim our heritage, we are Sjolunds. Although my last name is Kartak, I actually think of myself as a Sjolund. In fact, my father did reclaim the name of Sjolund sometime around 1960. ) Very shortly after arriving in Park Rapids, Pehr and Eric entered a logging venture and contracted with several pulp mills and with Jim Hill of the Northern Pacific Railroad to supply logs for pulp and for RR ties. They became very successful and made piles of money. Grandpa started a new car dealership in Park Rapids with the Starr/Durant automobile. None of you have ever heard of that name, but I did have a Starr engine once. I mounted it in the 22 ft. boat (The Swamp Queen) that I kept at the Edmonds marina. It was a great engine, and it gained a lot of fame as the engine used by all the checkerboard taxi-cabs. By the mid 1920's my father became the lead salesman for the dealership. He and his buddy, Bob Driscoll, did stunts at the fairgrounds with cars that they had welded roll bars onto. They would run the cars at high speed over obstacles that would flip the cars over and then the roll bars would bring them back upright again. My father sold a lot of cars there in Park Rapids and the dealership was a howling success. That all happened before I was born. (I remember getting wonderful ice cream cones at Driscoll's ice-cream store at Park Rapids in the 1930�s. In those days, all ice cream was real ice cream made with pure cream - To die for.) With the stock market crash of 1929, Grandpa lost everything. (I think he may have been operating on a shoestring using all the credit available to him.) He lost the farm, car dealership, and logging camp. I was born near the end of 1930 and grew up not knowing that grandpa was just renting the farm we lived on. This is the Minnesota farmhouse [see Peterson Album] where I was born Nov. 20, 1930. It was in the height of the great depression and a hospital birth at that time was considered a luxury. Grandpa farmed 360 acres here. I still remember a sleigh ride into the woods with Grandpa and another man, pulled by a team of horses. I was probably around 3 or 4 years old. We were protected from the extreme cold by a heavy blanket, but my face was exposed to the freezing wind. We traveled several miles that way and came into a logging camp. We went into a large hut that was heated by a double-barrel wood stove and it was red-hot In the hut was a large and gruff looking man who got very upset to see that my ears were frozen. I think it may have been Eric. Now, people know better than to vigorously rub frozen parts to thaw them out, but at that time, it was thought to be the best remedy. I will never forget the pain I experienced with those big rough paws vigorously rubbing my brittle frozen ears. I have recently learned that the logging camp was near Bemidji about 50 miles North of Park 0Rapids and at that time it was being run by Erik. [Exerpts from a biography by his grandson, Jerry.] Children of PETER PETERSON and EMILY JOHNSSON are: 6. i. JUSTIN EWALD (SJOLUND)6 PETERSON, b. October 29, 1902, Frederika, Bjornsjo, Sweden; d. April 22, 1970, Detroit, MI ii. ALICE MARY PETERSON, b. July 17, 1904, d. September 07, 1905. iii. ROY PETER PETERSON, b. January 22, 1906, Park Rapids, MN; d. January 01,1979, MN; m. GRACE LARSEN, March 24, 1928; iv. SELMA CHRISTOVE PETERSON, b. February 19, 1908, Park Rapids,MN, d.. January 15, 1995; m. EARLE ATKINSON, June 24, 1927; v. HUGO ANTON PETERSON, b. February 19, 1910, Park Rapids, MN d May 12, 2000, Mesa, AZ . vi. VERA MARIE PETERSON, b. October 27, 1911, Park Rapids, d. 1968., Michigan vii. ALICE EMELIA PETERSON, b. April 05, 1913; d. April 30, 1914. viii. CARL OSCAR PETERSON, b. January 09, 1915, Park Rapids, Minnesota. ix. HELEN G PETERSON, b. March 19, 1916; d. March 30, 1916. x. DOROTHY ELVINA PETERSON private xi. MARGARET ELVIRA PETERSON private xii. JOHN E PETERSON, b. September 24, 1920; d. September 30, 1920. xiii. BERNHARD PETERSON, b. October 21, 1921; d. October 22, 1921. xiv. RUTH PAULINE PETERSON private xv. BETTY LOU PETERSON, b. September 28, 1927, Park Rapids, Minnesota; d. September 30, 1927, Park Rapids, Minnesota. Generation No. 6 6. JUSTIN EWALD (SJOLUND)6 PETERSON (PETER (PEHR) ANTON (SJOLUND)5, PETER4 SJOLUND, PEHR3 PEHRSSON, PEHR2 JOHANSSON, JAN1 PERSSON) was born October 29, 1902 in Frederika, Bjornsjo, Sweden, and died April 22, 1970 in Detroit, MI. He married KEENA LAVERNE ROBBINS July 02, 1927,daughter of WALLACE ROBBINS and KRISTINA EDMON. She was born February 26, 1909 in Park Rapids, MN, and died December 1983 in Seattle, WA. Justin came to America with his parents in 1904 when he was 2 years old. The Naturalization paper issued in January 1909 lists his name as"Gustan". In the early 1960s, Justin had his name legally changed back to the original Sjolund. Before their divorce in 1932, he and Keena Robbins had two sons, Richard Wayne Peterson and Justin Edmon Peterson. The boys were later adopted by their step-father, Stanley Kartak, at which time their names were changed. Children of JUSTIN PETERSON and KEENA ROBBINS are: i. RICHARD WAYNE (PETERSON) KARTAK, b. January 21, 1927, Grand Forks, ND; d. September 1988, Seattle, WA. Dick married Verna Fultz in January 1950. They have one son and two daughters. ii. JERRY EDMON (JUSTIN PETERSON)7 KARTAK, b. November 20, 1930, Park Rapids, MN He married Joanne Merrill in August 1950 and they have three sons and three daughters. HOME PETERSON ALBUM JOHNSSON FAMILY |
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