I wish I had met my great-grandmother, Bertha Amalia Alexandra Dahlberg, but she was gone before I was born. Even if I had been born sooner or she had passed later, our paths would undoubtedly not have crossed.

Bertha’s firstborn son, my grandfather, left his home in Sweden and moved to Australia. He left behind his widowed mother and two young siblings. Grandfather was only seven years old when his father, Otto, Bertha’s husband, was tragically killed in a railway accident. Grandfather’s younger brother, Axel, was almost six, and his sister Signe was three years old. Bertha was left to raise a young family on her own. Otto’s accident happened at 9pm on the 11th November, 1884, at the end of his shift as a railway conductor. The harsh Swedish winter was in full force that night as Otto jumped down from the carriage of the train as it came to a rolling stop at the station. As his feet connected with the snowy tracks, Otto slipped, and according to the news reports at the time, he died instantly.

Not only did Bertha lose her husband that night, but eventually, she seemingly lost her son. A notice was placed in the Evening News of a Sydney newspaper on Wednesday, 9th May 1923, under the heading of:

•  MISSING PERSONS

Adolf Wilhelm Bergman, 46, a native of Gothenburg, Sweden.

I can only assume the notice was placed by a Swedish family member, seeking contact with Grandfather. Hopefully, Grandfather saw the notice in the paper and let his family know he was safe.

Bertha passed away on the 1st June, 1934. According to Swedish records, the cause of Bertha’s death was “Cardio arteriosclerosis”, but I wonder if the real cause was more to do with a tragic life and a broken heart. Her life can only be pieced together now through documents found on official Swedish websites and genealogy sites.

My DNA matches, through Ancestry, have only unearthed a few distant Swedish connections to Bertha, but I’ll keep on searching.

Bertha’s Early Years

Bertha was born in Gothenburg on the 25 September, 1851. Her father was Carl Johan Dahlberg, but identifying her mother was more difficult. In the patronymic system used in Sweden, a child’s surname incorporated the Christian name of their father. Some, like Bertha’s husband, were given a more traditional surname. My great-grandfather was Otto Bergman, but he was also known as Otto Johansson (son of Johan). Bertha’s mother was Helena Bengtsdotter (daughter of Bengt). I have not found any reference to a traditional alternative to Helena’s surname, which makes it difficult to find information. With Otto, I have two options for surnames,Bergman and Johansson, and I have found information under both names.

Bertha’s father, Carl Johan Dahlberg, married Helena Bengtsdotter in 1841, and they had eight children. Bertha, born in 1851, was one of the youngest. Carl then married Helena Christoffersdotter in 1868, and they had three children. Not all of the children from each marriage survived infancy or childhood; Bertha was one of the lucky ones.

Research

Facebook gets a bad rap at times, but it was through Facebook that I found Bertha’s family.

I joined a Facebook page called ‘I am of Swedish Descent’, and posted a question about Bertha. Almost immediately, I had an answer that clarified the mystery of the two Helena’s, and which one was Bertha’s mother. A Swedish member of the group highlighted the two marriages of Carl John Dahlberg, both to women named Helena.

Carl Johan Dahlberg, Bertha’s father, was a bricklayer (murare) and was born 22 October 1818.

Carl Johan Dahlberg’s parents were Christoffer Dahlberg, a bricklayer, and Elisabeth Lethin (or Ledin). They had:

• Carl Fredric Dahlberg b. 15 July 1814 (d. 22 October 1814)
• Berndt Edvard Dahlberg b. 28 April 1816
• Carl Johan Dahlberg b. 22 October 1818
• Carolina Elisabeth b. 20 May 1821
• Gustaf Reinhold b. 24 September 1824

Carl Johan Dahlberg and Helena Bengtsdotter had the following children:

• Emma Charlotta Dahlberg b. 29 July 1842
• Franz Oscar Dahlberg b. 4 March 1845 – d. 3 April 1845
• Karl Fredrik Dahlberg b. 26 May 1846 – d. 26 October 1846
• Maria Josefina Bernhardina Dahlberg b. 22 January 1848 – d. 11 February 1848
• Berta Amalia Dahlberg b. 13 March 1849 – d. 18 July 1850
• Bertha Amalia Alexandra Dahlberg b. 25 September 1851
• Gustaf Bernhard Leonhard Dahlberg b. 15 March 1853
• Karl Edvard Lexington Dahlberg b. 5 August 1857 – d. 9 December 1858

Carl married Helena Christoffersdotter in 1868, and they had three children:

• John Hugo Dahlberg b. 1868
• Charles Hugo Dahlberg b. 1869 d. 1872
• Engela Matilda Dahlberg b. 1872

My research into Grandfather’s family has highlighted a number of coincidences, or parallels, that cross nations and decades.

• Otto, my great-grandfather, died in Sweden on 11 November 1884.
• My grandfather, Otto’s son, died in Bankstown, Australia, on 14 November 1959.
• My father, Otto’s grandson, was born on the 13th November 1922 in Bankstown, Australia.
• My grandson, Otto’s great-great-great-grandson, was born on the 7th of November in Gladstone, Australia, and shares the same birth date as Otto, albeit more than one hundred and fifty years later.

And so, my humble tribute to Bertha Amalia Alexandra Dahlberg, my great-grandmother, comes to a temporary end. I am always searching for more information that will describe Bertha’s life as a single parent. And I continually scan DNA matches in the hope that a distant cousin will have a family tree that has missing links to her family.

It is through knowing where we have come from that we know who we are.