James Landreth

By now you are aware that Aleda’s mother’s family came from Sweden. They immigrated in the last decade of the 19th century beginning in 1890. The first to arrive on American soil was Aleda’s mother’s (Alice Elvira) aunt, Pauline Margarita Åstrom. We do know that prior to that Pauline’s father, Aleda’s grandfather, moved from northern Sweden – near Umeå, Vasterbottens län (county) – to southern Sweden – near Växjö, Kronoberg County. With him moved his wife, Carolina Ulrika and their five children, the oldest of home was Anders Alfred and the second child was Paulina Margarita, who was born May 70 1871. They purchased a farm near Virestad which is about 50 km (31 miles) southwest of Växjö. It was there that Paulina’s older brother, Anders Alford, met and married Ida Amelia Sunberg in 1891. This fact is important, one reason being that they had six children one of whom was Aleda’s mother, Alice Elvira, though she was born in the States.

For reasons yet to be ascertained, the family decided to immigrate to America. Someone had to be the first to dip their toe in the water and that first one was Paulina, the eldest daughter, but not the eldest child. She left for Chicago in 1890, so the story is probably no different from the other 1.3 million Swedes that left their homeland for America. An old family journal/diary from about 1909 records and number of Sunbergs in Chicago, but she probably went to join her mother’s family. However, we have yet to make direct connection between Paulina and that person or persons in the Midwest.

Before we go into Paulina’s story, let me complete her immigration story. At the age of 19, Paulina left her home and her family in September 1890 traveling from Malmö to Liverpool and then sailed on the Pavonia (Cunard Line) to Boston, departing September 25 and arriving in Boston October 5. She then made her way to Chicago. Sometime after her arrival in Chicago she moved to Denver. Here she married one Fritz Youngberg on November 1893. He was two years older and was a Swede as well. Either they met before she left Sweden, after she got to Chicago, or after she got to Denver (probably the latter). We don’t know. After she arrived in Denver she apparently did quite well for by the 1910 census list, Paulina was married in 1891 (this is probably incorrect) with no children and that she was a landlady for borders. She and Fritz lived at 2128 California St. in Denver (that’s near downtown but is now a parking lot). In the Census, Fritz is listed as being born in Sweden and was 39 years old and a machinist.

A note: at some point in this journey her name changed, from Paulina to Pauline and more importantly I was described previously from Armstrong to Ostrom. Whether she was the first to change her surname, possible because she was the first to immigrate and then the rest of the family followed suit or it was changed after the rest of the family arrived in the states has yet to be determined. S so from now on she will be described as Pauline.

Paragraph beginning of the summer of 1904 there began the first of two events that led to Pauline becoming, perhaps, the person in the family was greatest Note-oriety. It seems our polling was a believer in spiritualism, as was her niece, Alice Elvira. She met one DFM Hitchcock who was promoting a business involving bathhouses in Manitou Springs Colorado, a town just west of Colorado Springs, and quite close to pikes Peak parentheses one must understand that bath houses down exist today but we’re Comin on the frontier and rural Colorado. Today, Manitou Springs motto is “we just don’t have fun we indulgent”. At the encouragement of Mr. Hitchcock she began attending spiritualist meetings. From the newspapers of November 1906, we learned that “the powers of the mediums were employed to influence messes Yung Berg of Denver quote to invest $4000 in a bathhouse company parenthesis approximately $117,000 in today’s value one adjusted for inflation however in other places it is reported to be $40,000. Mrs. Youngbird testified she had attended spiritualistic meetings with Mr. Hitchcock and that the spirits told her that she would make money if she would go into the business with him. In another article, she noted “Mr. Hitchcock began talking about Spiritualism soon after I first met him. That was the summer of 1904. Mrs. Yunker said that the spirits told her the Hitchcock’s plan was a good investment and that Mr. Hitchcock was a careful businessman and that she would make money. Well, it didn’t work out quite well and the investors sued Mr. Hitchcock your to recover their money. The plan is attorney claimed that all Mr. Hitchcock had to show for their $30,000 investment what is a foundation for a building worth about $2500. Mrs. Yung Berg swore that Hitchcock had taken her who is spiritualist, a Mrs. Gary, and he told her that she would hear the voices of her dead father and mother in the air. Parenthesis and note: curiously at that moment, both her mother and father were still alive and living in the states, residing in Erie PA,

Mrs. Yung Berg story noted “we sat around in a little circle with a trumpet on a table in the center. It was dark so that we could not see each other I’m pretty sure the spirits appeared and spoke through the trumpet. Did you recognize the voices? She was asked. No reply Mrs. Yung Berg but I thought nothing of it as I was told that the voices would not sound like they did in life because they spoke through a trumpet. Parenthesis editors note I wonder if they had strong Swedish accidents or sounded something like this with a chef. I’d like to find that trumpet and find out when aleda is going to get her vaccine. Paragraph the outcome of the trial to recover them however Mrs. Yung Berg went on to become a rather wealthy landlord in Denver, but that is the next story.