1845 - 1927
Johanna, my Great Grandmother, was born in Örtofta, Sweden, November 15, 1845 (the date on the gravestone, below, is incorrect according to church records), and died on March 5, 1927 at the age of 82. She was confirmed in the Lilla-Harrie Church in 1860. She had (starting at age 20) eight children by three husbands over a span of 23 years.
Only five of Johanna’s children lived to maturity, but those five gave her (as of May 28, 2001) 13 Grandchildren, 22 Great Grandchildren, and 59 Great Grandchildren (and one on the way). Her first child by her first husband, Sven Hansson (my Great Grandfather), was my Grandfather, Sven Wiberg. On the whole, her progeny have been quite healthy. Health problems that may or may not be inherited from this side of the family are diabetes (the most prevalent) and Alzheimer’s (one documented case to date). Color blindness also seems to be common in the family.
Johanna lived in Örtofta all her life and farmed the Duke’s land with her husbands. I walked over this land twice - once with Torvald when I visited in 1961 and once with his daughter May when I visited in 2000. I don’t remember much from the 1961 visit except that Torvald gave me the key to one of the houses where Johanna had once lived - since demolished. In 2000, May showed me where the mills had stood that her Great Grandfather, Åke Bengtsson, once operated.
