Carl Windh was the second-oldest son of Olander and Cecilia Windh and the first to come to the New World. Church records show he left the parish for North America on April 2, 1901. On April 8th, his 20th birthday, he sailed from Malmo, Sweden, and arrived in New York 15 days later (April 23) on the ship CYMRIC. This is confirmed in New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957. He reached South Dakota the 27th of April. Ancestry.com lists 16 sources for his birth date.

It is not known to me, John Windh, why Carl headed to South Dakota. But in April of 2014, on the website called Ellis Islands Records (ellisisland.org) I see that a Carl G. WIND, age 19 [although he had just turned 20], arrived in New York on the ship CYMRIC on April 23, 1901, having paid for his own ticket to sail from Liverpool on April 12th. His occupation is listed as “laborer”, his last place of residence is listed as “Rorun” Sweden and his destination, for which he already has a ticket, is “Groton, SD.” It has always been puzzing why Carl came to Groton.

Interestingly, the name listed right above Carl’s on that manifest is Olaf Johanson, age 17, also a laborer who also paid for his own passage from Liverpool, and who also has a ticket to Groton, SD. In the column asking, “whether going to join a relative and, if so, what relative and their name and address,” by Johanson’s name it says “Per Olsson, Groton, SD.” By Carl’s it says, “friend.”

So had Carl known the younger Johanson in Sweden and had Johanson given him reason to head to Groton? That seems the implication .. except that Johanson’s last residence is not shown as Norra Rörum (or Rorun) but as the somewhat unreadable word “Hallaryd.” There is such a community in southern Sweden; it lies some 50 US miles north and a little east of Norra Rörum. Had these young men somehow known each other before this journey? There is no other passenger from “Rorun” or Norra Rörum but one more from “Hallaryd,” a 22-year-old “maiden” named Blanda Persson. Carl and Olaf are both declared to be coming to the US for the first time, to never having been in prison or supported by charity, not to be polygamists or crippled but in good health, and under contract to labor in the US. So who was this Olaf Johanson???

Carl filed his intention to apply for US citizenship on Oct. 28, 1904, in Putney, SD, listing his occupation as a farmer. He said he was not married, could speak English, and renounced allegiance to King Gustaf VI or Sweden. His citizenship was granted on Oct. 3, 1911, in a document which still spells his last name as WIND and describes him as 30 years old, 5’ 8" tall with blue eyes and light hair, and still not married. Otto Wind (also not spelled "Windh") of Putney, SD, his younger brother, and Albin Petersen of Columbia, SD, are listed on that document as witnesses. Carl farmed eight miles north and one mile east of Groton, SD, until September 1928.

New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 also show Carl, age 26, and his brother Otto, age 21, both single and from Norra Rörum, Sweden, arriving in New York on March 14, 1908, from Liverpool on the Lusitania. This confirms that he had himself emigrated to the USA in 1901 and had gone back to Sweden for a visit with his younger brother, Otto, in 1908.

In 1912 he met and in 1914 married Serena (Sena) Ingavalla Oswood, who grew up near Langford, South Dakota, about 20 miles south and east of Carl's farm. At the time, she already had a son, Perry Kruidenier, born in 1910. In the court citizenship records of 1911 and the county marriage records of 1914, Carl’s last name is still spelled WIND. Their first seven children were born in South Dakota before 1928. On September 24, 1928, they entered Canada at North Portal, Saskatchewan, and settled in Ayleslbury, Saskatchewan, where his younger brother Oscar was living. Carl’s two youngest children, Doris and Carl Jr. were born there in 1929 and 1931. In June of 1937 (another less likely date is April 1, 1940?) they moved to Tacoma, Washington, where Carl, whose poor health by then prevented him from working regularly, died just before Christmas 1940. Why Tacoma? Were Sena’s parents or family living there already?

In 1982 an Oswood relative named Anna Luebben wrote this about Carl meeting Sena:
“They met through Elina Oswood while she was doing housework for Chris Jensen near Putney, SD. Elina had gone out a couple of times with Carl. [Carl farmed] for Mr. Ringross who lived in Aberdeen and who also had property near Hufton. Anyway, Carl was looking for a housekeeper since he had eight men working for him and had to do all the housework and cooking himself, plus the farming. He asked Elina if she knew anyone he could hire. Elina said she had a sister who had a little boy and said maybe she would take the job. Elina brought her over to Carl’s and introduced them and he hired her. She worked there that summer. Perry was three years old, and they married the following Feb. 19, 1914. (I believe Carl fell in love at first sight. Sena was a beautiful young lady, I believe 25 years old.) Then Mr. Ringross put Carl on a half-section of land to farm at Huffton, said he would take it, he would build a new house, which he did. Carl was a good worker and farmer. Then they moved to his place 12 miles from Groton, about three miles from Huffton. Huffton had one store and very little else except a grain elevator. First house was a small one-story house, one bedroom, small living room and fairly large lean-to kitchen with dining facility. Lloyd and Milton were born there. Beautiful trees and good barn, granary and chicken house and fenced pasture for the animals.”

In 1989, Ruth Ann, Carl’s daughter, wrote:
“Elina knew George Brockman, who worked for Chris Jensen. He was Auntie Elina’s boyfriend. Carl also dated Elina a couple of times. He told her he needed a girl for harvest time and housekeeping. She told him she had a sister who had a little boy, so he hired her. Carl lived across from Jensen in Putney, who was a very good friend. They both loved conversation. Mom went to work about July 1912. She brought Dad (Carl) home for Christmas and he was deathly ill with Quincy throat. They had to have the doctor. Aunt Ann remembers Mom (Sena) having an appendix operation on the kitchen table. Perry was born 1910 in November, was one year eight months old when Sena met Dad. July 1912 mom went to work for dad. Feb. 19, 1914, they were married one year and seven months later.”

To see some wonderful family photos on Carl’s and Sena’s photo page, click WEB FAMILY CARD below and then click on the little camera icon beside their marriage date.

The studio photo of Sena and her children may date from about 1945 because father Carl had passed away, Carl (b. 1933) looks about 12, and Lloyd who served in the military is out of uniform.

The United States Federal Census of 1910 says Carl is single and living in “Cambria, Brown County, South Dakoita.” In 1920 it said his residence was “Riverside, Brown County, South Dakota.” It was probably the same place, a farm eight miles north and one mile east of Groton, South Dakota.

Carl may have lived at 3115 So. 8th Street in Tacoma, WA.