Gustafson Family Tree Kandiyohi, Minnesota
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GUSTAFSON FAMILY TREE



Maternal great grandmother of John Robert Mielke


   
Ida Gustafva (Johannisdotter) Gustafsson 1858-1940
Frans Johann "Frank" Gustafson 1849-1906 (I have no photo of Frank)



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I have traced this Gustafson line back to 1816.
If you would like more details, let me know.



Frans Johann Gustaafsson was born on 12/28/1849
on the farm Högnalöf Södregård, Uråsa Parish, his parents were farmers.

Frans "Frank" married Ida Gustafva Johannesdotter in Sweden (3/28/1878)and the newly weds immigrated to America on the SS ORLAND in the spring of 1879.


The first 2 years in America, Frank worked as a railroad section man in Kandiyohi, but in 1881, he turned to farming, which he did until his death.

"Frank" died  of tuberculosis of the leg in 1906, a disease he battled for 10 months including having his leg removed below the knee. He is buried at Tripolis Lutheran Cemetery in Kandiyohi, Minnesota. In Ida's later years, she lived with her daughter Emma (Gustafson) Engman in Savannah, Illinois. Ida passed away in 1940 from a stroke. She is buried in the Tripolis Lutheran Cemetery in Kandiyohi, Minnesota.

Frank and Ida had 8 children:

1. Carl Emil Gustafson  was born in Vãckelsång Makagård Hultatorpet Sweden. He died Infancy in Vãckelsång Makagård Hultatorpet Sweden. Died in infancy.

2. John Theodore Gustafson 1880-1901. He was buried in Kandiyohi, Kandiyohi Co., Minnesota. Was a diabetic.

3. Ernst Oscar Gustafson 1882-1970 Oscar married Alma Patty (1876-1958). After marriage, he used his wife's last name "Patty" because the Patty family had a patent for "Patty's Ointment". Oscar turned down an offer from the Vick's Ointment company to buy the Patty Ointment recipe. Patty's Ointment eventually went bankrupt.

4. William Ferdinand Gustafson 1885-1933 (father of Margaret Gustafson Mielke)

5. Emma Victoria Gustafson 1887-1977.
6. Carl Herbert Gustafson  1889-1968.
7. Edith Rosella Gustafson 1899-1900
8. Ethel Gustafson         1901-1901


MARGARET (GUSTAFSON) MIELKE's PARENTS

William "Will" Ferdinand Gustafson
  was born on 16 Mar 1885 in Kandiyohi,Kandiyohi Co.,Minnesota. He died on 15 Apr 1933 in Rapelje,Stillwater Co.,Montana USA. Father of Margaret Alice Gustafson Mielke

  
William "Will" Ferdinand Gustafson 1885-1933
Alice Almeda (Klint) Gustafson  1886 - 1975
Parents of Margaret Gustafson Mielke

Maternal Grandparents of John Robert Mielke



Will Gustafson married Alice Almeda Klint, daughter of August Klint and Emma Helena Krantz in 1908. They moved from Minnesota to the dryer climate of Rapelje, Montana in 1919 because Will developed lung damage during the Spanish Influenza Epidemic of 1918.

The Gustafson's purchased the Troupe family farm 11 miles north of Rapelje, Montana.  In 1920, they purchased another farm 2 miles west of Rapelje. In 1924, the Gustafsons moved to yet another farm called the Allen Place which was 1 1/2 miles east of Rapelje.  In 1931 they bought the Brown Ranch 14 miles north of Rapelje (4,000 acres). It's here where Will Gustafson died in 1933 of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever after being bitten by a tick 12 days before.

Alice (Klint) Gustafson was a very strong woman.  She lost 4 sisters to tuberculosis, and a 5th sister to the flu epidemic.  She lost her husband in 1933, her daughter in 1933, a son in 1934 and another son in World War II (1943). Alice died in 1975 and is buried in Bozeman, Montana.

William and Alice had the following children:

1. Gertrude Mariam Gustafson  Born: 1909 in Kandiyohi,Kandiyohi Co.,Minnesota.

 

 
Gertrude Mariam Gustafson (Barr)
1909-1933

Sister of Margaret Gustafson Mielke


Gertrude married Dr.Robert Neff Barr (1933) in Baker,Montana. Three weeks after they were married, Gertrude died unexpectedly of an unknown cause while at work.


2. William Theodore "Bill" Gustafson
 born:1911 in Kandiyohi, Minnesota USA. He died on 4 Jul 2005 in Great Falls, Montana.


Bill Gustafson 1911-2005
Brother of Margaret Gustafson Mielke


William married (1) Alice Caroline Westergaard in 1938. Alice was born in 1914 in Devils Lake,North Dakota. She died (1974) in Great Falls, Montana. William married (2) Lois Durts in 1977. Lois was born in 1925 in Chateau, Montana.

3. Margaret Alice Gustafson was born in 1912 in Kandiyohi,Minnesota. She died in 1980 in Anchorage,Alaska. Mother of Susan, Marnice, Trudy, John, James and Frank Mielke.


Margaret Alice Gustaafson
1912-1980


Margaret Alice (Gustafson) Mielke was the first official poet laureatte of Alaska, she died of pneumonia after emergency surgery. The following was written by Margarets brother Raymond ("Rib") in 2005:

"My sister Margaret was an ambitious person and a very generous person and she had no enemies.  She used to take us, her little brothers, on camping trips.She was very talented.  Every Sunday night, at the old farmhouse, the local musicians
would assemble and play for hours. She played both the piano and trumpet. She put herself through college.  She was always interested in writing and worked at the newspaper as a young girl. She was also a good poet from the time she was a young girl.

