During 1883-1886 roughly 1/2 the tickets were prepaid in America by friends, relatives and businesses. Passage was often paid by lumber or mining companies of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. The Midwest, primarily Minnesota and Illinois, were the main settlement areas. Often the farmers or farm laborers went to farms in the Midwest; industrial workers went to cities; woods workers went to northern USA and Canada. Major cities like Chicago acquired people with trades, construction and females for domestic or textile services. Swedes emigrating to Canada occurred primarily after 1900.

The Andreasson side of the family were members of the 1875-1893 exodus when 493,000 people left Sweden for the USA. Cost of passage to the Great Lakes region from Sweden was about $50.00 at this time. The probable route of travel was from Goteborg to New York, to Albany and then to Buffalo for a lake steamer to Chicago or Milwaukee. The voyage took about 2 weeks once the ship set sail. Amanda Johansson, passenger No. 133., age 21, female, located in steerage (low paying), no calling (occupation), from Sweden, destination USA, arrived in NY on 10 April 1888 aboard the S.S. Werra. The Werra left Bremen, Germany and stopped at South Hampton, England for additional passengers. The 379 passengers (330 adults, 31 children, 18 infants and one born in transit) were multinational and included Germans, Austrians, Danes, Russians, Hungarians, Bavarians, Swedes and Americans. The ship had 1st class, 2nd class and steerage compartments (M-237 Mar 29 - Apr 1888, reel No. 517, record No. 464).

On June 19, 1888, Alfred was married to Amanda Olivia Johnson by the Justice of the Peace in Warren, Marshall County, Minnesota. Alfred was a farmer by occupation. Olivia and Alfred had three children together: Hjalmar, Garfield and Jennie. Both Alfred and his brother John were charter members of the Elim Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, Alverado together with their wives, Olivia and Kristina respectively. Elim Church was founded and organized on January 23, 1893. (John was originally a Member of the Jala Lutheran Church who married Christina Frederickson (b. Nov, 5, 1868- Aug.4, 1965) on Nov. 5, 1887. They left for America in 1888.) Alfred was appointed as one of the first deacons Jan 23, 1893. His wife Olivia was charter member of Elim Ladies Aide founded in June 1893. Both Alfred and his brother John Anderson are listed as attending the first meeting of the Elim Lutheran Church on 12 Jan 1893. Their wives, Olivia and Christina were charter members of the Elim Ladies Aid founding in June 1893. Olivia died and Alfred left for Canada, prior to the building being fully completed in 1909.

1st wife: Amanda Olivia Sophia Johnson 1866-1896

Olivia was born June 20, 1866 and died April 28, 1896 of tuberculosis at the age of 29 years, 10 months and 8 days. She was buried at the Elim Cemetery. Olivia was the daughter to Johan Andersson (July 17, 1839-April 22, 1898) and Maja Lisa Anders dotter (May 16 1841-May 12, 1913.) She died of consumption which is now called tuberculosis. Alfred was listed as a widower in the 1900 census with 3 children at school - Alfred H. was 11 years, William G. - 9 years and Jennie O. is 7 years. He is a farmer, owning his own farm with a mortgage, and caring for three young children.

2nd wife: Johanna Christine (Hanson) Amundson circa 1872-1914

The last USA record for Alfred Anderson was in the 1905 MN census. He was 40 years old, Christine, his wife, was 32 years old, followed by Hjalmar, 16 yr., Garfield, 14 yr., (both are farm laborers), Clarence, 5 yr., Hazel, 2 yr., and Elvin, 1 yr. Jennie is not listed. Alfred was remarried perhaps in 1901 or very early 1902. The birth record for Hazel Evelyn is 26 Sep 1902, parents are Alfred Anderson, age 37 and Christina Anderson (crossed out) Hanson placed above Anderson. A marriage record in either Polk or Marshall Counties has not been located. Christine, was born around 1872-73 in Sweden and immigrated in 1891. Kristina Hanson of Marshall Co. married Andrew Amundson of Marshall Co. on 17 Jan 1898. They were married by Pastor A. Mattson of Elim Lutheran Church, the same church Alfred was a deacon in! Clarence and a stillborn baby were born to this union..

