Ran off with a showgirl!

I ett av min farmor och farfars gamla album finns ett par kort på min farfar Einars farbror, som också han hette Einar. " Min fars bror Einar som for till USA och slutade såsom superindendent vid WaKeeney water and Light Dept. Kansas city" har farfar skrivit jämte bilderna. Det är Einar på de två nedersta bilderna på vänstersidan i albumet. Det högra kortet är taget i Stockholm (när Einar var stationerad i Vaxholm), det andra i Linköping (förmodligen precis innan han emigrerade till Amerika). Superintendent..... men var det hela sanningen?

Einar (Axel Eugené) Engstrand föddes i Katrineholm den 29 augusti 1890 som yngste son till Axel och Anna Engstrand. Familjen bodde vid den här tiden i Katrineholm där pappa Axel arbetade som lokförare. Några månader efter Einars födelse flyttar familjen till Mjölby och när Einar är tio år får pappa Axel tjänst som lokförare i Linköping.

När Einar är 17 år gammal dör mamma Anna av "magkräfta"och ett år senare finner man Einar som stamanställd i Vaxholm (3:e klassens eldare). I mars 1911 när Einar är 20 år gammal beger han sig via Göteborg till Liverpool och med fartyget Coronia lämnar han sedan Liverpools hamn för vidare färd mot New York och Amerika, den 25 april 1911. I Amerika finns, sedan tio år tillbaka, systrarna Gunhild och Gerda. Det är flickorna, i likadana blusar, till höger och vänster om Einar på familjebilden ovan. Gunhild och Gerda var 21 respektive 16 år när de emigrerade till Amerika och Stanton, Iowa. Gunhild gifte sig med Karl, också han från Östergötland och paret fick sex barn. Gunhild och Karl Erickson bodde i Red Oak, Montgomery, Iowa. Syster Gerda förblev ogift, hon bodde några år i Iowa innan hon flyttade till Nebraska och slutligen till Los Angeles i Kalifornien.  

Med samma båt som Einar reser också Hildur Louise Mathilda Ånell, dotter till Livgrenadjär Daniel Gottfrid Ånell och hans hustru Mathilda Charlotte Hansdotter. Ett år senare skulle Coronia komma att skicka en varning tll ett annat fartyg....

On 14 April 1912 Coronia sent the first ice warning at 09:00 to RMS Titanic reporting "bergs, growlers and field ice".

Hildur kommer också hon från Linköping, (det är via henne som vi är släkt med Tage Danielsson) och paret måste ha träffats redan i Sverige för i oktober, ett halvår efter ankomst till Amerika, föds deras första son Raymond (Godfrid Einar) Engstrand. Einar och Hildur har då också hunnit gifta sig, vilket skedde den 12 augusti 1911 i Red Oak, Montgomery, Iowa.

Berättelsen nedan är hämtad från ett av Einars barnbarn, Lisa Engstrand, dotter till LeRoy Ernest Engstrand.

The ship Coronia arrived at Ellis Island in New York City, New York from Liverpool, England in 1911. On that ship was my Grandfather, known as Einar (Axel Eugené) Engstrand, and soon to be Grandmother, Matilda "Hildur" Louise Ånell.   According to family stories, many Swedes were invited to the United States by Theodore Roosevelt, the late US President, who had visited Sweden either during or shortly after a great famine. I believe it was called the Potato Famine. From his railroad car, as he passed through Linköping, Sweden, President Roosevelt told of his homeland and great possibilities for any Swede who would like to come to the United States.  He promised each family, 5 acres upon their arrival to the U.S. There were five children born to Einar and Hildur after their marriage in 1911. These five children were told the same story as I but maybe not in the same language. My Grandmother had great difficulty with the English language (as I remember). However, this family was led by wagon to Iowa along with other Swedish Immigrants who were promised their 5 acres. They met in the Iowa corn fields and were handed a corn sickle (sp) and were told in order to farm, first they had to learn how to farm!  So....with sickles in hand they proceeded to harvest some of Iowa's corn crop.  This was near Red Oak, Iowa. Then they were to spend the next six months learning the trade of farming. When their six months was up, they were granted their five acres, not in Iowa, but in Nebraska.  They were given transportation, which was a horse or mule, a cow for milking and a wagon. Their first child, a son named Raymond was born in Red Oak, Iowa, October of 1911.

Einar och Hildur får ytterligare fyra barn, Elaine, Frank, Axel och LeRoy.

En route to their five acres in Nebraska, a second child was born in 1913, a daugther named Elaine. She was born in Omaha, Nebraska at her Aunt Gunhild Erickson's home (Einar's sister).

