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  • Story: Pettersson-Hillbergs Come To America

    <p>Two young swedish brothers, Carl August then 19 yrs old, and brother Klaes Alfrid Pettersson just 17, had completed their required training as &quot;tradesmen&quot;.&nbsp; Carl August as a shoe maker.&nbsp;Klaes Alfrid as a carpenter.&nbsp; Both would practice these crafts throughout the rest of their lives.&nbsp; </p><p>The brothers left their family home in Tranas, Smaland, Sweden to find land that they could homestead in America.&nbsp; They came through Ellis Island after having aquired the necessary sponsorship and passing all the health checks.&nbsp; From there they boarded a train to Chicago where other young Swedes lived in a board and room house.&nbsp; There they found that Pettersson was such a common name, that mail from home was always getting mixed up.&nbsp; This is where they made the decision to change their names.&nbsp; In Sweden it was common to change names, often taking the father&#39;s first name as a surnames, so it wasn&#39;t a big deal for them.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; They decided to look in the phone book for a name that sounded Swedish.&nbsp; They landed on HILLBERG.&nbsp; This is the story as it was handed down.</p><p>&nbsp;By 1890 they were ready to head west. They took the railroad and stayed for a time in South Dakota.&nbsp; There is a family bible sent there to Klaes Alfrid from Sweden dated Dec 4, 1890 as a gift for Christmas.&nbsp; From there they were known to go to Ogdon, Utah were there was a new railroad center.&nbsp; It is possible they found some work for a while before heading for the hills around what is now Laramie, Wyoming.&nbsp; </p><p>By 1910 the Hillberg brothers had added three children each to their new families.&nbsp; Carl &amp; Caroline now had Ethel, Arnold and Eveline.&nbsp; Alfrid and Martha had Alver, Grace and Maynard.&nbsp; Both brothers lived and bought property near the town of Paonia, after living in Denver.&nbsp; Carl August opened another shoe shop, so both families were moved and settled by 1911.</p><p>During 1912 the children of Carl and Klaes&#39;s brother John, were sent to live in Colorado with their cousins as their father&nbsp; had passed away, and they were now orphaned.&nbsp; Ruth, Ebba, Martha, and Simon Bernard were sent by Aunt Sophie.&nbsp; The John Lindberg family- (the brother&#39;s sister Christine) and thier foster son Oscar also moved to Paonia from Minnesota and brought the brother&#39;s mother Rebacka with them, recently having come from Sweden with Aunt Sophie.</p><p>In 1913 after a terrible freeze that caused all the crops to fail, the family decided to&nbsp; move west.&nbsp; They held a 3 family farm auction to dispose of equipment. A railroad box car was charted and loaded with all thier need furnishings, besides horses and cows which would have to have care during the trip.&nbsp; They arranged for some kind of living quarters on the box car , and took Oscar and Alver with them.&nbsp; Arriving in Marysville they had to find some place for the rest of the family when they arrived by passenger train about a week later.&nbsp; They went out to Arboga, Ca.&nbsp; where they heard there was land to be had.&nbsp; It turned out to be just a whistle stop for the inter-urban train that ran between Marysville and Sacramento 40 miles to the south.&nbsp; Somehow they managed to get housing on parcels of land for each family.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Each was very primitive with a big room downstairs and an attic.&nbsp; There was no electricity and no running water.&nbsp; </p><p>&nbsp;By summer of 1914 Carl August had become friends of the Kulander family who knew their pastorYoungren.&nbsp; They were from Turlock which was fast becoming another Swedish settlement.&nbsp; When they cow finally died, Klaes and family moved to Sacramento to find work and finally entered Grace and Alver in school.&nbsp; By 1915 they had to move out of the big rented house, and Klaes and family bought a lot near the state fair grounds from the landlord, and hurried to build a new house that the family could move into.&nbsp; They moved in on a Sunday, September 5, 1915.</p><p>Carl August had finally had enough of Arboga, and since they knew folks in Turlock, moved the family there.&nbsp; They lived on Angelus St for several years.&nbsp; Their youngest daughter Lillian was born there in 1916.&nbsp; Carl August set up shop and opened a shoe repair shop in downtown Turlock.&nbsp; He had a reputation of &quot;making old shoes like new&quot;, and was a master craftsman and perfectionist.</p><p>When work became slack in Sacramento due to the 1st world war and the mexican wars with Pancho Villa, Klaes Albirt and family headed south to Turlock.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; There was a new area being settled by another minister named Reverand Bodin who had come out of Ohio bringing friends with him who helped him buy land near the canal, where they built a small&nbsp;church called the &quot;Youngstown Colony.&quot;&nbsp; There the Hillberg families bought parcels of land, some&nbsp;of it planted with grapevines.&nbsp; The Lindberg family bought acreage facing what is called Canal Dr. and Klaes Albirt bought the adjoining 6 acres which was the corner of Canal Dr and Golf road.&nbsp; While Klaes Albirt built the family home, he rented the house next door to Carl August and family and the families settled in.&nbsp; </p><p>Klaes Albirt was quite a carpenter, and after becoming&nbsp;part of the community, donated many hours building churches serving the Covenant Congregation.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>By 1930 Carl August and family had moved to Berkeley, where children Lillian and Oliver finished High School and Adolph attended the University.&nbsp; The Lindbergs stayed in Turlock, and eventually retired from farming.&nbsp; Klaes build them a new home on Lander Ave in Turlock where they stayed for the rest of their lives.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p>

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