Had a most interesting day yesterday doing family history. I'll write this up in the history I'm
doing, but thought you'd be interested in just a sketch. What I knew before was that the
oldest daughter of Magnus and Katrina Kjöllerström (Chilstrom) -- Eva Christina -- remained in
Sweden when they came to the U.S. in 1853. She was married and pregnant at the time. And,
of course, I knew a good deal about our grandfather John, the fifth child. I also knew that the
next child, August, died at about age 18. And that the youngest, Charles Emil, became a
druggist in Minneapolis. But the three sisters between Eva and John were a mystery to me.
The only information was the Swedish word for "died" in the old family Bible written beside the
names of two of the girls -- Anna Katrina and Louisa Fredrica. No date was given for their
deaths.
Then I got the material from Virginia Swedell Croze a few weeks ago -- that she had kept from
Ethel Chilstrom. On one page was a small note saying that someone had contacted her --
Ethel -- telling her that three Chilstrom sisters had married three Morris brothers and that
Morristown near Faribault was named after this family. That was all it said. I called several
people in the Morristown area and thought I was at a dead end. None of the Morris families
living there now had any connection with the Morris family that founded the town in the 1850s.
Then I called the Methodist Church pastor, thinking he might know of cemetery records. He
didn't, but referred me to a man in Faribault -- John Dalby -- who he said has devoted his life to
family research.
So I called him and spent yesterday morning with him. An interesting fellow. He had a heart
attack and became disabled at age 41. He didn't know what to do with the rest of his life until
a family member suggested that he research and write up the family history. That got him
started and now 20 years later he and his wife have accumulated hundreds of thousands of
names in their computer files. They belong to our ELCA church in Faribault and are a very
hospitable couple.
For a couple of hours he searched his computer files and came up with nothing. Then
suddenly he struck gold. He found the records for two of the Chilstrom women (spelled "
Chilstrum" in the record) who had married two of the Morris boys. But what he found was very
sad. Anna was married for only 11 months before she died. One wonders if it may have been
in childbirth. Louisa was married for less than four years before she died. He could find no
record for the third one - Inga Sofia.
He had cemetery records that showed where they should be buried at the Morristown
Riverside Cemetery. So after lunch I drove over to Morristown -- only 8 miles -- and located the
place where they are buried. Their graves, however, are unmarked. the graves of their
husbands are in the same area and are marked. So the next task will be to try to determine
exactly where those sites may be. We know within a very small area where they are, but not
exactly. I think this man may be able to help with that and once they are located I'm inclined to
want to put some kind of marker at those sites.
Then last night after I got home I had an email message from Dalby with information he found
after I left about the third daughter -- Inga Sofia. He was able to determine that she and her
husband Nathan Morris had moved to Pueblo, Colorado and were living there in 1870. Nathan
operated a mill. They had six children -- George, Alice, Bill, Louisa, Henry and Frank. All would
be first cousins of Dad. So somewhere out there in the world there are probably a ton of our
second cousins who are grandchildren of Inga Sofia.
I also spent some time at the historical museum in Faribault before I came home and learned a
good deal about the Morris family. Their roots were in Ireland. They rebelled against the
Catholic Church and came to America in the 1700s -- to Ohio and Indiana. Jonathan Morris
became a rather well-known lay evangelist. Then the family moved to MN and settled in what
became Morristown. Jonathan set up a saw mill and a flour mill on the Cannon River and
began to plat out the town. Unfortunately, he died not long after that. His widow Sarah
completed the plating of the town after his death.
The mystery that may never be solved is when, where and how these three Swedish girls met
and married these three Irish boys. Great revival meetings were common in those days. So I'm
wondering, given the background of the Morris family, if it may have been in a setting like that.
Do any of you older sisters recall that Grandma Chilstrom ever talked about these three sisters-
in-law? Or that Dad ever mentioned these three aunts? I surely have no recollection of it? It
seems that all contact between the families was lost -- until now.
Född
1809-01-08
i Öreryd (F).
Död
1895-08-05
i Minneapolis.
Flyttar till Toarp 1844
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Magnus har målat sitt namn I Öreryds kyrkton. Var han ringare där? Här upptäcker Chris Chilstrom spåren av sin anfader.
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