Catalog of Manuscript Collections

Creator: Johnson family; Hagstrom family Extent: 1 ft. Description: These papers record the history these Swedish-American residents of Branford, Connecticut. The collection includes correspondence, deeds, family Bible records, financial papers, legal documents, certificates, military papers, passports, genealogical materials, death records, obituaries, newspaper clippings, photos, and other papers, of Peter Johnson (1867-1943); his wife, Lisa J. (Prins) Johnson (1865-1938); their children, John Alfred Johnson (1891-1955) and Hilda (Johnson) Hagstrom (1897-1978); Hilda's husband, Richard Walter Hagstrom (1897-1978); and Peter Johnson's brothers, Charles (1862-1931) and John Alfred (1883-1928) Johnson. Includes information pertaining to the emigration of Peter's family from Finland (then part of Russia) to Branford ca. 1897 and his subsequent employment at Malleable Iron Fittings Company. It also features papers of Charles reflecting hardships endured as a rancher and homesteader at Coleville, Washington; death records of John Alfred (1883-1928), a miner who committed suicide in Pony, Montana; information concerning the Branford Yacht Club, of which John Alfred (1891-1955) was an officer; military papers of John Alfred Johnson (1891-1955) and Richard Walter Hagstrom reflecting their service in the US Army and Navy respectively during World War I; letter from relatives in Sweden; and photos of the 1938 hurricane in Branford. Some of the correspondence is in Swedish. Research Topics: History of the Johnson/Hagstrom family; lives of Scandinavian immigrants in Connecticut