Little Carl Martin Gillberg's Cause of Death

Some time ago, I shared a Wednesday's Child post in which I remembered little Carl Martin Gillberg. He was my Grandma Ingrid's only brother. You can read that post by clicking HERE.

At the time I wrote my Wednesday's Child post, I didn't know why Carl Martin died. He was only one year and two months old when he passed away in Sweden on January 23, 1906.

Just to refresh your memory, Carl Martin was the only son born to my paternal great-grandparents, Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria Carlsson.

Thanks to Linda, author of the Cousin Linda blog, I now know what took the life of little Carl Martin Gillberg.

Linda surprised me with an email letting me know that she had found a Death Book listing Carl Martin Gillberg. She also found Carl's parents and siblings in a House Examine/Parish Book. These documents were from Sweden and she found them on the Swedish website Arkivdigital. I don't have a subscription to that website, so I am thrilled and so thankful that Linda supplied me with these valuable documents. Thank you Linda!

Here is the page from the Death Book¹ where Carl Martin Gillberg is listed.



Here's the cropped portion of the book above showing Carl Martin Gillberg's entry.



Because I don't speak or read Swedish, I asked Linda if she could help me out with the column headings in this book. She graciously sent me another email with the column heading translations.

Here's the information contained in this book about Carl's death. Linda, thank you again for your help with this translation.

• Carl's Death Year and Month – January 1906
• Carl's Death Day – 23
• Carl's Sex – Male
• Carl's Name – Carl Martin Gillberg
• Carl's Parents – Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria Carlsson
• Carl's Birthdate – November 12,  1904
• Carl is listed on Page 1965 in the House Examine/Parish Book
• Carl's Cause of Death – Rickets
• Carl was buried on January 28, 1906

Poor little Carl Martin. He died from Rickets.  So, just what is Rickets?

Wikipedia states that,

"The primary cause of rickets is a vitamin D deficiency.^[8] Vitamin D is required for proper calcium absorption from the gut. Sunlight, especially ultraviolet light, lets human skin cells convert vitamin D from an inactive to active state. In the absence of vitamin D, dietary calcium is not properly absorbed, resulting in hypocalcaemia, leading to skeletal and dental deformities and neuromuscular symptoms, e.g. hyperexcitability."

MedicineNet.com states the following about Rickets:

Rickets is a disorder caused by a deficiency of vitamin D, calcium, or phosphate. Rickets leads to softening and weakening of the bones and is seen most commonly in children 6-24 months of age. There are several subtypes of rickets, including hypophosphatemic rickets (vitamin-D-resistant rickets), renal or kidney rickets (renal osteodystrophy), and most commonly, nutritional rickets (caused by dietary deficiency of vitamin D, calcium, or phosphate). Classic nutritional rickets is also medically termed osteomalacia.

I wonder what type of Rickets little Carl Martin had. It's interesting that the article in MedicineNet.com said that Rickets is most commonly seen in children aged 6-24 months of age. Carl Martin died when he was 14 months old. Whichever kind he had, his death must have been devastating to his parents and siblings.

I will share page 1965 of the Household Examination/Parish Book, that was referred to in Carl's entry in this Death Book, in a future post. Page 1965, which Linda shared with me, shows Carl listed with his family.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2013 Copyright by Jana Last

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1 ArkivDigital Online, Eskilstuna Kloster och Fors F:4 (1903-1913) Bild 520 / sid 44 (AID: v163140.b520.s44, NAD: SE/ULA/10226)^↩

Sepia Saturday 153 ~ Two Sisters and a Cactus

Sepia Saturday provides an opportunity for genealogy bloggers to share their family history through photographs.

The Sepia Saturday photo prompt (at end of post) is a photo of Lala Williams and Elgie Crook.  In doing research on Google.com about Lala and Elgie, I found out the following:  When Elgie’s mother died, Elgie was sent to live with her uncle J. Shelby Williams, Lala’s father.  Elgie and Lala were first cousins, but Elgie grew up as a sister to Lala.

The adorable photo of Lala and Elgie, cousins who were more like sisters, provides me with the perfect opportunity to share this sweet photo of my Great-Grandmother, Hilda Carlsson Gillberg, and her sister Hilma Carlsson Taylor.