Alfred and Christine’s marriage date between 1900 and Dec.1901. Christine came to the second marriage with a lot of nice household effects and Clarence had a good inheritance from his father. In Jenny’s eyes, Christine was apparently not a very kind step-mother. Jenny was removed from the Anderson home by a sheriff by the orders of her Uncle Sanfred Johnson because of Christine’s treatment of the original 3 children.

The 1905 MN census has Alfred living in Enumeration District 32 for 17 years and Christine for 5 years. Arthur claimed to have met Christine’s father because he stated that, “Grandpa Hansen used to shake when excited” Perhaps this Mr. Hanson lived in the U.S.

CANADA

Sometime after June 1905 and before June 1907 Alfred Anderson emigrated from Marshall County Minnesota, USA to Saskatchewan, Canada. Christina, Clarence, Hazel, Alvin, Raymond, Myrtle and infant son Arthur arrived in the spring of 1907 with personal belongings, several cattle, and only .50c left in their pockets. There is a Saskatchewan homestead record application made on 5/9/1908, for an Alfred Anderson from Buchanan. Both Buchanan and the homestead application location are near Endeavour.

Alfred Anderson did not live on the land he applied for. He had lived on the NW 1/4, Section 5, Township 36, Range 5 since June 1907. Alfred had purchased the land in Sec. 5. The property value of his residence was a $200.00 house, a $225.00 granary and a $100.00 stable. This house was 2 storied with squared logs.

The homestead patent applied for is Preeceville, Section 18, Township 36, Range 5 east, 2nd Meridian. Alfred obtained the homestead entry on 26 Jun 1907 for $10.00. He built a house on it by 6 Dec 1909 but he did not reside on the land. Alfred was 51 years old when the legal papers were signed on 17 August 1914. He had a wife and 5 children. The 12' x 14' log house was valued at $50.00, 92 acres were fenced, the stable was valued at $225.00 and the granary? at $100.00. Noticeable were marks that crossed out all references such as "solemnly swear" with "solemnly affirm" and affirm is written in place of swear. Knut and Eric Roste are references to Alfred's patent application in 1914.

Christine had one sister in the Etomamie-North Prairie District, Anna, who was married to Gustav Erickson. The Ericksons moved to the comunity after the Andersons. Perhaps around 1911. Three of the Erickson children remained unmarried, however the family names of Rosaasen and Raglin are offspring. It is suspected that there were other Hanson sisters and perhaps other relatives living in or near the community of Warren, Minnesota.

Raymond saw his mother as a godly, hard-working mother who had a baby every other year. Arthur, who had many nightmares, was taught to instinctively call out to Jesus. The Andersons taught their children well.

The Andersons were Swedish and lived in a mainly Norwegian community. Simply due to country of origin they were not well accepted by the others. Many of the Swedes began to meet at Mr. Joseph Hedlund’s home (se 1/4 6-36-5 ) and he’d preach. Christine and Alfred enjoyed the Bible studies and singing.

Arthur (son) tells story of lamp being tipped over and Christine burned in fire. According to Mary Anderson the surface fire occurred when she was bathing and putting her children to bed. She put it out with a blanket. She injured and crippled her hand though. No one else was injured and the house was fine.

It is suspected that Christine died of a combination of tuberculosis and childbirth on September 20th, 1914 at home on Section 5-36-5-2 at the age of 42. The house was fumigated after she passed away and all the bedding and clothes burned. She is buried in an unmarked grave on West side Cemetery-North Prairie District. Her doctor was J.D. O’Brien and her religion was Lutheran. The photo of her funeral shows a very sad young family.

