John Holmgren is born "Johan August" on 10 Nov 1858 at Tittebo Lilla, Örsås parish, in Älvsborg, Sweden.[1] He is the third child born to Andreas Tobiasson and Magdalena Andersdotter, named after their firstborn who died in infancy.[1]
The story of John's journey from Sweden to the USA is described in a typewritten family history, the work of his daughters and nieces:[2]
John, the eldest son, was only 19 when his father died; so it was his lot to take over the responsibilities of the family. He found it very difficult to make it, so he decided to go to the U.S.A. where some other relatives had already migrated, including a cousin, Charles Johnson in Braddock, Pennsylvania. So many emigrants were coming to America that it was a task to book passage.
When John was 22 years old, a Mr. Leonard Borg issued a passenger contract for John Anderson from Elfsborg Lane, Sweden to Braddock, Pennsylvania for the sum of $140.60. It was issued on April 7, 1880. He was saddened to leave his mother and sisters and brother, but he was a very religious man and remembered his Sunday School hymns, as "Jesus, Lover of my Soul" etc., so his courage was renewed to continue. They arrived in Hull, England on the 11th of April about 8:00 PM and stayed overnight and then set sail for London, taking 7 hours.[3] They waited 5 days then had to go to Gravesend, Scotland by train. Here they managed to get a small boat to take them out about a mile to a large American boat. They got on board and waited patiently to get started, which they did on the 18th of April, 1880.
Later they met with a storm that kept up for ten days and when they had almost given up hope of ever seeing land again, the storm finally subsided and on April 30, 1880 land was sighted. Some stories were that they were rescued by another ship and that he slept where the animals were kept.
They landed in New York on May 1; John with a traveling buddy, Peter Benson[4], didn't stay long in New York but headed directly for Braddock, Pennsylvania, arriving at 9:30 PM on May 2 as strangers in a strange land with no one to meet them. Two men they approached could speak Swedish and directed them to the home of the cousin Charles Johnson. Here they stayed overnight but found a room with Charles Johnson's mother-in-law (Mrs. Andrews) who kept a boarding house.[5] In America, John used the surname of Holmgren, which means "green home".
Within a few days (on May 5), he found work at the Carnegie Steel Co for $1.25 a day. He worked 10 hours a day and when he worked overtime, he was paid extra.
After about two years, he changed his boarding house by moving in with the John Appelquist family, where he met his future wife, Ida Christina, a daughter. When the John Appelquist family moved to Verona, Missouri, Ida Christina stayed and went to work in East Liberty.
After the Appelquists move to Missouri, John's sister Amanda and her spouse Charles Holmquist, take over the Appelquist household.[2] John continues to live here until his marriage to Ida Christina.[2]
Marriage to Ida Christina Appelquist
On 4 May 1885, John marries Ida Christina Appelquist (b.26 Mar 1865 in Pjetteryd, Sweden) in Braddock, PA.[2][6][7] The couple move into two rented rooms at 127 Bell Ave where their first son, Richard Anselm, is born.[2]
Altogether, the couple has eight children together:[8][9]
After the birth of Richard Anselm, Ida travels with the baby to visit her family in Missouri, where the he becomes sick and dies.[2] He is buried in the Mount Vernon Cemetery, Missouri.[2][10]
When daughter Anna is born, Ida Christine and John decide they need more room so they rent a four room house on Kirkpatrick Street for $10.00 a month.[2] When Bertha C. is born, they decide to buy a new house at 11 Holland Ave, Braddock.[2] The price is $2650.00 with $50.00 down, $1000.00 on signing the deed, and $25.00 a month until it is paid for.[2] They move in on 29 August 1891, around the same time that John's mother and sister arrive in town from Sweden.[2]
John writes this note in his sister's Autograph Book on 15 Jan 1893:
Hilda's Autograph Book, p.10
In 1900, John is living in Braddock at their Holland Avenue home with wife Ida and six children.[8] He works as a steel blower.[8]
John and Ida's daughter, Ranghild, becomes sick with diptheria on 28 Jun 1906.[2] She dies on 9 Jul 1906 and is buried in Braddock Cemetery.
