From left to right: Warn family home in Hilmar, California, Virginia and Leo Falk,'Nora, Dorothy, Luverne, and David Warn, Carolena Warn with her children, and Gladys Bostrom,(you may click on images to enlarge)

                              Warn's and Gustafson's

                              The Swedish Connection

                In the late 1800's, Sweden's farmlands had been suffering many years of difficult weather and the resulting poor crops. With news of large, open spaces of fertile land in a young America, many of Sweden's farmers made the difficult decision to leave their native land and make the arduous emigration in search of prosperous farmland. The largest group arrived in the United States between 1872 and 1885.

                Andrew Gustafson, along with his brother, Carl John, and their mother, Anna, arrived in America in 1872. They found their way to Iowa, and eventually settled in Clarinda, Page County, Iowa.  It was there that Andrew met, and married Hanna Anderson, who had immigrated from Sweden in 1878. Andrew and Hanna were blessed with seven daughters, and one son, Gustavo. The girls all survived to adulthood, with six of them remaining in Iowa to eventually marry and raise their own families. Gustava, the only son, suffered a ruptured appendix at the age of twelve, and died within twenty-four hours. One daughter, Anna Christine, married another recent immigrant, August Edward Warn, and with him, moved to California to raise their family.

     August had immigrated to America in 1883, with his parents, Anders Johan Warn and Carolena Johnson, and his two brothers. In America, two more children were born, a son and a daughter, both born in Nebraska. Within the next few years, the Warn family moved to Iowa, where August met and married Anna Christine Gustafson about 1902. Soon thereafter, the Warn family, including August and Anna, moved to California in search of farmland. With them came Axelina Warn, Ander Johan's sister, and her husband, Claus Johnson, whom she had married while in Nebraska. They all settled in the Hilmar area of Northern California.

       In 1904, John Warn (Anders Johan) died at the age of 55. The family's property was then divided between the four sons. The daughter, Esther, was provided with________ instead of acreage.

     August and Anna were blessed with six happy children. Anna was a loving, and fun, mother. She was always making games up for her children, and keeping them entertained with her fun-loving ways. By 1917, August had become Constable(sheriff) of Merced, and things were going well for the large family. But by 1919, everything changed. The influenza epidemic came to their community and August died in the Spring of 1919. Anna was now on her own, with six young children. Vernon was the youngest at age two, with Lawrence the oldest at age fifteen. Anna was given much support by all of August's surviving brothers and sister, but Anna's own family, including her six sisters, were far away in Iowa. But within eighteen months, tragedy again struck the family. Anna died in the Fall of 1921, from an infection that originated from a scratch she received in her chicken coop. In an effort to fight the infection, Anna's doctor covered her face with gentian violet, a purple liquid that was used to treat infections. Because it was near Halloween, and because Anna did not want her children frightened by her 'purple' appearance, she put Indian feathers on her head so that her children would think she was just 'dressing up' for Halloween. That is the last memory, her daughter Evelyn, has of her mother.

      The family stepped in, as best they could, to make arrangements for the seven children. The younger children, Virginia and Vernon, were sent to Iowa to be cared for by two of Anna's sisters. The two oldest boys, Lawrence and Lloyd, were put on a train, and told to find their way in the world. Irene and Evelyn, ages nine and eleven, remained in Turlock, California, and sent to their father's brother's families to live.

     It is Evelyn, my mother-in-law, the last surviving child of Anna and August, who has provided the stories of the family's struggles and triumphs in America. All six of the children remained close to each other throughout their lives, overcoming their physical distances from each other with the strong bonds of family and love that their parents had given them.

* A note on Swedish names: As Swedes came to America, many names became 'Americanized' making it very difficult to follow family lines back to Sweden. The naming of a child in Sweden is formed much differently than is traditional in the United States. An example would be-if Anders Larsson had a son, he would be named ____Andersson. Andersson now being his last name. If a daughter had been born she would be named ______Andersdotter. When arriving in America, many times the surname for either son or daughter would be switched to Anderson. But it appears that many times in genealogy research the English speaking researcher would list the child as _______Larson, because that was the father's last name. To complicate matters, in our own family, Pher Gustav Larson was born in Sweden, so traditionally his sons would be named ______Phersson(Peterson). But when the children of Pher Gustav Larson came to America, the surname for descendants became Gustafson. At this point, we can only surmise why that happened. Anybody know?

       I would very much welcome any information or corrections you have. I have been unable to find any information on Carolena Johnson's family, and very little information on Hanna Anderson's background. Anything you can add would be great.

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       You may contact me at bonniekgorman@comcast.net