Surname, Widing. Boxholm -- Looking for Roots. Family Widing, starting points

Boxholm, Sweden

Widings in the 1920's, 1930's.  Return visits by Philip Wilhelm Widing and Anna Osterlund Widing, on either side of the flowers, to the family home - now gone - and we do not know if others also returned to visit from America, or what.   FN 1

Widing photographs, Boxholm, Sweden perhaps 1920's return visit Philip O. Widing and Anna Osterlund Widing, at floral center, from Philadelphia

The Widing men -- Philip's four sons -- all look like these. 

Genes are eerie.

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's?

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's?

aBoxholm, Sweden, 1920's? Anna Osterlund Widing at right, and it looks like Philip O. Widing on the far right, my husband's grandfather. 

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's. Anna Osterlund in center. 

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's. Who? #1

Boxholm, Sweden 1920's. Philip O. Widing, someone, and Anna Osterlund Widing. Could that be FarFar on the right, the father of Philip?

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's?  Who?

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's? Who? #2

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's? Who? #3

Boxholm person photographed Stockholm,  Sweden, 1920's

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's.  My favorite.

On the boat. Going to or returning from visit to Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's.  Anna and Philip Widing, but who on far left, and in between?

........................................................................................

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's. Who? #4

..............................................................................

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's.  Anna Osterlund Widing on left

...............................................

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's. Who? #5.  Anna Osterlund Widing front row left?

.............................................

Boxholm, Sweden, 1920's. Who? #6

........................................................................

Boxholm trip, Sweden, 1920's; but this must be Stockholm? Who? #6

............................................................................

...........................
FN 1

Some Widings (ours) stemmed from Boxholm. My husband's grandfather was Philip Wilhelm Widing, and he married Anna Matilda Osterlund, after they were here in the United States. We don't know how they met.

For the Widing family, they all seem to have left Boxholm in the late 1800's. A diaspora, along with the thousands and thousands of other emigrants in the late 19th Century to America.

We believe these photos are from a return trip in the 1920's of Philip Wilhelm Widing and Anna. They had settled in Philadelphia. Anna Osterlund was originally from Kinnekulla, Sweden. How did they meet? Their return visit was to; to Philip Wilhelm Widing's home at Boxholm.

The town has undergone urban renewals, so that the old houses we were looking for are gone, and new efficient blocky buildings (very functional, and serve the purpose) have been put up instead. That happens everywhere, but is a disappointment to returning families who hoped to find perhaps a quaint Ystad inland. Not so. But people were so friendly and helpful, and we enjoyed the pizza for lunch and even met someone with great access to the library -- fine people, in Boxholm. She came in just to help. This is a fine community for living.

Still, towns in Sweden seem to have none of those basic information-theme centers (the big universal "i" sign); or arrow signs on posts to direct folks around.

We came in the wrong way, through the woods, and possibly missed signs at the lake side route. Perhaps we should have started at the RR station, but then we would have missed that wonderful library. Need to go back to see the local museums and find gravesites at Ekeby. We had tried to find old graves at the big church, and did not realize that the old small parishes may have been a place to look, predating 1880 or so. Next ones back, go look for Farfar's kors.

Vaxjo -- Emigration, Domkyrka, Yggdrasil and Welcome

 Vaxjo

Vaxjo has medieval Christian roots. Vaxjo:  Did you say Vacks-Joe?  That would be wrong.  Say (pretend you are a horse, chuffing) WUH-chxHch-yau. There you go.  In old manuscripts, it is spelled as it sounds to us:  Wexiow, see the account of Saint Sigfrid at http://www.bartleby.com/210/2/152.html

On the way, see some sights.

Kalmar to Vaxjo: Hospitality Committee

Vaxjo is mid-size, but the grid-streets mean cars once parked disappear. Note your location, use your camera for unpronounceable cross streets and landmarks, or have a GPS. Or plan to walk a lot.

Religious history.

