INGELA AND GÖRAN VON ESSEN MARRIED 1935

Olga and Folke's daughter Sonia married at Lysholmen in september 1935. But Sonia's cousin Ingela Jonsson, married Göran von Essen, in April the same year.
I have included the seating list and more from the wedding to show those interested in Särö history what went on that happy day. it might be interesting what families were invited etc. Those kind of details are often lost.

VILLA FLORIDA AT SÄRÖ AND SOME MORE PHOTOS

Olga and Folke's newly built house at Särö ( Villa Florida).

Olga's father and mother William and Anita Dawson in Sweden with their granddaughter Anita.
This must be the summer of 1913.
Olga had recently given birth to her third child, Mary Carita in close succession after the other two, Anita and Billy.  Olga had  been married for four years and already had three children. I think it was during this visit that Olga's parents thought that Olga needed some rest away from all this childbearing and they invited Olga and her children Anita and Billy and the nanny Ida to all travel to Jacksonville Florida in September that year. They travelled in the finest luxury. This was 1913, one  year before the First World War started. Olga's father William would never again visit Sweden. he died in 1916.
Read all about the 23 year Old Olga and her trip to Florida with her two children and nanny Ida via Hamburg and New York. The baby Mary Carita was left in Sweden with Folke and a nurse. Women did not yet have the right to vote so Folke had to give his permission which he did.  Read about Folke's desperate longing for Olga and the children, especially when they did not return for Christmas as she had initially promised. (My book: My Darling Olga)

Olga and Folke outside their villa FLORIDA on Särö built 1913.
They lived here until they built their new house Lysholmen in 1918
They had a salt water pipe come from the ocean to the bath tub. This was considered a silly thing by the next buyer and it was removed.

Olga outside villa Florida at Särö with her children Anita and Billy 1912/13

Olga outside villa Florida

This is probably the interior of Villa Florida 

Olga?

 Olga centered with a stick in her hand surrounded by friends and or relatives whose names are unfamiliar. Anyone help? The man behind Olga is either Folke or one of his brothers.

Olga and her two children Anita and Billy  in 1912/13

This picture is after Lysholmen was built. No high trees yet. Five children so far. Another four to come...ca 1923 or there a bouts
Below is Olga's car. Is this the famous Cadillac La Salle that collided with the train from Gothenburg?

Where is Olga? There seems to be a driver bu the wheel. I thought Olga drove her own car?

FOLKE JONSSON 
These portraits were in the entrance hall way of Lysholmen

OLGA JONSSON

Linnea and Gunilla Hellström around 1950

HOS JONSSONS I GÖTET -- LYSHOLMEN 1951

Uncle Folke Jonsson Jr. (Ponkis) after WW2

Parachute collision

Gothenburg man's war experience - Folke Jonsson Jr American's corporal

(Swedish Newspaper article translated by Lena Sodergren)

 

"All my comrades in America voluntarily entered the war and I thought it was also my duty, it was my mother's fatherland," says Folke Jonsson J:r, who is on a week's leave. Ordinarily, he is stationed with the American forces in France. He hasn't been home in seven years, so the joy is great to have done so well. 
He traveled to America in 1939 to finish his schooling, but the war came in between. He signed up, immediately becoming an American citizen and, after training in the United States, came to Europe in 1942. Badges of distinction on his chest reveal that he participated in three major battles. The father, Consul General Folke Jonsson, wonders what his hopeful son really has been through.

Parachuting was my job, says the young man, and it generally went well. The last time we were going to jump, it all went crazy. There were 24 of us 12 in each door, and in the air my parachute got tangled up in another. Both mine and my companion's parachute folded and we fell together a couple of hundred feet, before the parachutes opened up. Then we bumped together once more before we reached the ground -- and that left me with back injuries and something wrong with one foot. Instead of being in the last fight in Germany, I had to be hospitalized. I was cheated on the finale itself, and it was apparently a hard job, because a lot of my comrades were left on the battlefields.

- The battle of the Ardennes is otherwise the hardest battle the young Gothenburg man has participated in. It lasted for 45 days at the front , without any rest. It involved surveillance and reconnaissance on a river. Many of the comrades suffered severe frostbites to their feet and hands. There were two enemies that time, the cold and the Germans.

"During his stay in England, before Mr. Jonsson came over to the continent, he had the opportunity to study the effects of the German rockets up close. He says that he was close to being hit. Many of his comrades were lost and he adds with a smile that he himself has been miraculously lucky. His first contact with the enemy was at Verdun and it was a very scary experience.

