John Appelholm (1857-1929)

APPELHOLM

Posted By: Tina Keister (email)
Date: 2/22/2012 at 13:29:44

Swen Johan (John) Appelholm was born in Stockeryd, Jonkopinglan, Smaland, Sweden on Nov 5, 1857, the son of Andrew Appelholm and his wife Engborg (Swanson) Appelholm He was raised and educated in his native land and at the age of 23 years, immigrated to America, arriving at Linn Center, Linn County, Illinois in the spring of 1881. He remained thre about seven years, working on farms and as a railroad laborer. In 1888 he came west to Dayton, iowa dn the fololowing eyars came to Grant Township, Boone County, Iowa.
ON April 5, 1890 John Appelholm was married to Miss Hannah Hedberg. She was born in Sweden in 1865, one of 10 children born to John Hedberg (1832-1899) and his wife Cathrina (Nordholm) Hedberg (1830-1892). Hannah came to this country in the late 1880’s and the parents came in the fall of 1891. The mother died the following spring and the father lived out his remaining years on the C J Lingren farm in Section 6 of Grant Township. Both are buried in Prairie Lawn Cemetery east of Boxholm in unmarked graves on the Appelholm lot. To Mr and Mrs Appelholm were born four children: Olga H (1892-1902), Mrs John T (Helga V) Reynolds (1893-1965), Andrew and Eric. Olga died of scarlet fever at the age of 10 and Andrew and Eric died in infancy. The first Mrs Appelholm died in 1895, aged 30 years and is buried in Prairie Lawn Cemetery east of Boxholm. This left Mr Appelholm a widower with a two year old daughter.
ON Oct 3, 1900 Mr Appelholm was again married, this tiem to Miss Mary Martha Olson. She was born in Varmland, Sweden on Dec 8, 1874, one of five children born to Andrews Olson (1832-1925) and his wife Martha (Bengtson) Olson (1837-1890). She came to this country with her parents in 1876 and to Grant Township in 1877 where the father homesteaded land in Section 15 for the remainder of his life. Both are buried in Prairie Lawn Cemetery near Boxholm. Mary Appelholm then raised her step daughter, not bearing any children of her own. Mr and Mrs Appelholm were members of the Boxholm Methodist Church in the early days of the church, he serving as steward for several years. In later years Mr Appelholm attended services in the Lutheran Church because they kept the Swedish language for their services longer than did the Methodist Church. (Mr Appelholm was one of those few immigrants who retained his native language as his sole tongue, and never quite relinquished his hold on Swedish things.)
Shortly after this first marriage, Mr Appelholm purchased 80 acres in Section 21 (W1/2 of NW1/4) on Sept 30, 1891. He was engaged in farming this ground for the rest of his active life. In 1919 he retired and moved with his wife into Boxholm where he died on Feb 2, 1929, aged 71 years. The farm was purchased by his daughter (Mrs John T Reynolds) on March 22, 1930 and is currently owned by Mrs Clair (Evelyn) Reynolds. Mr Appelholm was a brother to Mrs Arvid (Ida) Soderstrom, also formerly of Grant Township. Mrs Appelholm lived on until Dec 11, 1959 when she died at the age of 85 years. Both are buried in Prairie Lawn Cemetery east of Boxholm. Their house in town is currently occupied by the Chuck Reedholm family. None of Mr and Mrs Appelholm’s descendants currently reside in Grant Township.

History of Boxholm and Grant Township in Boone County, Iowa 1986 by David C Peterson