IMG-7918 Sköna står hoppets rosor för dig, hvi söker du minnets? Hoppet och våren är slägt; minnet och hösten också. Dock om de gömmas till dess; bindas i förtid till krans Fläta min blomma då in, gif henne vänligt din vård. I will not try to translate the poem into English. My interpretation of the poem is that one should have hope when young and […]
Augusta’s friend Lotten and her little cousin Minna in St. Barths
Did Augusta know anything about the Caribbean island, St. Barths? Saint Barthélemy, or St. Barths, was a Swedish colony between 1784 and 1878. Augusta’s friend Lotten would have had good reasons to know about the island… I am still reading the letters from Charlotte “Lottten” Westman to Augusta. Augusta and Lotten had been friends in Stockholm while attending private girl’s schools in 1842-1845. When Augusta moved […]
Lotten’s Letter: Mourning a Grandmother
Lotten Westman’s letter to Augusta, Stockholm, 25? March 1846 (Wednesday) My own beloved Augusta! If I did not know you and that you would forgive me, I would hardly dare to write to you after such a long silence. Maybe I thought it was longer than you found it to be because I’ve been thinking about writing to you all the time and longing for an […]
A Winter Funeral in Umeå
In my last blog, I wrote about Augusta’s friend Lotten and her family. I mentioned that her grandfather, the famous pharmacist, Carl Johan Fredrik (CJF) Plageman, had moved to northern Sweden with his second wife, Eva Sofia. On a wintry day in 1853, she died. Letters from CJF Plagemann to his daughter, Dorothea, who lived in Stockholm, describe all the details of the funeral and […]
In Search of Dora and Finding Dorothea Plagemann
Stockholm, 22 January 1846 My own, beloved Augusta! Thank you, thank you, my good friend for your last letter, even though I had to wait quite some time to get it. But I will not scold you, only thank you so much for your last letter. I should probably start by thanking you for your good wishes for the new year. … You know what? […]
