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FAMILY AND ANNUAL MEETING AT
STEGEBORG, MAY 26 AND 27, 2006
On the road, coming up from Tjolöholm
Manor to Stegeborg, our conversation often went back to
the joy and benefit given to us as non relatives, to be
allowed to take part of the interesting Dickson family
history, through your personal stories and memories. To
Christina Fermheden and Maria Försell Six, this of
course is an advantage in their work, not in the least
in their dramatized guided tours of the manor, where
they personify Mrs Dickson and “the Duchess” (Blanche
Bonde). To me, Birgitta Lundin, it is a source of joy,
knowledge and stimulance. Even more so now, as I’m
trying to give, in a novel, a more personal picture of
the above mentioned strong women and their dramatic life
at Tjolöholm.
Another advantage is to be able to
spend time with the now living, strong personalities of
the family. And the more members you get to know, the
more clear it becomes, that the genes of the Keith clan
and the Dickson family produce successful, brave,
target-oriented (and outgoing) people, who also – it
seems – are provided with a subtle and intelligent humor.
It doesn’t seem to matter whether you are born in
Sweden, England or Scotland either, the family
characteristics appear very clearly to us, who are
observing you from “the outside”. And it is just as
clear, that you attract partners with the same
qualities, so that your offspring is guaranteed double
sets of genes, which is promising for the future!
In this light, we were naturally
looking forward with joy and expectations to meeting you
again, and not even the rain, keeping us company from
Norrköping (though I have to point out, that we had the
sun with us all the way from Tjolöholm!) could reduce
our enthusiasm. And we were not disappointed! In the
Magasin, where we were having lunch, the grey and rainy
sky had shut off the light, and in spite of the festive
lamps, foreboding a crayfish party rather than lunch, we
had a little difficulty in the beginning in getting a
general view of the people, standing in large or small
groups chatting. But it wasn’t long before we were
pulled into happy and welcoming hugs, and we felt like
we usually do at these meetings: at home.
The hostess of Stegeborg, Britt
Danielsson (2:6:3 4:3:1P), and her family showed
us right from the beginning what we could expect:
excellent food and service, mixed with inspiring
settings and stories. While we were having our lunch,
delicious, home-made (of course!) pies and salads, the
large room was filled with happy laughter and voices.
New acquaintances to me were Jan (2:6:7 2:3) and
Ian Fowler. But Jan’s aunt, Helen Burrough (2:6:7 3),
is well known to me, since she visited Tjolöholm manor
during a number of summers with her husband Tom. Ian had
videorecorded an interview with Helen, which he showed
us (the text is to be find elsewhere on this home page),
and it was clear that both her memories and knowledge of
the Swedish language were just as sharp as when I met
her many years ago.
A visit to Skällsvik church
After lunch, we made a visit to the
church, which I suppose must be regarded as the castle
church of Stegeborg, as it was enlarged during the 16th
century by the Lord of the Castle, Johan III, and turned
into the first renaissance church in Sweden. The first
castle church was destroyed at the same time as the
original castle.
We had a guided tour of the church
led by the former churchwarden, Sten Flink, living up to
his name by delivering his great knowledge at a rapid
speed. It was sometimes hard to hear him, when we were
sitting on the benches, but it became clear to me, that
the oldest part of the church is considered to be from
the the first half of the 14th century. It
seems like people would rather place it in the late 13th
century, when a stave church was burnt down, and a place
for a new one had to be find. A pair of oxen pulling a
wagon were set free. The new church was to be built on
the spot were they stopped. This new church found itself
in the middle of many battles around the castle and was
destroyed several times. King Johan III was born at
Stegeborg, and he had, as I have said before, the church
restored in an Italian style.
An interesting feature was the so
called “Wednesday Wedding” in the castle church of
Stegeborg, at the time it was situated in the castle
itself. The lady-in-waiting to Princess Anna, Sigrid
Brahe, was betrothed to a young man (Erik Bielke) but in
love with another. In order to help her get the man she
wanted, the Princess arranged a wedding in the middle of
the week (which was unthinkable and therefore caused no
suspicions) before the original wedding was to take
place. So the lady-in-waiting got her beloved, Johan
Gyllenstierna, and her bridal crown, given to her by
Princess Anna, was in use as late as in the 1970’s.
