Person:Otto Alving (1)

According to Inga, Otto changed his name to Älving when he was in school. She always thought his former name was "Olson" but this was proved wrong by the research done by Rolf Norberg. Inga told us 2 theories about the na change. The first, which is incorrect as shown by the listing of the Jonasson children (8), was that Otto was the 11th child, and "älva"(eleven) or "älving" would indicate that. The second theory about his choice of name was that Otto was an admirerer of Henrik Ibsen, the playwright,and that Otto took the name of "Dr. Älving" from one of the plays. I've forgotten the name of the play altho' I read it many years ago in which Alving has syphillis and is going blind as the play ends......saying "the sun, the sun" and darkness descends. Ibsens plays were about social reform and considered rather scandelous at the time. Pretty depressing, too.

Inga said that Otto changed his name because he wanted something that stood out from all the Olsons, Carlsons, Swensons, etc.

Regarding the date of birth I can only tell you that his obituary states he was born Oct. 2, whereas the document from the archives was Oct. 3. The were enough inconsistencies in recording spelling, etc., that I am inclined to believe Oct. 2 is correct.

I have just checked Ester's (Moje's) wedding certificate. Her name is written there as "Mathilda Ester Maria Ohlsson" and signed by her, so I am sure that this is correct. They were married August 21, 1900.