The baby of the family, Nisse

Nisse Karlsson, 1917

"Then there was Nisse. His name was actually Nils, but he was always called Nisse. He was the youngest and he was married to a woman named Rut. She was a husky strong woman, a real worker. She worked outside in the fields with the men and then she’d go in to take care of the household. Rut originally came to Grönede as a maid, but she loved the outdoors. She was a real no-nonsense person. Mormor liked her and thought that she would make a good wife for Nisse. They came to Dad and borrowed money, so they could go and get married. 

They had two children: Ingeborg and NilsErik. Ingeborg was younger than Margaretha and NilsErik was younger than Lennart. I remember one time, somebody from Grönde came and told Mama that she had to come because NilsErik was sick and they didn’t know what to do. I begged to go along, so they let me. That was the first time that saw a sick baby, and I think I decided then and there that I was going to be a nurse for children and take care of children. NilsErik was just a small baby, a few months old, and he laid in Morfar’s great big chair, en korgstol, it was called, and he couldn’t hardly breathe. His little chest just heaved and heaved. My mother said, “You have to take this child to the doctor right now!” Well, that was after lunch. Couldn’t it wait until morning? “No!” my mother said. “You take him now. In the morning you won’t have a baby.” So they got themselves together and took him to the hospital, and he had to stay in the hospital. He had pneumonia, but he recovered.

This is "the baby" NilsErik, his son Lars 

and Lars' son Agaton. NilsErik has since 

passed away and is sorely missed.

Later in life, Nisse met a lady who was the love of his life. I don’t think he ever had a strong love for Rut. Her name was Linnea Peeper. She was a widow. She had been married to a man named Peeper. I don’t know how he ended up in Kisa; Peeper was an aristocratic family. Well, they had two boys. One of those boys owns a stationery store and book store in Kisa. We used to go in there everytime we were home and buy something from him and visit. They were nice people. Linnea was a lovely lady. It was a funny thing in those days. When there was going to be a baby out of wedlock, it was always the girls’ fault; the girl was looked down on. On the other hand, if there was a divorce or a separation, like with Morbror Nisse, that was always the man’s fault. I guess in that way it all came out even. There were some people who were unhappy with Nisse. Maria and Mama, they stood by their little brother when some of the family turned against him.

Oh and I was going to say, the baby, he’s still alive now. We’ve seen NilsErik and his family many times in Sweden and he’s come here too and his son Lars, and his daughter EvaLena and Elizabeth were pen pals for a while."