Person:Albertina Larson (1)

  After her husband, Claus' death, Albertina thought it would be easier for her to raise her six children in the U.S., especially due to the Military Conscription in Sweden.  The family took the train to Goteburg, Sweden; then a ship across the North Sea to Hull, England. Then from Hull to Liverpool, England.  They left Liverpool on August 30, 1901 aboard the SS. Celtic and landed on 8 September 1901 at New York Harbor's Ellis Island.  While on board the ship, they received the news of President McKinley's asassination.  On Ellis Island they were fenced in like cattle until they were cleared by the customs officials.
  From New York to Clifton they came by train.  Somewhere along the line the conductors were changed and the old conductor did not tell the new one that the Carlson family could not understand English, so they missed their connection at Junction City, Kansas.  They got off in Abilene, Kansas.  The Lundquist family had a big welcome dinner planned for them, but instead Albertina and her children spent the night huddled around the coal stove waiting to catch the next train back to Junction City and make the right connection to Clifton.
  Albertina made her home in Washington County, Kansas for twenty years.  She and her children were naturalized U.S. citizens on 3 March 1909 in Washington County District Court.
  In 1921 Albertina moved to Topeka, Kansas and she lived in a small apartment above a house on West Fourth Street, behind the West Side Baptist Church of which she became a member.  She lived in this apartment until she needed more care in her daily life, at which time she moved to the home of her son, Carl A. Carlson, 1204 West First, Topeka.  She lived with Carl and Laura until her death on 16 September 1951.  She was 87 years of age and had lived in the US for fifty years.  She is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Topeka, Kansas.
    In notes Judy Leonhart made she said Albertina went to Topeka when Swen Olson's wife, Elizabeth Enander, died.  She helped raise the four children.

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   Obituary - TOPEKA DAILY CAPITOL, Monday, Sept. 17, 1951
   Mrs. Albertina Carlson
   Mrs. Albertina Charlotte Carlson died Sunday at the home of her son Carl A. Carlson, 1204 West First. She was born May 19, 1864 in Sweden and came to the United States in Sept. 1901. She made her home in Washington County, Kan. until she moved to Topeka 30 years ago. She was a member of the West Side Baptist Church.
   She is survived by five sons, Carl A. Carlson of the home; Conrad Carlson, Farwell; Edwin C. Carlson, Clifton, Kan.; B. F. Carlson, McPherson, and Gust K. Carlson, Topeka; a daughter Mrs. Hugo Dahlstrom, Topeka; 16 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren.