Welcome to Bob's site about the Enholms and the Larsons!

We grew up in Chicago as the sons and daughters of the children of Swedish immigrants. Our grandparents were from Sweden and there were names and dates of their generation still speaking Swedish and telling stories of the hardships the families had endured. Stories of Anna Olivia, Uncle Anton, Uncle Hilmar, Uncle Charles as well as birthdates and the years they came to America. It was our Saga: the Saga of the Enholms and the Larsons.

Sagas, however, are word of mouth and much of the story was never written down. (Except for a H.S. reserch paper I wrote in 1949!)

So, this website is an attempt to recover Lost History, and the purpose is to collect as much as possible of the Saga in one place. The construction of family trees is left to others!

Some of the Saga was eventually pieced together. It begins with these accounts of Anna Olivia and John Oscar, as follows:

Anna Olivia Enholm immigrated to the U.S. from Sweden in 1887. She came from a large family living in Holmestad Parish, Skaraborg Län which is not far from the larger city of Götene. Anna was the sixth child of nine children. Her birthdate was 07 March, 1873. She was just 14 years of age when she immigrated to Chicago. She was the first Enholm daughter to make the trip safely to America, the first one having lost her life on the way!

Johan Oscar Larson immigrated from Sweden to Chicago in the same year, 1887. He was the youngest child of a family of five children who lived in Stora Malm, Södermanns Län, Sweden. The nearest big city is Katrinaholm, about 60 miles west of Stockholm. Johan Oscar was born on 12 June, 1867. He was 20 years old when he arrived in Chicago.

Anna Olivia and Johan Oscar were married in Chicago on 19 July, 1892.

The photograph above is of the Water Tower and Pumping Station in Chicago taken at about 1880. The newly wed couple would certainly have attended the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

They settled in a Swedish enclave in South Chicago, where Oscar (he dropped his first name) found work in the Steel Mills. The Enholms and the Larsons all lived in the district of Chicago now known as South Shore. Oscar Larson found employment in a steel mill near to South Shore and was able to support a family of six children.

But the weren't the only Enholms in Chicago!