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Cousin
meeting in Iowa, USA In
the year 1883 J.P. Johansson’s parents, Johannes Johansson and Christina
Bryngelsdotter, together with four of their seven children emigrated from
Vårgårda to Crookston, Minnesota. The two children who didn’t go with
the family was Anna Sophie, who had emigrated alone 2 years earlier, and
Johan Petter who remained in Sweden for good. In
the USA the interest for the relatives is great and the harmony between
them is very good. Not only have they a common relation but they are also
emigrants from Sweden-however in the third line. None of them speak
Swedish. The one who knows the most is probably Robert Erickson who can
say ”Thank you very much” in a Swedish accent, but he is also very
interested in Sweden and he has been visiting our museum in Enköping
twice and has plans for a third visit. As we could read in the last issue
of J.P.-BLADET a new cousin meeting was planned within the relatives line
Johansson Julien Erickson. This time at Codys Iowa Farm located just
outside the little pleasant town of West Union in the state Iowa. The
first time a cousin was arranged was in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1997. The
fact that this very well scheduled meeting, the second, took place in the
anniversary year 2003 was no coincidence. It was part of the planning and
the actual anniversaries was illuminated at the meeting. The undersigned
was invited foremost to inform about J.P. Johansson’s inventions and
industrial activities. THE
MEETING The
meeting took place on Saturday August 2. It was a sunny, hot and nice
summer day, and Coidys Iowa farm was a suitable place for ”Erickson
Cousins Second Reunion”. It’s located in a fertile and beautiful
landscape with fine nature and had buildings with a large space for all
activities. Since many of the 30 participants hadn’t seen each other
since the meeting six years ago there were many happy reunions and thumps
on the backs. When everyone had arrived and was hearty welcomed there was
a silent minute to the memory of three deceased relatives: Donald
Erickson, Bruce Erickson and Phyllis Tischer. After that it was time for a
plentiful and welldelicious lunch followed by an extensive and detailed
going through of almost the whole family with an exemplary established
list with photos as foundation. The next point on the programme was
photographing. Cousins:
Standing Robert
Oslund, Jacqueline Cody, Yvonne Ode Rahn, Janice Mudd, Then
it was time for the undersigned to tell about J.P. Johansson’s many
inventions and long industrial activity. In doing that I emphazised that
two of his inventions are counted among Sweden’s ten most important, and
that he was the only one making the extraordinary performance, which
caused great surprise and admiration. I
mentioned that this particular year it’s 120 years since the main part
of the family emigrated from Sweden, 150 years since Johan Petter was born
and 60 years since he passed away in Enköping.The fact that it’s 110
years since he built the famous bridge in the stream parterre was also
mentioned. These events was noted with a great interest. The speach was
followed by a quiz game on practically the same subject. Everyone turned
out interested and skilful concerning J.P. Johansson and Sweden. The best one, with 12 right answers out of 13, was Marv Eide, Granada Hills, California. To Marv we all said: Congratulations!
Marv Eide was the best one in the quiz game. Of
all the fine prizes he chose a Bahco adjustable wrench. In
the quiz game I believe Marv had a good help by his membership in The J.P.
Johansson Association which regularly via the membership magazine informs
about J.P. Johansson’s successful career and much others. Marv Eide and
the family Michael Erickson who lives in California was the ones who had
traveled the longest way to Iowa, about 150 miles. The pleasance of being
together lasted till the late afternoon when several participants started
the, in many cases, long trip home. Hans E Söder |
