It might be prudent to pause and explain the practice during the mid-1800s with regard to surnames. During that time, the custom dictated that children at birth did NOT assume their father's surname. They assumed his first name and added the suffix of either "son" or "dotter" (literally translated son or daughter). When the three sons of Carl and Sofia were born, their surnames became CARLSSON (or son of Carl). If Carl and Sofia had given birth to a daughter, her last name would have been Carlsdotter. For some unknown reason, Edward, the oldest, later changed his last name to Johnson. August kept his birth surname of Carlsson. But Alfred, Hannah's father, decided shortly after the turn of this century, to change his surname to Bergman. He apparently chose this last name because (1) his house was located on the top of a "berga" (or hill in Swedish) and (2) there were 18 children between Alfred and August who all had the last name of Carlsson! Some of these 18 children also had the same FIRST names! So to keep everybody straight, Alfred changed his last name to Bergman. The reason we know this change took place after the turn of the century is because only Hannah's brothers and sisters assumed the surname of Bergman. Hannah retained Carlsson because she left Sweden in July 1900 to come to America and therefore, was not at home when her father made this momentous decision.

In a way, I have contradicted myself. If the adoption of a surname as mentioned above was the custom of the times, then Alfred (Carlsson) Bergman's children would not have adopted either Carlsson or Bergman -- rather Alfredsson or Alfredsdotter. But I guess by the late 1800's the Swedes changed to the custom of using the father's last name.

Now the fun started! Josefina had an older sister by the name of Helemina (born in 1851), the second child born to Karl Peter and Katarina Hoglund. Helemina married August, Alfred's twin brother. Therefore, two brothers married two sisters! Their descendants, the eighteen children, were "double" cousins and a close affinity developed among them. By the way, August and Helemina had two sons both named Viktor. Both Viktors died young, so really our descendants are from only sixteen of the eighteen children. Also, of the nine children born to Alfred and Josefina, five emigrated to America and, of the nine children born to August and Helemina, three emigrated to America.

Another bit of trivia! Josefina and Helemina had nicknames Ñ Josefina being "Fina" and Helemina being "Mina". The big joke at the reunion was "Are you a Mina or are you a Fina?". I bring this to your attention as in the pages to follow you might see these nicknames mentioned.

Let's talk about Hannah. I am sure that most of you reading this remember lots of things about this wonderful lady that I do not know. But through the help of some of her papers, I have been able to piece some of her life together during her early years. Apparently her life on Donso was not filled with many material things. Life was hard on Donso. The island peoples' diet consisted mainly of fish and potatoes. Donso, Stryso and Kanso are sparsely treed and very rocky and Donso is the barest of the three islands. Their potato crop was grown on another island due to the lack of soil cover on Donso. Hannah's house at that time was comprised of only three rooms -- a kitchen, living room and bedroom. I had a feeling of "deja vu" when I was in her house, as she had talked to me about it many times. Many of men on the island were fisherman and spent months at sea leaving the women and children alone. I remember Hannah telling me that she would pull the braided rug from the floor to cover her at night while she slept. They were poor folk. Hannah also conveyed stories of how in the winter she would go to Stryso by walking across the ice between the two islands. Sometimes they would tie bedsheets to their ankles and wrists and the wind would blow them from island to island.

I think Hannah was asked to leave home in 1900 as there was at that time seven other mouths to feed in the family and food was very scarce. I guess she chose America as her prospective new home because the fisherman returning from their long jaunts often talked about how wonderful the U.S. was. She left with little or no money, spoke no English but in some ways must have been filled with the desire for adventure. I don't think very many of us would do what she did! She booked passage on the White Star Line and arrived in Boston on July 13, 1900. I believed she stayed with a Mrs. Castle, a family friend whom her parents knew through a Brethren church. She was employed by a wealthy family as a cook. Hannah then met John Farquhar, who hailed from Lossiemouth, Scotland, and married him. I have no information on John Farquhar nor do I know when Hannah and John were married. Also, I do not know whether Hannah met John in Boston or New York, but anyway they lived on Staten Island (a. borough of New York City), New York. John Farquhar was a carpenter and died by falling off a scaffold at a building site. A son, William, was born to them on December 11, 1908. William was about two years old when his father died. Hannah went back to Donso to visit her family in 1910 and, I believe, she was a widow at that time.

Hannah, upon returning from Donso, met Walter Bradshaw. Walter, a linen salesman, was from Belfast, Ireland. They married on April 2, 1913 on Staten Island. They first lived on Jackson Street where their first child, Ruth Josephine was born on March 2, 1914. Shortly thereafter they moved to Beach Street and John Alfred (known as Alfred) was born in that house on December 21, 1915. In 1918, Walter and Hannah bought a house at 25 Catlin Avenue (see plan for first and second floors at the end of this section; third floor or attic consisted of just two bedrooms) at a cost of $3,900. A daughter, Edith Hannah was born on May 23, 1921.

(The following memories were provided to me by my mother/ Ruth Josephine Bradshaw Smith.)

Hannah and Walter were very poor. During World War I, Hannah would go to the nearest town (Stapleton) with a wagon for a bag of coal to heat the kitchen stove. They had no electricity for quite a while after they bought Catlin Avenue and therefore, used kerosene lamps for illumination. Walter would rise early in the morning to stoke and re-coal the furnace.

The family's life was very church oriented. Both Hannah and Walter were raised amongst the Plymouth Brethren, a strict sect of evangelical Protestants. They attended church three times on Sunday (at 11:00 for the Communion Service, at 3:30 for the Bible