"We soon all understood," he says, "that it was a question of dying or killing." Now, however, we are all happy that the war is over. We, the young people, who signed up to go in the field, before schooling was completed, are invited by the US government to spend two years at Yale University. I'm thinking about going back to the U.S. and training to be a businessman. Then I'll see what happens.

Mr. Folke Jonsson is only 23 years old and has his life in front of him.

Folke Jonsson Jr. 

He participated as a paratrooper in the American invasion of Normandy during WW2.

He was in the Battle of the Bulge (The Ardennes offensive) and when he parachuted again later in the war, his parachute got entangled with someone else's and he sustained back and foot injuries when landing. He was cared for at a Red Cross Hospital in Paris where his mother Olga visited. 

He settled and married his wife Anne in Jacksonville Florida

ETT RIKTIGT FYND - MASSOR MED IS!!

Innan vi fick elektriska kylskåp fanns det andra lösningar med is-skåp. Isen fick hämtas i havet, från en sjö eller bäck (som beskrivs ovan) under vintern. Isblocken förvarades i speciella hus med massor av isolerande sågspån som gjorde att isen höll ett helt år. Man hade då is under vår, sommar och höst till nästa vinter när man fyllde på förrådet. 

På Lysholmen fanns ett sådant ishus. När de elektriska kylskåpen kom byggdes ishuset om till en sommarstuga för min moster Mary.

TYPISKT FÖR OMTÄNKSAMMA MORMOR OLGA

När jag fyllde nitton år fick jag detta kortet tillsammans med en present av mormor. Jag sparade det för det var så typiskt för mormor.

Mormor Olga ville att alla i släkten skulle må bra, tycka om varandra och umgås och att umgänget skulle vara harmoniskt. När hon gratulerar mig passar hon på att flika in: "Be good to your dear mother and love her". 

Hon kanske anade att min mamma hade det tufft just då och behövde en extra dos kärlek. Jag förmodar att det var något sådant eftersom mamma och jag alltid kom bra överens.

OLGA & FOLKE GIFTE SIG I DENNA KYRKAN I PARIS 1909

Sidan 14-15 i OLGA & FOLKE: En bilderbok från en svunnen tid.

Många har frågat vilken kyrka Olga och Folke gifte sig i när de gifte sig den 18 oktober 1909.

Som tur är finns Wikipedia som kan visa bilder på kyrkan Saint Honoré d'Eylau på place Victor Hugo. Det var en relativt liten katolsk kyrka som passade för paret som hade ett litet intimt bröllop. Läs om förberedelserna, alla breven som de nyförälskade skrev till varandra, den franska byråkration m.m  i MY DARLING OLGA: Folke Jonsson letters 1909-1961

LEKSTUGAN PÅ LYSHOLMEN 1946

Lekstugan på Lysholmen var byggd för Olga och Folkes nio barn där de och barnsköterskan tillbringade många soliga dagar med barnen och deras släkt och vänner. Lekstugan och omgivningen var plan mark och inte så nära farliga trappor och murar på Lysholmens framsida. Längst bort till vänster skymtar man stationshuset.

Lekstugan var var ganska stor med en tillbyggnad på baksidan. Den var rustik och hade ett litet kök och en mysig öppen spis så den kunde mycket väl användas som bostad om man var villig att bo lite primitivt (och gratis) som mina föräldrar gjorde med sitt första barn Ann, 1946. Släkt och vänner kom på besök.

Gunilla (med make Arne) gästas av sin bror Billy med fru Brita och barn (nedan).

Bakom lekstugan fanns en beteshage.
Senare växte här upp mycket höga björkar.

Bra att ha  ettåriga Ann i säkert förvar. 

Framför lekstugan  fanns en liten välvd bro över en av de tre dammar som omgav Lekstugan. De kanske inte var där när Olga och Folkes barn var små.

Som syns på fotografiet nedan var den lilla bron stark nog att hålla sex festklädda vuxna personer. De är förmodligen på väg till middag på Lysholmen.

Efter de gått över bron går de på en grusad gång kantad med björkar innan de kommer till stentrappan som leder upp till vändplanen (parkeringsplatsen). Därefter är det en del trappor innan de kommer in på Lysholmens inbyggda gård. Därefter väntar Linneas goda mat.

När man är ung bor man gärna lite primitivt om man kan gå rakt ned till havet och bada. Eller ta båten ut till en ö (som på dessa foton). 
Här badar familjerna Högman, Laurenius och Södergren. 

På femtio och sextiotalet var det många unga par som hyrde lekstugan, eller grindstugan. De stod i kö för ett billigt första boende på Särö (med bad och båtplats). Idag bor många av dem i flotta villor på Särö.