One Chicago Family

The Johnson Family

  • Josephine’s story

    My grandmother Josephine Molin left Sweden at age 17, traveling alone to a new world. Later, two siblings followed in her footsteps. But bold Josephine was the first to make the trip from the slow pace of rural Sweden to the… Continue reading

  • Charles Johnson: Working his way into the 20th century

    My grandfather, Charles Johnson, was born into a 19th century old-world rural life and died in the midst of a 20th century urban and industrialized one. He was born in 1862 in Nora, a mining center in the Swedish county… Continue reading

  • Caught in a web of fear

    Ten year old Sigurd Roland Johnson stepped off the ship Gripsholm at Ellis Island on December 3, 1926, with his mother, father, and older sister. Their ship had pushed through a northwest gale to reach the end of a ten-day… Continue reading

  • The Spanish Flu: Counting the bodies in 1919

    Today, as I start my writing, it is the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, November 11, 1918, that ended World War I. Until recently, I didn’t know much about the war other than its major hits: the assassination of Archduke… Continue reading

  • My father: How did he get here?

    Nov. 22nd, 1928, two years after his arrival in Chicago, my dad wrote to his biological sister in Sweden: I am in school  every day and it is going well for me. Every month I have received prize in subjects I am… Continue reading

  • The dance begins: My mother and father meet

    My father and mother had a storybook romance and courtship. Their’s was an unlikely match and the personal attraction between them must have been very strong. Indeed, I know it was from letters they wrote and saved from their courtship… Continue reading