Ida Sofia Olund

A PAIR OF SOCKS

By AGNES MACKINNON

Should this true story be presented as fiction, it would be dismissed summarily as fanciful, highly improbable, a manipulation of coincidence beyond the bounds of credibility. Yet it is related in our family as part of the saga surrounding the arrival in the Fraser Valley of one of my Swedish forebears, and I have in my possession an account of the events as recorded in a Karlskrona newspaper when my relative revisited her place of birth after an absence of nearly fifty years.

The year was 1904. Ida Carlson was one of a family of four left motherless at an early age. The father eventually remarried and more children arrived, crowding out the new mother's unwanted stepchildren.

So it was that at the age of fifteen, Ida was considering an opportunity to make a new life for herself in the beckoning land of North America. Progressive discoveries of gold in California, British Columbia and the Yukon led the the widely circulated myth that the streets in this new country were paved with gold. Certain fortunes were being made by picking up this new source of instant wealth from the ground, and economic conditions in the Old Countries were so poor that there was little to keep the adventurous there.

An advertisement had appeared in the Swedish newspaper for the equivalent of an au pair girl in two Swedish households in the Fraser Valley. Their passage would be paid in return for help with the housework and care of the children. Ida and a sixteen-year old friend decided to accept the offer.

Their tickets were sent along with a small amount of Canadian money to cover the incidental expenses of the journey. The two girls fastened the bills securely inside their corsets and arrived in New Westminster with most of it intact, afraid to spend any in case of dire need. They had been outfitted with a large basket containing hardtack and cheese and other edibles to sustain themselves when meals were not forthcoming.

Leaving family and friends was a heart-rending experience, and many tears were shed on the train to Malmo. But with the resilience of youth Ida and her friend were chatting excitedly about going to America as they crossed Denmark by train. A Danish woman seated behind them tapped Ida on the shoulder and said in a Scandinavian language recognizable to the two girls "Are you girls going to America?" Crying, she explained that her husband was in America seeking his fortune, and she hadn't heard from him for some time, but she had knitted a pair of socks for him, and "Would you girls take these socks toe Lars Holston in America and tell him to write home, I'm worried about him. Please, could you do that?" The girls put the socks into their basket and carried them with them to their new home, with the grateful thanks of the anxious wife repeated over and over until she reached her station.

The trip across the North Sea from Esbjerg to Harwich took two full days. From there the two half-frightened first-time travellers were taken by train to Liverpool where a hotel room had been booked for them. So appalled were they at the sorry state of the room that they slept downstairs on a long diningroom table, where they were found in the morning by a horrified waiter. Unable to speak English, they could not explain that they found bedbugs unacceptable.

Fortunately their ship sailed that day, bound for Quebec. After a harrowing two weeks on the Atlantic followed by the long trip across Canada on the wooden seats of the train -- berths were not provided on their tickets, Ida and her friend were aware that the possibility of finding Lars in America, this vast land, was so remote as to be laughable, ad they were wondering what to do about the pair of socks. However there was plenty of room in the basket as the food was used up, and the socks remained in their care.

They were met at the station in New Westminster by Mr. Falk, and taken to his farm on Westham Island by horse and buggy. Ida would be working for the Falk's; the other girl was staying overnight and would be collected the next morning by her employer. The home was comfortable and Ida was welcomed happily by the four children who helped her settle into her new room. The children declared that they would help her learn English though everyone was speaking Swedish the first day to exchange news with the two arrivals from the homeland.

Soon they were all seated around the supper table: Alex and Hilda Falk, their three daughters, Ethel, Nora and Irene, and their son Hilding, then two newcomers, and the hired man. With many stories to be told about the extended trip the two girls had made, the conversation came around to the socks the girls had been given. As they named the errant husband of their Danish train companion, the hired man burst into tears. He was Lars.

Lars had become so despondent over the reality of life in this new land as opposed to the misinformation that led to his seeking a fortune, that he had been unable to write to his family; he had no good news to convey. The message from his wife roused his to resume communications, ad he returned to his native land as soon as he had passage money. The pair of socks that the girls had almost thrown away had reunited a family.

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Other notes

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Two sisters Anna and Ida were married to two brothers John and Oscar

Extensive information in Agnes MacKinnon's biography

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Nättraby, Blekinge län

Household Examination Roll

Page 136

Genline 1770.77.5300

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1181/3168508186_dd7f44888c_o.jpg

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Ida and John are listed in the 1911 Canada Census as "Clam" or "Olam". District 51 South Vancouver, Page 13

• Reference: MyHeritage Family Trees - SmartCopy: Mar 31 2019, 19:04:50 UTC