My
paternal grandfather, Per August Sjogren, was born in or
near Ekshared, Varmland, Sweden on May 29, 1870. He was
the youngest child of Per Jönsson Sjögren and Anna
Andershohn. He began work in the sawmill industry and
migrated North to the province of Helsingland. In
about 1890 -1891 he worked on a mill at Hybo, near the
Swedish city of Ljusdal. There he met my grandmother
Anna Bjorkland who had been born February 1, 1876 on a
farm near Ljusdal. They married on June 22, 1891 when
Anna was 16 years old. They had three children, one of
which died very young. the other two were my aunt, Alma
Kristina, born Sept. 12, 1891, and my father, Arthur
Evald.
Hybo, Hälsingland, Sweden, as it is today.
My father. Arthur Evald Shogren, was born October 3,
1902 in Sandarne, a suburb of the city of Soderhamn,
Hälsingland, Sweden. The area where the sawmill was is
now a huge plant of the Arizona Chemical Company, an
American company founded at Camp Verde, Arizona in 1930.
In the spring of 1903 my grandfather emigrated to
America, following in the footsteps of his older
brother, Carl Johan. Carl had become a sawyer and my
grandfather was a millwright.
He traveled first to Gothenberg, and from there to
Hull, England. He then traveled across England by rail
to Liverpool and on May 19, 1903 left on the Cunard Line
ship "Saxonia."
The Saxonia,
in this picture riding high in the water.
His first stop was Mancelona, Michigan. Mancelona at
that time had a sawmill and several specialty wood
product factories as well as a large iron mill that used
a great deal of wood for fuel.
However he soon went on to Scanlon, Minnesota, near
the city of Cloquet, to work at the
sawmill there. The next fall Anna and the children followed. They
went by rail to Trondheim, Norway and caught the steamer
for Hull. On November 2, 1904 they left Liverpool on the
White Star Line ship the "Oceanic". arriving on November
10 at Ellis Island. Once in the United States they went
by rail to Cloquet.
the Oceanic. when
it was launched in January 1899 it was the largest liner
in the world
Family Picture, taken in Carlton, Minnesota (also very
near Cloquet) in about late 1904. My father, age 2 is
sitting on his father's lap. Next to my father and grand
father is Carl Johan. My grandmother Anna is
behind my grandfather and my aunt, Alma Kristina is next
to her.
My grandfather moved with the sawmill North to
Virginia, Minnesota and later to Spring Creek, Minnesota
on the St. Louis County/Koochiching County line in
Silverdale. When the sawmill moved again across the
country to Oregon he stayed and bought a homestead. He
made his living primarily as a blacksmith, making many
"drays". (large wooden sleds that were used to haul logs
out of the woods on ice roads in the winter.)
Drays in use in the logging industry.
CREDIT: Halvorson, Lewis H., photographer. "Banner
load, Blackduck, Minnesota : biggest load of logs ever
hauled / by Lewis H. Halvorson." 1909.
