The Swedish midsummer has medieval roots Maybe you’ve heard of the Swedish celebration of Midsummer, or midsommar as we call it. Swedes often joke about it being our unofficial national day. Midsummer celebrations have an old history in Sweden. It was first documented in the year 1555. At the time, Swedes celebrated Midsummer by dancing […]
Gothenburg
The main emigration port One day over a century ago, your ancestor stepped on a ship to leave Sweden. Hopefully it was a clear day with brisk winds. Most likely it happened in Gothenburg on the Swedish west coast. About 80% of Swedish emigrants, or 1 million people, left the country from the ports in […]
Swedish immigrant Alma 1869-1932
Alma spent most of her adult life in Manchester, New Hampshire. She died in 1932 and as far as I can tell she led a quite ordinary life and that’s what makes her interesting.