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OLOF CEDARLUND

One of the interesting elements of the history of the Nelson family in this country has to do with Olof Cedarlund. He was a brother of Charles Andersson and our Grandmother Fredrickson’s mother. He came to the New Gottland settlement in Cloud County either with the main group in May 1870 or shortly thereafter with his wife and three children born on Gottland. The name Cedarlund was apparently adopted when he came to this country. He was a signatory of the Letter to Gottland dated August 1875 included elsewhere in these archives.

He was not, however, ever recorded as a member of the Swedish Baptist Church that was founded in May 1877. Mr. David Larson records that Olof Cedarlund became a Mormon and moved to Montpelier, Idaho. According to Mr. Larson, Olof and his wife had six more children born in this country, three in Kansas and three in Idaho. Only the three born in Gottland survived to adulthood and married, however. His son lived at Logan, Utah, where Olof Cedarlund died. He is buried at Montpelier, however. His two daughters were polygamists, both being married to Edward Lorenzo Burgoyne. They had eighteen children between them.

The picture at the right is one of the unidentified  portraits found in the picture album left to our grandmother by her Auntie Andersson.  Since it was done by a photographer in Salt Lake City, it seemed logical that it was a picture of Olof Cedarlund.  Mr. David Larson contacted some of Mr. Cedarlund's descendents and has confirmed that it is, in fact, Olof Cedarlund.

There are two remaining unanswered questions having to do with our Great-great-uncle Olof Cedarlund. The first is the reference to an Augusta Cedarlund in the letter of February 1894 addressed to Grandpa Fredrickson from Johan Persson (Item #1 of the Archives). She is described as feeble, sickly, and without immediate family. We do not know what, if any, relationship there was between Olof Cedarlund and this Augusta Cedarlund and the names may be no more than a coincidence.  

The second involves another  unidentified picture  from Auntie Andersson’s album.  It is a portrait of a young woman made by a photographer in Logan, Utah. There is no direct evidence that this is a picture of one of Olof Cedarlund’s daughters. Why else, however,  would a picture made in Logan, Utah, be included in this album and who other than one of Olof Cedarlund's daughters would it be?  David Larson is attempting to determine from contacts with the Burgoyne family in Utah if they can identify the picture.