KEEPSAKE ROOTS · FAMILY HISTORY
Larson family
Research report
Portfolio edition · October 2026 · Prepared by Niklaus Baumann
Fictional demonstration. These people, stories, dates and genealogical citations are invented examples. No genealogy research is asserted. Archive photographs are genuine and separately credited.
Scope and conclusion
One family branch · example of a focused collection
The fictional letters place Erik in Sweden in August 1908 and Duluth by February 1910. Their family references connect the spellings Larsson and Larson within this example. No passenger vessel, port, or exact arrival date is established.
A note to the family
In this imagined case, the family wanted to know when Erik left Sweden and whether the later spelling “Larson” belonged to the same man. The packet supports a careful connection between the names, while leaving the precise sailing date open.
Between two addresses
Fictional narrative · see demonstration exhibits
In August 1908, Erik’s letter belongs to the Sweden side of the story. By February 1910, he supplies a Duluth address. The journey lies between those points.
There is no passenger manifest in this example packet. Naming a ship would make the story look complete while making the evidence worse. The collection instead says plainly what the letters support.
The first American letter has a practical purpose: an address where the next reply will reach him. A family event that later feels momentous appears here as a problem of keeping in touch.
A real extension of the research would compare departure records, passenger lists, and later immigration statements. Any candidate would need to match more than a familiar name.
Source notes: S1, S2
Larsson, then Larson
Fictional narrative · see demonstration exhibits
Two similar names are not enough to identify one person. Here the connection rests on the invented letter’s own statement, its reference to the same parents, and the continuity of the family packet.
Erik says he writes Larson “here.” The album retains Larsson as another recorded spelling. It does not turn this one sentence into a general story about immigration officials changing names.
The 1912 wage entry uses Larson too. It places a carpenter of that name in Duluth at that moment. The family references do more of the identity work than the occupation alone.
A real source log would preserve each record’s spelling exactly as written, then explain why the entries are believed to refer to the same person.
Source notes: S1, S2, S4, S6
Anna and Martin
Fictional narrative · see demonstration exhibits
The family register records Erik and Ingrid’s marriage in June 1913. Anna follows in April 1914 and Martin in October 1917. Those entries give the household its next generation.
The register does not say how the couple met. It does not establish Ingrid’s route to Minnesota or her parents’ names. Her unanswered questions remain hers; they are not filled by borrowing Erik’s story.
Anna’s later memory places Ingrid beside the family letters, keeping them together in a biscuit tin. That is a recollection of care rather than a record of a ceremony or a birth.
Together the register and the remembered tin show two different kinds of inheritance: relationships that can be named, and habits that kept the paper trail alive.
Source notes: S3, S5
The value of an envelope
Fictional narrative · see demonstration exhibits
Anna remembered being told to keep the envelopes. A letter’s page can carry a story, but an envelope can preserve an address, a date stamp, or a married name.
In this imagined collection, the addresses create the timeline’s firmest travel boundary. They are modest pieces of evidence with a useful job to do.
The album does not claim that every letter survived. Missing years remain missing. A neat folder assembled later can hide the breaks unless the source notes make them visible.
The next family task would be to keep fronts, backs, and enclosures together when scanning. Record who held the papers and what that person knows about them before separating anything.
Source notes: S1, S2, S5
People in this collection
Nils Larsson · 1849–1928
Nils is named in the letter and the family list. The little notebook is remembered as something Erik kept after leaving home.
Invented demonstration profile. The exhibit references show how a real finding would be connected to its evidence.
Karin Holm · 1854–1931
Erik addresses his mother by name in the earlier letter. Her own surname remains visible even where the family is otherwise indexed under Larsson.
Invented demonstration profile. The exhibit references show how a real finding would be connected to its evidence.
Erik Larson · 1884–1967
The letters connect Erik Larsson in Sweden with Erik Larson in Duluth. The collection records both spellings so a future researcher would search for each.
Invented demonstration profile. The exhibit references show how a real finding would be connected to its evidence.
Ingrid Berg · 1890–1975
Ingrid appears in the family register and in Anna’s later memory of the biscuit tin. The packet does not establish where or when she first met Erik.
