The village of Asteska, where Karl and
Anna moved to in 1873, was in the Söderala Parish. Ironically, Söderala, meaning
"southern," was the farthest north any Hallman family that I have researched ever lived. Traveling there would have been much easier than in years past as
the railroad was accessible through most of the inhabited parts of Sweden by this time.
A major industry in and around
Söderala involved logging. One of the largest sawmills in Sweden was located in
Söderala. Asteska had its own sawmill as well. I can't help but wonder if it was the abundance of forestry workers that kept Karl busy making shoes.
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| Depiction of the Askteka sawmill |
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| Logging in front of the "Asteska Mansion" |
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| Söderala Church |
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| Söderala train station and courthouse |
By 1873 Karl and Anna's two sons, Erik and Albert, were well into their teenage years and their three younger children had died a decade earlier. But two years after moving to Asteska, at the age of 45, Anna gave birth to a daughter, Anna Elizabeth. Two years later a son, Carl, was born. Let's hope both of these events were welcomed and wanted. Honestly, I can't imagine otherwise.
In 1877, the same year Carl joined the family, both Erik and Albert ventured out on their own, leaving Karl and Anna to begin anew with a 2 yr-old and a newborn.
I'll definitely fill in the blanks in subsequent posts, but I'm going to have to jump way ahead. When son Carl was in his 80s and living in Utah, he was asked to recall his childhood memories growing up in Söderala. He said:
"[I] was born on the 26th of August 1877, at 11 o’clock in the morning, in Söderala, Uppsala County, Sweden. It was in the Southern part of Sweden. I was the youngest of seven children. Three of the children, Emma, Johan, and Christina died young: I don’t remember them. Beside Father and Mother, there were Eric, Albert, Annie and I. We lived north of town by a big forest. There were lakes around and I remember the blueberries, they were so big and so good. There were so many lakes and forests in Sweden and it was always so green. They would cut the trees down and float the logs on the lakes to the saw mills close by. Annie and I would ride the logs. It was so much fun! I remember a big fence and gate just down the hill from our place. There was a road going by and people would have to open the gate. I would stand by the fence and open the gate for them. They would give me a nickel.
"The summers were nice. We always had so much fun. In the winter we would go sleigh riding and skiing. All the kids had their sleighs out. You wouldn’t see animals out in the snow and cold like you do here in Cedar City. They had good warm places for them. Once in a while you would see someone riding a horse or the horses pulling wagon. . . . I have a scar on my forehead, still, from falling on a ship when I was small."
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| Young boys skiing in Söderala |
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