The People – who will you meet throughout this blog?

This blog contains a number of names and stories connected to different family members, belonging to two different family trees.

The families I mainly write about are my paternal grandfather Rudolf’s family and my paternal grandmother Edna’s family. Both couples were missionaries in China and had several of their children while living there.

My grandfather’s parents were from an earlier generation than my grandmother’s parents, but my grandfather Rudolf and my grandmother Edna were born the same year – only five days apart—in March 1913.

Some of my grandfather’s siblings were not born in China. The reason for that is that they were born during so-called home vacations, when the missionaries returned to their home countries to rest and to meet with friends and relatives. My grandfather Rudolf’s mother Dagny was from Norway and this is why their daughter Dagny-Edla was born there in the year 1900. Hudson Wilhelm, on the other hand, was born in Sweden only a year after – in 1901. Their home vacation was thus split between Norway and Sweden and lasted a couple of years. (My great-grandfather Robert was from a family of hammersmiths/blacksmiths in central Sweden.)

Read a bit about Robert Bergling here: Great Old Clippings – Thérèse Amnéus
And where he came from here: Exploring the past in the present – Thérèse Amnéus
Read about Dagny Aass/Bergling and her love for children here: Hat’s Off For Little Blessings – Thérèse Amnéus
Read about Dagny-Edla and one of the Bergling family’s home vacations here: Revealing Past Summers – Thérèse Amnéus

The Bergling/Aass family tree

Family tree showing Robert Bergling and Dagny Aass, their children and spouses, and grandchildren Staffan, Cecilia and Gunnar.
Black-and-white group portrait of a large family with adults and children.
My great-grandmother Dagny in the middle, surrounded by her children, their spouses and her grandchildren. My grandmother Edna and grandfather Rudolf are standing just behind her, to the left.
Black-and-white vintage photograph of five young children sitting together on outdoor steps.
The first time my grandmother and my grandfather met was at the yearly missionary conference in Yuncheng. It was in June 1914, and they were both a bit over 1 year old. Here is the first photograph of them together – my grandmother Edna at the top centre of the photo, and just below here, my grandfather Rudolf.

The Svenson/Styrelius/Ahlman family tree

My grandmother’s father Nils came from a farmer’s family in the south of Sweden and her mother Olga came from the Stockholm archipelago. Nils emigrated to America and lived there for about five years, before deciding to head out as a missionary to China. If you would like to read more about him you can start here: May We All Be Ready – Thérèse Amnéus

Olga was a maid in Stockholm before deciding to learn English and nursing in Scotland, after which she could finally apply to become a missionary in China – a dream she realised in 1905.
Read about Olgas time in Scotland here: Retracing Olga’s Steps in Scotland – Thérèse Amnéus
Read about my grandmother Edna and her sister Linnéa in this article, where you also get to know their Chinese nanny: The Hero Behind the Scenes – Thérèse Amnéus

Family tree showing Nils Svenson and Olga Ahlman, their children Edna, Linnéa and Erik, and Edna’s children Staffan, Cecilia and Gunnar.
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Black-and-white photograph of two women, a man and a girl sitting on grass in a garden.
The Styrelius family. My grandmother Edna, her father Nils, Edna’s sister Linnéa and mother OIga. It looks like Olga is holding her camera on her knee. Olga was the one taking most of the photos in the Styrelius family album. Many of her photos also appeared in the mission paper Sinims Land.

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