John Oscar Anderson

Born March, 17, 1897
in Okome, Sweden

Father: Severin Andersson
Mother: Emma Augusta Andersdotter Andersson

John as a baby with his mother, Emma Augusta, and older siblings.

Sisters: Johanna Charlotta and Alma Olivia
Brothers: Anders and Carl Albin

First Wife: Clara (Newhouse) Anderson
Photo: John's wife Clara and their kids

Children with Clara:
Jack Anderson
Martha 'Ging' (Anderson) Hinkle
Mildred 'Timp' (Anderson) Zeilinger

Second Wife: Emma
Photo: John and Emma Nov 3, 1943

John's story as told by Jack Anderson to his daughter Kay:

"John Oscar Anderson and his brother Carl Albin came to America from Sweden looking
for Severin Andersson their father who came earlier to America. They were 19 and 16 years old,
and one of the boys did have a ticket, the other, as the story goes was a stowaway.
I am not sure where their mother was. There were hard times in Sweden, very poor
country and people wanted to come to the U.S.A. This would have been in the early 1900's.
John Oscar Anderson had two brothers and two sisters; Carl, Anders, Alma and Hanna.
When they arrived in America, they could not find their father. They went to Chicago and
worked as laborers in fields. John met and married Clara Newhouse. She was 17 when
her first daughter Ging was born. Then Aunt Timp was born. Then Jack Alfred when she
was 20 years old and John Oscar was 22 years old. Clara died when Jack was in kindergarten.
Jack and his sisters Ging and Timp were raised in a three room apartment in Minneapolis by their
aunt Martha (Clara's sister). Their apartment had no bathtub and there was a total of nine people
in the apartment. When Jack was 12, he and his two sisters moved into another apartment in
Minneapolis. Ging could have stayed with their Aunt Martha but she loved Jack and did not want
to be separated from him and her sister Timp. The kids raised themselves with no adult supervision.
Their father John Oscar would come to pay the rent for them once a month, but he stayed with his new
wife Emma. Jack met Elizabeth Brinkhaus who lived in the same building. They married in 1947 and had
three children, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. "

Facts about his siblings:

John's brother Anders was born in Koinge, Sweden on July 10th, 1888 and died January 1, 1926.
John's brother Anders died at 38 years old in Okome and didn't report any children.

John's sister, Johanna Charlotta Levin, born Andersson, divorced from Harald Napoleon Hall,
was married a scond time April 27, 1938 to Johan Vilhelm Adolfsson Levin. She had moved from
Halland to Stockholm-Adolf Fredrik Parish, then moved from here to Lerback Parish in May 1936. She then
went back to Stockholm-St. Goran Parish November 1937. There are no notes about children.
Johanna Charlotta was born April 17, 1885 in Tvaaker, Sweden.

John's other sister, Alma Olivia, also did not have any children.
Alma was born April 17, 1887 in Koinge, Sweden and died unmarried on August 24, 1971.

Carl Albin, John's brother, was born October 24, 1894 in Okome, Sweden.
Carl went to America, with John, on March 7, 1913. Carl went back to Sweden from
North America on May 21, 1920. He went back to the U.S. February 18, 1921.
Carl Albin checked into Ellis Island on March 15, 1921. Took about one month to travel
from Sweden to the U.S. His age on the paperwork is correct at 26 or 27 years old (Born 1894).
Carl's address in the U.S. in 1921 was 3308 Racine Ave. in Chicago, Illinois. Carl's passport
was issued by Dept. of State, Washington, D.C. October 8, 1919, No. 126147.