Whenever I travel somewhere, I make it a habit to see if there is some place along the way, or close to my destination, that is connected to family history. This summer, we headed towards southern Sweden and I as I know my great grandfather Nils is from the Småland region, I thought it would... Continue Reading →
My great grandfather Nils Styrelius passed away on this day, the 16th of October, 82 years ago. By then he was a well-travelled man, who had lived an adventurous life. I have written about his passing before, and a bit about his time as an emigrant to America. He emigrated from Sweden to Chicago in... Continue Reading →
Those of you who follow this blog know that my relatives spent much of their lives in China, a country so different from Sweden that life there must have seemed like something out of a novel, or a parallel universe. To live there, in a foreign culture and a foreign language, they had to adapt... Continue Reading →
A few weeks ago, I visited one of my late father’s cousins - Kurt. He is a wonderful man, full of energy and memories, approaching his 88th year. He was kind enough to show me photographs and letters that he had kept from his parents' time in China. Kurt’s dad was my grandfather’s brother, Martin.... Continue Reading →
The National Library in Stockholm has recently made it possible to search old newspapers online. This is a great service as it is far easier and less time consuming to sit at home doing resarch, than at the library. (Though I truly love sitting in libraries and find the atmosphere to be most inspiring at... Continue Reading →
My great-grandmother Dagny loved children. She gave birth to eight children herself, whom she loved dearly and often in abscense. In addition to being a mother to her own children, she took care of the children in the villages where she worked as a missionary, especially through the schools the stations organised. Dagny also wrote... Continue Reading →
*Before reading this text, please note that it may contain unsettling descriptions. It delves into a practice that inflicted considerable harm upon Chinese women and incorporates images that could evoke distressing reactions.* Upon returning home to Sweden from China to retire, Olga and Dagny brought back cherished mementos from their life as missionaries. These precious... Continue Reading →
111 years ago - by the end of September of the year 1912 - Dagny and Robert were on the move again after having spent two years in Sweden. During this time, Dagny had given birth to a baby girl - Helfrid - at the age of 42, and another eight-year period in China awaited... Continue Reading →
I’m finally here! I have returned to Strömsborg’s recreational home, north of Stockholm on a peninsula called Rådmansö. A year has passed since I was here last and now, I am here with my family to stay for a whole week. We have been able to rent one of the houses, Sjöhaga, and I am... Continue Reading →
When writing my last post I was made aware that much of my great grandparents' life have circled around dealing with the consequences of one of the major historical events of the 19th and 20th Century. During the 19th Century, China fought two big opium wars against the West - and lost both of them.... Continue Reading →
My great grandfather Robert and great grandmother Dagny lived through many difficult situations as missionaries in China. It is fascinating to read Robert's accounts of the conflicts, wars, ambushes and robberies he and his family were in the midst of, and how they solved these situations. Robert and Dagny were close to loosing their lives... Continue Reading →
It is truly amazing what value handwritten letters hold. Letters can, like nothing else, stand the test of time. I have always loved writing letters and when I was young I saved all the letters I recieved. I thought that someday, I would like to read them again. So I keep a couple of small,... Continue Reading →
Many of us spend Christmas about the same way every year. We know pretty well what will happen as long as nothing unexpected disrupts our plans. For my great grandmother Dagny, disruption was more rule than exception as she recounted some of her different kinds of Christmases in a mission calendar in the year 1916.... Continue Reading →
My grandmother Edna was born in China in 1913. One of her first memories was from the journey she made with her family when she was three years old. She used to tell me about it. Discovering how my great grandparents spent their time out of China is quite interesting. Travelling took so long back... Continue Reading →
After my visit this summer to Strömsborgs Vilohem at Rådmansö, north of Stockholm, I’ve felt curious about the time my relatives spent out of China as well. In some ways, these years and months are not as well documented. Yes, they did write letters to their missionary colleagues in and out of China - but... Continue Reading →
They had spent a couple of lovely summers at “Strömsborgs Vilohem*” when time came for Dagny and Robert to once again set out to China to fulfill their obligation as missionaries in the year of 1912. This time was to be quite different in one deciding way. Four of their children were too old to... Continue Reading →
Painting icons is an art in itself. You need to have a lot of patience and the technique is quite elaborate. Icons are painted with egg tempera - a combination of color pigment, egg yoke, water and a drop of vinegar - and they are, as you can imagine, full of symbolic meaning. Icons are... Continue Reading →
Researching family history is interesting in many ways. Aside from understanding more about where you come from, you can connect with present-day relatives that you might not even have known existed. This has happened to me on a few occasions since I started researching and writing about my geneaology findings, and is also a big... Continue Reading →
Today, students all over Sweden, get to wear their student hats for the first time. In Sweden we call it "mösspåtagning," and it's a sure sign spring is here. Tomorrow, we celebrate Walpurgis night/Valborgsmässoafton, and all the bonfires will have choirs wearing their student hats, singing to welcome spring. Looking back to the beginning of... Continue Reading →
We are many who have lost loved ones the past years. Coping with grief is part of life and something we all go through at one point or another, always hoping it will be later, rather than sooner. Through the years I have written a few obituaries. It has always felt a bit strange, trying to... Continue Reading →
Thérèse Amnéus 