One Brief Life

Meet my great-great-great grandfather, Janne Osterberg. Janne was born in 1820 in Sweden. He was a man of the sea. This picture was taken in 1850. In 1855 Janne married Anna.  A few months later Janne died at sea, near Rotterdam. He was buried at sea. His personal belongings were returned to Anna when the ship returned to Sweden.  My Dad didn't know Janne's story, though he knew his great-grandmother's maiden name was Osterberg. Dad looked at that picture and made a comment about Janne's short life and all that was left of him was one picture. That got me thinking.

Anna, was 25 when she married 34 year old Janne. This picture was taken when she was 45. In November of 1855, months after Janne died, Anna gave birth to their daughter, Charlotte.  Anna never remarried.  I wonder why?  Did she not want her daughter to come under the control of a step-father?  Did she not want to come under the control of a husband?  Was Janne such a wonderful husband she felt he could not be replaced?   Was he such a terrible husband she did not want to repeat the experience?  Did she fear she would get pregnant again, and die, which was not uncommon, leaving her daughter an orphan?    

  

At 20 years old Charlotte married Martin. I’m going to guess since Charlotte was having her wedding picture taken they decided to have Anna’s picture taken too.  Over the next 17 years Charlotte gave birth to ten children, six of whom lived to adulthood.

This is the house in which they raised their children, it had been in Martin’s family for many generations, and still is.  

This is Martin and Charlotte's second child, Otto.  Their first child, Ava, lived less than a year. In 1903, when he was 25, Otto immigrated to the United States. In 1909 he immigrated back to Sweden, where he lived the rest of his life

This is my great-grandmother, Martha. In between Otto and Martha was a son, Harold, who lived less than a year. In 1905, at age 23, Martha immigrated to America. She married a Swedish immigrant named Lindquist.

This Harold was born one year after Martha. His parents must have missed the first Harold. Surviving Harold was a bold man because he was the first to immigrate to the US at the age of 18 in 1899.  His older brother and sister followed him. He also changed his last name for some reason that had to do with employment. 

The beautiful Anna was born two years after Harold. Anna, and her younger sister and brother, remained in Sweden.

Here are the last two children, Ester and Janne. They both came two years apart.  Janne is the oldest.  Janne is named after Charlotte’s deceased father.

Two years after Ester, Charlotte had a boy, Elias, who lived less than a year. Charlotte was pregnant again one year later, that pregnancy ended her life as well as the unborn child's who was never named and whose sex does not come down through history. Charlotte died shortly after giving birth.  She knew she was dying.  Her daughter, Martha, shared the story of her tearful farewell with her grandson, my father.  After Charlotte's death her mother, Anna, who had been widowed for 37 years, moved in with Charlotte's husband, Martin, to help him raise the children. Like Anna, Martin never remarried.

So let’s go back to that first picture of Janne, who had that one brief life, dying at age 35, after having been married for less than a year, and leaving his pregnant wife.  She had one daughter, Charlotte.  Charlotte had six children who lived and four who died shortly after birth.  Among her children was my great-grandmother. Those six living children produced 12 children, including my grandfather.  I do not know the number of descendants past that level, which include my father's generation, my generation and my daughter's generation. I must disagree with my father that all Janne left of himself was one picture.