A Norseman's Life (1)...

Gustav Johnson: (Born Gustav Amateus Johanson) Written by his daughter, Irene Johnson on March 20, 1938 in Preston, Idaho, USA (when she was 17) as an assignment for English III. She got an A. This is the year Irene's brother Darold went on a mission to Sweden.

Gustav Amateus Johnson was born in 1888 at Katrinelund, Harkin, Sweden. He was the son of Johan Anderson and Christina Katharina (Katrina) Nilsson Anderson, who were both direct descendants of the adventurous "Vikings".

Gustav Johnson, as we shall call him throughout this story, had four brothers and three sisters. To give the reader a more definite picture of Gustav's family life, in the biography a brief sketch will be given of each member of the family. This family has always been known for its honesty, ambition, and genuine kindness.

Gustav's Mother: Katrina Nilsson Anderson was born of wealthy parents. Her father acquired his wealth from dealing with valuable racehorses. He owned the largest stable in Sweden. Having life as she wanted it, we find Katrina very refined and well educated. She was lovable and sweet to all and in later years, she was active in Lutheran Church affairs. As an honor to her on her fiftieth birthday, the property on which their home resided was named "Katrinelund".

In the picture of the whole family (photo of Johan and Katarina family will be inserted here) the children (from left to right) are Alma Christina, Ida Eugenia (Jenny), Johan Linus (John), Carl Amandus, Knut Julius, Maximinus Daniel, Gustav Amatcius, and Katharina Cecelia (Sissy).

Gustav's Father: Johan Anderson, though not of wealthy parents, was also a very likable and capable man, who, at the age of 25, was appointed by the government as a Forest Reserve Supervisor for the forest land in their part of Sweden. He was also foreman of a lumber company owned by the government. In this responsibility, his duties were to restrict the cutting of too much lumber and to preserve wild game on the land.

1st on left: Alma Christina Johanson Ringstrom, the eldest daughter owned and operated a millinery shop at Grangesburg before her marriage. She was very good at making hats. Grangesburg was an iron ore city near Horken.

2nd from left: Ida Eugenia (Jennie) never married. She majored in home economics at the University of Upsala and taught this subject in elementary school.

3rd from left: John, a bachelor, lives in southern Utah as a successful farmer. More will be said later about his life.

4th from left: Carl 'Amandus' received permission from the government to change his name from Johanson (taken from the father's first name) to Arefelt because, after his success as an artist, he felt a name such as Johansson was too common to appear on paintings. He achieved national fame as an artist. His most famous painting at the time was sold for $1000 - a lot of money back then. One painting "The Landing of the Geese", not worth quite as much as his other works, can be found in the Royal Bakery in Logan, Utah. His son Sven, conducts a dance band in a popular Stockholm ballroom at the present time (1930's). (Update: Sven became a very famous singer and recording artist in Sweden.)

5th from left: Knut 'Julius' worked as a foreman on the railroad between Horken and Stockholm. (Update: Julius' daughter Elsa inherited the family homestead and currently lives there.)

6th from left: 'Max'iminus Daniel is a successful business­man in Logan, Utah. He owns and operates the Royal Bakery.

7th from left: 'Gus'tav Amatius

8th from left: Katharina Cecelia (Sissy) sought a career as an accomplished accordion player but after several years of study, still preferred the role of a wife and mother. She had a daughter named Ruth. (Update: Ruth had two children: Agneta, an airline stewardess, and her brother who is director of a private school in Stockholm.)

Now to continue with happenings in the life of Gustav Johnson. Gustav's school days were much the same as those of other boys, except for the fact that he might have been slightly more nature-loving than other kids. During vacations, he would roam the forests with his father. He didn't find school very interest­ing and when it started up again each year, he had a hard time going back.

The story is told of one lovely, clear, September day when Gustav slipped away from school in the morning and went fishing. He had good luck, catching quite a few, and was back by early afternoon. Feel­ing ashamed for what he had done, during an afternoon break between subjects, he arranged three beautiful fish on some leaves and placed them on the teacher's desk. He then slipped outside to mingle with the other students. When the teacher finally found out what was going on, she gave him a whipping. After school, the teacher called Gustav to her desk and asked him to tell her more about the fish. He recounted the events of the day. She invited him to stay after school to have four o'clock coffee and rolls with her. From then on, Gus and the teacher were good friends.