On this #TBT, we invite you to ponder a historical mystery. SCLT’s Conservation Director, Meghan Kent, recently shared this family photo.
According to Meghan, “This was in my family album from Swedes who settled in Broken Bow, Nebraska. We don’t know if the girls pictured are relatives or family friends, but they look to be around the age of my great-aunt Ellen.”
The back of the photo states “Freda Ebba Johnson,” but it is unclear if that refers to a Freda Johnson and an Ebba Johnson or if one of the girls is Freda Ebba Johnson and the other girl is unnamed. No one in Meghan’s family has a record of a Freda Johnson, an Ebba Johnson, or a Freda Ebba Johnson. This mystery adds to the intrigue of the photo.
Given their Swedish ancestry, maybe it’s Abba Johnson? Mamma Mia!
It’s unlikely, but it’s possible that Ellen found work in Sheridan and is one of the two girls pictured. Based on their family history, the girls are likely Swedish immigrants or first-generation Americans. At the turn of the century, America sent recruiters to Sweden to convince people to come out and farm the West.
Oberg and Armstrong and their photography studio appeared in numerous newspaper clippings around 1905. Most of the information pertains to Alfred H. Oberg. Armstrong’s first name is never mentioned. In 1906, Oberg was patenting a holder for nursing bottles. That year, the business was sold to the Fuller Studio. By 1909, Oberg had been found to be legally insane, and he died in Evanston at the “state insane asylum.” His wife, Clara Cady Oberg, and their four-year-old twin daughters moved to Crook County to be with her mother. She later remarried. The photography studio was at 146 North Main Street, above Austin Dry Goods Co., now Smith Alley Brewing.
If you have any information about this photo, Oberg and Armstrong, Swedes in Sheridan County, or anything else you think is relevant, your insights would be greatly appreciated! Please let us know! You can comment below or email SCLT History Program Manager Kevin Knapp at [email protected].
Do you have any similar family mysteries?
Thank you to Judy Armstrong in The Wyoming Room for researching this photo.
