August Free ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

Swedes in Texas, page 218:
"AUGUST FREE, a real estate agent with an office at 513 Congress Ave., Austin, comes from an old military family in Lekeryd, Småland, where his father, C. O. Frithiof, was in the service of the Crown for thirty-two years. The son did not follow in the footsteps of the father, but trained for the peaceful profession of a shoemaker. He left his home and country at the age of seventeen and came to Austin, Texas, in 1888. In the second year he was here, he got a position in the Smith & Brady Shoe Store, and he stayed there for five years after which he moved to Llano, Texas. When he returned to Austin, he again worked for this company for a year. He was then a sales-clerk at Scarbrough & Hicks for ten years and in Harrel's clothing store for six years. In 1909, Free became a representative for a large land-agency and became an agent for the land in the Swedish settlement in Kenedy, Karnes County. He managed to sell land to many of his countrymen, and within a couple of years the wooded land area was cultivated and transformed into well kept farms. He owns a beautiful farm here as well. When the land agency, Wallin, Johnson & Mattson in Minneapolis, Minn. began to colonize Lyford in the Rio Grande Valley, Free became their local representative. As such, he managed to interest many Swedes in Texas in buying land in this settlement.

"In 1896 Free married Miss Augusta Peterson, born in 1867 in Sjöberg, Öggestorp, Småland, daughter of Jonas and Katarina Peterson, and a resident of this country since 1883. In that year she came to the Arvid Nelson home in Round Rock, and she lived there and in Austin until she married. Their daughters are: Clara, born in 1896, and Lillian, born in 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Free are members of the Swedish Methodist Congregation and have taken a big interest in its work for many years, as well as held many offices in the church."

He was a real estate and insurance agent. He had lived in Austin, Travis County, the entire 50 years he was in America. His daughter Lillian Free was the informant on his death certificate. ⁴

August married Augusta Peterson, daughter of Jonas Peterson and Katarina, in 1896. (Augusta Peterson was born on 27 May 1867 in Sjöberg, Öggestorp, Småland, Sweden,⁵ died on 4 Mar 1931 in Austin, Travis County, Texas ⁵ and was buried on 5 Mar 1931 in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Travis County, Texas ⁵.). The cause of her death was cerebral hemorrhage.