-- Sven Wickberg speaking.
-- Hallo! My name is Christer Wickberg, but I don't think we are related. Someone on the Net has asked me to find a Sven Wickberg who's mother was Frieda and who knows Hugo Wiberg.
| Well, my mother died at my birth, but her name
was
Frieda. And I remember speaking to a Hugo Wiberg on the telephone
many years ago.
-- Sounds a bit like me. How did you find me? -- I just bought the telephone directory on CD-ROM. There are only two Sven Wickberg, one in Västerhaninge, the other in Dala-Järna. No one answered at Västerhaninge, so I tried Dala-Järna. |
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The American lady turned out to be Mary Long a daughter of this Hugo Wiberg. My mother Frieda, whom I never knew since she died when I was eight days old, seems to have been a good friend of Hugo's and had written him a number of very personal letters. Would I like to have them?
| I said: Yes, I'd be delighted. But why do you take all
this trouble?
Mary told me that she considered that Frieda's son should have those letters. Mary also told me that she was the (unofficial) historian of her family and had gathered lots of material on her parents and grandparents. Incidentally these people had all known my parents and grandparents, and she seemed to have quite a lot of interesting detail on this that I had not heard of before. |
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Her grandfather, unknowingly, once nearly scared me to death. Since this is a bit outside the scope of the story I want to tell, I make it a foot-note link. But I recommend my visitors to read this link.
Book publishing is not a very rewarding business for the ordinary person. But why not try the World Wide Web?
And in that way I got the kick I needed to get going with this home site.
Since our parents and grandparents on both sides had been Salvation Army (SA) officers it turned out that much of our material would also be interesting topics in SA history. So when I now, a bit reluctantly, release some of these peaces, I hope it might add some interesting puzzle bits for quite a number of people "out there". And perhaps something "between the lines" of official history.
Would you like to know, for example, why Commissioner Johannes de Groot, my grandfather, after reaching this high position in the Salvation Army yet was court martialed, taken away from his command and ordered into exile?
Or why Commissioner David Wickberg, also my grandfather, became so angry with his son Erik (my father) that he wouldn't speak to him for weeks, although they lived in the same apartment?
Or how it came about that General Erik Wickberg, my father, in his youth decided he had to give up playing chess?
If you patiently read my pages you will -- in due time -- get the answers. The big question is of course: Is it worth while? Hmmm...
Well I think this is really interesting. You will have to judge for yourself.
You are welcome!
Sven Wickberg