Saturday, January 11, 2014

Sympathy Saturday: in memory of Selma Josephine Erickson (nee Hanson)

This post is in memory of one of the last pioneers in the province of Saskatchewan, my great-aunt, Selma, who passed away this week at the venerable age of 93!

Selma married my maternal grandfather's brother, Carl [Karl] Johan Andre Erickson, on July 22, 1940.  


- Selma and Karl on their wedding day

Selma met Karl when she was hired to help Karl's mother, Britta, with household and farm chores.  Hired girls were brought in for Britta as she was unable to do many of these chores because of injuries incurred when she fell from the CNR train near Kenora, Ontario, in 1912.  This was when she and her young family were in the process of immigrating from Sweden to central Saskatchewan.  More of this story can be found on my previous post entitled Britta's Brave Passage.

Luckily for everyone involved, Selma and Karl took a liking to each other, and Britta didn't lose a hired girl as much as she gained a daughter-in-law.  

Funny thing, my maternal grandmother, Alice, had previously worked for Britta as her hired girl.  That was how grandpa Rudolph met her.  I'm not sure, but perhaps Britta used this "hired girl" practice to find useful wives for her sons?  Crazier things have happened.