Brita Lena Henriksdotter was born 24 June 1851 to Henrik Andreasson and Elin Bengtsdotter in Östre Stocken, Stråvalla, Halland, Sweden1. She joined an older half-brother Samuel August (1845) from her mother’s first marriage and a brother Johan Berndt (1849)2. Her parents were farmers.
Brita Lena was the only girl in the family adding two more brothers, August (1853) and Johannes (1856)2. Samuel August died in 1858 at the age of 122.
Brita Lena lived with her brothers and parents until she married3,4. She married Johan Magnus Samuelsson when she was 19 on 28 October 18707,8. There are clues that perhaps this was not a love match. Johan Magnus was 12 years older than her. Although the banns were called in June, they were not married until late October7. Two other couples that had banned called after them were married prior to their wedding date. She moved to her husband’s farm at Stråvalla 6 and Sefvedsgården on her wedding date.
Brita and Johan Magnus had one child, Hilda Josephina born in October 18715. Johan Magnus died on Christmas Day 1872 of typhoid fever11.
Brita then married Johan Magnus’s youngest brother Johannes5,9. Johannes was only two years older than Brita. Johannes and Brita added five children to the family over the years5,6. Their first son Johan Edvard (1874) died on 28 August 1883. They had another son in December of 1883 and named him Johan Edvard as well. Between these two sons they had two daughters: Johanna Albertina (1876) and Augusta Sophia (1880). Oskar Herder was born in 1888.
Brita Lena and Johannes remained living on the farm at Stråvalla 6 and Sefvedsgården until their deaths. She watched her two her oldest daughters get married on the same day in 189512,13. One wonders if this had to do with wanting the older daughter married first as Johanna Albertina gave birth one week after the wedding.
Brita Lena lost Johannes in 18986and her remaining children moved on over the next couple of years. Her three youngest children emigrated to the Americas near the turn of the century, Augusta Sophia in 1899, Johan Edvard in 1901 and Oskar Herder in 1905, shortly after her death6.
Brita Lena died at the age of 54 from Tuberculosis on 23 September 1905 on the farm at Stråvalla 6 and Sefvedsgården, Stråvalla, Sweden and was buried on 01 October10.
Link to Brita Lena Henriksdotter in genealogy.
1Baptisms. Sweden. Stråvalla, Halland. HENRIKSDOTTER, Brita Lena. 29 June 1851. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
2Household Examination Books. Sweden. Östre Stocken, Stråvalla, Halland. HENRIKSDOTTER, Brita Lena. 1844-1860. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
3Household Examination Books. Sweden. Östre Stocken, Stråvalla, Halland. HENRIKSDOTTER, Brita Lena. 1861-1870. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
4Household Examination Books. Sweden. Östre Stocken, Stråvalla, Halland. HENRIKSDOTTER, Brita Lena. 1870-1879. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
5Household Examination Books. Sweden. Stråvalla 6 and Sefvedsgården, Stråvalla, Halland. JOHANNESDOTTER, Johanna Albertina. 1880-1895. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed June 2018.
6Household Examination Books. Sweden. Stråvalla 6 and Sefvedsgården, Stråvalla, Halland. HENRIKSDOTTER, Brita Lena. 1895-1906. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
7Banns and Marriage Records. Sweden. Stråvalla, Halland. SAMUELSSON, Johan Magnus and HENRIKSDOTTER, Brita Lena. 28 October 1870. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
8Marriages. Sweden. Stråvalla annex, Fjäre and Fiske, Göteborgs, Halland. 28 October 1870. SAMUELSSON, Johan Magnus and HENRIKSDOTTER, Brita Lena. Collection: Swedish Indexed Marriage Records 1860 – 1943. http://www.ancestry.ca: accessed November 2018.
9Banns and Marriage Records. Sweden. Stråvalla, Halland. SAMUELSSON, Johannes and HENRIKSDOTTER, Brita Lena. 27 March 1874. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
10Death and Burial Book. Sweden. Stråvalla, Halland. 23 September 1905. HENRIKSDOTTER, Brita Lena. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
11Death and Burial Book. Sweden. Stråvalla, Halland. 25 December 1872. SAMUELSSON, Johan Magnus. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
12Banns and Marriage Records. Sweden. Stråvalla, Halland. ANDERSSON, Johan Anton and JOHANNESDOTTER, Johanna Albertina. 24 May 1895. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed June 2018.
13Banns and Marriage Records. Sweden. Stråvalla, Halland. JOHANSSON, Carl Leondard, and JOHANSDOTTER, Hilda Josephina. 24 May 1895. https://www.arkivdigital.net/: accessed November 2018.
