Sven Jonsson (1858 - 1935)
Did you know that...
Sven Jonsson (Jonasson) was born on July 25, 1858, in the small cottage Bergstorpet, Stora Kil, Värmland, Sweden. His father, the poor Jonas Jonsson, and mother Cajsa Pärsdotter struggled with poverty. Sven started working as a farmhand at an early age, and by the time he was 12 years old, he became a young farmhand and later a day laborer. A day laborer did not have a fixed work contract and could be employed between farms in the Stora Kil area with lower daily wages and poor benefits like accommodation and food. He had no secure future.
Imagine if he had known that his great-grandchildren would become a world-famous and incredibly talented actor, producer and screenwriter, named Matthew Damon.
Sven persevered and saved his money. When he had a steady amount and was about to turn 22, he decided to leave his hopeless and poor life behind. He set off for Gothenburg and bought a one-way ticket. Sven sailed to Hull, England, on the steamship Argo on May 21, 1880, and then traveled to Liverpool and New York, knowing only a few words of English.
Like most Swedes, he continued his journey to Minnesota, ending up in Saint Paul Ward 5, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sven changed his name to the more English-sounding Swan Johnson. In Saint Paul, he met a Swedish girl named Anna Josephine Olsson (1865 – 1933). The couple had seven children, one of whom was named Carl "Charles" Emil Johnson (1890 – 1959), who is Matt Damon's great-grandfather.
Charles E. Johnson married Cecilia A. Carlsson (1892 – 1950) on November 17, 1915. Peg was born in Wisconsin, but her father, Carl Fridolf Mathias Carlsson (1867 – 1954), came from Tösse near Åmål, and her mother, Katarina Forsman (1871 – 1927), was a Finland-Swede from Jeppo near Nykarleby, Finland.
Among their children was Margaret "Peg" Cecilia Johnson (1918 – 2004). Peg was born in Hennepin, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and she met John Walter Paige (1916 – 2002), whose roots were from Finland. His father came from Kemi, Finland, near the Swedish border, and was named Nils Johan Pajari (1889 – 1980), while his mother, Impi Maria Niemela (1893 – 1944), came from Pihlajavesi, Finland.
The couple had a daughter named Nancy June Carlson-Paige in 1944, who later became a professor of "early childhood education." She married the stockbroker Kent Damon (1942 – 2017), and they had two sons, Kyle (born in 1967) and Matthew (aka Matt) (born in 1970).
I could write an entire book about Nancy, Matt, and Kyle's Swedish and Finnish roots, but that's a story for another time. Matt and Kyle's English and Scottish roots are a different chapter and a completely separate book.
Swedish Genealog ulf.guttman@sweroots.com
