BEG 429.32 FT W & 36.35 FT N OF SE SEC COR TH N 102 FT TH W 30 FT TH S 102 FT TH E 30 FT TO BEG
Plat Block: ?
Plat Lot: ?
1910 Address: 1312 East 65th
Current address: 1312 NE 65th
August Åkerlund, age 34, born in Sweden, house carpenter
Anna Åkerlund, age 31, born in Sweden
Glen Åkerlund, age 2, born in Washington
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| Anna, August, and Glen Akerlund, circa 1910 - reproduced with kind permission from Anders and Inga Åkerlund |
August Åkerlund was 29 years old and single when he sailed from Liverpool to Boston on the S. S. Saxonia in May of 1905. He listed his trade as "carpenter", had $250 in his possession, and was headed for Minneapolis. According to the ship's manifest, he'd been to the US once before, in Chicago.
On 11 May, 1907, he married Swedish-born Anna Gustafson in Minneapolis. Some time later they moved to Seattle. On 14 August 1908, Anna gave birth to her first son, Glen Oskar.
Inga Åkerlund, Glen's daughter-in-law, wrote to me that the family returned to Sweden in 1912. August had promised his parents that he would return to care for them when they could no longer manage their small farm. "They actually had tickets for returning with Titanic," she wrote, "but must wait for new booking". August struggled with the farm, but returned to his profession as a carpenter. The family moved to Västerås for the sake of Glen's education.
Glen was ordained in 1936, and went on to become a dean in the Västerås diocese. He died on 23 January, 2003, at the age of 95. Read more about him (translated, or in the original Swedish).
The public record of the Åkerlund family's life in the United States is practically non-existent, limited to the census record from 1910, the marriage record, the ship's manifest. I haven't been able to find a directory listing for them, nor any mention of them in the newspapers.
This photograph makes up for any perceived loss. It's a beautiful portrait of a young family and their new home, and a rare glimpse of a neighborhood young enough to still have space to breathe.
Anna once told Inga that "the years in America were the happiest in her life." I'm grateful to Inga and Anders Åkerlund for sharing this treasure.
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