Two Sweet Sisters
Hilda Carlsson Gillberg (left) and Hilma Carlsson Taylor (right)

I love how Hilda and Hilma are holding hands.   Sweet, sisterly love on display!  Unfortunately, I don’t have any information about when or where this photo was taken, but it’s so precious. 

Hilda and Hilma were the daughters of Johan Erik Carlsson and Karin Johnsson.  Both Hilda and Hilma were born in Sweden and immigrated to the United States.

Hilda was married to my Great-Grandfather, Carl Albert Gillberg, and Hilma was married to Charles Alvin Taylor.

To see what other Sepia Saturday participants have written about this week, click HERE.



Thanks for reading!

Jana

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Tombstone Tuesday–A Sad Little Grave Marker for Karen Carlsson

My awesome readers may have noticed that I’ve been kind of quiet here on my blog lately.  Well, there’s a fun reason for that.  My family and I just got home this last Saturday from a fun-filled week’s vacation in Utah.  We had a great time visiting with both immediate and extended family. 

Of course I made sure to include some family history in our trip.  We were able to visit two cemeteries and we got together with a 3rd cousin of mine who has in her possession the photo albums of my maternal 2nd great-grandparents (more about these amazing photo albums in a future post).

One of the cemeteries we visited was the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Salt Lake City Cemetery

Me with three of my sons in the background

Karen Johnsson Carlsson, my paternal 2nd great-grandmother, is buried there.  She was born in Sweden and immigrated to the United States sometime before 1910.  (The 1910 census states her year of immigration as 1891, but that conflicts with my grandmother’s vocal history.  I’d like to resolve this conflict in the near future.)


Karen Johnsson Carlsson

With anticipation we searched for Karen’s grave marker.  I have to say I was somewhat saddened when we finally found it.

Yes, I’m glad that Karen at least has a gravestone.  I just wish Karen’s grave marker was more than just a name on a slab of stone.  I think she deserves to be honored more than that.  So, we are looking into purchasing a more fitting grave marker for her.

This year, 2012, is the centennial anniversary of Karen’s death.  She was born in Gillberga, Sodermanland, Sweden on July 9, 1850.  She passed away on January 29, 1912 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

I imagine the reason her grave marker isn’t more elaborate is because Karen’s daughter Hilda (my great-grandmother) and her family were probably still struggling immigrants at the time of Karen’s death.  I assume they couldn’t afford a more fitting gravestone for Karen.  Hilda and her family immigrated to the United States from Sweden in 1909 and 1910, only two to three years before Karen’s death.

The 1910 Census shows that Karen, who went by Carrie at this time, was living with Hilda and her family.

According to this census, Hilda and her husband Carl only spoke Swedish at that time.  Carrie was able to speak English, as it appears she had been living in the United States longer than her daughter’s family.

I’m so glad we were able to visit Karen’s grave, even though I was saddened to find her grave marker to be of a very humble nature.  I’m also glad we are planning on giving Karen a more fitting gravestone some day in the future.


Thanks for reading!

Jana


Copyright © Jana Last 2012

Matrilineal Monday: Flour Sack Dresses–Ingrid Anna Gilberg

This is my paternal grandmother, Ingrid Anna Gilberg. She was born on November 5, 1913 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Her parents were Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria Carlsson, both of whom were born in Sweden. Carl and Hilda immigrated to the United States in 1909 and 1910, respectively. Ingrid was the sixth of ten children:

1. Judith Maria  (b. 1898 in Sweden)
2. Margaret Limpea (b. 1902 in Sweden)
3. Carl Martin (b. 1904 – d. 1906 in Sweden)
4. Naomi Hildegard (b. 1907 in Sweden)
5. Ruth Katherine (b. 1911 in Utah)
6. Ingrid Anna (b. 1913 in Utah)
7. Helen Albertina (b. 1915 in Utah)
8. Ida Martina (b. 1916 in Utah)
9. Edith Elizabeth (b. 1916 in Utah)
10. Ruby Hilda (b. 1920 in Utah)


Ingrid shared her personal history vocally back in 1977. My dad, Jan Iverson, recorded this history.  It is so precious and in it Ingrid tells about her life and even sings Swedish songs. Here’s a little snippet from Ingrid’s life where she tells about wearing flour sack dresses in her own words:

“And I remember of (sic) mother taking flour sacks that father brought home and making clothing.  She would take these flour sacks and she would dye them.  And she would make dresses out of them.  She would crotchet around them….And she would make quilts out of these flour sacks.  My father was a very good provider and he worked very hard for his family.  But we were, to an extent, poor.  There were times when we didn’t have shoes to go to church.”

