In the center "picture" area of Gail's quilt, Audrey traced the emigration of her four grandparents from Sweden -- upper right corner -- to Ireland/England in the upper middle, to Amerika -- the Boston/New York area -- in the lower left corner.  The upper left corner and left side and the lower right corner and right side of the center "picture" contain the names and dates of her parents, siblings and the grandchildren.  The center "river of blue" represents the Atlantic Ocean where the ribbons trace each emigrant's route from Sweden to America, each ribbon containing the ship, it's name, and sailing date embroidered for identification.  Look at the light salmon colored border around all four sides, find the emigrant's name, then follow their information, find the date they came "To USA", now you'll know which ship that person sailed on and the ports they sailed from and into.  A person who leaves a country is emigrating (think of exit).  A person who enters a country is immigrating (think into).

Surrounding the central "picture" are 6 borders.

1. Dark blue quilted with interlocking hearts -- a separator.
2. Salmon color with the names, birth, emigration, marriage, and death dates of Audrey's grandparents, the original emigrants.  Her morfar (mother's father) is on the left side, her mormor is on the top, farfar on the right and farmor on the bottom.  At the corners -- upper left and lower right the grandparents meet and in that corner is their child (Audrey's mother upper left, her dad lower right).  The grandmothers' data are embroidered in violet because that was her mother's name; the grandfathers' are embroidered in green because Audrey liked the color.
3. Dark blue quilted with interlocking hearts -- another separator.
4. Light blue and white material to represent the sky, quilted with curves to represent clouds.
5. More "ocean" material from the center of the quilt to represent an ocean border, quilted with wavy lines to represent water movement.
6. Dark blue for the deep blue sea.  Binding around the edges finished the quilt.

Bob's Emigrant Quilt is a modified checkerboard layout; all the genealogy information is on here as it is on Gail's quilt, just in squares, not the geographic "picture".  Using your mouse, click anywhere on the picture to zoom in for a magnified look at the details.  The quilt is personalized with a square of Bob's interests in his life. 

All the genealogical information as well as all the ships, flowers and läns are embroidered on this Emigrant Quilt just as it is on the others.  Also included is a square that tells of Lynn's 'likes' and interests.  After Audrey had all the salmon squares embroidered, the maroon ready for framing the squares, Lynn asked if some blue could be added; some was, here is the result. 

The läns, ships, provincial flowers for Värmland, Östergötland and Dalsland are embroidered on this quilt for Mike.  All the same genealogical information is repeated here going back one more generation.  For Mike that would make it his great-great grandparents; see the block in the upper left corner, second row.  There is a block of Mike's interests in his quilt also.   

The genealogy research was done in the 1990's and there weren't many pictures of ships available online then.  Audrey wrote to the Maritime museums in England (Greenwich) and in the US (Baltimore), plus several other places, however, these were the two that had pictures of the ships she needed.  One person in France had a picture of one ship that none of the museums had.  Finally, all the ship pictures were found. Then Audrey wrote letters to the museums to get the correct colors for the funnels (smoke stacks), and the flags with their designs and colors.  The White Star line has a white star on a red background.  That wouldn't look good on a Cunard Line ship.  Each trip, in this time frame of 1889 - 1895 took 2 or 3 weeks.  The ticket, which cost 510 Kr (Swedish Krona) in 1892, included meals on board, overnight housing in Hull, railroad fare across England to Liverpool, housing in that city until the transatlantic ship sailed, and transportation costs (usually rail) to the destination city which was Chicago for the Erickson's and C.H.Nelson.  The Lindahl's stayed a short time in Boston then went on to Brockton, MA.  

The Angelo, a feeder steamship of the White Star Line, carried Audrey's dad's mother, Anna, her brother, David, and their widowed mother Maria Persdotter (Mrs. Erik Eriksson) to Hull from Oslo, Norway.  The Eriksson homestead near Arvika, Värmland, Sweden, was closer to Oslo than to Göteborg, Sweden.  Sweden ruled Norway until 1906, the Eriksson family didn't leave from a different country they left from Christiana (Oslo), which was in the territory called Norway, ruled by the King and Parliament of Sweden.  In USA, Maria became Mary and Persdotter became Erickson.  In Sweden, women maintained their own names, not changing to the husband's name when married. 

Ship dimensions: 258' 8" long,    33' 6" wide (beam),    18' 2" deep,

Ship hull:  3 masts,    1 funnel, regular,    1 funnel very small and posterior.

The Ariosto, a steamship of the Thomas Wilson Line, flying the British flag, was the ship Audrey's dad's dad, Karl Nilsson, sailed on from Göteborg, Sweden, to Hull, England, across the North Sea.  These ships plying the North Sea from the several Scandinavian ports were called 'Feeder Ships', feeding the flood of emigrants to the ports of England, France, and Germany on their way across the Atlantic to Canada, the US and even some South American ports.  This ship was built in1890 by Earle's Co., Hull, England.

Ship dimensions:  Length- 300' 4",   Breadth (Width)- 38' 0",   Depth- 20' 0" 

The Campania, a steamship of the Cunard line, built 1893, sailed across the Atlantic from Liverpool to NYC, Ellis Island Immigration Center, with the Eriksson family on board: Anna, David and their mother, Maria, Audrey's great grandmother.  In 1897, Maria, sick, wanted to return 'home' to Sweden, she and 2 of her sons, Emil and John (Johannes) sailed back getting as far as Southampton, England where Mary died in an infirmary and is buried.  The return ship's name is unknown but might have been the St. Louis.

Campania  dimensions:   601' long,   65' 2" beam (width)  37' 8" feet deep. 

