Kategoriarkiv: Augusta’s Family

The country side is so wonderful at this time of the year

”The country side is so wonderful at this time of the year.”

Augusta described her country surroundings in the spring – the blue sky, the song of the larch, the warmth of the sun – and Kerstin and I decided that after a winter of research, we should do an outing to Augusta’s home.

Loddby. Ink drawing by Sara Azzam.
Loddby as it might have looked in 1847. Ink drawing by Sara Azzam.

Augusta lived at Loddby, an estate located just outside Norrköping. Her brother-in-law, Gustaf Lejdenfrost, was a textile-mill industrialist who had bought the estate in 1832. Our first stop will be Loddby and its surroundings.

Lejdenfrost’s textile manufacturing was in Norrköping, so the next stop will be the old industrial sites and the city museum.

And then there is Krusenhof where Augusta’s best friends lived. We will visit and see what is left of what might have been there in the 1840’s. The house has been rebuilt and maybe only some very old oak trees might still be there. But, we will at least get the feeling of a country walk in spring time.

Further away, close to Söderköping, is where Augusta’s cousins, the Schubert family, lived and where Augusta met her future husband. It will be exciting to see the estate and meet the present owners.

Fullerstad
Fullerstad

We will also visit Åtvidaberg and find out more about Augusta’s best friends, the family Hjort. And that is one of the most rewarding aspects of Augusta’s Journey so far – new Facebook friends, old friends, and family members who share our excitement about the journey! We are really looking forward to exchanging information about Augusta and her friends with others who have a similar interests and have other archives.

Stay tuned to our travel log next week.

Johanna Jacobina Schubert marries Eric Sparre

There is only one wedding described in Augusta’s diary, the wedding of her cousin Carolina Schubert’s daughter Johanna (Hanna). Hanna was 2 years younger than Augusta and they were best friends. On August 7, 1851, Hanna married Count Lars Eric Georg Sparre. There are no descriptions of what the women wore and especially nothing about how the bride looked.

Given that Queen Victoria in 1840 had worn a white wedding dress, it is likely that the fashion in Sweden in 1851 also dictated a white dress. The pictures above are a few paintings from this time period of brides getting dressed.

”Hanna is married, but I will have to start at the beginning.

On the evening of the 6th of August, before the important day that would give Hanna the name, honor, and dignity of being a countess, her bridesmaids and the groomsmen were invited to merrily celebrate the last hours of her carefree time as a free woman.

I was the first to arrive. Shortly thereafter, Countess Sparre accompanied by her sister, an old dry and dull Mamsell, and two tall girls from Carlscrona, Miss Rappe and Mamsell Hjelm, both silent and inaccessible, arrived. Miss Ströberg, Mamsell Lenning, Rosa de Mare, Ada Sparre, and little Emelie Schubert were the other bridesmaids who, one after the other, made their entrance into the red parlor.

Soon, the groomsmen arrived. The first one to be presented was a Baron Rappe (cousin to the tall Miss Rappe) who displayed the forthright, trustworthy, and honest character that generally is associated with sailors and which makes you immediately comfortable and uninhibited in their company. Then followed a sharp-nosed Baron Falkenberg, a man I had previously met when he was a cadet. I think he was a little in love with Miss Rappe’s great merits as one always found him in her vicinity. Albert Schubert, the adventurer Ambjörn Sparre, Mr Victor Lenning, and the extraordinarily beautiful Baron Rehbinder were additional groomsmen. One of my Stockholm dance partners, Lieutenant Uggla, finished the lovable row of cavaliers.

After this short introduction, the dance began and continued until 10:30 in the evening without any particularly ingenuity and without any of us having made any advances in getting acquainted.

Thursday the 7th of August was the momentous day that would lead Hanna to a life of sorrow and despair or, with God’s grace, possibly to one with happiness and prosperity. Wållander officiated the ceremony in the most extraordinarily moving way; I think there was hardly any dry eye in the room. Weddings are all the same, a little monotonous and boring, but I had no reason to complain as my cavalier was a General.

The next day at breakfast, most of the wedding guests were assembled. General Boij and Lieutentant Colonel Tömgren conversed so diligently with me that they forgot to eat the stately breakfast. This gave rise to several sarcastic statements from the younger groomsmen, which I answered. My replies were not appreciated and made Baron Rappe my enemy. Baron Rehbinder and I, now at last, became a little more acquainted, but the two sailors and the two ladies from Carlscrona kept to themselves as peas in a pod and were impossible to form any closer acquaintance with.

I was asked to sing and I had to come forward to show my talent. It think it went reasonably well and I was thanked in the most flattering terms. The men sang a couple of quartets, very well, and finally we parted to get ready for the ball.

Twelve different uniforms swirled around the ballroom and offered a fairly lively view. The anticipation for the ball was high. As soon as I entered the hall I was asked to dance all the dances and, of course, I was not sad to feel so desirable. The ball lasted until 3:00 in the morning.”

