The Lundwalls in Commonwealth

Andrew Lundwall was born in Sweden as Stadig Anders Andersson in Rexbo, Dalarna, Sweden in 1848. His wife Margareta Elizabeth Tagstrom was born on April 30, 1848 in Nordan, Rog, Dalarnas, Sweden.

Their oldest son, Andrew Jr., was born in Falun, Dalarna, Sweden on 17 December 1872 when Andrew and his wife were both 24 years old. Two years later, their daughter Carrie was born in Falun on 14 February 1875.

Together with their children, they settled in Commonwealth, Wisconsin, sometime between 1881 and 1882. The dates vary from one source to another taken from different census information from one family to another. The 1920 census indicates that Carrie came in 1879 but I'm sure that one is in error but different people fill out the census and details sometimes are incorrect when filling out forms. Census information was taken from individual forms and entered onto one large form for the town, so details can get misinterpreted or mixed up. Handwriting can be hard to read. People may have been missed entirely.

Census spelling for Lundwall can range anywhere from Lundball, Lundwahl, Lundwell, to even Candwell, and I've yet to find them in any 1890, or 1900, or the 1895 census information. The family does not appear to be living in Commonwealth in 1905 as I looked through the entire town to see if the name had been misspelled.

From 1910 census information, it states that Andrew Lundwall, Sr. was a carpenter and that he built houses. I’m sure he had plenty of work after moving to Commonwealth as miners and their families were moving to Florence County or across the border in Dickinson County in Michigan to work in the mines.

Fritz Oscar Lundwall was born 3 September 1884 in Commonwealth. His younger sister Clara or Clare was born 6 August 1886. In 1886, the parents were 36.

Records for events that happened between 1886 and 1900 are missing, however, they may have run a boarding house in Commonwealth. Boarding houses were needed back then as places for miners without families to stay, or for those like Andrew Ekquist who lived in Homestead, but worked in Commonwealth 6 days a week.

“Margret Taxtrom Lundball“ died on 9 October 1900 in Norway, Michigan, just outside of Iron Mountain, Michigan. This information came from the death record, but the other information matches and this is where the names of her parents in Sweden appear. Margareta is also spelled Margrita, Margot, Margaretha, on different documents.

Margareta is buried in the Commonwealth Cemetery. The headstone is hard to read and needs some repair. The stone is large for it's time, and there is lots of writing on it. It's apparent that Andrew loved her dearly.