I took Marg, Suzie and Marnice when they were repatriated to Alaska in 1943.  We stayed overnight in Coeur d’Alene where she and John had lived for a while.  When we got to Seattle “in a black out” due to the war, I put her, Suzie and Marnice on the boat.  While waiting to ship her car, I enlisted in the Naval Air Corp, I was 17 then.  Marg, the little girls and I lived together on the ranch at Corral Creek near Ennis the summer of ‘42.  We lived on elk and brooded 100 chickens in the front room by an old barrel stove.  I’m sure Suzan can remember those days.  She was kicked by a horse and scared the hell out of Marg and myself.  

John came down that fall and we had a great elk hunt before he had to return. One thing that people don’t know is that Marg turned down a suitor one time and in retaliation, he ran a bunch of our horses over a cliff killing some and crippling others. My brother Bill caught the culprit.

One time I can remember Marg stuck up for my brother Sid and myself when we swiped the family car and drove to big Timber, Montana for the Tom Mix Circus in 1934.  The only thing that ever bothered Marg was people that were dumb.  Thanks for gathering stories about her."  "Rib"



 
Margaret Gustafson married John Mielke in 1937

Margaret married John Clifford Mielke  son of Frank Paul Mielke and Susie Lena Baker on 8 Aug 1937 in Hardin,,Montana,USA. John was born on 23 Jun 1912 in Marmarth,Slope Co.,North Dakota. He died on 14 Feb 1989 in Anchorage,,Alaska,USA. He was buried in cremated.

John and Margaret and their daughter Suzan are on the 4/2/1940 US Census for Hardin, Big Horn Co., Montana. They were living at the School District 17H (Indian) Boarding School, where John was a carpenter.

Arrived in Alaska in July 1940 aboard the steamer ALEUTIAN with wife Margaret and daughter Suzan. (Info Source:Seward Gateway (newspaper) 7/13/1940 issue).

In 1948, the Mielke's moved from downtown Anchorage to Elmendorf Air Force Base where John had a  civil service job. They lived in an old dairy farm that was originally homesteaded by John and Hilja Vanaja (they had 1 son named Reno). John Vanaja died in 1923 and Hilja married Olli Korhonen a carpenter from Finland who built a house and barn on the same property.  The house was later moved to Anchorage.

The Mielke's lived in the old dairy farm until John Mielke retired in 1961 and they moved to Peters Creek where John and Margaret lived until their deaths. Margaret died in 1980 after emergency hernia surgery and John died in1989 of a brain tumor.


4. Jule Klint "Duke" Gustafson  Born: 1913 in Kandiyohi,Minnesota. He died in 2000 in Ennis,Montana.


 
Jules "Duke" Gustafson
Brother of Margaret Gustafson Mielke

Jule married Shirley Sue Jeffers  daughter of Lawrence Myron Jeffers and Josephina Florence Dawson on 30 Jun 1944. Shirley was born on 8 Feb 1926 in Jeffers,Montana.


5. Audrey Orphia Mae Gustafson
  was born in 1915 in Kandiyohi,Minnesota. She died in 2003. Audrey married Arthur Henry "Art" Roth Jr. in 1937. Arthur was born in 1912 in Cedar Rapids,Iowa. He died in 1995 in Big Sandy,Montana.

Audrey (Gustafson) and husband Art Roth
Sister of Margaret Gustafson Mielke


6. Luther Sydney Gustafson Lieutenant  was born in 1920 in Rapelje,Montana. He died in World War II, on 28 Apr 1943 in Tunisia.


 
Luther Sydney Gustafson   (brother of Margaret Gustafsons Mielke)

Born 11/8/1920 Rapelje, Montana
Killed in Action during WW II  4/28/1943
Buried North Africa Cemetery Carthage, Tunisia


Graduated from Bozeman High School 1938/ Montana State College 1942 (degree in Bus. Admn.)/Enlisted in US Army Infantry 6/15/1942, left Bozeman 6/24/1942, left 10/5/1942 for England (landed at Litchfield England a week later). Stationed in Scotland to train for amphibious beach landing. Assigned to Company G  2nd Battalion  39th Infantry Regt. 9th Infantry Div. Nicknamed the "Falcons".  Oct.26, 1942 left England with convoy of 850 ships on the USS Thomas Stone. Landed 15 miles east of Algiers. 1/1943 assigned a post in Tunisia - along the German front. Killed in action 4/28/1943. He is buried in  Plot D, Row 17, Grave 10 North Africa Cemetery Carthage, Tunisia. Received following medals Distinguished Service Cross, Croix de Militaires Voluntaires (2nd highest honor of French Army), and the Purple Heart. United States Army, 2nd
Lieutenant, Service # 446806.



7. Raymond Walter "Rib" Gustafson  was born on 1 May 1925 in Rapelje,Stillwater Co., Montana. He died on 30 Oct 2014 in Conrad, Pondera Co., Montana.


Raymond Walter "Rib" Gustafson 1925-2014
Brother of Margaret Gustafson Mielke


 
8. Robert David "Bobby" Gustafson  was born on 13 Sep 1927. He died on 31 Mar 1934 in Rapelje, Montana of pneumonia.



Robert David "Bobby" Gustafson  1927 -- 1934
Brother of Margaret Gustafson Mielke

 


 

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