Ball. Illustrerad Tidning 1858.

Footnote: Baron K.A. Rappe and his cousin Miss Torborg Rappe later married.

 

How boring it is to be ill … but Wilhelm von Braun writes humorous poems

In the summer of 1849, I was mostly at home except for a few weeks spent at Fullerstad and a few days at Krusenhof. August was very ill throughout the summer and the joy and well-being during that time were rare guests at Loddby. The last days of the year, I had a violent rush of blood to my lungs, and was sick for 3 weeks.  A thousand times I exclaimed with Braun:

How boring, so boring it is to be ill
woe it’s invention, nevertheless, still
time passes by, as time’s wont to do,
But slowly, damned slowly, time passes through.

(Attempt at translating Wilhelm von Braun’s poem Fantasi på sjuksängen).

This is the first diary entry where we learn that Augusta had tuberculosis, or consumption. Her brother August was also ill and we don’t know what he was afflicted with that summer. Fullerstad was the home of Augusta’s dear relatives, the Schuberts, and Krusenhof was the home of her best friends, the Hjorts.

But who was Wilhelm von Braun who wrote poetry that a 22-year-old girl would have memorized? Well, at that time he was one of Sweden’s most popular poets. And not all of his poems would have been suitable for young women :).

Wilhelm von Braun (1813-1860), like Paul Wahlfelt and other officer friends of Augusta, got his early education in the cadet school at Karlberg’s military academy in Stockholm. This was a boarding school for boys, usually from privileged families. Wilhelm followed the tradition of his father, and was enrolled at Karlberg at 15 years of age in 1828. After graduating in 1834, and for the next 7 years, he served as a lieutenant.

But his passion was poetry and prose. He published his first poetry in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in 1834. In 1849 he wrote a story called Napoleon, the Adventure of a Cadet, which was based on his experiences at Karlberg. In 1846, he resigned his commission as a lieutenant to be a full-time writer.

Von Braun is presently having a renaissance. There is now a Wilhelm von Braun Association who has published the book Wilhelm von Braun – The one that ladies never read (”Den där som damerna aldrig läst”). And while reading the book, one can enjoy a glass of Wilhelm von Braun’s Punsch, a traditional Swedish cordial, produced in honor of this national poet.

I am glad that Augusta still got to enjoy the poems suitable for women, and those that provided humor for young girls suffering with consumption.

 

Sources (in Swedish):

https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_von_Braun

www.tam-arkiv.se/share/proxy/alfresco…/ASU_207.pdf  (Kadettminnen av överste Claes Bratt)

Fantasi på Sjuksängen i Samlade Arbeten af Wilhelm v. Braun, Del 1 (pdf of book available free online)

http://www.culturum.se/Braun/2StPunsc.htm (Wilhelm von Brauns Punsch)

Featured image is part of an oil painting by Antonio Mancini (1852-1930), Resting, 1887. http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/artist/Mancini,+Antonio

 

 

The Family at Loddby

When discovering a diary, it is like stepping into someone’s home without knowing anything about the family. There are names mentioned, but it is not like a novel where the author will provide you with character descriptions. And at the time of Augusta’s diary, there were no photographs.

Fortunately, there is a lot of recorded genealogy; dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. And of some family members, there might be a painting or a drawing.

So what did Augusta’s family look like?

It consisted of only 4 persons: Augusta, her brother, her mother, and her brother-in-law.

When the diary starts in 1847, Augusta is almost 20 years old. Her older brother August is 31. What we glean from the diary is that Augusta and her mother would rather not have him around: “Poor August! He will never be free from a life that is a never-ending chain of pain, bitterness, and suffering, and we will never, ever stop crying over him.”

Augusta’s mother, Anna Catharina (Charlotta) Fagerström is 59 years old. She got married at 17, a widow at 47, and had 5 children of which only 2 are still alive in 1847. Augusta was born when her mother was 39 years old. From the diary one discerns that Augusta cares a lot about her mother.

And then there is Gustaf Fredrik Lejdenfrost. Lejdenfrost is a 49-year old, wealthy, textile-mill industrialist who owns the estate Loddby, just outside Norrköping. This is where the family lives. He is twice a brother-in-law to Augusta. He first married Augusta’s sister Amalia (b. 1808) who died in childbirth at age 25.  He then married Augusta’s oldest sister Charlotta (b. 1806) who died from influenza only two years after their wedding. One can only wonder how one could overcome being a widower at age 35 and again at age 39! As he is well connected and successful, he becomes Augusta’s benefactor which allows her to study and be part of the society in Stockholm.

There is also staff mentioned in the diary, especially the housekeeper Stina Maria (Malla) Kullerstrand (32 years old) and the bookkeeper C. Lindgren (18 years old).

That is the small family at Loddby.

But then there are so many relatives, friends, and suitors. The journey has only started!