According to oral tradition, several children were originally buried on the homeplace near the swamp. Later because of flooding the graves were moved to the West Side Cemetery within a 1/2 of a mile of the Anderson home. The four known Anderson burials in this cemetery are Christine (1914), son Clarence and daughter Myrtle and another child. One grave marker is still on that site which is that of Henry Rosaasen’s first wife. The land is currently owned by family members. This land was originally donated by D. Olson.for a church and cemetery in the North Prairie district. It was on the N.W. corner of N.E. 1/4 of section 34. It began to be used as a cemetery in 1910. Speculatively Carter Anderson, a child of Ole Anderson, would have been the first one buried here with the second being Clara Rosaasen a few days later.

Jennie arrived in 1914 to assist her father with his family after his second wife's death. When Jennie arrived, Alfred remodeled the home and moved it to the south 1/4. The house was still occupied in the early 1980s. What remained in 1996 is 12 tall evergreens that surrounded the house, 2 apple trees, a wrecked pickup truck and old cedar washtub. Throughout the years the Anderson home was often used by Indians and Whites as an overnight stop and all were welcome. In emergencies many people came to use the telephone as the home was on the first telephone line in the District. One example of Alfred’s generosity was to meet the Berg family at the train with a team of horses and sleigh filled with quilts in March of 1918. Jenny and Hazel had a lovely dinner prepared that night, "the Anderson's were so good to us." Other immigrants were also welcomed into his house. He often helped out his children when they were struggling financially. One neighbor was loaned $700.00 in the late 1930s. Josphine Slotten was taken into the Anderson home when her mother passed away. She watched as Mr. Anderson made her mother’s coffin. This was in ?

Alfred was a trustee of the North Prairie Scandinavian Lutheran Church together with George Braum, Otto Seiverson, Toder N. Hove, and John Slotten.at the time the certificate of title was awarded to the Church in 1918.

A GRANDSON'S REFLECTIONS

A grandson, Leroy Scharfenberg, has described Alfred Anderson in his old age. “Alfred was a rather short man of between 5'5 and 5'7. He walked with a hunched back. He had bright blue eyes and rather thinning hair in his old age and always wore a mustache. Typically he wore blue bib overalls with snaps and leather boots that had laces. In the winter he wore felt boots with a rubber overshoe. He always carried a pocket watch on a chain. Alfred spoke with a heavy Swedish accent and with a slight stammer.

In his latter years he did not attend church regularly however he abstained from smoking and drinking. He usually whistled while he worked and although he was a farmer, he also knew the trades of blacksmithing and carpentry. He created many knives, pliers and even a fish-spear which he used in the local rivers and lakes. He built his own log-house and barn as well as many fine pieces of furniture.

He kept a sturdy team of Clydesdales for use breaking the land he owned. He also owned a 3-wheeled tractor that was run on coal oil. His first and only car was a Maclaughlin, which was similar to the Model T.

He enjoyed gardening and passed that love on to his children. He was an extremely generous man and was always taking in new immigrants into his home to help them get started whether they were Danes or Swedes or Ukrainians. Approximately a yar and a half before he died he was gored by a bull and had to be nursed by Raymond. He died of coronary thrombosis (heart attack) on July 28, 1943. He had been involved in farming as a profession for 50 years, retiring in 1932. He was buried in the North Prairie Cemetery.

Alfred Anderson's Children

Hjalmar Alfred b. Apr 1889 m. never married buried 6 Feb 1963

Garfield William b. 25 Jan 1891 m. E. Porten 1917 d. 18 May 1955

Jennie Sophia Olivia b. Jan 1893 m. Harry White 1925 d. 1975

Clarence Hanson Amundson b. 1900 Christine's child d. before 1914

Hazel Evelyn b. 27 Sep 1902 m. H.Scharfenberg 1925 d. 10 Sep 1994

Alvin Glenard b. 1903/04 d. 13 Oct 1927

Raymond Adolph b. 29 Dec 1905 m. Mary Fedak 1944 d. 28 June 1986

Myrtle Adelia b. 29 Dec 1905 d. around 1914

Arthur Hamlin b. 7 Jul 1907 m. Isabell Barnett 1932 d. 1998

Ethyl b.?d.?

Carl b. d. as a toddler