Iversons gränd 5, c. 1885.
Gustava lived in Iversons gränd 7, now Iversonsgatan, for a few years at the end of the 1890s and in the early 1900s.
Category: Stockholm
Gustava, Stockholm, 1870-1882
Humlegården, Stockholm, 1880s. Gustava lived close to this park for many years.
Anna Cajsa and Johanna’s younger sister Gustafva left Falköping for Stockholm on Oct. 21, 1870. She was 18 years old.
Gustava gave birth to a daughter, Susanna Olivia, on Sept. 2, 1873 in Stockholm. At that time Gustava was living in Kalmar, Uppland, where she was employed as maid. She moved to Stockholm on Nov. 3, 1873, leaving Susanna Olivia behind to be raised as a foster child. During 1873-74 Gustava was employed in a household in Gamla Stan, Stockholm’s Old Town.
According to the Kalmar, Uppland, church records, in 1876 Susanna Olivia seems to have moved back to Stockholm. It’s unclear where she went.
The Stockholm population was exploding in the late 1800s. The Swedish church, the main keeper of records, couldn’t keep up and books were instead kept by local offices. It’s not easy to piece together Gustava’s life.
In 1878-1879 Gustava is listed as living in Östermalmsgatan, with a son born in 1877, Karl Anders. In 1879 she’s living in Grev Turegatan with three children, Ada Gustafva born in 1874, Karl Anders born in 1877, and Olga Karolina born in 1879. There is no sign of Susanna Olivia.
In 1879 she’s also listed as living in Bellmansro, with no children.
In 1881 she’s living with her future husband, Anders Wenngren, in Djurgården. No children are listed as living with them.
In 1882 she’s still listed as Anders Wenngren’s fiancé, and now they have two children in the house: Susanna Olivia, and Ada Gustafva. At this time the two girls would have been 8 and 9 years old. Three different addresses are given for them this year: One place in Linnegatan, and two different places in Nybrogatan.
Bror Johan II
Provisoriska barnbördhuset, c. 1890
On Oct. 4, 1873, Anna Cajsa Hedberg gave birth to a second son. She gave him the same name as his older brother, Bror Johan. He was baptized on Oct. 6.
Women who couldn’t afford to bring a midwife to their home were forced to give birth in a hospital, where the risk of contracting infections was high. Anna Cajsa gave birth at Provisoriska Barnbördshuset, a temporary hospital in the southern part of Stockholm where she lived.
On Oct. 16, 1873, Anna Cajsa died from barnsängsfeber (childbed fever or puerperal fever). She was buried on Oct. 19. She was 25 years old.
Bror Johan Theodor Hedberg, 1870-1872
Two of Johanna’s younger sisters moved to Stockholm. Anna Cajsa, b. 1848, and Gustafva, b. 1852. Anna Cajsa left Falköping for Stockholm in 1866, when she was 18 years old.
In 1867 Anna Cajsa lived in Katarina parish, in the southern part of the city. On Dec. 2, 1870, she gave birth to a son, Bror Johan Theodor.
Anna Cajsa must have been without means because the little boy was taken care of at Allmänna Barnhuset, a home for children. According to the established system, Anna Cajsa paid for the care by nursing other children as well as her own son. She is the only parent listed for Bror Johan.
On March 28, 1871, Bror Johan Theodor was placed with a family in Rosendal. They would raise him and receive a small stipend in return.
“Död” is Swedish for death, or dead. While in the care of the family in Rosendal, Bror Johan Theodor died on January 7, 1872. He was a little more than 13 months old.