Oscar Algot Emanuel Free ^{1 2 3 4}

   Another name for Oscar was Oscar Algot Emanuel Johansson.

  General Notes:

Swedes in Texas, page 220:
"OSCAR A. E. FREE, born in 1894 in Värnamo, Småland, came to this country in 1905 and he stayed with his uncle, Gustaf Kylberg, near Elgin, Texas. He worked in the countryside for about five years and then moved to Austin. He worked as a store-clerk and studied at the Nixon-Clay Business College to get further education in the business-field. Free was employed at the Texas Posten print-shop, and after three years, he went to New Orleans, La., to attend a course in the Mergenthaler Linotype School. He worked in this field in Fort Worth for one year, and in 1916, he returned to the Texas Posten Publishing Co. as a typographer. He stayed there until he left for training camp in August 1918, when he enlisted in the United States Army to serve in the war in Europe. He is a member of the Swedish Lutheran Church in Austin, a well-known and respected young man , who has won many friends and a good reputation in both church and community."

Oscar was listed as Oscar A. E. Johansson, 11, on the 1905 S. S. Caronia passenger list along with his cousins destined for Elgin, Texas. At the time of the 1910 census, he was a hired hand (farm laborer) for Charles A. Johnson in Travis County, Texas. When Oscar registered for the WWI draft on 5 Jun 1917, he was employed as a printer at Texas Posten Publishing Co. in Austin, Travis County, Texas. He had declared his intention to become an American citizen. He was single. At the time of the 1920 census, Oscar was working as a printer. He was a boarder in the home of Annie and Laura Berkman in Austin, Travis County, Texas.

At the time of the 1930 census, he owned his home at 906 E 14th Street, in Austin, Texas. It was valued at $3000. He was a newspaper printer. Oscar registered for the World War II Draft at age 48. He was employed by the Austin Tribune, Austin, Travis County, Texas. His wife Ethel Marie Free was the person who would always know his address.

Clarence Blomberg remembers that Oscar helped Gust Kylberg (Anders Gustaf) out when he was older and living in Austin, by buying him his tobacco and other items. He never forgot the man that sponsored him when he first came to the United States.

Oscar Free Dies at 67 in Colorado

Oscar Free, 67, a linotype operator for more that 40 years before his retirement in 1958, died Monday afternoon in the International Typographical Union Printer's Home in Colorado Springs, Colo.

He entered the home in 1959 after suffering a stroke.

Born in Sweden, he came to New Sweden at the age of 11, changing his name from Johanson to Free.

He became a member of the typographical union in 1915 and came to Austin the following year, where he worked on a Swedish newspaper. He joined The American-Statesman as a linotype operator many years ago and remained with the newspaper until his retirement.

The body was flown to Austin Tuesday, where the Hyltin-Manor Funeral Home was in charge of funeral arrangements.

Survivors include two sons, Morris Free of Austin and Lester Free of Round Rock; a sister, Miss Edith Johanson of Varnamo, Sweden; two-grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

(Texas Posten, 1 Jun 1961, page 1; copy courtesy of Kay Dunlap Boyd, Austin Genealogical Society) ⁸

  Additional Information:

• Military Service: Pvt - First Class, US Army, 85th Infantry, Company C, 95: World War I. ⁹

Oscar married Ethel Marie Olson, daughter of Hugo H. Olson and Edla M. Adolphson. (Ethel Marie Olson was born on 6 Mar 1894 in Tulare, Tulare County, California,¹⁰ died on 23 Mar 1955 in Austin, Travis County, Texas ¹⁰ and was buried on 26 Mar 1955 in Capital Memorial Gardens, Austin, Travis County, Texas ¹⁰.). The cause of her death was cerebral hemorrhage due to arteriosclerosis.