HANNA

Some information from documents:

When Hanna is 18, she gets a maid service with the homesteader and neighbor Daniel Persson, where Per Erik also works, and she settles there. Then she returned home in 1877, to move to a maid service in Smedjebacken in 1878. She eventually ends up in Timrå in north of Sweden and she marries 1889-06-16 a seven years younger tailor Johan August Pistol Edgren from Bred in Uppland and then moves to Sundsvall, also in north of Sweden.

According to the church records, the man emigrated to the United States in 1892 and Hanna in 1893. But we know from the letters in the mother's illness section, that they moved to Norway to collect money for the ticket and that they left in the autumn of 1895 for the USA.

We also know from Sofie's letter that Hanna's family had a very difficult time because Johan, her husband, shot himself in the jawbone so badly that he had to stay in hospital for five months and then had surgery several times. Everything they earned together had gone to doctors, Sofia says in her letter.

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Lite information från dokument:

När Hanna är 18 år får hon en pigtjänst hos bergsmannen och grannen Daniel Persson där också Per Erik arbetar, och hon bosätter sig där. Därefter kommer hon tillbaka hem 1877, för att 1878 flytta till en pigtjänst i Smedjebacken. Hon hamnar så småningom i Timrå och gifter sig 1889-06-16 med sju år yngre skrädderiarbetaren Johan August Pistol Edgren från Bred i Uppland och flyttar då till Sundsvall

Enligt kyrkböckerna har mannen utvandrat till USA 1892 och Hanna 1893. Men vi vet ju från breven vid moderns sjukdom att de flyttade till Norge för att samla ihop pengar till biljetten och att de kom iväg hösten 1895.

Vi vet också från Sofies brev att Hannas familj hade det mycket svårt eftersom Johan, maken, skjutit sig i käkbenet så illa så han fick ligga på lasarett i fem månader och sedan opereras flera gånger. Allt de tjänat ihop hade gått till doktorer, berättar Sofia i brevet.

Descendants' memories:

Random Memories of Grandma Hannah by Aileen Child Edgren, wife of Lloyd Edgren who was Grandma Hannah's grandson.

posted by Jayne Edgren Taylor

Hanna in front of her house in Star Valley (thank you Lela for the picture)

10-26-08

When Lloyd was a teenager he would go visit Hannah at her house in Star Valley. There was a large ditch with a small bridge to get to her house. She would see him coming and rush out to greet him by pushing him in the ditch. She would cackle with laughter when she succeeded to drenching him in the ditch.
She was very proud of her Swedish heritage and did not seem to tolerate other nationalities very well. There was a crew of Norwegians working in the Star Valley area. They came to Thayne near where Hannah lived and got drunk. She dismissed their actions as "just a bunch of damn Finlanders".
She was small framed, probably smaller even than Jayne (5 ft 3 in) and walked every where and did everything for herself. She was very "wirey"-thin and strong. There supposedly is a home movie showing her building her own chicken coup when she was in her late 70s. We need to try and find who might have the home movie.
She drank a lot of coffee and had her own sugar bowl. She would take a spoonful of sugar and dip it in the coffee and eat it. She may have liked the sugar more than the coffee.
She would get your attention by poking you with her elbows. Everyone knew how sharp her elbows were.
Aileen had a hard time understanding her broken English. Grandma Hannah always accused her of being too "dumb" to understand. She would say: "you damn dumb ting-maybe when you ska be some old some I are, you ska know --some ting (you damn dumb thing when you are as old as I am you may know some thing."
When Grandpa John (Edgren) and Grandma Mame (Mariam) moved to Pleasanton, California from Star Valley, Grandma Hannah lived with them in a small apartment above the auto show room. She made herself very comfortable there. When she would cross the street she would put her hand out to stop the cars as she crossed just like she did in rural Wyoming-the only difference was that the traffic was much heavier but that did not seem to matter to her.
Aileen and Lloyd had a small apartment about 6 blocks from her apartment. Every night she would come and visit to make sure they were ok and sit in their rocking chair and give them advice. She did this with all those she knew just like she did with her neighbors and family in Wyoming.
Her relationship with Grandma Mame her daughter-in-law was ok mostly because Mame was very patient. Mame was a good cook but Grandma Hannah would not really give her credit for it. When she would sit down to a delicious meal she would say in her broken English: "Course Min anything ska tastes good when you ska be hungry (of course Mame anything tastes good if you are hungry enough.)"
When Aileen and Lloyd were first married they had two nights of a honeymoon and then they traveled from Star Valley to California. Grandma Hannah and her son John traveled with them. She did not understand why they needed to rent two motel rooms. She thought it would be perfectly ok for John and Lloyd to sleep in one bed and Aileen and herself could sleep in another. In this case the bride and groom prevailed-they used two motel rooms.
On that trip to California she sat in the back seat on her feather bed. Every time the car hit a bump in the road she would yell, "Kuckel de Koo". When they stopped at a gas station Aileen would ask her if she wanted to go the bath room. She would say: "No I ska save it". It probably was a long trip.
She was very proper. She always wore long skirts even when she was out working. It was not proper for a women to whistle. She considered it evil.
In 1946 Edna Peterson came to visit. She was Grandma Hannah's niece (Sophia's daughter). At that time Edna was living in Calgary, Canada. Hannah was so proud of her and excited to see her. However there was a discussion about the dark hair that some of the Edgren had. When Edna suggested that maybe the Edgren's had associated and may have relatives that were French, Grandma Hannah's Swedish pride was insulted. She did not say one further word to her after that and would not ever acknowledge her. This was very uncomfortable since she was living with her in a small apartment. She would never mention Edna's name again after that. (Years later Lloyd and Aileen tried to look her up when they were in Calgary but could not find her. Also as far as Aileen remembers Edna was never married).

Grandma Hannah was sure she would live to be a hundred. She was proud of her age. When she was 90 she said "I am 90 gopa 91". She said that at each new birthday. She was proud that she was growing older. She died of a stroke at age 97.

Hanna's birthday with a lot of congratulators