Fredrik Johansson and Mathilda Axelsdotter from Östad, had ten children. Augusta, Maria and Torborg, in the picture to the left, emigrated to the USA. One brother, Janne, left 1907 but returned to Bullaren 1913.

The first one to leave was Augusta. We found her in the Norwegian Archive, leaving Oslo with four other people from Bullaren on 1903-04-24. She says she is going to Lowell, Massachusetts. Her niece Virgina has told us the following:
When Augusta was in New York she met Gustaf Adolf Magnusson from Rörare in Bullaren, and he says to her: ”Why don’t you come to Denver?” So she did.
On Christmas Eve 1912 they decide to get married, and found the vicar and asked him if he could marry them. He agreed, and the vicars wife and daughter were witness to the ceremony. Augusta and Gustaf never had any children.

Maria leaves in 1908, and says she is going to her sister Augusta who lives in New York at the time. Maria married a man by the name Carlén, and the couple also settled in Denver. Maria was planning a visit to the old country in 1923 and her younger sister Torborg asked if she could come to the USA with her. Maria agreed to that, and told her to get a passport, ticket and other things, and on 1923-10-23, they arrived in New York, and from there to Denver. Maria passed away in 1930 from tuberculosis. She was 40 years old.

Torborg for the first time met her sister Augusta who she had never met before. There was a difference in age of 21 years, so when Augusta left Bullaren, Torborg wasn´t born yet. When Torborg came to Denver 1923 she had to get a job, and like so many other girls it was as a maid in a family. The first family she was working for had an old lady living there and she was very kind to Torborg, and tried to teach her english. This is your eyes, this is your nose and this is your mouth, all of course in english.

When Torborg had saved enough money, she decided to visit her home country, and in 1928 she took a trup to Sweden. When she returned to the US, along with Alfhild Eliasson, they did not go to Denver, but to Chicago where Alfhild had a family that took care of her. The two girls worked there for many years. Alfhilds father Oscar, had emigrated in 1906 to Chicago.

Torborg has told her daughter Virginia, many times about the train rides from New York to Denver. When they came west the country started to get flat with big wide open plains, so different from Bullaren. In 1923 there were not many people living there and Torborg says : ”This God-forsaken-country, no trees and no water”.