Carl’s occupation is listed as a baker in both the 1920 and 1930 censuses. In these census records, Carl's family was living in Salt Lake City, Utah and in Los Angeles, California respectively. The family relocated to Los Angeles because during the Great Depression Carl was out of work and couldn’t find employment in Salt Lake City.  Ingrid’s two older sisters were living in Los Angeles, so Carl went there to find employment. Once Carl saved enough money to support the family, Hilda and the rest of the family joined him in Los Angeles.

I can't imagine how difficult life must have been for my grandmother and her family during the Great Depression. I'm sure I sometimes take for granted the relative ease of my life compared with my grandmother's and others' lives during that time in history. After all, I have never had to wear dresses made from flour sacks or go to church without shoes.

It was while Ingrid was in Los Angeles that she met her future husband, Arthur Harry Iverson.  They were married in Ely, Nevada in 1931, where her parents had moved because of an employment opportunity.  I shared a picture from their wedding day in my post Wedding Wednesday - Arthur Harry Iverson and Ingrid Anna Gilberg.

Ingrid passed away on December 25, 2002 in Vancouver, Washington.

Thanks for reading!

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

1940 Census Finds – Carl and Hilda Gillberg

I wanted to find my paternal great-grandparents, Carl Albert and Hilda Maria Gillberg in the 1940 census. Carl and Hilda were the parents of my grandmother, Ingrid Anna Gillberg. Well, I am happy to say that I was able to find Carl and Hilda in the 1940 census! Here’s the process I went through to find them:

 

I knew they were in Los Angeles, California in 1930.  Here they are in the 1930 census.¹

You may remember from my previous post Wedding Wednesday - Arthur Harry Iverson and Ingrid Anna Gillberg, that Arthur and Ingrid were married at the home of Ingrid’s parents in Ely, Nevada in 1931.  So I did a search in the 1940 census for Nevada (yep, that state is now searchable), in case they were still there in 1940.  No luck!  Okay, now what?
 
I looked more closely at what information I had for Carl and Hilda and what else I could find on them from Ancestry.com and voila!  Here were clues I could use!  Carl and Hilda both immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden.  They both had Declarations of Intention from 1939 and those papers had an address on them!  Hurray!  I also found a U.S. Naturalization Record Index Record for Hilda from 1942 and that had an address on it as well!  The addresses from the 1939 and 1942 documents were different.  Well, now I had something to go on!  So, it’s off to SteveMorse.org I went in hopes of finding them in the 1940 census!

I didn’t find them in the first couple of Enumeration Districts I tried.  (Operator error – apparently I hadn’t entered the correct cross streets…silly me.) I decided to keep on looking and after entering the correct cross streets…Eureka!…Here they were at the address they listed in their Declaration of Intention documents in 1939!  Persistence paid off!  So, here are my great-grandparents, Carl and Hilda, in the 1940 Census.²


Because the above image of the 1940 census is so small, I decided to split it in half. Hopefully this makes it easier to read. 

It’s really amazing what the 1940 census can tell us about the kinds of lives our ancestors were living at that time.  It was kind of sad to see that my Great-Grandpa Carl was working as a vegetable peddler from a private truck.  Of course, this was during the Great Depression.  The census states that Carl was engaged in Public Emergency Work, and was seeking employment at the time.  In Sweden he worked as a tinsmith, according to a passenger list and subsequently he worked as a baker and laborer here in the U.S. according to several census records and my own Grandmother Ingrid's personal history.  I really appreciate the sacrifices my ancestors made to come here to the U.S.!

Thanks for reading!

Copyright © Jana Last 2012

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1 Year: 1930; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 145; Page: 8A; Lines 22 and 23; Enumeration District: 332; Image: 800.0; FHL microfilm: 2339880. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. ^↩
2 Year: 1940; Census Place: Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T627_411; Page: 9A; Lines 18 and 19; Enumeration District: 60-895. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.^↩