In addition to interesting effects
like the altarpiece, donated by Elsa Elisabeth Brahe,
married to the brother of Karl X Gustav, the Duke of
Stegeborg, Adolf Johan, and a medieval saint’s cupboard
with a sculpture of Mary and the Child, I remember the
story of how some graves (I think it was the Posse tomb
and the so called stegeborg tomb) were excavated in the
1950ies in order to make room for a gallery. The remains
were therafter buried in a mass grave under the floor of
the church, and the slab stone with inscriptions was
thrown away. It came back after someone suggested that
it should be smashed. Luckily enough, it was saved (by
a. o. Sten Flink) and it is now positioned beside the
church door.
We made a short stop at the grave of
Ragnar Danielsson outside the church. Ragnar was Alice’s
(2:6:3 4:3) husband and Britt’s father in law. He had
already before his death found the rock he wanted on his
grave. The rock is rounded at the back and totally flat
in front, where the text is. It originates from a rock
that nature cut in two parts like a giant knife cutting
butter. A beautiful wreath of flowers was laid on the
grave and Akke Bengtsson played poetically on his flute.
“3 o’clock tea” at
Trädgårdshotellet with photo and film show
After the visit to Skällvik church,
we gathered at Stegeborg’s Trädgårdshotell (Garden
Hotel), where Britt Danielsson served tea and scones in
a cosy setting with posters from when aviation was in
its infancy (explanation to follow). Harriet Dickson
(2:6:11 2:5) and Björn Uhrenius had made a trip to
Scotland – for “whisky and dicksonia” – and Björn showed
us beautiful photos of the grand scenery and the
distilleries, which were the marks they navigated
between, just as planned. They also visited Arthur and
Helen (née Dickson) Ramsay’s home (their son, James
2:6:11 3:2 has attended several of the family meetings,
and arranged the trip to Scotland in 1993).
Strangely enough, Harriet and Björn
met a man from Montrose (I don’t remember where they
actually met him), and when they told him that Harriet
was a Dickson, the man showed a map and pointed out the
Dickson family grave (James’, who sent his two sons to
Sweden). They also visited this grave in Montrose. They
had earlier visited one of the Keith Clan castles,
Dunottar, and brought daffodils from there. Harriet
planted these at the grave. Unfortunately, she could
also state, that the sides of the graves are
deteriorating, and the text is soon not to be seen.
Something for the board to discuss…
There is much to tell about Dunottar,
and Björn did so, but it takes me too far from the
purpose of my report, so I leave it to the reader to
look for information about this “ruined” castle, as
James Ramsay so charmingly expressed it in his otherwise
as good as perfect Swedish. It has a thrilling story
interwoven with the Keith Clan and the Scottish crown
jewels. You can read about this on the Dickson homepage
under “Gatherings –Skottland 1993”.
We were told a story just as
thrilling about Maggie Dickson (no one knew if this was
a relative, but she was a fish monger, and it doesn’t
sound like she was “our” relative…). She had a pub in
Edinburgh named after her, and her story was, that she
had a child by the owner of the inn she worked at. This
would of course not do, and Maggie was going to throw
the baby in the river, but she changed her mind and put
it among the reeds instead. She was arrested for this,
and she was punished by hanging. Later it was found,
that she had not been dead when they put her in her
coffin, and when it was taken away for the funeral, a
knocking was heard from its inside. The fact that Maggie
had not died at the hanging was pointed out as an omen,
and she was reprieved and was thereafter called
“Half-hanged Maggie”.
After this photo show, Ian Fowler
told us, that he had videorecorded Helen Burrough, his
wife Jan’s aunt, when she, with a memory sharp as a
razor, told about her experiences with the relatives in
Sweden. We were listening, very impressed, to Helen when
she (guided by Jan’s intelligent questions), described
her memories, also from her childhood. I got the
videotape from Ian in order to transcribe it, and
thereafter it will be filed in the archives of
Tjolöholm manor, where there are already large Dickson
archives. Helen’s story is to be found elsewhere in the
report from the Stegeborg meeting.
Britt tells us about Stegeborg estate
(please also refer to
www.stegeborg.se)
Stegeborg estate with the “new” manor
house, built in 1806, rebuilt in 1910-1915, was bought
by Alice and Ragnar Danielsson. Britt married Casimir,
their son, when they both were 30 years old and
“mature”, as Britt puts it. In order to make an addition
to the large agriculture business, managed by Casimir,
and in order to make an attribution to the income with a
business of her own, Britt baked pies and sold. This
naturally became a success and she’s still on that
track! This energetic, creative and positive woman now
has a lot of irons in the fire on the estate together
with her family. Sadly, her husband passed away last
year, but together with her two sons and the help of 24
seasonal employees, she now goes on managing the estate.
