| Parents | |
|---|---|
| Father | Anders Jönsson (1807-1866) |
| Mother | Hanna Nilsdotter (1817-1871) |
| Vital Information | |
| Born | Oct 5, 1854 in Defvelstorp, Svedala, Skåne, Sweden |
| Married | Olaf Anderson (1860-1953) - 1885 |
| Died | July 26, 1934 in Oakland, Alameda, California |
| Children | |
| 1 | no children |
Johanna Andersdotter was the third child of Anders Jönsson and Hanna Nilsdotter. There are conflicting dates on when she arrived in the United States that range from 1879 to 1884. At least one record says that she married Olaf Anderson in 1885 and that he arrived on a different date, so it seems reasonably clear that they married in California after her arrival from Sweden.
On her obituary it is noted that she was the aunt of four women - "wife of Olaf Anderson, aunt of Mrs. Josephine Ross, Mrs. Anna Bischoff, Mrs. Ella Johnson and Mrs. Helen MacQuarrie, native of Sweden aged 79 years 9 months 21 days, Entombment Mountain View Mausoleum, [Oakland Tribune 27 Jul 1934]". Mrs. Josephine Ross and Mrs. Anna Bischoff are known to be the daughter of Karna Anderson, sister of Johanna. However, the connection of Mrs. Ella Johnson and Mrs. Helen MacQuarrie are unknown. Helen has been found to the be the daughter of Conrad Wickberg who lived with the Anderson at the Railroad Exchange Hotel at one time. Conrad was born in Sweden and married married a Miss Svenson of Norway in 1894. So although Johanna and Karna had another sister, Maria, born in 1851, it does not seem that Maria was the mother of Helen and the relationship of Conrad to the rest of the Anderson family is unclear. It also seems that he was born in a different part of Sweden than the rest of the Anderson family, further suggesting that he was not related to them. So why his daughter Helen, but not his son William, would be listed as a niece of Johanna is a mystery. Helen's birth record also shows Miss Svenson as her mother, but it should be noted that Conrad and Miss Svenson married only six months before Helen's birth. Could it be that Conrad was not actually Helen's father? That Miss Svenson became pregnant by another man, perhaps the brother of Johanna, Karna, and Maria - Jöns was born in 1860 and was the youngest of the siblings. We have no trace of him between 1877 and 1919, but we do find his death in Sweden in 1919. Could he have also come to Oakland and then returned to Sweden, leaving a pregnant woman and future child? There is a great deal of speculation.
