This page was created when a great-great nephew in Sweden contacted me about Carl Johnson, one of the victims in the 1912 explosion. Most all of the victims were and are enigmatic; nothing much is known about them or their families.
Widows married again and children sometimes took their stepfather's surname. Single men may have had family, but perhaps only when a relative contacts me can I provide further details
about the person.
Please contact me if you have further information about any of the men listed on the victims page: steve@spicerweb.org
In newspaper articles he was reported only as C.O.Johnson but he was born Carl Julius Johansson on October 6, 1875 in Vessige, Halland, Sweden. He was a stone mason like many in the family. He was born in a small croft called “Nybygget” (means roughly New building) in a microscopic village called Grimshult in the forested inlands of the southwest Swedish Atlantic coast. The 1910 census shows him as a powder packer living in Canduff's boarding house in Aetna and as having immigrated in 1903. Four of his six siblings came to America. Three of them settled in Gary and had a number of descendants.
Primary source for Carl's family from Sven Berlander, his great-great nephew. More information on Sven's Ancestry Family Tree, Berlander Family Tree.(Subscription needed.)
Father Johannes Olsson (13 August 1842-14 June 1904). Born in Stäpelsbo, Kalv. Died in Gullbrandstorp, Halmstad, Halland, Sweden. Mother Inger Christina Johansdotter (21 November 1835-10 January 1921). Born in a croft named Ryd in Grimshult, Vessige, Halland Sweden and died in Halmstad, Halland, Sweden.