Jamtland, Sweden was the homeland of Erik and Gunborg Hoglund. They had eleven children, nine boys and two girls. In 1923 they left two boys who were old enough to make their own way and brought the nine younger ones with them to British Columbia, arriving in Jaffray. They were there only two weeks, then moved to a small rented house in Kimberley, until Mr. Hoglund built a large house on the corner of Rotary Drive and Jennings Avenue. It was later called the Swanson Building, after it was sold two years later. (It was torn down a few years ago.)
The family consisted of Oscar, Arvid, Bernard, Konrad, Charlie, Betty, Gerda, Frank and Walley. Mr. and Mrs. Hoglund moved to Creston. Oscar was a cook and worked in several cafes. He was married and had two daughters. Arvid, Bernard, Konrad and Charlie all worked for the Company for a period of time. Arvid later went to work for the City of Kimberley. He married a widow, Clara Persson, she died in 1958 and Arvid passed away in 1960. Bernard later moved to a farm at Canyon.
Konrad was a miner for the Company and married Kay Klenoski of Penticton. He was ill for many years before his death. There are five children in the family: Joan, Erik, Marie, Albert and Oran. Joan became a teacher and married Bruno Kirth, they are residing in Trail at the present time. Erik apprenticed as a machinist with the Company and is now a millwright for the Pulp Mill. He married Donna Dufresne, who works at the Bank of Montreal. Marie married Peter Abrossemoff of Nelson and they have two children. Albert is a timberman underground and is married to a nurse, Lynne Robison. Oran just recently graduated, in 1978, and has just started with the Company.
Charlie was a plumber for the Company and also worked on his own. He married Joyce Hartley of Hythe, Alberta. Joyce and Edna Carmichael operated the Green Spot Cafe in Kimberley from 1934 to 1936, when she married Charlie. They had three children, June, Ronald and Douglas. Charles built a home in Marysville in 1946. During the 1948 flood, Konrad's house was threatened and the family moved in with Charlie and Joyce until the danger was over. Charlie died in 1952 and Joyce moved to Victoria and later Arizona, where she and her three children still reside.
Betty went to work in the City Bakery until her marriage to C. Anderson, and moved to Vancouver.
Gerda and her two youngest brothers, Frank and Walley, attended school in Kimberley, but she had difficulty learning English. She used to chum around with Erma Soderholm as she could talk to her in Swedish. She quit school and did housework for her board at the Footes, Drs. Davis and Ormond and others until her marriage to Charlie King of Cranbrook. He had worked for the company at both Trail and Kimberley.
Frand and Walley went to Creston when their parents moved there.
Erik, Albert and Oran are a third generation of Hoglands residing in Kimberley.