Decks: Poop 75' long, forecastle 120', promenade deck 370'.

Hull: two funnels, two masts, tonnage of 12,950 gross tons, 10,267 under deck and 4,974 net tons.

The Catalonia, a steamship in 1889, carried to America from Liverpool, England, Audrey's maternal grandparents, Anna Johansson and Axel Lindahl.  The couple married in Brockton, MA, January 1890; eventually having 5 boys and 2 girls; Violet, Audrey's mother was the youngest.

The ship was built in 1881 by J. & G. Thompson & Co., Glasgow, Scotland for the Cunard Steam Ship Company, Limited. 

Ship dimensions:  429' 5" Long   43'  Wide (Beam)    33' 7" Deep

Weight:     4,638 gross tons,     3,093 net tons,

Hull:  Iron with    2 decks,    3 masts,    one smoke stack. 

The Majestic, a steam ship of the White Star Line, carried Karl Nilsson to America across the Atlantic from Liverpool, England. When Karl arrived in NYC he decided to Americanize his name and chose Charles H. Nelson.  'C.H.' as he was called, landed at Ellis Island in August 1892, the Immigration Center had opened just 8 months before, January 1, 1892.  An interesting note: When the Titanic went down (1912) there were survivors with return tickets to England.  The Majestic was brought out of 'mothballs', sailed to NYC, picked up these passengers, brought them back home to England, safely.

Ship dimensions:  565' 10" Length,   57' 10" Width (Breadth),  39' 5" Depth.       

Her engine:  twin screw, overlapping.   1,875 nhp,  Coal burner- 5,000 tons. 

Hull: Seimens-Martin Steel, 3 decks, 13 bulkheads.  Duplicated steering gear. 

The Romeo took a young couple, Anna Johansson, aged 18 years and 1 day, and Axel (Dahl) Lindahl, 21, from Göteborg, Sweden to Hull, England, in 1889.  Axel was apprenticed to Anna's father, learning the shoemaking (cobbler) trade. Interesting note: Anna and Axel, engaged, sailed on the Romeo, very romantic.  These ships were transitioning from sail to steam.  Steam was faster but more costly, wind was free for the sailing ships.  Coal (to make steam) was very expensive at this time -- the ships used both as the weather permitted and the availability of coal permitted.  Also coal was very heavy and the weight could be put to better use to carry more paying passengers.  

The Romeo, feeder ship, steam schooner, had 2 decks, one of iron, 3 bulkheads, 2 partial bulkheads, one funnel, and was built in 1881, by Earle's Shipbuilding & Eng. Co, Ltd of Hull, for Thomas Wilson & Sons Line, Hull, England. 

Ship dimensions:  275' Length,    34' 6" Width (Beam),   19' 9" Deep.

Decks:  Poop 370 tons,  forecastle 41 tons.

Rigging: iron construction, single screw, 2 masts

Tonnage:  1840 gross tons,    1376 under deck,   1210 net tons.

A län is a district roughly equivalent to one of our very large counties in a big western state.  In the US we would think of it as a 'state' but a län is not the same politically.  It doesn't have it's own Governor and legislature, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, or Army and Navy (the Reserves) that each of our 50 states have.  That makes one think of a län as more like one of our counties than one of our states. 

Dalsland län in the southwest area of Sweden, along the shores of the largest lake in Sweden, Lake Vänern, is the homeland of Charles H. Nelson (Karl Nilsson).  His dad married twice, thus Karl (Charles) had 4 half siblings.  His dad passed away in 1890, Karl served his 2 years of compulsory military service in 1890-92, then in 1892 left Sweden for the USA.  He was a farmer in Sweden, picked up a hammer in the US, becoming a carpenter and contractor, owning his own business. 

Östergötland län is in the central eastern area of Sweden, bordering on the eastern shore of the smaller of the two large lakes, Vättern.  Anna Johansson's parents and seven siblings were well to do, her dad, Johan, a successful shoemaker selling both wholesale and eventually retail.  Anna is the oldest of 8 children and in America worked as a laundress 'for the rich people of Chicago' while raising 7 children.  Axel Albert Dahl Lindahl, son of August Persson Dahl (son of Peter) changed his name to Lindahl before coming to USA.  Axel was one of six children but none of the others changed their names.  Axel, a master shoemaker worked for Florsheim Shoe Company in the US, learning the trade, in Sweden, from Anna's dad. 

Södermanland län, bordering along the Baltic Sea, is just south of the capitol of Sweden, Stockholm.  Anna's dad had a retail store in Eskilstuna, Södermanland, selling his shoes and accessories.  The Johansson family lived there for a brief time. 

Pictures of flags, ships, läns and the quilting stitches can be accessed thru the menu, choose an item then click on the picture for an even closer look at the embroidery details. The flags are the same on all three quilts.  Audrey wanted to show the Emigrants' allegiance to their country of birth, Sweden, and their new citizenship to their new country, the United States of America.  Audrey did all the embroidery work by hand not using an embroidery machine. 

In case you are interested in seeing a sample of the hand quilting of these quilts, you can zoom in on these two pictures.  One is a circle with curling waves inside the circle.  The other is a spray of Lily's-of-the-Valley.  Long straight leaves with long stems showing off the little bell-like Lily's.  There are 9 little Lily blossoms can you find all of them?

All the quilts were appraised by quilt appraisers who stated the 4 quilts were each valued at $875.00 to $950.00. 

Audrey spent 10 years researching her family, assembling information and materials, and constructing the quilt.  She spent almost 10 more years making the four quilts, embroidering them by hand, piecing them together by machine, then quilting them by hand.     Pono is honored to provide the forum for display of this work!