Andersons Family History: Uppsala

UPPSALA:

Thursday July 29th. After the Temple visit, we drove up the road for about an hour to Uppsala, a wonderful university city where I had done a sabbatical from Utah State University with the University of Uppsala. For my sabbatical I was pursuing my interest in conformation as it relates to performance in horses. Bonnie spent a short time with me while I was there and Uppsala was a city which we came to love.

The travelers enjoyed two nights in Uppsala. Places of interest were Carl Linneas garden, where ground breaking work on taxonomy was done; Gustavinium, where teaching of dissection of human cadavers was initiated; the biggest Lutheran cathedral in Sweden; Viking mound graves; a palace and good places to eat.

Donna - Larry - Sheldon & Uppsala Cathedral

Joelle - Rick at Castle

Joelle - Rick in Castle

SKENSTA:

Friday July 30th. Grandmother Anderson was born in Skensta on November 13, 1870. Skensta is about an hours drive west of Uppsala. There is no village of Skensta, just open farm land. According to the Husförlängd (Swedish Church Census) of 1870 for Frösthult, the family of Erik Björklund was located in Skensta ägor (property) Nr 2.

We went to the farm of Robert Ihrsen where we were greeted by him and his father Johann. Robert led us on a trek of about a mile through pasture and woods to a spot where we found the remains of a cottage foundation and fireplace stones, with a big rock in front. The cottage of a tenant farmer would have been very small in 1870, according to Lilly Lorenzen in the book 'Of Swedish Ways', just as this foundation ruin indicates. The cottage of a tenant farmer would have been located on the edge of more fertile farm ground, as this one was. It fits the description of her childhood home given to me and others by Grandmother Anderson. She said that the Missionaries would sit on the rock and teach the gospel to people in the community. It is known today as the 'Mormon Rock'. A grove of birch (björk) trees surrounds the cottage site. That is consistent with the family name Björklund (birch grove). The place is called Björkebo (Birch Home). The location of the cottage ruins is not far from the Frösthult church. Erika's birth was recorded in this, church where she was baptized.

The ruins are in a beautiful spot and it felt good to be there. It cannot be said for sure that this is 'the place' where Grandmother lived, but it fits better than other places I have looked at.

A ray of sun broke through the clouds as we stood there - maybe a sign that we were on sacred ground!