När Einar och Hildurs tredje barn, Frank, föds händer följande:

In December of 1914, a third child blessed this family in Omaha, Nebraska. This child was born on a train en route to Ellis, Kansas, Missouri. On this train, concerned travelers were worried about the worn condition of the family and took it upon themselves to relate their concerns to "authorities."  The concerned people and the authorities felt the young family could do without their new son as it would be one more mouth for them to feed in hard times. So newborn Frank, December 23rd, 1914, was taken from his birth parents and given to a family named Adams. My own father, born in 1923 didn't even know he had an older brother named Frank until he appeared on our doorstep, introducing himself as "brother" in 1952.  Twenty-nine years later!

Over the years, stories have a way of stretching, winding, turning this way and that. So I am certain that I am not completely accurate because somehow the Engstrand's wind up in Ellis, Kansas in 1913, where another Swedish family, located in that West Central region helped Einar and Hildur learn more about the farming industry, which included machinery maintenance that would replace horse drawn implements. The family worked hard at farming until a disease destroyed their livestock. They may not have had a successful career in farming but they were blessed with beautiful and wonderful children. That same year a fourth child was born to the family, a son named Axel, born in 1917. It was decided that farming was not going to be productive enough for them. In the beginning of the 1920's, Einar who was a former electrician in the Swedish Navy, decided to get back into the world of electricity and power since farming had been such a disaster.

1920 came with a move to WaKeeney, Kansas and the Electric Power and Light Company.  June 26th of 1923, my father, LeRoy (Ernest) Engstrand, Einar and Hildur's fifth and last child together was born in WaKeeney, Kansas.

Later that same year, Einar moved the family to Beloit, Kansas, where he took a position as Supervisor with Beloit's Power and Light Company. Five children were born to this hard working family. New citizens of the United States of America. Einar even registered with the Draft Board in 1917 in Trego County, Kansas, but I don't think he was called to serve.

Before the mid-twenties were upon them, a traveling Theatre Group came to Beloit, Kansas and posted audition billings through out the town for interested and possible local talent. Einar auditioned for that company with the unknown name in 1925.  He received a part and acted with the group for four weeks while they were in town. He also left with that group, leaving his four young children and wife behind in Beloit. Einar was never heard from since. After Einar's disappearance, Hildur's two eldest son's left home in their early teens to work and help their mother with their sister and youngest brother, sending paychecks home for food and housing. The eldest son followed his father's trade as an electrician. The third son, Axel, retired from Hays, Kansas, newspaper. The second son, Frank, who was adopted by the Adam's reunited with his mother thirty some years after his birth. He and his wife moved to the state of Washington to be near Hildur for the rest of their lives. Their youngest son retired from sales and spent the remainder of his life in Mayes County, Oklahoma. Einar and Hildur's only daughter, Elaine, married and began a family, and also lived in the state of Washington. Einar's eldest son is still alive today in September of 2007.  All of us would love to know the last known whereabouts of his father. If he had a second family along the way and any other information available. By Lisa Engstrand, daughter of LeRoy (Ernest) Engstrand and grand-daughter of Einar (Axel Eugené) Engstrand, September 3, 2007.

Två år efter det att Einar försvinner, gifter Hildur om sig med änklingen Hughie Odle. Hildur och Hughie får två gemensamma barn, Lawrence och Marie. Hughie har två barn sedan tidigare, Preston och Marwin.

Ett annat av Hughies barnbarn skriver om Einar.  - He then ran off with a show girl. Hildred took in laundry to support her family. That is how she met Grandpa Hughie. He was a widower with two small children and needed someone to help with the washing.

Hildur verkar ha levt ett lyckligt liv med Hughie, efter det att Einar försvann. Hildur och Hughie flyttar till Yakima, Washington. Hughie dör 1956, Hildur lever till 1982.

Vad hände då med superintendent Einar (Axel Eugené) Engstrand? I boupteckningen efter pappa Axel 1931, finns förutom änkan Gerda, de myndiga barnen Una, Elisabeth och Gunnar, samt Gunhild, Gerda och Einar (de tre sista boende å känd ort i Norra Amerika). På mönstringskortet från 2:a världskriget kan man läsa att Einar bor på 551 West Madison, Chicago i Illinos. Han är 51 år, arbetslös och har uppgett sin äldste son Raymond som närmsta anhörig. Hur det gick med "showgirlen" förtäljer inte historien, men Einar dör den 12 januari 1964 i Cook County, Illinois according to Social Security death records.