Vaxjo or Vaexjo has a long religious Christian tradition, see Medieval Religious Life, Sigfrid.  Saint Sigfrid of Wexloe, also known as the Apostle of Sweden, Holy Sigfrid, or Sigfrid of Vaexjo, is the first Swedish Saint, made such in the 13th Century. The Swedish King Olof asked the English King Mildred to send an emissary of Christ, and Mildred sent Sigfrid who came with his three sons. Sigfrid had a dream of a place to build a church, went there with a son, and did so.  He then, alone, headed for Husaby, and converted King Olof there, but when he returned, his sons had been murdered.  There are, allegedly at a place called Odenslanda, three large stones marking where the sons' bodies are buried, after some adventures.  The heads are the subject of other stories, and are said to be on the seal of the church at Vaxjo. We didn't know at the time and missed it. The Medieval Religious Life site lists saints' days.

Immigration, Emigration.

The library here in Vaxjo houses the geneological databases for emigrants and that should be highlighted more, we think.  Town websites ignore it -  see ://www.vaxjo.se/VaxjoTemplates/Public/Pages/Page.aspx?id=1638 /  If you already know it is there, however, you are fine.  Archives, museum, research center, and library combined. See Swedish Emigration Institute at ://www.utvandrarnashus.se/eng/ We did not delve there, but understand there are the full panoply of CD's, cross references, anybody find anybody.  We need to go back and find Osterlund, above. See why at Kajsa Johannsdotter.

A favorite place turned out to be a church - a modern one, looks very active, no stodge.

Domkyrka, Cathedral:

The steeple committee forgot to coordinate the plans. We have seen many multiple steeples on Scandinavian churches, but this is the least integrated, we think. We are trying to find the story behind.

Domkyrka, Cathedral, Vaxjo, Sweden. Facade, double steeple

Doorway, Domkyrka, Cathedral, Vaxjo, Sweden

World's best Lion Latch, Cathedral, Vaxjo, Sweden

Modern interior, Dom Church, Cathedral, Vaxjo, Sweden

Chancel view, Vaxjo. Sweden, Cathedral

Organ, Domkyrka, Vaxjo, Sweden (Cathedral Church)

We are looking for St. Sigfrid's seal.

That is a woman priest.  Very refreshing.

Tree of Life, Cathedral at Vaxjo, Swedem

The tree of life has special significance in Scandinavia, as it is a symbol common also to the early religions with a large panoply of deities. Yggdrasil in traditional belief is a huge ash tree, linking and shielding all the worlds. Beneath the roots, find Asgard, and find the full explanation (in brief!) at ://www.pantheon.org/articles/y/yggdrasil.html/

Kalmar Castle - Exterior. The Sieges; Gloom and Whimsy

Any castle is there for a purpose:  show-off status, a palatial residence; or defense; or both.  Needs change, and so does the architecture, remodeling.  The Home Show.

Defense.  Imagination need not go far to put ships on horizon, adrenalin going.  The wheels were not just for cannon mobility but also to absorb the kick-back from the explosion.  Many are on tracks with backstops for that reason.

Kalmar is a Renaissance Castle, built in the 12th Century, just after the kinds of defenses needed in medieval times were becoming obsolete.  See ://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A805862. 

Cannon, Kalmar Castle, Sweden

,Whimsy, Kalmar Castle, Sweden.  Watch for carved folk figures. 

Note that she is taller than he is. 

Kalmar Castle, original construction model, large Keep. no cutrain walls

Kalmar Castle, Sweden, towers and curtain walls

These improvements were made for an age of cannon, gunpowder.  Not attacks by catapults, arrows. Defenses against arrows required narrow windows, with angled jambs enabling a wide swath for aim, to sides, up and down.

Sweden, Castle Kalmar, later remodeling of Keep, windows not for siege, but for looking,

Kalmar Castle, defensive moat idea now pit and tunnel, below-ground walkways, barracks in round structure in background. ,,,

Its main catastrophe was the Siege of Kalmar in 1611, attack by the Danes. In the 18th Century, it became a storage place for arms, and a prison, among other uses. In 1776, enter the Royal Distillery.