Although there is a great deal of family correspondence, my Grandfather only mentioned his mother once and that was just a short sentence in a letter to his wife Lotten saying he had visited his mother. In the articles that Brigadier Swembel wrote about Grandpa, there is mention of Grandpa’s stepfather Anders, but the only reference to Johanna is that Sven regretted not having enough time to send a telegram to his mother to ask her to stand on the train station platform so he could wave to her as he rode through Örtofta on his way to America. That, plus the statement made by Grandma Lotten that Johanna was referred to as “pretty Johanna,” is all that I know about her.
I get the impression that she was much respected because her Grandson, Ernfrid, said (when I met him in 2000) that the only time her grandchildren were allowed to walk in front of her was at her funeral. According to May (her Great Granddaughter), this funeral was a very grand affair. The casket was carried to the graveyard in a black carriage pulled by four black horses. All the town dignataries were there, including the Duke.
This tombstone no longer exists. All the markers in most of the cemeteries in Sweden have been replaced with small markers. When I visited the cemetery in 2001, all the trees were gone and most of the markers were flat, close to the ground, and surrounded by raked, white sand. Although it looked very neat and clean, I think I prefer the old way.
My inability to speak Swedish was, and is, a great drawback to gaining knowledge of my Swedish relatives but what little I do know makes me want to know more about pretty Johanna.
Johanna Jönsdottor
1846 - 1927
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