The agricultural and shooting parts are now leased, but
Hamnkrogen (the Marina Restaurant), The Garden Hotel,
leasing of summer houses and cottages, airfield, marina
with 300 berths and camping, as well as guiding at the
old castle ruin demand quite some time.
It’s astonishing what this family
achieves! As if Britt’s creativity does not get enough
outlet in the above, on top of it all, she is a splendid
artist! You can see exmples of this in the brochure
about Stegeborg, which she has illustrated with charming
drawings. The “coat of arms”, not in the least, shows
her creativity: in the four fields she has drawn the
things that represent the estate: 1) the old caste ruin
with a twin-winged aeroplane in the foreground – her
husbands grandfather, Carl Florman, started and ran with
his brother Adrian the first aerotransporting company in
Sweden, ABA – Aktiebolaget Aerotransport. But most of
all the aeroplane represents, of course, the present
airfield 2) a ship with three masts (for the marina)
with three stars, which I like to think of as the
dicksonian ones 3) a wild boar (there is an enclosure
on the grounds and shooting is arranged) with two hearts
(the two sons) and 4) fish and an anchor, showing that
a fishing club is there for additional activities
(bathing too!) on these grounds that are alive with
activity.
The coat of arms is crowned by a
knight’s helmet with a visor and a crown – a concession
to the sons, who wanted the coat of arms to look grand.
In the cross of the shield there’s a smaller shield with
a twig of oak and acorns. This naturally symbolizes the
beautiful park with the old oaks. But the most charming
thing is a heart in the middle of the twig – the third
heart of the coat of arms – representing Britt’s
husband, Casimir. The small rose in the heart is the
only sign of where the the artist herself has her place,
emotionally and physically: in the heart of Casimir and
Stegeborg. Britt’s maiden name was Rosén…
After the break with refreshments, a
lot of exciting and amusing information and many
impressions, we moved on to more exciting stories: a
tour at the old caste ruin guided by Britt. A short
report in English is to be found elsewhere on the
homepage. The history in English can also be read on
www.stegeborg.se/ruin15.htm.
The time between the guided tour at
the old caste ruin and the drink before dinner was not
long enough for my friends from Tjolöholm to be able to
return to their hotel, half way to Söderköping, to
change, so we shared my room at the Garden Hotel. To
prepare three women, sharing one bathroom, for dinner
takes some time, and we didn’t make the aperitif, but we
didn’t miss the three-course dinner at the Marina
Restaurant! Fortunately, because it was delicious all
the way through. Since I don’t eat meat, I was served
poached pike-perch as main course – a delicious dish
newsworthy to me, as I mostly eat saltwater fish.
During dinner I got some very
valuable and personal information about family members,
mainly from Alice Danielsson, Jane Uggla (1:2:1 7:2)
and Malin (2:1:1 1:1:1 3) and Sven Öberg. I
have visited Vibyholm earlier, and then too got
information about Carl Bonde, Malin’s great grandfather,
who lived for some time at the manor with his wife
Blanche, one of my intended leading parts in the novel.
Jane Uggla gave an entertaining
speech about her great-great grandmother, one of the
ancestresses, Wilhelmina Charlotta Bratt, married to the
immigrant, Robert. I can contribute to the story by
quoting a man, supposedly WC’s (sorry about the initials
giving less noble associations!) father’s, Henrik Bratt,
coachman: “When Miss Wilhelmina Charlotta was riding in
the carriage, people surrounded it to admire her
beauty”. And you can really state that she was beautiful
by loooking at her photo on the homepage – “The Dickson
Family History part II”.
Unexpectedly I also got, together
with the rest of the dinner party, an elaborate and
amusingly performed presentation of one of WC’s sons. It
was another one of her descendants, Hugo Nordenfelt
(1:3:6 5:1:1), who responded to the inquiry by
William. And being a true Dickson, he just got up and
overflowed with humor, warmth and knowledge! There’s no
use in denying that I wish I had some of the Dickson
genes… Via WC’s son, Charles the physician, and his
descendants, Hugo arrived at last at his own place in
the line.
I have to mention the Marina
Restaurant specially. It is situated extremely
beautifully in the marina, with a broad bridge where you
can take a walk and sit and admire the view. On the
bridge (maybe it is called a pier when it is so large?)
there are pots with palmtrees, giving a sensation of the
Mediterranean rather than Slätbaken. Add to it lapping
waves against white hulls, the velvet night and the
stars, and you have the best of Sweden and the south of
France!
Day 2
The Annual Meeting
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