AUGUST ANDERSON
Aug. 6, 1845 - Jan. 22, 1940
The following description of my grandfather is based upon things my father told me and facts related by Sven-Erik who looked after him during the latter years of his life.
It goes without saying that August was a very strong person to have lived as long as he did. In 1920, Henrietta and Jessie went for a walk with him on their trip to Sweden (he was nearly 75 at the time). They stated they could not "keep up with him."
He was a religious man of the Swedish Lutheran Faith. August was a farmer all his life working for the government co-operative farm.
My dad smoked a pipe and kept a piece of charcoal in the bottom of it. He said that kept down the moisture and made a cooler smoke. He learned this from his dad.
Dad said that grandfather told him as a boy, if you are going to drink "booze" make sure you drink enough to "throw-up", so your body doesn't absorb it. I believe he was teaching a double lesson here.
On Aug. 6, 1872, August married Johanna Oldsetter born July 20, 1850. August and Johanna had three sons: Andrew, Karl and John. Johanna died Aug. 15, 1882 at the age of 32. The case of her death is unknown.
August then married Charlotte Anderson, born April 21, 1859, on Nov. 17, 1883. To them, the following children were born in this order: Matilda, Alma, Anna, Otto, Clara, Hjalmar, Erik, Gustav and David.
August raised his family in the small village of Borgvik in Varmland Province, located in southern Sweden. I have often thought, if only two of these children remained in Sweden, how terribly only August and Charlotte must have been.
Matilda looked after August and Charlotte during the latter years of their lives and corresponded with the boys in America.
Sven-Erik told me that August became senile toward the end of his life and they had to watch him closely. On one particulate evening, they had to leave him alone. It was terribly cold and he wandered out, fell back in a snow drift, and couldn't get up. I do not know how long he lay there but when they found him his legs and arms were frozen. He lived about a week after that and died Jan 22, 1940.
Charlotte died in April 1942.
Sven-Erik at Old Home-Site.
1989
1911 or 12
August & Charlotte
And son David
1936
Charlotte and August (age 91)
Dave Gust Erik Hjalmar Otto John Andrew
Okla City 1928
August with Tilda
& Alma's children
Sven-Erik standing
in center
1926 or 27