Ernest Hjalmar Stjerndahl 1877-1965

B.  21 March 1877     Bottnaryd, Jonkoping, Sweden
D.  28 September 1965     Denver, Colorado
Buried:   Wheatridge, Colorado

Father:  unknown
Mother: Charlotta Anderson [Why not Andersdotter?]

Siblings:
   Thackla Alvina (aka Ellen) Peterson  1868
   Carl Victor Peterson  1873
   Frans Emil Peterson   1875
   John Walter Peterson   1878
   Olga Marie Peterson   ?

*** Thackla was Charlotta's daughter and Ernest was her son. We don't know the father.
       Carl, Frans and John were the children of John P. Peterson and Charlotta's sister Johanna.
       Olga was daughter of Charlotta and John Peterson.

Mar:  25 October 1899     Alma Christine Rudd      Ong, Nebraska
Mar:  23 July 1918            Florence Olida Moberg    Denver, Colorado

Children:
   Merrill Frithiof Sterndahl    1902
   Laurel Ernest Sterndahl     1905
   Lillian Genevieve Sterndahl     1915
   Doris Ernestine Sterndahl     after 1918

Ernest and Alma

Their home in Ong, Nebraska, l to r, Ernest, Laurel, Merrill, Alma (with two white rabbits) about 1908

1950?

[I don't have much information about Ernest, but here goes. See below for the info I was able to gather on Ernest's mother, step-father, and grandparents.]

Ernest's mother, Charlotta, immigrated from Bottnyard to the United States via Gothenberg on 1 December 1882. Her destination was recorded as Waterville, Kansas. Ernest's sister, Thackla, immigrated in August 1884. She was living with her mother.

Ernest immigrated, also through Gothenberg, on 6 April 1894. His destination was Grand Rapids. Ernest landed in Boston when he was 17 years old. He had been apprenticed to a cabinet-maker in Sweden when his mother left for the US. The dates don't work very well unless he was apprenticed at five years old. I suppose that is possible.

His mother Charlotta was living in Waterville and had married John Peterson, her sister Johanna's widower, and was raising Johanna's three children: Carl Victor, Frans Emil, and John Walter. Charlotta and John later had a daughter, Olga, together. Walter and Emil went to Murray, Utah. These are the uncles that Merrill and Laurel visited and worked with during their trip from Denver to Los Angeles.

Ernest went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and stayed with a cousin for about a year. He had been going by the last name of Johnson (Jonsson?) but in Grand Rapids he began using Stjerndahl. He dropped the "J" when living in Denver in the 1920s. The 1920 census shows the Stjerndahls - Ernst, Florence, Merrill, and Laurel - living in Ong, Clay County, Nebraska. I don't know why his daughters Lillian Genevieve and Dorris were not listed. Ernest became a naturalized US citizen in 1908.

John Peterson, Olga, Charlotta Peterson

This is Charlotta's 1915 obituary:

Mrs. Charlotta Peterson was born in Sweden, March 5, 1843, and died at her home southeast of Waterville Saturday evening, January 30th, at the age of 71 years, 10 months and 25 days. She came to America and arrived at Waterville in December, 1882. January 24, 1883, she was married to Mr. J.P. Peterson. To this union two children were born, of whom one daughter, Olga, is left to mourn the loss of a beloved mother. She was confirmed in the Lutheran Church in Sweden and was a true believer in that faith until death, being a member of the Swedish Lutheran Church at Cottage Hill, at which place the funeral was held Thursday, February 4, and her remains laid to rest by the side of her husband in that cemetery.

John Peterson's February 1913 obituary:

     John P. Peterson was born in Asheda parish of Kronobergsolan, January 25, 1840, and died at his home three miles and a half northeast of Cottage Hill February 9. He was one of the early settlers and one of the charter members of the Swedish Lutheran Church, to which he has always been a faithful member.
     January 24, 1883, he was married to Charlotta Anderson. To this union two children have been born. Only one, Olga Marie, remains to mourn his loss. Mr. Peterson had been married once before to the sister of Mrs. Charlotta. To that union several children were born. His wife and his sons Carl, Emil, and Walter and his daughter Olga remain to mourn him.
     For more than a year he has suffered continually and it has been known for some time that he could not last much longer. He was ready to go and had his faith in the Lord and knew that he would be taken into the everlasting and real happiness in heaven with all saints and saved ones.
     He was buried from the Swedish Lutheran Church on Wednesday afternoon, Rev. Lonner conducting the funeral sermon, one in Swedish and one in English. A large gathering was present at his funeral. His boys, Emil and Walter, had come home from Utah to attend the funeral.



Anders Jonsson

B.  1 February 1801 in Bottnaryd Parish, Jonkoping, Sweden
D.  13 February 1871

He was a crofter [tenant farmer] living at Croft Klerebo under the Bottnaryd Vicarage.

He married Lisa Abrahamsdotter (B. 9 June 1811), who was also born in Bottnaryd.

Their children were:
   Johanna Cathrina Andersdotter, 6 December 1834
   Stina (Christina?) Andersdotter, 19 August 1837
   Johan Andersson, 15 April 1840
   Lotta (Charlotta) Andersdotter, 24 February 1843
   Anders Andersson, 12 January 1846
   Carl Andersson, 29 June 1848
   Thilda Andersdotter, 6 October 1853 (D. 10 April 1859)

Johanna Cathrina immigrated to the US in 1966. She was married to John Peterson. She died in 1882 and Charlotta came to the US to marry him.  I think that was a fairly common occurrence in those days.