Invented demonstration profile. The exhibit references show how a real finding would be connected to its evidence.
Anna Larson · 1914–1998
Anna’s recollection preserves a practical household rule: keep the envelope with the letter. It is the sort of detail that can preserve evidence by accident.
Invented demonstration profile. The exhibit references show how a real finding would be connected to its evidence.
Martin Larson · 1917–1990
Martin is included as a named child in the family register. The album does not give him an invented occupation or life story beyond the demonstration evidence.
Invented demonstration profile. The exhibit references show how a real finding would be connected to its evidence.
Source notes
S1 — The last letter from Sweden
Fictional demonstration exhibit. Larson packet, L-01, invented letter dated 20 August 1908, signed Erik Larsson: “Mother Karin, Father Nils — I will write when I have an address.” The letter is placed in Sweden in the demonstration.
It gives a last dated point before the journey, not a departure date.
S2 — The first Duluth address
Fictional demonstration exhibit. Larson packet, L-02, invented letter dated 14 February 1910: “Dear Mother, The address below will find me now. Tell Father I have kept the little notebook. I write Larson here, but you will know it is me. Your Erik.”
This creates a name-spelling link within the fictional case. No actual letter or passenger record is represented.
S3 — A household begins
Fictional demonstration exhibit. Larson packet, L-03, invented family-register transcription: Erik Larson and Ingrid Berg, married 12 June 1913; Anna, 4 April 1914; Martin, 8 October 1917.
It names parents and children. In real research, a later register would be compared with original records.
S4 — The address beside the wages
Fictional demonstration exhibit. Larson packet, L-04, invented wage-book abstract dated April 1912: Erik Larson, carpenter, Duluth. A family note gives Erik 1884–1967 and Ingrid 1890–1975.
Evidence for one period of work only; it does not establish his first job in America.
S5 — Anna’s box of envelopes
Fictional demonstration exhibit. Larson packet, L-05, invented recollection dated 1982: Anna recalls Ingrid keeping letters in a biscuit tin and telling the children not to discard the envelopes.
Attributed memory, not proof of travel dates. No claim of an actual interview.
S6 — The earlier generation
Fictional demonstration exhibit. Larson packet, L-06, invented family-list transcription: Nils Larsson 1849–1928; Karin Holm 1854–1931; their son Erik 1884–1967. Anna 1914–1998; Martin 1917–1990.
These dates are invented demonstration data. Nils and Karin’s parents are outside the selected scope.
Research log and open questions
Exactly when did Erik arrive?
Compared the dated correspondence.
Result: After August 1908 and by February 1910 in this fictional case.
Next: Search actual migration records if this were a commissioned case; no vessel is claimed here.
Do the two spellings identify one man?
Correlated named parents, the letter’s explicit statement, and the later work entry.
Result: The exhibit packet supports the connection.
Next: Keep both spellings in any later record searches.
What was Ingrid’s journey?
Checked the register and recollection.
Result: The packet establishes her household, not her migration.
Next: Treat her origins as a separate question with a separately agreed scope.
Photograph credits
Theodore F. Frank farmhouse near Anthon, Iowa, January 1937.
Russell Lee / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives.
Public domain. LOC item rights advisory: No known restrictions. LOC collection Rights & Access states the contents are in the public domain and free to use and reuse.
https://www.loc.gov/item/2017763445/
Real public-domain archival illustration; unrelated to this fictional family. It is not presented as a family photograph.
Children at Christmas dinner in the home of Earl Pauley, near Smithland, Iowa, December 1936.
Russell Lee / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives.
Public domain. LOC item rights advisory: No known restrictions. LOC collection Rights & Access states the contents are in the public domain and free to use and reuse.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017763425/
Real public-domain archival illustration; unrelated to this fictional family. It is not presented as a family photograph.
Christmas dinner in the home of Earl Pauley, near Smithland, Iowa, December 1936.
Russell Lee / Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives.
Public domain. LOC item rights advisory: No known restrictions. LOC collection Rights & Access states the contents are in the public domain and free to use and reuse.
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017763426/
Real public-domain archival illustration; unrelated to this fictional family. It is not presented as a family photograph.
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