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Johanna’s first two marriages were to older men. Her first husband, Sven Hansson, was 14 years her senior and Anders was 16 years her senior. Her third husband, Åke Bengtsson, was four years her junior! Johanna married Anders on May 25, 1866, when she was 20 and he was 36.

Although Sven Hansson was Grandpa Sven’s biological father, Anders Mårtensson was his parent. Grandpa’s father died seven days before he was born. Johanna married Anders when Grandpa was one year and one month old. So Anders helped rear Sven, and from the information provided by Brigadier Swemble in the articles he wrote about Grandpa in the 1968 Stridsropets, he was a kindly father to Sven:

Sven grew up on the Duke’s land with his mother, Johanna, and his stepfather, Anders Mårtensson. His mother was a good and strong Skanian housemother. After Johanna remarried, she kept the land. Sven’s stepfather, Anders, was a good and thorough man. Grandpa remembered both him and his mother with undivided joy. He remembered his childhood as a time full of happiness and free of sorrows. His stepfather taught him to ride a horse. So that the boy would not be thrown off (he was riding without a saddle), Anders bound Grandpa’s feet together below the stomach of the horse, but Grandpa soon learned to ride without this aide.

Torvald (Grandpa’s half nephew) remembered hearing this story about Grandpa: Grandpa must have been 14-15 years old and Daddy Mortensson thought that Sven needed a new outfit and gave him money to go to Lund - the nearest town - to buy a new set of clothing. Grandpa liked that idea very much and proudly went off to Lund. When he returned, he had no new clothing. Instead he had bought something much more interesting -- a double barreled shot gun!

Sadly, there are no pictures of either Sven Hansson or Anders Mårtensson. I presume Anders farmed the land that Johanna kept (but which was owned by the Duke).

Johanna and Anders had five children - three boys and two girls. Jons, their first son, died six days after he was born; Kerstin, their next born, lived only 11 years; their first son named Johan lived only eight days; Johan (the second), lived to be 80 years old, and Kristin lived to be 66 years old. So Johanna and Anders had only two children who reached maturity.

Those early deaths must have been devastating for them, and for Grandpa Sven as well. He probably would not have remembered Jons (he was only two at the time), but he was seven when Johan (the first) died and was 14 when Kerstin died. Kerstin’s death must have been especially hard on Grandpa because she would have been his primary playmate (Johan the second was five when she died). And why did she die so young? An epidemic of some sort? Who knows! Johan (the second) and Grandpa Sven seem to have been quite close. Sven was nine years old when Johan was born, so he probably was the kindly older brother - and perhaps role model. They exchanged quite a few letters over the years and visited quite often. Grandpa was 15 years old when Kristin was born. Grandpa was either 16 or 20 when he left home, so Kristin would have been only five, maximum, when he left, so it’s not surprising that perhaps there was no strong bond forged between them. Although Kristin lived for 66 years, there are no letters or mention of her (him?) in any correspondence.

Anders died when he was only 46 years old. So young! His stepson Sven was 20 at the time.

Anders Mårtensen
1830 - 1885
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