On October 16 this year, my Facebook feed started to fill up with #MeToo – friends acknowledging that they had at some time been sexually harassed or assaulted. A simple hashtag and suddenly the whole world was talking about how men mistreat women. It made me think of Augusta and her time period. I can’t imagine that she and her friends, who all belonged to […]
Visiting Augusta’s Home – Loddby
From a distance, through the trees, you can discern the yellow mansion that is Loddby. Loddby was owned by Gustaf Leijedenfrost who was twice Augusta’s brother in law. After both her sisters and her father had died, Leijdenfrost became Augusta’s wealthy benefactor and Augusta and her mother made Loddby their home. Kerstin and I are finally going to visit the home of Augusta, or at […]
Augusta’s voyage on the Göta Canal – “one of the most beautiful and pleasant trips one can make”
In July 1850, Augusta made a memorable voyage on the Göta Canal. The reasons for Augusta’s voyage was to wave goodbye to her brother August, who was to sail from Gothenburg to Cape Town on the brig Mimer. And of course, Augusta provides a colorful eyewitness account of her voyage. On the outbound trip to Gothenburg, onboard the steamer Götheborg, she spends a lot of […]
How boring it is to be ill … but Wilhelm von Braun writes humorous poems
In the summer of 1849, I was mostly at home except for a few weeks spent at Fullerstad and a few days at Krusenhof. August was very ill throughout the summer and the joy and well-being during that time were rare guests at Loddby. The last days of the year, I had a violent rush of blood to my lungs, and was sick for 3 […]
The Family at Loddby
When discovering a diary, it is like stepping into someone’s home without knowing anything about the family. There are names mentioned, but it is not like a novel where the author will provide you with character descriptions. And at the time of Augusta’s diary, there were no photographs. Fortunately, there is a lot of recorded genealogy; dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. And of […]