Accident at Steel Works
On 1 Jan 1908, John Holmgren is injured in an explosion at his workplace, the Edgar Thompson Steel Works.[2][11] According to local newspaper reports from the time: at 11:15 o'clock, the no. 3 converter, full of molten steel and weighing a solid 15 tons, unexpectedly falls to the floor, exploding in a burst of flames and molten steel and injuring a circle of 15 workers.[11] Two are burned to death. Workers with the most severe injuries are taken to area hospitals, and those with more moderate wounds are transported home. Holmgren, an "expert vessel man" is "burned about the face and neck" and removed to his home on Holland Ave.[11]
In more detail:
John Holmgren, one of the expert steel blowers, was standing on the ledge about 15 feet from the converter, working the lever that moves the vessel on its axis, after it is fully 'blown.' Holmgren was almost ready to turn down the vessel to empty its contents into the ladles, to make ingot moulds, when it suddenly let go. Holmgren was close to the line of shooting flame, but escaped serious burns.[11]
Life Continues
On 3 Nov 1909, John and his home at 11 Holland Ave are host to the 80th birthday celebration of his mother Magdalena Holmgren. The whole family gathers together to celebrate their matriarch. They pose for photos and the affair get mention in the local Pittsburgh press.
Magdalena's 80th Birthday. (John Holmgren is seated front left, with mustache and waistcoat.)
Ida dies of jaw cancer on 6 Sep 1912.[7][14] Their youngest son Elmer is just 9 years old at the time.
Marriage to Emily Bergman Appelquist
Wedding Announcement
John marries the widow of Ida's brother Sven Appelquist, his sister-in-law Emily. The ceremony takes place 19 Aug 1914 in Springfield, Missouri, the home state of the Appelquists since they moved from Braddock before the turn of the century. [2] Emily's two grown sons Carl and Ralph, previously John's nephews, become more closely connected in the family as step-brothers to their first-cousins.
Emily and John Holmgren
In the 1920, he and Emily are living together with teenage son, Elmer.[15]
About this time, John and his siblings sit for this photo.
Siblings: John, Amanda, and Oscar
Death
John dies 2 May 1927 at his home in Swissvale, PA.[7] The cause of death is listed as "apoplexy," likely a result of cerebral hemorrhage or stroke.[16][17]
Pennsylvania death certificate for John August Holmgren[17]
↑ Ship manifest for S.S. Rollo: Ancestry.com, "Gothenburg, Sweden, Passenger Lists", 1869-1951, 1880, April, Rollo, page 396, image 23, line 43.
↑ "Traveling buddy" Peter Niklas Bengtsson (b. 29 Feb 1856 in Örsås) is listed in the line just below John's on the Rollo manifest, as well as the EmiHamn database archive #14:396:44.
↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW68-FM4 : 10 August 2016), Aug Anderson in household of Anna Andrews, Braddock, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district ED 33, sheet 199C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1088; FHL microfilm 1,255,088.
↑ "Pennsylvania Marriages, 1709-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V2X3-4W1 : 11 February 2018), John A. Wolmgrem and Ida Christina Apelquist, 04 May 1885; citing Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; FHL microfilm 1,299,326.
↑ 8.08.18.28.38.48.58.68.78.88.9 "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3M9-LNK : accessed 11 March 2017), John Holmgren, Braddock borough Ward 3, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 350, sheet 4A, family 69, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,241,366.
↑ 9.09.19.29.39.49.59.69.79.8 "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGQS-YQ4 : accessed 11 March 2017), John A Holmgren, Braddock Ward 3, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 26, sheet 11A, family 209, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 1293; FHL microfilm 1,375,306.
↑ Ancestry.com, "Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1964" #81562
↑ 15.015.1 "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6B6-1R4 : accessed 11 March 2017), John A Holmgren, Braddock Ward 3, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States; citing ED 34, sheet 6B, line 55, family 106, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 1509; FHL microfilm 1,821,509.
↑ 16.016.116.2Death notice in Pittsburgh Daily Post (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA), 4 May 1927, p.24
↑ 17.017.1 Ancestry.com, "Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1964" #53664
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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with John by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with John: